The Origin and His tori/ of the lied Bace. 155 



so generally cultivated nor so well peopled, and the popula- 

 tion had by no means so uniforni a type, as at present. In 

 both, the productions are noticed topographically, according 

 to the political division of China as it stood at the different 

 periods ; but in comparing them we must assign the old dis- 

 tricts to the present ones or their parts. This labour is much 

 facilitated, however, by the local-historical sections of the geo- 

 graphy, which always tell us how the district referred to was 

 named under the different dynasties, or to what larger division 

 it belonged. {Bericht iiber die Verhandlangen der Konigl. 

 Freiiss. Akademie der WUscnchaften zu Berlin, 1842. p. 167.J 



The Origin and Ilistorij of the Red Bace according to 



Mr BUADFORD. 



The facts adduced in the course of the author's investi- 

 gation tend, he conceives, to support the following conclu- 

 sions : — 



I. That tlic tlircc great groups of monumental antiquities In the United 

 States, New Spain, and South Amerlea, in their style and cliaraeter, pre- 

 sent indications of having- proceeded from branches of the same human 

 family. 



II. That these nations were a rich, populous, civilized, and agricultural 

 people ; constructed extensive cities, roads, aqueducts, fortifications, and 

 temples ; were skilled in the arts of pottery, metallurgy, and sculpture ; 

 had attained an accurate knowledge of the science of astronomy; were 

 possessed of a national religion, subjected to a salutary control of a defi- 

 nite system of laws, and were associated under regular forms of govern- 

 ment. 



III. That from the uniformity of their physical appearance ; from the 

 possession of relies of the art of hieroglyphic painting ; from universal 

 analogies in their language, religion, traditions, and methods of interring 

 the dead ; and from the general prevalence of certain arbitrary customs, 

 nearly all the aborigines appear to be of the same descent and origin ; 

 and that the barbarous tribes are the broken, scattered, and degraded rem- 

 nants of a society originally more enlightened and cultivated. 



lY. That two distinct ages may be pointed out in the history of the 

 civilized nations — the first and most ancient, subsisting for a long and 

 iiuUttrminatc period in unbroken tramjuillity, and marked towards its 



