(32.) 1. European.-2. African.-3. Asiatic or Mongolian.4. American.-5. Malay.

874. The Scriptures inform us that the human family originated from a single pair. In the animal and vegetable world, we find almost numberless varieties of form and colour in the [156] same species, some of which have no visible cause. The children of a single parent often have striking peculiarities, which they communicate to their descendants. We should not be surprised, therefore, to find great varieties in the millions of the great family of man, exposed to such varieties of climate, manners, and modes of living.

Some of the numerous variations of complexion and constitu tion may be ascribed to climate; and other peculiarities, like the fine form of the American Indians, or the flat heads of the tribes among the Rocky Mountains, originate from the treatment of infants. But there are still other varieties of form, and feature, and colour, which, like those of the horse and the dog, are pro bably owing to causes beyond the reach of our investigations.

There are five principal divisions, or races of the human family, distinguished by their features and colour; the European-Asiatic, or Mongolian-American-- Malay-and African.

875. The EUROPEAN RACE, to which we belong, is distinguished from all the rest by a natural complexion of white, mingled with red. It is found in infants of this race, and persons not exposed to the sun and air, in all climates. They have usually straight hair, an oval face, an expanded forehead, a rounded, full chin, and generally the most regular and beautiful features.

876. This race includes almost all the Europeans, with their descendants, who are settled in America and other portions of the world. It also embraces the nations of Western Asia, as far as the River Oby, the Belur Tag, and the Himmaleh Mountains, with the people of Barbary, Egypt, and Abyssinia, and the Moors of Northern Africa.

The Georgians and Circassians are the most beautiful examples of this race; and it is said to be rare to see an ugly countenance among them. The Turks and Persians often buy their wives from these nations, and the Persians especially partake of their beauty.

The

877. Most nations of the European race are of the Celtic family. They have dark hair, dark eyes, and a complexion inclining to brown, which is usually darker as the climate is warmer. The nations in the south of Europe are swarthy. Arabs, Abyssinians, and the people of Northern Africa, belong. ing to this race, have an olive complexion. The face is thin, especially in warm countries; the nose prominent, and the form tall and slender.

878. In the middle of Europe is found a branch of this race, called the Teutonic or Gothic family, which includes the Germans, Hollanders, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, and Lowland Scotch. These nations are usually marked by a fair and red skin, light or sandy hair, and blue or gray eyes. The face is generally broader, and the form stouter than in other nations of the European race. The English are descended from a mixture of the Celtic and Gothic families, and combine the characteristics of both.

879. The whites of America are descended from emigrants of several of the nations of Europe, and resemble, in appearance, those from which they are derived. In the southern United States, the complexion is sallow; in the warm countries of America, it is generally swarthy. Even in the northern and colder [157] countries of the Western Continent, the complexion is not usually so fair as in the north of Europe.

880. The ASIATIC, or MONGOLIAN RACE includes the nations

of Asia, east of the Oby, the Belur Tag, and the Himmaleh Mountains, with only a few exceptions. All these nations have a tawny or olive colour-coarse, straight, black hair-small black eyes, rising in an oblique line from the nose to the temples-and high cheek bones. The form is usually shorter than in the European race, and not well proportioned. The countenance is nearly square, with a scanty black beard.

The colour is described as intermediate between that of wheat and of dried orange peel, varying from a tawny white to a swarthy or dusky yellow. The nose is short and flat, the nostrils wide, the whole face broad and flattened, the eyebrows unusually distant, and the lips thick and projecting. The opening of the eyelids is narrow, and quite straight, instead of being curved, as in the Eu

ropean race.

881. The Mongolians, Chinese, and Japanese, are the most striking examples of this race. It also embraces the inhabitants of the Frigid Zone, on both continents, including the Laplanders and Nova Zemblans, the Samoiedes, Ostiacs, Kamschadales, and most other tribes of Siberia, and the Esquimaux and Greenlanders; but these nations are much lower in stature, seldom exceeding four or five feet in height.

882. The AMERICAN RACE includes all the natives of America, except the Esquimaux and Greenlanders; and throughout this vast extent of country and variety of climates they preserve the same characteristics. They have a copper colour, resembling that of rusty iron or cinnamon-coarse, straight, black hair-high cheek bones-and sunken eyes.

The forehead is usually short-the nose and the whole countenance broad-the nostrils very open-and the lips thick. The beard is thin and scanty.

It has been said that the Indians were destitute of beards; but it is well ascer tained that this is not the case naturally; and that they take great pains to pluck them out.

Some of the American race have a lighter colour than others. Thus Cook states that the natives around Nootka Sound are little inferior in fairness to Europeans; and the same observation is made concerning the Peruvians. But these variations do not appear to arise from situation, as they do not correspond to the difference of climate.

883. The MALAY RACE includes the inhabitants of Malaya, Ceylon, the Asiatic Islands, New-Zealand, and Polynesia, most of whom speak the Malay, or some similar language. They are of a nut-brown colour- with black eyes-black, curled hair, which is soft and abundant-a broad mouth and nose-and the upper jaw somewhat projecting. The form of the head is intermediate between that of the European and African races.

884. The AFRICAN RACE have black eyes-black woolly hair-flat noses-thick lips--and a projecting upper jaw. The forehead is retreating-and the head is usually less globular than the European. The most perfect examples of this race are the Negroes

south of the Sahara, in Upper and Lower Guinea, Soudan, and Nubia. They are usually short, stout, and ill-formed.

