255 
northerly regions, and became superseded either by a Libyan kind 
oi men, who were before mixed with them, or by better armed immi- 
grants into these regions, A much higher type of civilization now 
becomes manifest in their remains, which nolonger are associated with 
the. monsters of the earth before described. To this period belong 
various objects of great interest for primeval history, showing that 
an active interchange of commodities must have begun to°exist 
amongst the nations of the earth. The jade of the East finds its 
way to the shores of Brittany, and materials for use, and even for 
luxury, begin to be widely dispersed in traffic. 
46. The commencement of this age is not distinctly marked, 
and its course runs on to an indefinite period of actual historical 
record. This is shown by the occurrence of bronze in the weapons, 
&c.,_ belonging to the latter part of this period. Indeed, there is 
no time in which the use of polished stone instruments can be said 
to have ceased ; for even to this day such are occasionally used. 
Humboldt depicts a most beautifully finished hatchet, inscribed 
with various characters of Aztec manufacture,* also a calender of 
the Muiscas f and a bracelet of obsidian of the Muycas.J 
47. But perhaps the most remarkable contrast to the man of 
the previous period is this, that we now find ourselves amongst a 
generation of builders of temples, in a rude style indeed, but in the 
designs of which a motive of religion is distinctly apparent. 
M.Hamy§ says “ To the monuments formed of enormous irregular 
stones, supporting, like gigantic pillars, a great horizontal table, 
succeed others composed of square stones, placed together in line 
with a certain amount of art. These pre-historic architects, whose 
works have been able to resist so many causes of destruction, thus 
indicate progress/’ j] “Later on, they covered with sculptured 
figures certain * cillees coxi'certes,’ and they raised at Stonehenge the 
majestic edifice which offers so many points of resemblance with 
that other pre-historic monument discovered by M. Mariette, at 
Ghizeh, and which is known to Egyptologists under the name of 
the c Temple of the Sphinx.’” 
48. This temple is believed to be anterior in its construction to 
the dynasty of Menes, the first monarch of Egypt. It is situated 
by the side of the great Sphinx, and was cleared from rubbish 
twenty years since by M. Mariette, at the expense of the Due de 
Luynes. “ Constructed of enormous blocks of the granite of 
Syene and of Oriental alabaster, sustained by square monolithic 
pillars, this temple is prodigious even by the side of the Pyramids. 
It offers neither a moulding nor an ornament, nor an hieroglyphic ; 
§ 
Atlas pittoresquc> PI. 28. f Ibid., PL 44. 
Quoted in IS Homme fossile, p. 48. 
T 2 
J Ibid., PL 66. 
|| Ibid., p. 46. 
