THE HUMAN SPECIES. 201 



date to a great territorial cataclysis, which submerged 

 a continent beneath or on the south of the line. It is 

 also evident, that around them, and northward, up the 

 Indus, to the southern foot of the Himalayas, the 

 (Xishada) most ancient nations, with some relation to 

 the distance from their equatorial centre, bear strong 

 marks, in structure, intellectual capacity, habits, colour, 

 and hair, of a succession of intermixtures with races 

 coming down by the gorge of the Bramaputra, and 

 along the eastern secondaries of the great mountain 

 range, causing a Mongolic adulteration; and, on the 

 north-west, by the Cabul and Indus, another of Cau- 

 casian blood, passing to the plains of India in over- 

 powering numbers ; and by the Ganges and Jumna ; 

 likewise along the western flanks of the range from 

 Cashmere, and indeed from China itself, where, in the 

 earliest ages, the bearded race had numerous colonies. 

 But there is no evidence of the woolly haired stock 

 possessing, at any time, the valleys above the secon- 

 dary ranges, since none are now found shut up in the 

 colder mountains ; and the bearded races, tenants of the 

 region, are fair, and not unfrequently marked by grey 

 eyes, and light or red curled hair, showing how remote 

 was the starting point from whence they first proceeded. 

 Both the earliest known invasions of the Indian pen- 

 insula, coming in successive waves, demonstrate how 

 variously crossed and intermixed have been the popula- 

 tions already, before the recorded historical repetitions 

 of the same movement took place. Similar events 

 were equally in active operation to the south-west, 



