56 



to the spread of Asiatic i-ulture t-nstw.ird across the Pacific, while the 

 peculiarities of the cultivated ))l;uit.s of America point to its isolation 

 from all the rest of tlie world; an isolation which is further establislied 

 by a radical dissimilarity of all American languages from Old World 

 linguistic stocks. In no language of the New ^^'orld, for example, is 

 there a vestige of Hebrew, which would support tiie cherished theory 

 of the migration to this continent of the lost tribes of Jsrael ; nor is 

 there a suggestion of any linguistic element to ind*icate connection 

 with the Chinese, nor ,iny relationshij) between the builders of the 

 American pyramids and those of Egypt. 



There are many distinct grou])s of American languages. Very often 

 the language of a tribe is quite unlike that of its nearest neighlx)rs: 

 while at the same time it may resemble the languages of tribes quite 

 remiote. This fact indicates former segregation of the various groups 

 speaking the unlike languages and a common ancestry or close associa- 

 tion of the tribes speaking the allied diilects. As examples. I might 

 mention the Quichua Indians of Peru, whose language is very unlike 

 tile languages spoken by the Arawak and Cirib Indians to their north- 

 ward and, at the same time, quite distinct from the languages of their 

 Brazilian neighbors to the eastward. The Aztecs of Mexico spoke a 

 language differing radically in structure as well as in vocabulary from 

 the Maya language of their Yucatan neigh'bors; yet there is unquestion- 

 ably a relationship between the Aztecs and a number of very distant 

 tribes, shown by resemblances of their languages, as in the case of the 

 Shoshone Indians of the northern United States and the Nahuati 

 tribes of Salvador and Costa Rica. In the snme way, the Algonquian 

 dialects, which differ greatly from those of the Iroquoian, show a close 

 relationship between very widely scattered tribes in North America, 

 from North Carolina to Quebec. Such resemblances and radical 

 differences point to a very remote and long-continued segregation 

 which permitted the independent formation of distinct linguistic stocks; 

 while the antiquity of man in America, both north and south of the 

 equator, is further attested by the development of such a cultvated 

 and highly specialized food staple as rmaize, whose ancestral prototype 

 we have sought in vain. Its endless varieties, fitted for widely diverse, 

 conditions of soil and climate, also point to .1 long period of cultiva- 

 tion in dissimilar culture-areas, which enabled them to adapt themselves 

 to condiitions very different from those of the original stock from which 

 they sprang. 



