1. He was to ascertain when the tumuli, or mounds, were built,
and for what use.
2. Who built them? Were they Malays? If they were Malays, did
they come from Australasia, or from the Islands of the Pacific
Ocean?
3. If they were not Malays, who were they? Were they
Mauritanians, _vide_ Postel; or Scandinavians, _vide_ Busbeck;
or Canaanites, _vide_ Gomara, and John de Lery; or descendants
of the tribes led captive by Psalmanazar, _vide_ Thevet; or of
Shera and Japhet, _vide_ Torniel; or a colony of Romans,
_vide_ Marinocus; or Gauls, _vide_ James Charron; or
Friezelanders, _vide_ Hamconius and Juffredus Petri; or Celtæ,
_vide_ Abraham Milius; or Phoenicians, _vide_ Le Compte; or
Carthaginians, _vide_ Father Acosta, &c. &c.?
4. Had this ancient people the art of embalming human bodies,
or is that art of modern invention, as some pretend?
5. If M. Verdier find they are of Malay origin, he must
ascertain in what year of the world they went to America, and
who was their leader;
6. How long they resided there, and under which pope they were
driven away or exterminated.
7. In what manner, and by what conveyance, was the
transportation made? Did they cross Behring's Straits, or on
the ice from Japan to California? Were the first settlers the
crew of some vessel or vessels driven to the western continent
by stress of winds, or were they led thither by some
far-sighted captain?