1684 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



navigators from the coast of Norway had penetrated 

 to the other hemisphere. The inhabitants of Mexico 

 and Chili possess most authentic historical archives, 

 which prove that a most advanced civilization flour- 

 ished there at an early period. Gigantic monuments 

 which still remain bear witness to the great antiquity 

 of the civilization of the Incas (Peru) and of the 

 Aztecs (Mexico). It is reasonable to suppose that 

 the inhabitants of America, who thus advanced at 

 a rapid pace in the path of civilization, descended 

 from the hordes of Northern Asia which reached the 

 New World by traversing the ice of Behring Strait. 

 To explain, therefore, the presence of man upon 

 all parts of the continent, and in the islands, it is 

 not necessary to insist upon the existence of several 

 centres, where our species was created. If popular 

 traditions went to show that all the regions now 

 inhabited have always been occupied by the same 

 people, and that those who are found there have con- 

 stantly lived in the same places, there might be rea- 

 son to admit the hypothesis of multiple creations of 

 the human race; but, on the contrary, traditions for 

 the most part teach us that each country has been 

 peopled progressively by means of conquest or emi- 

 gration. Tradition shows that the nomadic state of 

 existence has universally preceded fixed settlements. 

 It is, therefore, probable that the first men were con- 

 stantly on the move. A flood of barbarians, coming 

 from Central Asia, overflowed the Roman Empire, 

 and the Vandals penetrated even into Africa. Mod- 

 ern migrations have been conducted on a still vaster 

 scale, for at the present day we find America almost 



