ADVERTISEMENT. 



THE present memoir was first referred to a commission consisting of Professor 

 J. H. Mcllvaine and Professor William Henry Green, of Princeton, New Jersey, 

 who recommended its publication, but advised certain changes in the method of 

 presenting the subject. After these modifications had been made, it was submitted 

 to the American Oriental Society, and was by it referred to a special committee, 

 consisting of Messrs. Hadley, Trumbull, and Whitney, who, having critically 

 examined the memoir, reported that it contained a series of highly interesting 

 facts which they believed the students of philology and ethnology, though they 

 might not accept all the conclusions of the author, would welcome as valuable 

 contributions to science. 



JOSEPH HENRY, 



Secretary S. I. 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 

 1870. 



(iii) 



