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EARLY HISTORY OF MANKIND. 



THE human race is known to consist of numerous nations, 

 displaying considerable differences of external form and 

 colour, and speaking in general different languages. This 

 has been the case since the commencement of written record. 

 It is also ascertained that the external peculiarities of parti- 

 cular nations do not change rapidly. While a people remain 

 upon one geographical area, and under the influence of one 

 set of conditions, they always exhibit a tendency to persistency 

 of type, insomuch that a subordinate admixture of various 

 type is usually obliterated in a few generations. Numerous 

 as the varieties are, they have all been found classifiable 

 under five leading ones: 1. The Caucasian, or Indo-Euro- 

 pean, which extends from India into Europe and Northern 

 Africa ; 2. The Mongolian, which occupies Northern and 

 Eastern Asia ; 3. The Malayan, which extends from the 

 Ultra- Gangetic Peninsula into the numerous islands of the 

 South Seas and Pacific ; 4. The Negro, chiefly confined to 

 Africa ; 5. The aboriginal American. Each of these is dis- 

 tinguished by certain general features of so marked a kind, 

 as to suggest to many inquirers that they have had distinct 

 or independent origins. Of these peculiarities, colour is the 

 most conspicuous : the Caucasians are generally white, the 

 Mongolians yellow, the Negroes black, and the Americans 

 red. The opposition of two of these in particular, white and 

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