Chapter II: Introduction: On the Connexion of the Conclusions of This Work with (2)

One of the most forcible examples of the susceptibility to civilization(19) of nations once very barbarous may be found in a comparison of the character of the ancient Gauls and modern French. When Hannibal invaded Italy he confined his ravages to the possessions of the Romans and spared those of the Gauls; a partial distinction which won the favour of this simple people, who flocked in great numbers to his standard. The Gauls who were in his army at the battle of Cannæ are described as a fierce people, naked from the waist, carrying large round shields, with swords of an enormous size blunted at the point. Yet there cannot be a doubt that the French, one of the most refined and distinguished of modern nations, are lineally descended from this primitive race! (See p. 64.) The true answer to the reveries of Pinkerton, with respect to the imputed incapacity of the Celts, is to be found in the literature and science of the French, in whom, owing to the great extent of their country, the original Celtic blood is most probably less unmingled than it is in the Irish, the Welsh, or the Highland Scotch!

A comparison of the character of the ancient Gauls and modern French involves also an instructive example of the mode in which the tendency to progression in the Human species is often united with a stability of national character in some features that forms a singular contrast to that tendency. In comparing Cæsar’s Commentaries on his Wars in Gaul with the volumes of General Napier, we are struck, in almost every page, with proofs of a coincidence of mental features so minute, that but for the opposite accompaniments on the one hand, of a primitive, and on the other of a modern age, we might imagine we had before us, in these relations, two narratives referring to the same wars, the same sieges, and the same men! The mind is perplexed to conceive how a nation that has existed in conditions so contrasted, as regards Civilization, could have continued thus uniform in its social and moral features!

Striking as these and other proofs which may be adduced of the uniformity of character which has often been maintained by the same nation in different stages of society undoubtedly are, they must cease to excite surprise—though they may be said to acquire even a higher interest—when viewed through the medium of the closely analogous results which will be found to flow from a comparison with the civilized nations of Europe of contemporaneous Tribes still existing in the “Hunter State.”

The natives of Australia have generally been thought to occupy the lowest place in the social scale. But from Col. Grey’s valuable work it may be inferred that in their devices for catching game and other arts belonging to their rude state, they give proofs of the same intelligence and acuteness as are evinced by other races of men. They have also Songs of War and Love which they sing in tunes most barbarous and discordant. The more refined lays of the European excite mimicry and laughter. But, adds Col. Grey, “Some of the natives are not insensible to the charms of our music. Warrup, a native youth, who lived with me for several months as a servant, once accompanied me to an amateur theatre at Perth, and when the actors came forward and sang ‘God save the Queen,’ _he burst into tears_. He _certainly could not have comprehended the words of the song, and, therefore, must have been affected by the Music alone_.”

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“Nothing can awaken in the breast more melancholy feelings than the funeral chants of these people. They are sung by a whole chorus of females of all ages, and the effect produced upon the bystanders by this wild music is indescribable.”

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Many of the Australian words given by Colonel Grey will readily be recognized among the terms collected from the languages of the other Four Continents in Appendix A; as for example: Nganga, Ngon-ge, Tin-dee, Tiendee, “The Sun” and “The Stars.” (See App. A, p. 26.) Yanna, “To go,” and Tjênna, Tinna, “The Foot.” (74.) Tullun, Tdallung, Tadlanga, “The Tongue.” (72.) Nago, “To see.” (42, 43.) Mena, “The Eye.” (14.) Poou, Puiyu, Poito, Booyoo, “Smoke,” and Bobun, “To blow.” (21.)

In the construction of their canoes, the inhabitants of some of the most barbarous islands of the Pacific, exhibit an originality and a variety of conception of precisely the same nature as is displayed in those mechanical inventions by which the sum of European civilization is progressively extended!

But in relation to the subject more immediately under examination, far the most valuable and instructive information occurs in Mr. Catlin’s account of his residence among the North American Indian Tribes, a work, admirable alike as a living picture of Indian manners and sentiments, and also as an earnest and simple minded, and for that reason an eminently touching and eloquent appeal, on behalf of one of the noblest, though one of the most unfortunate families of the Human Race!

