UNITY AND CONTINUITY. 327 



than these. It is no longer possible to smile at the 

 antediluvian giants of Genesis, since we now know 

 from actual remains that the earliest race disinterred 

 from caves in the Old World was of gigantic physical 

 power, and that this was succeeded by a feebler race, 

 who must, locally at least, have been contemporary 

 with the other. Here we have undoubtedly the primi- 

 tive historical truth that includes all these traditions, 

 which, though coloured by the fancies of different 

 races of men, are essentially the same all over the 

 world. 



The traditions of our race point back to golden 

 days of simplicity and innocence. They tell of retro- 

 gression rather than of improvement, and attribute 

 the advance in the arts and the elevation of the race 

 to great heroes of the times of old. Is there a basis 

 of archaeological and historical truth for this ? 



The first answer to the question is an obvious one. 

 Man must have originated in a mild climate, and must 

 primarily have been a gatherer of the fruits of the 

 earth. Even though the oldest remains of men ever 

 found should be those of rude hunters living in cold 

 climates, it will still remain an irrefragable physio- 

 logical deduction from the structure of the human 

 frame, that this could not have been the earliest con- 

 dition of man. This accords with the American facts, 

 which show that, leaving out the irruptions of rude 

 races from Northern Asia, the primitive peoples existed 

 in the fertile plains of the south, and lived on the 

 produce of the soil. Let it be observed, also, that this 



