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  THE
  HUMAN RACE.


[Illustration:

_P. Sellier, p.^{t}_

_Imp. Dupuy, 22, R. des Petits Hôtels_

_G. Regamey, lith._

NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN

SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN

RED RACE]




  THE
  HUMAN RACE.


  BY
  LOUIS FIGUIER.


  ILLUSTRATED BY
  TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD,
  AND EIGHT CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS.


  NEW YORK:
  D. APPLETON AND CO., BROADWAY.
  1872.





  LONDON:
  BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.




CONTENTS.


  INTRODUCTION.

                                                              PAGE

  CHAPTER I.--Definition of Man--How he differs from other Animals--
  Origin of Man--In what parts of the Earth did he first appear?--Unity
  of Mankind, evidence in support--What is understood by species in
  Natural History--Man forms but one species, with its varieties or
  kinds--Classification of the Human Race                        1

  CHAPTER II.--General characteristics of the human race--Organic
  characteristics--Senses and the nervous system--Height--Skeleton--
  Cranium and face--Colour of the skin--Physiological functions--
  Intellectual characteristics--Properties of human intelligence--
  Languages and literature--Different states of society--Primitive
  industry--The two ages of prehistoric humanity                21


  THE WHITE RACE.


  CHAPTER I.

  EUROPEAN BRANCH                                               41
  TEUTONIC FAMILY                                               41
  LATIN FAMILY                                                  66
  SLAVONIAN FAMILY                                             113
  GREEK FAMILY                                                 149


  CHAPTER II.

  ARAMEAN BRANCH                                               163
  LIBYAN FAMILY                                                163
  SEMITIC FAMILY                                               183
  PERSIAN FAMILY                                               190
  GEORGIAN FAMILY                                              203
  CIRCASSIAN FAMILY                                            203


  THE YELLOW RACE.


  CHAPTER I.

  HYPERBOREAN BRANCH                                           206
  LAPP FAMILY                                                  206
  SAMOIEDE FAMILY                                              209
  KAMTSCHADALE FAMILY                                          209
  ESQUIMAUX FAMILY                                             211
  TEMISIAN FAMILY                                              217
  JUKAGHIRITE AND KORIAK FAMILIES                              217


  CHAPTER II.

  MONGOLIAN BRANCH                                             218
  MONGOL FAMILY                                                218
  TUNGUSIAN FAMILY                                             223
  YAKUT FAMILY                                                 223
  TURKISH FAMILY                                               229


  CHAPTER III.

  SINAIC BRANCH                                                254
  CHINESE FAMILY                                               256
  JAPANESE FAMILY                                              302
  INDO-CHINESE FAMILY                                          324


  THE BROWN RACE.


  CHAPTER I.

  HINDOO BRANCH                                                336
  HINDOO FAMILY                                                339
  MALABAR FAMILY                                               354


  CHAPTER II.

  ETHIOPIAN BRANCH                                             355
  ABYSSINIAN FAMILY                                            355
  FELLAN FAMILY                                                363


  CHAPTER III.

  MALAY BRANCH                                                 365
  MALAY FAMILY                                                 365
  POLYNESIAN FAMILY                                            380
  MICRONESIAN FAMILY                                           400


  THE RED RACE.


  CHAPTER I.

  SOUTHERN BRANCH                                              407
  ANDIAN FAMILY                                                407
  PAMPEAN FAMILY                                               419
  GUARANY FAMILY                                               433


  CHAPTER II.

  NORTHERN BRANCH                                              452
  SOUTHERN FAMILY                                              452
  NORTH-EASTERN FAMILY                                         460
  NORTH-WESTERN FAMILY                                         492


  THE BLACK RACE.


  CHAPTER I.

  WESTERN BRANCH                                               495
  CAFFRE FAMILY                                                495
  HOTTENTOT FAMILY                                             498
  NEGRO FAMILY                                                 500

  CHAPTER II.

  EASTERN BRANCH                                               518
  PAPUAN FAMILY                                                518
  ANDAMAN FAMILY                                               531




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


  RED RACE: NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN, SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN


  THE WHITE RACE.

  FIG.                                                        PAGE

  1.--MEN AND WOMEN OF ANATOLIA                                  5
  2.--SAMOIEDES OF THE NORTH CAPE                                7
  WHITE OR CAUCASIAN RACE: SCANDINAVIAN, GREEK
  3.--WAKE OF ICELANDIC PEASANTS IN A BARN                      42
  4.--WOMEN OF STAVANGER, NORWAY                                43
  5.--CITIZEN OF STAVANGER                                      44
  6.--COSTUMES OF THE TELEMARK (NORWAY)                         45
  7.--WOMEN OF CHRISTIANSUND (NORWAY)                           46
  8.--BOY AND GIRL OF THE LAWERGRAND (NORWAY)                   47
  9, 10.--SUABIANS (STUTTGARD)                                  48
  11, 12.--SUABIANS (STUTTGARD)                                 50
  13.--BAVARIANS                                                52
  14.--BADENERS                                                 53
  15.--ENGLISHMAN                                               63
  16.--DRUIDS, GAULS, AND FRANKS                                70
  17.--FRENCHMAN                                                75
  18.--CATTLE-DEALER OF CORDOVA                                 81
  19.--NATIVES OF TOLEDO                                        83
  20.--SPANISH PEASANT                                          84
  21.--A MADRID WINE-SHOP                                       85
  22.--SPANISH LADY AND DUENNA                                  88
  23.--THE FANDANGO                                             89
  24.--THE BOLERO                                               91
  25.--FISH VENDORS AT OPORTO                                   92
  26.--ROMAN PEASANT GIRL                                       94
  27.--ROMAN PEASANTS                                           95
  28.--YOUNG GIRL OF THE TRANSTEVERA                            96
  29.--STREET AT TIVOLI                                         98
  30.--A CARDINAL ENTERING THE VATICAN                          99
  31.--EXALTATION OF POPE PIUS IX.                             100
  32.--A MACARONI SHOP AT NAPLES                               103
  33.--NEAPOLITAN ICED-WATER SELLER                            104
  34.--NEAPOLITAN PEASANT WOMAN                                104
  35.--ITINERANT TRADER OF NAPLES                              105
  36.--AN ACQUAJOLO, AT NAPLES                                 106
  37.--WALACHIAN                                               108
  38.--LADY OF BUCHAREST                                       110
  39.--WALACHIAN WOMAN                                         111
  40.--NOBLE BOSNIAK MUSSULMAN                                 112
  41.--RUSSIAN SENTINEL, RIGA                                  115
  42.--RUSSIAN DEVOTEES, RIGA                                  117
  43.--TRAFFIC IN ST. PETERSBURG                               121
  44.--A RUSSIAN TAVERN                                        122
  45.--INTERIOR OF AN ISBA                                     123
  46.--LIVONIAN PEASANTS                                       124
  47.--TARTAR OF KASAK                                         125
  48.--TARTAR OF THE CAUCASUS                                  126
  49.--TARTAR OF THE CAUCASUS                                  127
  50.--RUSSIAN NORTH-SEA PILOT                                 128
  51.--OSTIAK HUT                                              130
  52.--ISIGANE OF VOAKOVAR                                     131
  53.--SLAVONIAN PEASANT                                       132
  54.--A PEASANT OF ESSEK                                      133
  55.--HERDSMEN OF THE MILITARY CONFINES                       135
  56.--WOMAN OF THE MILITARY CONFINES                          136
  57.--GRÄNZERS, AND THEIR GUARD-HOUSE                         138
  58.--TSIGANE PRISONER                                        139
  59.--BOSNIAK PEASANT                                         142
  60.--BOSNIAK PEASANT WOMAN                                   143
  61.--BOSNIAK MERCHANT                                        144
  62.--WOMEN OF PESTH                                          145
  63.--HUNGARIANS                                              146
  64.--A HUNGARIAN GENTLEMAN                                   147
  65.--HUNGARIANS                                              148
  66.--GREEKS OF ATHENS                                        151
  67.--A GREEK HOUSEHOLD                                       153
  68.--INTERIOR OF THE AGORA AT ATHENS                         156
  69.--FÊTE OF THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER, ATHENS                   159
  WHITE OR CAUCASIAN RACE: GEORGEAN, ARAB
  70.--ALBANIAN WOMAN                                          161
  PORTRAIT OF AN ARMENIAN
  71.--MOORISH COFFEE-HOUSE AT SIDI-BOW-SAID, NEAR TUNIS       164
  72.--GRINDING WHEAT IN THE KABYLIA                           169
  73.--KABYLE JEWELLERS                                        171
  74.--KOPTS OF THE TEMPLE OF KRANAH                           175
  75.--A FELLAH WOMAN AND CHILDREN                             177
  76.--A FELLAH DONKEY BOY                                     178
  77.--A LADY OF CAIRO                                         181
  78.--ALMA OR DANCING GIRL                                    182
  79.--WANDERING ARABS                                         185
  80.--JEW OF BUCHAREST                                        186
  81.--BEYROUT                                                 187
  82.--MARONITES OF LIBANUS                                    189
  83.--HADY-MERZA-AGHAZZI                                      192
  84.--PERSIAN TYPES                                           194
  85.--PERSIAN NOBLEMEN                                        195
  86.--PERSIAN WOMEN                                           196
  87.--LOUTY AND BAKTYAN                                       197
  88.--AN ARMENIAN DRAWING-ROOM                                200
  89.--GEORGIANS                                               202


  THE YELLOW RACE.

  90.--LAPLANDERS                                              207
  91.--A LAPP CRADLE                                           209
  92.--SAMOIEDES                                               210
  93.--ESQUIMAUX SUMMER ENCAMPMENT                             212
  94.--ESQUIMAUX WINTER ENCAMPMENT                             213
  95.--ESQUIMAUX VILLAGE                                       214
  96.--ESQUIMAUX CHIEF                                         215
  97.--ESQUIMAUX BIRD-CATCHER                                  216
  98.--YOUNG ESQUIMAUX                                         217
  99.--A MONGOL TARTAR                                         219
  100.--BURÏATS ESCORTING MISS CHRISTIANI                      222
  101.--MANCHÚS SOLDIERS                                       224
  YELLOW OR MONGOLIAN RACE: MONGOLIAN, ESQUIMAUX
  102.--YAKUTS                                                 225
  103.--A YAKUT WOMAN                                          227
  104.--YAKUT VILLAGERS                                        230
  105.--YAKUT PRIESTS                                          231
  106.--TURCOMAN ENCAMPMENT                                    234
  107.--KIRGHIS FUNERAL RITES                                  237
  108.--A HAREM                                                241
  109.--A HAREM SUPPER                                         243
  110.--TURKISH LADIES VISITING                                245
  111.--A TURKISH BARBER                                       249
  112.--TURKISH PORTER                                         251
  113.--INDO-CHINESE OF STUNG TRENG                            254
  114.--INDO-CHINESE OF LAOS                                   255
  115.--A YOUNG CHINESE                                        257
  116.--CHINESE SHOPKEEPER                                     258
  117.--CHINESE LADY                                           259
  118.--CHINESE WOMAN                                          260
  119.--MANDARIN’S DAUGHTER                                    261
  120.--CHINESE BOUDOIR                                        264
  121.--CHINESE SITTING-ROOM                                   269
  122.--OPIUM-SMOKERS                                          271
  123.--CHINESE AGRICULTURE                                    273
  124.--CHINESE FISHING                                        275
  125.--THE CUSTOM-HOUSE AT SHANGHAI                           277
  YELLOW OR MONGOLIAN RACE: JAPANESE, CHINESE
  126.--CHINESE BONZE                                          281
  127.--CHINESE SCHOOLMASTER                                   283
  128.--CHINESE LOCOMOTION                                     285
  129.--A CHINESE PLAY                                         289
  130.--A CHINESE JUNK                                         291
  131.--CHINESE BEGGARS                                        293
  132.--CHINESE PUNISHMENTS                                    295
  133.--CHINESE PUNISHMENTS                                    296
  134.--A CHINESE COURT OF JUSTICE                             297
  135.--CHINESE SOLDIERS                                       299
  136.--CHINESE TROOPER                                        300
  137.--THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA                                301
  138.--JAPANESE                                               304
  139.--A JAPANESE FATHER                                      305
  140.--JAPANESE SOLDIER                                       306
  141.--JAPANESE NOBLE                                         307
  142.--JAPANESE PALANQUIN                                     311
  143.--THE TAÏCOON’S GUARDS                                   315
  144.--A LADY OF THE COURT                                    317
  145.--A KAMIS TEMPLE, JAPAN                                  321
  146.--JAPANESE PAGODA                                        323
  147.--BURMESE NOBLES                                         325
  148.--BURMESE LADY                                           326
  149.--WOMEN OF BANKOK                                        327
  150.--SIAMESE DOMESTIC                                       328
  151.--SIAMESE LADIES DINING                                  329
  152.--TOMB OF A BONZE, AT LAOS                               330
  153.--CAMBODIANS                                             331
  154.--THE PRINCE-ROYAL OF SIAM                               333
  155.--CHINESE GIRL                                           334


  THE BROWN RACE.

  156.--NATIVES OF HYDERABAD                                   337
  157.--A BANIAN OF SURAT                                      338
  158.--AN AGED SIKH                                           339
  159.--A PARSEE GENTLEMAN                                     341
  160.--SIR SALAR JUNG, K.S.I.                                 343
  161.--NAUTCH GIRL OF BARODA                                  345
  162.--A COOLIE OF THE GHATS                                  347
  163.--PAGODA AT SIRRHINGHAM                                  349
  164.--PALANQUIN                                              352
  165.--ABYSSINIAN                                             355
  166.--NOUERS OF THE WHITE NILE                               356
  167.--A NOUER CHIEF                                          358
  168.--CHIEF OF THE LIRA                                      359
  169.--MALAY “RUNNING A MUCK”                                 367
  170.--MALAY                                                  369
  171.--JAVANESE                                               369
  172.--JAVANESE DANCING GIRLS                                 371
  173.--JAVANESE WEDDING                                       372
  174.--DYAKS                                                  377
  175.--A DYAK HUT                                             379
  176.--NEW ZEALAND CHIEF                                      383
  177.--NATIVE OF TAHITI                                       393
  178.--NATIVE OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS                         398


  THE RED RACE.

  179.--HUASCAR, THIRTEENTH EMPEROR OF THE INCAS               408
  180.--COYA CAHUANA, EMPRESS OF THE INCAS                     409
  181.--AN ANTIS INDIAN                                        411
  182.--AN ANTIS INDIAN                                        412
  183.--SUMMER SHED OF THE ANTIS                               413
  184.--ANTIS INDIANS FISHING                                  414
  185.--PERUVIAN INTERPRETER                                   415
  186.--ARAUCANIAN                                             417
  187.--PECHERAY HUTS                                          418
  188.--PATAGONIAN                                             422
  189.--A PATAGONIAN HORSE SACRIFICE                           423
  190.--A BOLIVIAN CHIEF                                       426
  191.--A BOAT ON THE RIO NEGRO                                429
  192.--EXAMINADOR OF CHILI                                    432
  193.--A PARAGUAYAN MESSENGER                                 437
  194.--BRAZILIAN NEGRO                                        440
  195.--INDIAN WOMAN OF BRAZIL                                 441
  196.--NATIVE OF MANAOS, BRAZIL                               443
  197.--BRAZILIAN NEGRESSES                                    445
  198.--BRAZILIAN DWELLING                                     446
  199.--NEGROS OF BAHIA                                        447
  200.--NATIVES OF FRENCH GUYANA                               449
  201.--BOTOCUDOS                                              451
  202.--INDIAN OF THE MEXICAN COAST                            453
  203, 204.--INDIANS OF THE MEXICAN COAST                      454
  205.--MEXICAN INDIAN WOMAN                                   456
  206.--MEXICAN PICADOR                                        457
  207.--THE ROLDAU BRIDGE MARKET, MEXICO                       458
  208.--MEXICAN HATTER                                         459
  209.--MEXICAN HAWKER                                         459
  210.--CREEK INDIANS                                          463
  211.--ENCAMPMENT OF SIOUX INDIANS                            465
  212.--SIOUX WARRIOR                                          466
  213.--A SIOUX CHIEF                                          467
  214.--CROW INDIANS IN COUNCIL                                470
  215.--PAWNEE INDIANS                                         473
  216.--A CHAYENE (SHIENNES) CHIEF                             475
  217.--A YUTE CHIEF                                           477
  218.--CHOCTAW INDIANS PLAYING BALL                           479
  219.--COMANCHE INDIANS                                       481
  220.--A COMANCHE CAMP                                        482
  221.--A BUFFALO HUNT                                         483
  222.--MOHAWK INDIANS                                         485
  223.--FLAT-HEAD INDIANS                                      487
  224.--NAYA INDIANS                                           489
  225.--A CROW CHIEF                                           491


  THE BLACK RACE.

  226.--A CAFFRE                                               496
  227.--NATIVE OF THE MOZAMBIQUE COAST                         497
  228.--THE HOTTENTOT VENUS                                    499
  229.--A ZANZIBAR NEGRO                                       503
  230.--ZANZIBAR NEGRESSES                                     507
  231.--A NEGRO VILLAGE                                        511
  232.--FISHING ON THE UPPER SENEGAL                           513
  233.--A ZAMBESI NEGRESS                                      515
  BLACK RACE: PAPOUAN, NEGRO OF NEW GUINEA
  234.--THAKOMBAU, KING OF THE FIJI ISLANDS                    520
  235.--NATIVE OF FIJI                                         521
  236.--NATIVE OF FIJI                                         522
  237.--A TEMPLE OF CANNIBALISM                                523
  238.--A FIJIAN DANCE                                         525
  239.--YOUNG NATIVE OF NEW CALEDONIA                          527
  240.--NATIVE OF NEW CALEDONIA                                529
  241.--ENCAMPMENT OF NATIVE AUSTRALIANS                       533
  242.--NATIVE AUSTRALIAN                                      535
  243.--AN AUSTRALIAN GRAVE                                    536




THE HUMAN RACE.

INTRODUCTION.




CHAPTER I.

    Definition of Man--How he differs from other Animals--Origin of
    Man--In what parts of the Earth did he first appear?--Unity of
    Mankind, evidence in support--What is understood by species in
    Natural History--Man forms but one species, with its varieties or
    kinds--Classification of the Human Race.


What is man? A profound thinker, Cardinal de Bonald, has said: “Man is
an intelligence assisted by organs.” We would fain adopt this
definition, which brings into relief the true attribute of man,
intelligence, were it not defective in drawing no sufficient distinction
between man and the brute. It is a fact that animals are intelligent and
that their intelligence is assisted by organs. But their intelligence is
infinitely inferior to that of man. It does not extend beyond the
necessities of attack and defence, the power of seeking food, and a
small number of affections or passions, whose very limited scope merely
extends to material wants. With man, on the other hand, intelligence is
of a high order, although its range is limited, and it is often
arrested, powerless and mute, before the problems itself proposes. In
bodily formation, man is an animal, he lives in a material envelope, of
which the structure is that of the Mammalia; but he far surpasses the
animal in the extent of his intellectual faculties. The definition of
man must therefore establish this relation which animals bear to
ourselves, and indicate, if possible, the degree which separates them.
For this reason we shall define man: _an organized, intelligent being,
endowed with the faculty of abstraction_.

To give beyond this a perfectly satisfactory definition of man is
impossible: first, because, a definition, being but the expression of a
theory, which rarely commands universal assent, is liable to be rejected
with the theory itself; and secondly, because a perfectly accurate
definition supposes an absolute knowledge of the subject, of which
absolute knowledge our understanding is incapable. It has been well said
that a correct definition can be furnished by none but divine power.
Nothing is more true than this, and were we able to give of our own
species a definition rigorously correct, we should indeed possess
absolute knowledge.

The trouble we have to define aright the being about to form the subject
of our investigation is but a forecast of the difficulties we shall meet
when we endeavour to reason upon and to classify man. He who ventures to
fathom the problems of human nature, physical, intellectual or moral, is
arrested at every step. Each moment he must confess his powerlessness to
solve the questions which arise, and at times is forced to content
himself with merely suggesting them. This can be explained. Man is the
last link of visible creation; with him closes the series of living
beings which we are permitted to contemplate. Beyond him there extends,
in a world hidden from our view, a train of beings of a new order,
endowed with faculties superior and inaccessible to our comprehension,
mysterious phalanxes, whose place of abode even is unknown to us, and
who, after us, form the next step in the infinite progression of living
creatures by whom the universe is peopled. Situate, as he is, on the
confines of this unknown world, on the very threshold of this domain,
which his eye, if not his thoughts may not penetrate, man shares to some
extent the attributes belonging to those beings who follow him in the
economy of nature. Doubtless, it is this which makes it so difficult for
us to comprehend the actual essence of man, his destiny, his origin and
his end.

These reflections have been called for in order to supply an explanation
of the frequent admissions of helplessness which we shall be obliged to
make in this cursory Introduction, when we investigate the origin of
man, the period of his first appearance on the globe, the unity or
division of our species, the classification of the human race, &c. If to
many of these questions we reply with doubt and uncertainty, the reader
must not lay the blame at the feet of science, but must search for the
cause in the impenetrable laws of nature.

And first, whence comes man? Wherefore does he exist? To this we can
make no reply, the problem is beyond the reach of human thought. But we
may at least enquire, since this question has been largely debated by
the learned, whether man was at once constituted such as he is, or
whether he originally existed in some other animal form, which has been
modified in its anatomical structure by time and circumstances. In other
words, is it true, as has been pretended by various of our
contemporaries, that man is the result of the organic improvement of a
particular race of apes, which race forms a link between the apes with
which we are familiar and the first man?

We have already treated and discussed this question more fully in the
volume which preceded this. We have shown, in “Primitive Man,” that man
is not derived, by a process of organic transformation, from any animal,
and that he includes the ape not more than the whale among his ancestry;
but that he is the product of a special creation.

Nevertheless, whether its creation be special or the result of
modification, the human species has not always existed. There is, then,
a first cause for its production. What is this? Here is again a problem
which surpasses our understanding. Let us say, my readers, that the
creation of the human species was an act of God, that man is one of the
children of the great arbiter of the universe, and we shall have given
to this question the only response which can content at once our
feelings and our reason.

But let us summon questions more accessible to our comprehension, with
which the mind is more at ease, and upon which science can exercise its
functions. To what period should we refer the first appearance of man
upon the globe? In “Primitive Man” we have answered this question as far
as it can be. We have considered the opinion of some writers who carry
the first appearance of man as far back as the tertiary period.
Rejecting this date on account of the insufficiency of the evidence
produced, we, in common with most naturalists, have admitted, that man
appeared for the first time upon our globe at the commencement of the
quaternary period, that is to say, before the geological phenomenon of
the deluge and previous to the glacial period which preceded this great
terrestrial cataclysm. To fix the birth of man in the tertiary period
would be to travel out of facts now within the ken of science, and to
substitute for observation, conjecture and hypothesis.

By saying that man appeared for the first time upon the globe at the
commencement of the quaternary period, we establish the fact, which is
agreeable to the cosmogony of Moses, that man was formed after the other
animals, and that by his advent he crowned the edifice of animal
creation.

At the quaternary period almost all the animals of our time had already
seen the light, and a certain number of animal species existed, which
were shortly to disappear. When man was created, the mammoth, the great
bear, the cave tiger, and the cervus megaceros, animals more bulky, more
robust and more agile than the corresponding species of our time, filled
the forests and peopled the plains. The first men were therefore
contemporary with the woolly elephant, the cave bear and tiger; they had
to contend with these savage phalanxes, as formidable in their number as
their strength. Nevertheless, in obedience to the laws of nature, these
animals were to disappear from the globe and give place to smaller or
different species, whilst man, persisting in the opposite direction,
increased and multiplied, as the Scripture has said, and gradually
spread into all inhabitable countries, taking possession of his empire
which daily increased with the progress of his intelligence.

In “Primitive Man” we have given the history of the first steps of
humanity.

We have traced the origin and progress of civilization, from the moment
when man was cast, feeble, wretched and naked, in the midst of a hostile
and savage brute population, to the day when his power, resting upon a
firm basis, changed little by little the face of the inhabited earth.

We shall not refer to this at greater length, since in “Primitive Man”
we have treated it fully, and in unison with the actual discoveries of
science. But there is a very different problem to the solution of
which we shall apply ourselves in the following pages. Did man see the
light at any one spot of the earth, and at that alone, and is it
possible to indicate the region which was, so to say, the cradle of
humanity? Or, are we to believe that, in the first instance, man
appeared in several places at the same time? That he was created and has
always remained in the very localities he now inhabits? That the Negro
was born in the burning regions of Central Africa, the Laplander or the
Mongolian in the cold regions to which he is now confined?

[Illustration: 1.--MEN AND WOMEN OF ANATOLIA.]

To this question a satisfactory reply can be given by reference to facts
furnished by natural history. But in seeking a triumph for our opinion
we shall have to combat the arguments of a hostile doctrine. As we said
in the early part of this Introduction, we must ever be prepared to
encounter difficulties, to dissipate uncertainties, and to vie with
other theories in each point of the history of humanity which we may
seek to fathom.

There is a school of philosophers who assert that man was manifold in
his creation, that each type of humanity originated in the region to
which it is now attached, and that it was not emigration followed by the
action of climate, circumstances, and customs which gave birth to the
different races of man.

This opinion has been upheld in a work by M. Georges Pouchet, son of the
well-known naturalist of Rouen. But, one has only to read his essay upon
_la pluralité des races humaines_, to be convinced that the author, like
others of his school, as ardent in demolition as powerless in
construction, having chosen to act the easy part of a critic, exhibits
unprecedented weakness when called upon to supply a system in the place
of that he contradicts.

If there existed several centres of human creation, they should be
indicated, and it should be shown that the men who dwell there
now-a-days have never been connected with other populations. M. Georges
Pouchet preserves prudent silence upon this question; he avoids defining
the locus of any one of these supposed multiple creations. Such a faulty
argument speaks volumes for the doctrine.

We, on our part, think that man had on the globe one centre of creation,
that, fixed in the first instance in a particular region, he has
radiated in every direction from that point, and by his wanderings
coupled with the rapid multiplication of his descendants, he has
ultimately peopled all the inhabitable regions of the earth.

In order to demonstrate the truth of this proposition, we will examine
what takes place in connection with other organized beings, that is to
say, with animals and plants, and then apply this class of facts to man:
this is observation and induction, the only logical process to which we
can here resort.

[Illustration: 2.--SAMOIEDES OF THE NORTH CAPE.]

And what do botanical and zoological geography teach? They show us that
plants and animals have each their native locality, from which they but
seldom depart, and that it would be impossible to cite any plant or
animal which lives indifferently in all countries of the globe, without
having been transported thither by human industry. The earth is, so to
speak, divided into a certain number of zones, which have their
particular vegetable and animal life. These are so many natural
provinces, all of small extent, which represent veritable centres of
creation. The cedar, peculiar to the mountains of Lebanon, existed in
this region alone before it was transported to other climates; and the
coffee-plant had grown only in Arabia, before it was acclimatized in
South America. We could quote the names of many vegetables whose natural
abode is very sharply defined, but these instances are sufficient to
exemplify the general rule of which we treat.

We need hardly say that animals, like plants, are attached to various
localities which they rarely quit with impunity, since they have not the
faculty of acclimatizing themselves at will. The elephant lives only in
India and in certain parts of Africa; the hippopotamus and giraffe in
other countries of the same continent; monkeys exist in very few
portions of the globe, and if we consider their different species, we
shall find that the place of abode of each species is very limited. For
instance, of the larger apes, the orang-outang is found only in Borneo
and Sumatra, and the gorilla in a small corner of Western Africa. Had
man originated in all those places where now his different races are
found, he would stand alone as an exception among organized beings.

Reasoning then by induction, that is, applying to man all that we
observe to obtain generally among beings living on the surface of the
globe, we come to the conclusion that the human species, in common with
every vegetable or animal species, had but one centre of creation.

Can we now extend our investigation and determine the particular spot of
the earth whence man first came? It is probable that man first saw the
day on the plains of Central Asia, and that it was from this point that
by degrees he spread over the whole earth. We shall proceed to state the
facts which support this opinion.

Around the central tableland of Asia, are found the three organic and
fundamental types of man, that is to say, the white, the yellow, and the
black. The black type has been somewhat scattered, although it is still
found in the south of Japan, in the Malay Peninsula, in the Andaman
Isles, and in the Philippines, at Formosa. The yellow type forms a large
portion of the actual population of Asia, and it is well-known whence
came those white hordes that invaded Europe at times prehistoric and in
more recent ages; those conquerors belonged to the Aryan or Persian
race, and they came from Central Asia. We shall see later on, that the
different languages of the globe resolve themselves into three
fundamental forms: _monosyllabic_ languages, in which each word contains
but one syllable; _agglutinative_ languages, in which the words are
connected; and _inflected_ languages, which are the same as those spoken
in Europe. Now, those three general forms of language are, at the
present day, to be met with around the central tableland of Asia. The
monosyllabic language is spoken throughout China and in the different
states connected with that empire. The agglutinative languages are
spoken to the north of this plain, and extend as far as Europe. And,
lastly, inflected languages are found in all that portion of Asia which
is occupied by the white race.

Around the central tableland of Asia, we thus find not only the three
fundamental types of the human species, but the three types of human
speech. Does not this, therefore, afford ground for presumption, if not
actual proof, that man first appeared in this very region which
Scripture assigns as the birthplace of the human race?

It is from this central tableland of Asia, radiating so to say, around
this point of origin, that Man has progressively occupied every part of
the earth.

Migration commenced at a very early period, the facility with which our
species becomes habituated to every climate and accommodates itself to
variations of temperature, taken in connection with the nomadic
character which distinguished primitive populations, explains to us the
displacement of the earlier inhabitants of the earth. Soon, means of
navigation, although rude, were added to the power of travelling by
land, and man passed from the continent to distant islands, and thus
peopled the archipelagos as well as the mainland. By means of transport,
effected in canoes formed from the trunks of trees barely hollowed out,
the archipelagos of the Indian Ocean, and finally Australia, were
gradually peopled.

The American continent formed no exception to this law of the invasion
of the globe by the emigration of human phalanxes. It is a matter of no
great difficulty to pass from Asia to America, across Behring’s Straits,
which are almost always covered with ice, thus permitting of almost a
dry passage from one continent to the other. Thus it is that the
inhabitants of Northern Asia have found their way into the north of the
New World.

This communication of one terrestrial hemisphere with the other is less
surprising when we consider what modern historical works have shown,
namely, that already about the tenth century, which would be nearly 400
years before Christopher Columbus, navigators from the coast of Norway
had penetrated to the other hemisphere. The inhabitants of Mexico and
Chili possess most authentic historical archives, which prove that a
most advanced civilization flourished there at an early period. Gigantic
monuments which still remain, bear witness to the great antiquity of the
civilization of the Incas (Peru) and of the Aztecs (Mexico). It is
reasonable to suppose that the inhabitants of America, who thus advanced
at a rapid pace in the path of civilization, descended from the hordes
of Northern Asia which reached the New World by traversing the ice of
Behring’s Straits.

To explain, therefore, the presence of man upon all parts of the
continent, and in the islands, it is not necessary to insist upon the
existence of several centres, where our species was created. If popular
traditions went to show that all the regions now inhabited have always
been occupied by the same people, and that those who are found there
have constantly lived in the same places, there might be reason to admit
the hypothesis of multiple creations of the human race; but, on the
contrary, traditions for the most part teach us that each country has
been peopled progressively by means of conquest or emigration.
Tradition shows that the nomadic state of existence has universally
preceded fixed settlements. It is, therefore, probable that the first
men were constantly on the move. A flood of barbarians, coming from
central Asia, overflowed the Roman Empire, and the Vandals penetrated
even into Africa. Modern migrations have been conducted on a still
vaster scale, for at the present day we find America almost wholly
occupied by Europeans; English, Spanish and other people of the Latin
race fill the vast American hemisphere, and the primitive populations of
the New World have almost entirely disappeared, annihilated by the iron
yoke of the conqueror.

The continent of Asia was peopled little by little by branches of the
Aryan race, who came down from the plains of Central Asia, directing
their course towards India. As to Africa: that continent received its
contingent of population through the Isthmus of Suez, the valley of the
Nile, and the coasts of Arabia, by the aid of navigation.

There is therefore nothing to show that humanity had several distinct
nuclei. It is clear that man started from one point alone, and that
through his power of adapting himself to the most different climates, he
has, little by little, covered the whole face of the inhabitable earth.

The Bible proclaimed, long before the studies of modern anthropologists
made it known, this principle of the unity of the human species. In like
manner as the Bible opposed its monotheistic cosmogony to the different
cosmogonies of oriental or pagan antiquity, in like manner it opposes to
the erroneous dogmas of the religions and philosophies of antiquity,
this doctrine sublime and simple in itself, that man, the last child of
creation, rules it as its appointed head and by his moral power. Holy
Writ, indeed, says to us: “God has created the whole human race of one
flesh.”[1]

  [1] St. Paul at the Areopagus of Athens. Acts of the Apostles, chap.
      xvii. v. 26.

There is another problem. Did the white, the yellow, and the black man
exist from the first moment of the appearance of our species upon the
globe, or have we to explain the formation of these three fundamental
races by the action of climate, by any special form of nourishment, the
result of local resources; in other words, by the action of the soil, if
we may use the expression of a conscientious author, M. Trémaux?[2]

  [2] Origine et transformation de l’homme et des autres êtres. 1 vol.
      in 18. Paris, 1865.

Innumerable dissertations have been written with a view of explaining
the origin of these three races, and of connecting them with the climate
or the soil. But it must be admitted that the problem is hardly capable
of solution. The influence which a warm climate exercises upon the
colour of the skin is a well known fact, and it is a matter of common
observation that the white European, if transported into the heart of
Africa, or carried to the coast of Guinea, transmits to his descendants
the brown colour which the skin of the Negro possesses, and that in
their turn the offspring of Negroes, who have been brought into northern
countries, become as they descend, paler and paler and end by being
white. But the colour of the skin is not the only characteristic of a
race; the Negro differs from the white, less by the colour of his skin,
than by the structure of the face and cranium, as also by the proportion
of his members to one another. Is it not, moreover, a fact that the
hottest countries are inhabited by people with white skins? Such for
instance are the Touaricks of the African Sahara, and the Fellahs of
Egypt. On the other hand, men with black faces are found in countries
enjoying a mean temperature, as for instance, the inhabitants of
California on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

Let us conclude that science is unable to explain to us the difference
which exists between the different types of the human species, that
neither the temperature nor the action of the soil furnish an
explanation of this fact, and that we must limit ourselves to noting it,
without further comment, in spite of the mania which prompts the savants
of our day in a desire to explain everything.