“I have roamed about from time to time during seven or eight years,” says the writer, “visiting and associating with some three or four hundred thousand of these people, under an almost infinite variety of circumstances; and from the very many and decidedly voluntary acts of their hospitality and kindness, I feel bound to pronounce them, by nature, a kind and hospitable people. I have been welcomed generally in their country, and treated to the best that they could give me, without any charges made for my board; they have often escorted me through their enemies’ country at some hazard to their own lives, and aided me in passing mountains and rivers with my awkward baggage; and under all these circumstances of exposure, no Indian ever betrayed me, struck me a blow, or stole from me a shilling’s worth of my property that I am aware of.

“This is saying a great deal (and proving it too, if the reader will believe me,) in favour of the virtues of these people; when it is borne in mind, as it should be, that there is no law in the land to punish for theft, that locks and keys are not known in their country, that the commandments have never been divulged amongst them, nor can any human retribution fall upon the head of a thief, save the disgrace which attaches as a stigma to his character in the eyes of the people around him.

“And thus in these little communities, strange as it may seem, in the absence of all systems of jurisprudence, I have often beheld peace and happiness, and quiet, reigning supreme, for which even kings and emperors might envy them. I have seen rights and virtue protected, and wrongs redressed; and I have seen conjugal, filial and paternal affection, in the simplicity and contentedness of nature. I have unavoidably formed warm and enduring attachments to some of these men, which I do not wish to forget, who have brought me near to their hearts, and in our final separation have embraced me in their arms, and commended me and my affairs to the keeping of the Great Spirit.”

Among those tribes which have been placed in contact with the Whites, individuals, generally Chiefs, have acquired all the advantages of a European education, to which in most of these instances are united, dignified and gentlemanlike feelings and manners, qualities which seem to belong to the native American character. Some tribes have been nearly extipated by the use of fermented liquors. But some sections of the Indian population have been converted to Christianity, and adopted the habit of total abstinence; others have become industrious cultivators of the soil. Where this race has rejected the benefits of civilization, it seems almost invariably to have arisen from the prejudices naturally excited in their minds by the vices of the worst part of the white population, and the calamities which they have caused by the introduction of ardent spirits! Even those excellent men who have devoted their lives to the religious instruction of the Indians, and by whose efforts it may be inferred that some Tribes have been saved from extinction, have too often found in these prejudices, an obstacle which might perhaps be removed were the missionaries generally to commence by offering to teach some of the simplest arts of civilized life—information of which the benefits would be immediately appreciated—as a means of paving the way for obtaining that confidence which, as religious instructors, they require.

The life of constant war and peril to which the Indians are exposed is incompatible with _actual_ Social advancement. But proofs of a spontaneous _tendency_ to civilization may be gleaned, as I conceive, from the grace and tastefulness of their dresses—the beautiful lodges many of the Tribes build—and other indications, &c. But of this truth, a still more decisive example occurs, as I venture to think, in the account given by Mr. Catlin of a very interesting tribe, the Mandans, whom, from the evidence of language already noticed and other considerations, he has conjectured to be descendants of Madoc’s Colony, and whose personal character and appearance he thus describes:

“The Mandans are certainly a very interesting and pleasing people in their personal appearance and manners; differing in many respects, both in _looks_ and customs, from all other _tribes which I have ever seen_. They are not a warlike people, for they seldom, if ever, carry war into their enemies’ country; but when invaded, show their valour and courage to be equal to that of any people on earth. Being a small tribe, and unable to contend on the wide prairies with the Sioux and other roaming tribes, who are ten times more numerous, they have very judiciously _located themselves in a permanent village, which is strongly_ fortified, and ensures their preservation. By this means they have _advanced further in the arts of manufacture, and have supplied their lodges more abundantly with the comforts and even luxuries of life than any Indian nation I know of. The consequence of this is that the tribe have taken many steps ahead of other tribes in manners and refinements_ (if I may be allowed to use the word refinement to Indian life); and are, therefore, familiarly (and correctly) denominated by the Traders and others, who have been amongst them, the ‘polite and friendly Mandans.’

