Here, then, there would seem to be no alternative, but the unqualified admission, either that the continents were once united in the manner already indicated, or that Asia was formerly joined to America, in the more southern latitudes; and that the innumerable islands in the Pacific Ocean are the higher parts of the land which completed, above water, the connection between the old world and the new. Perhaps the earth was one continuous body of land for a century or two or three after the flood, and until after the dispersion of men and other animals over its surface; and that then occurred the grand physical division in the days of Peleg, by the breaking up of the exterior crust and the bursting forth of the central waters, which have ever since covered the larger portion of the globe, and thus effectually prevented a reunion of the scattered families, and hindered many a Nimrod or Alexander from conquering and laying waste the whole world. This latter suggestion, luckily, is secure from the assaults of the geologist, as it leaves him no visible ground to stand upon; and he will hardly search for it at the bottom of the ocean. The striking resemblance between the men and brutes of northeastern America, and northwestern Europe, shows the intimate connection which once subsisted between the continents in the higher latitudes, while Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, etc., still remain both as evidences and monuments of the ancient physical union. Asia and America are sufficiently near to each other to enable us, by the occasional aid of a bridge of ice across Behring's straits, to meet the animal phenomena peculiar to that region. Again, as it was manifestly one of the great purposes of the eller. Perhaps, too, our zoology, our physiology, and our geology, may need some new modifications or improvements, before we can pronounce with certainty even upon the scanty materials already within the scope of scientific scrutiny. If Moses has recorded the literal truth, namely, that every living creature upon the face of the whole earth perished by the flood, except such as were in the ark with Noah, as I doubt not he did, then we have a safe starting point, a fixed datum, from which and with which to commence our researches. Can it be demonstrated that any terrene animals now exist, which did not originate from those preserved in the ark? Nothing short of demonstration will invalidate the positive scriptural testimony in the slightest degree. Almighty, that the whole earth should be peopled forthwith, so I suppose this purpose was effected in the usual way; namely, by mingling mercies with judgments, parental tenderness with parental chastisements. Thus, by the confusion of tongues, men were punished and obliged to desist from a wicked enterprise, and to obey the divine command by emigrating in all directions to distant lands, thence never to return. They went to the polar and to the equatorial regions; to live, not to perish, amidst the snows and frosts of the one, and the burning sands and sultry blasts of the other. Did the Deity make no seasonable and kindly provision for these wandering outcasts? Were they to incur the fearful hazards incident to the most violent changes of climate, food and habitudes of all sorts,-without preparation, without protection, without any knowledge or anticipation of the evils to be encountered? I think not. What then was done to accommodate man to his new situation and altered circumstances? Precisely what the exigency demanded and divine wisdom directed. Now it is remarkable, that no new variety of man has been discovered or gradually produced, within the period of authentic history. All the physical attributes which now distinguish the inhabitants of different countries, were just as palpable and as strongly marked when they first appear upon the stage. From Japan to Britain, from Nova Zembla to the Cape of Good Hope, man has been ever the same since first noticed in history. The Caucasian and the Negro, the Malay and the Mongol, have continued to be what they apparently were from the beginning. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" had become a proverb among the most ancient nations, to denote an impossibility;-clearly proving that the black skin was a well known fact, as well as an indelible characteristic of a portion of mankind. If nature, by a certain, regular, invariable process, has really effected all the existing diversities in the human family, she must have completed her work, or exhausted her resources, some three thousand years ago. For, assuredly, she has attempted nothing of the kind So, whether we ascribe the radical changes in question to a direct act of the Deity, like the confusion of speech, or to the operation of ordinary physical causes, we are constrained to admit that the whole was achieved at a very remote period; and most probably, because then most needed, at the epoch of the dispersion. Such indeed was the very kind of adaptation to the peculiarities of their new position, which was called for since. on the score both of necessity and benevolence. The American variety is doubtless as old as any other. It cannot be proved to be more recent. Nor are we to confound physiological with genealogical distinctions. The Phoenicians were of the Caucasian race, but of the family of Ham, equally with the Hottentot and the American savage. I do not mean to deny, nor do I wish to underrate the modifying or transforming influences of climate, food, manner of living, etc., upon the persons and constitutions of mankind. These are visible and obvious everywhere. I more than doubt, however, the theory which ascribes to these and similar causes all the distinct varieties in the human species. These appear to be permanent; and none of them can be traced to any definite historic origin. They never lose their specific attributes; they never glide into one another, nor exhibit anomalous forms or aspects, except by intermarriages. Were the negro to reside in England a thousand years, he would be a negro still, provided his race continued without mixture. The Caucasian, with the same proviso, would never become a negro under any circumstances or in any latitude. Partial and temporary changes are not to be confounded with hereditary and abiding differences. The complexion, for example, is easily affected. But restore the Caucasian of darkest hue to the home and habits of his fathers, and his children will be as fair as the rest of his kindred.