What was the Europeans first impression of the Native Americans?

The impressions that Europeans had of the Native Americans
in what is now the United States were, of course, rather varied.  Different Europeans
had different opinions, as you might expect.  The National Humanities Center link has a
pdf with lots of accounts of what Europeans thought -- follow it to see some of
them.

In general, there tended to be two schools of
thought.  Some Europeans thought that the Native Americans were "noble savages."  They
thought the Native Americans were sort of pure and unspoiled and closer to how people
should be than the civilized Europeans were.  Others, however, had very negative views
of the Indians.  They saw them as pagan savages who were very
dangerous.

So there were many different reactions by
Europeans to the Native Americans.