And Genius hath electric power,
Which earth can never tame;

Bright suns may scorch, and dark clouds lower,-
Its flash is still the same.

The dreams we loved in early life,

May melt like mist away;

High thoughts may seem, mid passion's strife,

Like Carthage in decay.

And proud hopes in the human heart

May be to ruin hurled,

Like mouldering monuments of art
Heaped on a sleeping world.

Yet there is something will not die,

Where life hath once been fair;

Some towering thoughts still rear on high,

Some Roman lingers there!

That a nation may decline in civilization, that it may fall even into the lowest depths of barbarism, is a fact which we have illustrated by many painful examples. There is then no improbability, that the wandering Indians of the prairies, wretched and degraded as we now find them, are yet legitimately descended from a powerful and civilized nation, which either from foreign invasion, internal decay, or more probably from the united influence of both, has sunk into forgetfulness of former glory, and hopeessness of future redemption.

O mortal, mortal state! and what art thou?
E'en in thy glory comes the passing shade,
And makes thee like a vision fade away;
And then Misfortune takes the moistened sponge,
And clean effaces all the picture out.

UNIV

Library.

Of Callforuts.

CHAPTER XIII.

IDENTITY OF THE REMAINS OF CIVILIZATION IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA.

MATERIALS for a complete examination of the extinct civilization of the Red men, are very scanty; much must remain undiscovered in the vast regions over which they extended. It is only by slow degrees that all the wonders of nature, and the relics of ancient art become known even in civilized lands. It is not a century since the cave of Fingal, one of the most wonderful natural curiosities in the world, close to our own shores, remained undiscovered by any one competent to describe it:

Then all unknown its columns rose
Where dark and undisturbed repose
The cormorant had found,
And the shy seal had quiet home,
And weltered in that wondrous dome,
Where as to shame the temples deck'd
By skill of earthly architect,

Nature herself it seemed would raise

A minster to her Maker's praise.

Every day brings us fresh proof of the high state of civilization to which Britain attained under the Romans, and the barbarism into which the nation sunk in consequence of the Saxon invasion. The remains of the princely palace at Bignor, its beautiful Mosaic pavements, its galleries, its hypocaust, and its baths, have been brought to light only within the last few years. Herculaneum, Pompeii, Pæstum, have been but recently restored to our knowledge; and travellers in Asia Minor constantly discover majestic ruins of cities whose names are unknown or doubt

ful. Dr. Wilde has found it to be a work of great difficulty to identify the spot on which Tyre stood-that city "situate at the entry of the sea, the merchant for many isles, whose borders were in the midst of the waters, and whose builders had perfected her beauty."* Who could gaze on the barren rock where Nature first triumphed over Art, and where Desolation wrested the victory from Nature, without being tempted to exclaim in the words of Eckhard : A thousand years have rolled along,

And blasted empires in their pride,

And witnessed scenes of crime and wrong,
Till men by nations died.

A thousand summer suns have shone,

Till earth grew bright beneath their sway,
Since thou, untenanted and lone,

Wert render'd to decay.

The moss-tuft and the ivy-wreath,

For ages clad thy fallen mould,

And gladden'd in the spring's soft breath;
But they grew wan and old.

Now, Desolation hath denied

That even these shall veil thy gloom;

And Nature's mantling beauty died,
In token of thy doom.

Alas, for the far years, when clad

With the bright vesture of thy prime,
Thy proud towers made each wanderer glad,
Who hailed thy sunny clime!

Alas, for the fond hope and dream,

And all that won thy children's trust,

God cursed, and none may now redeem,

Pale city of the dust!

If on civilized coasts, in lands travelled by men of science, enterprise, and observation; and on sites where history has named and fixed the natural bounds and landmarks, fresh discoveries are daily made, and wondrous

* Ezekiel xxvii. 3.

monuments of nature and art rescued from "the cold obstruction" to which they have been consigned for centuries, it is assuredly probable that in the wilds of North America, in the recesses of Mexico, and the mountains of Peru, there are vast antiquarian treasures still unrevealed, which would elucidate what is now dark, and explain what is now intricate. If we add to these considerations, the jealousy of Spain while she possessed these interesting regions, watching them as the degraded guardians of the Harem do the objects of their charge, the more strictly because the capacity of enjoyment is wanting the complete success with which the Spanish government secluded its natural subjects, both in England and America, from any intercourse that would throw light on the history of nature, or of man; -if we further add, the anarchy that has since prevailed in the revolted colonies of Spain, and which has sealed them against intercourse, not less effectually than the bigoted restrictions imposed upon them by former tyranny ;-finally, if we reflect upon the care with which the Indians hide all they can from their conquerors, we may even now consider American antiquities a subject still in its infancy, notwithstanding the investigations of that enterprising and intelligent traveller, Baron Humboldt.

Mr. Bullock, in his description of ancient Mexico, declares, that with "Baron Humboldt's circumstantial account of the group of the pyramids of Teotihuacan eight leagues from Mexico in his hands, he could obtain no information of them in Mexico. Some of the best informed had heard of them, but supposed that Baron Humboldt had been imposed upon. All inquiries on the road were ineffectual, till at the end of the second day's search, he saw them towering above the hill of Napal; and the platforms were distinctly visible at the distance of two miles. On the top

of that of the Moon, they found a small temple, which had a door and windows. Within half a mile was the great pyramid of the Sun, scarcely inferior to that near Cairo, and between them several hundreds of small pyramids laid out like regular streets. From the top he enjoyed the fine prospect of the lake, of the city of Mexico, and great part of the magnificent valley."

Little has been done in the exploration of the northern and eastern parts of Asia, subject to the dominion of Russia; but in the southern Siberia, between the Tobol and the Jenesai, and particularly in the steppes in the middle region of the Lena, memorials have been found of ancient grandeur, magnificence, and culture. Mr. Tooke informs us that in the Museum of St. Petersburgh are preserved multitudes of vessels, diadems, military weapons, articles of dress, coins, etc., which have been found in the Tartarian tombs in Siberia, and on the Volga.

"In the Siberian tombs," says Stahlenberg," and in the deserts which border that country to the south, are found thousands of cast idols of gold, silver, tin, copper, and brass. I have seen some of the finest gold in the form of mountains, harts, old men, and other figures; all sorts of urns, scimitars, medals of gold and silver, and clothes folded up, such as the corpse is dressed in. Some of the tombs are of earth, and raised as high as houses, and in such number upon the plain, that, at a distance, they appear like a ridge of hills; some are partly of rough-hewn stone, and of freestone, oblong and triangular; others of them are built entirely of stone. Colonel Kanifer told me that the ambassadors of the Chinese Tartars, when passing the city of Jenesai, asked permission to visit the tombs of their ancestors, but were refused; not, improbably, because they would have seen that they were rifled and demolished.