[158] 885. The Jaloffs of Senegambia, and the Caffres who inhabit the eastern coast of Africa, resemble others of this race in their jet black colour, and in some of their features. But they are taller, more slender, and better proportioned than the rest; and their features have more resemblance to those of the European race.

The Foulahs of Western Africa, seem rather to belong to the Moorish family. They are only tawny; their features are small; and their hair soft and silky.

886. The Hottentots resemble the African race in their flat noses, thick lips, and low foreheads; and in their woolly hair, which is scattered in tufts over the head. Their colour is yellowish brown. They have prominent cheek bones, and a pointed chin, which gives the face a triangular form.

887. The inhabitants of the Australian Islands, New-Britain, New-Ireland, New-Holland, New-Hebrides, New-Caledonia, and a few of the neighbouring islands, and also of the interior and mountainous districts of Malacca, Borneo, and most of the Asiatic Islands, are a dwarfish species of the African race. The hair is not usually woolly; but the features are African. The jaws are often so prominent as to make them resemble the ourang outang. The inhabitants of the coast are generally of the Malay Race.

888. The intermarriage and mixture of two principal races produce an intermediate race, usually partaking the qualities of both. From the intermarriage of the Europeans with Africans in the West Indies, has arisen a mixed race, called Mulattoes. In South America and Mexico, their intermarriage with the Indians, has also produced a very numerous intermediate race, called Mcstizoes; and another called Cholos, between the Mestizoes and Indians. In the south-western parts of the United States, is a considerable number of a similar race.

The Egyptians have a yellow, dusky complexion, resembling that of mulattoes; and seem to be intermediate between the Moorish or Arabian family of the European race, and the African race. This is also the fact with the nations on the eastern coast of Africa. Most of the Hindoos appear to partake of the qualities of the European race, from which they descended, and of the Mongolians, by whom they were conquered, and with whom they intermarried. 889. In examining the account of the races of men, it is not to be supposed that every individual of a particular race has all the characteristics mentioned, but only that they are general.

There is a great variety of features in individuals and in many parts of the world, the different races pass into each other so gradu ally that it is difficult to determine to which they belong.

The features and colour of the inhabitants of Polynesia are very various, even in the same island, and often resemble those of Europeans. The higher classes have usually a lighter complexion than the common people; and some of the Otaheitans are so fair, that a blush may be distinctly perceived. Some instances have been known in which natives of these islands had the sandy or brown hair, and fair complexion of an European. The higher classes of most nations have usually finer forms and features, and fairer complexions than the lower. In India this is very conspicuous.

890. The Races of men are divided into a number of families, distinguished by a difference of language as well as of form and appearance. Those of cultivated nations are written; those of Savage and Barbarous tribes are merely oral. 891. The diversity of languages is in part original, or so early that it cannot be traced to its souree. But it is to some extent produced by the state and progress of society.

Almost every language is varied by different portions of the population who speak it, so as to form a number of branches, or dialects; and we seldom find it spoken in its purity, even in a cultivated nation, except by the higher classes. In England, France, and Italy, it is often difficult for the inhabitants of different districts to understand each other; although their dialects were evidently derived from the same stock.

Still greater variations must exist where the language is not fixed by writing, but dependent entirely on the habits of pronunciation, as in Savage and Barbarous nations; and especially as they are divided into a number of petty tribes, little connected with each other, and often at war. From these causes we find the greatest number of languages and dialects among the Savage and Barbarous nations of Asia, Africa, and America.

892. Great changes also take place in cultivated and written languages, by the lapse of time, and the removal and conquests of nations. Every generation invents new terms, and discards or changes those which were formerly in use. Even the English of a few centuries back is difficult to be understood by us. A people entering a new country must devise names for new objects, and will gradually alter their former modes of speech. A nation subduing another, will take a part of their language, and communicate something of their own. Thus new and compound languages are formed; as the English by the mixture of the ancient language with the Saxon and others.

893. In these methods, it is easy to conceive, that from one or a few original languages, an immense variety may gradually arise, and that little resemblance may finally be found among them.

The whole number of languages and dialects known upon the globe, is estimated by Adelung at 3626. Of these, there are in America 1214; in Europe 545; in Asia 995; and in Africa 276. Many are dialects differing little from each other; the resemblances of many others indicate a common origin; and all may perhaps be reduced, by a full examination, to a few hundred distinct languages. But we have too little knowledge of this subject to make any calculation with accuracy. They will be arranged according to the races of men by whom they are spoken.

LANGUAGES OF THE EUROPEAN RACE.

894. The various languages spoken between the Ganges, the Bay of Bengal, and the Atlantic Ocean, throughout Western Asia and Europe, present numerous and striking resemblances, and are supposed to have had a common origin.

895. The Sanscrit is the language of the sacred books of the Brahminic religion, and the parent of the numerous dialects of Hindoostan. The Bali, which resembles the Sanscrit, is the sacred language of the Boodhists, in Tibet, Ceylon, and Farther India.

The principal languages of Hindoostan are the Tamul, Bengalee, Hindoostanee, and Ceylonese. The language of the Gipsies, or Zinganes, who wander throughout Europe, differs little from the dialects of northern India.