HIS ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 85 



If men lower than the Bushmen, the Andamanese, 

 the Hill-trihes of India, or the Australian, existed in 

 bygone epochs, to Asia and Africa geology must look 

 for evidence of the fact ; and not tUl these regions 

 have been fully explored, can we do more than merely 

 admit the existence of extinct varieties as a logical in- 

 ference from what we already know of the creational 

 law of continuity and progress. And if we accept 

 the inference of their existence, we must believe in 

 their necessarily lower organisation and inferior in- 

 tellectual attainments. 



If, then (and this brings us to our third proposi- 

 tion), there has been an ascent of tribes and nation- 

 alities from earlier and lower nationalities (and of 

 this there can be no doubt) ; and if the superior and 

 advancing gradually absorbs or annihilates the in- 

 ferior and stationary (and of this there can be as 

 little doubt) ; it is clear that the lower varieties must 

 be the more ancient, and the higher the more recent. 

 In this way we arrive at the conclusion that the 

 Indo-European or white man is the most recent 

 variety, and that the coloured varieties are, stage by 

 stage, according to their inferiority, of greater anti- 

 quity. In this way also we may conclude that as the 

 higher varieties are ascensive developments from the 

 lower, so in aU likelihood there has been an ascent 



