our own time in enlightened Europe; and that _a feeling imagination_ will probably be more struck with the narration of the ceremonies of a _Naiche_ at Tongataboo, than of a Gothic tournament at London; with the contemplation of the colossuses of Easter Island, than of the mysterious remains of Stonehenge. Many singularities respecting what may be called the natural history of the human species, in different climates, will, on the authority of our late navigators, open abundant sources for philosophical discussion. One question of this sort, in particular, which had formerly divided the opinions of the inquisitive, as to the existence, if not of “giants on the earth,” at least of a race (inhabiting a district bordering on the north side of the strait of Magalhaens), whose stature considerably exceeds that of the bulk of mankind, will no longer be doubted or disbelieved. And the ingenious objections of the sceptical author of _Recherches sur les Américains_[66], will weigh nothing in the balance against the concurrent and accurate testimony of Byron, Wallis and Carteret. Perhaps there cannot be a more interesting inquiry than to trace the migrations of the various families or tribes that have peopled the globe; and in no respect have our late voyages been more fertile in curious discoveries. It was known in general (and I shall use the words of Kæmpfer[67]), that the Asiatic nation called Malayans, “in former times had by much the greatest trade in the Indies, and frequented with their merchant ships, not only all the coasts of Asia, but ventured even over to the coasts of Africa, particularly to the great island of Madagascar.[68] The title which the king of the Malayans assumed to himself, of _Lord of the Winds and Seas to the East and to the West_, is an evident proof of this; but much more the Malayan language, which spread most all over the east, much after the same manner as formerly the Latin, and of late the French, did all over Europe.” Thus far, I say, was known. But that from Madagascar to the Marqueses and Easter Island, that is, nearly from the east side of Africa, till we approach towards the west side of America, a space including above half the circumference of the globe, the same tribe or nation, the Phœnicians, as we may call them, of the Oriental World, should have made their settlements, and founded colonies throughout almost every intermediate stage of this immense tract, in islands at amazing distances from the mother continent, and ignorant of each others’ existence; this is an historical fact, which could be but very imperfectly known before Captain Cook’s two first voyages discovered so many new inhabited spots of land lurking in the bosom of the South Pacific Ocean; and it is a fact which does not rest solely on similarity of customs and institutions, but has been established by the most satisfactory of all proofs, that drawn from affinity of language. Mr. Marsden, who seems to