Or,
"Thus arise
Races of living things, glorious in strength
And perish, as the quickening breath of God
Fills them, or is withdrawn."—Bryant.
The reader of this book will very naturally be disposed to ask thequestion, why the geographies, histories, and other works of a similarcharacter, have never made any mention of the regions and events thatcompose its subject. The answer is obvious enough, and ought to satisfyevery mind, however "inquiring." The fact is, that the authors of thedifferent works to which there is any allusion, most probably neverheard there were any such places as the Reef, Rancocus Island, Vulcan'sPeak, the Crater, and the other islands of which so much is said in ourpages. In other words, they knew nothing about them.
We shall very freely admit that, under ordinary circumstances, it wouldbe prima facie evidence against the existence of any spot on the faceof this earth, that the geographies took no notice of it. It will beremembered, however, that the time was, and that only three centuriesand a half since, when the geographies did not contain a syllable aboutthe whole of the American continent; that it is not a century since theybegan to describe New Zealand, New Holland, Tahiti, Oahu, and a vastnumber of other places, that are now constantly alluded to, even in thedaily journals. Very little is said in the largest geographies, ofJapan, for instance; and it may be questioned if they might not just aswell be altogether silent on the subject, as for any accurateinformation they do convey. In a word, much as is now known of theglobe, a great deal still remains to be told, and we do not see why the"inquiring mind" should not seek for information in our pages, as wellas in some that are ushered in to public notice by a flourish ofliterary trumpets, that are blown by presidents, vice-presidents andsecretaries of various learned bodies.
One thing we shall ever maintain, and that in the face of all who may bedisposed to underrate the value of our labours, which is this:—there isnot a word in these volumes which we now lay before the reader, asgrave matter of fact, that is not entitled to the most implicit credit.We scorn deception. Lest, however, some cavillers may be found, we willpresent a few of those reasons which occur to our mind, on the spur ofthe moment, as tending to show that everything related here might bejust as true as Cook's voyages themselves. In the first place, thisearth is large, and has sufficient surface to contain, not only all theislands mentioned in our pages, but a great many more. Something isestablished when the possibility of any hypothetical point is placedbeyond dispute. Then, not one half as much was known of the islands ofthe Pacific, at the close of the last, and at the commencement of thepresent century, as is known to-day. In such a dearth of preciseinformation, it may very well have happened that many things occurredtouching which we have not said even one word. Again, it should never beforgotten that generations were born, lived their time, died, and havebeen forgotten, among those remote groups, about which no civiliz