CRANIA AMERICANA. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 



ON THE VARIETIES OP THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



The geographical distribution of the human race, is one of the most interesting 

 problems in history. The oldest records seldom allude to an uninhabited country. 

 The extremes of heat and cold, and the intervention of seas and mountains, have 

 presented but trifling barriers to the peopling of the earth. 



The condition of man, under these infinitely varied circumstances, is less 

 the effect of coercion than of choice. Thus the Eskimau, surrounded by an 

 atmosphere that freezes mercury, rejoices in his snow^y deserts, and has pined in 

 unhappiness when removed to more genial climes. On the other hand, the native 

 of the torrid regions of Africa, oppressed by a vertical sun, and often delirious 

 w^ith thirst, thinks no part of the v^orld so desirable and delightful as his ow^n. 

 The arid province of Chaco, in Paraguay, which the Spaniards stigmatise as a 

 desert, is crowded by forty Indian nations, who regard it as an earthly paradise. 

 It may be further remarked, in illustration of this subject, that extensive migra- 

 tions have been mostly confined to the temperate zones : it is rare, for example, 

 to find the Polar tribes wandering to the south, or the people of the torrid zones 

 attempting to establish themselves in a colder climate. The exceptions to this 

 rule are chiefly to be seen in the civilised communities of modern times, in 

 which the spirit of migratory enterprise is without a limit. 



From remote ages the inhabitants of every extended locality have been 



marked by certain physical and moral peculiarities, common among themselves, 



and serving to distinguish them from all other people. The Arabians are at this 



time precisely what they were in the days of the patriarchs : the Hindoos have 



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