[5] 



these monster rivers, passing their time in hunting their less fortunate 

 brethren of the animal kind. In course of time they multiplied and 

 spread over the entire continent, killing all such monsters as interfered 

 with their safety or comfort, and gradually dividing and sub-dividing 

 into families and races, each acquiring, under the influence of the two 

 laws of selection and adaptation, peculiarities and characteristics not 

 common to the remainder. One branch wandered away to the west 

 and south, becoming the progenitors of the South African races ; 

 another found its way to the east and south, to people Australasia ; 

 while a third struck out towards the north, overrunning Malaya, Burmah, 

 and Southern India. This last branch, which we term the Malay, or 

 Polynesian, subdivided into two distinct families the Mongolian, or 

 Turanian, the progenitors of the ancient Chinese, Ural Turks, Akka- 

 dians, and Finns; and the Caucasian, or Iranian, the first human 

 inhabitants of South-Western Asia. Of these Iranians one stream, it is 

 supposed, found its way to the banks of the Nile, and became, in course 

 of time, a distinct and powerful Egyptian race; another, the Semitic, 

 followed the direction of the Persian Gulf, and settled in Arabia and 

 along the banks of the Euphrates ; while a third, which we call the 

 Aryan or Indo-Germanic, covered India, Afghanistan, and Northern 

 Persia, gradually extending along the northern shores of the Black Sea 

 into Europe. 



Now, as already stated, the earliest known records of any race are 

 the hymns of the Jtig- Veda, composed among the Aryans of Northern 

 Persia, probably from earlier traditions handed down to them from the 

 older Iranian stock, or even from the still earlier Polynesians ; and it is 

 remarkable that in all ancient mythological records, as well as on monu- 

 mental inscriptions, the same vein of solar myth as is found in the 

 Rig- Veda is clearly traceable beneath the accumulated mythological lore 

 of future ages. The main idea in all mythologies seems to have been 

 that of a saviour-deity conquering the evil genius of night, or winter, 

 and bringing back the day, or summer, to replenish the earth. As 

 already stated, Indra was to the Aryans of the early Vedic period the 

 saviour-god who, with his companions, Vishnu and Rudra, leads forth 

 Agni, the god of celestial and terrestrial fire, to the bosom of Varuna, 

 where his influence operates upon Soma, the fertilizer of earth. A 

 conqueror from early morn to midday, Indra's power grows weaker as 

 the evening approaches, until at last the twilight yields him up to 

 Vritra, who slays him, after which he is tormented by Ahi, the dragon, 

 for the remainder of the night. This drama was probably derived from 

 the original Iranian stock, and as probably underwent considerable 

 modification before being finally committed to writing as a cultus by 

 the Aryans ; and, therefore, we should expect to find some resemblance 



