, and this not of a low type of physical
organization. We may also infer that the family of man very early
divided into two races--one retaining in greater purity the moral
endowments of the species, the other excelling in the mechanical and
fine arts; and that there were rude and savage outlying communities of
men then as at present. If the so-called palaeolithic men of Europe are
antediluvian, they were probably of such outlying tribes, and possibly
of the mixed race which sprung up in the later antediluvian age, and
who are described as mighty men physically, and men of violence. It
would be quite natural that this intermixture of the Sethite and
Cainite races should produce a race excelling both in energy and
physical endowments--the "giants" that were in those days.[102] If any
remains of the two central nations of the antediluvian period are ever
discovered, we may confidently anticipate that the distinctive
characteristics of these races may be detected in their osseous
structures as well as in their works of art. Farther, it is to be
inferred from notices in the fourth chapter of Genesis, that before
the deluge there was both a nomadic and a settled population, and that
the principal seat of the Cainite, or more debased yet energetic
branch of the human family, was to the eastward of the site of Eden.
No intimations are given by which the works of art of antediluvian
times could be distinguished from those of later periods; but that
curious summary of the treasures of antediluvian man contained in the
notice that the land of Havilah produced gold and agate and pearl
(Gen. ii., 12) would lead us to believe that the early antediluvian
age was on the whole an age of stone, in which flint for weapons, and
gold and shell wampum for ornaments, were the leading kinds of wealth.
On the other hand, the notices of antediluvian metallurgy, and the
building and construction of the ark, would lead us to infer that the
later antediluvians had attained to much perfection in some
constructive arts--a conclusion which harmonizes with the otherwise
inexplicable perfection of such art soon after the deluge, as
evidenced not only by the story of Babel, but also by the early works
of the Assyrians and Egyptians.

3. When the antediluvian population had fully proved itself unfit to
enter into the divine scheme of moral renovation, it was swept away by
a fearful physical catastrophe. The deluge might, in all its
relations, furnish ma