320 Dr Prichard on the Varieties 



ferent structure, and has a totally different vocabulary, from the 

 Hebrew ? We shall pass on to the next branch of the Cauca- 

 sian race. 



" ' The Indian, German, and Pelasgic branch,' says Cuvier, 

 * is much more extended, and was more anciently divided. 

 We can, however, recognise a multitude of affinities between 

 the following four languages. 1. The Sanskrit, which is now 

 the sacred language of lndia> the mother of all the idioms of 

 Hindostan. 2. The ancient language of the Pelasgi, the com- 

 mon mother of the Greek, the Latin, and many of the extinct 

 languages, and of all our idioms of the south of Europe. 3. 

 The Gothic or Tudesque, from which are derived all the lan- 

 guages of the north and north-west, — the German, the Dutch, 

 •the English, the Danish, the Swedish, and their dialects. 4. 

 Lastly, The language called Sclavonian, from which are de- 

 rived all the languages of the north-east, — the Russian, the 

 Polonese, the Bohemian, the Wendish. It is this grand branch 

 of the Caucasian race which has carried to the highest pitch 

 philosophy, science, and the arts, and which has for more than 

 thirty ages been the depositories of them."' 



. :" There is indisputable proof in support of the assertion, that 

 the nations now enumerated may be identified by means of their 

 languages. But how far are they to be connected with the 

 Arabs, Jews, and Egyptians, already referred to the same race, 

 or with the third branch of the Caucasian race, who yet remain 

 to be mentioned ? . ^f? offt oifoii mrlS' 



«« The Scythian and Tartarian branch,' it is added, * ex- 

 tend towards the north and north-east, ever wandering forth 

 ^through the immense deserts of these regions, and only return- 

 ing to overthrow the more happy settlements of their brethren. 

 The Scythians, who so early made an irruption into the higher 

 parts of Asia; the Parthians, who destroyed the Greek and 

 Roman empires ; the Turks, who overthrew that of the Arabs, 

 and subdued in Europe the miserable remains of the Grecian 

 nation, were swarms from this horde. The Finlapd^r^ and 

 Hungarians were a colony of them, wandering among the na- 

 tions of the Sclavonic and Teutonic races. Their original coun- 

 try to the northward and eastward of the Caspian Sea, preserves 

 yet traces of people of the same.stoek; ,but,ii,h^y^p.interjnixed 



