Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/773

we confine ourselves instead to a succinct enumeration of the physical characteristics, the languages, and the habitats. Beginning with the lowest types of man, we must consider first the Ulotriches or woolly-haired men, among whom the Papuans probably resemble very closely the primitive species. They inhabit at present the island of Papua and the Melanesian archipelago. A few are found in Malacca and on the Philippines. The recently extinct race of Tasmanians belonged also to this species. The Malays supplanted the Papuans in the S. E. portion of Asia, and drove them further east. The skin of the Papuans is black, with a slightly brown and occasionally blue tinge. The crisp hair grows in tufts, is wound spirally, and often more than a foot long, forming a tall woolly peruke. The forehead is narrow and flattened, the nose turned up and large, and the lips thick and broad. The Papuans differ greatly from their neighbors the Malays and Australians, for which reason they are generally classified now as a distinct species. Their dwellings resemble the lake dwellings recently discovered in central Europe. (See Semper, Die Philippinen und ihre Bewohner, Würzburg, 1868). The Hottentots are closely related to the Papuans, having like them hair in tufts. The females of both species are very fat around the loins. The skin of the Hottentots is yellowish brown; the face is exceedingly flat; the forehead and the nose are very small; the nostrils large; the mouth very broad, with thick lips; chin small and pointed. It is believed that the Hottentots occupied for some time the whole of S. E. Africa; they inhabit now only the most southern portion. The species is rapidly decreasing, and of the Hottentots proper only two tribes still exist, the Korana and the Namaqua. The Bushmen, who belong to the same species, live in the mountain regions of the interior of Capeland. The language is very peculiar, especially on account of the clicking. (See Schmarda, Reise um die Erde, 3 vols., Brunswick, 1861.) The Caffres have also crisp hair, not in tufts, but fleecy, and the skin runs through all tinges from yellow-brown to brown-black. They differ from the negroes in language and in the form of the skull. The face is thin and long, the forehead high and vaulted, the nose often aquiline, the chin pointed, and the lips are not very thick. The various languages of the Caffre races are retraced to the Bantu language, now dead, of the Hamitic group. This species inhabits equatorial Africa from lat. 20° S. to 4° N. The principal tribes are the Zooloo, Zambesi, Bechuanas or Sechuanas, Herreros, and Congos. They are said to have come from the northeast.—The genuine negro is now carefully distinguished from the Caffres, Hottentots, and Nubians. Only the tribes in the eastern portion of the Sahara, the Soodanese in the south of the great desert, and the population of the west African coast lands, from the Senegal in the north to below the mouth of the Niger in the south, belong to this species. All the negro races seem to have come from the east. The color of the skin is more or less deep black; the skin itself is velvety, and generally emits a bad odor. The hair resembles that of the Caffres, but the face has a different shape. The forehead is exceedingly flat and low; the nose broad, thick, and little protruding; the lips are puffy and turned up very high; and the chin is very short. The genuine negro has always very thin calves and very long arms. This species separated probably very early into numerous tribes, inasmuch as the many totally different languages spoken by them cannot be retraced to the original tongue. The migrations of the African races so far noticed are due in part to the slavery practised among them, compelling the weaker tribes to move if possible beyond the reach of the stronger. They lived undoubtedly much further north at a very remote time; but the immigration of the Mediterraneans (Caucasians), and especially of the Karaites, across the isthmus of Suez, compelled them to cede their original habitation to the superior foreigners. Bearing in mind the age of the Egyptian empire, and the time previously needed for its establishment, it is considered probable that the Hamitic invasion took place about 6000 B. C. (See Africa, Languages of; Barth's “Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa,” 1855-'8; Bleek's “Grammar of South African Languages,” London, 1869; Duveyrier, Exploration du Sahara, Paris, 1864 et seq.).—Among the eight species of the branch of smooth-haired men, the Australians or Australian negroes occupy the lowest rank, and seem to inhabit only the large island of Australia. They resemble the negroes in having a black or brown-black skin, a flat and retreating forehead, a thick nose, and puffy lips, and in the almost total want of calves. Their hair is either quite straight or somewhat curly. It is possible that they are related to the Dravidas. They are grouped into North and South Australians in accordance with the latest linguistic researches. (See Australia; Christmann's Australien, Oeschichte der Entdeckungsreisen und der Kolonisation, Leipsic, 1870.) The Malays are ethnologically of great importance, though not very numerous. High authorities consider it certain that the forefathers of the Malays, called Pro-Malays, were the ancestors of most of the nations of Asia, Europe, and America. The modern Malays comprise three races far distant from each other. The Sundanese inhabit Malacca, the Sunda archipelago, and the Philippines; a branch of them is found on the island of Madagascar, and another is scattered over the Polynesian archipelago. The Malays are very fond of navigation, which explains the great territorial extent of the species. Their early habitat was probably the S. E. portion of the Asiatic continent, whence they advanced toward the east and south, pushing the Papuans before them. They