physical and vital, of the universe. Anthropology, or the natural history of man, treated as the natural history of any other animated being, is a study that has scarcely yet received a name and place among the other branches of human knowledge.

Conditions of Civilisation and Progress.

298. Such is the usual subdivision of mankind into varieties or races, and such the existing distribution of these races over the surface of the globe. The subdivisions may to some extent be arbitrary; but as there are actual differences of colour, form of head, facial expression, and the like, and as these physical features are accompanied by strongly-marked differences in mental constitution, in form and structure of language, and in intellectual capability, the distinctions in the main must be founded on nature. As to the prehistoric distribution of man, neither archæology nor geology, in the absence of reliable remains, can arrive at any certain conclusion. Within historical time, however, the various races, while peopling most densely the regions they now occupy, have ever been less or more encroaching on each other's domainthe inferior giving way to the superior and more civilised. The Ethiopian, in its numerous tribes and branches, has remained stationary in Africa. The Malay, chiefly an insular race, has spread itself, in one or other of its branches, over the islands of the Southern Ocean and Pacific. The Mongolian, while claiming Central and Eastern Asia as its headquarters, has spread partially into Europe, and largely along the entire seaboard of the Arctic Ocean. The White man, on the other hand, has partly repelled the Mongol, and, after spreading wave after wave over Western Asia, Northern Africa, and the whole of Europe, has within the last three centuries taken possession of the greater portion of North America (United States, Canada, Mexico, California, &c.); of part of South America (Brazil, Guiana, Peru, &c.); of South Africa ; and of Southern Australia and New Zealand; while his influence is felt, less or more, in every region of the globe.

299. Wherever the means of subsistence can be obtained, there man will establish himself and increase in numbers-his increase being mainly regulated by the facility or difficulty of obtaining supplies. Where he can raise more than his own wants require (and this will depend very much on his knowledge of nature's laws and operations, or, in other words, on the natural capabilities of Race), or where he enjoys products not possessed by other localities, this surplus and these products form subjects of barter

R

and exchange, and thus he acquires wealth and the power to command luxuries. Raised above the mere physical struggle for existence, the higher faculties of his mind-imagination, invention, reflection, moral perception, and religious sentiment—begin to develop themselves, and man passes from the domain of savagery into the categories of civilisation. To trace the course of civilisation lies beyond the scope of our subject; but it is evident, from what has been repeatedly stated, that its advancement (laying altogether aside the consideration of Race) depends, in a great measure, on the geographical or physical conditions by which it is surrounded. Wherever there exists a favourable climate, the means of subsistence, and opportunities of interchange and barter -in other words, wherever there are the objects and means of successful industry-there civilisation will manifest itself; and just as equitable laws, protection of property, freedom of action, and liberty of opinion are enjoyed, so civilisation will advance in a corresponding ratio. In absence of these adjuncts it has passed, and may yet pass, from nation to nation; but in the aggregate its maintenance from epoch to epoch has been secure-its progress seems illimitable.

300. It may be noted, however, that, other things being equal, a maritime or oceanic population will more readily excel in civilisation than a continental or inland one- —their progress being directly as their means of interchange and intercommunication with other countries. Again, a population like that of China, enjoying vast and equable geographical conditions, will remain more stationary than another even of the same race (as the Japanese) who possess more limited but more varied surroundings. Further, populations cut off from intercommunication by land-barriers, such as vast deserts and mountain-chains, remain more isolated and less progressive than others separated by the widest oceans; hence the sharp definings of certain Asiatic races, such as those of China, India, Tartary, and Arabia. Still further, variety of external conditions and variety of natural products necessarily produce greater contrasts, greater activity, and greater intelligence; hence the varied and superior civilisation of a diversified continent like Europe compared with the other great sections of the globe. In fine, the effect of geographical condition and consequent industry is too often lost sight of in our social and political reasonings; and it may be laid down as an axiom, that no great continent possessing different climates, different products, and necessarily different pursuits, can possibly be governed by the same laws, or permanently united under the same forms of government.

NOTE, RECAPITULATORY AND EXPLANATORY.

In the preceding chapter attention has been briefly directed to the varieties and distribution of the human species-Ethnology or Ethnography being the science which treats of these distinctions. It has been shown that Man, though possessing a greater elasticity of constitution than most of the lower animals, and capable of enduring under almost every climate, is still, to a great extent, influenced by the external conditions by which he is surrounded, both in his physical and mental relations. Whether owing to these influences, or arising from aboriginal differences which science cannot explain, Man now appears in several varieties or races—each occupying well-marked territories on the globe, and distinguished by peculiarities of colour, form of head, facial expression, and other physical features, as well as by equally obvious intellectual and social qualities. These varieties are the Caucasian or white, the Mongolian or yellow, the American or red, the Ethiopian or black, and the Malay or brown-each embracing a great number of tribes, branches, and nationalities, differing in language, social polity, and other peculiarities.

