adopted by Dobrovsky, Kopitar, and Schaffarik; who divide all Slavic
nations, according to certain philological affinities and differences,
into the _North-Western_ and _South-Eastern_ Stems.[10]

Far better would have been the terms 'Northern _and_ Western,'
'Southern _and_ Eastern,' divisions; which indeed can be the only
proper meaning of those appellations. The Slovaks in Hungary, for
instance, who belong to the first division, can in no way be called a
_North_-Western people; and the Russians, who belong to the second,
still less a _South_-Eastern nation. The _origin_ from the South is
common to all the Slavic tribes; hence the appellation of Northern and
Southern can be applied to them only in a relative sense; and that
portion of the Slavic race, which inhabits Russia, is not known to
have ever lived in a more southern region than their Bohemian
brethren. We adopt, therefore, the division of the Slavi into EASTERN
and WESTERN Stems; which seems indeed to be the only strictly proper
one.[11]

The following enumeration of the still existing distinct nations of
the Slavic race, may serve to give a clearer view of them.


A. EASTERN STEM.

I. RUSSIAN BRANCH.

1. RUSSIANS. The Russians of Slavic origin form the bulk of the
population of the European part of Russia. All the middle provinces of
this vast empire are occupied almost exclusively by a people of purely
Slavic extraction. The numerous Slavi who are scattered through