We have now another question to consider. Should these white, yellow, or
black men, to whom we must add, as we shall see later on, those who are
brown and red, all of whom differ one from another in the colour of
their skin, in height, in their physiognomy, and in their outward
appearance, be grouped into different species, or are we to regard them
merely as varieties of species--that is to say, _races_? To fully
understand this question and to form a judgment of what will result from
it, we must ascertain what is understood in natural history by the word
_species_, and by the word _race_ or _variety of species_. We will
therefore commence by explaining the meaning of species in zoology.

The hare and the rabbit, the horse and the ass, the dog and the wolf,
the stag and the reindeer, &c., are not likely to be taken one for
another. Yet how greatly do dogs differ among themselves in size, in
colour, and in their proportions. What a difference there is between the
mastiff and the Pyrenean dog! The same observation applies to horses.
How different we find in size and outward appearance the large Normandy
horse, the London dray horse, or the omnibus horse of Paris, and the
small Corsican or Shetland horses which we can carry in our arms! And
yet no one is mistaken in them: whether he differ in size, or in the
colour of his hair, we always recognise a horse, and never mistake him
for an ass; in the mastiff as well as in the bulldog, we shall always
recognise a dog. However greatly a rabbit may vary in size and colour,
it will never be taken for a hare. The Breton cow, slight and frail, is
nevertheless as much a cow in the eyes of a farmer, and the rest of the
world, as a full-sized Durham. The same reflection applies with equal
force to birds. The turkey which exists in the wild state in America,
certainly differs very much from the black or white turkey acclimatized
in Europe; but there is no mistake that both of them are turkeys, and
nothing else.

The vegetable kingdom will furnish us with similar facts. Take, for
instance, the cotton plant on its native soil in America, and you will
find that it differs from the cotton plant cultivated in Africa and
Asia. The coffee plant of the South American plantations is not similar
to the same shrub which exists in Arabia, whence it came in the first
instance. Wheat varies with latitude to a most extraordinary extent, &c.
The cotton plant, however, is always the cotton plant, whatever be the
soil upon which it grows; the coffee plant and wheat are always the same
vegetables, and one is not liable to be deceived in them. The action of
climate and soil upon vegetables, these same causes taken in connection
with nutrition upon animals, and finally the mixture which has taken
place between different individuals, explain all these differences,
which affect the external appearance, but not the type itself.

We mean by _species_, when applied either to animals or vegetables, the
fundamental type, and by _variety_ or _race_ the different beings which
result from the influence of climate, of nutriment, and of mixture with
individuals of the same species. The _species dog_ gives birth to the
_varieties_ or _races_ known under the names of bull-dog, spaniel,
mastiff, &c. The _species horse_ gives birth to the _races_ or
_varieties_ known under the names of the Arabian, English, Normandy,
Corsican, &c. The _species turkey_ produces the varieties known as the
wild turkey, the black and the white turkey. In the vegetable kingdom,
the _cotton plant species_ produces the American and the Indian cotton;
the _bramble_ produces the innumerable varieties which are known to us
as rose-trees.

But, the reader will say, how are we to distinguish race from species,
and does there exist any practical means of deciding whether the animal
under consideration belongs to a species or a race? We reply that such a
means does exist, which enables us to speak with certainty in every
case. It is of importance that this should be made known in order that
every one may test it for himself.

Take the two animals in question, unite them, and if that connexion of
the sexes results in the production of another individual, capable of
reproduction, this will indicate race or variety. If, however, the union
of the two individuals is unproductive, or the offspring is itself
barren, this will indicate two individuals of different species.

In spite of observations and experiments made in the course of many
thousand years, reproduction has never been procured by mixture of a
rabbit with a hare, a wolf with a dog, a sheep with a goat. It is true
that hybrids are obtained between the horse and she-ass, and between the
ass and the mare, but it is well known that the individuals produced by
this mixture, namely, the quadrupeds termed _mules_, are barren animals,
incapable of reproduction with one another.

This rule is not confined to the animal kingdom, but it obtains also
among vegetables. You can obtain artificial production from a pear tree
by applying, with suitable precautions, the pollen of the flowers of one
pear tree to the stamens of those of another. Fruit will be formed, and
the seed which that produces will in its turn be productive. But if you
attempt to perform the same operation between a pear tree and an apple
tree, you will obtain no result whatever. This, again, is the practical
method which enables botanists to distinguish varieties from species.
The test of artificial fecundation between one plant and another, which
it is desired to distinguish as regards their species, serves to solve
the difficulties which are met in attempting to determine the position
of a plant in botanical classification.

The word _species_ therefore is not a fictitious term, a conventional
expression invented by the learned to designate the classifications of
living beings. A species is a group arranged by Nature herself.
Fruitfulness or barrenness in the products of the mixture are the
characteristics which Nature attaches to variety or to species; those
groups therefore appear to us as though they had a substantial
foundation in the laws which govern living beings, and we do but render
in speech what we observe in Nature.

When, moreover, we reflect, we easily understand that if Nature had not
instituted species the most complete disorder would have reigned
throughout living creation. By intermixture the animal kingdom would
have been overrun by _mongrels_ who would have confused every type, thus
permitting of no discernment in this crowd of incoherent products. The
whole animal kingdom would have been given over to inextricable
confusion. In like manner, if plants had been capable of infinite
variety through the mixture of different species, brought about by the
industry of man, or by the effect of the wind bearing through the air
the fertilizing pollen, there would be nought but trouble and disorder
among the vegetable population of the globe.

Species therefore has a necessary, providential, and fixed existence.
Impossibility of union is the distinctive qualification which nature
assigns to this group of living beings. Reproduction is possible only
between members of the same species, and the differences produced in
their offspring by the soil, nutriment and surrounding circumstances,
determine what we call race, or variety.

The principle which we have just enunciated, will in its application to
man enable us to decide whether the individuals that people the globe,
belong to different species of men, or simply to _races_ or _varieties_;
in other words, whether the human species is unique, and whether the
different human types known to us, the white, black, yellow, brown and
red-man, belong or not to _races_ of the human species.

The reply to this question will doubtless have been anticipated. If we
apply the rule stated above, all men that inhabit the globe belong to
one and the same species, since it is a fact that men and women,
whatever be their colour, can marry, and their offspring is always
reproductive. The Negro and white female by their union produce
mulattoes; mulattoes and mulattresses are reproductive, as are also
their descendants--marriages between members of the red or brown races
are fruitful, and, what is more, the fecundity of the descendants of
mongrels is superior to that of men and women of the same colour.

Unless, therefore, we regard men as a solitary exception among all
living beings, unless we withdraw them from the operation of the
universal laws of nature, we must come to the conclusion that they do
but form a certain number of races of one and the same species, and all
descend from one primitive unique species.

Men are brothers in blood: this principle of universal fraternity
imposed by nature, may be placed side by side with the corresponding
maxim suggested by the moral sense.

Those who deny the unity of the human species, _polygenists_, or
supporters of the plurality of human kind, base their arguments in
favour of there being more than one species, upon the assertion that the
distinction between the Negro and the white man is too great to permit
of their possibly being classed together. But, between the lap-dog and
the mastiff, the wild and tame rabbit, the spaniel and the greyhound, or
the Shetland and Russian horse, there is a much greater difference than
exists between the Negro and the white man. We are unable to state
exactly, or to explain with any degree of accuracy, how it is that man,
as he was first created, has given birth to races so widely different as
the white, black, yellow, brown, and red which people the earth at the
present day. We can but furnish a general explanation of what we see in
the widely varying conditions of existence, and in the opposite
character of the media through which man, for ages past, has dragged his
existence, frequently with much difficulty and uncertainty. If the dog,
the horse, the rabbit, and the turkey, through the agency of human
industry applied to them during a period of scarcely two thousand years,
have given birth to so many varieties, how much more would man, whose
appearance upon the globe is of such antiquity that we cannot assign to
it even approximatively a date--man, whose fate it has been to pass
through so many different climates, such various physical and social
positions, expect to see his own type become modified and transformed?
We should, with more reason, feel surprised at finding that the
differences between one variety and another are not much wider than they
appear to be.

In order to avoid this argument, there remains to the supporters of the
plurality of human kind no alternative but to regard man as an exception
in nature; to assert that he has laws peculiar to himself, and that the
principles which pervade the life of plants and animals can in no way
apply to him. But man, who is an organized and living being, and is
furnished with a body that differs but little from that of any
mammiferous animal, is, so far as concerns his organization, subject to
the universal laws of nature, and that of intermixture among the rest.
It is therefore impossible to admit the question of exception raised by
those who deny the unity of the human species.

The principle that the human species is one, and what follows as a
natural conclusion, namely, that all men who inhabit the earth are but
races or varieties of this one species, will, therefore, appear to the
reader to be satisfactorily established.

       *       *       *       *       *

These different races which originate in one species, the primitive type
having been modified by the operation of climate, food, soil,
intermixture and local customs, differ, it must be admitted, to a
marvellous extent, in their outward appearance, colour and physiognomy.
The differences are so great, the extremes so marked and the transitions
so gradual, that it is well-nigh impossible to distribute the human
species into really natural groups from a scientific point of view, that
is to say, groups founded upon organic characteristics. The
classification of the human races has always been the stumbling block of
anthropology, and up to the present time the difficulty remains almost
undiminished.

A cursory examination of the various classifications which have been
brought forward by the most important of those who have essayed the task
will make this truth apparent to all.

Buffon, in his chapter upon _man_; a work which we can always read again
with admiration and advantage, contents himself with bringing forward
the three fundamental types of the human species which have been known
from the first under the names of the white, black and yellow race. But
these three types in themselves do not exemplify every human
physiognomy. The ancient inhabitants of America, commonly known as the
_Red-Skins_, are entirely overlooked in this classification, and the
distinction between the Negro and the white man cannot always be easily
pointed out, for in Africa the Abyssinians, the Egyptians, and many
others, in America the Californians, and in Asia the Hindoos, Malays and
Javanese are neither white nor black.

Blumenbach, the most profound anthropologist of the last century, and
author of the first actual treatise upon the natural history of man,
distinguished in his Latin work, _De Homine_, five races of men, the
Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, Malay and American. Another
anthropologist, Prochaska, adopted the divisions pointed out by
Blumenbach, but united under the name of the _white race_, Blumenbach’s
Caucasian and Mongolian groups, and added the _Hindoo race_.

The eloquent naturalist Lacépède, in his _Histoire naturelle de
l’Homme_, added to the races admitted by Blumenbach the _hyperborean
race_, comprising the inhabitants of the northern portion of the globe
in either continent.

Cuvier fell back upon Buffon’s division, admitting only the white, black
and yellow races, from which he simply derived the _Malay_ and
_American_ races.

A naturalist of renown, Virey, author of _l’Histoire naturelle du Genre
humain_, _l’Histoire naturelle de la Femme_, and of many other clever
productions upon natural history and particularly anthropology, gave
much attention to the classification of the human races. But he was not
favourable to the unity of our species, being led to entertain the
opinion that the human species was twofold. This was the starting point
of an erroneous deviation in the ideas of naturalists who wrote after
Virey. We find Bory de Saint Vincent admitting as many as fifteen
species of men, and another naturalist, Desmoulins, doubtless influenced
by a feeling of emulation, distinguished sixteen human species, which,
moreover, were not the same as those admitted by Bory de Saint Vincent.

This course of classification might have been followed to a much greater
extent, for the differences among men are so great, that if strict rule
is not adhered to, it is impossible to fix any limit to species. Unless
therefore the principle of unity has been fully conceded at starting,
the investigation may result in the admission of a truly indefinite
quantity.

This is the principle which pervades the writings of the most learned of
all the anthropologists of our age, Dr. Pritchard, author of a _Natural
History of Man_, which in the original text formed ten volumes, but of
which the French language possesses but a very incomplete translation.

Dr. Pritchard holds that all people of the earth belong to the same
species; he is a partisan of the unity of the human species, but is not
satisfied with any of the classifications already proposed, and which
were founded upon organic characteristics. He, in fact, entirely alters
the aspect of the ordinary classifications which are to be met with in
natural history. He commences by pointing out three families, which, he
asserts, were in history the first human occupants of the earth: namely
the _Aryan_, _Semitic_, and _Egyptian_. Having described these three
families, Pritchard passes to the people who, as he says, radiated in
various directions from the regions inhabited by them, and proceeded to
occupy the entire globe.

This mode of classification, as we have pointed out, leaves the beaten
track trodden by other natural historians. For this reason it has not
found favour among modern anthropologists, and this disfavour has
reacted upon the work itself, which, notwithstanding, is the most
complete and exact of all that we possess upon man. Although it has been
adopted by no other author, Pritchard’s classification of the human race
appears to us to be the most sound in principle.

M. de Quatrefages, in his course of anthropology at the Museum of
Natural History, Paris, makes a classification of the human race based
upon the three types, white, yellow and black; but he appends to each of
these three groups, under the head of _mixed races attached to each
stem_, a number of races more or less considerable and arbitrary which
were excluded from the three chief divisions.

The classification of M. de Quatrefages will be found in his _Rapport
sur les progrès de l’Anthropologie_, published in 1867.[3] It is
extremely learned and well worked out, but a classification which
entirely passes by the simple mode of reasoning we shall adopt in the
following pages.

  [3] In 4º forming part of the _Rapports sur les progrès des Sciences
      et des Lettres en France_, published under the auspices of the
      Minister of Public Instruction.

The classification of the human race which we propose to follow,
modifying it where in our opinion it may appear to be necessary, is due
to a Belgian naturalist, M. d’Omalius d’Halloy. It acknowledges five
races of men: the white, black, yellow, brown and red.

This classification is based upon the colour of the skin, a
characteristic very secondary in importance to that of organization, but
which yet furnishes a convenient framework for an exact and methodical
enumeration of the inhabitants of the globe, permitting a clear
consideration of a most confused subject. In the groups, therefore,
which we shall propose, the reader will fail to find a truly scientific
classification, but will meet with merely such a simple distribution of
materials, as shall permit us to review methodically the various races
spread over every portion of the Earth’s surface.




CHAPTER II.

    General characteristics of the human race--Organic characteristics--
    Senses and the nervous system--Height--Skeleton--Cranium and face--
    Colour of the skin--Physiological functions--Intellectual
    characteristics--Properties of human intelligence--Languages and
    literature--Different states of society--Primitive industry--The two
    ages of prehistoric humanity.


Before entering upon a minute description of each of the human races, we
shall find it well to lay before the reader a generalization of the
characteristics which are common to all.

Since man is an intelligent being, living in an organized frame, our
attention has to be directed to the consideration of his organs and
intellect, that is, in the first place, we must investigate the
physical, in the second, the intellectual and moral elements of his
constitution.

The physical characteristics bear but secondary importance among those
of the human race. Man is a spirit which shines within the body of an
animal, and the only difficulty is to ascertain in what manner the
organism of the mammalia is modified in order to become that of man; to
compare the harmony of this organism with the object in view, namely the
exercise of human intellect and thought. We shall see that the organs of
the mammalia are greatly modified in the human subject, becoming, either
on account of their individual excellence or the harmony of their
combination, greatly superior to the associations of the same organs
among animals.

Let us first consider the brain and organs of sense. When we examine the
form and relative size of the brain in ascending the series of
mammiferous animals, we find that this organ increases in volume, and
progresses, so to say, toward the superior characteristics which it is
to display in the human species. Disregarding certain exceptions, for
the existence of which we cannot account, but which in no way alter the
general rule, the brain increases in importance from the zoophyte to the
ape. But, in comparing the brain of the ape with that of man, an
important difference becomes at once apparent. The brain of the gorilla,
orang-outang, or chimpanzee, which are the apes that bear the greatest
resemblance to man, and which for that reason are designated
_anthropomorphous_ apes, is very much smaller than that of man. The
cerebral lobes in man are much longer than in the anthropomorphous apes,
and their vertical measure is out of all proportion with the height of
the cerebral lobes in apes; this is what produces the noble frontal
curve, one of the characteristic features of the human physiognomy. The
cerebral lobes are connected behind with a third nervous mass called the
_cerebellum_. The large volume of these three lobes, the depth and
number of convolutions of the encephalic mass, and other anatomical
details of the brain, upon which we are unable here to treat at greater
length, place the brain of man very far above that of the animal nearest
to him in the zoological scale. These differences bear witness in favour
of man to an unparalleled intellectual development, and we should be
better able to measure these differences, were we able to show in what
the cerebral action consists, but this we are utterly unable to do.

The senses, taken individually, are not more developed in man than they
are in certain animals; but in man they are characterised by their
harmony, their perfect equilibrium, and their admirable appropriation to
a common end. Man, it will at once be admitted, is not so keen of sight
as the eagle, nor so subtle of hearing as the hare, nor does he possess
the wonderful scent of the dog. His skin is far from being as fine and
impressionable as that which covers the wing of a bat. But, while among
animals, one sense always predominates to the disadvantage of the rest,
and the individual is thus forced to adopt a mode of existence which
works hand in hand with the development of this sense, with man, all the
senses possess almost equal delicacy, and the harmony of their
association makes up for what may be wanting in individual power. Again,
the senses of animals are employed only in satisfying material
necessities, while in man, they assist in the exercise of eminent
faculties whose development they further.

Let us consider shortly in detail our senses.

Man is certainly better off, as regards the sense of sight, than a large
majority of animals. Instead of being placed upon different sides of his
head, looking in opposite directions, and receiving two images which
cannot possibly be alike, his eyes are directed forwards, and regard
similar objects, by which means the impression is doubled. The sense of
sight thus brings to his conceptions a complete image and solid idea of
what surrounds him; it is his most useful sense, the more so when it is
guided in its application by a clear intellect.

The sense of touch in man reaches a degree of perfection which it does
not attain in animals. How marvellous is the sense of touch when
exercised by applying the extremities of the fingers, the part of the
body the best suited to this function, and how much more wonderful is
the organ called the hand, which applies itself in so admirable a manner
to the most different surfaces whose extent, form, or qualities, we wish
to ascertain!

A modern philosopher has attributed to the hand alone our intellectual
superiority. This was going too far. We find enthusiasm allied with
justice in the views expressed in the excellent pages which Galen has
consecrated to a description of the hand, in his immortal work _De usu
partium_.

“Man alone,” says Galen, “is furnished with hands, as he alone is a
participator in wisdom. The hand is a most marvellous instrument, and
one most admirably adapted to his nature. Remove his hand, and man can
no longer exist. By its means he is prepared for defence or attack, for
peace or war. What need has he of horns or talons? With his hand, he
grasps the sword and lance, he fashions iron and steel. Whilst with
horns, teeth and talons, animals can only attack or defend at close
quarters, man is able to project from afar the instruments with which he
is armed. Shot from his hand, the feathered arrow reaches at a great
distance the heart of an enemy, or stops the flight of a passing bird.
Although man is less agile than the horse and the deer, yet he mounts
the horse, guides him, and thus successfully hunts the deer. He is
naked and feeble, yet his hand procures him a covering of iron and
steel. His body is unprotected against the inclemencies of climate, yet
his hand finds him a convenient abode, and furnishes him with clothing.
By the use of his hand, he gains dominion and mastery over all that
lives upon the earth, in the air, or in the depths of the sea. From the
flute and lyre with which he amuses his leisure, to the terrible
instruments by means of which he deals death around him, and to the
vessel which bears him, a daring seaman, upon the bosom of the deep--all
is the work of his hand.

“Would man without hands have been able to write out the laws which
govern him, or raise to the gods statues and altars? Without hands could
he bequeath to posterity the fruit of his labours, and the memory of his
deeds? Could he (had man been created handless) converse with Socrates,
Plato, Aristotle, and the different great men, children of bygone ages?
The hand is then the physical characteristic of man, in like manner as
intelligence is his moral characteristic.”

Galen, having shown in this chapter the general formation of the hand
and the special disposition of the organs which compose it; having
described the articulations and bones, the muscles and tendons of the
fingers; and having analyzed the mechanism of the different movements of
the hand, cries, full of admiration for this marvellous structure:

“In presence of the hand, this marvellous instrument, cannot we well
treat with contempt the opinion of those philosophers who saw in the
human body merely the result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms! Does
not everything in our organization most clearly give the lie to this
false doctrine? Who will dare to invoke chance in explanation of this
admirable disposition? No, it is no blind power that has given birth to
all these marvels. Do you know among men a genius capable of conceiving
and executing so perfect a work? There exists not such a workman. This
sublime organization is the creation of a superior intelligence, of
which the intellect of man is but a poor terrestrial reflection. Let
others offer to the Deity reeking hecatombs, let them sing hymns in
honour of the gods; my hymn of praise shall be the study and the
exposition of the marvels of the human frame!”

The sense of hearing, without attaining in man the perfection which it
reaches in certain animals, is nevertheless of great delicacy, and
becomes an infinite resource of instruction and pure enjoyment. Not only
are differences of intonation, intensity, and timbre, recognised by our
ear, but the most delicate shades of rhythm and tone, the relations of
simultaneous and successive sounds which give the sentiment of melody
and harmony, are appreciated, and furnish us with the first and most
natural of the arts--music. Thus the perfection and delicacy of our
senses, which permit of our grasping faint and slightly varying
impressions, the harmony of these senses themselves, their perfect
equilibrium, their capability of improvement by exercise, place us at a
considerable distance above the animal.

Let us now pass to the bony portion of the human body, and consider
first of all the head. The head is shared by two regions, the cranium
and the face. The predominance of either of these regions over the
other, depends upon the development of the organs which belong to each.

The cranium contains the cerebral mass, that is, the seat of the
intellect; the face is occupied by the organs appertaining to the
principal senses. In animals, the face greatly exceeds the cranium in
extent; the reverse is, however, the case with man. It is but rarely
that with him the face assumes importance at the expense of the
cranium--in other words, that the jaws become elongated, and give to the
human face the aspect of a brute.

We find in works upon anthropology some expressions which call for an
explanation here; they are frequently employed, since they enable us to
express by a single term the relation which exists between the
dimensions of any particular skull. The term _dolichocephalous_ (from
the Greek δολιχος, long, κεφαλη, head,) is applied to a cranium which is
elongated from front to rear, or, to express the idea numerically, the
cranium whose longitudinal diameter bears to its vertical diameter the
proportion of 100 to 68. A short cranium is styled _brachycephalous_
(from βραχυς, short, κεφαλη, head,) which term is applied when the
relation between the longitudinal and vertical diameters is 100 to 80.

The attribute of length or shortness of the cranium is of less
importance than is generally believed. All Negroes, it is true, are
_dolichocephalous_; but it must not be supposed from this that the
production backwards of the cranium is an indication of inferiority;
since in the white race, heads are sometimes very long and sometimes
very short. The North Germans are _dolichocephalous_; those inhabiting
Central Germany being _brachycephalous_. This characteristic cannot
therefore be regarded as a criterion of intellectual excellence.

There is in the human face an anatomical characteristic of greater
importance than any taken from the elongation of the cranium; that is,
the projection forwards, or the uprightness of the jaws. The term
_prognathism_ (from προ, forward, and γναθος, jaw,) is applied to this
jutting forward of the teeth and jaws, and _orthognathism_ (from ορθος,
straight, γναθος, jaw,) to the latter arrangement.

It was long admitted that prognathism, or projection of the jaws, was
peculiar to the Negro race. But this opinion has been forced to yield to
the discovery, that projecting jaws exist among people in no way
connected with the Negro. In the midst of white populations this
characteristic is frequently met with; it is occasionally found among
the English, and is by no means rare at Paris, especially among women.
Prognathism would appear to be characteristic of a small European race
dwelling to the south of the Baltic Sea, the Esthonians, and which
itself is but the residue of the _primitive Mongolian_ race to which we
have alluded in our work, “Primitive Man,” as being the first race
which, according to M. Pruner-Bey, peopled the globe. It is probably the
mixture of Esthonian blood with that of the inhabitants of Central
Europe, which causes the appearance in our large cities of individuals
whose faces are prognathous.

We cannot close our remarks upon the face without speaking of a curious
relation between it and the cranium, which has been much abused; we
allude to the _facial angle_. By _facial angle_ is meant the angle which
results from the union of two lines, one of which touches the forehead,
the other of which, drawn from the orifice of the ear, meets the former
line at the extremity of the front teeth.

The Dutch anatomist Camper, after having compared Greek and Roman
statues, or medals of either nationality, assumed that the cause of the
intellectual superiority which distinguished Greek from Roman
physiognomies was to be found in the fact, that, with the Greeks, the
facial angle is larger than in Roman heads. Starting with this
observation, Camper pursued his enquiries until it occurred to him to
advance the theory that the increase of the facial angle may be taken in
the human race as a sign of superior intelligence.

This observation was correct, insomuch as it separated men from apes,
and carrion birds from other birds. But its application to different
varieties of men, as a measure of their various degrees of intelligence,
was a pretension doomed to be sacrificed to future investigations. Dr.
Jacquart, assistant-naturalist in the Museum of Natural History at
Paris, calling to his aid an instrument he invented, by which the facial
angle is rapidly measured, has, in our day, made numerous studies of the
facial angle of human beings. M. Jacquart found that this angle cannot
be taken as a measure of intelligence, for he observed it to be a right
angle in individuals, who, with respect to intelligence, were in no way
superior to others whose facial angle was much smaller. M. Jacquart went
so far as to show, that, in the population of Paris alone, the facial
angle varies between much wider proportions than those imposed by Camper
as characteristic limits of human varieties.

The measure of the facial angle, therefore, is far from bearing the
importance which has long been ascribed to it; but this does not go to
prevent its application, with advantage, in ordinary cases, when races
of men are required to be distinguished from one another.

Erect carriage is another of the characteristics which distinguish the
human species from all other animals, including the ape, by whom this
position is but rarely assumed, and then accidentally and unnaturally.

Everything in the human skeleton is calculated to ensure a vertical
posture. In the first place, the head articulates with the vertebral
column at a point so situated that, when this vertebral column is erect,
the head, by means of its own weight, remains supported in equilibrium.
Besides this, the shape of the head, the direction of the face, the
position of the eyes, and the form of the nostrils, all require that man
should walk erect on two feet.

If our body were intended to assume a horizontal position, everything
connected with it would be out of place: the crown of the head would be
the most advanced part, and this would operate most detrimentally to the
exercise of sight; the eyes would be directed toward the earth; the
nostrils would open backward; the forehead and the face would be
beneath the head. Moreover, the whole muscular system and all the
tendons are, in man, auxiliary to erect posture, without mentioning the
curves which occur in the vertebral column, and the exceptional
formation of the limbs, &c.

J. J. Rousseau was, therefore, very far from right, when he contended
that man was born to go on all fours.

The height of men, as well as the colour of their skin, are
characteristics which must not be overlooked, since they are of
importance as distinctive attributes of different races.

And first, with regard to height, the differences which this incident
may present in the human species have been greatly exaggerated. Much
allowance must be made in admitting what has been written with respect
to dwarfs, and what has been alleged concerning giants. The Greeks
believed in the existence of a people they called _Pygmies_, but whose
place of abode they always omitted to point out. These were very small
people, who were entirely hidden from view when they entered a field of
standing wheat, and who passed much of their time in resisting the
attacks of Cranes. The same fable was revived in more modern times, with
reference to a people supposed to live in the island of Madagascar, who
were styled _Kymes_. But Pygmies and Kymes are equally fabulous.

Antiquity tells us of giants, but without forming them into a separate
race. It is rather in modern times that the existence of races of human
giants has been put forward. In the sixteenth century, when Magellan had
doubled Cape Horn and discovered the Pacific Ocean, a companion of this
navigator, Pigafetta, gave an altogether extraordinary description of
the Patagonians, or inhabitants of the Tierra del Fuego. He made giants
of them. One of his successors, Leaya, adding yet more to the height of
the Patagonians, assigned to these men a stature of from three to four
metres.

Modern travellers have reduced to accurate proportions the exaggerated
statements of ancient navigators. The French naturalist Alcide d’Orbigny
actually measured a large number of Patagonians, and found that their
height, on an average, was about 1^{m.}73.

This, then, is about the limit of the height which is reached by the
human species.

With reference to the extreme of smallness we are able to arrive at
this by referring to the Bushmen who inhabit Southern Africa. An English
traveller, Barrow, measured all the members of a tribe of Bushmen, and
found that their average height was 1^{m.}31.

The human species, therefore, varies in height to the extent of about
0^{m.}42, that is to say, the difference between the height of the
Patagonians and that of the Bushmen. It is well to make this observation
whilst we are upon this subject, since the supporters of the theory of a
plurality of human races have invoked these differences in height in
support of the multiplicity of the races of humanity. It is clear that,
among animals, races vary in height to a much greater extent than they
do with man; there is, by comparison, a much greater difference in size
between a mastiff and a dog of the Pyrenees, than there is between a
Bushman and a Patagonian.

As regards the colour of the skin of the human race, we find it
necessary to say a few words, since we propose to take this as the basis
of our classification.

The colour of the skin is a very convenient characteristic to fix upon
in order to identify the various races, since this quality is peculiarly
adapted to suggest itself through the eye. Its scientific importance
must, however, by no means be exaggerated. Certain individuals, though
they be members of the White or Caucasian Race, may yet be very darkly
tinted. Arabs are often of a brown colour, which nearly approaches
black, and yet they possess the finest marks of the White or Caucasian
Race. The Abyssinians, although very brown, are not black. The American
Indians, whom we rank as members of the Red Race, often have dark brown
or almost black skins. Among members of the White Race in northern
latitudes, especially women, the skin has often a yellowish tint. We
must add that the colour of the skin is often difficult to fix, since
the shades of colour merge into one another. All this must be said in
order to show how difficult it is to form natural groups of the
innumerable types of our species.

It would be for us now to speak of the physiological characteristics of
the human race; but our consideration of this subject will be limited to
a few words, since the condition of physiological functions is almost
identical among all men, whatever be their race.

There is, nevertheless, an important difference, well worthy of note,
presented by the nervous system when we compare the two extremes of
humanity, namely, the Negro and the white European. In the white man,
the nervous centres, that is the brain and spinal cord, are of much
greater volume than they are in the Negro. In the latter the expansions
from these nervous centres, that is, the nerves properly so called, have
relatively a greater volume.

A similar difference, quite on a par with this, exists in the
circulatory system. In the white man, the arterial system is more
developed than the venous; the reverse is the case with the Negro.
Lastly, the blood of the Negro is more viscous, and of a deeper red than
that of the white man.

With the exception of these general differences, the great physiological
functions proceed in the same manner among all races of men. The
differences are not remarked except when secondary functions are
compared, but these differences then assume proportions of some
consideration.

Climate, customs, and habits are the causes of these variations in the
secondary functions, which at times become so similar as to permit of
confusion in the most opposite races. Let a member of the white race be
thrown into the midst of wild Indians, become a prisoner of the
red-skins, and share their warlike existence in the midst of forests, we
shall see that the sense of sight, as also that of hearing, will attain
in this individual the same perfection which they enjoy in his new
companions. It is by virtue of the prodigious flexibility of our
organism, and of our powers of imitation and assimilation, that the
physiological functions of secondary importance become capable of such
modification.

The intellectual and moral characteristics are those which take the lead
in man. Not only are we unable to pass them over in silence in the
general study of the human race, but much more importance must be
assigned to them than to mere corporeal characteristics. If the
naturalist, when he studies an animal, makes a point, when he has
described his structure and organism, of considering his habits and
manner of life, how much more should he, when treating of man, dwell
upon his intellectual faculties, the stamp which so truly identifies our
species.

Man makes use of language as the means of expressing his intelligence.
If man is provided with the power of speech, which he has in common with
no other animal, it is owing to the fact that in him intelligence is
infinitely more developed than in the animal. It is through the
simultaneous concurrence of all his senses that the faculty of speech is
manifested in man; and the proof of this is, that through the absence of
one of his senses, he loses this faculty. What is meant by a person born
dumb? It is an individual similar in all respects to speaking man, but
differing from him in this, that he came into the world perfectly deaf.
The primary absence of the power of hearing has paralysed the child’s
intelligence with special reference to his imitative faculty, and in
fact, the person called _deaf and dumb_ is originally simply a person
_born deaf_.

Language, then, is but the expression of the highest intelligence.
“Animals have a voice,” says Aristotle, “but man alone speaks.” Nothing
can be truer than this statement of the immortal Greek philosopher.

It is well known how the languages and dialects spoken in the world have
multiplied; and, indeed, nothing is more difficult than to classify all
the languages and dialects that exist. This difficulty becomes more
insurmountable when we consider that languages vary in course of time to
a very considerable extent. The French of Rabelais and Montaigne, who
wrote at the time of the Renaissance, is not very intelligible to us,
and that of French chroniclers at the time of St. Louis can only be
understood by studying it specially and with a dictionary. Modern
Italians read Dante with great difficulty, and the same may be said for
the English as regards their great writer Shakespeare. Languages then
alter very rapidly, even though the people themselves remain stationary.
The alterations are much more serious and rapid when two peoples
amalgamate.

These considerations are sufficient to convey an idea of the problem
which scholars have propounded in wishing to ascertain the language of
primitive humanity. It may be said that such a problem is incapable of
solution. We must therefore despair of finding the mother tongue, and
limit ourselves to those which are her offspring.

Upon a comparison of these last, it has been decided to assign to three
fundamental groups all the languages which have been, and are still,
spoken on the earth; these are, as we have already said, _monosyllabic_,
_agglutinative_ and _inflected languages_.

Chinese is the most decided example of a _monosyllabic_ language. Each
word comprises but one syllable, and has an absolute meaning in itself.
Recourse must be had to the complicated combination of a quantity of
utterances in order to impress all modifications of thought, all
distinctions of time, place, person, condition, &c. One marvels to hear
that the Chinese language comprehends such an immense number of words,
that the life of a single man of letters is not sufficiently long to
allow of his learning all. This apparent wealth is but the most utter
poverty. This language, whose vocabulary is infinite, is simply
detestable. To its imperfection must be attributed the smallness of the
progress which the people of Asia have made in the direction of
intelligence and commerce.

_Agglutinative_ languages, which are spoken by Negroes, as also by many
people of the yellow race, are the first degree of perfection in human
speech. In these the word is no longer unique; variable terminations
attached to each word modify the primitive expression. They contain
_roots_ and words whose function it is to modify these roots.

The third and last degree of perfection in human speech is found in
_inflected languages_. Those languages are so called, in which the same
word is capable of modification a great number of times, in order to
express the different shades of thought, and to translate changes of
time, person, or place. Inflected languages are made up of a series of
different terms, the number of which is by no means large, but the
modification of which, by means of adjuncts, or through the position
they occupy, are indeed innumerable. All European languages, and those
spoken in Asia by people of the white race, are inflected.

If spoken language is the first element which served to constitute human
societies, fixed, that is _written_ language, has been the fundamental
cause of their progress. By means of writing, one generation has been
enabled to hand down to the other the fruits of their experience and
investigation, and thus to lay the foundation of primitive science and
history.