“There is certainly great justice in the remark, and so forcibly have I been struck with the peculiar _ease and elegance_ of this people, together with the _diversity of complexions_, the various colours of their hair and eyes, the singularity of their language, and their peculiar and unaccountable customs, that I am fully convinced that they have sprung from some other origin than that of the other North American tribes, or that they are an amalgam of natives with some civilized race.

“Here arises a question of very great interest and importance for discussion; and after further familiarity with their character, customs, and traditions, if I forget not, I will eventually give it further consideration. Suffice it then for the present, that their _personal appearance_ alone, independent of their modes and customs, pronounces them at once as more or less than savage.

“A stranger in the Mandan village is first struck with the _different shades of complexion_ and colours of hair which he sees in a crowd, and is at once almost disposed to exclaim that ‘_these are not Indians!_’

“There are a great many of these people whose complexions appear as _light as half-breeds_; and amongst the women particularly, there are many whose _skins are almost white, with the most pleasing symmetry and proportion of features; with hazel, with gray, and with blue eyes; with mildness and sweetness of expression, and excessive modesty of demeanour, which render them exceedingly pleasing and beautiful_!”

It has been shown in another part of this work that the language of the Mandans does not prove them to be connected with the Welsh, and that their dialect is of the same character as that of other Indian tribes. Further, did space allow, I might produce some evidence that the Mandans are allied in blood to their hereditary foes, the fierce and warlike Sioux! The phenomena noticed by Mr. Catlin must be explained therefore by the aid of different principles than those to which he has referred.(20)

I conceive then that these various peculiarities of colour, personal appearance, and of manners and social habits, which he noticed amongst the Mandans, may all be viewed as effects of one simple cause, viz. their “judiciously selected location” in “a permanent village,” involving protection from exposure to the seasons on the one hand, and the abandonment of nomade habits on the other. To the former, the changes of complexion—to the latter, the social advances—of the Mandan Tribe may be ascribed!

There are numerous other data in Mr. Catlin’s work which seem to afford illustrations of the mutability of Human Physiology. The Indians who live among the Whites he describes as “Pale” Red. May not the change implied in this expression be referred to an abandonment of their original life of activity and exposure on the wild Prairie, quite as much as to misfortune or a mixture of European blood? The variety of Physiognomy among the different tribes, as shown by his admirable portraits of Chiefs, &c., is very extraordinary. Some of these countenances are ugly and unprepossessing; but in others the finest European features occur! The traits exhibited by these portraits are contrary to the inference which Humboldt’s description might suggest, viz., that all the N. A. Indian Tribes resemble the Mongol Race in features as well as in the colour of their skin and the absence of beard.

The Indian shows no want of acuteness in detecting the characteristic vices, whether real or imaginary, of the civilized world.

“On one occasion, when I had interrogated a Sioux chief, on the Upper Missouri, about their government, their punishments, and tortures of prisoners, for which I had freely condemned them for the cruelty of practice, he took occasion, when I had got through, to ask me some questions relative to modes in the civilized world. He told me he had often heard that white people hung their criminals by the neck and choked them to death like dogs, and those their own people; to which I answered ‘Yes.’ He then told me he had learned that they shut each other up in prisons, where they keep them a great part of their lives because they can’t pay money! I replied in the affirmative to this, which occasioned great surprise and excessive laughter even amongst the women! He told me that he had been to our Fort at Council Bluffs, where we had a great many warriors and braves, and he saw three of them taken out on the prairies and tied to a post and whipped almost to death; and he had been told that they submit to all this to get a little money!

