But, such a part a nation may act well or badly, or even not at all, according to its merits. Aggrandize Chagres, and let the two oceans unite under her walls, the destiny of the city would depend entirely on the race by which it was peopled. If this race be worthy of their good fortune, they will soon discover whether Chagres be the point whence the greatest benefits can be derived from the union of the two oceans; and, if it is not, they will leave it, and then, untrammelled, develop elsewhere their brilliant destinies.[81] FOOTNOTES: [74] Consult, among others, Carus: _Uber ungleiche Befähigung der vershiedenen Menschen-stämme für höhere geistige Entwickelung._ Leipzig, 1849, p. 96 _et passim_. [75] Prichard, _Natural History of Man_, vol. ii. See particularly the recent researches of E. G. Squier, published in 1847, under the title: _Observations on the Aboriginal Monuments of the Mississippi Valley_, and also in various late reviews and other periodicals. [76] The very singular construction of these tumuli, and the numerous utensils found in them, occupy at this moment the penetration and talent of American antiquaries. I shall have occasion, in a subsequent volume, to express an opinion as to their value in the inquiries about a former civilization; at present, I shall only say that their almost incredible antiquity cannot be called in question. Mr. Squier is right in considering this proved by the fact merely, that the skeletons exhumed from these tumuli crumble into dust as soon as exposed to the atmosphere, although the condition of the soil in which they lie, is the most favorable possible; while the human remains under the British cromlichs, and which have been interred for at least eighteen centuries, are perfectly solid. It is easily conceived, therefore, that between the first possessors of the American soil and the Lenni-Lenape and other tribes, there is no connection. Before concluding this note, I cannot refrain from praising the industry and skill manifested by American scholars in the study of the antiquities of their immense continent. To obviate the difficulties arising from the excessive fragility of the exhumed skulls, many futile attempts were made, but the object was finally accomplished by pouring into them a bituminous preparation which instantly solidifies and thus preserves the osseous parts. This process, which requires many precautions, and as much skill as promptitude, is said to be generally successful. [77] Ancient India required, on the part of its first white colonists, immense labor of cultivation and improvement. (See Lassen, _Indische Alterthumskunde_, vol. i.) As to Egypt, see what Chevalier Bunsen, _Ægypten's Stelle in der Weltgeschichte_, says of the fertilization of the Fayoum, that gigantic work of the earliest sovereigns.