71 



out means of preserving the remembrance of 

 facts, the knowledge of their history is confined 

 to a very short period. There is a point of their 

 existence, beyond which they no longer measure 

 the interval of events. In time, as well as space, 

 distant objects approach each other, and are con- 

 founded together ; and the same cataclysm, 

 which the Hindoos, the Chinese, and all the na- 

 tions of the Semitic race place thousands of years 

 before the improvement of their social state, the 

 Americans, a people perhaps not less ancient, but 

 whose awakening has been of a later date, sup- 

 posed to be only two cycles before their emigra- 

 tion from Aztlan. 



