64 MEMOIRS OF 



the affinities of its four principal languages are more niulti- 

 plied. — The Sanscrit, which is still the sacred language oi 

 the Hindoos, is the parent of most of the Hindostanee tongues. 

 The Pelasgic was the source whence came the Greek, Latin; 

 and present dialects of the south of Europe. The Gothic 

 or Teutonic, whence are derived the north and north-west 

 languages, such as German, Dutch, English, Danish, Swe- 

 dish, and their varieties ; and, lastly, the Sclavonic, vrhence 

 came the languages of the north-east, viz. the Russian, the 

 Polish, the Bohemian, and the Vendean. It is this great 

 and respectable branch of the Caucasian race which has 

 carried philosophy, science, and art to their greatest perfec- 

 tion, and of which it has been the depositary for thirty cen- 

 turies. The inhabitants of the north, such as the Samo- 

 yedes, the Laplanders, and the Esquimaux, come, accord- 

 ing to some, from the l^Iongolian race, and according to 

 others they are the degenerated offspring of the Scythian 

 and Tartaric branch of the Caucasian. The Americans 

 cannot be clearly brought back to either of our races of the 

 Old World ; and yet, nevertheless, they do not possess a 

 sufficiently precise and constant character to form a peculiar 

 race. Their copper complexion is far from being enough : 

 their black hair and their beard would approach them to 

 the Mongolian, if their marked features, their nose, equally 

 projecting with our own, their large and open eyes, did not 

 oppose this idea, and assimilate them to our European 

 forms. Their languages are as innumerable as their na- 

 tions ; and no one has as yet been able to seize on demon- 

 strative analogies between themselves or between them and 

 the inhabitants of the ancient Continent." 



The second order of Mammalia, is that of the Q.uadru- 

 mana, or apes, who are many of them men without reason : 

 the third contains the Carnivora, which affords lions, tigers, 

 Soc. and all that we can imagine of fearfulness and ferocity ; 

 and yet, from whence we derive our faithful dogs, our do- 

 mestic cats, and our most beautiful furs. The fourth is 

 named Marsupialia, and consists of those singular animals 

 whose young are prematurely born, and take refuge after- 

 wards in a pocket attached to the body of the mother, till 

 they are able to take care of themselves. The fiftli. Roden- 

 tia, is that in which we find squirrels, rats, beavers, har es 



