7 
not only has no sucn tradition been handed down to us, but 
that one of the wisest and most polished nations of antiquity 
has given us a tradition of the very opposite character, ought 
not to be without its weight, when we consider the modern 
theories of an uncivilized origin of man. 
Before quitting this part of the subject I may be allowed., 
perhaps, to refer to certain archaeological remains still 
existing in certain places. Those of Egypt and the giant 
cities of Bashan have been already alluded to. To these 
might be added the splendid remains found in Ceylon, 
Central America, and even the islands of Polynesia. I am 
fully aware that as a mere question of antiquity these latter 
ruins bear little comparison with the former. They show, 
however, that there is a tendency in the human family, under 
certain conditions of existence, to fall from civilization. The 
great tanks of Ceylon, for example, and the ruined city of 
Anarajapura belonged to an age when its native princes were 
enabled to lavish untold wealth upon edifices of religion, to 
subsidize mercenary armies, and to fit out expeditions for 
foreign conquest — not improbably in the times of Solomon. 
Excepting the lake Moeris, in Egypt, no similar constructions 
formed by any race, whether ancient or modern, exceed in 
colossal magnitude the Tanks of Ceylon.* The architectural 
remains of Central America are no less suggestive of the fact 
that many of our earliest records of past epochs stand 
connected with civilization rather than the opposite, as 
may easily be seen by consulting Mr. Stephens's Travels 
in Yucatan. Polynesia, too, would tell the same tale ; as 
Mr. Ellis shows in his Polynesian Researches. To give only 
one instance : Easter Island abounds in the remains of once 
magnificent structures, erected of stones cut and laid together 
with the greatest precision. The summits are often crowned 
with colossal statues, some not far from 30 feet high, and 9 feet 
in diameter, f 
But let us proceed to another branch of evidence. I spoke 
just now of the Creek tradition of a Golden Age. It reminds 
me of a vast field of mythological inquiry, the details of which 
are in every respect most interesting, particularly that depart- 
ment of it which shows the manner in which monotheism 
underlies every system of idolatry. This is very striking, and 
affords us one of the strongest presumptive arguments, that 
the nearer we draw to the primitive condition of man, the 
clearer and more highly intellectual were his conceptions of 
* Tennent’s Ceylon , vol. ii. p. 430. 
t Ellis’s Polynesian Researches , vol. iii. p. 242. 
