xviii THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA 285 



many respects, they are all, or nearly all, constructed on the same 

 general grammatical principle that called poly synthesis which 

 differs from that of the languages of any of the Old World 

 nations. The mental characteristics of all the American 

 tribes have much that is in common ; and the very different 

 stages of culture to which they had attained at the time of 

 the conquest, as that of the Incas and Aztecs, and the hunting 

 or fishing tribes of the north and south, which have been 

 quoted as evidence of diversities of race, were not greater than 

 those between different nations of Europe, as Gauls and Germans 

 on the one hand, and Greeks and Romans on the other, in the 

 time of Julius Caesar. Yet all these were Aryans, and in 

 treating the Americans as one race it is not intended that 

 they are more closely allied than the different Aryan people of 

 Europe and Asia. The best argument that can be used for 

 the unity of the American race using the word in a broad 

 sense is the great difficulty of forming any natural divisions 

 founded upon physical characters. The important character 

 of the hair does not differ throughout the whole continent. 

 It is always straight and lank, long and abundant on the 

 scalp, but sparse elsewhere. The colour of the skin is practi- 

 cally uniform, notwithstanding the enormous differences of 

 climate under which many members, of the group exist. In 

 the features and cranium certain special modifications prevail 

 in different districts, but the same forms appear at widely- 

 separated parts of the continent. I have examined skulls 

 from Vancouver's Island, from Peru, from Patagonia, and from 

 Jamaica, which were almost undistinguishable from one another. 

 Naturalists who have admitted but three primary types 

 of the human species have always found a difficulty with 

 the Americans, hesitating between placing them with the 

 Mongolian or so-called "yellow" races, or elevating them 

 to the rank of a primary group. Cuvier does not seem to 

 have been able to settle this point to his own satisfaction, 

 and leaves it an open question. Although the large majority 

 of Americans have in the special form of the nasal bones, 

 leading to the characteristic high bridge of the nose of the 

 living face, in the well -developed superciliary ridge and re- 

 treating forehead, characters which distinguish them from the 



