Excerpt from The Michigan Book: A State Cyclopedia With Sectional County Maps, Alphabetically Arranged The origin of the first occupants of this region is shrouded in mystery. Several writers have adapted the theory that they were descendants of the lost tribes of Israel and they fortify their position with a variety of interesting facts. The founder of our fair domain was a believer - in this theory, and the archives of France contain a lengthy memorial written by Cadillac. In which he distinctly asserts his belief that the Indians are descendants Of the Hebrew race, stren thening his argument with statements of many remarkable co ncidences and customs onfirmatory of the idea. The researches Of Schoolcraft, Pres ott. Pickering, and others, indicate that the first comers were from Asia, that they were driven by winds and waves over the Pacific coast and made their way by the Aleutian Islands or Behring Strait to Alaska. And from thence southward to Met lco and South America, afterwards spreading northward and eastward over the American continent. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.