152 



EARLY HISTCRY OF MANKIND. 



dence, that which physiology and philology present seems 

 to me decidedly favorable to the idea of a single origin. 



Assuming that the human race is one, we are next 

 called upon to inquire in what part of the earth it may 

 most probably be supposed to have originated. One ob- 

 vious mode of approximating to a solution of this ques- 

 tion is to trace backward the lines in which the principal 

 tribes appear to have migrated, and to see if these con- 

 verge nearly to a point. It is very remarkable that the 

 lines do converge, and are concentrated about the region 

 of Hindostan. The language, religion, modes of reckon- 

 ing time, and some other peculiar ideas of the Americans, 

 are now believed to refer their origin to North-Eastern 

 Asia. Trace them further back in the same direction, 

 and we come to the north of India. The history of the 

 Celts and Teutones represents them as coming from the 

 east, the one after the other, successive waves of a tide of 

 population flowing towards the north-west of Europe ; this 

 line being also traced back, rests finally at the same place 

 So does the line of Iranian population, which has peopled 

 the east and south shores of the Mediterranean, Syria, 

 Arabia, and Egypt. The Malay variety, again, rests its 

 limit in one direction on the borders of India. Standing 

 on that point, it is easy to see how the human family, 

 originating there, might spread out in different directions, 

 passing into varieties of aspect and of language as they 

 spread, the Malay variety proceeding towards the Oceanic 

 region, the Mongolians to the east and north, and sending 

 off the red men as a sub-variety, the European population 

 going off to the north-westward, and the Syrian, Arabian, 

 and Egyptian towards the countries which they are known 

 to have so long occupied. The Negro alone is here unac- 

 counted for ; and of that race it may fairly be said, that it 

 is the one most likely to have had an independent origin, 

 seeing that it is a type so peculiar in an inveterate black 

 color, and so mean in development. But it is not neces- 

 sary to presume such an origin for it, as much good argu- 

 ment might be employed to show that it is only a deterio- 

 rated offshoot of the general stock. Our view of the 

 probable original seat of man agrees w T ith the ancient 

 traditions of the race. There is one among the Hindoos 

 which places the cradle of the human family in Thibet , 

 another makes Ceylon the residence of the first man 

 Our view is also in harmony with the hypothesis detailed 