The Caucasians, or Indo-Europeans, inhabit the south-western section of Asia, the northern belt of Africa, and nearly the whole of Europe, and have, in modern times, extended their dominion to large areas of North and South America, South Africa, South Australia, and New Zealand. The Mongolians, concentrated chiefly in Central and Eastern Asia, have partially penetrated into Eastern Europe, but are most extensively spread in scattered communities along the entire seaboard of the Arctic Ocean. The Malays, having their headquarters in Malaya and the Indian Archipelago, are spread, in one or other of their tribes, over Australia, as well as over all the island groups that stud the bosom of the Pacific. The Ethiopians, through drafted hither and thither as the slaves of the white man, have been mainly stationary in Africa, the natural home and habitat of their race; while the Americans, or Red Indians, have been equally restricted to the New World continent. As a whole, the negro and Red Indian have made, and still make, the least progress in civilisation; hence their easier subjection by the higher races, and hence also their rapid disappearance before them. The Malay and Mongolian come next in order; and though some of their sections (Chinese, Japanese, &c.) have arrived at considerable eminence in the industrial arts, yet in both races the essentials of higher progress

seem wanting, and hence their torpid and stationary aspect. By the white race alone do we find displayed the higher efforts of bodily and mental activity-hence in ancient times the civilisations of India, Assyria, Palestine, Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, and Rome; and in modern times those of Western Europe-Austria, Germany, France, and Britain; of the United States and Canada; and, generally, of our colonies, in whatever region of the globe they may happen to be established.

The conditions favourable to this civilisation are partly of a geographical or physical nature, and partly intellectual; and wherever the two are in fortunate conjunction, there the progress of the white race is certain, and illimitable as certain. We say of the white race, for as yet neither of the other varieties have at all approached the standard of his civilisation in temperate zones. Indeed it may be fairly questioned, on psychological grounds, whether they are naturally capable of the same kind and degree of social, moral, and intellectual attainments; and also whether, in all the temperate and sub-tropical regions at least, they are not in time destined to disappear before the spread and progress of the white, or to be imperceptibly absorbed into his superior numbers and advancement. Under the equatorial zone—and be it observed that only a very small portion of the land-surface is strictly equatorial, and even of that portion a considerable share, like the highlands of equatorial Africa, Mexico, and Colombia, are capable of being inhabited by the white man— -the black and brown races, in some of their offshoots, may rise to a subordinate civilisation; but everything we know of the past points to illimitable progress in the white, and to a limit and declension in the other varieties of our species.

The student desirous of entering more minutely into the study of Ethnology and its kindred branches, may consult such works as those of Dr Prichard, Dr Latham, Messrs Gliddon and Nott, Mr Brace, and others, along with the plates and letterpress in the Physical Atlas' of A. K. Johnston.

XVI.

GENERAL REVIEW, APPLICATIONS, AND DEDUCTIONS.

Objects and Principles.

301. THE object of Physical Geography being not only to describe the external aspects of the world, but to determine the causes by which these aspects have been, or are still in course of being, produced, it has been necessary, in the preceding chapter, to deal with principles as well as details. Indeed, the aim through. out has been to present our planet as subjected to general laws, believing that, when these are understood, there will be little difficulty in comprehending their modifications in local and limited areas. Let the student clearly understand the origin, for example, of winds and rains, of tides and currents, and he will soon find his way to determine the causes that produce their modification in any special locality. Let him once comprehend the main causes of climatic diversity, and the manner in which it affects the distribution of plants and animals, and he will have no difficulty in accounting for the peculiar climates of individual countries, or for the plant-life or animal-life by which they are peopled. The great object in an outline like the present is to inculcate principles; the details of geography would require volumes for their enumeration.

302. In accordance with these views, attention has been directed to the planetary relations of the earth-its figure, motions, dimensions, &c.—as on these depend its light and heat, its alternations of day and night, summer and winter, and, in general terms, all that gives rise to change and diversity in its external conditions. It is, in fact, to its solar relations that the earth owes, if we may so speak, its life and activity, deriving therefrom directly its rotation, revolution, heat, light, seasonal differences, and tides; and indirectly its winds, waves, and currents, its rains, snows, and frosts-all that produces diversity in the distribution of its plants