“He put to me a chapter of other questions as to the trespasses (of the Whites) on their lands, their continual corruption of the morals of their women, and digging open the Indian’s graves to get their bones, &c. To all of which I was compelled to reply in the affirmative, and quite glad to close my note book, and quietly to escape from the throng that had collected around me, and saying (though to myself and silently), that these and a hundred others are vices that belong to the civilized world, and are practised upon (but certainly in no instance reciprocated by) ‘the cruel and relentless’ savage!”

It is probable that the finer features of the North American Indian character may be ascribed in a great measure to the elevated nature of their religious belief, which indisputably appears to be quite free from the loathsome and debasing idolatry of the Hindoos and other pagan nations of the Old World.

“I fearlessly assert to the world (and I defy contradiction), that the North American Indian is everywhere in his native state a highly moral and religious being, endowed by his Maker with an intuitive knowledge of some great Author of his being and the universe, in dread of whose displeasure he constantly lives, with the apprehension before him of a future state, where he expects to be rewarded or punished according to the merits he has gained or forfeited in this world.”

In their native state, in regions remote from the Whites, the Indians are well clothed and fed, cleanly in their habits, cheerful, and healthy. The opposite qualities have been considered to be characteristic of the race, in consequence of the unhappy condition of most of those Tribes who are found among or near the settlements of the Whites, a condition ascribable to the use of ardent spirits, the destruction of the game on which they originally subsisted, and the fraudulent manner in which they have often been deprived of their lands!

“From what I have seen of these people I feel authorized to say, that there is nothing very strange or unaccountable in their character; but that it is a simple one, and easy to be understood if the right means be taken to familiarize ourselves with it. Although it has dark spots, yet there is much in it to be applauded, and much to recommend it to the admiration of the enlightened world. And I trust that the reader who looks through these volumes with care, will be disposed to join me in the conclusion, that the North American Indian in his native state is an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, yet honorable, contemplative, and religious being.”

The tortures practised by the Indians on their prisoners of war are, it seems, inflicted only on a portion of their captives by way of reprisal. The prisoners are for the most part adopted into the conquering tribe. The men are married to the wives of those who have fallen in battle; and those outrages on the weaker sex which have disgraced the armies of civilized Europe are unknown in the annals of Indian warfare!

The Indian is reckless of life, and the female sex among these tribes is consigned to a life of servitude. But it must be asked, is the morality of European nations uniformly founded on an earnest regard for the claims of humanity—on a tender respect for the rights and for the sufferings of the weak and defenceless! This is a momentous question, to which an answer at once humiliating and complete may be drawn from one single historical incident described in the following touching passage!

After noticing the defective state of the European law of nations in certain respects, the author from whose work the following narrative has been derived, thus proceeds: “The other case in which it seems to me that the law of nations should either be amended, or declared more clearly and enforced in practice, is that of the blockade of towns not defended by their inhabitants, in order to force their surrender by starvation. And here let us try to realize to ourselves what such a blockade is. We need not, unhappily, draw a fancied picture; history, and no remote history either, will supply us with the facts. Some of you, I doubt not, remember Genoa; you have seen that queenly city, with its streets of palaces rising tier above tier from the water, girdling with the long lines of its bright white houses the vast sweep of its harbour, the mouth of which is marked by a huge natural mole of rock, crowned by its magnificent lighthouse-tower. You remember how its white houses rose out of a mass of fig, and olive, and orange trees, the glory of its old patrician luxury; you may have observed the mountains behind the town, spotted at intervals by small circular low towers, one of which is distinctly conspicuous where the ridge of the hills rises to its summit and hides from view all the country behind it. Those towers are the forts of the famous lines; which, curiously resembling in shape the later Syracusan walls inclosing Epipolæ;, converge inland from the eastern and western extremities of the city, looking down the western line of the valley of Pulcevera, the eastern on that of the Bisagno, till they meet as I have said on the summit of the mountains, where the hills cease to rise from the sea and become more or less of a table-land, running off towards the interior at the distance, as well as I remember, of between two and three miles from the outside of the city. Thus a very large open space is inclosed within the lines, and Genoa is capable therefore of becoming a vast entrenched camp, holding not so much a garrison as an army. In the autumn of 1799, the Austrians had driven the French out of Lombardy and Piedmont; their last victory of Fossano or Genola, had won the fortress of Coni or Cuneo close under the Alps, and at the very extremity of the plain of the Po. The French clung to Italy only by their hold of the Riviera of Genoa, the narrow strip of coast between the Apennines and the sea, which extends from the frontiers of France almost to the mouth of the Arno. Hither the remains of the French force were collected, commanded by General Massena, and the point of chief importance to his defence was the city of Genoa.

