502 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



certain races of men ; altogether, fifteen spe- 

 cies of anthropoid monkeys playing their part 

 in the animal population of the world upon 

 an area not equaling by any means the sur- 

 face of Europe. Some of these species are 

 limited to Borneo, others to Sumatra, others 

 to Java alone, others to the peninsula of 

 Malacca ; that is to say to tracts of land simi- 

 lar in extent to Spain, France, Italy, and even 

 to Ireland ; distinct animals, considered by 

 most naturalists as distinct species, approach- 

 ing man most closely in structural eminence 

 and size, limited to areas not larger than Spain 

 or Italy. Why, then, should not the primitive 

 theatre of a nation of men have been circum- 

 scribed within similar boundaries, and from 

 the beginning have been as independent as 

 the chimpanzee of Guinea, or the orangs of 

 Borneo and Sumatra ? Of course, the supe- 

 rior powers of man have enabled him to un- 

 dertake migrations, but how limited are these, 

 and how sKght the traces they have left be- 

 hind them. . . . Unfortunately for natural 

 history, history so-called has recorded more 

 faithfuUy the doings of handfuls of adven- 

 turers than the real history of the primitive 

 nations with whom the migrating tribes came 

 into contact. But I hope it will yet be pos- 



