RTHNOLOGT OT THI IlTDO-PACiriC ISLANDS. 



which the Dmvuiisn fall to be coin pii ami, are the remaining IndcH 

 European, and [mrticulaily the vanotis Me do- Persian. Hitherto the 

 gJoMsarial slutly of the rntio-Kuropean family has been chiefly direct- 

 ed to the vocahlesand roots common to Sanskrit with the other !an< 

 guugca of flu? forniatioij, ^^o tliat materials are not yet prepared foo 

 an ethnic comparison of the Indo-European roofs in Uie mass with 

 those of other formations. As nec(?ssarily happens in an ancient, 

 very widely extended, and much divided family, the roots of any 

 one language, such as the extreme eastern — Sanskrit — form but a 

 small portion of the variety now posseeaed by the family as a 

 wlude. Besides the more modem acquisitions of each vocabula- 

 ry, ihere can be no donbt that, as a general rule admitting of 

 exceptions, each large group received moat of its peculiar roots 

 from the prior lan<^nagC8 of the province in which it prevails, or 

 of those provinces through which the tribes which established it 

 advanced fi-om the original Indo-European seat to the lands where 

 thpy were found at the dawn of history, and that the radical differ- 

 ences in I fie glossaries are, in great measure, to be so accounted 

 for. Thus while the Arians, moving eastward into the Dravtrian 

 province, would have their vocabularies more or tcsa Dravirian- 

 ised, the ancient Medo-Persiau tribes movinj; on the Caucasian and 

 Semitic piovinces, would have their vocabularies affected by those 

 of the native tiibes amongst whom they penetrated. Those hordes 

 which passed through the variable Scytliic region or continued to 

 occupy portions of it, would, in many cases, receive fresh accea- 

 Bions of Scythic words. Those which moved noilh westward 

 would probably receive Fino-Ugrian accessions, while those which 

 went westward (liroii<j:h Asia Minor would, for a time, be subject- 

 ed lo intiuenccs psmilar to those whifth have for a longer period 

 oprraicd on the Metlo-lVrsiaii, In Europe the pioneer niigrtuory 

 tribes must have come in contact nut only with Scythic in the 

 north, hut with Enskarian, and probably other Scytbico-Libyan 

 i}mt:ua;Tes, in the south. Hence probably it is that tlie glossarial 

 divergtMicy of the Celtic, the Skipetarian, the Russian, the Arme- 

 nian ami' the Sanskrit, is greater than that which divides many 

 langtiao'es of entirely distinct formations. 



The^ethnolotjy of S. W. Aisia cannot bo well understood until 

 the vocahntanes of all the races who occupy it have been careful- 

 ly compared. A com[irehtnbtve comparison of this kind mutit 



N 