“Napoleon had just returned from Egypt, and was become First Consul; but he could not be expected to take the field till the following spring, and till then Massena was hopeless of relief from without, everything was to depend upon his own pertinacity. The strength of his army made it impossible to force it in such a position as Genoa; but its very numbers, added to the population of the city, held out to the enemy a hope of reducing it by famine; and as Genoa derives most of its supplies by sea, Lord Keith, the British naval Commander in Chief in the Mediterranean, lent the assistance of his naval force to the Austrians, and by the vigilance of his cruizers, the whole coasting trade right and left was effectually cut off. It is not at once that the inhabitants of a great city, accustomed to the daily sight of well-stored shops and an abundant market, begin to realize the idea of scarcity; or that the wealthy classes of society, who have never known any other state than one of abundance and luxury, begin seriously to conceive of famine. But the shops were emptied, and the storehouses began to be drawn upon; and no fresh supply or hope of supply appeared. Winter passed away, and Spring returned, so early and so beautiful on that garden-like coast, sheltered as it is from the north winds by its belt of mountains, and open to the full rays of the Southern Sun. Spring returned, and clothed the hill sides within the lines with its fresh verdure. But that verdure was no more the delight of the careless eye of luxury, refreshing the citizens by its loveliness and softness when they rode or walked up thither from the city to enjoy the surpassing beauty of the prospect! The green hill sides were now visited for a very different object; ladies of the highest rank might be seen cutting up every plant which it was possible to turn to food, and bearing home the common weeds of our road sides as a most precious treasure! The French general pitied the distress of the people; but the lives and the strength of his garrison seemed to him more important than the lives of the Genoese, and such provisions as remained were reserved in the first place for the French army. Scarcity became utter want, and want became famine! In the most gorgeous palaces of that gorgeous city, no less than in the humblest tenements of the poor, death was busy; not the momentary death of battle or massacre, nor the speedy death of pestilence, but the lingering and most miserable death of famine! Infants died before their parents’ eyes, husbands and wives lay down to expire together! A man whom I saw at Genoa in 1825 told me that his father and two of his brothers had been starved to death in this fatal siege. So it went on, till in the month of June, when Napoleon had already descended from the Alps into the plain of Lombardy, the misery became unendurable, and Massena surrendered. But before he did so, twenty thousand innocent persons, old and young, women and children, had died by the most horrible of deaths which humanity can endure! Other horrors which occurred besides during the blockade I pass over; the agonizing death of twenty thousand innocent and helpless persons requires nothing to be added to it!

“Now is it right that such a tragedy as this should take place, and that the laws of war should be supposed to justify the authors of it? Conceive having been a naval officer in Lord Keith’s squadron at that time, and being employed in stopping the food which was being brought for the relief of such misery! For the thing was done deliberately; the helplessness of the Genoese was known, their distress was known; it was known that they could not force Massena to surrender; it was known that they were dying daily by hundreds; yet week after week, and month after month, did the British ships of war keep their iron watch along all the coast: no vessel nor boat laden with any article of provision could escape their vigilance! One cannot but be thankful that Nelson was spared from commanding at this horrible blockade of Genoa!

“Now on which side the law of Nations should throw the guilt of most atrocious murder is of little comparative consequence or whether it should attach to both sides equally: but that the deliberate starving to death of twenty thousand helpless persons should be regarded as a crime in one or in both of the parties concerned in it seems to me self-evident! The simplest course would seem to be that all non-combatants should be allowed to go out of a blockaded town, and that the general who should refuse to let them pass should be regarded in the same light as one who were to murder his prisoners or who were in the habit of butchering women and children.”