The first forms of writing were mere mnemonic signs. Stones cut to a
certain fashion, pieces of wood to which a conventional form had been
imparted, and such like, were the first signs of written language. One
of the most curious forms of mnemonic writing has been met with both in
the Old and New Worlds; it consisted in joining little bundles of cord
of different colours, in which were tied knots of various kinds. Whoever
ties a knot in his handkerchief in order to recall to mind some fact or
intention, makes use, without knowing it, of the primitive form of
writing.

An advance in writing consisted in representing pictorially objects
which it was wished to designate. The wild Indians of North America
still make use of these rough representations of objects, as a means of
imparting certain information.

This very system is rendered more complete, when the design is
supplemented by a conventional idea. If prudence is indicated by a
serpent, strength by a lion, and lightness by a bird, we here at once
recognize writing properly so called. This last form of writing is known
as the _symbolical_ or _ideographic_.

Symbolical writing existed among the ancients. The hieroglyphics which
are engraved upon the monuments of ancient Egypt, and those which have
been found upon Mexican remains, belong to symbolical writing.

And yet this is not writing in the true sense of the word, which does
not exist until the conventional signs, of which use is made, correspond
with the words or signs of the language spoken, and can actually replace
the language itself.

By the _alphabet_, is meant the collection of conventional signs
corresponding to the sounds which form words. The _alphabet_ is one of
those inventions which have called for the greatest efforts of the human
mind, and it is not without good reason that Greek mythology deified
Cadmus, the inventor of letters. The same admiration for the inventors
of alphabets is, moreover, exhibited among all ancient nations.

       *       *       *       *       *

It is not only through its immense superiority as regards extent and
power, that the intelligence of man is distinguished from that of the
brute; there is an attribute of intelligence which is strictly peculiar
to our species. This is the faculty of abstraction, which permits of our
collecting and placing together the perceptions of the mind, by that
means arriving at general results. It is through this power of
abstraction, that our intellect has created the wonders which are
familiar to all; that the arts and sciences have been brought to light
and fostered by society.

In connection with the faculty of abstraction, we must allude to the
moral sense, which is a deduction from that same property. The moral
sense is a special attribute of human intelligence, and it may be said
that through this attribute, man’s intellect is distinguished from that
of animals; for this characteristic is most truly peculiar to the mind
of man, and is nowhere found among animals.

Among all people, and at all times, the difference between good and
evil, truth and falsehood, has been recognized. The abstract idea of
moral good and moral evil may certainly differ in different people: one
may admire, what the other detests; in one nation, that, may be held in
good repute, which, in another, is a criminal offence; yet, after all,
the abstract notion of evil and good, does not cease to exist.
Observance of the right of property, self-respect, and regard for human
life, are to be found among all nationalities. If man, in his savage
state, occasionally casts aside these moral notions, it is in
consequence of the social condition of the tribe to which he belongs,
and must be regarded in connexion with the customs of war and the
feeling of revenge. But, in a state of tranquillity and peace, which
condition the philosopher and student must presuppose in framing their
arguments, the notion of evil and good is always to be found. The forms
which the feeling of honour dictates, vary for example in the white man
and the savage, but the feeling itself is never eradicated from the
heart of any.

The religious feeling, the notion of divinity, is another characteristic
which has its origin in the faculty of abstraction. This sentiment is
indissolubly allied to human intelligence. Without wishing, with an
eminent French anthropologist, M. de Quatrefages, to make of
_religiosity_ a fundamental attribute of humanity, and a natural
characteristic of our species, we may say that all men are religious,
that they acknowledge and adore a Creator, a Supreme God. Whether the
statement that certain people, such as the Australians, Bushmen, and
Polynesians, are atheists, as we are assured by some travellers, and
whether the reproaches bestowed upon them in consequence of this, are
well-founded, or whether it is the fact that the travellers who bore
this testimony understood but little of the language and signs of these
different people, as has been suggested by M. de Quatrefages, are
matters of relatively slight importance. The state of brutality of
certain tribes, buried in the midst of inaccessible and savage
countries, and the intellectual imperfection which follows, concealing
from them the notion of God, are nothing when compared with the
universality of religious belief which stirs in the hearts of the
innumerable populations spread over the face of the earth.

Language and writing gave birth to human associations, and later on, to
civilization, by which they were transformed. It is curious to follow
out the progressive forms of human association, and point out the stages
which civilization has passed through in its forward march.

Primitive societies assumed three successive forms. Men were in the
first instance, _hunters_ and _fishers_, then _herdsmen_, and lastly
_husbandmen_. We say, populations were first of all _hunters_ and
_fishers_. The human race then inhabiting the earth, was but small in
number, and this explains it. A group of men gaining their livelihood
simply by hunting and fishing, cannot be composed of a very large number
of individuals. A vast extent of territory is required to nourish a
population, which finds in game and fish its sole means of subsistence.
Moreover, this manner of living is always precarious, for there never is
any certainty that food will be found for the morrow. This continual
preoccupation in seeking the means of subsistence, brings man nearer to
the brute, and hinders him from exercising his intellect upon ennobling
and more useful subjects. Hunting is, moreover, the image of warfare,
and war may very easily arise between neighbouring populations who get
their living in the same manner. If in these eventual collisions,
prisoners are taken, they are sacrificed in order that there may be no
additional mouths to feed.

So long, therefore, as human societies were composed only of hunters and
fishers, they were unable to make any intellectual progress, and their
customs, of necessity remained barbarous. The death of prisoners was the
order of battle.

Societies of _herdsmen_ succeeded those of hunters and fishers. Man
having domesticated first the dog, then the ox, the horse, the sheep or
the llama, by that means ensured his livelihood for the morrow, and was
enabled to turn his attention to other matters besides the quest of
food. We therefore see pastoral societies advancing in the way of
progress, by the improvement of their dress, their weapons, and their
habitations.

But pastoral communities have also need of large tracts of country, for
their herds rapidly exhaust the herbage in one region, and they must
therefore seek farther for pastures, in order that they may be sure of
their food, when that is confined to flesh and milk. Pastoral
populations were therefore of necessity nomadic.

In their reciprocal migrations, pastoral tribes frequently came into
collision, and found it necessary to dispute by armed force the
possession of the soil. War ensued. Since the prisoners taken could be
maintained with comparative ease by the conqueror on condition of their
lending assistance, they were forced to become slaves, and it is thus
that the sad condition of slavery, which was later on to extend in so
aggravated a degree as to develop into a social grievance, had its
origin.

The third form of society was realized as soon as man turned his
attention to agriculture, that is, when he began to make plants and
herbage, artificially produced, an abundant and certain source of
nourishment.

Agriculture affords man certain leisure time and tends to soften his
manners and customs. If war breaks out, its episodes are less cruel in
themselves. The captive can, without actually being reduced to slavery,
be added to the number of those who labour in the fields, and in return
for a consideration contribute to the wellbeing of the tribe. The Serf
here takes the place of the slave; a form of society, composed of
masters and different degrees of servants, becomes definitely organized.

Agricultural people, being relieved from the preoccupations of material
existence, are enabled to foster their intelligence, which becomes
rapidly more abundant. It is thus that civilization first took root in
human society.

These then are the three stages, which, in all countries, mankind have
of necessity passed through before becoming civilized. The progress from
one stage to the next has varied in rapidity in proportion to
circumstances of time and place, and of the country or hemisphere.
Nations, whom we find at the present day but little advanced in
civilization, were on the other hand originally superior to other
nations we may point to. The Chinese were civilized long before the
inhabitants of Europe. They were building superb monuments, were engaged
in the cultivation of the mulberry, were rearing silkworms,
manufacturing porcelain, &c., at the very time when our ancestors, the
Celts and Aryans, clothed in the skins of wild beasts, and tattooed,
were living in the woods in the condition of hunters. The Babylonians
were occupied with the study of astronomy, and were calculating the
orbits of the stars two thousand years before Christ; for the
astronomical registers brought by Alexander the Great from Babylon,
refer back to celestial observations extending over more than ten
centuries. Egyptian civilization dates back to at least four thousand
years before Christ, as is proved by the magnificent statue of Gheffrel,
which belongs to that period, and which, since it is composed of
granite, can only have been cut by the aid of iron and steel tools, in
themselves indicators of an advanced form of industry.

This last consideration should make us feel modest. It shows that
nations whom we now crush by our intellectual superiority, the Chinese
and Egyptians, perhaps also the old inhabitants of Mexico and Peru, were
once far before us in the path of civilization.

       *       *       *       *       *

It is quite clear that manufactures have tended to hasten the progress
of civilization. It is well worthy of remark that, according as the
matter composing the material of these manufactures has undergone
transformation, so the condition of society has progressed. Two mineral
substances were the objects of primitive manufactures: stone and metal.
Civilization was rough-hewn by instruments made of stone, and has been
finished by those composed of metal. Modern naturalists and
archæologists are therefore perfectly right in dividing the history of
primitive man into two ages: the stone age, and the metal age.

In our work “Primitive Man,” we have followed step by step the course
and oscillations of the primitive manufactures of different peoples. We
have first seen that man being without any other instrument of attack or
defence save his nails and teeth, or a stick, made use of stones, and
formed them into arms and tools. We then saw that he made himself master
of fire, of which he alone understands the use. We then saw him, with
the aid of fire, supply the heat which in cold climates the sun denied,
create during the night artificial light, and add to the insufficiency
of his form of diet, not to speak of the numerous advantages which his
industry enabled him to gain by the application of heat.

As man progressed, the instrument formed merely of stone trimmed to
shape no longer sufficed him; he polished it, and even commenced to
adorn it with drawings and symbols. Thus the arts found their origin.

Metals succeeded stone, and by their use a complete revolution was
effected in human societies. The tool composed of bronze enabled work to
be done, which was out of the question when the agent was stone. Later
on iron made its appearance, and from that time industry progressed with
giant strides.

We have no occasion here to revert to the history of the development of
the industry of man in prehistoric times. We shall confine ourselves to
pointing out that this part of our subject is treated at full length in
our work on “Primitive Man.”

       *       *       *       *       *

To summarize what we have said: if man, in his bodily formation, is an
animal, in the exalted range of his intellect, he is Nature’s lord.
Although we show that in him phenomena present themselves similar to
those which we encounter in vegetables and plants, yet we see him by his
superior faculties, extend afar his empire, and reign supreme over all
that is around him, the mineral as well as the organized world. The
faculties which properly belong to human intelligence and distinguish
man from the brute, namely, the abstractive faculties, make him the
privileged being of creation, and justify him in his pride, for, besides
the physical power which he is able to exert on matter, he alone has the
notion of duty and the knowledge of the existence of a God.

After these general considerations we proceed to the description of the
different races of men.

We have said that we shall adopt in this work the classification
proposed by M. d’Omalius d’Halloy, modifying it to meet our own views.
We shall therefore describe in their order:

  1. _The White Race._
  2. _The Yellow Race._
  3. _The Brown Race._
  4. _The Red Race._
  5. _The Black Race._

We would call special observation to the fact that these epithets must
not always be taken in an absolute sense. The meaning they intend to
convey is that each of the groups we establish is composed of men, who
considered as a whole, are more white, yellow, brown, red, or black,
than those of other races. The reader must therefore not be surprised to
find in any given race men whose colour does not agree with the epithet
which we here employ in order to characterize them. In addition to that,
these groups are not founded solely upon the colour of the skin; they
are derived from the consideration of other characteristics, and, above
all, from the languages spoken by the people in question.




THE WHITE RACE.


This race was called by Cuvier the _Caucasian_, since that writer
assigned to the mountains of the Caucasus the first origin of man. It is
now frequently known as the _Aryan_ race, from the name formerly
bestowed upon the inhabitants of Persia. The _Caucasian_ or _Aryan_ race
is admittedly the original stock of our species, and it would seem that
from the region of the Caucasus, or the Persian shores of the Caspian
Sea, this race has spread into different parts of the earth, peopling
progressively the entire globe.

The beautiful oval form of the head is a mark which distinguishes the
_Caucasian_ or _Aryan_ race of men from all others. The nose is large
and straight: the aperture of the mouth moderate in size, enclosed by
delicate lips; the teeth are arranged vertically: the eyes are large,
wide open, and surmounted by curved brows. The forehead is advanced, and
the face well proportioned: the hair is glossy, long, and abundant. This
race it is from which have proceeded the most civilized nations, those
who have most usually become rulers of others.

We shall divide the White Race into three branches, corresponding to
peoples who at the first successively developed themselves in the
north-west, the south-east, and north-east of the Caucasus. These
branches are the _European_, _Aramean_, and _Persian_. This
classification is based upon geographical and linguistic considerations.
M. d’Omalius d’Halloy admits a fourth branch, the _Scythian_, which we
reject, since the people which it comprises belong more properly to
the Yellow Race or to the Aramean branch of the White Race.

[Illustration: SCANDINAVIAN

GREEK

WHITE OR CAUCASIAN RACE]




CHAPTER I.

EUROPEAN BRANCH.


What we have just said with regard to the civilization and power of the
white race applies with most force to the peoples who form the European
branch.

Proceeding upon considerations grounded chiefly upon language, we
distinguish among the peoples forming the European branch, three great
families: the _Teutonic_, _Latin_ and _Slavonic_, to which must be added
a smaller family, the _Greek_.

Although great differences exist between the languages spoken by the
peoples composing these four families, these languages are all in some
manner connected with Sanskrit, that is the language used in the ancient
sacred books of the Hindus. The analogy of European languages with
Sanskrit, added to the antiquity evidenced by the historical records of
many Asiatic nations, and notably of the Hindus, brings us to the
admission that Europeans first came from Asia.


TEUTONIC FAMILY.

The people comprised in the Teutonic family are those who possess in the
highest degree the attributes of the white race. Their complexion, which
is clearer than that of any other people, does not appear susceptible of
becoming brown, even after a long residence in warm climates. Their
eyes are generally blue, their hair is blond; they are of a good height
and possess well proportioned limbs.

From the very earliest times recorded in history, these people have
occupied Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany and a portion of France. They
have also developed themselves in the British Isles, in Italy, Spain,
and the north of Africa: but in these last named countries they have
eventually become mixed with people belonging to other families. What is
more, these same people form at the present day the most important part
of the white population of America and Oceanica, and have reduced into
subjection a large portion of Southern Asia.

We shall divide the Teutonic family into three leading groups: the
_Scandinavians_, _Germans_, and _English_.

[Illustration: 3.--WAKE OF ICELANDIC PEASANTS IN A BARN.]

_Scandinavians._--The Scandinavians have preserved almost unaltered the
typical characteristics of the Teutonic family. Their intelligence is
far advanced, and instruction has been spread among them to such an
extent, that they have given a strong impulse to scientific progress.
The ancient poems of the Scandinavians, which go back as far as the
eighth century, are celebrated in the history of European literature.

The Scandinavians comprise three very distinct populations: the Swedes,
Norwegians, and Danes. To this group must be added the small population
of Iceland, since the language spoken by them is most similar of all to
the ancient Scandinavian.

The Feroë Isles are also inhabited by Scandinavians, and many Swedes are
also met with on the coasts of Finland. But in other countries, to which
in former times the Scandinavians extended their conquests, they have,
in general, mingled with the peoples they subjected.

[Illustration: 4.--WOMEN OF STAVANGER, NORWAY.]

The _Icelanders_ are of middle height and only of moderate physical
power. They are honest, faithful, and hospitable, and extremely fond of
their native country. Their productions are small in extent, as they
understand little more than the manufacture of coarse stuff and the
preparation of leather.

We give here some types of these people.

Fig. 3 is a wake of the peasants.

The Norwegians are robust, active, of great endurance, simple,
hospitable, and benevolent.

In Norway few differences are found in the manners and customs of the
different classes of society. Customs here are truly democratic, the
peasant plays the chief part in the affairs of the country. The popular
diet dictates its will to the government.

[Illustration: 5.--CITIZEN OF STAVANGER.]

M. de Saint Blaise in his work, _Voyage dans les Etats Scandinaves_,
describes the Norwegian as a rough and moody but reliable character. One
thing which struck him was the absence of sociability between the two
sexes. They marry usually before attaining twenty-five years of age,
when the woman devotes herself entirely to her husband and household
affairs.

When the two sexes meet at meals, they separate immediately the repast
is at an end. The result of this is a too familiar manner, an absence
of constraint among the men, and a neglect in the dress of the women
which contrasts strongly with their natural grace.

[Illustration: 6.--COSTUMES OF THE TELEMARK (NORWAY).]

In figures 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, we give types of the inhabitants of Norway.

The _Danes_ (the old _Jutes_ or _Goths_) are a people proud of their
race, and full of valour and stubbornness. The men are tall and strong;
the women slender and active. Their hair is blond, their eyes are blue,
and their complexion ruddy. The children are fresh and rosy, the old men
lithesome and erect in their walk. Their voices are good and vigorous,
they speak in an energetic manner. We encounter in Denmark a strange
mixture of democratic and feudal customs: perpetual entails are
contrasted with laws whose object is equality. The working classes have
an ardent desire to possess land in their own right.

[Illustration: 7.--WOMEN OF CHRISTIANSUND (NORWAY).]

There are in Denmark three classes of peasantry: those who possess both
house and garden, those who possess merely a house, and those who only
rent apartments. The first of these furnish their board with rich plate
and utensils; their wives and children go to work in the fields
decorated with rings and bracelets.

The people therefore enjoy a considerable amount of comfort. Add to this
a general degree of instruction, which extends even to the peasant’s
cottage, and which embraces notions of agriculture, geography, history
and arithmetic. The civilization of Denmark is, therefore, very
considerable, and certainly greater than that of France, England, Spain,
and Italy.

Drunkenness is rarely met with in Denmark, and marriage is considered
sacred.

The marriages of the Fionian peasants last seven days. They dance and
make merry three days before and three days after that on which the
marriage takes place. The ceremony is performed amid a flourish of
trumpets. The bridegroom is elegantly dressed, the bride still more so;
she wears, moreover, a kind of diadem in which flowers are seen mingling
with gold.

[Illustration: 8.--BOY AND GIRL OF THE LAWERGRAND (NORWAY).]

_Germans._--When wandering as nomadic tribes in the woods, that is, at
the time of the Roman Empire, the ancient inhabitants of Germany much
resembled their neighbours, the Gauls. They were men of large stature
and vigorous frame, with white skins. Their hair, however, was usually
red, while among the Gauls the ruling colour was blond. Their head was
large, with a broad forehead and blue eyes. But the modern descendants
of the old inhabitants of Germany have undergone many modifications,
which would render it difficult at the present day, to find, in the
greater portion of that country, general characteristics based upon the
structure of the head, and the colour of the eyes or hair.

The modern inhabitants of Germany, the Germans, occupy a very large
portion of Germany proper and of Eastern Prussia, as well as a broad
band of country to the right of the Rhine. They are found also in
different parts of Hungary, Poland, Russia, and North America. The
Germans of the East and South having mixed much with the peoples of
Southern Europe, do not represent exclusively the Teutonic type; some of
them are met with who have brown hair and black eyes.

[Illustration: 9, 10.--SUABIANS (STUTTGARD).]

We give in the accompanying illustrations (figs. 9 to 14) some types and
costumes of the inhabitants of Germany proper (Baden, Würtemberg, Suabia
and Bavaria). The national costumes of Alsace are also shown.

We shall borrow from a work, published in 1860 under the title “_Les
Races Humaines et leur Part dans la Civilisation_,” by Dr. Clavel, an
interesting description of the customs of modern Germany:--

“Impinging, at its south-western frontier, upon the Latin world, at its
south-eastern frontier, upon the Slavonian world, and at its northern
frontier, upon Scandinavia, Germany,” says Dr. Clavel, “does not admit
of any very distinct definition. Throughout the whole periphery of this
country there exists no identity either of customs, language, or
religion. Its provinces on the frontiers of Denmark are half
Scandinavian; those bordering on Russia or Turkey are half Slavonic;
those which are neighbours of Italy or France are half Latin: the
provinces which together represent the frontiers of Germany, form a zone
more mixed and various than is possessed by the frontiers of any other
nationality.

“It is only toward the centre of the country that we find in all its
purity the blond Germanic type, the feudal organization and the numerous
principalities which are its consequences. It is here that we find the
conditions of climate which appear to produce this race with blue eyes,
red and white complexion, tall figures, and full, powerful frames.

“Whilst the Latin, glorying in the light of heaven, enlarges his
windows, builds open terraces, and clears his forests that he may plant
vineyards in their stead; the German loves above all things shade and
mystic retreats. He hides his house in the midst of trees, limits his
windows in size, and lines his streets with leafy elms; he reveres, nay,
almost worships his old oak trees, endows them with soul and language,
and makes of them the abode of a Divinity.

“In order thoroughly to enter into the German genius, we must wander
among the paths of their old forests, observe and analyze carefully the
effects of light and shade, springing up in ubiquitous confusion,
intersecting confined and narrow perspectives, lending isolated objects
a brightness vividly contrasting with the neighbouring obscurity,
changing even the appearance of the face in their alternations, and
forming dark backgrounds, illuminated by prismatic tints and glowing
sunbeams. Pausing beneath the venerable trees, we must listen to sounds,
re-echoed a thousand times, then dying away among the thickets, to give
place to the rustling of aspen leaves, to the sighing of the firs, or to
the harmonious murmurs of rivulets which force their way amid the flags
and water-lilies. We must inhale the air scented with the pungent odour
of fallen leaves, or the exhilarating scent of the wild cherry blossom.
It is only then that we come to appreciate the love of nature and the
druidical tone which pervade German literature; we understand Goethe’s
passion for natural history; the poem of Faust becomes full of meaning;
a feeling of melancholy creeps over the mind and leads us to the
contemplation of things that are soft, sad, mysterious, fantastic,
irregular, and original.

[Illustration: 11, 12.--SUABIANS (STUTTGARD).]

“Being brought thus in contact with nature, the German is natural and
primitive; he sympathizes with the world’s infancy. He easily goes back
to the past and the consideration of olden times; but it is not in him
to anticipate the future, and he regards progress with distaste. If he
advances towards equality and unity, it is the ideal of the Latins which
impels him. There is in him a resistance which forms part of his patient
and cold nature. His movements are sluggish. His language is hardly
formed. His literature, overflowing with imagination, is wanting in
elegance and purity, it is not ripe enough for prose and unfit to form a
book.

“The plastic arts of Germany also possess the simplicity and variety
which are produced by imagination; but they are wanting in proportion,
in purity of style and elegance; they are capable of arranging neither
lines nor colours; their productions often verge on the grotesque, or
are marked by heaviness or pedantry, and they clearly are not the work
of children of the sun.

“The Germans possess an ear which appreciates sound in a wonderful
manner, and reduces with ease to melody the fleeting impressions of the
Soul.

“. . . . He who possesses a strong and enduring constitution brings to
his means of action energy of will. His projects are neither frivolously
conceived, nor abandoned without good reason, and they are often
followed out in spite of a thousand obstacles. This patient and
continuous activity on the part of the Germans enables them to succeed
in all forms of industry, in spite of their subdivision and other
hindrances resulting from their political constitution.

“When men are laborious, patient, and frugal, we may expect to see
family life become strongly organized, and exercise a decisive influence
upon national customs.

“Love, whose duty it is to bring together the sexes into a united
existence, is in Germany, neither very positive, nor very romantic; it
is dreamy in its character. It seeks its _object_ in youth and speedily
finds it; faithfulness is then observed until the time for marriage
arrives.

“Early engagements being admitted by custom, betrothed couples are seen
together, arm in arm, among the crowd at public or private festivals, or
in lonely woods, or in twilight seclusion. Pleasure and pain they share
with one another, happy in the conviction that their hearts beat in
unison, and in the repetition, over and over again, of tender
assurances. The calmness of their temperament and the certainty of
belonging to one another some day, diminish the danger of these long
interviews. The young man respects the girl who is to bear his name and
rule his home with her virtuous example; she, on her part, shrinks from
a seduction which would dishonour her and compromise her future life.

“Such customs cannot but meet with approbation. They assure the future
of a woman, and save her from coquetry. They form a man for the
performance of his duties as head of a family, make him thoughtful for
the future, save him from licentiousness, which wears out the heart as
well as the constitution, and lastly, render his love permanent by
reducing it to habit.

“When the wedding-day, looked forward to for so many years, arrives, the
characters of man and woman have taken their respective stamp. The young
people know each other; they have no ground for suspecting deceit, for
the singleness of their heart admits of only one affection.

[Illustration: 13.--BAVARIANS.]

“Everything here contributes to heighten the dignity of woman. From her
girlhood, and during the years in which her beauty is blossoming, she
feels herself an object of devotion--she is _mistress_. Whatever she
grants, however slight the favour may be, acquires a high value. The
offering sanctified by her kiss is far more costly than gold; the riband
she has worn becomes equal to a decoration.”

This picture of German customs has special reference to the inhabitants
of Central Germany, the Austrians.

[Illustration: 14.--BADENERS.]

It is in the central portion of Germany that we meet with this patient
activity, and the gentle manners described by Dr. Clavel. But these
qualities are far from being the attributes of the inhabitants of the
North and West. The Germans of the North and West appeared in their true
character during the war of 1870, when a series of deplorable fatalities
and mournful inconsistencies had delivered up unhappy France to the
mercy of the invader. We then learnt how to appreciate this reputation
for good-nature, simplicity, and gentleness, which was commonly attached
to the inhabitants of the Ultra-Rhenic countries. The good-nature
developed itself into an undisguised ferocity, the simplicity into dark
duplicity, and the gentleness into haughty and brutal violence. The
hated and jealous fury of the Prussians, who rushed upon France with the
avowed intention of reducing her to impotence, and erasing her, if
possible, from the rôle of nations; their cold-blooded cruelties and
shameless rapine, are so impressed upon the minds of all Frenchmen, that
we need not recall them. Prussian barbarity attained the level of that
practised by the Vandals in the second century.

Our scholars have found some difficulty in explaining the anomaly which
existed between the ferocious conduct of the German armies, and the very
opposite reputation enjoyed by our neighbours beyond the Rhine.
Accustomed to regard the Germans as peaceful and gentle, sentimental and
dreamy, we, in France, were painfully surprised to find facts contrast
so cruelly with an opinion so generally entertained. An ethnological
work, published in 1871 by M. de Quatrefages in the “_Revue des Deux
Mondes_,”[4] has afforded a scientific explanation of this anomaly.

  [4] Issue of Feb. 15th.

M. de Quatrefages has shown, by considerations at once linguistic,
geological, ethnological, and historical, that the Prussians, properly
so called, that is, the inhabitants of Pomerania, Mecklenburg,
Brandenburg, and Silesia, have but little in common with the German
race--that they are not, in fact, Germans, but result from a mixture of
Slavonians and Finns with the primitive inhabitants of those countries.
The Finns overran, at a very early period, Pomerania and
Eastern-Prussia; later on, the Slavonians conquered the same territory,
as well as Brandenburg and Silesia. Certain Germanic tribes--to which
add the results of a French immigration into Prussia, which took place
under Louis XIV., after the revocation of the edict of Nantes--must be
joined to the stock of Slavonians and Finns, in order to make up the
Prussian race as it at present exists. The northern Slavonians possessed
a well-known coarseness of manner, and were of large stature and
powerful constitution. The Finns, or primitive inhabitants of the shores
of the Baltic, were characterized by cunning and violence, united to an
extraordinary tenacity. The modern Prussians revive all these ancestral
defects.

M. Godron, a naturalist of Nancy, who has very successfully studied the
German race, says, “The Prussians are neither Germans nor Slavonians:
they are Prussians!” This fact is now clearly shown by the
investigations of M. de Quatrefages. From an ethnological point of view,
the Prussians are very different from the German populations, who are
now subjected to the rule of the Emperor William under the pretext of
German unity.

Two different written languages exist among the German people; that of
the Netherlands and German.

The Netherland language has given birth to three dialects--_Dutch_,
_Flemish_, and _Frieslandic_.

The Dutch, in the seventeenth century, were the greatest maritime
commercial people in the world, and founded at that period a certain
number of colonies.

The Dutchman is by nature reserved and silent. Simplicity is the marked
feature of his character. He possesses patriotic feeling in a high
degree, and is capable of enthusiasm and devotion in the defence of his
strange and curious territory, preserved from the sea by dykes and
formidable constructions, and irrigated by innumerable canals, which
form the ordinary means of communication, and which link together the
seas and the rivers, as well as the towns.

       *       *       *       *       *

_English._--The English may be considered as resulting from a mixture of
the _Saxons_ and _Angles_ with the people who inhabited the British
Isles before the Saxon invasion.

Whence came and who were the _Angles_ and _Saxons_?

According to Tacitus, the Angles were a small nation inhabiting the
regions next the ocean. The Saxons, according to Ptolemy, dwelt between
the mouths of the Elbe and Schleswig. About the fifth century after
Christ, the Angles and Saxons invaded the British Isles, and mingled
with the inhabitants, who then comprised Celts, Latins, and Arameans.
During the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, fresh invasions of
Great Britain, by the Normans and Danes, added to this blood, already so
mixed, another foreign infusion.

From this medley of different peoples has sprung the English nation, in
whom are found at the same time, the patient and persevering character,
the serious disposition, and the love of family life, introduced by the
Saxons, and which is the peculiarity of the German nature, combined with
the lightness and impressionability of the Celt.

The physical type which is the result of this mixture, that is, the
English type, corresponds with the combination of races we have
specified. The head is in shape long and high, and is in this respect to
be distinguished from the square heads of the Germans, particularly
those of Suabia and Thuringia. The English generally possess a clear and
transparent skin, chestnut hair, tall and slender figures, a stiff gait,
and a cold physiognomy. Their women do not offer the noble appearance
and luxurious figure of the Greek and Roman women; but their skins
surpass in transparency and brilliancy those of the female inhabitants
of all other European countries.

We borrow a few pages from the work of Dr. Clavel upon “_Les Races
Humaines et leur Part dans la Civilisation_,” in order to convey an
exact knowledge of the nature and customs of our neighbours across the
Channel:--

“When he examines,” says Dr. Clavel, “the geographical position of
England, a land possessing a humid rather than a cold climate, the
observer pictures to himself beforehand that he is about to meet a
people of imperious appetite, of a vigorous circulation, of a powerfully
organized locomotive system, and a sanguineo-lymphatic temperament. The
power of the digestive functions shows that the nervous system is unable
to obtain dominion, and that there is a lack of sensibility: the
frequent fogs, which destroy the perfumes of the earth, the stormy
winds of the ocean, and the absence of wine, announce a poverty of
sentiment and inspiration, and of the arts founded upon them.

“The level plains, which are as a rule met with in England, are not
favourable to the development of the lower extremities, and it is a fact
that the power of the English lies, not so much in the legs, as in the
arms, shoulders, and loins. The fist is an Englishman’s natural weapon,
either for attack or defence; his popular form of duel is boxing, while
the foot plays an important part in the form of duel which, in France,
bears the characteristic name of _Savate_.

“This power in the upper regions of the body gives to an Englishman a
peculiar appearance. In view of his brawny shoulders, his thick and
muscular neck, and broad chest, we rightly divine the ready workman, the
daring seaman, the indefatigable mechanic, the soldier who is ready to
die at his post but who bears up with difficulty against forced marches
and hunger. His blond or reddish hair, his white skin and grey eyes,
bespeak the mists of his country; the barely marked nape of his neck,
and the oval form of his cranium, indicate that Finn blood flows in his
veins; his maxillary power, and the size of his teeth, evidence a
preference for an animal diet. He has the high forehead of the thinker,
but not the long eyes of the artist.

“The insular position of England, its excellent situation upon the
Atlantic, its numerous and magnificent seaport towns, its watercourses
and the facilities for conducting its internal navigation, all suggest a
large maritime commerce and the habits which accompany it. But neither
the soil, the climate, nor the geographical position, can account for
the aptitudes imported by different races.

“The Englishman is two-fold--Celt and German--and it is only a
superficial examination which can confound them.

“The Celt, whom in the absence of precise notions of an earlier
population we have come to consider as indigenous, resembles the
Neo-Latin races, and, above all, the French. He rarely exists
collectively, except in Ireland, and some mountainous districts of Wales
and Scotland. His cranium and features indicate artistic aptitudes. He
prefers Christianity in the Anglican Catholic form. Like the old Gauls,
he delights in wine, laughter, gaming, dancing, conversation, raillery,
and fighting. He is spirited and fond of joking, frank and hospitable;
but his versatility renders him incapable of steadily pursuing an
enterprise to the end, of careful reflection, or of thought for the
future. Through his powerlessness to combine his powers and act
collectively, he has become a prey to enemies, who were superior to him
neither in number, courage, nor even in intelligence. Old and joyous
England and Ireland became subject to the Dane, the Saxon, and the
Norman: they lost their proverbial gaiety, their bards, their democratic
tendency, and their civilization.

“The physical and moral differences between the modern conquerors of
England were but slight. They all came from the coasts of the Baltic
Sea, and all possessed the elementary characteristics of the German and
Scandinavian, and the aptitudes which they inherited from the old Sea
Kings. They had, moreover, strength, which bade them regard conquest as
a right, and take what they desired; pride, which bade them hold up
their head even against the storm; individual initiative, which
demanded, above all things, personal liberty; a tenacity, that nothing
discouraged; an intelligence, capable of every subtlety; a general
sensuality, which converted the bodily necessities into a means of
enjoyment; a lack of sentiment, which pre-supposed a want of aptitude
for art; and, lastly, a temperament which was calm and robust under all
circumstances.

“This type, which is still found among all branches of society, not
excepting the aristocracy, has been modified by its combination with the
Celtic element, but it still remains predominant. The Saxon, as a rule,
absorbs or destroys the other races; we may say, he drinks in their
vitality, but is unable to assimilate himself to their temperament.

“We must, therefore, expect to find the customs of England proper, more
Scandinavian than Celtic. The pleasures of olden time have fallen off;
the merry gossips of those days find no place but in literature;
raillery, when it comes from Saxon lips, is armed with sharp teeth, and
tears away the morsel it attacks.

“When intelligence is averted from the ideal, and constantly directed
towards the positive matters of life, it acquires the habit of
considering in all things the question of profit and loss; it becomes
averse to waste, which destroys property unprofitably, and loves order,
without which, material prosperity is impossible; it guides the organic
forces to productive industry, agriculture, and commerce, where they
are fostered and matured; and last of all, to speculation, which
anticipates the greater part of the fruits of commerce, agriculture, and
manufacture. The Saxon finds everywhere the means of speculating, aided
in his manœuvres by the intricacy of his commercial laws. As a
consequence of his phlegmatic temperament, he gives way neither to the
snares of enthusiasm, nor to the deceptions of discouragement. He
reasons aright, both for the present and the future. In dealing craftily
with his antagonist, he is well able to guard himself against the
weaknesses of feeling. His face rarely betrays his convictions, and his
features are devoid of the mobility which would prove disadvantageous.

