ABSTRACT
It is instructive to note, how great facts gradually dawn out of the darkness, are first hesitatingly brought forward by a great Master of Linguistic divination, are combatted and laughed at by his contemporaries and seniors, and accepted as Gospel-truth by the next generation. Take, for instance, the separation of the Hamitic Group from the Semitic Family in North Africa, the existence of the Nuba-Fulah Group in Mid Africa, of the Bántu Family South of the Equator, and the relative position of the so-called Bushmen and the Hottentots in South Africa. We mark how manifest misconceptions die away, inapt Terminology falls out of use, and all theories, based upon misconception and mis-statement, disappear. It is wonderful to reflect, how Lakes, Mountains, Rivers, Tribes, Kingdoms, and Languages have appeared on the Map, on the pages of current literature, and the lips of men of this generation, as if a new Planet had rolled into view, or a new slide being slipped into a Magic Lantern, and yet for long silent Centuries those tribes have been there, and we have known as little of them as of the humming of their insects, and the howling of their wild beasts. This is a solemn thought : generations of men in Africa have lived in vain, if life be measured by the invention of an Art, or the propagation of an Idea. In imagination we can depicture them migrating through their grand forests, huddled together in their straw huts, fighting their cruel fights, dancing their wild dances, and giving way to their abominable customs of Cannibalism, Human Sacrifices, and bloody Ordeals, but of the form of words which they uttered, their phraseology, their divinities, their families, and their fellow-men, we know nothing.
