Aboriginal Race of America. 127 



effected an appreciable change in their manner of life ; and as to 

 their social condition, they are probably in most respects the same as 

 at the primitive epoch of their existence. They have made no im- 

 provement in the construction of their dwellings, except when direct- 

 ed by Europeans who have become domiciliated among them ; for 

 the Indian cabin or the Indian tent, from Terra del Fuego to the 

 river St. Lawrence, is perhaps the humblest contrivance ever devised 

 by man to screen himself from the elements. Nor is their mechani- 

 cal ingenuity more conspicuous in the construction of their boats ; 

 for these, as we shall endeavor to show in the sequel, have rarely 

 been improved beyond the first rude conception. Their imitative 

 faculty is of a very humble grade, nor have they any predilection 

 for the arts or sciences. The long annals of missionary labor and 

 private benefaction, present few exceptions to this cheerless picture, 

 which is sustained by the testimony of nearly all practical observers. 

 Even in those instances in which the Indians have received the 

 benefits of education, and remained for years in civilized society, 

 they lose little or none of the innate love of their national usages, 

 which they almost invariably resume when left to choose for them- 

 selves. 



Such is the intellectual poverty of the barbarous tribes ; but 

 contrasted with these, like an oasis in the desert, are the demi- 

 civilized nations of the new world ; a people whose attainments in 

 the arts and sciences are a riddle in the history of the human mind. 

 The Peruvians in the south, the Mexicans in the north, and the 

 Muyscas of Bogota between the two, formed these contemporary 

 centres of civilization, each independent of the other, and each 

 equally skirted by wild and savage hordes. The mind dwells with 

 surprise and admiration on their cyclopean structures, which often 

 rival those of Egypt in magnitude ; — on their temples, which embrace 

 almost every principle in architecture except the arch alone ; — and on 

 their statues and bas-reliefs which, notwithstanding some conven- 

 tional imperfections, are far above the rudimentary state of the arts.* 



* I cannot omit the present occasion to express my admiration of the recent 

 discoveries of Mr. Stephens among the ruined cities of Central America. The 

 spirit, ability and success which characterize these investigations are an honor 

 to that gentleman and to his country ; and they will probably tend more than 



