4 DISTRIBUTION OP NATIONS.
which migrate frond one region to another, is a question only
to be determined by accurate research.
S ection —Distribution of the Nations of Europe and
Asia into G-roupes and Families.
The different nations of Europe and Asia distribute
themselves into groupes of greater o r less extent, the members
'"of which are in some instances bound together by ties closer"
than in others. Several of these gmupes are composed of
tribes, who* though spread through different and ofteff rtemotd
regions, display, when their language^ otheir history,* and
moral peculiarities are investigated* such proofeof affinity,' as
to leave no doubt that they sprang originally; frMTrthfe same
stems. In some instances,' which shall h a v ^ d l t e o h ^
point but, philological evidence seemsjjto b e alone sufficient
to establish this conclusion, though-it be one’’ Which’! previously
to.inquiry would appear very improbable. Who, for
example, would expect to find any marks of affihity betwCeh
the barbarous Siah-posh, on the heights of the Hindu-Khn,
near the sources of the Oxus, and the natives of Lettland,
Lithuania and EastJPrussia ? Yet nobody who.considers the
remarkable affinity discovered between the idiom of the
Siah-posh and the Sanskrit, and again between the sanfe
language and the Lettish, Lithuanian* and Old P russiari/ can
entertain a doubt that the nations above mentioned sprang
from a, common origin. Groupes composed of tribes thus assor
t e d are commonly termed families of nations; but that
expression may not be adopted in examples in which the
marks of affinity are less decided: It can hardly be applied to
nations which, though associated by local proximity, as
well as by resemblance in manners and physical characters,
display in their languages no sufficient evidence of original
conpexipn. We should not venture to term the Koriaks, the
Kamtschadaies and the Yukagiri, a family of nations, though
they are similar in their habits and whole manner of
existence, as well as in their physical characters, and inhabit
neighbouring countries, in a remote extremity of the old
8YRO-ARABIAN RACE. O
Continents We are not a;ware of any analogy in their lan-
guages^sufficient't o" affords* proof ^of kindred origin, and the
o b se i^d 'traits* ©flres’etoblaiyce-may ffie «otherwise explained.
TlhC^rmLgrdupe or^that of class i wall-best denote such aggre-
tga^es^of nations,.a$tU$s ^fegee^l -expression, will serve to
include d sso^ lns^i^ i^ ppth k^^BW
I shall now enumerate ’th e •plffi^pglygroupes into which I
prp;pp§'e to distributed tribes who ;collectivelyform the
populat i on«of; th iS -S opjb>.pppti n ent,,.
.. Paragraph vM^Pirst?0rofipes^Syro-Arabjp R a c |^
Tpe th a ta which ^ e ^ ^ J j s bfafition 3in the
first plaqe, as having ex($cibed(t^^greatest^ influenpcpyer the
'destiffiesjof ffiankind^ . ^o^paral^g^ly
natioos,>,aJL^of/them^peakiqg^g^ate (^ a j^ ^ ^ fo n e langugg^
Tp these, modern writei|k after ^Eiphfiom„,ha|e y ^ e n ,the
designation ofdhe i em i t i c l l a c ^ term is:a iB ^ lt improper
y fitnpftsa^rerparkatle-, diylsipk^©ftfese ttolBL forming by
thpmseliyesj pnp Celebrated nations of the ancient
,woiM,J jarejiJmAhc^gel^^^ in the |bopk of
'GWesiRr,Tdeclared to have d e ^ n d e d f^pni ^ p?ifferent; f ^ i l y ,
namely, from that,of Canaan and of Ham. I t.S ^ ^ s that the
Canaaniteslpr the Phoenicians, n ^ o n s were termed
by the Greeks, ,including th e ^ d o n ia n s , Tyr^na, and atper
colonies«of; 'fhe same race,Reported to hayexpme priginally
fyom the Erythr„aefan, or Indian oceap, a people,devpfed^p|xi
the, .earfiest, times* to maritime commckcfeL though they were
the., pffspringfpL a different stock frpm the pa^torial^hemite
tribes, were brought at^ an ^ a rly period intoj^l^tionJ>isqsinti-
mate with.people of that race, as to partake .with them, one
common, speech, and toYpr^pyith them, tin an ethnological
sense, one groupe of nations. We have l i k e m ^ reason to
believe that some of the Arabian, tribes, namely, the Hhimya-
rites and their colonies on the coast of Africa, were of the
race of Cush, and, therefore, of a stock originally distinct
from that of Shem. < Now it is evidently improper to apply