PRINCIPAL BRANCHES OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 97 



for, although certain peculiarities have been stated to exist in the skulls of the 

 aboriginal Americans, yet it is found, on a more extensive examination, that 

 these peculiarities are very limited in their extent, the several nations spread 

 over this vast continent differing from each other in physical peculiarities, as 

 much as they do from those of the Old World, so that no typical form can be 

 made out among them. In regard to complexion, again, it may be remarked, 

 that although the native Americans have been commonly characterized as 

 " red men," they are by no means invariably of a red or coppery hue, some 

 being as fair as many European nations, others being yellow or brown, and 

 others nearly, if not quite, as black as the Negroes of Africa ; whilst, on the 

 other hand, there are tribes equally red, and perhaps more deserving that epi- 

 thet in Africa and Polynesia. In spite of all this diversity of conformation, 

 it is believed that the structure of their languages affords a decided and 

 clearly-marked evidence of relationship between them. The words, and even 

 the roots, may differ entirely in the different groups of American nations ; 

 but there is a remarkable similarity in grammatical construction amongst them 

 all, which is of a kind not only to demonstrate their mutual affinity, but to 

 separate them completely from all known languages of the old continent. 

 Notwithstanding also their diversities in mode of life, there are peculiarities 

 of mental character, as well as a number of ideas and customs derived from 

 tradition, which seem to be common to them all, and which for the most part 

 indicate a former elevation in the scale of civilization, that has left its traces 

 among them even in their present degraded condition, and that still distin- 

 guishes them from the sensual, volatile, and almost animalized savages, that 

 are to be met with in many parts of the Old Continent. The Esquimaux 

 constitute an exception to all general accounts of the physical characters of 

 the American nations ; for in the configuration of their skulls, in their com- 

 plexion, and in their general physiognomy, they conform to the Mongolian 

 type, even presenting it in an exaggerated degree. Their wide extension 

 along the whole northern coast of America, and the near proximity of this 

 coast to Kamschatka, certainly lend weight to the idea, that they derive their 

 origin from the Northern Asiatic stock ; but, on the other hand, they have a 

 marked affinity, in regard to language, to the other American nations. The 

 Athapascan Indians, various tribes of which inhabit the country south of the 

 Esquimaux country, seem intermediate in physical characters, as they are in 

 geographical position, between the Esquimaux and the ordinary Americans. 

 They have a tradition which seems to indicate, that they are derived from the 

 North-Eastern Asiatics, with whom they have many points of accordance in 

 dress and manners. 



102. It now remains for us to notice the Oceanic races, which inhabit the 

 vast series of islands scattered through the great ocean, that stretches from 

 Madagascar to Easter Island. There is no part of the world, which affords a 

 greater variety of local conditions than this, or which more evidently exhibits 

 the effects of physical agencies on the organization of the human body. 

 Moreover, it affords a case for the recognition of affinities by means of lan- 

 guage, that possesses unusual stability ; since the insulated position of the 

 various tribes, that people the remote spots of this extensive tract, prevents 

 them from exercising that influence upon each others' forms of speech, which 

 is to be observed in the case of nations united by local proximity or by fre- 

 quent intercourse. Tried by this test, it is found that the different groups of 

 people, inhabiting the greater part of these insular tracts, are more nearly con- 

 nected together, although so widely scattered, and so diverse in physical 

 characters, than most of the families of men, occupying continuous tracts of 

 land on the great continents of the globe. The inhabitants of Oceanica seem 

 divisible into three groups, which are probably to be regarded as having con- 

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