THE HUMAN SPECIES. 313 



the Baltic ; the first, composed originally of true Veneti 

 from the Adriatic, strengthened by Celtae from the 

 same quarter by Roman outlaws and fugitives by 

 Celto-Scythse, that reached the north by ascending 

 the Sarmatian rivers, and by Yeta or Goths from the 

 Lake of Ladoga, all cemented together by marriages 

 with Finnic wives, a practice that commenced at 

 least three centuries before the reign of Augustus, and 

 which finished by forming the tribes denationalized by 

 all the immediate people around them into that power, 

 which, under the name of Vandals and Venden, pene- 

 trated, about five centuries later, southward to the seat 

 of their relatives or progenitors.* A second commu- 

 nity formed after their departure, and retaining only 

 a part of the former population, was composed of Finnic 

 Sarmatians still more heterogeneous ; for the first, aris- 

 ing out of a congregation of merchants, who had taken 

 wives from the Finn or Sclavonic resident tribes, 

 formed a homogeneous community, without tribal dis- 

 tinctions, and assenting to the same pagan divinities ; 

 but the second was an assemblage of clans, which re- 

 tained their distinct nationalities, lived in separate 

 quarters, and even distinct castles, until they rebelled 

 against the authority of the magistrates. These 

 people were known to the Huns by the name of Vuinid 

 Fulce, the same as the Celtic, Wenid Vole, and Theo- 

 tisk Wenden Folk, and the acceptation of Wend or 

 Vend, is still retained in the modern Belgic Vent, a 



* They first appeared in arms, against the Romans, in 

 ^the reign of M. Aurelius, A.D. 173. 



