RESULT NECESSARILY INDEFINITE. 123 



difierent paths of investigation, and all 

 tending to one general result. 



That result, however, is necessarily inde- 

 finite, and cannot be expressed in years. Of 

 the evidence from the dispersion of the 

 Human Race, it may be fairly said that we 

 do not know how rapidly Man may have 

 spread when the beasts of the chase were yet 

 unacquainted with his destructive powers, 

 when they probably swarmed in innumerable 

 herds, and when from their tameness they 

 must have fallen an easy prey. Of the 

 evidence from Language it may again be said 

 that we do not know how rapidly the forms 

 of human speech may have altered among 

 tribes wandering and unsettled, rapidly 

 changing place, and as rapidly accommodating 



