486
ANTIQUITY
OF
RACES.
I t was o n e o f those calm and serene n i g h t s which are so c o m m o n in t h e torrid zone. T h e stars shone with a mild and planetary light. T h e i r scintillation was scarcely sensible at the horizon, which seemed illumined b y the great nebulĂŚ o f the southern hemisphere. A n innumerable multitude o f insects spread a reddish light upon the g r o u n d , loaded with plants, and resplendent w i t h these living a n d m o v i n g fires, as if t h e stars of the firmament had sunk down on the savannah. On quitting the cavern we stopped several times t o admire the beauty o f this singular scene. T h e odoriferous vanilla and festoons o f bignonia decorated the e n t r a n c e ; and above, o n the summit o f the hill, the arrowy branches o f the palm-trees waved m u r m u r i n g in t h e air. We descended towards the river, to take the road t o the mission, where we arrived late in the night. O u r imagination was struck b y all we had j u s t seen. O c c u p i e d continually b y the present, in a c o u n t r y where the traveller is tempted to regard human society as a new institution, he is more powerfully interested by r e m e m brances o f times past. T h e s e remembrances w e r e n o t i n d e e d o f a distant d a t e ; b u t in all that is m o n u m e n t a l antiquity is a relative idea, and we easily c o n f o u n d what is ancient with what is obscure and problematic. The Egyptians considered the historical remembrances o f the G r e e k s as very recent. I f the Chinese, or, as they prefer calling themselves, the inhabitants o f the Celestial Empire, could have communicated with the priests o f Heliopolis, they would have smiled at those pretensions o f the E g y p tians to antiquity. Contrasts not less striking are f o u n d in the north of Europe and of Asia, In the New W o r l d , and in every region where the human race has n o t p r e served a l o n g consciousness of itself. T h e m i g r a t i o n of the T o l t e c s , the most ancient historical event on the tableland o f M e x i c o , dates only ill the sixth c e n t u r y o f o u r era. T h e introduction o f a good system o f intercalation, and the reform o f the calendars, the indispensable basis o f an accurate c h r o n o l o g y , took place in the year 1091. T h e s e e p o c h s , which to us appear so modern, fall on fabulous times, when we reflect on the history o f o u r species between the banks o f the O r i n o c o and the A m a z o n . We there see symbolic figures sculptured o n the r o c k s , b u t n o tradition