aa 
ais 
~ 
-are similar, this would seem to show that the original stock was the same. From 
this and other facts, the author thinks that all the tribes of America are of one 
-aboriginal race, except those of Eastern Patagonia. 
In Asia the inhabitants of the Northern and Eastern parts are generally of a yel- 
lower hue, but do not differ much in feature from the Americans. In the west of 
America, the natives look to the West as the place from which they came, and bury 
their dead towards the West (placing them “ towards the spirits of their ancestors,”’ 
.as they say); while the natives of the east coast of Patagonia point to the east- 
ward as the quarter whence they came, and they bury their dead on the highest hills 
to the eastward for a similar reason. Itis remarkable that none of them derive their 
origin from their present localities in America. In Africa the natives point to the 
North as the place of their origin ; and, briefly, all aboriginal tribes have been found 
by travellers and the learned to derive their origin more or less directly from the 
central regions of Asia. 
It may be asked, How could they have migrated so far in those early days? Land 
travelling probably was not difficult, however slow, while the power of crossing the 
sea in early times is not perhaps sufficiently appreciated in general. The double 
canoe of the South Sea or Polynesian Islands is not commonly known, and is nearly 
extinct as it formerly existed. 
It was one of the most sea-worthy vessels that could have been devised in those 
primitive times, and in such vessels families could have migrated not only along 
coasts, but across oceans; where no doubt they were liable to be driven far away 
from their intended destination by unexpected winds, and perhaps currents. Such 
casualties may have been the cause of early cannibalism. 
Regarding the possible connexion of those who migrated from Asia (the Tartar 
‘and Malay race) with the tribes of the west coast of America, independently of 
intercourse by Behring’s Strait, the author remarks that if Malays were driven into 
‘the winds which always blow westward—anti-trades or moonsoons—they must go 
towards the coast of America, which we know has happened within the last few 
centuries, and would account for their derivation of origin from Asia. 
The habits and appearance of the Aborigines of Chiloe and Western Patagonia 
‘correspond with many of the New Zealander’s peculiarities. The black races of 
Polynesia are a mixed breed, between the genuine Negro and the reddish-brown 
man, or Malay. 
On one little island of the Indian Ocean (the Keeling or Cocos), an Englishman 
was found married to a mixed or half-breed Malay. Their children were of a rich 
bright red copper colour. Some children of Englishmen and native New Zealand 
women were not of that colour in the first generation, but were so in the second. 
Of this the author can bear ocular testimony. The result of the whole inquiry is 
thus expressed :—‘‘ To reduce races to their original or primitive number, we can 
only reach to the white and the black by tracing back the intermixtures.” The 
author concludes by referring to some passages of the Scriptures which bear on this 
subject. —__—_——_ 
On some Skulls discovered in an ancient Sepulchral Mound near Mount 
Wilson in King’s County, Ireland. By Joun GRATTAN. 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 131 
On the Progress already made in the Transcription and Translation of the 
Ancient Laws of Ireland, called the Brehon Laws. By the Rev. Professor 
GRAVES. 
The author referred to the array of quarto MS. volumes on the table before him, 
as evidence of the amount of work that had been already accomplished. The first 
thing done, after ascertaining all the MSS. of those laws that were to be found in 
the libraries of Trinity College, the Royal Irish Academy, the British Museum, and 
‘the Bodleian Library, was to entrust the transcription to Dr. O’Donovan and Mr. 
Curry. This was commenced in 1853; and at the present time about six thousand 
' quarto pages of manuscript had been transcribed, and about two thousand pages had 
been translated. The transcript had been executed in anastatic ink, which enabled 
- them to make several copies,—one great advantage of which was that they had been 
g* 
