Beyond these nations;, towards the East, are several tribes
of different languages; but of similar habits and character,
both physical and moral. Some of these are known to
have descended fjom High Asia :. !in other instances 'this
can only die conjectured. The Yakutes of the Lena are
proved by their language to be of the Turkish race, and
they preserve among them, as we shall see, a very ancient
and primitive form of the Turkish language. The Tun-
gusians beyond them, a widely-spread nation; of barbarous
and sylvan habits, in their norther® abode reach from thb
Lena to the Pacific Ocean: They are well knowwto be allied
to the Mand-shu and many other nations of Eastern Tartars.
Whether the Yukagiri, and the Koriaks, and the Kam-
tschatkans, and the Aino or Kuril ians, are really allied'to
the same stcjek of nations is hardly to be determined except
by a comparative analysis of their respective languages.!
sufficient materials for this purpose havei.rBeen collected'.*
We have perhaps stronger evidence that from the eastern
border of the same high region descended the remarkable
race of people, who, according to their own traditions,
were a little horde of barbarians^n the forest , of Shensi,
where, at the feet of the mountains which separate China
from Tartary, they are said to have wandered, without
settled habitations, clothed in skins, ignorant-' even of th&
use of fire, feeding on insects and roots like the Bushmen
and the Australian savages. The Chinese', according to their
own historians, emerged from this state, not as other
nations have become civilised, by intercourse with more
polished neighbours or by gradual .^refinement, but L in
obedience to the orders of their emperors. The-place of
history or genuine tradition seems to have been usurped
by infantile stories among the Chinese, but we may believe
the fact that the Chinese came from the Asiatic Highland,
since we find tribes still left upon its borders who in languages
and manners bear a decided resemblance to the
Chinese;
The natives of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula maybe sup-
* The Vocabularies in the Petropolitan collection and tho£e in Klaproth’s
Asia Polyglotta are far from beiwg sufficient for this purpose.
pesed'bob'.sufficient grounds,.,to have descended from the
seutWstitfn branch of the Plateau. They probably made
their way, along* th^oufBesfc. 6t the Sreat rivers whlch
descend-.from it* “a$ the Irawadr and the Mekong
Th©i Bh®tiy|Is',^#J®^r Indo-Tartar nations, are still
partly within theL.border’^ ë f ÿ t h e h i g h Antral- Gentry.
Whether.the Tamuliançnaqe- and the ■ aborigines of the
Deklian may.1 hfe^|fé®#)^*i'erred to thfe stock of Sthe
nomadiioïdations:is aÿjyet (Uncertain. I havetobserved that
th e y ^ ^ è beenMIpMdo-wM by.-3Pr ofè$lô/vRask. as belonging
to-'tb’â S ^ th iia n ^ â iïb ^ ’
L as 1 1 dhe^Mal ay an Sp?Mêr in p h y ^ h character a considerable
resëmblancè. faithe same«ty^eau%r'f .>
On all thest/ races nature bas^ impressed a^peiuliar
fèrm or tjÿfcfefif physical Wganisation.- Is thisHhe result
o£ the ipeculiarr- a^icSfe^of climate'?in/tBut régions which
they hav,/inhabited?;,: We:knoWhaball the organised productions
t>f n ature dispBf 'eiVtaiwipïcnMaritiék in those; régnons
voîf the earth considerablyii^##a^ gdhet^Vkl of the
The'observation applie^notionly tb‘? .the vegetable*
tribes^'bunlike# is efto mahyfamili^Sintl^^^iiim^ kingdom,«
in-which kindred ra!eés*mba|itbéth ^gVanc^le|%countries.
A lights and'active, but éftesAvuùcbuffi andigT^M:et^form
of limb's and body takes placée in the, mountain-tribes^of the
more fu-lly-deWffi|ie%öwelKpr©yortióned> and- elegant figure
remarkable im races- whós^fkbode , iSfein verdant plains
and luxuriant valiies1.* The r-tid<|J^orm of organisation i#
perhaps‘bést fitted for?hardy trihes^fe,tided to obtain, often
not without tofl&and difficulty, -a scanty subsistance-amid,
precipitous ro ck s^ -d n ith e stunt'ednvegetation: of Alpinet
desérts. In the humannnÿâefes, mountaineers are noted
for some peculiarities? in the-ir : physical? growtfeh compared
with other races; of men, they.hay&fesi grace a ud beauty
I of figure, but more .agile bodies, à -shéHer.stature, and more
angular and projecting features^. This is at least a general
observation' : without .stoppings inquire whether it is universally
corrects we may observe, that the most extensively
elevated region 6 f the-earth, I mean the great Upland of
Central Asia, is ithe .birth-place and cradle, or immemorial