418 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



It is to be regretted that many stores of early information 

 have been neglected. The list of classical (Greek and Latin, 

 writers which have perished since the thirteenth century is 

 sufficiently extensive. That of indigenous chronicles, annals, 

 and legends, especially in the north of Europe, since the same 

 period, is even more considerable. Some few may yet remain 

 jnknown ; and though the general history of events may not 

 be greatly impaired, we still have to deplore the loss of much 

 that concerns the nationality, the manners, opinions, and tra- 

 ditions of our remoter ancestors, which, after all, are quite as 

 valuable, nay, even more so, than the commemoration of crime 

 and barbarity which has been preserved. Of the class we 

 mean, there are still a few remaining, which, although they be 

 distorted by ill-directed zeal, by imposture, and by ignorance, 

 furnish curious hints in their way. Such, for example, is the 

 song of the Lombards, also known as that of the Ost and 

 West Friesen or Frisons, found by Mr. Bonstetten, at Copen- 

 hagen. In the Land-urbar, or Costumier of the Bernese 

 Swiss, there is likewise a legendary record of the fair-haired 

 tribes of Ober-Hasli, Schwytz, Gessenay, and Bellegarde, 

 printed as early as 1507, by Etterlin, in the chronicles of 

 Lucerne. The Song of Hasli, of about one hundred and 

 eighty stanzas, relates the migration of these clans, their 

 battles, and their arrival near the Brochenberg, where they 

 built Schwytz ; and, it appears, they fought in the cause of 

 Arcadius and Honorius, about the year 387. 



Here we terminate this inquiry into the origin and filiation 

 of the races of Man, — a subject, zoologically viewed, we 

 thought more novel, than to repeat what has already been said 

 by other writers, and especially by Dr. Prichard, with his 

 accustomed industry and learning. 



As for us, we are compelled, for want of space, to abstain 

 from entering into many important particulars, which would be 