“Thus it is that the Englishman joins subtlety to will; hence his
practical power. Being strong and able, he acquires a confidence in
himself which easily degenerates into pride, and saves him from
smallness of character. He is neither obsequious, nor prone to flattery;
he casts on one side the refinements of politeness, which he regards as
humiliating in one who employs them; he keeps his word, and considers
that he would be dishonoured in breaking it; but he makes the best of
all his advantages. For him, life is a struggle for triumph, without
regard for those who are unable to contend, and who succumb in the
attempt. He asks no pity, and gives but little; he cannot be called
cruel, for cruelty is a form of weakness; but he does not hesitate to
oppress an enemy, when to do so would be productive of material
advantage. In attaching to an Englishman the characteristic of
individual initiative, which is met with among all the branches of the
Germanic tree, we rightly expect to find him fond of liberty, without
which his powers would have no vent.

“But this liberty would soon lead him to destruction, did he not join to
it the spirit of propriety, and temper it with the love of order, which
he acquires in his industrial and commercial pursuits.

“. . . . His arts are wanting neither in talent, observation, delicacy,
nor humour; they represent men and things with the most scrupulous
accuracy; but they lack feeling, warmth, and ideality; they know not how
to bring the passions into play, and are unable to soar above the
descriptive. His stage is a failure, as is his music, both in themselves
pure creations of feeling; and his architecture is governed by the
nature of materials, and the application of his buildings to the needs
of life. This rage for practical convenience, which makes the London
houses so unsightly, has also been instrumental in simplifying his
language to amphibology, and curtailing the accent to such an extent as
to create discord. When harmony in the means of expressing thought is
wanting, the art of talking well is no longer exercised in conversation,
but becomes concentrated in discourse. There is scarcely an intermediate
between the latter form of speech, and incorrect conversation among
individuals. The result of this is, that the Englishman, on almost every
occasion, expresses himself in speeches, which are listened to and
commented upon with an imperturbable patience, but which have the grave
fault of imparting to social relations a tone of pedantry and stiffness.
As soon as that exists, there is no longer any room for fun and humour.
Following out the spirit of formality, many things become no longer
permissible, or cannot be dealt with except by reference to strict
rules. Propriety, therefore, includes, over and above pure politeness, a
number of conventionalities which in themselves constitute nothing less
than a social tyranny. An act, which, everywhere else, would be regarded
as perfectly natural, easily becomes food for scandal; and in society,
by far the greater number of those one meets abstain from action,
speech, or gesticulation. An icy reserve is the tone generally assumed.

“In such society as this, indiscretion and flippancy are almost out of
the question. But, although the English scorn a lie, they cannot speak
the whole truth: they find it necessary to reserve a portion, and
frequently the most important part. The result is a peculiar form of
hypocrisy which bears the name of cant, and which is really the bane of
English society. Owing to this, social life is enclosed in a circle of
intolerance which imparts to it a painful uniformity. Each person is
obliged to do as every one else, to such an extent, that in the land of
liberty, the spirit is oppressed and dejected to a degree suggestive of
suicide. Hence it is that so many English, in order to escape spleen,
are forced to leave their country.

“The Englishwoman is tall, fair, and strongly built. Her skin is of
dazzling freshness; her features are small and elegantly formed; the
oval of her face is marked, but it is somewhat heavy toward the lower
portion; her hair is fine, silky, and charming; and her long and
graceful neck imparts to the movements of her head a character of grace
and pride.

“So far, all about her is essentially feminine; but upon analyzing her
bust and limbs, we find that the large bones, peculiar to her race,
interfere with the delicacy of her form, enlarge her extremities, and
lessen the elegance of her postures and the harmony of her movements.

“Woman moves about two centres, which are the head and the heart. The
latter deals with bodily grace, roundness and delicacy of form,
inspiration in feeling, devotion in love, sympathy, a manifold and
undefinable seductiveness, a sort of divine radiance, which is grace,
tenderness, and all that is charming. The former supplies intelligence,
spirit, animation, and consistency of action.

“If all we see in an Italian or Spanish woman tells of the supremacy of
heart, which Lord Byron loved so much, all in the Englishwoman reveals
mental superiority. Her physical and mental powers are well balanced.

“There are few mental occupations in which a daughter of Great Britain
cannot engage. She acquires knowledge with facility; she writes with
elegance, and would be capable at a stretch of improvising a speech; she
is witty and even brilliant; capable of dealing with abstract sciences;
she can contend with the other sex in sagacity and depth; yet her
conversation does not captivate. She lacks a thousand feminine
instincts, and this lack is revealed in her toilette, the posture she
assumes, and in her actions and movements. She rarely possesses musical
taste. Her language and song do not captivate the ear; her appreciation
of colour, form, and perfume, are at fault. She loves what is striking,
and instead of attaining harmony, revels in discord.

“No aristocracy, can, with reference to ability, be compared with that
of England. Having ensured the influence of wealth by seizing the land,
and substituting in its possession the son for the father, by virtue of
the right of primogeniture, it has given the legislative power to the
proprietors of the soil, through the medium of a House of Peers, whose
prerogatives and domains pass to the eldest son, and of a House of
Commons, the right to elect whose members is centred chiefly in the
tenants of large proprietors. Where the nobility enjoy such privileges,
royalty necessarily assumes a dependent position, and becomes merely an
instrument. Positions of influence in the administration, the army, the
magistracy, and the church, fall of right to families of distinction,
who dispose of all the strength of the country, and apply it for the
benefit of their own caste. Taxation is organized in such a manner as to
weigh chiefly upon the lower classes, while the produce falls to the
advantage of the privileged class as emoluments.

“. . . Before the British aristocracy could attain the importance it now
possesses, many conquests were necessary, to which the substance of
Spain, Portugal, Holland, and of a hundred and thirty millions of
Indians, has fallen a prey. The attainment of this object, has,
moreover, forced fifteen millions of English people to exist upon a
daily stipend, when there is any stipend at all; and, to aid it, the
cannon has opened the frontiers of China to the opium trade, and to the
products of manufactures which must either sell or succumb. The only
material compensation for all these evils, is, that immense power is
given to wealth. The cultivation of luxury, in every form, has increased
tenfold the number of objects to be provided. The houses are crowded
with a number of articles of furniture, the use of which is a science in
itself; the tables are loaded with an infinite variety of dishes,
fruits, plate, and glass; stuffs of a thousand different shades are
offered to the caprice of fashion, to be used either in adorning the
person, or in the decoration of apartments; but for all that, the house
is neither more beautiful nor more wholesome as an abode, the table is
not more hospitable or more joyous, nor is the dress more elegant or
warm; comfort stifles what is merely beautiful, which wealthy men always
associate with a large outlay.

“Among the English aristocracy we must expect, neither the exquisite
elegance of the Latin aristocracy, nor the appreciation of art, which,
in Italy, and even in France, gives birth to so many marvels.

“Wealth has been able to accumulate in the galleries of private persons,
pictures and statues, the work of other nations, but has been quite
unable to raise up a school of architecture, of painting, or of
sculpture; or even to assign a single division to music. Workers and
statesmen abound in England; but the condition of artists is bad in the
extreme. A great poet emerges from the ranks of the nobility, and
employs his talent in scourging the aristocracy, and laying bare the
customs of his country. Eminent writers assign a philosophic value to
the romance of gentle blood, and paint in the blackest colours the
mercantile and feudal genius.

[Illustration: 15.--ENGLISHMAN.]

“The men of iron, who have transformed England into a sort of freehold,
seem to think themselves altogether different from the rest of humanity;
they pass through the midst of other populations without being
influenced by the contact, or modifying the etiquette which rules their
excesses at table and in drinking, and which governs field sports and
courtship. A word or gesture is sufficient to mark its author as of low
breeding, and to jar upon the nerves of the nobility, which are
susceptible of still greater irritation, when writers of ability venture
to speak of lords as of simple mortals; but this scandal has been
obviated in the _fashionable_ novel, in which, amid a halo of ennui,
aristocratic decorum shines forth.

“All this is productive of a meditated coldness and repulsive pride,
which renders expansion and joviality impossible. Moral oppression and
ennui permeate their whole life, and in the end render existence
insupportable. These rich and powerful men become the victims of
_spleen_.

“Those who find no relief in political struggles, seek in foreign
countries change and diversion; the more robust share their time between
the table, their horses, and their dogs; they drink to a frightful
extent; they unearth the fox, and follow him on horseback, clearing
every object although at the risk of their neck, or else they travel a
hundred leagues to see a thorough-bred horse run, and to risk upon him
what would make the fortune of ten plebeians.

“Such a life as this can be led only in the country. It must therefore
be noticed that the English nobility pass nine months out of the year at
their country seats, in the exercise of the gorgeous hospitality which
is met with in all large oligarchies, and cultivating there the comforts
of ease to a degree bordering on fanaticism.

“Beneath the shade of feudality, exists a class of farmers,
manufacturers, merchants, capitalists, and speculators, which consoles
itself for the humiliations it experiences by those which, in its turn,
it imposes on the lower classes. This middle class, oppressed by that
above, and menaced by that below it, presents a singular mixture of
timidity and resolution. Its existence, ever precarious, makes it easily
susceptible of alarm, ready to yield to the terms of the powerful, or to
assume any character. Its enthusiasm and admiration are inexhaustible,
when it foresees, in the conduct of its superiors, some gain to itself;
but the resistance it offers is most powerfully adroit when public
affairs tend to do it harm. Danger hardly ever takes it by surprise, as
its signs are seen from afar and anticipated.

“One would almost expect to find Israelitish traits of character in
people who make the Bible their book of books; who, while undergoing
extortion, still retain the feeling of dignity, who are passionately
fond of money and whatever conduces to its possession; who risk that
they may gain, and compensate one chance of loss by three chances of
profit; who respect the letter of the law more than its intention, and
who employ commercial uprightness as a clever means of making a fortune.

“In the middle class, the British aristocracy finds a means of keeping
under the proletarian class, true representatives of the old Celts.
These unfortunate men are reproached, with drunkenness, to which they
fly as a means of forgetting their misfortunes; with brutality, which
exhibits itself in blows, injuries, prize fights, and cock-fighting;
with coarse sensuality, which feeds upon meat and beer; with
selfishness, which extends even to the glasses of drinkers; and lastly,
with stronger criminal desires than are met with among other civilized
nations.

“But in spite of these vices, the sad fruit of misery, wretchedness, and
ignorance, they possess substantial virtues. The English workman has in
his heart an innate feeling of generosity. He is gentle to the weak, and
rude to the strong. Goodness charms him, and whatever is generous is
sure to meet with his support. Although blinded by self-interest to the
point of being altogether without a notion of justice, he can hardly be
accused of avarice, since he gives cheerfully. His friendship is firm,
although by no means demonstrative; he keeps his word, and despises an
untruth. Reverses redouble instead of causing him to abate his efforts;
he never despairs of what he undertakes, since he is ready to sacrifice
all for success, even his life. He has none of the sordid vanities which
stain the intermediate classes. For his country, which is to him less a
mother than a step-mother, he entertains an inexhaustible affection. To
her he devotes his whole existence; he is rewarded by his own admiration
of her, and deludes himself so far as to call her ‘Jolly Old England.’”

       *       *       *       *       *

Transplanted into the New World, the Englishman has already assumed a
type varying somewhat from that we have described--the _Yankees_, as the
Indians call them, that is to say, the _silent men_ (Ya-no-ki), have
lost in North America the general character and physiognomy which they
possessed in the mother-country. A new type, moral and physical,
approaching more to that of the Southern Red Indians, has been formed
among the inhabitants of North America, which type is exaggerated
towards the West, where men are rougher and coarser than in the North.


LATIN FAMILY.

The _Latin family_ originated in Italy, whence it extended its conquests
over a large portion of Europe, Asia, and Africa, thus forming the Roman
empire. At the present time the Latin languages are spoken only in
certain portions of this vast empire, namely, in Italy, Spain, France,
and some other countries in the south-east of Europe.

The people who belong to the Latin family are, in general, of a middle
stature, with black hair and eyes, and a complexion susceptible of
turning brown under the sun’s action; but they present many variations.
They speak numerous dialects, which frequently become confounded one
with another.

Among the people who form the Latin family are separately classed: the
_French_, the _Spaniards_, the _Italians_, and the _Moldo-Walachians_.

_French._--The Franks proceeded from the mixture of the Gauls with the
ancient inhabitants of the land, that is, the people who in olden times
were indifferently called _Aquitanians_ or _Iberians_, and of whom a few
are still to be found in the Basque inhabitants of the lower regions of
the Pyrenees, recognized at once by their language, which is that of the
old Iberians.

But who were these Gauls, who, by combination with the national blood of
the Iberians, formed the Franks?

The Gauls were a branch of the _Celts_ (or _Gaels_), an ancient race of
men, who coming from Asia, at an early period overran and occupied a
portion of Western Europe, more particularly that portion which now
forms Belgium, France as far as the Garonne, and a part of Switzerland.
Later on, the Celts or _Gaels_ extended their conquests as far even as
the British Isles. It was in the twelfth or tenth century before Christ
that they invaded Gaul, and subdued the indigenous Iberian population.

Of their Asiatic origin the Celts preserved no more than a few dogmas of
Eastern worship, the organization of a priestly sect, and a language,
which, through its close connection with the sacred language of the
Indian Brahmins, reveals the kinship which united these people with
those of Asia.

The Celts were a nomadic people, and lived essentially by hunting and
pasturage. The men were very tall: their height being, it has been
asserted, from six to seven feet. Many tribes dyed their skin with a
colour extracted from the leaf of the woad. Others tattooed themselves.
Many adorned their arms or breasts with heavy chains of gold, or clothed
themselves in tissues of bright colours, analogous to the Scotch tartan.
Later on they gave themselves up to greater luxury. Above their tunic
they wore the _saya_, a short cloak, striped with purple bands and
embroidered with gold or silver. Among the poorer classes this _saya_
was replaced by the skin of some animal, or by a cloak of coarse and
dark-coloured wool. Others wore the _simar_, which is analogous to the
modern blouse or the _caraco_ of the Normandy peasants. The second
article of dress worn by the Gaelic men, was a tight and narrow form of
trouser, the _braya_. The women wore an ample puckered tunic with an
apron. Some restricted their dress to a leathern bag.

Their weapons consisted of stone knives, axes furnished with sharp flint
or shell points, clubs, and spears hardened in the fire. Celtic stone
hatchets are common in the West of France.

The Celts were warlike and bold. They marched against the enemy to the
sound of the _karnux_, a sort of trumpet, the top of which represented a
wild beast crowned with flowers. As soon as the signal was given, the
front rank threw itself stark naked and impetuously into the struggle.

Leading a wandering form of life, the Celts constructed no fixed
habitations. They moved from one pasturage to another in covered
waggons, erecting simple cabins, which they abandoned after a few days.
They sometimes took shelter in caves, sleeping upon a little straw, or
the skins of animals spread upon the earth. More frequently, however,
they ate and slept under the open sky. Fond of tales and recitations,
they appear to have been inquisitive and garrulous. Their habits were
peaceful.

A branch of the Celtic family, the _Cymris_, who, like their
predecessors, originally came from Asia, overran the fertile plains
which extend from the moorlands at Bordeaux to the mouth of the Rhine,
their course being arrested toward the west only by the ocean, toward
the east by the Vosges, and toward the south-east by the mountains of
Auvergne and the last ridges of the Pyrenees and the Cevennes. The
_Cymris_, or Belgians, brought with them the simplicity of the north,
and having built towns, called upon the Gaels to join them.

These two groups, distinct in themselves although of the same race,
lived apart in some countries, while in others they held supremacy. The
Irish and the Highlanders of Scotland were _Gaels_. The _Gaelic_ element
also predominated in Eastern France. The inhabitants of Wales, Belgium,
and Brittany belonged to the Cymrian branch; but the Romans confounded
these two races under the general name of _Britons_ in Great Britain,
and _Gauls_ in Gaul.

We will briefly review the physical types, manners, and customs of the
Gauls.

At the time when Julius Cæsar invaded and conquered the Gauls, they were
distinguished as the northern, north-eastern, western, and southern
Gauls. The first were remarkable for the abundance and length of their
hair; hence their name of _long-haired Gauls_. Those of the south and
south-east were known as the _braya-wearing Gauls_.

The Gauls used artificial means of giving to their hair a bright red
colour. Some allowed it to fall around their shoulders; others tied it
in a tuft above the head. Some wore only thick mustachios, others
retained the whole beard.

When arming for battle, the Gauls donned the _saya_. They used arrows,
slings, one-edged swords in iron or copper, and a sort of halberd, which
inflicted terrible wounds. A metal casque, ornamented with the horns of
the elk, buffalo, or stag, covered the head of the common soldier, that
of the rich warrior being adorned with flowing plumes, while figures of
birds or wild beasts were wrought upon the crest. The buckler was
covered with hideous figures. Beneath a breast-plate of wrought-iron the
warrior wore a coat of mail, the produce of Gallic industry. He further
adorned himself with necklaces; and the scarves of the chiefs glittered
with gold, silver, or coral. The standard consisted of a wild boar,
formed of metal or bronze, and fixed at the end of a staff.

The Gauls dwelt in spacious circular habitations, built of rough stones,
cemented together with clay, or composed of stakes and hurdles, filled
up with earth within and without. The roof, which was ample and solid,
was composed of strong planks cut into the form of tiles, and of stubble
or chopped straw kneaded with clay.

The wealthy Gaul, besides his town residence, possessed a country house.
His wooden tables were very low, and in them excavations were made which
answered the purpose of plates and dishes. The guests sat upon trusses
of hay or straw, upon hassocks formed of rushes, or forms with wooden
backs. They slept in a kind of press, formed of planks, similar to those
which are met with in some cottages of Brittany and Savoy. They had
earthen vessels, of delicate grey or black pottery, more or less
ornamented, and brazen vases. They used horns as drinking-vessels.

The Gauls ate little bread, but a great deal of roast or boiled meat. As
a rule, they tore with the teeth pieces which they held in their hands.
The poor drank beer, or other less costly beverages; the rich, aromatic
wines.

The beauty of the Gallic women was proverbial. The elegance of their
figure, the purity of their features, and the whiteness of their skins,
were universally admired. To captivate these fierce men they made
abundant use of coquetry. In order to heighten the freshness of their
complexions, they bathed themselves with the foam of beer, or chalk
dissolved in vinegar. They dyed their eyebrows with soot, or a liquid
extracted from a fish called _orphi_. Their cheeks they coloured with
vermilion, and dressed their hair with lime in order to make it blond,
and covering it with network, let it fall behind, or else turned it up
crestwise. They wore as many as four tunics, one above the other, veiled
their head with part of their cloak, and wore a mitre or Phrygian
head-dress.

Any ordinary person who died was interred in a manner suitable to their
sex and condition, with arrow-heads, hatchets, flint knives, necklaces,
rings, bracelets, articles of pottery, &c. The grave was marked by an
unhewn stone, which was surrounded with herbs, moss, or flowers. These
tombstones were raised up in the plains, by the way-side, and amid the
deep shade of the forests. They were guarded by a statue of Tentates,
one of whose cheeks was painted white, the other black.

When a chief died, his body was burnt. In order to do this, the body was
placed upon a pile of resinous wood, with his weapons of war and of the
chase, his charger and dogs, and sometimes even, his slaves. While the
flames devoured the body, the bystanders uttered loud cries, and the
warriors clashed their shields. The half-calcined bones were enclosed in
an urn of coarse earth, rudely ornamented with a few engravings or
figures in bas relief. This urn was then deposited beneath a tumulus
covered with turf. In southern Gaul it was placed beneath a funeral
column.

In order to render complete the idea which we should wish to convey of
the outward appearance of the Gauls, we must say a few words about the
Druids.

The Druids were the priests of the Gauls, a clergy powerful by reason of
their political duties and judicial functions. The Druids led a solitary
life in the depth of oak forests and in secluded caves. They wore a
distinctive dress, their robes reaching down to the ground. During
religious ceremonies they covered their shoulders with a species of
white surplice, and upon their pontifical dress was displayed a crescent
which had reference to the last phase of the moon. Their feet were
furnished with pentagonal wooden sandals; they allowed their hair to
grow long, and shaved off their beards. In their hand they carried a
sort of white wand, and suspended from their neck an amulet of oval
shape set in gold.

We said the Franks proceeded from the mixture of the Gauls with the
Iberian natives of the country, joined later on to the Romans, the
Greeks, and more recently still to the Alanians, the Goths, the
Burgundians, and the Suevians. Having spoken of the Gauls, we shall now
proceed to describe the Franks.

The Frank was tall in height, with a very white skin, blue sparkling
eyes, and a powerful voice. His face was shaven, save upon the upper
lip, which earned a heavy mustachio. His hair, of a beautiful blond
colour, was cut behind, and long in front. His dress was so short as not
to cover his knees, and fitted tightly, showing plainly the form of the
body. He wore a shoulder-belt, ornamented with nails, and plates of
silver or inlaid metal. From his girdle hung an iron knife, an axe with
short handle and heavy keen iron head (battle-axe), a very sharp
ponderous sword, and a pike of medium length, the stout point of which
was armed with several barbs or sharp teeth, turned back as in a
fish-hook. Before going to battle, the Frank dyed his hair red. The hair
itself was frequently held together by a golden net, or a copper
circlet; at other times he dressed himself with the spoils of wild
beasts.

[Illustration: 16.--DRUIDS, GAULS, AND FRANKS.]

We are able to extract from historical recitals an exact idea of the
Frankish woman. She was powerful, and wore a long robe of dark colour,
or bordered with purple. Her arms were left uncovered, and her head was
wreathed with flowering broom. Her looks, sometimes fierce, bespoke
masculine vigour and a character which did not shrink from sanguinary
conflict.

The Celtic and Iberian languages gradually disappeared among the Franks,
being replaced by Latin dialects.

The Gauls and Franks, who were subdued by the Romans, received into
their blood the Latin element, which rapidly increased. Restrained for a
while by the invasions of tribes from the north and east, by Asiatic
hordes of Mongolian race, among which we may name the Huns; the Latin
element again assumed the ascendant at the commencement of the sixteenth
century; men and manners, language and art, bore witness more and more
to Latin influence: the fair hair and white skin of the Frank
alternating with the black locks and brown skin of the Latin people.
Thus it is that the French lost the athletic frame and vigorous limbs of
the Gaul, gaining in their stead the suppleness and agility of southern
nations. Thus also the French language became gradually formed, modified
from Latin dialects.

The existence of a single written language renders it difficult to mark
the characteristic distinctions among the French of the present day. We
may however, distinguish the _French properly so called_, who inhabit
the lower district of the Loire, and whose dialects are most akin to the
written language; the _Walloons_, in the north, whose pronunciation
somewhat approaches that of Teutonic nations; and the _Romanians_, in
the south, where the dialects become confused with those of the
Spaniards and Italians. The French of the interior are those who most
resemble the Celts; those of the south possess the vivacity of the
ancient Iberians or Basques; and those of the north have suffered still
more from Teutonic influence, the effect of which is more especially
appreciable in Normandy.

Owing to the diversity of his origin, and the different races of men
which have been moulded into his type, not omitting also the effect
attributed to the great geological variety of the soil of France, where
samples of all parts of the earth are to be found, the Frenchman,
considered organically, possesses no peculiar physiognomy, which
nevertheless does not prevent the complete identification of his French
nationality.

From a physical point of view, and setting aside certain extremes, it
may be said that the Frenchman is characterised, not so much by special
features, as by the mobility and expression of these features. He is
neither large nor small, yet his body is in all respects well
proportioned; and although he may not be capable of developing great
muscular action, he is fully qualified to contend successfully against
fatigue and long journeys. Agile and nervous, as prompt in attack as in
parrying a blow, full of expedient, supple, and cheerful, skilful both
physically and morally, this is the character we shall easily recognise
in our typical soldier of the next page.

Considered intellectually, the Frenchman is distinguished by a readiness
and activity of conception which is truly unsurpassed. His comprehension
is quick and sound. A halo of feeling surrounds this intellectual
activity. Add to this a very fair amount of reason, solid judgment, and
a veritable passion for order and method, and you have the French
character.

To this combination of various qualities must be referred the respect
which the French nation entertain for science and art, the admirable
order which is found in their museums, and the excellent preservation of
their historical monuments. This also goes to explain their excellent
organization for public instruction, both in art and science, the
forbearing and kindly tone of their philosophy, which above all things
seeks the practical rules which govern human action, their excellent
judicial system and admirable civil code, which has been copied more or
less by all the nations of the New or Old Worlds.

Although the Frenchman respects science, loves the arts, and takes an
interest in the productions of thought, it must be admitted that he is
loth to take any personal part in them. He is glad to make use of the
practical applications of science, and gratefully acknowledges the
service they render him; but he shuns the idea of studying the sciences
as such, and the very name of _savant_ conveys to his mind a tiresome
person. The sciences, which at the end of the last century brought so
much honour to France, now languish. Scientific careers are avoided, and
in the country of Lavoisier, Laplace, and Cuvier, science is visibly on
the decline.

To make science palatable to French readers, the edge of the cup must be
coated with honey, and the preceptor must clearly comprehend what dose
of the sweetened beverage he may administer, so as not to overtax the
powers or present humour of his patient.

We may say the same of the liberal arts. The Frenchman takes delight in
artistic works, in fine monuments and buildings, costly statuary,
magnificent pictures, engravings, and all the productions of high art;
but he does nothing whatever to encourage them. France is at the present
day at the head of the fine arts, and her school of painting is without
a rival; and yet her artists, whether they be painters or sculptors,
must seek elsewhere an outlet for their talents.

In France, the people are content with rendering a formal homage to the
merit of their works of art, and leave to the government the task of
encouraging and propagating them.

This encouragement consists in an annual exhibition of their paintings
and sculptures, entry to this exhibition being obtained only by payment.
When it is over, the various works are returned to their authors, and
medals of different value assist the public to appreciate the excellence
of their productions.

In France, then, the people are, properly speaking, neither studious nor
artistic: they merely profess great esteem for the arts and sciences,
and render them homage without the least wish to know more of them or an
attempt to further their cultivation.

A very excellent quality of the French nation is its sociability. Whilst
the English and Germans shut themselves up in their houses with
misanthropical concern, the Frenchman prefers to share his dwelling, to
inhabit a sort of hive, in which the same roof shelters a large number
of individuals of all ages and conditions. He can thus perform and
exchange many services, and, while living his own form of existence,
enjoy that of others. See how, in French villages, the houses are
grouped together or placed back to back, or, in the large towns, those
houses where fifty lodgers hardly separated from one another by a scanty
partition, have one common domestic, the porter, and you will at one
recognize the instinct of sociability, and external affability, which is
peculiar to the French nation. The readiness which each manifests to
render the little services of life, to aid a wounded person, or assist
in extricating his neighbour from embarrassment, are all signs of the
same praiseworthy spirit of sociability.

[Illustration: 17.--FRENCHMAN.]

The delicacy of feeling and thought, the extraordinary taste for order
and method, and the love of art, which characterize the French nation,
are all to be encountered in their various industrial products. A
feeling for art is essentially characteristic of French industry, and
gives it that well-known good taste, distinction, and elegance, which
are so justly appreciated.

Although he is neither student nor artist, the Frenchman knows therefore
perfectly how to call science and art to his aid, demand their
co-operation and inspiration, and transfer them with advantage into
practice. Thanks to his instinct for order and method, he succeeds in
drawing material profit from studious or sentimental subjects.

Having considered the bright side of the French nation, we will now see
where they are deficient.

It is a recognized fact, that, among the French, one-third of the men
and more than half the women can neither read nor write: this is
equivalent to saying, that of the thirty-eight millions of individuals
composing the population of France, fifteen millions can neither read
nor write.

The French peasant does not read, and for a very good reason. On Sunday
he has read to him extracts from the Almanack of Pierre Larrivay, of
Matthieu Laensberg, or some other prophet of the same cloth, who
foretells what is about to happen on each day of the year; and this is
as much as he wants. La Bruyère drew of the French peasant in the time
of Louis XIV. a forcible and sinister picture, which in many cases is
true even at the present day: in the course of two centuries, the
subject has altered but little.[5]

  [5] “We meet with certain wild animals, male and female, scattered
      over the country, black, livid, and dried up by the sun, attached
      to the soil which they turn and rummage about with an insuperable
      obstinacy; they seem to utter articulate sounds, and when they get
      upon their legs, show a human face. And in fact, these, it seems,
      are men.”

The French artisan reads very little. Works of popular science, which
for some years past have happily been edited in France, are not read, as
is imagined, by the working classes: those who seek works of this class
are persons who have already received a certain amount of instruction,
which they desire to increase by extending it to other branches of
knowledge; these, for the greater part, include school-children, and
persons, belonging to the different liberal professions, or engaged in
commerce.

The bourgeois, who has some spare time, devotes a portion of it to
reading, but he does not read books. In France, books are objects of
luxury, used only by persons of refinement. The crowd, when they see a
man go by with a book under his arm, regard him with respectful
curiosity. Enter the houses, even those of the most wealthy, and you
will meet with everything which is necessary for the comforts of life,
every article of furniture which may be called for, but you will seldom
or never find a library. Whilst in Germany, England, and Russia, it is
thought indispensable, in France a library is almost unknown.

The French bourgeois reads only the papers. Unfortunately, French
journals have always been devoted to politics. Literature and art,
science and philosophy, nay, even commercial and current affairs, that
is, all which go to make up the life and interests of a nation, are
excluded with most jealous care from the greater part of the French
journals, to make way for political subjects. Thus it is that politics,
the most superfluous and barren of subjects, have become among the
French the great and only object of consideration.

The press which indulges in _light_ literature is much worse. Its
articles are founded on old compilations. The bons-mots of the Marquis
of Bièvre are borrowed from _Bièvriana_, and laid at the door of M. de
Tillancourt; then Mlle. X. des Variétés is made the heroine of an
anecdote borrowed from the _Encyclopediana_, and the trick is complete.
The paper is sold at a sou, and is not worth a liard.

The papers are the chief means by which the French bourgeois stuff their
heads with emptiness.

The weakness of instruction in France becomes still more apparent by
comparison with that of other nations. Traverse all Switzerland, and in
every house you will find a small library. In Prussia it is a most rare
matter to find a person who cannot read; in that country instruction is
obligatory. In Austria every one can read. In Norway and Denmark, the
lowest of the peasantry can read and write their language with accuracy;
while in the extreme north, in Iceland, that country given up to the
rigours of eternal cold, which is, as it were, a dead spot in nature,
prints are numerous. We need not say that the English and Americans are
far in advance of the French as regards instruction. Nay, more, all the
Japanese can read and write, as also all the inhabitants of China
proper.

Let us hope that this sad condition of things will change, when, in
France, gratuitous and obligatory instruction has become the law.

Uninstructed and unambitious of learning, timid artisan and plodding
husbandman though he be, the Frenchman has yet one ruling virtue. He is
a soldier; he possesses all the qualities necessary for war--bravery,
intelligence, quickness of conception, the sentiment of discipline, and
even patience when it is called for. If in 1870 a combination of
deplorable fatalities forced the French to yield to the dictates of a
people, who even yet wonder at their victory, the reputation of the
French soldier for bravery and intelligence has in no way suffered by
this unforeseen check. The day for revenge upon the barbarians of the
north will come sooner or later.

Another peculiarity of the French nation is their spirit of criticism
and satire. If, in the days of Beaumarchais, everything in France closed
with a song, nothing at the present day is complete without a joke.

There is nothing which the French spirit of satire has not turned to
ridicule. In the art of the pencil it has created _la charge_, namely,
the caricature of what is beautiful, and the hideous exaggeration of
every physical imperfection; on the stage it has introduced _la
cascade_, a public parody bringing before the audience in an absurd
manner, history, literature, and men of distinction; in the dance, it
has given birth to the obscene and nameless thing which is composed of
the contortions of fools, and which with strangers passes as a national
dance.

The French woman is perfectly gifted in what concerns intelligence; she
possesses a ready conception, a lively imagination, and a cheerful
disposition. Unfortunately, the burthen of ignorance presses sorely
upon her. It is a rare thing for a woman of the people to read, as only
those of the higher classes have leisure, during their girlhood, to
cultivate their minds. And yet even they must not give themselves up too
much to study, nor aspire to honour or distinction. The epithet _bas
bleu_ (blue stocking) would soon bring them back to the common crowd--an
ignorant and frivolous feminine mass. Molière’s lines in _Les Femmes
Savantes_, which for two centuries have operated so sadly in
disseminating ignorance throughout one half of French society, would be
with one voice applied to them.

With this ill-advised tirade, persons who think themselves perfectly
right, stifle the early inclinations of young girls and women, which
would induce them to open their minds to notions of literature, science,
and art.

A question was once put forward whether we should permit our young women
to share the education which the University affords to young men. We are
speaking of the courses which were to have been held by the college of
professors, according to the plans proposed by M. Duruy. But this
attempt at the intellectual emancipation of young girls was very soon
suppressed. Being barely tolerated at Paris, these courses were soon
interdicted in the departmental towns, and woman soon returned to the
knee of the church, or, in other words, was brought back to ignorance
and superstition.

This want of instruction in the French woman is the more to be
regretted, since, to an excellent intellectual disposition, she adds the
irresistible gifts of grace and physical charms. There is in her face a
seduction which cannot be equalled, although we can assign her
physiognomy to no determinate type. Her features, frequently irregular,
seem to be borrowed from different races; they do not possess that unity
which springs from calm and majesty, but are in the highest degree
expressive, and marvellously contrived for conveying every shade of
feeling. In them we see a smile, though it be shaded by tears; a caress,
though they threaten us; and an appeal when yet they command. Amid the
irregularity of this physiognomy the soul displays its workings.

As a rule, the French woman is short of stature, but in every proportion
of her form combines grace and delicacy. Her extremities and joints are
fine and elegant, of perfect model and distinct form, without a
suspicion of coarseness. With her, moreover, art is brought wonderfully
to assist nature.

There is no place in the world where the secret of dress is so well
understood as in France, or where means are so admirably applied to the
rectification of natural defects of form or colour. Add to this a
continual desire to charm and please, an anxious care to attract and
attach the hearts of others through simplicity or coquetry, good will or
malice, the wish to radiate everywhere pleasure and life, the noble
craving to awake grand or touching thoughts, and you will understand the
universal and charming rule which woman has always held in France, and a
great portion of the influence which she perforce retains over men and
things.

All these qualities, which distinguish the women of the higher classes
in France, are met with also among those of the working classes. Their
industrious hands excel in needlework. They make their own clothing, and
that of their children; look to the household linen, make their own
bonnets, and most effectually cause elegance and taste to thrive in the
heart of poverty. The correctness of their judgment, their tact and
delicacy, and their rare penetration, are of valuable assistance in
commercial matters, where their just appreciation affords most useful
aid to their husbands and children. In retail trade especially, do these
qualities shine forth--order, sagacity, and patience. Their politeness
and presence of mind charm the purchaser, who always finds what he
wants, and is always in good humour with himself and the articles he
obtains.

