296 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



THE FINNIC, OURALIAN, OR TSCHUDIC SUBTYPICAL STEM, 



Appears to have arisen from an interunion of the two great 

 typical forms of the north ; for its characteristics become prom- 

 inent in proportion as the respective alliance with one or the 

 other is predominant; thus, while the Skrict-Finn or Lap- 

 lander, nearly of pure Hyperborean blood, verges in the same 

 degree to the Mongole stock, the Finlander is in structure 

 entirely a Caucasian, though both speak dialects of the same 

 language — here, as elsewhere, showing the ready predom- 

 inance of the Caucasian blood. All the nations of this stem 

 have considerable flexibility of voice, and consequently a great 

 facility in acquiring the languages of their neighbors and of 

 strangers; and hence the Sclavonic and Teutonic dialects have 

 swept away tbe Finnic in all places where the resident tribes 

 were not isolated by the nature of their country. In Asia the 

 Tschutski are of similar origin as the more western Finns,* 

 and seem to represent the parent stock whence several nations 

 of America take their source, while they are claimed as the most 

 ancient miners of the Altai ; a character which again recurs 

 among their kindred of the west. Industrious from necessity, 

 the scattered, less warlike tribes, with that Mongolic tact for 

 applying artificial aids in their labor, early found walrus teeth 

 sufficient to separate portions of meteoric iron or aerolite, 

 anciently more often found in large masses than at present ; 

 with the aid of stones they learnt to hammer it into tools, and 



* Tschutski and Finn are convertible terms in Northern Russia. 

 Tschudi is the Russian name of Finland, and the true appellation of the 

 ancient Scythians. Joten were the giant families, or Gothic Finns of the 

 Germans. There is still a tribe of Tusci remaining among the inhabit- 

 ants of Circassia ; and ifRauwolf be correct, the Druses of Libanus were 

 called Trusci. This indicates a portion of the Finnic race to have moved, 

 at a remote age, through Asia Minor towards Syria, and it may thus hnve 

 formed one of the early constituents of the Imilicon cf Palestine. From the 

 Altaic gold mines to the west they were in all places troglodytes and 

 miners. 