It is not intended to be suggested that the morality of the more virtuous and religious members of civilized communities is not superior to that of uncivilized races. But that such superiority can be claimed by the mass of the inhabitants of Europe is a proposition of which the evidence must be allowed to be doubtful as regards some—must be allowed, alas! to fail altogether as regards many—of those virtues of which our nature is capable!

Yet, notwithstanding many melancholy facts that seem to be repugnant to such a conclusion, there exist satisfactory grounds for inferring that civilization has a direct tendency to promote the moral improvement of the Human Race, and that our species is probably destined even in this state of existence, to a course not only of social, but also of a moral progression! Of this truth distinct indications may be recognized in the altered sentiments of European nations on many momentous subjects, as evinced in the increasing aversion to wars of aggression—in the general condemnation of the principle—and the extensive abolition of the practice—of slavery, and in the rapid growth of an earnest sympathy, at once generous and humane, with the claims and the sufferings of the more unprotected branches of mankind! Of the practical results of these changes in the moral sentiments of Society—of which Christianity, which teaches that all men are of one blood and of one family, has been the primary source—and of which the English nation—influenced by the example of a few men of extraordinary piety, wisdom, and humanity, to whom it gave birth in the last generation, have been the most conspicuous instruments—one example may be appropriately introduced in this place.

“The original proprietors of this fine soil, (the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope,) the poor Hottentots, the fabricated tales of whose filthiness are known to every schoolboy, and have made them proverbial in every nation of Europe, are probably the simplest and most inoffensive of the human race. By open robbery and murder, and by a cruel and persevering system of oppression on the part of the Dutch colonists, they have been reduced to not much more than 15,000 souls. Under the protection of the British government, by the careful instruction of the missionaries, and their increased importance in the colony as labourers since the abolition of the slave trade, their number is now considerably on the increase; General Craig, after the capture of the Cape, brought forward, experimentally, the physical and moral qualities of this most injured and degraded people, by forming them into a military corps, which, in point of discipline, obedience, instruction and cleanliness, were not at all behind European troops. The truth is that the filthy appearance of the Hottentot was never from choice, but necessity. The anxiety which he now shows to get quit of his sheep-skin clothing for cotton, linen, or woollen, and to keep his person clean, proves that he is far more sensible than the ‘Boor’ to the comforts of civilized life. ‘Whosoever,’ says the excellent Mr. Latrobe, the father of the Moravians in this country, ‘charges the Hottentots with being inferior to other people of the same class as to education and the means of improvement, knows nothing about them. They are in general more sensible, and possess better judgment than most Europeans, equally destitute of the means of instruction.’ At Bavians Kloof, or the Monkey’s Ravine, which General Jansens altered into Gandenthal, or the Valley of Grace, 130 miles E. by N. of Cape Town, is an establishment of these poor despised people under the care of missionaries, founded in 1737. It consists of a beautiful village containing 1400 Hottentot inhabitants. Every cottage has a garden, a few of the poor class still wear sheep skins, and their children go naked, but far the greater part of them make a point of providing themselves with jackets and trousers, and other articles of European dress which they already wear on Sundays. Both before and after meals they sing grace in the sweetest tones imaginable. The place externally, appears a little Paradise, and let it be remembered it is only one of a great number of these missionary stations. The Hottentots are of a deep brown or yellow brown colour, their eyes are pure white, their head is small; the face very wide above, ends in a point; their cheek-bones are prominent, their eyes sunk, the nose flat, the lips thick, the teeth white, and the hand and foot rather small. They are well made and tall, their hair is black, either curled or woolly, and they have little or no beard. Barrow and Grandprè conceive them to be of a Chinese origin, they call themselves Gkhui-gkhui, pronounced with a click of the tongue or throat, and say they do not come from the interior, but from over the Sea! The Hottentots are divided into several Tribes.”(21)

