One of the few eighteenth-century Indian traders who was both a careful observer of native societies and a man of some education, James Adair was able to write a remarkably comprehensive account of the Southeastern tribes which has become a basic source for anthropologists and historians.

Relatively little is known about the author himself. Even the dates of his birth and death are conjectural. It is thought that Adair was born in County Antrim, Ireland. Classical references and a smattering of Latin in his History of The American Indians (1775) suggest that he received at least a secondary-school education before coming to America. He indicated that he taught himself some Hebrew, though these studies were probably at a later date. Arriving at Charleston about 1735, he established himself in the Indian trade, dealing first with the Catawba and Cherokee of central and western South Carolina. In 1744, however, he moved his...