2 



THE ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA, 



which are distinguished by their tones, their monosyllabic character, 

 and their consequent want of that power of phonetic composition 

 and flexion which pervades European languages, and without 

 which they would, with our ideologic notions end habits, cease to 

 be languages, and become mere catalogues of words incapable of 

 being formed into intelligent speech. The apparent isolation of 

 this gr^up excites attention not less than its singular character, 

 and we are especially struck by finding that its peculiarities abruptly 

 stop with the shores of the continent. The soft, highly vocalic, 

 harmonic and consequently dissyllabic character which distinguishes 

 the Malayu-Polynesian languages, becomes a phenomenon of extreme 

 interest when we thus find that it presents a complete contrast to 

 the ad jacent languages of S. E. Asia, with the exception of those 

 of the Malay Peninsula. In the great circuit from Sumatra to the 

 Liu-kiu islands, the continental languages are throughout mono- 

 syllabic and strongly intonated. When we pass to the islands 

 lying in front of them this character is entirely lost and another 

 kind of uniformity takes place. But when we extend our obser- 

 vations, beyond this circuit to the north-east and north-west, we 

 find that the peculiar phonetic character of the insular languages 

 spreads at both ends into the continent, meets in the interior behind 

 the monosyllabic region, occupies the greater part of middle and 

 northern Asia, and may be followed into Europe, Africa and Ame- 

 rica. The tonic thus form a compact group entirely surrounded by 

 harmonic languages. 



The physical facts present a somewhat different result. The tribes 

 of the tonic languages are not physiologically separated from the 

 surrounding tribes of the harmonic languages, but the range of the 

 latter languages is far beyond that of the physical type of east and 

 north Asia. Viewing the Tibeto-Chinese region as a centre 

 we find that varieties of this type may betraced throughout its 

 prolongation in a south eastern direction in the great Archipelago 

 extending from the Bay of Bengal and the China Sea to the 

 Marquesas islands and New Zealand, including the whole of the 

 Indian Archipelago and Polynesia, while to the east a great 

 portion of the north Pacific Ocean is occupied by tribes of the 

 same type. It is continued on the north east by the races of the 

 Peninsula of Koria and the chain of islands, including the Japanese 

 group, stretching from the China Sea to Kamchatka. In America 

 the prevailing type is the same variety of the Turanian that is 

 found in New Zealand, China, Japan and N. E. Asia. In 

 the latter continent the great Tangusian band runs up to the sea 

 of Okhotsk and then sweeps westward to the Yenesei river. On 

 the north, Mongolian races occupy a great tract behind China, and 

 these are succeeded to the west by the Turkish races who have 

 extended themselves to the eastern margin of the Mediterranean. 

 The other tribes in the N. E. and N. of Asia are physically allied 

 to the Tartarian family. On the east, the Tibetans and the abori- 



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-1 JULI965 f4R57^ T< 