The French women excel in household duties and in bringing up their
children. These graceful and sweet young girls become mothers whose
patience is inexhaustible, and make of their home the most perfect
resting-place, and the best refuge from the sufferings and hardships of
life.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Hispanians._--Under this name we include the Spaniards and Portuguese.

The Hispanians result from the mixture of the Latins, with the Celts,
whom they succeeded in Spain, and with the Teutons, who drove out the
Romans.

Washed on three sides by the sea, divided from France on the north by
the Pyrenees, and from Africa on the south by a narrow stretch of sea,
Spain is crossed by ranges of mountains, which, by their various
intersections, form valleys permitting only of difficult communication
with each other. The mountains of Spain are one of the principal causes
of the richness of this country. They contain a variety of precious
metals, and the streamlets which flow from their summits fertilize the
valleys and develop into large rivers.

[Illustration: 18.--CATTLE-DEALER OF CORDOVA.]

The climate of Spain indicates the vicinity of Africa. The air during
winter, is cold, dry, and sharp: during the summer it is scorching. The
leaves of the trees are stiff and shining, the branches knotty and
contorted, the bark dry and rugged. The fruits mingle with their perfume
a sharp and acid flavour: the animals are lean and wild.

Nature therefore in Spain is somewhat violent and rude, and this
characteristic is peculiar to the people of the country.

The Spaniard, like the African, is in general of moderate height. His
skin is brown, and his limbs are muscular, compact, and supple. In a
moral sense, passion with him obtains the mastery; indeed it is quite
impossible for him to master or dissemble his feelings. He is not afraid
to allow their workings to become evident, but, in their display, if
they meet with curiosity or admiration, he passes all bounds and becomes
a perfect spectacle. A Spaniard always allows his feelings to be plainly
perceptible.

This habitual weakness for scenic display which in a people possessing
evil instincts would be excessively inconvenient, produces in the
Spaniard the best results, since at heart he is full of generosity and
nobleness. It endows him with pride, from which spring exalted feelings
and good actions; emulation, which prompts him to outdo himself; a moral
tone, generosity, dignity, and discretion. Nowhere are better understood
than in Spain the regard due to age or sex, and the respect called for
by rank or position.

The love of distinction, place, and grade is an inevitable consequence
of this state of feeling.

The pride of the Spaniard renders him very tenacious as regards his
honour. He brooks not insult, and seeks to requite it with bloodshed.
His hand flies to the sword which is to avenge his honour, or the knife
which is to settle his disputes (fig. 19).

In Spain arms are carried by all, and their habitual contact--too much
neglected in other countries--imparts to each the desire for glory or
the hope of playing a leading part in the world.

Such being his disposition, the Spaniard cannot fail to make an
excellent soldier. Besides having taste and aptitude for the use of
arms, he is vigorous, agile, and patient; and therefore worthy to be
named honorably in comparison with the French soldier. It is, however,
difficult to preserve discipline among these fiery and independent men.
They are not always easy to command in time of regular warfare, and when
times become troublesome, they become rapidly converted into guerillas,
a term which is almost synonymous with brigand.

[Illustration: 19.--NATIVES OF TOLEDO.]

The use of arms being familiar to every Spaniard, there is a great
temptation to use them, and passion frequently creates an opportunity.
Therefore it is that Spain is essentially a land of civil war.

[Illustration: 20.--SPANISH PEASANT.]

On the most simple question arising, the peasant seizes his gun and
rushes to an ambuscade, or joins a band of insurgents.

[Illustration: 21.--A MADRID WINE-SHOP.]

Political insurrections are an amusement to this impressionable and
hasty people. In the twinkling of an eye bands of armed men overrun the
country. The great want of discipline among the soldiers and
non-commissioned officers, conduces to desertion to these irregular
bodies, and the result is that unhappy Spain is continually in a state
of local insurrection, the suppression of which invariably leads to
bloodshed without producing any permanent settlement.

The passion which a Spaniard evinces in all he does, is not wanting in
his religion. His piety is exalted, and the violence to which this piety
frequently leads him, has had mournful results. It is this religious
fury which accounts for the cruelty of the Spaniards to the Saracens and
Jews; and which, later on, lit the faggots of the Inquisition, and
produced the most savage intolerance. Spain has burnt, in the name of a
God of peace and love, thousands of innocent creatures; and for the
honour and good of the Catholic faith, has proscribed, strangled, and
tortured.

This passionate exaggeration of Catholicism has proved the ruin of Spain
in modern times. It is marvellous to see how this nation, so powerful in
the sixteenth century, and which, under Charles V., dictated laws to all
Europe, has fallen; until at the present day, it ranks among the states
of the lowest class in this part of the world. But it will be seen that
the multiplication of convents, both for men and women, has had the
effect of rapidly depopulating the country; that the proscription of the
Moors, the Jews, and lastly, of the Protestants, has proved destructive
of productive industry; that the courts of the Inquisition, and the
auto-da-fé, have led to a feeling of sadness and mistrust among the
people; that the abuse of religion and its symbols, has produced a
bigotry which can be likened only to idolatry; and that the fear of
offending an intolerant and self-asserting religion, has arrested all
moral progress, and effectually set aside all development of science,
which of necessity presupposes free investigation.

This is how progress, activity, and thought, have met with their end,
and how material prosperity has become extinguished in that portion of
Europe, most marvellously endowed with natural gifts. Thus it is that
commerce has become a bye-word in a land, whose geographical position is
unrivalled, and which possessed in the New World the most flourishing
and powerful colonies; and that literature and science, the two great
words which indicate liberty and progress, have fallen away in the home
of Michael Cervantes.

How is Spain to recover her former splendour? What remedies must be
applied to these crying evils? We reply, religious toleration, and
political liberty.

The type of the Spanish woman is so well known, that we need hardly
recall it. She is generally brunette, although the blond type occurs
much more frequently than is usually supposed. The Spanish woman is
almost always small of stature. Who has not observed her large eyes,
veiled by thick lashes, her delicate nose, and well-formed nostrils. Her
form is always undulating and graceful; her limbs are round and
beautifully moulded, and her extremities of incomparable delicacy. She
is a charming mixture of vigour, languor, and grace.

Love is the great object of the Spanish woman. She loves with passion
but with constancy, and the jealousy she feels is but the legitimate
compensation for the attachment she bestows.

The Spanish woman, faithful as a wife, is an excellent mother. Few women
can equal her as a nurse, or in the attention and patience which are
called for by the care of children. The mother lavishes upon her young
family her whole life, and if she fails to instruct them, it is, alas!
that she lacks the power to do so; for she is no better educated than
the French woman, and, as regards ignorance, is a meet companion for her
in every respect.

We have said that, in France, women exercise a very manifest influence
upon the course of events. The Spanish woman is not, however, in
possession of this useful influence. She commands the attention of those
around her only during the short period of her beauty. When, arrived at
maturity, her judgment formed by experience, and her views enlarged by
observation or practice, she might soothe the passion of her friends,
assist them with her counsel, or unite them around her hearth, the
Spanish woman retires into obscurity, and the knowledge she has gained
is lost to society.

Having thus given a general view of Spanish manners, we will say
something with respect to the most characteristic physiognomies of this
country.

[Illustration: 22.--SPANISH LADY AND DUENNA.]

The Moorish type is met with in a marked degree in the province of
Valencia. The peasants have swarthy complexions. Their head-dress
consists of a handkerchief in bright colours, rolled around the head and
rising to a point: strongly reminding the observer of the turban worn by
Eastern nations. They sometimes wear, in addition to this, a hat formed
of felt and black velvet, with the edges turned up. On fête-days they
don a waistcoat of green or blue velvet, with numerous buttons formed of
silver or plated copper. In lieu of trowsers, they wear full drawers of
white cloth, which reach as far as the knees, and are kept up by a broad
belt of silk or brightly striped wool. The hose consist of gaiters, kept
in place by means of a broad blue riband wound round the leg. A long
piece of woollen material, striped with bright colours, is thrown over
the shoulders or wound round the body: this is the cloak.

[Illustration: 23.--THE FANDANGO.]

The peasants are to be seen to best advantage in the market-place,
whither they bring their oranges, grapes, and dates.

The women of Valencia are sometimes of remarkable beauty. Their black
hair is rolled into bunches above the temples, and carried to the back
of the head, where it forms an enormous chignon, through which passes a
long needle of silver-gilt.

In some of the preceding cuts we have given the costumes of the
inhabitants of Valencia, Xeres, Cordova, Toledo, and Madrid, as also
types of Spanish physiognomy.

In Spain, dancing is a national feature. The dance scarcely varies in
different provinces, but generally reflects the character of the people,
who accompany it with songs and national melodies. They can hardly have
enough of singing and dancing the Fandango (fig. 23), and the Bolero
(fig. 24).

Portugal abuts on Spain, and its people merit some portion of our
consideration.

The Portuguese women are frequently pretty, and sometimes actually
beautiful. They have abundant hair, their eyes are earnest, soft, and
penetrating, and their teeth excellent. Their feet are rather large, but
their hands are very delicate. Their forms are well set, and strongly,
though somewhat sturdily built; their joints are small, their complexion
sallow, their movements are confident. Their well shaped heads are well
placed, and the modest ease with which they wear the short jupon and
broad felt hat, imparts to these articles of dress a certain elegance.

The inhabitants of Ponte de Lima are of small stature, and possess fine
vigorous forms. The country people are worthy of special notice, they
make brave and steady soldiers, who are easily amenable to discipline,
and robust and intelligent workmen.

[Illustration: 24.--THE BOLERO.]

There is nothing very noteworthy about the dress of the peasantry,
except as regards that of the women. The petticoat is plaited, short,
and sometimes rolled up, so as to expose to view their legs, which are
usually bare. The bodice, which is furnished with two or three silver
buttons, displays the form. Being separated from the petticoat, it
permits the chemise to puff out around the body, while the sleeves of
that garment are wide and usually worn turned up. The head-dress
consists of a large black felt hat, frequently adorned with bows of
ribbon, and almost always furnished with a white kerchief, the folds of
which fall down over the neck and shoulders. Long earrings, and even
necklaces and chains of gold, complete the picturesque costume in which
yellow, red, and bright green, predominate.

[Illustration: 25.--FISH-VENDORS AT OPORTO.]

The streets of Oporto are much enlivened by the appearance of the
peasants in their various brilliant dresses, who there vend oranges,
vegetables, cheese, or flowers.

Fig. 25 represents the costume of fishmongers at Oporto.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Italians._ No part of Europe can be compared with Italy, for softness
of climate, clearness of the sky, fertility of the soil, and pureness of
the atmosphere. The soil, which is very undulating, is watered by
numerous streams, and permits largely of cultivation; while the
mountains conceal precious metals, and beautiful marbles. No country is
better protected by nature.

On the north arises a broad barrier of stupendous mountains, while the
remaining sides are protected by the sea. Along the coast are vast
ports, with good harbours; and lastly, this portion of Europe alone has
the advantage of offering ready access to both Asia and Africa.

The fertility of the soil, the mild temperature, and the large variety
of natural productions which furnish good food, all indicate that Italy
should possess a fine, vigorous, and intelligent population. And,
indeed, the Italians possess these qualities.

We shall first examine rather more closely, the origin of this people,
and the differences they present in various parts of the peninsula.

The Latin family which gave its name to the human group with which we
are now concerned, had Italy for its home. In Italy, therefore, we
should expect to meet with it. But we should be deceived were we to
expect to find the pure Latin type among the modern Italians. The
barbarian invasions in the north, and the contact with Greeks and
Africans in the south, have wrought much alteration in the primitive
type of the inhabitants of Italy. Except in Rome, and the Roman
Campagna, the true type of the primitive Latin population is hardly to
be found. The Grecian type exists in the south, and upon the Eastern
slope of the Apennines, while in the north, the great majority of faces
are Gallic. In Tuscany and the neighbouring regions are found the
descendants of the ancient Etruscans.

What most interests us is the primitive Latin population. This is met
with, as we have said, in and around Rome, and in order to find it we
must go there.

The features of the early Latin people can be imagined without
difficulty, by reference to busts of the first Roman emperors. We may
thence arrive at the following characteristic features, as probably
those of the ancient Italian races. The head is large, the forehead of
no great height, the vertex (summit of the cranium) flattened, the
temporal region protruding, and the face proportionally short. The
nose, which is divided from the forehead by a marked depression, is
aquiline; the lower jaw is broad, and the chin prominent.

[Illustration: 26.--ROMAN PEASANT GIRL.]

The modern population of Rome, without absolutely reproducing these
features, still retain their beautifully pure characteristic lines.

[Illustration: 27.--ROMAN PEASANTS.]

In fig. 27, which represents a group of peasant men and women of Rome,
we easily recognize these celebrated types of countenance, so familiar
to every artist. The distinguishing marks will be easily seen in the
Roman peasants, who, quitting their native country, seek their
livelihood in France as models.

[Illustration: 28.--YOUNG GIRL OF THE TRANSTEVERA.]

As one of these types taken from nature, we would call the reader’s
attention to fig. 28, which represents a young Roman girl from the
quarter on the banks of the Tiber called Transtevera, and also to fig.
29, which is a faithful portrait of peasants from around Rome.

It would be a fruitless task, were we, in studying the modern Romans, to
seek among them traces, more or less eradicated, of the old Roman blood.

In a population which has been so degraded, oppressed, and polluted as
this, by ages of slavery and obscurity, we should find nought but
disturbance and chaos. We can make no reference to family life in this
land of convents and celibacy, nor speak of intellectual faculties in a
country where we see a jealous tyranny narrowing the minds of the
inhabitants, and an authority that is seated in the blackest darkness,
moulding body and mind in ignorance of morality and education. We should
need the greatest power of penetration to find, in the effeminate and
degenerate population of Modern Rome, the genius of the ancient
conquerors of the world.

There are, however, reasons for hoping, that Rome, being now released
from Papal authority, and having, since the year 1871, become the
Capital of Italy and the residence of King Victor-Emmanuel, will
gradually cease to feel the preponderance of the sacerdotal element.

Young Romans playing the favorite Italian game, _la mora_, with its
usual accompaniment of gesticulations and shouts, is a very common
street scene. The two persons playing this game raise their closed fists
in the air, and then, in letting them fall, open as many fingers as they
may think proper. At the same time they call out some number. The winner
is he, who, by chance, calls out the number represented by the sum of
all the fingers exhibited by the two players. If, for example, I call
out _five_, and at the same time open two fingers, whilst my adversary
displays three, which added to mine make _five_, the number called by
me, I am winner. The arms of the two players are raised and lowered at
the same time, and the numbers are called simultaneously, with great
rapidity and regularity, producing a very singular result and one
incomprehensible to a stranger.

_La mora_ is played all over Italy.

But it is not alone in the city of Rome that the characteristic features
of the ancient Latin race are to be found; the traveller passing through
the suburbs of the capital of the Christian World, Frascati or Tivoli,
will still encounter vestiges of the old Latins hidden beneath the sad
garments of misery. (Fig. 29.)

[Illustration: 29.--STREET AT TIVOLI.]

It may be said that Rome at the present day is a vast convent. In it the
ecclesiastical population holds an important position and plays an
important part. This, it is, which imparts to the Eternal City its austerity, not to say,
its public sadness and moral languor. We shall therefore close our
series of picturesque views of the inhabitants of Modern Rome, by
glancing at the costumes of the principal dignitaries of the
ecclesiastical order, their representation in fig. 30 being followed by
the reproduction of a well-known picture, representing the _Exaltation
of Pio IX._ (fig. 31).

[Illustration: 30.--A CARDINAL ENTERING THE VATICAN.]

The Latin type, which physically if not morally is met with in a state
of purity at Rome, and in the Roman Campagna, has, on the other hand,
undergone great modification in the provinces of the North, as well as
in those of Southern Italy. Let us first consider the Northern
provinces.

Northern Italy, endowed to perfection with natural advantages, washed by
two seas, watered by the tributaries of a large river, possessing land
of extraordinary fertility, nourishes a race in which the Latin blood
has mingled with that of the German and Gaul. In Tuscany and the
neighbourhood are, as we have said, the descendants of the old
Etruscans, and further north are the offspring of Germanic and Gallic
races.

The designs which adorn the Etruscan sarcophagi, originally brought, it
is said, from Northern Greece, have preserved the physical form and
appearance of these people. They are bulky, and of heavy make.

The men wear no beard, and are clothed with a tunic which in some cases
is thrown over the back of the head. Some hold in the left hand a small
goblet, and in the right, a bowl. They repose in an easy posture,
resting the body on the left side, as do also the women. The women wear
a tunic, sometimes fastened below the breast by a broad girdle, which is
furnished with a circular clasp, and a peplum which in many cases covers
the back of the head. They hold in one hand an apple, or some fruit of
the same appearance, and in the other a fan. This is the portrait of the
Etruscan which has been handed down to us.

Tuscany, of all Italy, is that portion which most strongly represents
the mildness, the order, and the industrious activity of modern Italy.
The natural richness of the soil is there enhanced by a capable system
of cultivation. The arts peacefully flourish in this land of great
painters, sculptors, and architects. The habits of the people, both of
the upper and lower classes, are gentle and peaceful. There is here a
state of general prosperity added to a fair amount of education. The
poor man here, does not, as in other countries, foster a complaining and
hostile feeling against the rich; all entertain a consciousness of their
own dignity; all are affable and polite. The general good feeling is
manifested in word and deed, and the religious tone is moderate and
tolerant. Women are loved and respected, and this respect corresponds in
religion with the worship of the Virgin.

[Illustration: 31.--EXALTATION OF POPE PIUS IX.]

At Florence and in Tuscany we meet that Italian urbanity, which, by the
French, who are unable to understand it, is improperly termed
obsequiousness. This attribute of the Italian is very far from servile;
it comes from the heart. A universal kindly feeling welcomes the
stranger, who experiences much pleasure among this conciliatory and
friendly people, and with difficulty tears himself away from this happy
country, where all seem bathed in an atmosphere of art, sentiment, and
goodness.

Southern Italy will show us a very different picture from that we have
just described. The proximity to Africa has here much altered the
physical type of the inhabitants, while the yoke of a long despotism has
much lowered the social condition, through the misery and ignorance it
has produced. The mixture of African blood has changed the organic type
of the Southern Italian to such an extent, as to render him entirely
distinct from his northern compatriots; the exciting influence, which
the mate has over the senses, imparting to his whole conduct a peculiar
exuberance. Hence there is much frivolity and little consistency in his
character.

In the town and neighbourhood of Naples we meet a combination of the
features we have just considered. Let us betake ourselves for a moment
thither, and take a rapid view of the strange population, which from
early dawn is to be met in the streets, singing, begging, or going about
their day’s work.

Fig. 32 shows us a shop of dealers in macaroni in the market-place
(_mercatello_), and fig. 33 the indispensable water-carrier.

The most favourable time for examining the great variety of types which
unite in the population of Southern Italy, is on the occasion of the
public festivals which are so numerous at Naples. This curious mixture
may be investigated in the crowds of people who frequent the festival of
Piedigrotta, where are to be found examples of every Greek and Latin
race.

[Illustration: 32.--A MACARONI SHOP AT NAPLES.]

Here are to be seen the Procidan women (isle of Procida, near Naples),
who still retain the ancient simar, the kerchief which falls loosely
around the head, and the classic profiles with straight noses (fig. 34).
In Southern Italy, these daughters of ancient Greece still wear the
golden diadem and silver girdle of Homer’s matrons. The Capuan woman
throws around her head a veil similar to that of the sibyls and vestals.
The Abruzzan women wear their hair in knots in the manner shown in Greek
statues. The men of these parts, moreover, clothe themselves in
sheepskins during the winter, and wear sandals, fastened with leathern
thongs. The Etruscans, the Greeks, the Romans, and even the Normans,
have left their traces in this country, whose population forms such a
curious mixture.

[Illustration: 33.--NEAPOLITAN ICED-WATER SELLER.]

[Illustration: 34.--NEAPOLITAN PEASANT WOMAN.]

Not less remarkable are, in this beautiful country, the peasantry of the
mountains and the sea-coast. The most varying forms and the richest
colours are to be met with, from the coarse cloth drawers and shirt of
the fisherman, to the brilliant costume of certain of the Abruzzi, from
the Phrygian cap of the Neapolitans to the peaked hat of the
Calabrians--a slender, tall, and sunburnt people.

In the midst of this motley assemblage of every variety of dress and
colour, the graceful _acquajolo_ (fig. 36), that is, the stall of the
dealer in oranges and iced water, forms a most picturesque object.

[Illustration: 35.--ITINERANT TRADER OF NAPLES.]

       *       *       *       *       *

_Walachians._--From the consideration of the types of mankind in Italy,
we naturally pass to those of their neighbours, the inhabitants of
Walachia and Moldavia.

Under the title, _Walachians_ or _Moldo-Walachians_, are comprehended
the people of Walachia, Moldavia, and some of the neighbouring
provinces.

The Walachians proceed from the fusion of the Roman colonies,
established by Trajan, and of some Greek settlements, with the ancient
Slavonic inhabitants of these countries. The language of this people
corresponds with their triple origin, for it possesses the
characteristics of Latin, Greek, and Slavonic.

[Illustration: 36.--AN ACQUAJOLO, AT NAPLES.]

Walachia and Moldavia form the ancient _Dacia_. The Walachians,
originally subject to the kingdom of Bulgaria and to that of Hungary,
formed, in 1290, an independent state, the first prince of which was
called _Rodolph the Black_. About 1350 one of their colonies occupied
Moldavia under the leadership of a prince named Dragosch. But the
Walachian state was never very firmly constituted, and in 1525 the
battle of Mohacz reduced it finally under Turkish rule. The Turks did
not disturb the internal government of the Walachians, but obliged their
prince (_hospodar_) to pay an annual tribute to the Porte, and to
maintain Turkish garrisons in all their strongholds. But Walachia, being
situated between the Ottoman empire on one side, and Hungary, Poland,
and Russia, on the other, became the scene of most of the struggles
between its formidable neighbours. It was trampled over by both
Christian and Mussulman, and this terrible situation resulted in ruin
and exile to its unfortunate inhabitants. The hospodars who occupied the
thrones of Walachia and Moldavia were appointed by the court of
Constantinople, who sold this dignity to the highest bidder. The
hospodars were then only a species of pacha; their court was formed
after the pattern of those of the Byzantine emperors, but they did not
possess the military power of the Turkish pachas.

This situation has changed since 1849, when a treaty was concluded
between the Porte and Russia. By the terms of this treaty, the dignity
of hospodar was maintained during the lifetime of its possessor. New
events have happened, and, since the year 1860, the political protection
of the Danubian Principalities is shared between Russia, the Porte,
Prussia, and Austria. The Prince of Hohenzollern, who now occupies the
throne of Moldo-Walachia, is of Prussian birth.

The two principalities of Moldavia and Walachia enjoy their nationality
and independence on condition of paying a yearly tribute to the Porte.

None of their forts are now to receive a Turkish garrison.

The prince is assisted by a council formed of the leading boyards, and
this council forms a high court of appeal for judicial affairs. In
modern times, Couza was the best known prince of Walachia, although
political events or popular discontent led to his early fall.

The public safety is attended to by a sort of indigenous police,
commanded by the head _spathar_.

[Illustration: 37.--WALACHIAN.]

The inhabitants of Walachia are remarkable for patience and resignation;
without these qualities, it would have fared hard with them during the
calamities which have at all times befallen their country. They are men
of a mild, religious, and sober temperament. But, since they are unable
to enjoy the result of their labour, they do as little work as possible.
The milk of their kine, pork, a little maize, and beer of an inferior
quality, with a woollen dress, is all they require. On fête days,
however, the peasants appear in brilliant costumes, which we represent
here (figs. 37, 38, 39).

“The Walachians,” says M. Vaillant, “are generally of considerable
height, well-made, and robust; they have oblong faces, black hair, thick
and well-arched eyebrows, bright eyes, small lips, and white teeth. They
are merry, hospitable, sober, active, brave, and fitted to make good
soldiers. They profess Christianity according to the rites of the Greek
church. This people, which has so long inhabited countries devastated by
warfare, shows at the present time a strong disposition to develop
itself.”

Towns are rare in Walachia, the country being still far in arrear of the
surrounding civilization, in consequence of its political subordination
to Turkey, and its bad internal organization. The country of the Danube,
indeed, has practically but one large town, that is, Bucharest. There
are thus, in this land, no centres from whence light could emanate; it
is in an incomplete state of civilization, which can be improved only by
an internal revolution, or by the collision which, sooner or later, must
come, of its powerful adjacent empires.

[Illustration: 38.--LADY OF BUCHAREST.]

[Illustration: 39.--WALACHIAN WOMAN.]

“However,” says Malte-Brun, “nature seems to await human industry with
open arms; there are few regions upon which she has lavished her gifts
as she has here. The finest river in Europe bathes the southern frontier
of these provinces, and opens a way into fertile Hungary, and the whole
Austrian empire, offering, moreover, a communication between Europe and
Asia, by the Black Sea; but this is all in vain, for hardly a single
vessel glides over its waves. Its rocks, its shoals, the Turkish
garrisons on its banks, and above all, the plague, inspire fear. Other
fine rivers flow from the summit of the Carpathian mountains, and fall
into the Danube; but they serve only to supply fish during Lent, and,
being left to themselves, menace the surrounding country, which, if
better regulated, they would fertilize. The Aluta, Jalovitza, and
Ardschis, are navigated only by flat-bottomed boats. Immense marshes
encumber the low parts of Walachia, and their exhalations produce a
continuance of bilious fevers. The most superb forests, in which
splendid oaks grow side by side with beeches, pines, and firs, cover not
only the mountains, but many of the large islands in the Danube. These,
instead of being used in the construction of fleets, merely furnish the
wood used in paving the streets or roads; for idleness and ignorance
find no means of raising the blocks of granite and marble, of which the
Carpathians offer such abundance. The summit of Mount Boutchez attains a
height of more than six thousand feet, and all the mineral wealth of
Transylvania seems to take its origin in Upper Walachia. Copper mines
have been opened at Baya di Roma, and iron mines in the district of
Gersy, one especially in the neighbourhood of Zigarescht, where a bed
of rocks presents the phenomenon of an almost continual igneous
fermentation.

[Illustration: 40.--NOBLE BOSNIAK MUSSULMAN.]

“The Aluta and other rivers bring down nuggets of gold, which are
collected by the Bohemians, or Ziguans, and which indicate the presence
of mines as rich as those of Transylvania; but no one thinks of looking
for them. Only the salt quarries are worked, among which that of _Okna
Teleago_ furnishes 150,000 cwt. per annum. The climate, notwithstanding
two months of hard winter and two months of excessive heat, is more
favourable to health and agriculture than that of any of the adjacent
countries. The pastures, filled with aromatic plants, supply nourishment
even to the herds of neighbouring provinces, and could support even more
than these. The wool of their sheep has already attained considerable
value. It is estimated that Walachia contains two and a half millions of
sheep, which are of three-fold variety--the _zigay_, with short and fine
wool; the _zaskam_, with long coarse wool; the _tatare_, which forms a
mean between the two foregoing varieties. Horses and oxen are exported.
Fields of maize, wheat, and barley; forests of apple, plum, and cherry
trees; melons and cabbages, excellent, although enormous, bear witness
to the productive nature of the soil. Many of its wines sparkle with a
generous fire, and with care might be brought to equal the well-known
Hungarian vintages. A thousand other natural advantages are found there,
but they are of little avail to a people without energy or
enlightenment.”


SLAVONIAN FAMILY.

This family comprehends the _Russians_, _Finns_, _Bulgarians_,
_Servians_, and _Bosniaks_, that is to say, the inhabitants of Slavonia;
and the _Magyars_, or _Hungarians_, the _Croats_, the _Tchecks_, the
_Poles_, and the _Lithuanians_, that is, the people who inhabit the
countries intervening between the Baltic and Black Seas.

Before describing these people individually, we shall give in a general
manner the characteristics of the family to which they all belong.

The Slavonian family includes the European peoples who have preserved in
the greatest perfection the type of the primitive Aryan race. They are
tall, vigorous, and well made, and while in this respect they recall the
Caucasian type, they yet possess the most distinct marks of the
Mongolian type. The cheek bones are high, the nose is depressed at the
root, and turned up towards the extremity, which is almost invariably
thick. The oval form of the cranium is very marked; the chest is of
considerable capacity, and the shoulders and arms are large, but the
lower extremities are in proportion much smaller.

Mr. William Edwards has thus described the organic type of the
Slavonians:--

“The form of the head, viewed from the front, represents pretty nearly a
square, since the height is about equal to the breadth, while the top is
perceptibly flattened, and the direction of the jaw is horizontal. The
nose is less long than the space between its basis and the chin: from
the nostrils to the root, it is almost straight, that is, there is no
decided curve; but if such curve were appreciable, it would be slightly
concave, so as to give the tip a tendency to rise; the lower portion is
rather broad, and the extremity rounded. The eyes, which are slightly
hollow, are exactly in the same line, and if they present any marked
characteristic, it is that they are rather small in proportion to the
head. The eyebrows, which are scanty, are nearly contiguous at the inner
angle, whence they are directed obliquely outwards. The mouth, which is
small with thin lips, is much nearer the nose than the chin. A singular
characteristic which must be taken in connection with the above, and
which is very general, consists in the absence of beard except upon the
upper lip.”

It has been said that the Slavonians of the present day are the old
Scythians mixed with the Sarmatians, but their origin is not so simple
as this. These people originally bore the name of _Venedians_ or
_Servians_. They occupied, at the commencement of the Christian era, the
banks of the Danube and Hungary proper, whence they extended as far as
the Dnieper and the Baltic. Their name of _Servians_ is derived from a
people mentioned by Ptolemy, under the name of Σερϐοι, who dwelt in the
regions around the Baltic (_Palus-Meotis_), and belonged to the
Sarmatian nation. The Sarmatians advanced by degrees from the banks of
the lower Don, which was their country, to the centre of Poland, where
they mixed with the Venedians. The Sarmatians were allied to the
Scythians of Europe, who were an Indo-European nation, considered by
Diodorus of Sicily, and Pliny, to have come originally from Media.

[Illustration: 41.--RUSSIAN SENTINEL, RIGA.]

It will be seen that the rather complicated pedigree of the Slavonians,
is connected with gradual displacements of Asiatic populations. This
then explains the fact that they possess the Caucasian type in a
remarkable degree of purity, but altered by the admixture of Mongolian
blood.

A certain love of separatism, and a tendency to rebel under the yoke of
authority, have been the misfortune of these people. At an early period
they separated into rival nationalities, possessing but little capacity
for self-government. Anarchy was their political condition, and to this
must be attributed the misfortunes of Poland and Hungary, nations which,
at the present day, are almost effaced from the Map of Europe.

The Slavonians occupy a large portion of Eastern Europe; formerly they
had advanced as far as the centre of Germany. The descendants of the
German Slavonians are found in the Venedians of Lusatia, the Tchecks or
inhabitants of Bohemia, and the inhabitants of Carinthia and Carniola.
The purest type of the Slavonian race is to be found in the Servians,
inhabitants of Servia, Herzegovina and Hungarian Slavonia. The Bosniaks
and Montenegriners are also Slavonians. They formerly sent to Croatia
colonists under the name of Uscoks (emigrants.)

The Croats are Slavonians who descended, about the ninth century, from
the region of the Carpathians in Illyria, and who absorbed the previous
original Pannonian and Dalmatian population.

A branch quite distinct from this great race, and which might be
considered as forming a separate stock, is represented by the
Lithuanians, a people whose mild and indolent nature would seem to imply
a mixture at some remote period, with Finn, or, perhaps also, with
Gothic blood.

Russia is occupied at the present day by a Slavonian race mixed with the
Scandinavians and the primitive inhabitants of the soil. The Slavonians
who occupied Poland spread from the banks of the Dnieper to the foot of
the Oural mountains, while the immigration of the Varegians, a
Scandinavian people, brought a northern influence into this country.
These Varegians absorbed the Slavonians whom they found in this
country, and the Tchoudans who had summoned them. Under this twofold
action arose the Russian nation, which is mentioned by Greek writers for
the first time in 839, and the elements of which were subsequently
modified in various respects by the infusion of Turkish and Mongolian
blood. Russia took its name from the country situate around Upsal, which
was the native district of the Scandinavian emigrants (Rios-Lagen, the
Ruotsimaa of the Finns).

[Illustration: 42.--RUSSIAN DEVOTEES, RIGA.]

The population of Russia Major appears to be chiefly composed of a
Finnish-Slavonic race. Among the inhabitants of Russia Minor (Cossacks
of the Ukraine), the Polish element predominates. Among these Russians
we shall find the stock of those who established themselves farther
north in Russia Major, the population of which eventually absorbed them.
The Bielo-Russians, or inhabitants of White Russia, who occupy the
greater portion of the provinces of Mohilew, Minsk, Witepsk, Grodno, and
Wilna, constitute a race intermediate between the Russians and the
Poles.

The latter first appear in history with the dynasty of the Piasts, about
860. The Slovachians, who extend to the north-west of Hungary as far as
Austrian Galicia, belong, as well as the Tchecks, to this same Polish
branch. The Ruthenians, settled to the north of Transylvania, proceeded
from the mixture of the first Slavonians established in this country
with the Poles who emigrated in the twelfth century from Galicia or Red
Russia.

Such is the vast collection of populations united under the name of the
Slavonian family.

       *       *       *       *       *

It is difficult to analyze the habits of a race, which, for centuries,
has been divided between oppression and slavery. We will, however,
endeavour to do so, and shall commence with the Northern Slavonians.

The Northern Slavonian is, in general, gentle and patient. His sweet
toned language caresses the ear and the mind with expressions full of
tenderness. He treats his wife and children with the greatest kindness.
Like the Arab, he loves a life of wandering and adventure beneath the
open sky, and, like the Arab, he can bear the greatest fatigue. On
horseback he crosses plains covered with snow, as the Arab crosses the
burning sands of the desert. Music has a very moving effect on the
Slavonian. It forms a means of translating his tenderness and his
melancholy; it responds to the vague and cloudy impressions, to the
yearnings, of his swelling heart. The Slavonian peasants cultivate the
voice, and men, rough and coarse in many other respects, compose
melodies full of sentiment. The auditors press around the singer, like
the shepherds of ancient Arcadia, and tears of emotion and pleasure are
seen rolling down the unkempt beards of these poor Danubians.

The Slavonians are less sensible to linear than to musical harmony. Thus
it is that Russian architecture can do no more than imitate the
monuments of France and Italy. On the other hand, the taste for colour
attains with them a considerable development, a fact which is evidenced
by the colours of their materials and furniture, and the decoration of
their apartments. The sense of ornament is to be met with in the lowest
villages of Russia, and the peasant who constructs his house with the
rough-hewn trunks of trees, does not omit to paint and carve his door,
window, and roof.

This explains how the serf, when taken from his plough, is able, after a
very short apprenticeship, to reproduce the delicate and artistic work
of the Parisian jeweller.

