But this apparent likeness conceals an extreme diver-
sity in the vocabularies, and in composition and syntax,
which take the place of grammar in the agglutinative
idioms. A detailed study of these differences would be
out of place in these summaries, of which the chief
aim, is to determine the extent of the domain of language,
and the ancient or actual area which the principal
varieties of language occupy in it. I shall, therefore,
confine myself to a few groups chosen in the north,
the centre, and the south of the New World;

The Inuit (" men," so they call themselves), whom
in disdain the Mohicans called Eskimanzik, eaters of
raw meat, whence Esquimaux, seem to deserve our
attention for more than one reason. First of all, tliey
liave the rare if slender privilege of constituting a
pure race ; secondly, they represent, by their extreme



Polysynthetic Languages. 191

dolichocephaly and their manner of life, the man of the
quaternary age, the man of the reindeer ; thirdly, in
spite of their dirty-yellow skin, their narrow eyes,
their coarse hair, their flat round face, their thick-set
ungraceful frame, they are not wanting in courage, in
gaietyj or in moral and intellectual qualities. The
Esquimaux of Greenland have become very acceptable
Danish citizens, municipal councillors and merchants.
They display a real taste for geographical science. Since
i860 they have had at Godthaab a printing-press and
an illustrated journal, of which the text and drawings
are furnished entirely by the natives ; and they publish
in their own language collections of popular traditions.
To the Esquimaux of Greenland belong the fifteen
hundred natives of Labrador.
