Part I.] ORIGIN OF MEXICAN CIVILIZATION.

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age has been picked up in his canoe, after driftinghundreds of leagues on the open ocean, and sustain-ing life, for months, by the rain from heaven, andsuch fish as he could catch . 10 The instances are notvery rare; and it would be strange, if these wander-ing barks should not sometimes have been intercept-ed by the great continent, which stretches across theglobe, in unbroken continuity, almost from pole topole. No doubt, history could reveal to us morethan one example of men, who, thus driven uponthe American shores, have mingled their blood withthat of the primitive races who occupied them.

The real difficulty is not, as with the animals, toexplain how man could have reached America , butfrom what quarter he actually has reached it. Insurveying the whole extent of the New World, itwas found to contain two great families, one in thelowest stage of civilization, composed of hunters,and another nearly as far advanced in refinementas the semi-civilized empires of Asia. The morepolished races were probably unacquainted with the

10 The eloquent Lyell closes anenumeration of some extraordina-ry and well-attested instances ofthis kind with remarking, “ Werethe whole of mankind now cutoff, with the exception of onefamily, inhabiting the old or newcontinent, or Australia , or evensome coral islet of the Pacific, weshould expect their descendants,though they should never becomemore enlightened than the South-

Sea Islanders or the Esquimaux ,to spread, in the course of ages,over the whole earth, diffusedpartly by the tendency of popula-tion to increase beyond the meansof subsistence in a limited dis-trict, and partly by the accidentaldrifting of canoes by tides andcurrents to distant shores.” Prin-ciples of Geology, (London , 1832,)vol. II. p. 121.