THE HUMAN SPECIES. 277 



tribes, the Nogais, Kirguise, Turkoman, and Jakoutsk, 

 retain the original structure of the Mongolian form ; 

 while the Turks further betray their hybrid character, 

 by the number of Sanscrit words found in the language 

 they speak, which, since they were not among the 

 ancient invaders of India, must have been incorpo- 

 rated on the north side of the great central mountain 

 systems of Asia, and consequently from a Caucasian 

 people, whose tongue was a dialect of this great lan- 

 guage ; proving that it had a national existence much 

 further to the north than is commonly surmised. The 

 name Turks, Toorkees, may designate mountain men ; 

 for it agrees with their earliest history, as given in 

 the Chinese annals, according to Klaproth, Abel Re- 

 musat, and others, who assert, that they descend from 

 the Hiong-nou, a people whose capital was Kantcheou, 

 in Tangut, and that they came down the snowy passes of 

 Tang-nu and the great Altai upon the west, probably 

 by the upper Irtish and the affluents of the Jaxartes. 

 The same annals, however, pretend, that they were 

 seated on the northern flanks of the mountain ranges, 

 which may refer to their remoter habitation on the 

 Irtish, but not near the Shensi and Shansi provinces, 

 unless it was after the Yuchi nations were ejected, 

 for these were still opposed to the Mongols in those 

 very regions ; and the abundance of local names now 

 remaining in Thibet, show, that Caucasians occupied 

 a great portion of the high land plateau to a late 

 period. It must have taken ages to dislodge tribes, 

 which we find in subsequent periods making a prodi- 



