IN THE PETER EEDPATH MUSEUM OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY, ETC. 255 



titious or accidental theory was strongly supported by 

 Brintou and Cusliing, while that of migration was main- 

 tained by Putnam and Mason,* who showed that the 

 resemblances wer^ so marked and the conditions of their 

 occurrence so peculiar, as to preclude the accidental theory, 

 while there was actual evidence in some cases to show 

 repeated connections recurring at intervals, though the 

 predominant indications pointed to very early historical 

 periods. 



Writers who have discussed the tradition handed down 

 from Egyptian priests, through Solon and Plato, of a lost 

 Atlantis, have often connected it with the population of the 

 Canaries.f If, however, we attach any historical value to 

 this tradition, Ave may, as the writer has already done,t 

 regard it as a reminiscence of the antediluvian period, Avhen 

 lands existed in the Avest of Europe noAv submerged, and 

 were probably peopled by a formidable race of men Avho, 

 when pressed by the increasing cold of the period, or by the 

 progressive submergence of the land, may have invaded the 

 countries farther east, as recorded in the Egyptian story. 

 In this case the Guanches could have no connection Avith 

 the matter, since their affinities, as Ave have already seen, 

 are Avith Neanlhropic peoples ; and in any case the depth of 

 water betAveen their islands and the mainland is so great§ as 

 to render it improbable that these islands formed a portion 

 of the continent cA^eninthat second continental period when 

 Great Britain and Ireland had not yet become islands. If 

 on the other hand we suppose, Avith the late Sir Daniel 

 Wilson, that the lost Atlantis represents A'ague intimations 

 reaching Egypt in early times of a great Avestern continent 

 beyond the Atlantic, it is not impossible that these may 

 have been derived from early Phoenician voyagers to the 

 Canaries and from hints conveyed to them of lands still 

 farther to the west. In this case Ave may also connect these 

 traditions with those found by early explorers among the 

 Central Americans and Mexicans, in regard to visitors 

 alleged to have reached their shores from the east, and may 

 regard both as lending some countenance to the idea that a 



* Report by Holmes, American Anthropologist, 1893. 

 t Wilson, The Lost Atlantis. 

 X Meeting Place of Geology and History, p. 156. 



§ The depth of the channel between the Canaries and Africa is stated 

 at 5,000 feet. 



S 



