MEMOIR OF C. F. P. VON MAETIUS. 



177 



Having given some acconnt of Martins' more important botanical 

 labors, we will briefly allnde to his great merits as an ethnologist. 

 Dnring his travels in Sonth America he became deeply interested in the 

 aboriginal tribes, and collected, in conjunction with his traveling com- 

 panion, many valuable facts relating to their mode of life, relationship, 

 languages, migrations, &c. It has already been stated that a consider- 

 able portion of the "Travels in Brazil," by Spix and Martins, is devoted 

 to the ethnology of that country. Martins, however, published subse- 

 quently several valuable treatises relating to ethnological subjects, 

 which will be mentioned hereafter; but his most important ethnologi- 

 cal work, entitled Beitiiige ::ur Ethnograpliie und Sprachenlcunde Aincrikas, 

 zumal Brasiliens, (Leipzig, 1807,)* which was published shortly before 

 his death, and therefore contains his matured views, deserves particu- 

 lar notice. The Beitmrje comprise two octavo volumes, the first of S02, 

 the second of 548 pages. An ethnographic map is added to the first 

 volume. Its conteuts are : 



1. Die Yerganfjenheit vnd Zulninft der ameri'kamsclien Mcnsclilieit^] a 

 lecture delivered in 1838, at a meeting of German naturalists and phy- 

 sicians, and first published in 1839. 



2. A republication of the admirable treatise Yon dem Rechfsznsfande 

 itnter den Urehiwolmern BrasUiens^X first published in 1832. This is cer- 

 tainly one of the most interesting essays ever written on American 

 ethnology, although Martins' view of a degeneration of the Brazilian 

 Indians from a higher state of civilization may be contrary to the 

 opinions of many anthropologists. 



3. The remainder of the volume (pp. 115-801) is taken up with a 

 description of the native tribes who inhabit Brazil and the adjacent 

 regions. It is minute, accurate, and vivid, much more full than \Vaitz, 

 and enriched by numerous personal observations. Martins is a believer 

 in the gradual extension of the Tupi language and blood from the head- 

 waters of the La Plata northward, quite to the Antilles and Baha- 

 mas. § 



The second volume, entirely devoted to South American languages 

 contains over a hundred vocabularies, which are arranged in allied 

 gronps exhibiting the alfinity of tongues. Being of the utmost import- 

 ance in tracing the relationship of nations, they furnish highly valuable 

 material to the student of American ethnology. Many of these vocab- 

 ularies are from manuscript sources. In rendering the aboriginal words 

 the Latin, Portuguese, German, and French languages have been 

 emi>lo,>ed. The articles Ffianzennamen in der Tupi-tSpraclieW and Thicr- 

 namcn in der Tnpi-i^praclie^S\ first printed, respectively, in 1858 and 1800, 

 are republished witli additions in this volume. 



Besides the above-mentioned ethnological essays reprinted in the 

 Beitriifie, Martins, as stated, has left some other contributions of kindred 

 character, which appeared in periodical publications. We give here the 

 following titles translated into English : On the sculptures on Mount 

 Gabia," near Eio Janeiro.** On Buschmaun's work — " The traces of the 



* Coutributions to the ethnography and philology of America, esj)ecially of Brazil. 



t The ])ast and future of the American race. 



t On tlie civil aud social condition of the aljorigines of Brazil. 



^ In a letter which Martins addressed, shortly l)efore his death, to Dr. D. G. Brinton, 

 of Philadelphia, he expresses himself on this point even more decidedly than in the 

 Beitrcigc. 



II Names of plants in the Tupi language. 



11 Names of animals in the Tupi language. 



** Ucber die Scul^pturen auf dem Berge Gabia hci Eio dc Janeiro. (GeJthie Anzci(jev, 1843, 

 Nos. 38, 39.) 



12 s 