We see, therefore, that the artistic aptitudes of the Slavonian are well
developed, and that this race, in order to arrive at excellence in art,
only requires the conditions of political liberty and individual
independence.

From a moral aspect, the Northern Slavonian obeys, above all, the
inclination of his heart, rather than of his reason. Nor must the
Russian be looked to for personal initiative, or philosophical or social
innovations. He does not possess the instinct of liberty, but he has, in
a high degree, sympathy, collective action, and the equalizing
tendencies which are its consequences.

This sentimental supremacy is manifested in the Orthodox religion which
prevails in Russia, which imposes with authority its decisions, and the
precepts of which are addressed less to the reason than to blind faith.

By referring to this feeling of sympathy, we are enabled to furnish an
explanation of the facility with which an immense population, with bad
police arrangements, bad administration, and without good means of
communication, acts collectively, accepting the same faith, and obeying
the same law. The minds of all in Russia seem to obey one single will
and inspiration.

The Slavonian republics flourished from the sixth to the seventh
century, during which time these people were happy, wealthy, and
tranquil. Art and science flourished there under the shelter of
municipal liberty. But, although well formed for peace, they did not
possess the element of centralization which was necessary to enable them
to withstand foreign aggression. They at last became a prey to the
Mongolians and Germans, who brought with them a feudal form of
government, and banished all prosperity by destroying the democratic
element of equality. The inhabitants of Novgorod were reduced to an
actual state of slavery, and Poland, devoted to deplorable political
institutions, became, from that moment, a prey to the anarchy which was
to bring about its fall.

Russia took its origin from the submission of the Slavonian populations
of the north, to the despotic centralization so powerfully organized by
Peter the Great and his successors.

The Slavonians of the South, that is, the inhabitants of Slavonia,
Servia, Bulgaria, Carniola, &c., differ sensibly from those of the
North. A dry and mountainous country, filled, nevertheless, with sweet
odours, a burning sun, a clear sky, and the various products of the
soil, have rendered the race of Southern Slavonians dark, wiry, active,
warlike, and chivalrous. Few men are stronger, physically or morally,
than the Slavonians of the Ottoman Empire.

The deplorable Turkish administration has been unable to change the
precious qualifications of this people. Though continually beaten down
with the sword, they always rise again; the least hope of independence
nerves their hearts. The hospitality of the Southern Slavonians, their
language brimming with poetry, and their national songs, all impart to
them a fine and beautiful character. It may be safely affirmed that a
brilliant civilization will arise among these people as soon as they are
released from the Turkish yoke.

We will now shortly consider the principal populations whom we have
classed under the Slavonian family.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Russians._--The Russians form the most important branch of this
family. They may be subdivided into _Russians properly so called_,
_Rousniaks_, and _Cossacks_.

The Russians, properly so called, inhabit, almost exclusively, the
central portion of Russia, and are, moreover, disseminated throughout
all the rest of the Russian Empire, the immense extent of which is well
known. In the Asiatic and American portions of this vast empire, they
form, not the majority, but the ruling section of the population.

Figs. 43 and 44 will convey an idea of the Russian physiognomy in the
capital of the empire, St. Petersburg; fig. 43 represents the dress of
the townspeople, and the sledge which takes the place of the carriage
during the long winters of this latitude; fig. 44 represents the
interior of an inn.

[Illustration: 43.--TRAFFIC IN ST. PETERSBURG.]

In Russian, the term _isba_ is applied to the dwellings of the
peasantry, which are almost always constructed of wood. A Russian
village usually consists of only one street, lined with isbas, more or
less ornamented, according to the taste or fortune of the proprietor.
The houses are almost always similar. Figure 45 shows the interior of
this house.

[Illustration: 44.--A RUSSIAN TAVERN.]

In these houses everything is made of wood, except that portion which
surrounds a gigantic stove kept alight during the whole winter. The
furniture consists of forms placed along the walls, and which serve as
beds for the whole family, who in winter however sleep upon the stove.

To the ceiling are suspended the provisions and candles. In the corner
of every room is an image of the Virgin Mary. Instruments of labour,
cooking utensils, and domestic animals mingle, within the isba, in
picturesque disorder.

[Illustration: 45.--INTERIOR OF AN ISBA.]

The Russian peasant is intelligent, brave, hospitable, affable, and
benevolent; but he is wanting in cleanliness, and indulges to excess in
malt spirit. He wears a shirt of cotton-stuff, usually red, falling over
capacious trousers, which are tucked into heavy boots.

His outer clothing consists of the _touloupa_, formed of a sheep’s skin
with the wool on, and worn with this next the body. His low crowned hat
has a broad turned up rim. The hat worn by peasants in the neighbourhood
of Moscow is pointed and almost without a rim.

The women wear boots like the men: they also wear the touloupa, with a
shawl and kerchief over the head and shoulders. It is only on fête days
that this wretched costume gives place to aprons and shawls, of bright
colour, and even embroidered in gold and silver. The head-dresses are
elegant, and vary in the different provinces.

[Illustration: 46.--LIVONIAN PEASANTS.]

The pleasures of a Russian peasant are always of a serious character.
The quick and sparkling expansion and gaiety of Southern populations are
unknown to the inhabitants of these frozen regions.

M. d’Hearyet, who has travelled in the Russian provinces of the Baltic,
informs us, that at Riga the houses are comfortable and well appointed;
that immense stoves preserve a temperature of 68° or more in vast
apartments, guarded from without by double windows and double doors:
that persons leaving the house envelop themselves in a fur robe, which
leaves no form distinguishable, so that it is difficult to say whether
the individual in question is a man or woman: that at night, the bed is
small, low, furnished with one or two leathern mattresses and some
sheets a little larger than napkins. They live in a hot-house
atmosphere, the air of which is not often enough renewed.

[Illustration: 47.--TARTAR OF KASAK.]

The Cossacks form in Russia rather a military caste than a distinct
people. They seem to be descended from the Rousniaks mixed with other
people, chiefly Circassians. They frequently have longer faces, more
prominent noses, and are of greater height, than the Russians properly
so called. Their principal settlement is upon the banks of the lower
portion of the Don. They, however, rarely possess a fixed residence,
since the Cossacks, spread throughout the entire Russian Empire, act as
light cavalry and border troops.

[Illustration: 48.--TARTAR OF THE CAUCASUS.]

Figures 48 and 49 represent different types, taken from Nature, of
Cossacks who live in the Caucasus, along the frontiers which bound the
Southern portion of the Russian possessions.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Finns._--The Finns form small scattered populations which extend from
the Baltic sea to the east of the Obi. The Finns are regarded as the
remains of people once far more numerous, who have been conquered,
repressed, carried off, or driven back by Slavonians, Turks, and
Mongolians. They lead the life of hunters and husbandmen, rather than
that of warriors and nomads. Reddish, or, frequently red hair, a scanty
beard, a complexion marked with red patches, bluish or grey eyes, sunken
cheeks, prominent cheek-bones, a large occiput, and an angular frame
possessing less beauty than that of the Europeans and Arameans, have
been regarded as the original characteristics of the Finns: but in a
large number of these people these characteristics are more or less
modified. Among them are distinguished the _Ostiaks_, the _Vogouls_, the
_Finns of Siberia_, the _Finns of Eastern Russia_, and the _Finns of the
Baltic_.

The Finns of Siberia form two groups; one in the South, the other in the
North.

[Illustration: 49.--TARTAR OF THE CAUCASUS.]

The former is composed of certain people known under the names of the
Teleouts, Sagaïs, and Kachintz, whose language bears some general
affinity to Turkish dialects; these give themselves up to hunting,
fishing, and agriculture, and are subject to the Russian Empire.

The Northern group is formed of two people: the _Ostiaks_ and the
_Vogouls_ who have retained Finnish dialects.

[Illustration: 50.--RUSSIAN NORTH-SEA PILOT.]

The Vogouls form only a very insignificant population dwelling east of
the Oural, and have undergone such mixture with the Turks and Mongolians
as to have adopted to a great extent their characteristics.

The Ostiaks who dwell upon the banks of the Obi appear to have preserved
in much greater perfection the characteristics of the Finns. They are a
people devoted to hunting and fishing, with red hair, very uncivilized,
and partly idolatrous.

Madame Eva Felinska, during an exile in Siberia, inspected, as far as
possible, the Ostiak huts. These habitations were so foul, and gave
forth such putrid miasmas, that, notwithstanding her curiosity, this
lady was unable to remain in them more than a minute.

The Ostiaks cover their skins with a layer of rancid fat, over which
they wear a reindeer skin. They eat uncooked fish or game, this being
their ordinary food. But from time to time they go with large buckets of
bark to Berezer, where they collect, and devour as delicacies, the
refuse of the kitchens. Fig. 51 represents an Ostiak hut.

The Finns of Eastern Russia comprise the _Baskirs_, the _Teptiars_, and
the _Metscheriaks_ of the Southern Oural: three small peoples who speak
Turkish dialects mingled with Finnish words, and who exist in very much
the same way. The Baskirs are the most numerous; they are engaged in
rearing horses and bees. Like the Cossacks they furnish bodies of
cavalry to the Russian army.

The Finns of the Volga comprise the _Tchouvachians_, _Tcheremissians_
and _Moadueinites_, who likewise speak dialects interspersed with
Turkish words: a short time since they turned their attention to
husbandry.

Certain populations scattered through the governments of Perm, Vologda,
Orenburg, and Viatka, are the remains of a people of some consideration,
formerly independent, civilized, and commercial, whom the Russians
subdued, and to a large extent absorbed: these are the _Permians_.

The Finns of the Baltic, or Finns properly so called, have been long
under the rule of Teutonic nations, and have generally preserved the
characteristics of the family we have described above. Among them are
distinguished the _Livonians_, _Esthonians_, _Ischorians_, _Kyrials_,
_Ymes_ or _Finlanders_, and _Quaines_, who are respectively the remains
of the ancient inhabitants of Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, Finland, and
Carelia, where they are now mixed with the Slavonians and Teutons.
During the last century the Quaines pushed forward to the extremity of
Norwegian Lapland, of which they at present form the principal
population.

[Illustration: 51.--OSTIAK HUT.]

_Bulgarians_, _Servians_, and _Bosniaks_ or inhabitants of
_Flavinia_.--In order to describe these, we need do no more than refer
to the general facts which have been stated above with reference to the
Southern Slavonians. We will merely borrow a few descriptions and
illustrations from the work of M. George Perrot, a French writer,
“_Voyage chez les Slaves du Sud_,” published in 1870, and well known on
account of the excellent history it contains of his travels in Asia
Minor.

[Illustration: 52.--ISIGANE OF VOAKOVAR.]

M. George Perrot travelled through Slavonia, Croatia, Bosnia, and the
strip of territory recently cleared to serve as a frontier to the
Mussulman possessions, and which bears the name of _Military Confines_.

[Illustration: 53.--SLAVONIAN PEASANT.]

M. George Perrot first of all gives us some types of the inhabitants of
Slavonia, which we shall reproduce here. Figure 54 represents a peasant
from the neighbourhood of Essek, a town of Slavonia.

[Illustration: 54.--A PEASANT OF ESSEK.]

While halting at the borough of Vouka, situated a few leagues from
Essek, M. George Perrot thus describes the peasants of these parts.

“The majority of the men around us have hair which is blond or of
different shades of chestnut. Although much burnt by the sun, they are
not generally so dark as the Magyars. Many of the women, who are tall
and slender, are really beautiful. Their eyes especially, which are
bright and sparkling, and sometimes blue, though more frequently of a
dark grey, are charming. The lower portion of their face is less
agreeable; the chin is usually prominent, and the lips are rather thick.

“Their costume recalls that met with in the East. The men wear a slouch
hat of black felt with the edges turned up, a linen shirt, and full
trousers down to the ankle; this in hot weather, when they are in
working order, forms the whole dress. One or two loungers, who joined
us, were more completely dressed than this.

“They wore large boots of thick leather, and over the shirt a waistcoat
of blue cloth, adorned in front, with white metal buttons, and behind,
with embroidery in yellow or white. On another occasion, when we were on
the boat, we saw some men who, in addition to this, wore, over the
waistcoat, a short cape or half-cloak, which did not fall lower than the
waist, and of which, as a rule, the sleeves were allowed to hang loose.
In winter, they add to these, warm robes of sheepskin or large mantles,
which put me in mind of the rough overcoats worn by our waggoners.

“As to the women, they make me think of the Albanians of Attica. This
fine September afternoon, they are wearing a long chemise, embroidered
with eyelet holes and coloured patterns; this chemise, which leaves the
neck very open, would reach to the ground, but in order to permit of
freer movement in the fields or at home, it is hitched up, and supported
by a coloured girdle, wound two or three times round the body; being
thus held up, the chemise forms elegant and symmetrical folds, falling
in front as low as the ankle, while behind, it extends to about half way
down the calf of the leg. Over the head is thrown, in various fashions,
a kerchief, which is usually white, but which on festive occasions is
embroidered with silver and gold; the ends of this fall down the back,
or over the bosom, as may suit the taste of the wearer. When the best
dress is donned, a cloth apron, the colour and pattern of which bear a
resemblance to the carpets which I have met with in Servia and Bosnia,
hangs down to the knees; over the chemise is worn a species of waistcoat
without sleeves, and ornamented with gold or silver embroidery. In
winter, they guard against the cold by wearing over all a thick overcoat
of sheepskin. All the garments worn by the women are worked by their own
hands and busy fingers, during the long winter evenings.”

[Illustration: 55.--HERDSMEN OF THE MILITARY CONFINES.]

M. George Perrot remained for rather a long period in the provinces now
called the _Military Confines_ or _Frontiers_, and he describes the
miserable state in which the Slavonian peasantry exist there, where
they are obliged to live side by side with wild hordes of Mussulman
soldiers or pandours.

Figure 55 shows peasants of these districts returning from pasture.

[Illustration: 56.--WOMAN OF THE MILITARY CONFINES.]

Figure 56 is given by the author as a type of the Slavonian women who
inhabit the Military frontiers.

Let us quote a few more of this traveller’s impressions.

“What struck me in all the villages of the Confines through which I
passed, were the guard stations, before which loitered, or slept beside
their guns, suspended on the wall, five or six _Gränzer_. In summer,
they wear merely their trousers and shirt of coarse white cloth, and
sometimes a sort of brown jacket with red facings, which they also wear
for field work. In winter they are seen enveloped in their large hooded
cloaks of red cloth; and, thus equipped and armed, guard their flocks on
the moors. The state furnishes them, for exercise and service, with guns
similar to those used by regiments of the line; but when not on duty,
many of them prefer long guns of Albanian manufacture or shape, with
swallow-tailed stocks. These guns are transmitted from father to son for
several generations. Besides these, they wear in their girdles, one or
two pistols, and a kind of dagger with a bone handle inlaid with coral
or glass. In this guise they have rather the appearance of Bosniak
_bachibozouks_, than of civilized subjects of His Majesty Francis
Joseph, constitutional Emperor of Austria, and King of Hungary. Their
uniform, consisting of a blue trouser fitting close to the leg, and a
vest of black or white wool, is only produced on field days, or in war.

“But what is it that these sentinels are guarding? This is just what I
have never been able to understand. No enemy, from Belgrade to Sissek,
was threatening; and these villages are exposed to no more disorder than
those of the neighbouring provinces, where they dispense with all this
armed exhibition. This, therefore, is another of the useless and
erroneous consequences of the military régime: here are hands taken day
after day from their labour in the fields, and with no greater advantage
than that of acquiring the habits of idleness and drunkenness, usually
contracted during the period of barrack-room inactivity.”

In Fig. 57 we represent one of the military stations of the Confines,
with the guards belonging to it, called Gränzers.

[Illustration: 57.--GRÄNZERS AND THEIR GUARD-HOUSE.]

“All those who have lived for some time among the Gränzers, have been
struck with their indolent apathy, their careless and continued
idleness. For whose sake should they exhaust themselves with work? Under
the rules of their community, their wives and children are almost beyond
want. As regards themselves, to-morrow they may be torn from their
orchards and fields, to encounter death in Italy, or on some other
frontier; would it not be madness to expose themselves to privation
and fatigue in view of a future upon which they have no means of
reckoning? Besides this, does their property, which they can neither
render as valuable as they wish, nor sell or bequeath as they may think
proper, belong to them sufficiently to give them any pleasure or profit
in its improvement? They have maxims which accurately indicate their
character; ‘Go late to the field and return early, so as to avoid the
dew;--if God does not aid, what is the use of working?’ Being accustomed
to rely only, as they say, ‘Upon God and the Emperor,’ they refuse to
recognize the advantages to be gained from any modern invention, better
tools, or more advanced methods of cultivation. ‘Thus I found it, and
thus I will leave it,’ is a saying of which they often make use in
speaking of their patrimonial domain.

[Illustration: 58.--TSIGANE PRISONER.]

“The only thing which, in spite of all the shackles which enchain and
benumb their limbs, would have been able to arouse their minds and
impart to them some desire for progress, is instruction. But ignorance
is profound in the Military Confines; the regimental schools that exist
are very insufficient both in number and quality; in certain districts,
especially in Southern Croatia, the villages are so distant from one
another, that the children, who do not dwell in the borough where the
school is, are unable, without difficulty, to go there at any time.
Besides, why should the government do much as regards instruction? It is
clear, that, if the people of the Confines were better taught, they
would be less resigned to their hard lot. If it rested entirely with the
government, the schoolmaster would be entirely banished from these
parts.

“Upon the banks of the Danube and of the Save, where the Confines abut
upon the river, which is continually traversed by packet-boats,
travellers, and merchandize, the people of the frontiers have
nevertheless daily communication with the inhabitants of the
neighbouring provinces, and even with strangers. This contact somewhat
opens their minds and suggests new ideas; but it is chiefly in Southern
Croatia, in the districts called Banal and Karlstadt, that the
characteristic features of the _Gränzer_ are most frequent and striking.
There commences, south-east of Karlstadt, what is termed the
_dry-frontier_; this is no longer a water-course such as the Danube or
Save, but a line purely conventional, forming the boundary between
Austria and Turkey.

“Surprises and hand to hand combats were recently matters of frequent
occurrence upon this frontier, which is more difficult to define and to
preserve; at the commencement of this century, certain forts, and other
places, such as Zettin, which the Turks assaulted in 1809 and 1813, were
still the subject of dispute. Here, moreover, the Frontier territory is
no longer from fifteen to twenty kilometres, but from five to six
myriametres broad; the people subject to the military régime, here,
therefore, form a more homogeneous and compact mass. Cases of armed
brigandage, and assassinations, which were very common in the whole of
this country, are now becoming rarer; but theft is the crime which
requires most frequent punishment. The ancestors of the _Gränzers_ lived
chiefly by plunder, and such habits are not removed in a day.”

M. Perrot made a journey in Bosnia, down the course of the river Save.
He stopped in a borough of this province, of which he speaks thus:--

“After a visit to the Bosniak priest, we wandered about the town, where
we made several small purchases with a view to smuggling. I replenished
my pouch with a Bosnian tobacco which is by no means so good as that of
Macedonia. I purchased a rug such as are worked also by the women of
Slavonia and the Military Confines: this is not, like the tissues of
Persia and Anatolia, thick and soft, but a rather thin and dry quality
of cloth.”

Here, also, in designs and in combination of colour, are found the same
innate taste, and the same boldness which is met with usually in
oriental workmanship. The Slavonian women, in Austria as in Turkey,
would be no unworthy rivals of the Turcoman women, who, in the
neighbourhood of Smyrna, and from the high meadow-lands of the Taurus
down to the low deserts of Persia, execute, beneath their black tents of
goat or camel hair, those marvellous pieces of needlework, for which, at
the present time, we pay so high a price.

The inferiority of the products of this domestic industry in Turkey in
Europe, is attributable to the fact, that, here the women being within
comparatively easy distance of large markets, filled with European
wares, are enabled to procure there wools suited to their wants, already
dyed by industrial processes: but it will be understood that the colours
thus obtained, which are produced with a view to cheapness and variety,
are far from possessing the fresh and durable tints of those colours,
few in number, always the same, and almost all obtained from the animal
and vegetable worlds, the secret of which has been handed down in the
bazaars of the East, and under the tents of the nomadic tribes, from the
time when Nineveh, Babylon, Susa, Tyre, and Sidon, were at the height of
their prosperity.

“Our purchases at an end, we returned along the banks of the Save, and,
while the ferry was attempting to pass a herd of bullocks, which had
just been purchased in Bosnia, I amused myself by noting the picturesque
mixture of costumes and types which the bank, on which were most of the
market people, offered.

[Illustration: 59.--BOSNIAK PEASANT.]

“Here was a jobbing blacksmith, who had set up his shop in the open air,
hammering and putting in order the pots which were brought to him; or
sharpening with his hammer, the points of long iron clamps, used to
connect the rafters of houses. His arrangements were most primitive. Two
vertical posts supported a horizontal piece, upon which worked the
lever, by means of which the bellows were set in motion. In front of the
orifice by which the air escaped, a small anvil was fixed in the ground.
Around the proprietor, seated on the ground, a number of tools were
scattered. The long shirt and puffed out trousers of the blacksmith
appeared white by comparison with his skin, although he had probably
worn them for some weeks; his chest and arms were bronze coloured.

[Illustration: 60.--BOSNIAK PEASANT WOMAN.]

[Illustration: 61.--BOSNIAK MERCHANT.]

“A little further on, the most motley groups attracted and retained my
notice. Here were Mussulmans, Bosniaks, Pandours guarding the market,
their attitudes and costumes carrying me right away to the East, and
recalling very old recollections. One of them wore a white turban, which
displayed a mass of plaited hair falling down his neck; he stood erect,
his hand supporting the butt end of his gun, which rested on his
shoulder. A tapestried mantle, adorned with long flocks of wool, which
is peculiar to the frontiers of the two countries, was thrown over his
shoulders. At his side was another Bosniak, who leant against a wall,
clad in a long cloak of red wool; his feet were shod with sandals of
tanned leather. Here a rich landowner of the neighbourhood, whose name I
really forget, was causing his servants to remove the cattle he had not
succeeded in selling: there peasants were remounting their horses, whose
gay and picturesque harness I much admired.”

[Illustration: 62.--WOMEN OF PESTH.]

Figures 59 and 60 represent, according to M. Perrot, a Bosniak peasant
man and woman, and figure 61, a Bosniak merchant.

The Magyars are the natives of Hungary. The chief population of this
country is composed of a people who came from Asia under the name of
Magyars, and who were, it would seem, a tribe of the Huns. Hungary is
believed to have been populated by some of the savage companions of
Attila, the terrible king of the Huns, known as the “Scourge of God.”

[Illustration: 63.--HUNGARIANS.]

The Magyars are distinct from other people in their language and
costumes.

They are of medium height, with black hair. Their character is warlike,
and their state of civilization is superior to that of the other
branches of the Slavonian family.

In his “Causeries Géographiques,” (from Paris to Bucharest,) M. Duruy
has imparted to us his impressions on a journey to Pesth in 1861. The
population appeared to him superb.

[Illustration: 64.--A HUNGARIAN GENTLEMAN.]

The women were remarkable through their brightness and decided
attractions. In dress, they do not differ much from the men. A chemise
gathered in at the neck, with full sleeves richly embroidered, and
slightly tightened at the wrists, which are covered with lace ruffles; a
jacket body, either red, black, or green, embroidered at the back with
fringes and silver buttons, sets off a slender and supple form. A light,
very ample, but often rather short petticoat; a silken or velvet scarf
thrown over one shoulder à la hussarde; the national high brimmed hat
surmounted by a plume of feathers as head-dress; well turned feet and
ankles, in embroidered shoes, or sometimes in little spurred boots of
red morocco, form the Hungarian costume, represented in figs. 63, 64 and
65.

[Illustration: 65.--HUNGARIANS.]

The markets which are held on the quays, have also peculiar features.
You see there, says M. Duruy, groups which call to mind the savage
hordes of Attila. M. Duruy almost believed he saw one of the companions
of the “Scourge of God.” This was apparently a kind of peasant,
flat-nosed, round-eyed, with large projecting cheekbones, and hanging
mustachios. He was dark, and dressed in a vest of sheepskin, and
breeches of coarse cloth, supported at the waist by a scarf falling over
his heavily-shod and spurred boots. A large hat, with the edges turned
up, covered his head, and beneath it hung two long plaits of hair. The
Magyar language is energetic, full of similes, and filled with guttural
aspirations which seem derived from the Arabic, while certain soft and
caressing intonations remind us of the Italian idiom. National feeling
is brisk in the towns and throughout the country. In the latter, it is
kept alive by Bohemian songs, and by stories told by the heads of
families during the long winter evenings.

About the other races composing the Slavonian family, namely, the
Croats, the Tchecks, the Lithuanians, and the Poles, we have nothing
particular to remark.

In general, what we have said at the commencement of this chapter,
applies to them with but little modification.


THE GREEK FAMILY.

The Greek family comprises the Greeks and the Albanians. These races
derive their origin from the ancient tribes known under the name of
Pelasgians. The ancient Greeks founded many colonies on the shores of
the Mediterranean.

In the fourth century before Christ, led by Alexander, they subdued part
of Asia, and carried their victorious arms into Egypt. But these
conquests were ephemeral. The Greek empire was in its turn subjugated by
other races, of whom the principal were the Romans, the Slavonians, and
the Scythians.

In the present day the Greeks compose but a scanty population,
concentrated in the Morea, or scattered in the neighbouring districts.
The majority of the people of this race who inhabit the Asiatic
continent have adopted even the language of their neighbours, and are
merely reputed Greeks because they profess the Greek form of the
Christian religion.

The ancient Greeks, civilized by intercourse with Egyptian colonists,
already afforded an example of advanced culture, at a time when the
other European and Asiatic nations were still immersed in barbarism.

In spite of the misfortunes of a social decay destined to terminate in
many centuries of subjection, the Greeks have preserved up to our own
day the physical characteristics of their ancestors. Everyone knows that
the most beautiful development of the brow, the finest shape of the
human head, is that we find traced in the sculpture of ancient Greece.
It had been supposed that the magnificent heads with the noble outlines,
admired in the statues of the Greeks, were not the exact reproduction of
nature, and that some features had been exaggerated in the direction of
ideal beauty. But, in our own day, the skulls of ancient Greeks have
been found whose proportions and whose general outlines demonstrate,
that, among the artists of ancient Greece, sculpture did not surpass
nature, but restricted its inspiration to types who actually lived.

The Apollo Belvidere can therefore be considered as a model, but
slightly idealized by art, of the general physiognomy of the ancient
Greeks. In his “Travels in the Morea,” M. Pouqueville gives a
description of the physiognomy of the present Greeks, which enables us
to judge of the surprising persistence of the most beautiful types, even
in the midst of a social condition so deeply modified.

“The inhabitants of the Morea,” says M. Pouqueville, “are generally tall
and well made. Their eyes are full of fire, their mouth is admirably
well formed and full of the most beautiful teeth. The women of Sparta
are fair, slender, and dignified in carriage. The women of Taygetus have
the gait of Pallas . . . . The Messenian girl is conspicuous for her
plumpness; she has regular features, large eyes, and long black hair;
the damsel of Arcadia, hidden under her coarse woollen garments,
scarcely allows the regularity of her figure to be perceived . . . .”

Here, besides, are the characteristics displayed in their sculpture, and
which, according to what we have said, may really be considered those of
the Greek type.

A high forehead, rather a wide distance between the eyes, with the
slightest possible depression at the top of the nose; this last
straight or slightly aquiline; large eyes, opening widely and surmounted
by a scarcely arched eyebrow; a short upper lip, a small or medium sized
mouth delicately cut; and a prominent and well rounded chin.

Fig. 66 represents the Greeks of Athens; fig. 67 a Greek family and the
interior of a house at Athens.

[Illustration: 66.--GREEKS OF ATHENS.]

To give an idea of modern Greek manners and types, we will borrow a few
lines from an interesting work by M. Prout, “Journey to Athens,”
published in “Le Tour du Monde” in 1862. Let us first listen to this
traveller speaking to us of the inhabitants of Greece:--

“If Fallmeseyer is to be believed, there are no more Greeks in Greece,
only Slavonians; it is beyond doubt that the inhabitants of Thrace and
of Macedonia cannot boast so immaculate an origin as the mountaineers of
Olympus or of Magnus; but it is equally certain that from Cape Malea to
the Black Sea, and from Smyrna to Corfu, there are ten million
individuals who speak Greek, mixed up with a population speaking
Slavonic, and that in the plains of Athens, we easily distinguish the
Albanian with the narrow temples and the prominent nose, from the Greek
with the wide forehead and the high cheek-bones, although their dress is
exactly the same. To converse for an hour with the latter is sufficient
to satisfy all doubt as to the authenticity of his origin.

“His qualities of mind have remained the same as in the days of Homer:
he has still the same aptitude for thorough and rapid comprehension, the
same facility of graceful and metaphorical expression. These qualities
give to the Greeks so great a superiority over the other races of the
East, that they are liked by none of them. The Turks reproach them with
being suspicious and dissimulating, because they have opposed craft to
force; the Levantines accuse them of dishonesty in commercial
transactions, because they themselves have taken lessons of them, and
have often surpassed their instructors.

“There is no greater bond of sympathy between them and the other nations
on the shores of the Mediterranean. Serious and deliberate in
disposition, the tone of their mind is foreign alike to raillery and to
the rapidity of dramatic intensity. Their grief pursues a peaceful and
elegiac course; it is with them a latent sorrow, and not a sharp crisis
leading to the ecstasies of madness. Whilst Cupid’s weapons, in Naples
or in Venice for instance, inflict terrible wounds, the arrows of the
Athenian god neither keep his victims from repose nor from the pursuit
of business. The Greeks have preserved their tragic intonation, and are
the true children of that wild Orestes who died at more than eighty
years of age from the effects of an accident. In their minds, action
always takes its course with deliberation and gravity, not without a
certain amount of colouring, but never widely straying from reality;
interrogating and holding council with itself, and taking time for
reflection before making its decision.

[Illustration: 67.--A GREEK HOUSEHOLD.]

“It is astonishing to meet with these analytical and foreseeing
tendencies, even among the most ignorant. Above all nations they best
understand the art of listening, and whilst saying a great deal are the
smallest talkers in the world.

“Everybody is familiar with the Greek dress: the short pelisse, the
skirt, which goes by the name of fystan, the small fez with its tufted
tassel falling on the nape of the neck of the wearer, and the
embroidered gaiter fitting tight to the leg. The sailors, instead of the
fystan, wear a very wide pair of trousers, and stockings instead of
gaiters. In winter the talagani, a long close-fitting cloak of lambskin,
is added to the rest of the dress. The Greeks, generally speaking, tall
slender men of regular features, wear this national costume in a very
dashing manner. Young Greece carries its dandyism a little to extremes
by over pinching its waist, and exaggerating the width of its skirts.
During the winter of 1858 it was the fashion to wear the entire beard. I
trust that this fancy, which gave them the appearance of sappers in
petticoats, has disappeared; the finely trimmed mustachios, revealing
the lips, are better suited to their delicately chiselled features as
well as to their refined and fanciful style of dress. But alas! Athens
every day sees the pure gold of its ancient costume bartered for the
dross of modern broadcloth fresh from the shelves of the tailor’s shop.
Athens now boasts seventy tailors and fifty shoemakers who make in the
French style, whilst only six of the former, and three of the latter
still work in the spirit of their national traditions. There are
sixty-two shops for the sale of female attire, but only three or four
ladies are to be seen still faithful to their national dress (I except
the maids of honour to the Queen, who wear it by order), and even in
their case one half has disappeared. The corsage cut down upon the neck
and the taktikios (cap) of Smyrna still remain; but the long narrow
skirt has allowed itself to become swollen by the insinuating arts of
conspiring crinoline. The style of dress in the islands is more
commonplace, but the great quantity of garments worn one over the other
remind one of the childish simplicity of the outlines of our own peasant
women. I much prefer, in spite of its stiffness, the long Albanian robe
worn by the women of the interior.

“It is particularly at Agora that specimens of all the peasantry of the
neighbourhood may be seen walking about in their picturesque costumes.

“This Agora is not the ancient Agora of Ceramica; it is a market-place,
composed of worm-eaten sheds roofed in with ragged cloths, in which are
exhibited produce of all sorts, from the bursting figs of Asia Minor to
the patent preparations of Parisian perfumers.

“On each side of this market-place stands a spectre of antiquity, the
tower of the Winds, or clepsydrum of Andronicus, an octagonal monument
engraved with passably mediocre figures, and the portico of Minerva
Archigetis. Archæologists after noticing the first, hasten across the
spacious vestibule to visit the second, but those, who are indifferent
alike to the criticisms of Martius and of Leake, prefer to pause on the
threshold of the market, particularly in the early morning when the
peasantry,

    ‘Seated in their chariots of Homeric pattern,
    Like the ancient Isis on the basso-relievos of Egina,’

pour in from the highways from Thebes and Marathon. I have said that the
men were distinguished for regular symmetry of countenance; but the
peasant women are simply ugly. Of middle height, robust, and sunburnt,
they have no feminine attributes, in the meaning we give to the word. In
commercial circles and among the Phanariots, who come principally from
Asia, where the race has remained pure, there are, on the contrary, many
really beautiful women to be seen. Oriental languor gives them a charm
unknown in our country; but they walk badly, and are wanting in that
elegance of style which French women possess in such a high degree.

“They are rarely to be seen walking out, they seldom leave their houses
where they busy themselves with domestic occupations, and employ their
leisure in reading romances, principally translated from the French.

“Although class distinctions are gradually disappearing, there are still
in Athens two distinct sets of society; the Phanariot, and the Greek,
properly so called; the first already quite Europeanized, the second on
the high road to become so. The Phanariot ladies are well educated and
speak French admirably. The others, whose information is extremely
limited, have an instinctive good sense and a tact never at fault, by no
means one of the least subjects of surprise to foreigners.

[Illustration: 68.--INTERIOR OF THE AGORA AT ATHENS.]

“. . . I have heard it said that the price of the honesty of an English
trader was a hundred pounds sterling, and that that of his Greek brother
was less. Both are absurd statements. It is impossible to draw a hard
and fast line in such matters; opportunity makes the thief. Strangers
are everywhere the natural prey of the sharper, but not more so at
Athens than in any other part of the world. The only difference is that
in that city they are more easily taken in, on account of the
complication of the currency, this complication being another instance
of Bavarian error. Rothschild made an offer to the council of regency to
effect a loan payable in coin similar to that struck at the French mint.
The council decided that it was more ingenious, and above all more
archaic, to shut their eyes to all known standards, and to reintroduce
the drachma with its ancient weight. These badly executed coins were
exported in ingots, and hopeless calculations about the smallest
transaction are the result; calculations in which the Austrian coins,
ugly and disagreeable to the touch, play the principal part, to be
finally parted with, with a sense of relief, to the trader, to whatever
nation he may happen to belong.

