252 
REPORT— 1847. 
bordering on the coast of the Pacific, there are many nations speaking b 
guages which in the present state of our knowledge must be considered # 
distinct from each other. There are some families of nations or s» 
branching out into many ramifications, with whom we have obtained* 
quaintaiicc through tlie medium of the Russian colony, and partly brd- 
informatiou collected by Professor Scouler at Nootka Sound and on thet.- 
lumbia River. Some of the languages spoken by these nations dL«play» 
logics both to the idiom of the Esquimaux and to that of the Aztecs in 
The roat^mbiance is scarcely such as to justify our joining them to cimf* 
these stems, though it is greater than we can satisfactorily explain byrefem 
to accidental intercourse. 
The number of distinct languages spoken in Mexico and Central Abwa 
seems to be very considerable; but two of them are much more inipo^ 
than the rest,—1 allude to the Mayan, which seea« to have Ueen^eiW- 
ginal idiom, and to the Aztec, which was of later introduction. 
as it is universally known, was the idiom of that race which *; 
Anahuac under the name- of ToUecas about 1200 years ago. 
the Toltecs and tlieir conquests is the beginning of the archsology ot. 
rica, and it has been in some measure conilrmed by the 
fact, that the aboriginal Mayan idiom is spoken still in different 
both to the northward of Mexico and far to the southward, as in bus 
and Yucatan. The Mayan race is partially civilized, and P® ^ 
ferior to the Aztccan. It is supposed that they were the f 
splendid temples and great cities which have astonished travellers o 
times. , 
The languages of South America are very multitudinous, and ■ 
yet sufficiently known to furnish the groundwork of an extensive ' 
of all the idioms and nations of the continent. The 
distribution of the principal races is founded partly on physical an e ^ 
phical relations. . , . 
I. The Andian or Alpine nations of South America. Tins 
preheuds all the races inhabiting the Cordillera and its decHv>he* o 
side from the equator to Cape Horn. They have been 
lows:—The first subdivision are the I’cruvians, including hesid®* 
celebrauid race to which the Quichua language and the royal cas c ^ 
belonged, several distinct nations, as the Aymaras, who were 
powerful. A second branch are the Antisian 
the Eastern Ande.s. After these are the nations of the CliiUsn Corw 
form a great family, including tlie warlike Araucanos, and alwca- 
pears from the notices we collect of their languages, to the nai*ve 
Tierra ded Euego. It seems to have been the opinion of 
well-acquainted with the races of people in these countries, ^ 
or the people of the eastern coast, including the Patagonians, . ^ 
same stock, ami that the southern plains, or Pampas, and the J 
beyond the Rio de lu Plata, was peopled by tribes who deseeude 
Chilian Andes. . . 
II. \ second class of South American races are the Eastern 
ding the people of the Banda Oriental, and of the Brazilian einph®* 
rirma, nr tlie country to the southward oftheGulfofMexico, 
may be diviilcd into several great families, the different 
extensively spread and arc nssociated by their languages. 
1 upi, w ho are the chief inhabitants of Brazil, is allied to the yo . 
extensively in Paraguay and to the Omagua and many kindr® 
le higher jiarts of the river of Amazons. On the northern c ' 
