ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 177 



in 45 of latitude, or in the temperate zone which is most 

 favourable to mental development, is too considerable to 

 admit of the probability of such an accidental settlement 

 taking place in that latitude. We must, then, assume the 

 first landing to have been made in the inhospitable climate 

 of from 55 to 65, and that the civilisation thus intro- 

 duced, like the general movement of population in America, 

 has proceeded by successive stations from north to south 

 (Humboldt, Eelat. historique, t. iii. p. 155-160). The 

 remains of ships from Cathay, i. e., from Japan or China, 

 were supposed to have been found on the coasts of the 

 northern Dorado, (called Quivira and Cibora) at the be- 

 ginning of the 16th century (Gomara, Hist, general de las 

 Indias, p. 117). 



Our knowledge of the languages of America is still too 

 limited, considering their great variety, for us as yet 

 entirely to relinquish the hope of some day discovering an 

 idiom which may have been spoken, with certain modifi- 

 cations, at once in the interior of South America and in 

 that of Asia; or which may at least indicate an ancient 

 affinity. Such a discovery would certainly be one of the 

 most brilliant which can be expected in reference to the 

 history of mankind. But analogies of language only deserve 

 confidence when the enquirer, not resting in or dwelling on 

 resemblances of sound in the roots, traces the analogies 

 into the organic structure, the grammatical forms, and into 

 all which in languages shews itself as the product of the 

 human intellect and character. 



VOL. I. N 



