Indigenous Races of the Earth

XGN23N881857 184

338 T 1I E C n A N I A J, C IT A R A C T E R I S 'I' I C S warrior slain at tho battle of St. J osophs, in Juno, 1836 (No. 604) ; and th; cranium of an ancient mound-builder (No. 1512), "found by Dr. DAvis and Mr. QUJElt, in a mound in tho cioto Valley, Ohio, and d scribed and figu r d by them in their Ancient Monuments of tlte Mississippi Valley, 1)1. XL VII. and XL VIII. . . . 1'he general form of tho Peruvian skull 1s shown m F1gs. 66 and 67 (ret1·o). 1'he cranial types of Oceanica still remain to be discussed. With my limits already ovorswelled, I can but allude in the briefest ma~­nor to a few of the more important and striking skull-forms of th1s vast region, which has been anthropologically divided by JAc~ur­NO'r200 into thl' c great sections, viz.: 1. Australia, comprohcndmg Now Holland and Tasmania, or Van Diomen's Land; 2. Polynesia, mbmcing Micronesia and Molm10sia, or, in other ':ords, the isl~n.cls of the Pacific Ocean, from the west coast of Amorwa to the Phlhp­pinos and tho Moluccas; and 3. Malaysia, comprising tho Sunda, Philippine, and Molucca islands-the East Indies, or Indian Arcbi­pclaO'o of the gcogr·aph t'. .According to PitrCIIARD, the numerous types of this immense region diftcr decidedly from each other, and also from those of tho old and n w world. JAOQUINOT, however, affirms that the Polync- . Hians uo not diflcr sensibly from tho American trihcs.2r.o BLANCllARD also sp aks of" uno grand analogie entre los pcuplos de la Polyuesic ct coux do 1' Ame1·iq no." 207 The correctness of this opinion Dr. N OTT positively denies, resting his negation upon a comparison of the sku lls of tho two raccs. ~08 BtliMENllAOH, DEsMOULINs, and rrcKERING assure ns that the Polynesians belong to the Malay stock. Such an affilia­tion CRAWl!'URD clearly disproves. JACQUlNO'r thus characicrizcs the Polynesian race: "Skin tawny, of a yellow color washed with bistro, more or less deep; very light in some, almo t brown in others. llair black, bushy, smooth, and sometimes fl'izzl d. Eyes black, more split than open, not at all oblique. Nose long, straight, sometimes aquiline or stt·aight; nos­trils largo and open, which makes it sometimes look flat, especially in women and children; in them, also, the lips, which in general arc long and curved, arc slightly prominent. 1'ecth :fine, incisors 20t1 Voyage au Polo Sud, Zoologic, t. 2. Observn,tions sur lea Rnoos llumn,inos do I' Amerique M6ridioM1o ct do l'Oc6anio. 200 Op. cit. 267 Voy!lgo !lu Polo Sud, Anthropologio; Toxto1 p. 68. In tho same pn.rng1'!1pl1, however, he sn,ys, "Nous ponaous qu'il oxialo ontto oux des cnrnctcres distioctifs, des oarnctorcs ~tppr6ciablca <Inns lo. forme du crl\no." 2G8 'fypcs of Mo.nkin<l, p. 488. OF TTIE RACES OF MEN. 3BD large. Check-hones large, not salient; enlarging the face, which, ncvcrtbclcss, is longer than wide." This description is confirmed by most of the travellers who have visited the region under consideration. "All voyagers, howev r," says MoR'rON, "have noticed the great disparity that exists between the plebeians and the aristocratic class, as r spccts stature, features, and complexion. 'l'bo privileged order is much fairer and much taller tlum the otl1cr; their beads are bettor developed, and their profile shows more regular features, including the arched and aquiline nose.'' 200 A slight examination of the skulls in the M ortonian Collection representing this race, is sufticient to show, that whj}c a general resemblance of cranial forms prevails througlrout this region, yet considerable variations in type can be readily pointed out. A gbnce at the beautiful plates of DUMOU1'IER's "Atlas" serves to confirm this conclusion. The Lead of a Kanaka, of the Sandwich Islands, -a race of people "the most docile and imitative, and p rbaps also the most easy of in­struction, of all tho Polyncsians"­appcars to me to afford a good idea of the general cranial type of Poly­nesia. Tho head (Fig. 68) is clon­O'atcd; the fot·chcad rccoclcnt; tho face long and oval; the breadth between the orbits considerable; the alveolar margin of the supe­rior maxillary slightly prominent; tho lower jaw large and regularly Fig. 68 . SANDWIOU !SLANDER. rounded. The breadth and shortness of the base and the peculiar flatness of the sub-occipital region give to the whole head an elon­gated or drawn-out appearance. This peculiarity of the basi-occipital portion of the head is still better shown in Figs. (39 and 70, on next I ag , which represent tho cranium of a Sandwich Islander, who died in tho Marine Hospital at Mobile, while under tho care of Drs. Levert and Maf:i tirr. '' 'l'his skull," says Dr. NoTT, ((was presented to AaAssrz mrd myself for examination, without being apprised of its lr istoey. N otwitllstand­ing there was something in its form which appeared unnatural, yet it resembled, more than any other race, the Polyn sian; and as such we did not hesitate to class it. It tum d out afterwards that we wore right; n.ncl that om cmban·a smcnt had been produced by an 200 Cmnin Amorion,nn, p. 59.