17 
that country contained, on a small extent 
of territory, the Cicilians of Semitic race, 
the Phrygians of Thracian origin, the 
Lydians, and the Celts. The configuration 
of the soil, the strength of vegetation, the 
apprehensions of the mountaineers under 
the tropics of exposing themselves to the 
burning heat of the plains, are obstacles to 
communication, and contribute to the 
amazing variety of American dialects. This 
variety, it is observed, is more restrained 
in the savannahs and forests of the north, 
which are easily traversed by the hunter, 
on the banks of great rivers along the coast 
of the ocean, and in every country wher^ 
the Incas had established their theocracy 
by the force of arms. 
When it is asserted, that several hundred 
languages are found in a continent, the 
whole population of which is not equal to 
that of France, we regard as different those 
languages, which bear the same affinity to 
each other, I will not say as the German and 
the Dutch, or the Italian and the Spanish, 
VOL. XIII. c 
1 
