VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 219 



traditions and records may not enable us to trace the suc- 

 cession of the human race from its origin downwards 5 or 

 whether we may not be able to follow back particular tribes 

 or nations to the period of their first descent or establish- 

 ment. We soon find that these efforts are unavailing ; that 

 neither the annals nor the traditions of any people reacli 

 back to the remote ages when the various ramifications of 

 the original stock — if there were any such — separated from 

 each other, and took possession of the different countries 

 where they are now settled. We cannot trace the branches 

 of any such family, nor point out the time and manner in 

 which they divided and spread over the face of the globe. 

 Even among the most enlightened people, the period of 

 authentic history is short, and every thing beyond that 

 period is fabulous and obscure. 



The Jewish annals, in which it is not always easy to se- 

 parate and distinguish what ought to be received as literally 

 true, although of very high antiquity, merely relate to the 

 transactions of a small tribe and some of their neighbours. 

 The Indian and Chinese, also very ancient, are equally con- 

 fined. The phrase " Graecia mendax" has long ago afforded 

 a caution against placing much reliance on the early tradi- 

 tions transmitted by the Greeks. 



In the introduction to his great work on language, 

 Adelung * has summed up what history discloses to us on 

 this subject ; and, as it has an important reference to the 

 present object of inquiry, I hope the length of the extract 

 will be excused. 



" Asia has been in all times regarded as the country 

 where the human race had its beginning, received its first 

 education, and from which its increase was spread over the 

 rest of the globe. 



" Tracing the people up to tribes, and the tribes to fami- 

 lies, we are conducted at last, if not by history, at least by 



• Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde, &c. Ir. th. Berlin, 1806. 

 2r. 3r. 4r. th. von J, S. Vater, Berlin, 1809—1817; a most important 

 work in relation to the history of our species, and the affinities and migra- 

 tions of various tribes. 