“To have done with the subject of Greek probity, which has been so much
called into question; in the country the inhabitants are avaricious
because they are poor, but they are honest. Travellers who jump to a
conclusion from their experience of inn-keepers, porters, cabmen, &c.,
come to a wrong decision. These classes are everywhere the same. In
Athens alone a remarkable self-possession, with a dignified manner, is
found, instead of the familiar impudence of Italian facchini, or the
deceitful suavity of German attendants. It is worthy of remark that one
is never assailed in the streets with the importunity of beggars. These
are few in number, for with the Greeks it is a sacred family duty to
assist its impoverished members, and the few that do beg, shrink from
publicity. The streets of Athens have a peculiar physiognomy. The
stranger notices there neither the noisy disturbance of the highways of
Naples, nor the methodical activity of those of London. They are rather
to be compared with those of some of the provincial towns of France,
where the leisured citizens stroll about, and retail to one another the
gossip of the hour, remaining apparently permanent fixtures of the
pavement. Athens has, on the whole, the appearance of a city where time
dies hard; the male population encamp themselves during the day in the
sunshine of the streets; the shopkeepers while away the hours, one foot
within, and the other without their doorsill; and their customers
intermingle the tedious arithmetic of barter with familiar conversation,
or buttonhole the passer to gossip about the mutual acquaintance that
has just passed. Alexander’s establishment, amongst others, is one of
the principal head-quarters of news.

“Linger for an hour in front of the café of _Beautiful Greece_, where
Hermes Street and Eolus Street intersect one another, you will see the
whole Athenian world pass before you; the nearest lounger will tell you
their names. Here comes the politician who is still in the market, there
goes the statesman who has already obtained his price. That is Canaris,
whose reputation is European, although his person is so puny: there are
Chriesis, Métaxas, Mavrocordato, Rangabé, Miaouli, the celebrities of
yesterday and to-day. This man, treading as gingerly as if he stepped
upon eggs, and throwing uneasy glances around him, is a Chiotian. As he
passes, your cicerone scowls, for the Chiotians are not exactly beloved.
Popular tradition declares that the Island of Scios was formerly settled
by Jews, but this is erroneous, although the Chiotians have a Jewish
appearance, and, like the children of Israel, are very successful in
banking and commerce. Commercial aptitude has always been, in ancient
times as well as to-day, the basis of the national character of the
Chiotian. ‘Two reasons,’ says M. Lacroix, ‘explain this tendency. The
position of Scios, situated in the midst of the sea, between Europe and
Asia, upon the great maritime highway of ancient commerce, naturally
disposed its inhabitants to become traders; while the nature of their
island, whose stony soil is little suited to agriculture, rendered such
a means of livelihood in part a necessity to them.’

“As the trader of Scios can be recognised by his appearance, so the
Ionian islander can be distinguished by his speech. The torrent of his
eloquence is heard towering above the voices of every group. I have a
great admiration for the Ionians. I do not say that human perfection is
to be found in these numerous islands, but wonderful natural qualities,
in unison with the healthy civilization bequeathed to them by the
Italian republics, are to be seen there. It is but the other day that
the ingenious combination of Mr. Gladstone gave Europe an idea of the
dignity of their character, the extent of their patriotism, and the
wisdom of their mind. To this Greek good sense they add the fire of the
Italian. Active, intelligent, good hearted and honest in their dealings,
they attract at once the sympathies of all.

[Illustration: 69.--FÊTE OF THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER, ATHENS.]

“This admixture of which the Athenian population is composed is a
curious study.

“On the Sunday, everybody leaves the cross roads in front of the
_Beautiful Greece_ to frequent the esplanade of Patissia (a corruption
from Pachiscliah); the men stroll about talking together, and the women,
abandoning their household gods for this day only, follow a few paces
behind them. The crowd walks round and round a kiosk till a military
band placed there has finished playing, and then goes home; not into the
house, however, but into the streets, for during the warm summer nights
nearly everybody sleeps _al fresco_. These sleepers advertise their
presence by a continual hum, which is a kind of internal monologue, an
echo of the day’s conversation, for the Greeks still remain the wittiest
and the most eloquent chatterers in the world.”

We place side by side with the Greeks the Albanians, whose language has
some relation to Greek. Concentrated in the mountains of their country,
they appear to be the lineal representatives of the ancient inhabitants
of these districts. They are the descendants of the ancient Illyrians,
mixed up with the Greeks and the Slavonians. Restricting themselves
almost exclusively to the profession of arms, the Albanians constitute
the best soldiers of the Ottoman army. Their numbers scarcely reach two
millions, although Albania is of great extent and contains several
rather important towns.

Albania, part of Turkey in Europe, bounded on the north by Montenegro,
Bosnia, and Servia, on the east by Macedon and Thessaly, on the south by
the kingdom of Greece, on the west by the Adriatic and Ionian seas,
constitutes the pachaliks of Janina, Ilbessan and Scutari. It possesses
three seaports, Durazzo, Avlona, and Parga. The most important towns are
Scutari, Akhissar, Berat, and Arta.

Semi-barbarians, partaking more of the pirate and the brigand than of
the cultivator and the labourer, the Albanians pass their lives in a
state of petty warfare among themselves.

[Illustration:

_P. Sellier, p.^{t}_

_Imp. Dupuy, 22, R. des Petits Hôtels_

_G. Regamey, lith._

GEORGEAN

ARAB

WHITE OR CAUCASIAN RACE]

They professed Christianity up to the fifteenth century, but after
having under Scanderbeg gloriously resisted the Turkish invasion, they
were forced to submit to the victorious Ottomans, who compelled the
Albanians to embrace the religion of Mahomet. In some parts of Albania
the Greek church still survives. In the north, between the sea and the
black Drin, the courageous tribe of the Mirdites practise the Roman
Catholic religion and enjoy liberty.

[Illustration: 70.--ALBANIAN WOMAN.]

Fig. 70 represents the Albanian costume.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF AN ARMENIAN.]




CHAPTER II.

ARAMEAN BRANCH.


Cuvier has thought fit to give the name of Aramean (derived from the
ancient appellation of Syria) to the race of people who inhabit the
south-west of Asia and the north of Africa. Since primeval historic
times, the Aramaic race developed itself in the south-west of Asia and
the north of Africa, and it has remained there up to our own day. It
also extended its settlements to the south of Europe, where it became
assimilated to the inhabitants of that part of the world.

At a period when Europeans were immersed in the depths of ignorance, the
Arameans successfully cultivated science and art. But later, whilst
progress was making rapid strides amongst the Westerns, the Arameans on
the contrary came to a halt; so that the civilization of these Asiatic
races is still pretty much the same as it was two thousand years ago.

Christianity sprang up amidst the Arameans, but it made few converts.
Mahometanism and Buddhism attracted nearly the whole of this numerous
race.

Four leading divisions are recognised among the Arameans: the Libyans,
the Semitics, the Persians, and the Georgians and Circassians.


THE LIBYAN FAMILY.

The _Libyan Family_ is composed of the _Berbers_ and the _Egyptians_.

[Illustration: 71.--MOORISH COFFEE-HOUSE AT SIDI-BOW-SAID, NEAR TUNIS.]

The _Berbers_.--The Berbers are the race which from very ancient times
inhabited the mountains of the Atlas chain, or wandered amidst the
deserts of the Sahara. The Berbers are split up into a great number of
tribes, of whom the four principal are, the Kabyles, the Shellas, the
Touariks and the Tibbous.

The traveller in Kabylia is struck with admiration, for its lofty
mountains, the gentle and pleasing undulations of its plains, and its
valleys interlaced with the windings of countless streams. Its
inhabitants are pastoral, agricultural, and laborious. The headdress of
their women is fashioned to suit their habit of carrying on their head
jars of great weight. They balance these by rigidly straightening their
waists, round which they wind, some score of times, a girdle of coarse
woollen cords. Their garment is simply a piece of woollen cloth fastened
together by a couple of pins over the bosom.

The Kaybles are not, like the real Arabs, nomadic. They remain, on the
contrary, faithful to one spot. Whilst the Arab inhabits a tent,
removable at will, and in accordance with the requirements of his
family, the Kabyle lives in a stone dwelling, and his homestead is a
regular village. In truth, the Kabyle is not an Arab; he is of African
origin, a Berber, somewhat modified by the different races that have in
turn settled on the African shores of the Mediterranean, but whose
customs and physical characteristics have always remained the same.

The Roman armies subdued the Kabyles dwelling on the Mediterranean
coasts, and drove them into the mountains. The principal aim of the
successive Roman governors in Africa, was to drain the country of its
resources to supply the insatiable requirements of Rome, and the
extravagant liberality continually lavished on its citizens by the
Emperors of this capital of the world. Rome thus accepted from Africa
but slaves and labourers. Those of the conquered, who were unwilling to
pass under the heavy yoke of the Roman governors, abandoned the plains
and retired to the mountains, inaccessible retreats, whose ravines and
forests offered innumerable obstacles to the cruelty of centurions, and
the rapacity of prætors. At a future period, led by enterprising
chieftains, they sallied forth from these natural fortresses to assail
and ultimately to definitively repulse the Roman power.

To give an idea of the Kabylia of to-day, and of its organization, we
will quote a few details from “An Excursion to great Kabylia,” published
in 1867, in “Le Tour du Monde,” from the pen of Commandant Duhousset, an
officer in the French army.

“In Kabylia,” he says, “the household composed of the members of one
family is termed _kharouba_; each kharouba forming part of the village
or _déhera_, elects one of its members as a _dhaman_ to represent it at
the municipal council, and to defend its interests: in a word, to be
responsible for it.

“The different déheras are further united together under the name of
_arch_.

“In each village authority is administered by an _amin_, elected by
turns from each kharouba. It is the duty of this official to watch over
the execution of the written laws, drawn up under the name of _khanoun_,
and which are merely the recital of the customs handed down from time
immemorial in Kabylia.

“The amin can pronounce no judgment, inflict no fine, without consulting
the assembly (_djemaa_) of his assistants or dhamans, always chosen from
the notabilities of the village. This tribunal chooses a secretary
(_khodja_) intrusted with the duty of keeping a public register of its
deliberations, and of carrying on all correspondence with the French
authorities. The labours of the khodja are remunerated with perquisites
of figs, olives, &c.

“The supreme command of the tribe is delegated by the French to an
_amin-el-oumena_, whose principal duty is the superintendence of his
tribe in all matters concerning public order. He is not allowed to
interfere in the internal policy of the villages, which govern
themselves, each according to its own interpretation of the khanoun.

“The djemaa possesses a municipal fund, kept in the hands of an _ouhil_
(manager). This fund is supplied by the fines inflicted by the municipal
council and the native officials, and by the rates levied on marriages,
births, and deaths.

“Each village is divided into two factions, or _soff_, generally
hereditary foes. It is easy to imagine the serious nature of the
outrages on public tranquillity, committed by these irreconcilable
neighbours, when their mutual interests are at stake.”

The elections are a constant source of disturbance in the Kabyle
villages.

The way in which these villages are laid out, their dwellings
overlooking one another, makes these struggles very sanguinary ones.
Some of the more lofty houses have crenelated parapets, the remainder
are loopholed, and the _djama_ (mosque) becomes, on account of the
military importance of its upper storey, a regular fortress, assuring
the victory to its fortunate possessors.

Everybody knows that the French conquered Kabylia in 1857. What most
contributed to the submission of the Kabyles, was the promise made to
them to respect their customs and their communal elections. This promise
was kept, and the respect shown to their local usages not a little
contributed to consolidate the French conquest.

The Kabyle villages, seen from a distance, look picturesque, but on
mixing with their inhabitants and entering their houses, the charm
vanishes. The question immediately suggests itself how it is possible
for any human beings to dwell in the midst of such universal neglect,
and of such hideous filth.

“Every Kabyle,” says M. Duhousset, “is revoltingly dirty: there are no
baths to be found in the whole of Kabylia of the Djujina. The children
receive no care. The result of this neglect is frequent ophthalmia,
sometimes complete blindness; they are also often subject to cutaneous
diseases, or worse hereditary affections, which these mountaineers hand
down from generation to generation, continuing to exist in spite of them
. . . . . the women, good mothers who suckle their children up to three
or four years of age . . . . the men, industrious workmen and good
agriculturists.”

The Kabyles are independent in disposition, observant by nature, and
fond of labour: but they are inclined to be avaricious, revengeful, and
quarrelsome. Some of their villages, as we have shown, are divided into
two hostile camps, and in many cases, part of the communal land is set
apart for warlike encounters, where all differences are settled by the
yataghan and the matchlock. Divorce is one of the sores of Kabyle
society.

It is well known that Kabylia is a rich, tranquil country, addicted to
industry, and possessing a numerous population. But a few statistics
will here have a peculiar interest.

There are in France eight departments with a smaller population than
Kabylia; these are, according to M. Duhousset, the Basses-Alpes, the
Hautes-Alpes, the Cantal, Corsica, Lozére, the Basses-Pyreneés, the
Hautes-Pyreneés, and Tarn-et-Garonne. Three departments are smaller in
extent; the Rhône, the Seine, and Vaucluse.

The average population of France is 67-963/1000 inhabitants to every
square kilometre; that of Kabylia is 67-723/1000. Looking, however, at
the average population to every kilometre in each separate department,
it appears that twenty-eight have a larger average than Kabylia, one an
equal, and fifty-seven a smaller one. The agricultural productions of
Kabylia are the ordinary fruits of African culture, especially the fig
and the olive, to which must be added large crops of wheat. Figs are the
principal article of food of the inhabitants, and olives the staple of
their agricultural industry.

During harvest-time the Kabyles cover their heads with an immense straw
hat of a pointed shape, with a huge brim, fourteen inches in width,
shading their face. A shirt, leaving the arms and legs bare, and a
leather apron, similar to that worn by our blacksmiths, constitute their
dress. They reap their corn and barley in small handfuls at a time, and
very close to the ground, with a sickle. The thrashing and winnowing is
roughly done by oxen. M. Duhousset, who witnessed the harvest and the
grinding of the corn, gives the accompanying sketch (fig. 72) of the
Kabyle flour-mills. Their olive-mill is very similar to that used in the
south of France, only their grindstones are turned by women, who fill
the part assigned by us to horses or to a steam-engine.

In Kabylia particular care is bestowed on the cultivation of the fig,
the principal article of food of the whole country. M. Duhousset took
particular notice of the artificial fecundation of the fig-tree, a
curious operation totally unknown in France.

The fig-tree, as well as the date-tree, is artificially fecundated in
Kabylia; in the case of the latter the male flower is merely
superimposed on the female blossoms to impregnate them; but with the
former it is insects that carry the fertilizing dust. This process is
termed _caprification_.

“Caprification,” says M. Duhousset, “has been practised from time
immemorial by all the inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast. This
curious and important process seemed to me to deserve a special
investigation. I have, therefore, collected a quantity of more or less
plausible details and explanations of the manner in which it is carried
out, and the advantages derived from this mode of cultivation.

“The _dokhar_ is the fruit of the wild fig-tree. It is small,
flavourless, and bitter. It is not a very eatable species, and is not
cultivated for the sake of food. It is precocious, and becomes ripe when
the other figs, still green, have not yet attained their maturity. The
tree which produces them--the caper fig-tree--yields two or three crops
in the year; but it is only the first that is generally made use of.

[Illustration: 72.--GRINDING WHEAT IN THE KABYLIA.]

“When quite ripe, the dokhar is gathered, and arranged in small bunches
(_moulak_) on a string. These strings are suspended to the boughs of the
female fig-tree, towards the end of June in the plains, towards the end
of July on the mountains. From the stem of each dokhar, when dry, issue
a quantity of small winged insects, which introduce themselves into the
fruit on the tree, instil a new life into it, and prevent it from
falling.

“These insects, agents of this fecundation, are produced and developed
in the fruit of the wild fig-tree, and leave it, as soon as arrived at
maturity, to attach themselves to the female fig-tree. Their body is
hairy, like that of the bee, which is known to fulfil an analogous
mission towards certain flowers.

“These insects are of two kinds, black and red. The first, smaller than
the second, do not carry like the latter a sting in their abdomen. The
natives assert that the black insect alone plays a useful part in the
caprification of the fig--the part played by the wind, the bird, or the
hand of man in the instance of the date. A long experience attributes to
it the privilege of preserving the figs from perishing and falling
before they have become ripe. This custom has given rise to the
well-known Kabyle proverb, ‘He who is without dokhar is without figs.’
The abundance of figs in every locality and under every difference of
climate depends upon that of the dokhar. Sometimes, however, the latter,
although plentiful, gives birth to but a small number of these
preserving insects, as in 1863, when the crop was poor, the dokhar
having produced but few insects.

“The Kabyles are convinced that one of these insects can preserve
ninety-nine figs, but that the hundredth becomes its tomb. This is
possibly only a popular prejudice; but it is as well to cite it. Truth
among primitive people becomes sometimes crystallized in the shape of a
superstition, and the inexplicable pervades everything.

“Caprification takes place at least once a year. When the dokhar is
abundant it is prudent to repeat the process several times at short
intervals, and it is most important that it should be performed at the
proper moment, either in the autumn or in the spring, or the crop may
become seriously endangered and partly lost.

“A rule generally observed in the villages where the dokhar flourishes,
is, that no one may sell it, under a penalty of a fine of two pounds, to
a stranger, or even to an ally, before the gardens of his own locality
have been copiously provided with the precious preservative.

“Previous to our rule the Kabyle tribes were continually at enmity with
one another, and the sale of the dokhar was then suspended and forbidden
between them. As the fig is the principal and indispensable food of the
inhabitants, this prohibitory measure was the surest means of starving
the enemy, or at least of occasioning him serious inconvenience. It is,
therefore, probable that the different tribes frequently came to open
blows in order to procure by bloodshed what they were unable to obtain
by purchase.”

Copper and iron are rather abundantly found in Kabylia, and its
inhabitants are expert in extracting these metals from their ores.
However, they are beginning to import metal goods from Europe.

[Illustration: 73.--KABYLE JEWELLERS.]

With tools of their own manufacture, or with those of foreign
importation, the Kabyles make a great many useful and important
articles. Jewellers and armourers are frequently found in their
villages.

Fig. 73, from a sketch by M. Duhousset, represents the workshop of a
Kabyle jeweller. The lathe of the Kabyle workman is used to make the
wooden vases and the numerous utensils sold by the Kabyles all along the
African coast. It is sufficiently noteworthy that the Kabyle turner only
uses the vertical lathe, and seems ignorant of the horizontal one so
convenient and so generally used in Europe.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Shellas_ dwell to the west of the Atlas, while the Kabyles are
found to the east of these mountains. The former are tillers of the
soil, laborious and poor. They are generally independent.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Touariks_ are a people distinct from the two preceding ones. They
are nomadic. They wander in the desert of Sahara, and make continual
raids into Egypt to carry off slaves. M. Henri Duveyrier, who has
published a detailed account of the Touariks of the North, declares that
they are hospitable and humane. They are generally considered to consist
of rather formidable tribes, accustomed to scour the desert, stop
caravans and plunder the laggards. At any rate, it is a known fact that
an ill-starred traveller, Miss Tinné, who had courageously explored
parts of Asia and Africa, was assassinated in the desert in 1869 by some
Touariks.

       *       *       *       *       *

In French Africa the generic name of Moor is given to the Mussulman
population (the Turks excepted) inhabiting Barbary and Sahara; but in
reality this name is only rightly applicable to two particular classes.
The first of these is partly composed of the inhabitants of the towns,
often supposed to be the descendants of the ancient natives of the
country, that is to say of the Libyan family, but seeming on the
contrary to be principally of Arab origin. The second comprises the
tribes, most of them nomadic, who dwell in the south-west of Sahara, and
who belong to either the Berber or the Arab race.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Egyptians_. We now proceed to speak of the Egyptians, that
unchanging race which seems to slumber on, embalmed on a conservative
soil, a vast hypogeum, where, for thirty centuries, generations, both of
human beings and of domestic animals, have succeeded generations without
any perceptible alteration. The work of Herodotus, the dialogues of
Lucian, and the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus, teach us that the
ancient Egyptians, similar in all respects to those of our own day, had
a brown coloured skin. Two contracts of sale, dating back from the time
of Ptolemy, give us particulars of the parties to it. The vendor is
called μελαγχρως (dark brown), and the buyer μελιχρως (honey coloured).
From all the documents and evidence we possess, it appears that several
varieties in the colour of the skin existed among the ancient Egyptians,
but that there was always one predominant hue. Paintings are found in
the temples and the tombs, where the persons represented have a copper
coloured, reddish, or light chocolate complexion. The faces of the women
are sometimes of a yellower tint, merging into fawn colour.

Another faithful representation of the features of the ancient Egyptians
is found in those of their paintings and sculptures that have descended
to our own time. Their physiognomy shows a peculiar and remarkable type,
as does also the shape of their bodies. According to Denon (Travels in
Egypt), the ancient inhabitants of the kingdom of the Pharaohs had full
but refined and voluptuous figures, calm and serene faces, soft and
rounded features, long almond shaped eyes, half closed, languishing, and
raised at the outer corner, as if the glare and heat of the sun
habitually fatigued them. Round cheeks, thick and prominent lips, a
large but smiling mouth, and a dark reddish copper tinted complexion,
completed the peculiar expression of their countenance.

Blumenbach, after examining a large number of mummies, and comparing
them with the productions of ancient art, established three leading
types of ancient Egyptians, including, with more or less deviation, all
individual casts of face; the Ethiopian, the Indian, and the Berber
type. The first is distinguished by a prominent jaw and a thick lip, by
a broad flat nose, and by protruding eyes. This type coincides with the
description given by Herodotus and other Greek writers, who assign to
the Egyptian a black complexion and woolly hair. The second type is
widely different. The nose is long and narrow, the eyelids are thin,
long, and slanting obliquely from the top of the nose towards the
temples; the ears are set high in the head, the body is short and
slight, and the legs are very long. This picture resembles the Hindoos
from beyond the Ganges.

Such were the ancient people of Egypt. Its inhabitants of to-day are
difficult to class from an ethnographic point of view. They must not be
confounded, as is often done, with the Arab race. The present Egyptians
are the old indigenous or Berber race, modified by its fusion with new
elements. This old indigenous race is still to be met with in the
country, sparsely strewn, but quite recognizable. It is this small part
of the population which bears the name of Kopts.

The Kopts, a race preserved by their religion from miscegenation, but
feebly represent the primitive Egyptians; for ancient Egypt was
conquered and subjugated, first by the Arabs, then by the Persians, then
by the Greeks and Romans, and lastly by the Mussulmans.

The Kopts (fig. 74) are generally above the middle height; they are
robust in stature, and the colour of their skin is a dull red. They have
a broad forehead, a rounded chin, full cheeks, a straight nose with
strongly curved nostrils, large brown eyes, a narrow mouth with thick
lips and white teeth, high projecting ears, and extremely black beards
and eyebrows. The striking resemblance of the Kopts to ancient Egyptian
sculpture is a sufficient proof that this group of mankind is really the
remnant of the ancient stock of Egypt, slightly altered by mixture with
the other races that have successively occupied their country.

The Kopts became Christians in the second century. In the seventh
century, at the time of the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, the Kopts
numbered 600,000. To-day they only amount to 150,000, of whom 10,000
reside in Cairo. They venerate St. Mark as their principal patron. They
go to communion regularly every Friday, lead a very austere life, and
allow their priests to marry.

The Kopts have black eyes, and, in general, curly hair. Morose,
taciturn, and dissimulating, they cringe to their superiors, hate their
equals, and are arrogant to their inferiors. They excel as accountants
in all kinds of business. They carry on exclusively certain industries,
such as the manufacture of mills, of apparatus for irrigation, and of
jewellery.

The Koptic language is the ancient language of the Pharaohs, mixed with
words from the Greek and other tongues. It is written in the Greek
character. It is no longer grammatically taught, and is but little
spoken. It is, however, still used in their form of worship.

[Illustration: 74.--KOPTS OF THE TEMPLE OF KRANAH.]

The Kopts enjoy rather a bad reputation in Egypt. Accomplices in the
Arab invasion, and therefore tolerated by the followers of Mahomet, they
were employed by the Mamelukes to collect the taxes. Thieves and
mendicant monks abound amongst them. Fig. 74 represents Koptic priests
before the temple of Kranah.

The most unfortunate portion of the Egyptian population, the peasants
and the labourers, the same workmen who have been so useful in
constructing the Suez Canal, are called Fellahs.

From an ethnographic point of view, the Fellahs are descended from the
primitive indigenous inhabitants, modified by admixture with the Arabs.
Although they speak the Arab tongue, the coarseness of their features
keeps them distinct from the Arabs. The soil of Egypt thus supports a
singular admixture of races, and it is impossible now-a-days to point
out one single pure type. This is a result of the miserable political
state of the country. From the very first, Egypt has always been the
prey of alien conquerors, who have succeeded one another in one long
roll, each in their turn adding some new feature to those of the
original inhabitants of the country. In “Travels in Egypt,” by Messrs.
Cammas and Lefèvre, published in the “Tour du Monde,” we read the
following observations on the Fellahs:--

[Illustration: 75.--A FELLAH WOMAN AND CHILDREN.]

“The Fellahs have but a feeble conception of the dignity of man and of
their own value; the only answer they give to blows is a complaint.
Sometimes, indeed, they rebel like a flock of sheep, but with a
conviction that their effort will be of no avail. It is thus, at the
times of conscription, they resist the soldiery; but after a few have
been killed, the rest allow themselves to be huddled on board the
man-of-war, in which they are taken down the Nile to Cairo, the women
and the young girls following them for some miles along the banks with
cries and lamentations. A Fellah’s existence is not essentially more
unhappy than that of our peasant hinds. His disposition is rather
cheerful than melancholy; and every circumcision, every marriage, is the
excuse for a holiday, shared by the whole village. Their songs and
their dances are redolent of the spontaneous mirth instinctive in
negroes. But with everything to render life agreeable, the consciousness
of rights and obligations, that something that constitutes the freeman
and the citizen, is wanting in them. The Fellah is fond of his home and
of his hamlet; but Egypt is for him neither a nation nor a fatherland.
It is astonishing at first sight to notice this degradation of the human
species, so sad to behold; however, if the oppressive tyranny of the
Mamelukes, the deep degradation of Egypt under the Greek and Roman
dynasties, and the old caste law, condemning the mass of the population
to the slavery of the soil, are remembered, it is easy to understand why
the Fellah, ground down under the sway of the Pharaohs, stupefied under
that of the Romans, and crushed by Mussulman fatalism, is slow to
respond to the efforts and to the intellectual tendencies of the
government of Saïd Pacha. Since the Arab conquest, the soil has been
legally the property of the sultans, the emirs, and the beys. The feudal
system that once theoretically existed amongst us was rigorously carried
into practice in Egypt. The whole of the crop harvested by the Fellahs
passed, with the exception of a modicum necessary for their absolute
existence, into the granaries of the land-owners. Now-a-days the Viceroy
has abandoned the practice of monopoly; he is anxious to change
arbitrary rights into regular taxes; he has yielded his just claims to
the labourer, and assured to the peasant his right of succession to the
fields he has watered with the sweat of his toil. But it takes a long
interval to blot out the horrible stamp of their past slavery.

[Illustration: 76.--A FELLAH DONKEY BOY.]

“The sailors of the Nile, sons and relations of the Fellahs, resemble
them in their ignorance, in their humility, in their contempt for life,
and in their natural disposition to laughter, to song, and to the dance.
But their wits are becoming sharpened by perpetual contact with
strangers; and their minds are busy on many things undreamt of by the
Fellah.”

The same travellers tell us, in speaking of Egyptian marriages:--

“Marriage in Egypt is not a public act strictly registered by the law.
When the bridegroom and the bride’s parents have come to an
understanding, when the sum to be paid by the husband has been agreed
upon (the wife brings no dower), the celebration of the union takes
place before two witnesses. Sometimes the cadi is apprized; but this is
a formality that is often neglected. In such a union, without any
ulterior guarantee, the wife is but a purchased slave. When the husband
tires of her he sends her back; she can only claim a divorce on one
single ground, for a reason considered by us also as a serious injury.
No legal notice is taken of the birth of children, who are consequently
placed in a precarious position until they are old enough to look after
themselves. Their death is easily concealed; and they occasionally
perish by the hand of one of the other wives, rivals of their mother. A
common custom allows the Nile sailors to have two wives, one at Girgeh,
for instance, and another at Assouan. The husband passes a month with
each of them in turns, as his business allows him. He brings with him a
few piastres, a piece or two of blue cotton stuff, often some little
seaman’s venture, that the wife proceeds to dispose of on his departure.
He receives in exchange the products of the place, that in turn go to
swell the trade of the other wife. We had on board a cargo of
earthenware, salt, and pipes. The sailors disembarked them here and
there as they went up the river, expecting to find on their return
stores of tobacco, dates, and horse-trappings. Polygamy looked at in
this light is productive; but it loses ground notwithstanding every day,
not amongst the poor only, but amongst the rich, who have in most cases
but one legitimate wife at a time. Besides, there is but one real cause
for polygamy--the premature old age of the women. When the men give up
the practice of marrying mere children, who become rapidly worn out by
the fatigues of precocious maternity, polygamy will cease to exist.”

Fig. 77 represents the dress of a Cairo lady.

[Illustration: 77.--A LADY OF CAIRO.]

Almas, or Egyptian dancing-girls, are now-a-days scarcely more than a
name in the country. It is difficult to find even one or two in Cairo.
The last specimens are restricted to the town of Esneh.

The travellers from whom we have taken the above details, visited the
town of Esneh, and there saw the dancing-girls. They give the following
sketch of them.

“We were conducted into a building of forbidding aspect. The
dancing-girls were grouped together in the midst of the apartment. They
were all plain enough in the face, but young and well made. The hope of
large gains had induced them to take extra pains with their dress. I
still see their low-necked vests, their wide silk pantaloons, fastened
above the hips with dazzling waistbands; their inner tunic of gauze or
flesh-coloured muslin; some with naked feet, others with long red or
yellow Turkish slippers. Most of them wore necklaces and bracelets, and
small coins hanging over their foreheads; whilst at the back of their
heads hung a small silk handkerchief, carelessly thrown on. The dance
began with a series of attitudes, beseeching and graceful, then rapidly
grew animated, till it expressed a pitch of deep passion. Their bosoms
remained immovable, while they moved the rest of their bodies as if in a
frenzy. A distribution of olives, of liqueurs, and a shower of small
coins, won us a thousand blessings, and brought our evening to a
dignified close. The almas do not meet every day with such a windfall;
and if they dance during the winter, they do not sing in the summer. The
population amidst which they live cannot afford to remunerate their
talents. Well versed in poses plastiques, but incapable of all work,
they are reduced to all sorts of expedients, and to loans, which make
them the slaves of the usurers. Their time is spent in smoking, in
drinking aquavitæ, and in consuming the omnipresent coffee. The miseries
of such an existence daily decrease the number of almas, who, in the
time of the Mamelukes, were to be found everywhere in Egypt. Esneh is
their last refuge, and was, no doubt, their birthplace.”

[Illustration: 78.--ALMA OR DANCING-GIRL.]


THE SEMITIC FAMILY.

We have already said that the races who composed the Aramean branch
kindled in Asia, at an early period in history, the torch of
civilization. This observation is more particularly applicable to the
nations of the Semitic family, of whom we are now going to speak. It is
from this family, in fact, that sprang the nations so well known in
ancient history, under the name of Assyrians, Hebrews, Phœnicians and
Carthaginians. Conquered by other races, the Assyrians, the Hebrews, the
Phœnicians, and the Carthaginians have successively disappeared and are
now almost entirely replaced by the Arabs.

We unite to the Semitic family the Arabs, the Jews, and the Syrians.

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Arabs._--The Arabs constitute the principal population of modern
Arabia; they also form a great part of the inhabitants of Egypt, Nubia,
Barbary, and Sahara. They extend into Persia, and even into Hindostan.

Some of the Arabs are shepherds (Bedouins), others cultivate the soil;
the former are nomadic, the latter sedentary. The Bedouins, children of
the desert, perpetual wanderers, active and very temperate, are smaller
and of a more slender appearance than the others, and support with ease
the fatigues and privations of their mode of life. The agricultural
Arabs, or _fehles_, are taller and more robust. The former have a wild
and suspicious cast of countenance. The characteristics of the Arab race
are, a long face, with a high-shaped head; an aquiline nose, nearly in a
line with the forehead; a retreating and small mouth; even teeth; the
eye not at all deep set, in spite of the want of prominence of the brow;
graceful figures, formed by the small volume of fatty matter and
cellular tissue, and by the presence of powerful but not largely
developed muscle; a keen wit; a lively intelligence; and a deep and
persevering mould of character. These characteristics show that they
possess a remarkable superiority over other races, and Baron Larrey has
found fresh evidence of this superiority in the shape of their head, in
the convolutions of their brain, in the consistency of their nervous
tissue, in the appearance of their muscular fibre and their bony
structure, and in the regularity and perfect development of their heart
and arterial system.

We see therefore that the Arab type is really an admirable one. This
type, consistent and well defined as a whole, has, however, undergone
considerable modifications under the influence of divers causes. The
colour of their skin varies a good deal: their complexion is sometimes
as white as that of Europeans of the most northern countries. In Yemen,
Arab women have been noticed whose complexion was a deep yellow. In that
portion of the valley of the Nile contiguous to Nubia, the Arabs are
black. In this same valley of the Nile, above Dengola, the _Shegya_
Arabs are jet black, a bright clear black, a colour which the English
traveller Waddington thought the most beautiful that could be chosen for
a human creature.

“These men,” says Waddington, “entirely differ from negroes in the
brilliancy of their colour, in the quality of their hair, in the
regularity of their features, in the gentle expression of their limpid
eyes, and by the softness of their skin, which in this respect is not at
all inferior to that of Europeans.”

Amongst the Arabs who dwell in more temperate climates, hair more or
less fair, and blue or grey eyes have been observed. As a contrast, in
the Libyan desert, tribes have been met with whose hair was woolly and
nearly analogous to that of negroes. Taken altogether, the nomadic
Arabs, who have faithfully adhered for many centuries to the same mode
of life, exhibit, in spite of varying climates, the original mould of an
exceptional beauty.

Fig. 79 shows a tent of nomadic Arabs.

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Jews._--Among the lesser nations with an affinity to the Semitic
family, there is one remarkable by its historical importance, and by the
manner in which it has managed to preserve its original type during the
eighteen centuries in which it has been scattered all over the whole
world: we mean the Jews or Israelites.[6]

  [6] French politeness has made between these two words a distinction
      which is too odd to allow us to pass it over. In France, a rich
      Jew is called an _Israelite_, a poor Israelite is called a _Jew_.
      The Messrs. Rothschild are _Israelitish_ bankers; but if by some
      impossibility they lost their millions and went to live at
      Frankfort, in the Jew’s quarter, in the old family house, which is
      still there, and which we have seen, they would become, like their
      ancestors, _Jewish_ traders.

