10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



plausible to assume in this case that branches of this stock migrated 

 from one part of this large area to another, where they intermingled 

 with the neighboring people, and thus changed their physical char- 

 acteristics, while at the same time they retained their speech. With- 

 out historical evidence this process can not, of course, be proved. I 

 shall refer to this example later on. 



Changes of Language and Type 



These two phenomena — a retention of type with a change of 

 language, and a retention of language with a change of type — 

 apparently opposed to each other, are still very closely related, 

 and in many cases go hand in hand. An example of this is, for 

 instance, the distribution of the Arabs along the north coast of 

 Africa. On the whole, the Arab element has retained its language; 

 but at the same time intermarriages with the native races were 

 common, so that the descendants of the Arabs have often retained 

 the old language and have changed their type. On the other hand, 

 the natives have to a certain extent given up their own languages, 

 but have continued to intermarry among themseh^es and have thus 

 preserved their type. So far as any change of tliis kind is connected 

 with intermixture, both types of changes must always occur at tlie 

 same time, and will be classed as a change of type or a change of 

 language, as our attention is directed to the one people or the other, 

 or, in some cases, as the one or the other change is more pronounced. 

 Cases of complete assimilation without any mixture of the people 

 involved seem to be rare, if not. entirely absent. 



Pevitianence of Type and Language; Change of Culture 



Cases of permanence of type and language and of change of culture 

 are much more numerous. As a matter of fact, the whole historical 

 development of Europe, from prehistoric times on, is one endless 

 series of examples of this process, w4iich seems to be much easier, 

 since assimilation of cultures occurs everywhere without actual blood 

 mixture, as an effect of imitation. Proof of diffusion of cultural 

 elements may be found in every single cultural area which covers a 

 district in which many languages are spoken. In North America, 

 California offers a good example of this kind; for here many lan- 

 guages are spoken, and there is a certain degree of differentiation of 

 type, but at the same time a considerable uniformity of culture pre- 