The nature of their language shows very clearly that the Hottentots are not closely connected by descent with the Chinese; the tradition that they came originally from a country beyond the sea might apply to the island of Madagascar where a dialect kindred to theirs is spoken. There seems however every reason for concluding, agreeably to Dr. Prichard’s views, that the Hottentots are descendants of Colonists impelled by the ordinary causes of migration from the North and Middle of Africa, who, as they finally occupied the farthest extremity, were probably the earliest inhabitants of that Continent. The evidence of language serves in a very striking manner to confirm this conclusion. For proofs of the connexion of the Hottentot dialects with the Egyptian and with the Negro languages, see Appendix A. The Hottentot dialects abound also in words unequivocally identical with the corresponding terms in ancient European and Asiatic languages, as for instance Imine, “A Day,” and Ki, “The Earth,” with the Greek. Surrie, Sore, “The Sun”, with the Sanscrit “Surya.” Mamma, “A Mother,” with the Latin, &c. Bo Aboob, “A Father,” with “Abba,” Hebrew. Tamma, “The Tongue.” (See p. 15, &c. &c.) Coincidences of this nature are proofs of that species of generic connexion with all the other races of mankind which might be expected as a consequence of a separation that, judging from the Geographical position of the Hottentot tribes, we may suppose to have occurred in the earliest ages of the world.

Proofs of the Identity of the Basque with other Languages.

The following specimens of the Basque, which have been introduced in illustration of the previous statement, at p. XXXV, include nearly all those words which are in most common use (with the exception of that class of Words which is noticed in Appendix A). By referring to the passages in this work, noticed below, the identity of the Basque words with those of other nations will be readily seen.

“A Father.” Aita (_Basque_,) Atta (_Gothic_), p. 52, Eiōth (_Egyptian_,)—“A Mother.” A.m.a. (_Basque_,) A.m. (_Hebrew_), see p. 106.

“Earth.” Erria (_Basque_), Erde (_German_), A.r.ts (_Hebrew_.)

“Water.” Ura (_Basque_), Ur (_Siberians_), see p. 84.

“A Stream.” Ibaya (_Basque_), see p. 71.

“Dog.” Potzoa (_Basque_), Psit (_Bohemian_), Pesia (_Russian_.)

Ora (_Basque_), Ouhor (_Egyptian_.)

“Cat.” Catua (_Basque_), see p. 122.

“Ox.” Idia (_Basque_), Ei di on (_Welsh_.)

“Cow.” Bihia (_Basque_), Bee ouch (_Welsh_.)

“Bull.” Cecena (_Basque_), Uxen, Ukshhan (_Sanscrit_), Ox, Oxen (_English_.)

“Goat.” A qu erra (_Basque_), see p. 122.

“A Lamb.” A-churria, p. 121, Umerria (_Basque_), A.m.r (_Chaldæ_.)

“Swine.” Charria Cherria (_Basque_), Xoir-os (_Greek_), see p. 122.

“A Bear.” Artsa (_Basque_), Arth (_Welsh_), Arcturus (_Latin_), Arktos (_Greek_.)

The identity of the following words with equivalent terms in the English, &c. will be obvious.

“Bread of Maize.” Artoa (_Basque_), Artos “Bread; Food” (_Greek_.)

“An Arrow.” Istoa (_Basque_), Ios Oistos (_Greek_.)

“A Raven; Black.” Balcha Belcha (_Basque_.)

“End.” Ondoa (_Basque_.)

“To Go.” Gan (_Basque_), Gang (_Lowland Scotch_), Gehen (_German_.)

“To Sell.” Saldu (_Basque_.)

“Zeal.” Kharra (_Basque_), C’H.r.a (_Chaldoe_), C’H.r.e (_Hebrew_.)

“Morning.” Bora (_Welsh_), Biar (_Basque_.)

“To shine very brightly.” B.c.r (_Arabic_.)

