76 GEOGRAPHICAL AND LOCAL 



Ham ; the Shemites in the lapse of ages, pass- 

 ing over to America, were the progenitors of the 

 red or copper race of that continent. Nor were 

 there any insurmountable obstacles in the way 

 to prevent the peopling of the globe from one 

 common stock. Supposing Babel or Babylon 

 to have been, so to speak, the centre of irradia- 

 tion how easy was the transit for Ham's de- 

 scendants into Africa by the Isthmus of Suez ; 

 into Europe, the path was still more open for those 

 of Japhet ; and as the stream of population 

 spread to the East, the passage to America was 

 not difficult to those who had arrived at Behrings 

 Straits. But in all these countries mixtures with 

 the aborigines have probably taken place, either 

 from the irruption and colonizations of great 

 conquerors, the spread of commerce and similar 

 causes, which naturally tend to produce varia- 

 tions in races from the primitive type. Hence 

 writers on this subject now reckon six races dis- 

 tinguished by their colour, viz. a white race ; a 

 tawny race ; a red race ; a deep brown race ; a 

 brown-black race ; and a black race. 



This leads me to the other theory alluded to 

 above, that there are different species of men as 

 well as of other animals. The principal foun- 

 dation upon which those naturalists have built 

 their theory, that have adopted the opinion, 

 that there are several distinct species of men 

 originally created, is not only their colour, but 



