Preserving the Languages spoken by Uncivilized Nations. 101 



from these facts, that though we are only acquainted with the 

 mere existence of this race by its very scanty relics, it has ne- 

 vertheless transmitted to us historical evidence of a very strong 

 and interesting character. Whilst their wampum is altogether 

 American, and connects them with the present races, who only 

 know them by obscure tradition, the form of their heads and 

 their Asiatic shell no less strongly connect them with Asia. 



If many of the languages which we have been considering 

 are threatened with absolute extinction, together with the fee- 

 ble families of the human race by whom they are spoken, in a 

 way which has probably never been the case at any former 

 period of the world, there likewise exists at the present time 

 a greater amount of means which might be rendered availing 

 for the preservation and investigation of these languages, to- 

 gether with the traditions, manners, and superstitions which 

 it is essential to know, if successful and satisfactory attempts 

 are to be made to elucidate those obscure portions of the history 

 of mankind ; a portion of history, be it remembered, which is 

 intimately connected with the interests of religion, notwith- 

 standing the barren aspect which it at first seems to present. 



At no former period were there so many and so great faci- 

 lities for sending to almost every part of the globe. The way 

 seems opening even across the arid deserts and pestilential 

 swamps of Africa, and the hitherto inaccessible regions of that 

 continent are traversed by our enterprising countrymen, whom, 

 on the other hand, 



" Non Boreae finitimum latus 

 Durataeque solo nives abigunt." 



At the same time the cultivators of every branch of science are 

 united into societies to extend an interest and to spread infor- 

 mation on subjects connected with their respective researches. 

 The progress which has been made in the physical geography 

 of the globe attests how much geologists and mineralogists, 

 botanists and zoologists, have done for their respective sciences. 

 The geography of plants may now be taught to every child. 

 The same means and facilities which have produced so many 

 valuable results might be turned with equal success to the ad- 

 vancement of our knowledge of the geography of man ; and I 

 cannot help flattering myself that our Association, small as it 

 is, may most essentially contribute to the attainment of this 

 most important object : in the first place, by formally address- 

 ing those bodies and associations which are already in the pos- 

 session of what may be regarded as the machinery essential to 

 the prompt diffusion of information and inquiry. A formal 

 appeal coming from a society would have much more weight 

 than the influence which any single individual could possess. 



