168 Dr Pritchard uii the Extinction of Human Ihices. 



been of great extent. In the remotest pai-ts of Northern and 

 Eastern Asia, remains have been discovered, which prove that 

 nearly the whole of that great continent was once occupied by 

 human races whose very names have perished. Some of these 

 nations appear to have made some progress in arts and civili- 

 /.ation. Their tombs are found spread over the countries east- 

 ward of Jenisey. In those remote countries, such remains are in 

 o-reat numbers and of magnificent construction ; they contain 

 ornaments and various implements of silver, gold, and copper ; 

 there are girdles of the precious metals, bracelets decked with 

 pearls. In the same tombs are fragments of earthen manu- 

 factory or porcelain. I shall not at present detail the argu- 

 ments which have satisfied the learned academicians of St 

 Petersburg, that such relics belonged to races of people long 

 since extinct, who must have disappeared before the light of 

 history dawned upon these countries, but shall hasten to re- 

 mark, that discoveries leading to a similar result have been 

 traced throuoh the Xew World, from the countries bordering 

 on the Mississippi and Ohio, where tombs are found contain- 

 ing skeletons of a different conformation from that of the pre- 

 sent tribes, to the high table-land of Titicaca in the Peru- 

 vian Cordillera, where these strangely formed skulls are seen 

 ^vhich deviate so widely from the usual form of human heads. 

 Even in the islands of Polynesia vestiges are discovered, which 

 have been referred to a former race of inhabitants ; and, to 

 conclude this series of observations, there are facts which in- 

 dicate that extensive countries in Europe were occupied by 

 races of a different physical character from the pi-esent na- 

 tives, in times which preceded the arrival of Celts and Goths, 

 and other Indo-Germanic nations from the East. 



I shall now pass to another view of the subject, for the sake 

 of introducing which, I have been led to offer these remarks. 

 The extermination of human races is still going on. Whatever 

 were the causes which destroyed the ancient tribes, we know 

 to what agency we are to attribute the similar fate of many na- 

 tions who have perished since the historic age commenced. 

 How many whole races have become extinct during the few 

 centuries which have elapsed since the modern system of co- 

 lonization commenced ? The Guanches, the numerous peo- 



