334 Dr Prichard on the Belations of Ethnology 



some of the American nations, as the Esquimaux, from the 

 rest. 



It is a matter of still greater interest to determine whether 

 the American idioms bear any analogy to those of the Old 

 Continent sufiicient to furnish an argument of common origin. 

 It has been observed that the Euskarian idiom, the old Iberian, 

 probably the oldest known language of the west of Europe, 

 has a resemblance in structure to the dialects of the American 

 nations ; and an American writer, Dr M'Culloh, has argued 

 from this fact, that the nations of the New World had an 

 European origin. But there are great diversities as well as 

 resemblances between the Euskarian and the American 

 languages, and nothing certain can be concluded from this 

 argument, which, however, must not be entirely overlooked. 

 It is observable that the races of people in the extreme north- 

 east of Asia, beyond the river Kolyma, are described as differ- 

 ing considerably in physical conformation from the nations 

 of Great Tartary. Very little is known of their languages ; 

 and it might possibly lead to some important discoveries if 

 we could compare these unknown idioms with those of 

 the hunting tribes on the opposite parts of America, par- 

 ticularly the Athabascas, and the nations bordering upon 

 them. It has been long ago ascertained, that one language 

 is common to the two continents, I mean that of the Esqui- 

 maux and the Fishing Tchuktchi in Asia, whose idioms cer- 

 tainly belong to the same stock. 



In the South Sea there are, as I have observed, several 

 distinct races. The most important of these are the Poly- 

 nesians, descended from the Malays, from whom they differ 

 physically. The history of the Papua races is very inte- 

 resting. They resemble, in some particulars, the Africans 

 of the Gold Coast, but differ widely in the shape of their 

 heads from all the Negro races. Some Papua nations, whose 

 idioms have been examined, have been found to speak dia- 

 lects of the Polynesian language. Among them are the Fi- 

 gians. "We may conclude that they are descended from Po- 

 lynesians, though probably not without intermixture with 

 people of the black or Papua race. 