PLAN OF THIS INVESTIGATION. LORD BACON’S PRINCIPLES APPLICABLE TO INQUIRIES INTO THE ORIGIN AND CHANGES OF HUMAN LANGUAGES.

The fanciful theories in which even some of the most distinguished writers have deemed themselves at liberty to indulge, when they have entered upon the field of Philological research, have naturally tended to create, among men of calm and dispassionate minds, a general distrust in the results of all inquiries into the origin and early history of human languages. But it must be obvious that the errors into which the first inquirers on this—as on every other—subject have been betrayed is not a fair test of the attention due to Philological investigations. In this, as in every branch of human knowledge, the authenticity of the results must be tested solely with reference to the principles appealed to, and the weight, amount, and consistency of the evidence adduced. In this, as in every other branch of knowledge, the value of those results must depend solely on the interest and importance of the truths which such results may involve.

In the following pages are developed proofs of two leading propositions, viz.:

1. That the languages of the continents of Asia, Europe, Africa,
and America, were originally the same.

2. That the differences which exist between the individual
languages of those continents may be explained consistently with
the proofs of original unity, by causes still in operation.

In this place, the principles appealed to in elucidation of these propositions may be explained with advantage.

1. As regards the proofs adduced of the original unity of the
languages of the four continents.

These proofs are in no instance founded upon speculation or surmise. They consist in every instance, either of a comparison of terms absolutely identical in sound and sense, or of terms, of which the mutual connexion is equally certain, in accordance with those principles, with respect to which philosophical writers on language are agreed. Terms belonging to two different continents have been compared in those instances only, in which the affinities are of the same nature, as those which have been shown to be characteristic of words belonging to different dialects of the same language, in the writings of Court Ghebelin, Horne Tooke, Adam Smith, Dugald Stewart, Humboldt, and Du Ponceau. These great writers do not belong to the class of Philological speculators, but to that of authorities on the origin and mutations of human tongues.

Hence it follows that the leading doctrine laid down by Lord Bacon as applicable to the investigations of Physical science applies equally in this instance to the researches of the Philologist; I allude to the following fundamental maxim: Experience is the only legitimate guide to _Truth_; hence an accurate investigation of those facts which are _within_ the limits of our historical knowledge, forms the only admissible basis of deduction, with respect to those facts which are _beyond_ the range of our actual experience.

2. Not less applicable is the same maxim in elucidation of the
second proposition, viz.: “That the differences which exist
between individual languages may be explained, consistently with
the proofs of original unity, by causes still in operation.”

This principle may be applied in the following manner:

There are certain languages of which the original unity can be proved, either by the extrinsic evidence of history, or by the gradual approximation they display as we ascend from modern to earlier epochs, and compare modern with _ancient_ specimens. We can show, by means of the like evidence, the progressive changes they have undergone, and the nature of the existing differences which have been the result of those changes.

There is another class of languages which came into existence during periods with regard to which we do _not_ possess the light of history; and the only source from which we can draw our conclusions, with respect to the relations that originally existed between them, is the internal evidence afforded by the composition and structure of those languages themselves. History being silent, this is the only clue by which we can determine whether they were originally distinct, or derived from a common source.

But by what rules are we to be guided in the deductions we may form from the mere texture of dialects of the second class?

The answer is, that the rules to be pursued in forming our
conclusions, with respect to the original relations of those
languages which _can not_ be historically traced to their source,
must be drawn from the experience furnished by that class of
languages of which the transitions _can_ be traced by means of the
independent evidence of history.

It will be shown that the _existing_ relations between these two different classes of languages _are_, and therefore we may infer that the _original_ relations _were_, the same.

By the adoption of these principles of investigation as regards both: 1, The Resemblances, and also 2, The Differences, which Human Tongues display, the great maxim of Lord Bacon’s philosophy will become legitimately applicable to language, and the researches of the Philologist may be directed by the same criteria, and his conclusions vindicated by the same tests as those which apply to the investigations of the inquirer into Physical phenomena.

It is upon these principles that I propose to conduct the inquiry of which the results are embodied in these pages.