12 
plicity united to complex variety, — we infer that they belong 
to a race which was marked, at some time or other, by a 
high state of mental culture. So far we enter upon pre- 
historic ground. But, instead of Approximating towards 
barbarism, we see in it far greater evidences of primeval 
civilization. 
This conclusion may, at first sight, appear to be invalidated 
by the fact, that races, at present savage, speak languages of 
the same complex character. It may be urged, that if 
barbarous tribes now use these forms of speech, the fact of 
their having been used in pre-historic times can in no way 
prove that such pre-historic races were not equally savage. 
But such a conclusion is wholly gratuitous ; for we may just 
as easily, and far more fairly, urge this circumstance in favour 
of the view that savage races which employ complex and 
scientifically constructed languages, prove themselves thereby 
to be degenerate descendants of civilized ancestors from whom 
these languages originated. 
Take, for example, those extremely complicated and artificial 
forms of grammatical construction which prevail more or less 
throughout all the American languages, from the Esquimaux 
to the Patagonians, but of which that spoken by the 
Delaware, or Lenni-Lenappe Indians, presents the most 
remarkable proofs. The synthetic form is familiar to us 
both in the Latin and the English; as “nolo” which is put 
for “ non volo” or “never” for “ not ever” But these 
languages are polysynthetic; containing a variety of com- 
pounds which are made up of small fragments of single 
words ; such compounds being again mutilated or contracted 
in order to form other aggregate words. Prichard says, 
“ The extent to which this method of agglutination is 
carried in their idioms is much greater than is known in any 
language of the old continent, unless the Iberian be excepted.-” 
Take a specimen of it. The Lenni-Lenappe Indians express 
by one word, the phrase, “ Come with the canoe, and take us 
across the river.” This word is “ nadholmeen” ; which may 
be thus analyzed. Nad from the word naten , “ to fetch ” ; 
hoi is put for a mochol, “ a canoe ” ; ineen is the verbal 
termination meaning us.” The simple ideas expressed by 
these fragments of words are fetch — in canoe — us ; but its 
usual acceptation is f<r come and fetch us across the river in a 
canoe.” Thus a whole sentence is first thrown by agglu- 
tination into this polysynthetic form ; but this complication is 
not enough, for after thus being coined into a verb, it is then 
subjected to further changes by being conjugated through all 
the moods and tenses, which are very numerous : for example, 
