that we can account ethnologically for the population of the European continent.
3. The Shemitic and Indo-European families cover, after all, but an insignificant portion of the earth's sur- face : the large areas of Northern and Eastern Asia, the numerous groups of islands that line its coast ami stud the Pacific in the direction of South America, and, again, the immense continent of America itself, stretching well- high from pole to pole, remain to be accounted for. His- torical aid is almost wholly denied to the ethnologist in his researches in these quarters; physiology ami lan- guage are his only guides. It can hardly, therefore, be matter of surprise if we are unable to obtain certainty, or even a reasonable degree of probability, on this part of our subject. Much has been done; but far more re- mains to be done before the data for forming a conclu- sive opinion can be obtained. In Asia t)ie languages fall into two large classes — the monosyllabic and the agglutinative. The former are represented ethnologi- cally by the Chinese, the latter by the various nations classed together by Prof. M. Miiller under the common head of Turanian. It is unnecessary for us to discuss the correctness of his view in regarding all these nations as members of one and the same family. Whether we accept or reject his theory, the fact of a gradation of lin- guistic types and of connecting-links between the vari- ous branches remains unaffected, and for our present purpose the question is of comparatively little moment. The monosyllabic type apparently betokens the earliest movement from the common home of the human race, and we should therefore assign a chronological priority to the settlement of the Chinese in the east and south- east of the continent. The agglutinative languages fall geographically into two divisions, a Northern and South- ern. The Northern consists of a well-detined group, or family, designated by German ethnologists the Ural- Altaian. It consists of the following five branches : (1.) The Tungusian, covering a large area, east of the river Yenisei, between Lake Baikal and the Tunguska. (2.) The Mongolian, which prevails over the Great Des- ert of (iobi, and among the Kalmucks, wherever their nomad habits lead them on the steppes either of Asia or Europe, in the latter of which they are found about the lower course of the Volga. (3.) The Turkish, cov- ering an immense area from the Mediterranean in the south-west to the river Lena in the north-east; in Eu- rope spoken by the Osmaiili, who form the governing class in Turkey; by the Nogai, between the Caspian and the Sea of Azof; and by various Caucasian tribes. (4.) The Samoiedic, on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, between the White Sea in the west and the river Ana- bara in the east. (5.) The Finnish, which is spoken by the Finns and Lapps; by the inhabitants of Esthonia and Livonia to the south of the (iulf of Finland; by va- rious tribes about the Volga (the Tcheremissians and Mordvinians) and the Kama (the Votiakes and Permi- ans); and, lastly, by the Magyars of Hungary. The Southern branch is subdivided into the following four classes: (1.) The Tamulian, of the south of Ilindostan. (2.) The Bhotlya, of Thibet, the sub-Himalayan district (Nepaul and Bhotan), and the Lohitic languages east of the Brahmapootra. (3.) The Tai, in Siam, Laos, Anam, and Pegu. (4.) The Alalay, of the Malay penin- sula, and the adjacent islands; the latter being the orig- inal settlement of the Malay race, whence they spread in comparatively modern times to the mainland.
The early movements of the races representing these several divisions can only be divined by linguistic to- kens. Prof. M. Miiller assigns to the Northern tribes the following chronological order: Tungusian, Mongo- lian, Turkish, and Finnish ; and to the Southern division the following: Tai, Malay, Bhotiya, and Tamulian {Phil, of Hist, i, 481). Geographically it appears more likely that the Malay preceded the Tai, inasmuch as they occupied a more southerlv district. The later movements of the European branches of the Northern division can be traced historicallv. The Turkish race
TONGUES OF FIRE
479
TONGUES, GIFT OF
commenceil their westerly migration from the neigh- borhood of the Altai range in the 1st century of our ;vra ; in the tJth they had reached the Caspian and the Vol- ga; in the 11th and Vlth the Turcomans took posses- sion of their present quarters south of Caucasus; in the 13th the Osmanli made their first appearance in West- ern Asia; about the middle of the 14th they crossed from Asia IMinor into Europe ; and in the middle of the 15th they had established themselves at Constantino- ple. The Fimiish race is supposed to have been orig- inally settled about the Ural range, and thence to have migrated westward to 'the shores of the Baltic, which they had reached at a period anterior to the Christian rera; in the 7th century a branch pressed southward to the Danube, and founded the kingdom of Bulgaria, where, however, they have long ceased to have any na- tional existence. The IJgrian tribes, who are the early representatives of the Hungarian Magyars, approached Europe from Asia in the 5th and settled in Hungary in tlie 0th century of our ;vra. The central point from which the various branches of the Turanian family ra- diated would appear to be about Lake Baikal. With regard to the ethnology of Oceania and America we can say but little. The languages of the former are gener- ally supposed to be connected with the Malay class (Bun- sen, /'^//.o/"//t»V. ii, 114); but the relations, both linguis- tic and ethnological, existing between the INIalay and the black, or Negrito, population, which is found on many of the groups of islamls, are not well defined. The approx- imation in language is far greater than in physiology (Latham, L'ssai/s, p. 213, 218; Garnett, £ssciy.t, p. 310), and in certain cases amounts to identitv' (Kennedy, I^g- Sftys. p. 85) ; but the whole subject is at present involved in obscurity. Tiie polj'synthetic languages of North America are reifarded as emanating from the Mongolian stock (Bunsen, Phil, of [list, ii, 111), and a close attinity is said to exist between the North American and the Kamtchadale and Corean languages on the opposite coast of Asia (Latham, Man and his Migrat. p. 185). The C(Uiclusion drawn from this would be that the popula- tion of America entered by way of Behring's Strait. Other theories have, however, been broached on this subject. It has been conjectured that the chain of isl- ands which stretches across the Pacific may have con- ducted a Malay population to South America ; and, again, an African origin has been claimed for the Caribs of Central America (Kennedj', Essays, p. 100-123). In conclusion, we may safely assert that the tendency of all ethnological and linguistic research is to discover the elements of unity amid the most striking external varieties. Already the myriads of the human race are massed together into a few large groups. Whether it will ever be possible to go beyond this, and to show the historical unity of these groups, is more than we can undertake to say. But we entertain the firm persua- sion that in their broad results these sciences will yield an increasing testimony to the trutii of the Bible.