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254 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



East Indies. The Malay in Singapore, and the Sowaheili on 

 the east coast of Africa, have remained the dominant languages, 

 notwithstanding the long rule of the Arabs over that region. 

 The Arab language, though in a corrupt state, has maintained it- 

 self in Malta ; and notwithstanding their dispersion, the Gypsies, 

 and in many places the Jews, have preserved their languages. 



The historical point of view which may serve as a guide in 

 the division of mankind and their affinity, can hardly be sepa- 

 rated from linguistic considerations, since the peculiarities of 

 language present the chief evidence which throws light on the 

 history of a people ; and the knowledge of historical develop- 

 ment remains imperfect and fragmentary in proportion as the 

 linguistic data are defective. We have, nevertheless, ventured 

 upon the separation of the linguistic and historical stand-points, 

 partly because it was our endeavour to explain the relation 

 in which the first stands to the physical theory of the division 

 of mankind, with which it is frequently in conflict, and partly 

 because, with regard to the great majority of peoples, there 

 exists no history ; so that, in the absence of all historical docu- 

 ments, we are limited to their language and the reports of 

 travellers, which, though frequently very meagre, are still im- 

 portant as the only sources we possess. 



The historical consideration, in as far as it differs from the 

 linguistic consideration, is, in most cases, compelled to remain 

 satisfied with the comparison of the traditions of peoples, their 

 religious ideas, their festivals, funeral ceremonies; then their 

 chronology, architectural remains, tools, clothing, ornaments, 

 and arms ; and their social and family life. 



From these ethnographic data, conclusions of comprehensive 

 scope have been hazarded ; migrations and affinities, and even 

 the descent of mankind from a single pair, or at any rate, an 

 original cradle of the human race, has been inferred from the 

 tradition of the flood, 1 prevalent among so many distant nations. 



1 According to the views of Cuvier and Buckland, the universality of the 

 traditions of the Flood may be explained by a corresponding universal revolu- 

 tion in the crust of the earth 5-6,000 years ago. Other geologists flatly deny 

 the universality of such a revolution (see Jameson, zu Cuvier' s " Umwalzun- 

 gen der Erdrinde, deutsch von Noggerath," ii, p. 191, 1830). The flood tra- 



