68 Dr Prichard's Anniversary Address 



known as a man of great ability, on the history of the na- 

 tion^ belonging to the Great Algonquin or Lenapian family. 

 It has been reported, that the venerable M. Albert Gallatin 

 has completed his great synoptical work on the races of 

 people forming the aboriginal population of North America, 

 a work which, together with the luminous and critical investi- 

 gation of the Mexican antiquities, by the same writer, places 

 him in the very highest rank among those who have contri- 

 buted to promote ethnology and the history of mankind. M. 

 Gallatin is the only survivor of three great men, to whom we 

 owe principally the exploration of North American Ethnolo- 

 gy. Two of them, M. Du Ponceau, who was the leader of 

 his countrymen in this pursuit, and the learned and accom- 

 plished Mr John Pickering, have already ceased to labour for 

 the advancement of human knowledge. Taken altogether, 

 the works of these writers comprise a great body of informa- 

 tion on the Archaeology of the New World, and form an im- 

 perishable monument to the literary fame of the writers and 

 of their country. Their example has given an impulse which 

 will continue to actuate their countrymen ; and we may ex- 

 pect a great deal from the researches of Anglo-Americans in 

 those extensive regions which have lately fallen into the go- 

 vernment of the United States. We have already heard, 

 that a great mass of new information respecting the natives 

 of New Mexico has been collected by Lieutenant Abert, a 

 topographical engineer, who has lately returned from the 

 Comanche territory. The opinion of the writer, founded on 

 his own observations, is, that the tribes of New Mexico are of 

 the same race as the ancient Aztecs ; and that the migration 

 of the Aztecas from the North, into the valley of Anahuac, 

 recorded in their ancient pictorial annals, was a real histo- 

 rical event. This opinion accords with that of Mr Ruxton, 

 who read a memoir on the same subject during the last ses- 

 sion of the Ethnological Society. 



Some other contributions to American Ethnology have been 

 made during the last year. There are several papers on 

 American languages, chiefly those of the north-western part 

 of the Continent, by our learned colleague Dr Latham, and 

 others by Mr Isbister, which may be seen in the recently pub- 



