ON ETHNIC MIGEATIONS. 



example, — that now going on in Central Africa, where the Arab 

 and Berber tribes of the north are pushing southward into 

 Soudan, and converting the negro tribes of that country to the 

 Mahometan religion, which, being superior to the Fetishism of 

 the natives, makes itself felt in the elevation of the negro type. 

 Mahometanism there is certainly not dying out, as some have 

 supposed it to be, and as it is in other parts, where it is in 

 contact with a superior religion. The whole history of Mahomet- 

 anism shows it to be throughout a military migration. Animated 

 by a desire for conquest to spread the religion, the Arabs 

 penetrated into distant countries, and Arab arms carried their 

 religion to the Oxus and the Indus, and through N'orth Africa 

 to the Atlantic, Spain, Italy, and various parts of Europe, and 

 it is said that traces of Arab blood can even now be discovered 

 in Canton Yalais. 



Among these may be placed the Crusades, which were in the 

 contrary direction. Ethnically, they were of but little importance. 

 Yery little Prankish blood can now be found in Syria. Their 

 effects were chiefly moral. The expulsion of the Moors from 

 Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella is an instance of forced religious 

 migration. Similar to this, was the departure of the Huguenots 

 from France, though their departure was more voluntary than 

 otherwise, as the French government did all in its power to retain 

 them, and placed all possible obstacles in the way to prevent 

 their going. Immense numbers left their homes, for England, 

 Holland, and Germany. Smiles says that from Normandy alone 

 there were 184,000 refugees. Though these numbers are 

 probably exaggerated, yet the movement was a very important one, 

 socially and morally, and many effects of their immigration still 

 remain. Little marked effect, however, has been left on the 

 national type, and, except in Spitalfields, their descendants can 

 scarcely be traced. 



The third class consists of those movements of large bodies of 

 men, who settle in foreign countries for commercial purposes. 

 Such are our trading settlements in China and Japan in the 



