the North-west, than elsewhere in the new world. Though this discovery by General Thomas does not reach back in antiquity to geologic times, still it cannot be denied that a considerable period must have elapsed before low-type crania of the North-west could have developed into the crania of the Ohio Valley Mounds. Professor James Orton, in commenting on the investigations of Wilson on the coast of Equador, refers to the discovery of gold, copper and stone vestiges of a former population in the system of terraces traced from the coast through the province of Esmeraldas to Quito. He remarks: “In all cases these relics are situated below high-tide mark, in a bed of marine sediment, from which he (Wilson) infers that this part of the country formerly stood higher above the sea. If this be true, vast must be the antiquity of these remains, for the upheaval and subsidence of the coast is exceedingly slow.”[154] The antiquity of man in Europe is an established fact, but how remote is a question which science as yet fails to answer. When geologic research opens up Central Asia, no doubt man will be found to have existed there a long period anterior to his advent in Europe. But for the decadence of Arabic glory and learning we should now probably be in possession of a fund of information concerning that region as well as of man’s early history. Were the discovery of the human skull in the gold drift of California an authentic case, we should have strong reasons for supposing a remote intercourse existed between Asia and the Pacific coast. It is quite certain the crania of the North-west Mounds, as compared with those of the Mississippi region, clearly point to that fact. We have seen that as yet no truly scientific proof of man’s great antiquity in America exists. This conclusion is concurred in by most eminent authorities.[155] At present we are probably not warranted in claiming for him a much longer residence on this continent than that assigned him by Sir John Lubbock, namely, 3,000 years. Future research may develop the fact that man is as old here as in Europe, and that he was contemporaneous with the Mastodon. As the case stands in the present state of knowledge, it furnishes strong presumptive evidence that man is not autochthonic here, but exotic, having originated in the old world, perhaps thousands of years prior to reaching the new. CHAPTER III. DIVERSITY OF OPINION AS TO THE ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS.