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Show 272 TilE CRANIAL CIIARAC'l'ERIS'l'ICS 'I'h so characters agree perfectly with those roprcsontcd in Tab. XlX. of the ])ecades, and in )j'rscuEn's Osteological ])issertation. 113 The descriptions, given by travellers, of the Mongolic physiognomy, correspond very well with the foregoing obsorvnLions upon the cmnium. "'I'llo Mongols and Douriata have so great a resembltmoo to thorn" (tho Kalmuoks), says ))AUAA, "uoth in their physiognomy, rmd in thoir maunors and morul economy, tlmt whatover i~ rolr1tod of one of those nntions willo.pply na woll to tho others. . . . . 1'he ohnraotori~ tio traits in all tho countono.nces of the Knlmuoka, aro oyos, of which tho gro1.1t nnglo, pln.ccd obliquely n.nd downwards town.rds tho noso, is but little open and fleshy; eyebrows block, son.nty, n.nd fot·ming a low arch; n. pnrticular conformntion of tho noso, which is gcnomlly short, nnd flnttonod townrds tho forehead; tho bones of tho ohook high; tho hoad n.nd f>Lco very round. Thoy have al~o tho trnnspnrcnt oornoa of tho oyo very brown; lips thick n.nd floRhy; tho chin short; tho tooth vory wllito: they preserve them fino and sound uutil old ngo. They bavo !Ill enormous oars, mthcr detn.ohod from tho hoo.d." "' 13ctwocn tho Caspian S a on tho west, and the Great Altai Mountains on t}JC cast, and between tho parallel of Tobolsk on tho north, ancl tho head-waters of tho Oxus on tho south, lies a country, whoso phyAical aspects arc not more interesting to the geologist and tho physical geographer, than arc its human inhabitants to tho ethnographer. In this region we are called upon to study an extensive stopp , iutorsoctod with l fty mountains, among which arc tho feeding springr; of many large rivers. Over this steppe, and among these mountains, have wandered, from the remotest times, a distinct and peculiar typo of people, who have played a most important part in tho history of tho world- a people who had established, centuries ago, a vast empire in tho heart of Asia, having China for its eastern, and tho Caspian Sea for its western border, and who, when prossed towards tho south-west by their nomadic neighbors, tho Mongols, in their turn fell, with devastating fury, upon Europe, and long hold its oast~rn portions in subjection. I allude to tho Turkish family, whoso lnstory would bo replete with interest, even if it offered us but tho single fact, that tho Turks, like the Goths of Europe and the Barbal'iau Tribes of North America- races occupying, in their respective countries, about the same parallels of latitude-wore selected at a former period, to break in upon the high, but at that time lethargic, civilization of a more southern clime. "In tho Yrtkut country we find tho most intense cold known in Asia; in Pamer tho greatest elevation above tho sea-level; in tho south of Egypt, an inter-tropical degree of heat. Yet in all these countries wo iind. tho Turk." 115 wen orgo.nizod and disciplined after tho Europco.n system. Soo his Yoyago dans l'Altal orie11talr, p. 190. 148 DiRRcrto.tio Ostoologica de Modo quo Ossa so viclnis accommodant Partibus. Ludg. lht. 1718, 4to., tnb. 1. 14 ~ Quoted from Pr·ichard, op. cit., p. 216. 1~ Lathnm, op. cit., p. 77. 01!' TJJJt: RACES OF MEN. 273 It is while studying the physical characters of this intot·osting people, that tlJO cranioscopist, in vi w of the littl attention which his favorite science has rocoivod, aud tho s anty mat rials, thor foro, by which he is gniclocl, is forced to exclaim, in tho lan()'uago of St. Augustine, "Mieantnt· homines altitudinos montium, ingentos fluctus mal'is, altissimoslar sus iluminum ot ocoani ambiturn ot gyros si<lorum ot rclinquunt so ipsos, nee mit'antnr." Much d.iscropnncy of opinion exists with regard to tho origin, homogonc1ty, and chamctoristic physical conf rmation of tho Turkish fi.tmily. In consoquonco of tho application of th term Tartar, their orin·in has been a!:lsignod to tho tribes of Lake 'Bouyir, in East Mongolia. RffiMUSAT, KLAPORTII, and l ITTER r gard them as doscon.dauts of tho IJiong-Nu, who, prior to tlto Christian Rl'a, throatonocl to overrun and subjtwat China with their migltty lJOI'dos. PltiCHAltD is inclined to consider tl1is opinio11 unquostionabloY0 D'OMALlUS D'IIALWY clasAifios tl10m along with tho ]j'inns and Magyars, as doAcondants or repros ntalivos of tho ancient~. ythro. 117 J~A'l'JIAM makes a remark which evinces a concLUTOnco of opinion-" A lal'ge, por·haps a very largo portion of tho cy thro must have been Turk; and if so, it is amongst tho Turks that we must look for some of tho wildest and fiercest of ancient conqueror ." On a pr c cling page ho obAorvos, "Pmcti ally, I consider that tho Mongoliform plJysio~'~'nomy is tho rule with tho Turk, rather tlJn.n tho oxcc1 tion, an<l that tho 'l'urk of Turkey exhibits the exceptional clutt·act t' of l1is family." 14a Much of this diftorcuco of opinion appears to result from tho notable fact that, in tnworsing tho Turkish aron., wo oucountet· diiloront types of countenance and of physical conformation g nerally. ln tho absence of an adequate collection of omnia r pt· sonting tho numerous trib s composing this family- vvlticlt coll •ctiou would be of tho greatest utility in deciding this mooted point-we arc :forced to adopt, by way of oxvlanation, one or otb r of tho throe following suppositions :-J~ith r tho typical Mongolian of Ea~tom Asia pas!:los, by certain Hatural transitionary forms,- displayed by tho tribes of Turkish Asia-into tho Ruropoan typo; or, tho Tnt·k once possessed a peculiar fot·m, standing midway between tl1at of tho J~ul'opoan and Mongol, tho intot·v 11ing snh-typos or forms having resulted from a double amalgamation on tho part of tho Turk; or, lastly, we must recognise in th Mo1woli~1.n form a pt·inritivo typo, whiclt, by amalgamation with tho Eur p an, has lJogotton tho Turk. Tho second of those propo itions appears to me tlto mOJ:;t tenable. Ilowov 1·, as Dr. Morton's collection contains no sl·ulls of tho Turkish trib s, I uo N>tt. TliHt. of' llftm, p. 209. us Variotio~ of Mun, pp. 78- 9. 18 1<1 Dos HMca l!umainoa, p. 83. |