OCR Text |
Show xii PREFATORY REMARKS. boat bnckcd into the surf in the nttcmpt to lnnd: he could only tremble and cry out, 'Dey cnt man! .dey oat mttn I' lliH friends on the ether side hnd cvi<lently imprcs~cd him with thnt unplcasnnt nationnl clll\rnctcristic, ~tnd hcrr oc his fl'ight when app~trcntly about to be roiJed hoi plessly to their foot by 1\ boiling surf. "Tbo s~tmo day upon wltich we made this our last ~tttompt to Janel nmong them, we steamed along up their coast, keeping ns close ns wns prudent,- in frtct closer,- nnd exitmining with our glnsHcs n.s fnr back ns we could Hoc. In this w~ty we snw sm~tll but nppttrcntly comfortnble stone houses, neatly-kept grounds, -wbnt looked like fl'uitful gnrdens and green ficlds,-nll being cultivated by 'Chinese prisoners who lutd not yet been cnten,' wo were tole! on the other side; or rn,thor wo wore told that their friends, when oapturo(l, were made to work until necclecl for culinnry purposes. "We were surprised nt this n.ir of comfort nmong hnlf-nnkod savuges, nnd could not hut wonder how they could have built such nicc-lool<ing houses, until wo tinnily concluded th!\t their prisoners lutd boou made to turn their hands to mnscnry ns wc11as gardening. l'hus ended our second and last visit to Formosa." "Tlll'l AJNU, OR liAIRY KUl\ILl'l." (Soo Lieut. !Jabersbnm's comments, i'lf•·a., Chapter vi., pp 620-621.] "Hoping that the for0goillg extracts arc what you want I . · yours very truly, ' Icmalll, A. \V. 1IAmm, HAM, U. N" PREFATORY REMARKS. xiii "CAMllRrDOR, Feb. ], 1857. "MY DEAR Sms.-In answer to your queries respecting my latest investigations upon the q ucstion of the pri mi ti vc di v rflity of the races of m~m, I have only a few general rr.marks to make. Most of the difiicultios which have boon in the wn.y of a more SJ o dy solution of that perplexing question, have at·ison from the •ircumstanco, that it has boon considered too isolatoly, and without due reference to tho pL'ogross made in other branches of Zoology. I l1ave all'eady shown, in the 'Sketch of tho natural provinces of tho ani mal world, and their relation to the different types of man,' which you have inserted in 'Typos of Mankind,' that, so far as their g ographical distribution upon tho surface of tho globe is concern <1, tho races of man follow tho same laws which obtain in the circumscription of tho natural provinces of tho animal kingdom. Evon if Lhis fact stood isolated, it would show how intirnatoly the plan of tho animal creation is linked with that of mankind. But this is not all: thoro arc other features occurring among aniruals, which require tho most careful consideration, inasmueh as they boar precisely upon the question at is uc, whether mankind originated from one slock, or from several stocks, or by nations. These features, well known to every zoologist, have led to as conflicting views respecting tho unity or plurality of certain types of animals, as arc prevailing respecting the unity or plurality of origin of the human races. 'l'hc controversy which has been carried on among zoologists, upon this point, shows tbat the difficulties respecting the races of men arc not peculiar to the question of man, but involve the investigation of the whole animal kingdom-though, strange as it may appear, they have always been considered without the least reference to one another. "I need not extend my remarks beyond tho class to which man himself belongs, in order to show how much light might be derived, for the study of the races, from a careful comparison of tltoit· peeuliar characteristics with those of animals. The monkeys most n ady allied to man afford even tho best examples. 'l'h o r~tllg-outans of Borneo, Java, and Sumatm, arc considered by some of the most eminent zoologists as consLituting only one single spc •i s. This is tho opinion of AnclrcasWagnor, who, by universal consent, ranks as one of the highest authorities in questions relating to the natuml history of mammalia; while Richard Owen, than whom no man, wiLh tho exception of out· own J effrcys Wyman, has studied more carefully the anthropoid monkeys, considers them as belonging to at least three distinct species. A comparison of the full and bcantifully illustrated descriptions which Owen has published, of tho |