* To this branch of the subject, I cannot of course * I attach but little importance to the case of the black Jews, said to be found in India. They are probably a mixed race at most. The Jews never object to marriages with proselytes; and they have seldom been averse to the making of proselytes to their faith, when it could be done without danger. But it remains to be seen, whether even the black color would not disappear upon their return to a more congenial land; if they are indeed the genuine descendants of Israel, and if they have preserved the purity of the Hebrew blood amidst all their wanderings and adverse vicissitudes. This, after all, is but an instance of a partial change. Other similar cases may be disposed of in like manner. The great fact still remains, namely, that no new variety has been formed within the period of human history, and that none such is now in course of formation. With the mixed races, I repeat, the argument has no concern. Amalgamation may achieve miracles or create oddities, but it will never demolish history, philosophy or do justice in a few sentences. I can neither present my own views fully, nor meet with becoming respect the widely different opinions of eminent philosophers and theologians. years I notice another objection which has been urged against the early peopling of America; namely, that the population of the old world was utterly inadequate to the purpose, within the days of Peleg, or even for many centuries afterwards. The fallacy of this objection has been shown by several learned men. Thus, Picart supposes that there might have been 432,000,000 of inhabitants upon the earth at the close of the first 150 after the flood. Petavius estimates the population of the world at the birth of Peleg, or about 101 years after the flood, at 32,768. Bishop Cumberland gives 30,000 for the same date. According to Mede, there were or might have been at the time seven thousand men, besides women and children. Usher is of opinion, that in the 102d year after the flood, mankind might have increased to the number of 388,605 males, and as many females, or to a grand total of 777,210. This uncommon increase he ascribes to an extraordinary fecundity implied in that repeated command or blessing: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." (Gen. 9: 1.) If we allow this number to have doubled every twenty years, we shall find the amount within a fraction of 800,000,000 at the end of 300 years after the flood-or fifty years before the death of Noah, and forty before that of Peleg. Any approximation, however, to this vast multitude, would dissipate every objection to our argument. A few facts, out of many hundreds on record, will further illustrate and confirm the general views already presented. Within the space of 215 years (Samaritan Pentateuch and St. Paul), the posterity of Jacob alone amounted to 603,550 males "from twenty years old and upward,” all able to go forth to war, exclusive of the Levites. (Num. 1: 45, 46.) Add women and children, the aged and infirm, together with the entire tribe of Levi, and the whole multitude could not have Scripture. Mere sporadical varieties, like the Porcupine family in England, and Albinos everywhere, are entitled to no special notice in connection with any theory. The black Portuguese and the bronzed Europeans, of all sorts, found in Africa and Asia, assuredly do not prove either a transition from one distinct physiological variety to another, or the creation of any new variety, been less than three or four millions. Now they were not only slaves, but were subjected to the most rigorous treatment which a subtle and jealous policy could devise. They were commanded to destroy their own male infants; were crowded together in a corner of a populous empire; and were kept at hard labor under cruel taskmasters, whose main object was, not merely to extort the utmost profit from their service, but absolutely to crush them beneath the burdens and privations imposed. Egypt, too, was proverbially populous. If we believe the account given by Diodorus of the 1700 male children born on the same day with Sesostris, and afterwards made officers in his army, then it will follow, according to a computation made by Goguet on purpose to ridicule the story of the Greek historian, that there must have been at least sixty millions of inhabitants in Egypt at that early period. The army of Sesostris, we are told, consisted of 600,000 foot and 24,000 horse, besides 27,000 armed chariots, with a fleet of 400 sail on the Red Sea, and as many perhaps in the Mediterranean. His conquests extended from the Ganges to the Danube. Herodotus expressly says: "The reign of Amasis was auspicious to the Egyptians, who under this prince could boast of twenty thousand cities well inhabited." (Euterpe, 177.) The statements of Herodotus and Diodorus may be treated as apocryphal; still, there is abundant evidence in Scripture that the population of Egypt could not have been greatly exaggerated. Pray, what else had the Egyptians to do, during the seven years' famine in Joseph's time, except to build cities?" And as for the people, he removed them to cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt, even to the other end thereof." (Gen. 47: 21.) "During the inundation of the Nile, the cities only are left conspicuous, appearing above the waters like the islands of the Ægean sea.' (Herod. Euter. 97.) Moses and Herodotus agree very well, so far as cities are concerned. Egypt was of much larger extent in ancient times than at present. The shifting sands of the desert have been steadily encroaching upon its once fertile plains, and thereby diminishing its habitable territory, probably ever since the Persian conquest. وو Not long after the coronation of Saul," the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude." (1 Sam. 13: 5.) The Philistines possessed a narrow strip of land along the sea-coast, |