The proposition which forms the subject of this Chapter will be supported through the course of this work by the progressive development of a series of various but mutually connected proofs, which—both by their individual force, and by their harmonious combination,—will be found to be conclusive.
But of these proofs there is only one branch which admits of being conveniently adverted to in this place. I allude to the evidence collected in Appendix A, in the form of a “Comparison of the most Common Terms in the African, Asiatic, European and American languages.” This comparison, though composing only a part of the proofs adduced, will be found to involve in itself evidence sufficient to establish the suggested [pg 006] conclusion, Moreover, the evidence therein embodied,—though copious in details, and strictly conforming to the principles laid down by philosophical writers on language, is simple in its nature and results, which may readily be appreciated by inquirers totally unaccustomed to philological investigations. For these reasons, the comparison instituted in Appendix A forms an appropriate subject of examination at the commencement of this work.
Here, however, it must be premised that it will be impossible, without a complete perusal, to form a correct appreciation either of the facts or of the consequences developed in that Appendix. The explanations I shall present in this place must be viewed, therefore, in the light of a general and imperfect outline only. These explanations will be directed to—
I. The Nature,
II. The Results of the Comparison contained in Appendix A.
I. Of the Nature of the Comparison in Appendix A.
The languages of Africa have been chosen as the basis or subject of comparison with which the languages of the other three continents have been collated.
This arrangement has been dictated by a consideration of the comparatively slight attention which has hitherto been paid to the languages of the Central and Southern Regions of Africa; and also by the peculiar physiology of the Negro and Hottentot tribes, which has induced some physiologists to refer the origin of these tribes to Races totally distinct from the other Families of mankind.
The extensive researches of Dr. Prichard have satisfactorily shown that the peculiarities of the Negroes and Hottentots are not permanent nor abruptly marked, but local and evanescent, [pg 007] and that they melt away by nice shades of gradation, corresponding with the minute progressive transitions of climate that are traceable through the various regions of the African continent. Hence the possibility of the identity of the Negro and Hottentot Tribes with the inhabitants of the other three great continents may be clearly inferred. But no evidence has yet been produced calculated to establish this conclusion as a positive truth. This desideratum the aid of philology will be found satisfactorily to supply.