Page:Essays ethnological and linguistic.djvu/7



he following Papers, most of which were read before the Ethnological Society, were intended to form an introductory volume to two larger works, the one on the origin and character of the Basque language and people, the other relative to the knowledge of America possessed by the Ancients. With the exception of the Essays on the ancient languages of France and Spain, on the lost Tribes of Israel, and the first notice respecting the American Indians, which have already been published, these Papers were not prepared by the author for publication, and this circumstance will explain the repetitions which will occasionally be met with. They have been printed from the original M. S. without alteration, as I considered it more advisable to do so than to make any verbal changes in the text. A further paper would have been written respecting the progress of the Celts through Europe, in which their passage westward was intended to be traced from the names of localities in which the word "gal" in its varying forms occurs, and from the remains of Celtic customs and usages still to be found in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as from linguistic affinities. No Notes however came into my possession from which an abstract could be given of this intended Essay, or of the work on the Basques. I have given a short sketch of what I believe my father intended to have written about America, but as the few pages which he has left