1 70 Memorial of George Brown Goode. 



on the progenitors of the different races. These opposite views are supported at the 

 present day by writers of the highest authority, and as the question is evidently one 

 to be settled not by reasoning so much as by observation, every fact bearing on this 

 point merits to be recorded. The Institute possesses a small collection of crania, 

 obtained by the Exp[loring] Expedition, which will afford some useful results, and 

 the series of Indian portraits due to the War Department may be considered, in 

 this respect, invaluable. 



A third division of this study is comparative philology or the science of languages. 

 Speech has been called the first and highest development of human reason ; it is 

 also the clue by which we trace more evenly than by any other means, the affiliation 

 of tribes and the relationship which exists between different nations. By the com- 

 parison of languages we can prove that nearly all the nations of Europe — whether 

 of Celtic, or Latin, or German, or Sclavonic origin — are not only closely allied one to 

 another, but belong to the same stock with the inhabitants of Persia and Hindustan. 

 By the same means we ascertain that a race of Malay origin has peopled all the 

 islands of Polynesia. Modern philologists have discovered that the natives of Amer- 

 ica, from the arctic sea to Cape Horn, speak languages which, though dissimilar in 

 words, possess a striking grammatical resemblance — like different metals cast in the 

 same mould. 



In the pursuit of this interesting study, the importance of obtaining vocabularies 

 of the languages spoken by secluded or newly discovered tribes is easily seen. 

 Manuscript works in language of which little is known are also of great value for 

 the investigation of their grammatical structiires, and the collection of East Indian 

 manuscripts brought home by the Exploring Expedition may be signaled as possess- 

 ing unusual interest. The Institute is not less indebted to Mr. Stephens for the 

 monumental slabs from Central America, covered with those remarkable hieroglyph- 

 ics, which are now awaiting the appearance of some new Champollin to unfold 

 their mysterious piu-port. 



In search of these departments of ethnographical science, all persons whose pur- 

 suits bring them in eontact with many varieties of one kind, and in particular the 

 officers of the navy in foreign stations, have an opportunity, by obtaining and trans- 

 mitting articles of native workmanship — crania or mummies of particular tribes, and 

 vocabularies or manuscripts of languages little known — to add materials to the gen- 

 eral stock, which may hereafter be of invaluable service to the scientific investigator. 



H. Hai,®. 

 November, 1842. 



OUTLINES OF THE ETHNOGRAPHICAL COLLECTIONS, CHIEFLY 

 FROM THE EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



NEW HOI<I«AND. 



Buckles, or small narrow shields. 



Boomerangs, the singular missile, often described. 



Waddies or clubs. 



The throwing stick, adjutant for throwing javelins. 



Beads or wampum, made of the stem of a grass, etc. 



FIJI ISI.ANDS. 



War clubs of various patterns, and the .small war clubs used as a missile. 



Bows and arrows, slings. 



Spears, both for war and fishing. 



Wooden idols, oracles, headdress of priest, sacred cava cup, etc. 



Wigs, combs, turbans, etc. 



