THE HUMAN SPECIES. 259 



or to entire absorption. Yet, in some parts of the tro- 

 pical latitudes, in Yucatan for instance, so great an 

 amalgamation of the white with indigenous tribes and 

 with negro imported slaves, has taken place, that this 

 mixed population, becoming sensible of numerical su- 

 periority, as well as of the more intense energy they 

 possess in those climates, are now asserting their power, 

 and ultimately this hybrid race may prove a more 

 serious opponent to the white Man's insatiable cupi- 

 dity, than the descendants of European conquerors 

 have yet had to encounter. 



We have not space to enter into the geographical 

 details of the distribution of the indigenous tribes, fur- 

 ther than has been already done, nor to advert more par- 

 ticularly to their dialects ; for hordes, without letters 

 or great national expansion, and which are constantly 

 subdividing, exterminating by mutual slaughter, or 

 perishing from constitutional liability to disease, and 

 therefore by no means able to form durable communities 

 and persisting dialects. This last observation is already 

 perceptible in the catechisms and prayers printed in the 

 Huron and other languages, by French missionaries, 

 not quite a century ago, and now only understood, in 

 consequence of daily repetition and careful explanation. 

 At least, such was the information we received on the 

 spot. One people we must, however, except from the 

 rest, namely, the Carib, or that portion of the Carib 

 tribes which still occupies parts of the maritime border 

 of north-eastern South America, because, as we have 

 before observed, many opinions, institutions, and even 



