Indigenous Races of the Earth

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32G TIIE CRANIAL CIIARACTERIS'fiCS antm·o-poatorior section of tho bend, tho nroa of tho fo.ce will be moro oonsiuoro.blo in pro­portion to tlu\t of tho cranium, in suoh a skull, tbtm in tho fine European forms.- Tho larger and stronger j1\WS require more powerful muscles. 'fhc temporal fossa is much lurgor; tho ridge which bounds it rises higher on tho skull, and is moro strongly mnrked, than in tho l':uropoan. 'l'ho thickness of tho muscular muss may be oatimr~tod from the bony r~rch, within wl1ich it descends to tho lower jaw. Tho zygomn is ln.rgor, stronger, n.nd more oapn.cious in tho Negro; tho chock-bonos project l'eml\rlmbly, 1\nd 1\ro very strong, brOt\d, 1\nd thick: honoo they afford ~pace fOl' tho attachment of powerful mas­soters.- 'fho orbits, and pn.l'ticullu·Jy their external apertures, nro cn.puoious.- Doth ontmucos to tho nose nl'c moro nmplo, tho oo.vity itself considerably more capncious, the plates and windings of tho ethmoid bono moro complicnted, tho cribl'ifo1·m lnmclla more oxtonHivo, l1111.n in tho Em·opean. Tho osso. no.8i o.ro flat and short, instead of forming the bridge-like convexity which we soe in tho European. They run togothoc above into o.u o.outo angle, which rniLkos tbom considoro.bly rcsomblo tho single trio.ngulnr llO.Snl bone of tho monkey .... The superio1· mo.xillury bono is romo.rkt\bly prolonged in front; its o.lvoo­lo. r portion nnd tho iuoludod incisor tooth 1wo oblique, instend of being perpenuioulnr, o.s in tho Europeo.n. 1'ho nasal Apino o.t tho entrance of tho nose is either inconsidoro.blo, or entirely deficient. 1'ho po.lo.tino arch is longer o.nd more olliptico.l. 'l'ho nlvoolo.r edge of tho lower jnw sto.nd~ forwMd, like tlmt of tho upper; and this po.rt iu both is no.rrow, elongated, and olliptical. 1'he chin, insteo.d of projecting oqunlly with tho tooth, o.s it docs in tho Europoo.n, l'ocerlos consido1·nbly like tbnt of the monltoy. -1'ho chnro.otors of the Ethiopian vo.rioty, us observed in tho genuine Negro tribes, m1\y be thus 8ummod up: 1. No.rrow nnd depressed forehead; tho ontit·o omnium oontro.ctod nntoriorly: the oo.vity loss, both in its circumforouco o.ud tmnsvo1·se mon.suremont~. 2. Occipital fommon o.nd oondy.los plBood fiLrthor back. 8. Lnrge spBco fo1· tho tomporo.l muscles. 4. Oroo.t dovolopmont of tho fo.co. 5. Prominence of the jo.ws o.ltogothor, o.nd pnrticulnrly of their alvoohw mo.rgins and teeth; consequent ohliquity of the f1\cio.l line. 6. Superior incisors slanting. 7. Chin receding. 8. Very largo and strong zygomntio arch projecting towo.rds tho front. 9. Lo.rgo nnsal cuvity. 10. Small and flattonod ossa nasi, sometim s oonsoli­do. tod, o.nd running into o. point o.bovo.- In o.ll tho po.rticulurs just onumomtod, tho N<'gro structure o.pproximo.tcs uncquivoCI\lly to tho.t of tho Monkey. It not only difforA from tho C1moasio.n model, but is distinguished from it in two l'Ospocts; tho intollcctuo.l ch11raotors arc roduood, tho 1\nimo.l feo.turos enlurgod, o.nd oxuggero.ted. In snob u skull as tbnt repro­sontod in tho eighth plato, 1vliich, i11deed, lias bee~~ particula1·ly selected, because it is atrongly characterized, no person, however little convorso.nt with no.turo.l history or physiology, could fail to recognize a decided npproo.oh to the o.nimnl form. 1'his inferiority of orgnnizntion is attended with corresponding inferiority of faculties; which mo.y be proved, not so much by tho unfortunate beings who o.ro dogro.dod by slavory, as by every fact in tho po.st history and present condition of Africa." 2tG Thu~ much for tho crani~l physique of the genuine tropical Negro. The tnbes ot W cstom Afnca present us with high r fo1·ms of tho skull, and less degraded physical and intellectual traits. Those tribes, divided by a recent wt·itcr and zealous missio11ary, the Rov. J. L. WILSON, into tho onegambians, and the Northem and Southern Guineans,217 fot· tho most part dwell in small isolated communities each_co~posed of a few villages, and having an aggregate populatio~ val'ymg ll'Om two to thirty thousand. Even the kingdoms of A shan tee s.ae Op. cit., pp. 242, 8, 4-6. Ul EthnognLphio View of Western Africa. OF THE RACES OF MEN. 327 and Dahomey, tho largest political organizations of Western Afr·ica, are not superior in population and extent of territory to some of the smaller European kingdoms. According to WILsoN, tho inhabitants of this region have fixed habitations, cultivate tho soil, have herd~ of domestic animals, and have made very considerable progress i11 most of tho mechanic arts. That the various tribes di:O:or remarkably from each other in physiognomical characters, will be soon ft·om tho following condensed notice of some of the principal families. The Mandinrrocs, a commercial people occupying the country in which tho Niger takes its rise, extending t.hrouO'h tho kingdoms of Bambouk, Bambara, and Wuli, and, in smaller or Jargor groups, cover­ing all the country from Jalakonda to the sea-coast, are described by WILSON as" men of tall stature, slender, but well-proportioned, black complexion, and woolly hair, but with much more regular features than belong to tho true Negro." According to GoJ~DBERiw, they resemble more the blacks of India, than those of Africa.248 "Tho appearance of tho Mandingocs," says Major LAINo, "is engnging; their features arc regular and open; their persons well-formed and comely, avcragincr a height rather above the commOJt." The Fulahs inhabit Fuladu, north-west of Manding, the rcgio11 between the sources of the Senegal and Niger, and the three large Son gambian provinces, Futa-Torro, Futa-Bondu, and Futa-Jallon, extending also tow:nds tho heart of Soudan. 1'ho origin and purity of this peculiar people have boon much discussed. Linguistically and physically, they arc distinct from tho surrounding tribes over whom they rule. They deny their Negro origin, and consider them­selves a mixed race. llow vor, "their physical type of character is too permanent, and of too long standing, to admit of tho idea of an intermixture. In all mixed races, there is a strong and constant tendency to one or the other of the parent types, and it is difficult to point out a mixed breed that has bold an intermediate character for any consi lm·able time, especially when it has bcon entirely cut off from the sources whence it derived its being. But the Fulal1s arc now, in all their physical characteristics, just whnt they have beeu for many centuries. And it would seem, therefore, that tl1cir com­plexion, a.nd other physical traits, entitle them to as distinct and independent a national character as oithor tho Arab or N cgro, from tho union of which it is supposed that they have received their origi 11." 2'g Gor,DDERHY informs us that tho color of their skin is a kind of reddish black; their countenances arc regular, and their hail' is longer, and not so woolly, as that of tho common N cgroes ; 248 Tro.vols in Afrioo., Vol. I. p. 74. UD Wilson, op. cit., p. 7.