THE HUMAN SPECIES. 319 



crown; and though the linguistic affinities were de- 

 scribed, and the religious dogmas were supposed to be 

 sufficiently well known, the recent discovery of a Fin- 

 nic poem, named the Kalewala, shows that the sources 

 of research in the north are far from exhausted, and 

 that their harmonious language was anciently more 

 polished than has been thought.* 



The ancient Finns were however mixed with Yeta 

 races at a very early period ; since a peaceful union 

 between them is clearly shown, in the names of Finn, 

 Suen or Suin, that is, Sweno and Atzel, or Attila, 

 which occur both in the lists of Swedish kings, Lom- 

 bard chiefs, and in part among the Germanic gods. 

 The physical Jotun (Yeta) appear to have been the 

 giant masters of this people, till they were vanquished 

 by the Gothic Asi, and driven to live in rocks and 

 caverns, affording a foundation of that dualism, after- 

 wards inythologically applied for the national runes, 

 which even do not conceal dislike to the Asi, and feli- 

 citously represent them as destined to be ultimately 

 vanquished; for the basis of Scandinavian mythic 

 lore is Finnic. 



Fornjoter, the King, progenitor of the Finnic 

 people, bears not a proper name, but an appellative of 

 distinction. His altars, overthrown by Thor, show a 



* Kalewala, or the adventures of Waina Moina, the god 

 of verse, a Finnic epic poem, in thirty-two runas, pub- 

 lished by Professor Loenroth, a Finn by nation. There is 

 a French version of it by M. Leouzon le Due, 1846; but 

 it is strange we hear of none in German ; though the work 

 is regarded as perfectly genuine. 



