PROGNATHOUS STOCK. 279 



Thibet. It is, perhaps, too presumptuous to say, with some, that in these 

 languages the imperfection of the first attempt at speech is to be 

 recognised ; an imperfection continued for thousands of years, without im- 

 provement, and remaining, as it was formed, in the " cradle of our species ;" 

 for what do we know of the state of language in the cradle of our 

 species ? But, it may be affirmed, that, however it arose, and from whatever 

 cause it continues, it opposes a great barrier to the progress of true civiliza- 

 tion, and the advancement of science and literature ; though it cannot 

 be conceded, that the people who speak such a language "must ever 

 remain children in understanding." The monosyllabic condition of language 

 is not, however, by any means a universal concomitant of the Mongole or 

 Turanian type of physical structure : on the contrary, the Mongoles, the 

 Calmucs, the Burats, the Samoiedes, and even the Mantchous, have a 

 polysyllabic language ; as have, also, the Esquimaux and Greenlanders : 

 but, as far as known, it is to nations of the Mongole type that languages of 

 a monosyllabic structure are limited. 



PROGNATHOUS STOCK. 



AFRO-NEGRO BRANCH. This branch includes the races usually com- 

 prehended under the term Negro, or Ethiopian. 



The indigenes of Egypt, Ethiopia, Abyssinia, and Atlantica may be 

 regarded as constituting a sort of link between the typical forms of the 

 Caucasian stock, and the races to which the term Negro, or Ethiopian, 

 is more or less correctly, but generally, applied. Their approximation 

 toward the true Negro, varying, however, in degree, may be detected in 

 many of their physical characters ; for example, in the form of the 

 eye, the elevation of the cheek-bones, the thickness of the lips, and the 

 texture of the hair, which, though not woolly, is more or less crisp, or 

 frizzled : and it would seem as if the peculiar features of the Ethiopic 

 and Atlantic branches of the Japetic stock (they might be denominated 

 Afro-Caucasian) were the first steps toward those stronger traits which 

 characterize the Negro, and which, in some of this race, are carried out 

 to their maximum. In the first receding step there is no loss of grace, 

 of beauty, or of intellectual expression ; yet we feel that a receding step 

 has taken place, and, also, that this step is toward the Negro. This fact 

 was perceived by Ledyard, who says, " I suspect the Copts to have been 

 the origin* of the Negro race ; the nose and lips correspond with those 



with the advantages of a polysyllabic language. The Cambojan has many rough sounds; the Peguan 

 is remarkable for harshness ; the Laos, for clumsiness ; and the Burman for an abundance of nasal 

 sounds ; while the Siamese maintains, among them all, the same character as the Italian among the 

 Roman dialects. Compared to the Chinese, in regard to sounds, it is richer, because it has more initials, 

 diphthongs, and finals, to form them." Gutzlaff on Siamese Language ; Trans. Royal Asiatic Soc.vol. iii. 

 * We do not agree with Ledyard, as to the Coptic origin of the Negroes : it is his testimony, as to 

 the inclination of the Coptic features towards those of the Negro merely, that we wish to notice. 



