THE HUMAN SPECIES. 32 1 



THE HUNS. 



THE Huns, originally from Yoguria, being kindred 

 ' the Wogules and Ostiaks, held the region between 

 Tomsk and Tobolsk, till they moved westward to the 

 confines of Europe. De Guines and Klaproth differ 

 on their origin more in degree than fundamentally. 

 They are first noticed in the time of Augustus, by 

 t)ion. Periegetes. In the second century they occupied 

 the extensive region between the Caspian Sea and the 

 Borysthenes, having propelled or incorporated the 

 Gepidae and the eastern Goths. They advanced in 

 A.D. 375 to beyond the borders of the Danube, and 

 became the most formidable power of Asia and Eu- 

 rope ; for, in the fifth century, under Attila, they had 

 sway from the borders of China to the Rhine, his 

 capital city being Buda, or Hunnic Ettelvar. They 

 ravaged with their armies all Germany and the north 

 of France, and penetrated to the gates of Rome. At 

 that period, most of the nomad tribes of Asia were in 

 his service ; hence the nation might have been called 

 ferocious and ill favoured ; but here also the Caucasian 

 element had already so greatly influenced the -external 

 form of the Ispans or higher chiefs, that these were 

 not inferior to any other privileged races of Europe.* 



* The goat face of Attila, with horns and beard, repre- 

 sented on a Latin medal, together with the assertion, that 

 he called himself " Flagellum Dei," is mere monkish quib- 



