LINGUISTIC AFFINITIES. xliii 



shores of" Goose Lake, chiefly at Uavis Creek, a number of stone mortars 

 are found, fashioned witli a sliai-p point to be inserted into the g-roiind, 

 and that in former times Modoc, Payute, and Pit River Indians contended 

 in many bloody battles for the possession of tliis thickly inhabited country, 

 though none of them could obtain aiiv permanent advantage.* Since the 

 manufacture of this kind of mortars can not be ascribed with certainty to 

 the Modocs, we are not entitled to consider them as antiquarian relics of 

 this special people. The three sudatories and the river barrages are regarded 

 as the gifts of Kmukamtch, a fact which testifies to their remote antiquity. 

 Excavations (wash) forming groups are found on many of the more level 

 spots on the Reservation, near springs or brooks. They prove the existence 

 of former dug-out lodges and camps. 



C. LINGUISTIC AFFINITIES. 



Anthropologic researches upon the origin of a people do not always 

 lead to decisive results as to the qualities of the primitive race of that 

 people, for the majority of all known peoples are compounds from different 

 races, and thus the characteristics of them must be those of a medley race. 

 As to antiquity, language is second to race only, and much more ancient 

 than anything we know of a people's religion, laws, customs, dress, imple- 

 ments, or style of art. Medley languages are not by any means so frequent 

 as medley races, and less frequent still in America than in the eastern hemi- 

 sphere; for in this western world the nations have remained longer in a state 

 t)f isolation than in Asia and Europe, owing to the hunting and fishing pur- 

 suits to which the natives were addicted — pursuits which favor isolation and 

 are antagonistic to the formation of large communities and states. This 

 explains why we possess in America a relatively larger number of linguistic 

 families than the Old World when compared to the areas of the respective 

 continents. It also ex))lains why races coincide here more closely with lin- 

 guistic families than anywhere else on the surface of the globe. Instances 

 when conquering races have prevailed upon other nations to abandon their 



* Contributions to Xortb Amer. Btbnology, III, p. 252. Davis Creek enters Goose 

 Lake fiom the southea.-jt. Tlie IT. 8. Geological Survey map marks "Old ludiau Vil- 

 lages" in latitude 41° .37' and longitude 120° 36', to the southwest of that basin. 



