39 



progress from their native barbarism. The east 

 of Asia, the west and the north of Europe, pre- 

 sent the same phenomena. In pointing them 

 out, I shall not pretend to investigate from what 

 hidden causes the germe of the fine arts grew 

 and spread only over a very small part of the 

 Globe. How many nations of the ancient 

 world lived in a climate equal with that of 

 Greece, and surrounded with every object that 

 elevates the imagination, without awakening to 

 that sensibility of the perfection of forms, the 

 peculiar privilege of the Greeks, to whose crea- 

 tive genius belong all that the arts possess of 

 beautiful and sublime ! 



These considerations are sufficient to explain 

 my intentions in the publication of these frag- 

 ments of American monuments. Their study 

 may become useful, like that of the most imper- 

 fect languages ; which are interesting, not only 

 by their analogy with those that are known, but 

 still more by the strict connection, which exists 

 between their structure and the degree of intelli- 

 gence in man, when more or less remote from 

 civilization. 



Presenting in the same work the rude monu- 

 ments of the indigenous tribes of America, and 

 the picturesque views of the mountainous coun- 

 tries which they inhabited, my intention is to 