[Illustration: 79.--WANDERING ARABS.]

The Jews have preserved much of their own peculiar physiognomy. They are
distinguished from the nations among whom they are dispersed, by
peculiar features easily recognized in many paintings of the great
masters. Still they have ended by adopting more or less the
characteristics of the nations with whom they have long resided. Under
the sole influence of external circumstances and mode of life, the
medley of races amongst which they have existed has little by little
altered their national type. In the northern parts of Europe the Jews
have a white skin, blue eyes, and fair hair. In some portions of Germany
many are to be seen with red beards; in Portugal they are
tawny-coloured. In those districts of India where they have been long
settled, in Cochin for instance, on the Malabar coast, they are black,
and resemble the natives so exactly in complexion that it is often
difficult to distinguish them from the Hindoos.

[Illustration: 80.--JEW OF BUCHAREST.]

Fig. 80 represents a Jew of Bucharest.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Syrians._--The ancient Syrians have, as a rule, become absorbed in the
races who have conquered them; their language, however, is still spoken
by the Christian population of Mesopotamia and Chaldea, the Sourianis
and the Yakoubis or Chaldeans.

Beyrout, at the foot of the mountains of Libanus (fig. 81), is a town
and port which is the commercial centre of all Syria. Thither Libanus
sends its wine and its silks; Yemen, its coffee; Haman, its corn;
Djebaïl and Lattakiah, their pale-coloured tobaccos; Palmyra, its
horses; Damascus, its arms; Bagdad, its costly stuffs; and all Europe,
the countless productions of its industry.

[Illustration: 81.--BEYROUT.]

The very first glance at Beyrout shows how commerce prospers in that
town. The Maronite in his gloomy and coarse garments, the Druze in his
white or parti-coloured turban, armed with the most costly weapons, the
Arab displaying his picturesque rags, the Turk, the Greek, the Jew, and
the Armenian, all hurry to and fro, jostling one another in the crowd.
It is a regular Babel of language and costume: in which, however, the
Christian element predominates.

But the streets of Beyrout, like all those of Eastern towns, are not in
unison with such a brilliant panorama.

The houses are massive shells of stone; the streets are narrow and
steep, communicating sometimes by tunnelled passages; some of the
broader ones are occupied by _cafedjis_, inside which squatting Arabs
tranquilly smoke their chibouks, sheltered from the rays of the sun by
awnings of coarse rush-matting hung above their heads. In the middle of
the street the children roll about in the dust.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Maronites_ and the _Druzes_ are two lesser nations of Libanus,
speaking, however, like most modern Syrians, the Arabic tongue.

The Maronites are an influential but ignorant people. They derive their
origin from a Christian monk of the name of Maroun, who lived towards
the close of the sixth century, and died in the odour of sanctity. A
convent was founded to honour his memory. A century later, one of his
disciples, John the Maronite, espoused the quarrel of the Latin
Christians against those of Greek descent, at that time making much
headway in Libanus. The latter drew their inspiration from
Constantinople; the Maronites, on the contrary, imbibed theirs from
Rome. A religious pretext was made use of to hide political differences.
John the Maronite armed his mountaineers, led them against the enemy,
and seized the whole of Libanus right up to the walls of Jerusalem.
Keeping within their mountains, although comparatively few in number,
the Maronites preserved for a long time their independence. It was not
until 1588 that they were conquered by Ibrahim, Pacha of Cairo, and
forced to pay a yearly tribute, which they still continue to do.

[Illustration: 82.--MARONITES OF LIBANUS.]

In spite of this the Maronites, like all mountaineers, have kept their
desire for independence. Persecuted by their masters, the Mussulmans;
and by the Druzes, rivals raised up against them by the English,
jealous, according to the French, of the latter’s influence in Libanus;
on bad terms with the Ansarieh or Mutualis; they still manage, the spade
in one hand and the sword in the other, to cultivate and defend the
inheritance of their fathers.

Ignorant as they are, the Maronites are the only educated race in the
country. The magnificent convents which exist in the districts of the
Maronites, are full of ancient manuscripts and modern Arab writings.
Fig. 82 represents a Maronite convent in Libanus.

The Druzes are schismatic Mussulmans, as the Maronites are sectarian
Christians. They are inclined to cultivate the soil, but are naturally
warlike. Every Druze is a ready-made soldier, hospitable, if you will,
but quite as capable of fighting, when the opportunity offers, as the
best guérilléros in Europe.


THE PERSIAN FAMILY.

The white races who come from the south-east of the Caucasus are
generally classed in the European branch, because the languages of both
are somewhat similar, and have both some affinity with Sanscrit. But
these races have a much greater resemblance to the Arameans than to the
Europeans. Like the Arameans, the nations of the Persian family early
acquired a certain degree of civilization, to which they have since
added.

The races belonging to the Persian family have a white skin, black eyes
and hair, and are of middle height. They inhabit not only Persia, but
Armenia, Turkistan, and some portions of Hindostan.

Five well-defined divisions can be made in the races that constitute
this family: 1st, the Persians, properly so called, or the _Tadjiks_;
2nd, the Afghans; 3rd, the Kurds; 4th, the Armenians; 5th, the small
tribe of the Ossetines.

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Persians._--A great part of Persia is still occupied by tribes who
wander about the country, living in tents, and forcing their slaves and
servants to till the soil. But many of these tribes are aliens to the
Persian race. The pure race of Persians only inhabits towns and their
immediate neighbourhood. These Tadjiks or thoroughbred Persians were
formerly much more numerous than they are now. The north-east of the
kingdom of Iran is the land of their ancestors. All ancient writers have
spoken of the primitive Persians (Medes and Persians) as a singularly
fine and well made race. Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of Persia as a
country renowned for the beauty of its women (ubi feminarum pulchritudo
excellit), and all the old authors describe the Persians as men of a
tall stature and a handsome countenance.

The figures we find in the numerous ancient sculptures on Persian
monuments, at Istakhar, at Persepolis, at Ekbatana, and in many other
places, confirm in every respect this evidence. In the basso-relievos
from Nineveh in the Palace of the Louvre, in Paris, the refined features
and the good looks which distinguished the men of that ancient city are
at once recognizable. The type is a noble and dignified one, and shows
traces of much reflection and intelligence.

The Tadjiks, or modern Persians, are likewise extremely handsome. They
possess a great regularity of feature, an oval countenance, luxuriant
hair, large and well defined black eyebrows, and that soft dark eye held
in such high estimation by Easterns.

The Tadjiks are cheerful, witty, active, frivolous, idle, and vicious;
fond of luxury, dress, and display. They possess a literature, and their
language, remarkable for its flowery and ornamental diction, is spoken
not only in Persia, but by the upper classes in a large portion of
Hindostan.

Persia (the kingdom of Iran) is governed by a king (shah) who exercises
almost absolute authority and who resides at Teheran. The heir to the
throne is the eldest son of the king’s eldest son, according to an
ancient Russian custom.

The twelve provinces of which the kingdom is composed are administered
by a governor (beglebeig), who delegates his authority to a lieutenant
(kakim). The towns are ruled over by a special governor, by a police
inspector, and by a first magistrate. Every village elects a ruler
(ketlkhoda). The legislation of Persia, differing in little from that of
Turkey, is based on the Koran.

The kingdom of Persia can send into the field 150,000 soldiers; but its
permanent army does not exceed 10,000 men, among whom exist as a
special corps, the shah’s guards (gholaums). Persia has a small merchant
navy.

[Illustration: 83.--HADY-MERZA-AGHAZZI.]

Manufactures do not seem to succeed in Persia. This country, formerly
the centre of a large commerce, now imports almost everything, and only
manufactures articles of primary necessity.

India, Russia, and Afghanistan supply the Persians with most of their
manufactured goods.

Persia, having been often invaded and occupied by foreigners, has
necessarily a very mixed population. This consists of four classes:

1. The nobility, who fill all public posts.

2. The citizens of the towns, comprising the clergy, and the scholastic
profession, who are a mixture of Persians, Turks, Tartars, Georgians,
Armenians, and Arabs.

3. The peasants, belonging to the old Persian stock.

4. The nomadic or pastoral tribes, composed of Persians, to whom must be
added the remnant of the ancient conquering classes of this country. It
is from this last class that spring the soldiers and all the military
clique who constitute in Persia a real hereditary autocracy.

The religion of the ancient Persians was that of Zoroath, that is to
say, necromancy. In the third and fourth centuries of the Christian era,
Christianity made many converts in this land, although at that time it
was occupied by the Arabs. But from the commencement of the fifth
century the kings of Persia devoted their energies to crushing it out of
their country, and Mahometanism is now the predominant religion. A new
sect, the _sosists_, taking rise in a province in Persia (Kerman), has
made many converts throughout the kingdom. The votaries of this new
creed are deists, who only accept the Koran as a book of moral precepts,
and who repudiate the religious dogma that Mahomet drew from it.

Fig. 84 represents several Persian types; fig. 85 gives an idea of the
costly dress of the Persian nobility.

[Illustration: 84.--PERSIAN TYPES.]

The author of a “Journey in Persia,” Count de Gobineau, has well
described the internal life of the Persians. We will make a few
extracts from his interesting book. Let us read, for instance, the
chapter in which is described _A dinner in Ispahan_. “The table,” M. de
Gobineau tells us, “laid for twenty guests, was almost lost in the
immense size of the place. The front of the theatre was open, supported
by ten lofty columns painted in light colours; the large curtain in use,
white, with black designs embroidered on it, was stretched like an
awning over the nearest part of the gardens. The guests overlooked a
large fountain of running water and vast beds of plane trees. Numerous
servants in motley dresses, and armed each according to his own fancy
(some of them carried a complete arsenal), stood in groups at the end
of the terrace, or handed round the dishes, helping the guests. The
table had been laid out with the help of the European servants, a little
in the European manner, and a good deal according to Persian customs.
Its centre was occupied by a perfect forest of vases and cups, made of
wood, or of blue, white, or yellow and red glass, and filled with
flowers. The novelty of the thing to our hosts, lay in the spoons and
forks: when by good fortune, they managed to impale a piece upon their
fork and carry it to their mouths without pricking themselves, it was
the signal for a burst of compliments. Their appetites were a little
eccentric. One of them filled his plate with mustard, and declared he
had never tasted anything half so good. As their parade was greater than
the results, we begged them to help themselves in their own way. After
much hesitation, they consented to hold on to the fork with the left
hand while they picked up their food with the right.

[Illustration: 85.--PERSIAN NOBLEMEN.]

“In the midst of the meal we heard a jingle of silvery bells, and saw
four young boys, dressed as women, in pink and blue dresses spangled
with tinsel, enter. They were dancers. They wore little gilt caps, from
beneath which their long hair fell over their shoulders. The musicians
were seated on the ground: one played on a kind of mandolin, another on
a hand drum, and a third performed on an instrument with a quantity of
strings stretched across a table, from which he drew, with some little
sticks, sounds similar to those of the harp.”

M. de Gobineau tells us that Ispahan contains many men learned in
various branches, rich and prosperous merchants, and men of property who
live on their incomes. The town may be compared in size and tranquillity
to Versailles.

Another chapter of M. de Gobineau’s book is worth reading, that headed
“Betrothal, Divorce, and a Persian Lady’s Day.”

The betrothed are usually very young. The youth is from fifteen to
sixteen years of age, and the girl from ten to eleven. It is unusual to
find a woman of three-and-twenty who has not had at least a couple of
husbands, and often many more, so easily are divorces obtained. The
women are kept strictly secluded in one of the inner apartments or
_enderoun_, that is to say, no outsider, no stranger to the family, is
allowed to enter it. But they are quite at liberty to go out from
morning till night, and often indeed from night to morning. In the first
place they go to bathe. They go to the bath with an attendant who
carries a box full of toilet necessaries and the requisite articles of
dress, and it is at least four or five hours before they return from it.
After that they pay visits which they make to one another, and which
occupy a similar interval. Their last method of killing time is the
pilgrimage they make to the graves of their kindred, which are at no
great distance in the midst of pretty scenery.

All Persian women are so carefully veiled, and dressed so similarly, as
to their out-door garments, that it is impossible for the most practised
eye to distinguish one from the other. Besides paying visits, the
excursion to the bath, the shopping in the bazaar, and their
pilgrimages, the women go out of doors when it pleases them, and the
streets are full of them. Unfortunately Persian women are rather in the
habit of looking upon themselves as inferior irresponsible beings.
Absolute mistresses at home, they are extremely passionate and violent,
and their tiny slipper, furnished with a sharp iron point half an inch
long, often leaves very disagreeable marks on their husbands’ faces.

[Illustration: 86.--PERSIAN WOMEN.]

The Persian in his turn spends half his time in the bazaar, and the
remainder in paying and receiving visits. This is how they take place.

[Illustration: 87.--LOUTY AND BAKTYAN.]

The intending visitor sets out on horseback accompanied by as many of
his servants as he can collect, the _djelodar_, with the embroidered
saddle-cloth across his shoulders, at his horse’s head; and behind him
the _kalyaudjy_ (musician) with his instrument. When he reaches the door
he wishes to stop at, he dismounts. He then, with his servants in front
of him, traverses one or two passages, invariably low and dark, and
sometimes one or two courts, before reaching the apartments of the
master of the house. If his visitor is of higher rank than himself, the
host comes to the door to receive him. If they are equals, he sends his
son or one of his young relations to do so. The opening courtesies are
extremely flowery, such as “How came your lordship to conceive the
compassionate idea of visiting this lowly roof?” &c.

When they reach the drawing-room, they find all the men of the family
standing in a row against the wall bowing to the new-comer. As soon as
every one is seated, the visitor inquires of the master of the house,
“If, by the will of God, his nose is fat.” The latter replies: “Glory be
to God! it is so, by means of your goodness.” This same question is
sometimes repeated three or four times running. After a few moments of
conversation, tea, coffee, and sherbet are handed round. The great charm
of this rather frivolous gossip is its exaggeration, and the witty and
amusing turn given to it.

The Persians have a peculiar taste for calligraphy. Painting is an
almost unknown art amongst them. They possess, however, a certain amount
of artistic instinct, as is shown by the richness and elegance of some
of their monuments.

Fig. 87 shows the reader other types of Persian costume worn by
different classes. The Louty and the Baktyan represented in this sketch
are members of a nomadic tribe, enjoying rather a bad reputation.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Afghans_ inhabit the mountainous region lying to the north of the
lowlands of the Punjaub, that is to say, the basin of the Indus. Their
climate is a charming one. The Afghans are fine muscular men with a long
face, high cheek-bones and a prominent nose. Their hair is generally
black. Their skin, according to the part of the country they inhabit, is
dark, tawny, or white. They are an unpolished, warlike race, differing
in customs and in language both from the Persians and the natives of
India. They are subdivided into many tribes or clans.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Beloochees_, addicted to pastoral life, and primitive in their
habits, move about from place to place, dwelling in tents which are
constructed of felt on a slight framework of willow. They wander, with
their flocks, about the table lands surrounding Kelat. They are to be
found in nearly the whole of that part of eastern Persia, which, lying
between Afghanistan to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south,
stretches westwards from the Indus to the great Salt Desert. They speak
a dialect derived from the Persian.

[Illustration: 88.--AN ARMENIAN DRAWING-ROOM.]

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Brahnis_ are nomadic tribes found in the colder and more elevated
parts of the high grounds comprised within the above geographical
limits. They are short and thickset, with round faces and flat features,
and brown hair and beards. The Beloochees, who live in lower and warmer
regions, are, on the contrary, fine tall men, with regular features and
an expressive physiognomy. But those who dwell in the lowlands, close to
the Indus, have a darker and almost black skin. The Brahnis bear the
same relation to the Hindoos of the Punjaub that the Beloochees do to
the Persians.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Kurds_, who occupy the lofty mountainous region, intersected by
deep valleys, which is situated between the immense table land of Persia
and the plains of Mesopotamia, are a semi-barbarous people, very
different from the descendants of the Medo-Persians, though also sprung
from an Aryan root. They are tall, with coarse features. Their
complexion is brown, their hair is black, their eyes small, their mouth
large, and their countenances wild looking.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Armenians_ of both sexes are remarkable for their physical beauty.
Their language is nearly allied to the oldest dialects of the Aryan
race, and their history is connected with that of the Medes and Persians
by very ancient traditions. They have a white skin, black eyes and hair,
and their features are rounder than those of the Persians. The luxuriant
growth of the hair on their faces distinguishes them from the Hindoos.

Fig. 88 represents a drawing-room in an Armenian’s house at Soucha.

The climate of Armenia is generally a cold one; but in the valleys and
in the plains the atmosphere is less keen and the soil very fertile.
Crops of wheat, wine, fruit, tobacco, and cotton are very plentiful
there. Mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, and lead are found there,
but these are but little worked. Armenian horses have the reputation of
being the best bred in western Asia. Cochineal, an important production
of this country, is very plentiful at the foot of Ararat. Excellent
manna is found in the same districts. Armenian floreals are very
abundant.

Armenia nowadays constitutes the pachaliks of Erzeroum, Kars, and
Dijar-Bekr in Asiatic Turkey. Besides its indigenous population, it is
inhabited by Turks, Kurds, Turcomans, and the remnants of other nations
who formerly made raids into their country. The Armenian is
distinguished by his serious, laborious, intelligent, and hospitable
disposition. He is very successful in business. Fond of the traditions
of his forefathers, and attached to his government, he has a good deal
of sympathy with Europeans. He becomes easily accustomed to European
customs, and learns our languages with little difficulty.

The Christian religion has always been followed in Armenia, and
Armenians are much attached to their church. But this is divided into
several sects. The Gregorian (the creed founded by Saint Gregory), the
Roman Catholic, and the Protestant religions are all to be found in
Armenia. The head of the first, which is the most numerous (it musters
about four million worshippers), resides at Etchmiadzia, in Russian
Armenia. There is another patriarch, who is nearly independent, at Cis,
the ancient capital of the kingdom of Cilicia. The patriarch of the
Catholics, who are fifty thousand in number, resides at Constantinople;
but a second patriarch (_in partibus_), whose jurisdiction extends over
Syria, Cilicia, and a part of Asia Minor, dwells on Mount Libanus. The
Roman Catholics of Russian Armenia belong to the see of the Metropolitan
residing in St. Petersburg. The head of the Protestant church, which
contains from four to five thousand souls, dwells at Constantinople.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Ossetines_, who are the last branch of the Aryan race in Asia,
inhabit a small portion of the chain of the Caucasian mountains,
populated for the most part by races distinct from the Indo-Europeans.
They resemble the peasants of the north of Russia; but their customs are
barbarous, and they are given to pillage.

M. Vereschaguine met with the Ossetines in his travels in the Caucasian
provinces. A Cossack, with whom he had some trouble, belonged to this
race. The villages of the Ossetines lie on the slopes of the mountains.
On each side of the Darial Pass lofty walls, flanked by towers, are to
be seen, reminding the spectator of the days of brigandage.

The Ossetine, contrary to the customs of all the other tribes of the
Caucasus and of the Trans-Caucasus, uses beds, tables, and chairs. He
seats himself, like most Europeans, without crossing his legs.


THE GEORGIAN FAMILY.

The _Georgian_ Family is gathered together on the southern slope of the
Caucasus. The beauty of the Georgian women is proverbial. M. Moynet, in
his “Journey to the Caspian and the Black Seas,” tells us that they
deserve all their reputation. Their physiognomy is as calm and regular
as that of the immortal type handed down to us in the ancient statuary
of Greece. A head-band of bright colours in the shape of a crown, and
from which hangs a veil passing under the chin, forms their head-dress.
Two long plaits of hair fall behind, reaching nearly to their feet.
Nothing can be imagined more graceful or more dignified than this
head-dress. A long ribbon of the gayest hues serves them for a sash, and
falls down the front of their dress to the ground. Out of doors they
wrap themselves up in a flowing white cloth, which shields them from the
sun, and which they wear with much grace.

[Illustration: 89.--GEORGIANS.]

The men are also generally handsome. They have preserved the Caucasian
type untouched and unaltered. They wear rich dresses, embroidered with
gold and silver, and carry costly, sparkling arms. They are brave and
chivalrous, and are passionately fond of horses.


THE CIRCASSIAN FAMILY.

The _Circassian_ Family, collected in the Caucasian mountains, is
composed of a population distinguished for their bravery, but very
feebly civilized. The Circassian type has in the whole of the East a
great reputation for beauty, and it deserves it. Most Circassians have a
long oval face, a thin straight nose, a small mouth, large dark eyes, a
well-defined figure, a small foot, brown hair, a very white skin, and a
martial appearance.

In affinity with the Circassians are the _Abases_, who speak a dialect
akin to Circassian. They are semi-barbarous, and live on the produce of
their herds and from the spoil of their brigandage. Their features show
no sign of Circassian grace. They have a narrow head, a prominent nose,
and the lower half of their face is extremely short.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Mingrelians_, inhabitants of Mingrelia, a little kingdom on the
shores of the Caspian Sea, resemble the Georgians in physical
appearance, in manners, and in customs.




THE YELLOW RACE.


The Yellow Race has also been called the _Mongol Race_, from the
well-defined features of one of the families it comprises.

The principal characteristics which distinguish the individuals and the
families belonging to the Yellow race, are, high cheekbones, a
lozenge-shaped head, a small flat nose, a flat countenance, narrow
obliquely-set eyes, straight coarse black hair, a scanty beard, and a
complexion of a greenish hue.

However, all the members of the yellow race do not exhibit these
distinct features. Sometimes they show but a few of them, whilst others
of their characteristics would seem to identify them with the Caucasian
group. It is thus very difficult to make the proper divisions in this
race.

We will separate it into three branches--the Hyperborean, the Mongolian,
and the Sinaic branches.




CHAPTER I.

HYPERBOREAN BRANCH.


The Hyperborean branch is composed of the various races inhabiting the
districts in the vicinity of the North Pole, small in stature and
possessing the principal characteristics of the Yellow Race.

The people belonging to the Hyperborean branch are nomadic, and their
only domestic animals are the dog and the reindeer. They are spread over
a vast surface, but are few in number. They support themselves by
hunting and fishing. They are passionately fond of strong drinks, and
their civilization is of a very rudimentary character.

Some of these people might perhaps be more properly classed under the
Mongolian branch. Possibly some even should be classified in the White
Race, for they have lost, under the influences of climate and of their
mode of life, the distinguishing characteristics of the Yellow Race. As
it is very difficult to make a natural classification of these people,
we will retain that set up by M. D’Omalius d’Halloy.

This naturalist distinguishes, amid the people who compose the
Hyperborean branch, seven families, taking the affinities of language as
a basis. These are the _Lapp_, the _Samoiede_, the _Kamtschadale_, the
_Esquimaux_, the _Ienissian_, the _Jukaghirite_, and the _Koriak_
families.


THE LAPP FAMILY.

The Laplanders are thin and short, but pretty strong and active. Their
head is disproportionately large. They have a round skull, wide
cheek-bones, the broad flat Mongol nose, a protruding forehead, and
goggle eyes. Their complexion is a yellowish brown, and their hair is
usually black. This curious race of men is divided into two distinct
classes, the nomadic Laplander and the sedentary Laplander.

[Illustration: 90.--LAPLANDERS.]

The sole property of the former is his herd of reindeer. He takes these
to the high grounds, and after spending the months of June, July, and
August there, returns in September to his winter quarters. In his
journeys to and fro, he uses the reindeer as beasts of burden. When the
ground is covered with snow, he harnesses these useful quadrupeds to his
sledge. (Fig. 90.)

Dogs are also used as draft animals in Lapland. On the borders of the
scanty forests of Lapland and Siberia, the inhabitants of these
barbarous countries may often be seen gliding rapidly by on a sledge
drawn by dogs.

The usual life of the nomadic Laplander is about as wretched as can well
be imagined. A tent stretched on four uprights is his abode summer and
winter. The fire-place is in the middle of the tent, and the smoke
escapes through an opening in the top. Five or six reindeer skins
stretched round the fire form the beds of the whole family, to which the
surrounding smoke serves as the only curtain. Their furniture consists
of an iron pot and a few wooden pails. The Laplander carries in his
pocket a horn spoon and a knife. He often, instead of wooden pails,
makes use of the bladders of the reindeer. In them he carries the milk
mixed with water which is his daily beverage. Whenever he sets out on a
journey, he harnesses a pair of reindeer to his sledge.

This nomadic race, which formerly occupied a part of Sweden, is now much
diminished in numbers. Thirty years ago their number, counting all that
could be found in Russian, Norwegian, and Swedish Lapland, only came to
twelve thousand.

The sedentary Laplander is usually some poor reindeer proprietor, who
having ruined himself, and being unable to continue the life of a
wandering herdsman, becomes a beggar or a servant. If he has still a
little money left, he settles down on the sea coast, and turns
fisherman, while his wife spins wool. His existence in the midst of men
of a different race is then a solitary one. He is a regular pariah,
despised by both Swede and Norwegian. His hut, his dress, his customs,
are all different to those of the people amongst whom he has taken
shelter. His children are not allowed to marry into any of the
neighbouring families, and he is utterly and entirely alone amid
strangers.

In his “Travels in the Scandinavian States,” M. de Saint-Blaize tells us
how he suddenly fell in with an encampment of Laplanders in the night
time. A hundred deer, whose immense antlers, interlaced the one with the
other, produced the effect of a little forest, were grouped around the
camp fires. Two young Laplanders and some dogs watched over the safety
of the whole. Hard by were the tents. An old Laplander and his wife
offered the traveller some reindeer milk. It was very oily, and reminded
him of goat’s milk.

The same traveller tells us that when on a journey a Laplander’s wife
gives birth to a child, she places it in a piece of hollow wood with the
opening fenced in with wire to give play to the baby’s head. This log
with its precious contents is then placed on the mother’s back and she
rejoins the rest. When they halt, she hangs this kind of wooden
chrysalis to the bough of a tree, the wire protecting the child from the
teeth of wild animals (fig. 91).

[Illustration: 91.--A LAPP CRADLE.]


THE SAMOIEDE FAMILY.

The Samoiedes are a wandering race, spread over both sides of the great
Siberian promontory ending in Cape North. Some of their tribes are also
to be met with pretty far to the west, to the east, and to the south of
this region. They support themselves by hunting and fishing on the
borders of the Frozen Ocean. They bear much resemblance to the Tunguses
of whom we shall speak later. Their face is flat, round and broad, their
lips are thick and turned up, and their nose is wide and open at the
nostrils. Their hair is black and coarse, and they have but little on
their face. Most of them are rather under the middle size, well
proportioned and rather thick set. (Fig. 92.) They are wild and restless
in disposition.


THE KAMTSCHADALE FAMILY.

We can only just make a note of the Kamtschadales, with whom the
navigators of the Arctic seas have been for a long time acquainted. They
inhabit the southern portion of the peninsula that bears their name.
They are short men with a tawny skin, black hair, a meagre beard, a
broad face, a short flat nose, small deep-set eyes, scanty eyebrows,
immense stomachs, and thin legs.

[Illustration: 92.--SAMOIEDES.]

More to the South, in the Kourile Islands, and on the adjacent
continent, we meet with a race differing widely from the preceding one.
They are the inhabitants of these islands, and are called _Aïnos_. They
are of short stature, but their features are regular. The most
remarkable of their physical characteristics is the extraordinary
development of their hair. They are the hairiest of men, and it is this
peculiarity that makes us allude to them. Their beards cover their
breasts, and their arms, neck, and back are covered with hair. This is
an exceptional peculiarity, particularly with men of the Mongol type.

The language spoken by the Aïnos, is strikingly like that spoken by the
Samoiedes and by some of the inhabitants of the Caucasus. Their bodies
are well formed and their disposition is gentle and hospitable. They
live by hunting and fishing.


THE ESQUIMAUX FAMILY.

Greenland and most of the islands adjacent to this portion of the
American continent are inhabited by a people that have received the
common name of Esquimaux and who constitute a very numerous family.

The principal and the most numerous tribes of the Esquimaux family
belong to the American continent. But as they are quite distinct from
the other inhabitants of this continent, and as they have a much greater
resemblance to the people of Northern Asia, and to the Mongols, it is
here that we mention them.

The head of the Esquimaux has a more pyramidal shape than that of the
Mongols of Upper Asia. This is owing to the narrowing of the skull. Such
an outward sign of degradation reveals at once the moral and social
inferiority of these poor people. Their eyes are black, small and wild,
but show no vivacity. Their nose is very flat, and they have a small
mouth, with the lower lip much thicker than the upper one. Some have
been seen with plenty of hair on their face. Their hair is usually
black, but occasionally fair, and always long, coarse, and unkempt.
Their complexion is clear. They are thick-set, have a decided tendency
to obesity, and are seldom more than five feet in height.

During a journey undertaken by Dr. Kane of New York to the 82nd degree
of northern latitude, this bold explorer spent more than a year amongst
the Esquimaux who live at Etah, the nearest human abode to the North
Pole. Men, women, and children, covered only by their filth, laid in
heaps in a hut, huddled together in a kind of basket. A lamp, with a
flame sixteen inches long produced by burning seal oil, warmed and
lighted the place. Bits of seal’s flesh, from whence issued a most
horrible ammoniacal odour, lay upon the floor of this den.

Fig. 93 represents the summer encampment of a tribe of Esquimaux, and
fig. 94 a winter one. Fig. 95 represents a village, that is to say, a
collection of huts made of blocks of snow which shelter from the
excessive cold these disinherited children of Nature.

[Illustration: 93.--ESQUIMAUX SUMMER ENCAMPMENT.]

The seals from the bay of Reusselaer provide the Esquimaux with food
during the greater part of the year. More to the south, as far as
Murchison’s channel, the whale penetrates in due season. The winter
famine begins to cease when the sun reappears. January and February are
the months of hardship; during the latter part of March the spring
fisheries recommence, and with them movement and life begin anew. The
poor wretched dens covered with snow are then the scenes of great
activity. The masses of accumulated provisions are then brought out and
piled up on the frozen ground: the women prepare the skins to make shoes
of, and the men make a reserve store of harpoons for the winter. The
Esquimaux are not lazy. They hunt with a good deal of pluck, and are
often forced to hide their game in excavations that the wild beasts may
not get at it. Their consumption of food is very great. They are large
eaters, not from greediness, but of necessity, on account of the extreme
cold of these high latitudes.

[Illustration: 94.--ESQUIMAUX WINTER ENCAMPMENT.]

Fig. 96 represents, according to Doctor Kane, the chief of an Esquimaux
tribe.

Doctor Hayes, in his “Journey to the Open Sea of the North Pole,”
published in 1866, has described the Esquimaux type. A broad face, heavy
jaws, prominent cheek bones, a narrow forehead, small eyes of a deep
black, thin long lips, with two narrow rows of sound teeth, jet-black
hair, a little of it on the upper lip and on the chin; small in stature
but stoutly built, and a robust constitution of a vigorous kind; such
are the distinguishing characteristics of the people of the far north.

The Esquimaux style of dress seemed, to the learned traveller, pretty
much the same for both sexes; a pair of boots, stockings, mittens,
trousers, a waistcoat, and an overcoat. The father-in-law of one of his
travelling companions wore boots of bearskin coming up to the knee,
whilst those of his wife reached much higher, and were made of seal
leather. Their trousers were made of sealskin, their stockings of
dogskin, their mittens of sealskin, and their waistcoat of kidskin with
the fur inside.

[Illustration: 95.--ESQUIMAUX VILLAGE.]

The overcoat, made of the skin of the blue fox, does not open in front,
but is put on like a shirt. It ends in a hood covering the head like the
cowl of a monk. The women cut their coat to a point, in order to confine
their hair, which they gather together on the top of the head, and tie
up in a knot as close and as hard as a stone, by means of untanned
straps of sealskin. This is shown in fig. 93.

[Illustration: 96.--ESQUIMAUX CHIEF.]

Seal-hunting is the chief occupation of the Esquimaux. The seal is a
providential animal to the wild inhabitants of the shores of the Frozen
Ocean of America, as the reindeer is the godsend of the Laplanders,
inhabitants of the shores of the same seas in the north of Europe.

[Illustration: 97.--ESQUIMAUX BIRD-CATCHER.]

The eggs of the seabirds, particularly of the penguin, are a second
source of food to these people. The Esquimaux run all sorts of risks to
gather the eggs of these birds on the steep and giddy cliffs where their
nests are found (fig. 97).

The Esquimaux can only count up to ten, the number of their fingers.
They have no system of notation, and can assign no date to past events.
They have no annals of any kind or sort, and do not even know their own
age.


TEMISIAN FAMILY.

A people more generally known under the name of _Ostiaks_ of _Temisia_.
They speak a very different language from that of the Ostiaks of the Obi
whom we have already mentioned as belonging to the White Race.


JUKAGHIRITE AND KORIAK FAMILIES.

These are wandering people, becoming more and more absorbed in the
Russian population. They live on the shores of Behring’s Straits, or in
the interior, and much resemble the Samoiedes in their customs and in
their language.

[Illustration: 98.--YOUNG ESQUIMAUX.]




CHAPTER II.

MONGOLIAN BRANCH.


The peoples belonging to this ethnologic branch exhibit the
characteristics of the Yellow Race in the most prominent manner. They
are fond of a nomadic life, and have at different periods made wide
conquests; but they have, as a rule, become absorbed in the races they
have overcome. The Mongols are still, however, the rulers of the Chinese
Empire. They belong either to the Buddhist or to the Mahometan faith.

This branch is divided into three great families, analogous with the
differences in their language: the _Mongols_, the _Tunguses_, and the
_Turks_. We may add to them a fourth family, the _Yakuts_, for these
latter possess the physical characteristics of the Yellow Race, and
speak a Turkish dialect.


THE MONGOL FAMILY.

The most decided features of the Yellow Race are particularly prominent
in the _Mongol_ family. Its members have a larger head, a flatter face
and nose, and smaller eyes than those of the other families. They have a
broad chest, a very short neck, round shoulders, strong thick-set limbs,
short bow-legs, and a brownish-yellow complexion. The most nomadic of
the Mongol family live under the rule of the Russian and the Chinese
Empires.

Fig. 99 represents a Mongol Tartar.

Three principal nations are to be found in this family: the Kalmuks, the
Mongols proper, and the Burïats.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Kalmuks._--M. Vereschaguine, in his “Journey in the Caucasian
Provinces,” has described the nomadic Kalmuks whom he met with on the
frontier separating the Caucasus from the district of the Cossacks of
the Don. Travelling villages are found on these dreary and monotonous
steppes. The habitations of which these villages are composed consist of
tattered tents. These contain, mixed up in an incredible confusion,
boxes, cases, lassoes, saddles, and heaps of rags. A hearth is the only
sign of a fireplace. During the heat of summer, the children of both
sexes, up to the age of ten, run about almost entirely naked. In winter,
in the midst of their terrible snowstorms, and when the thermometer is
below zero, they remain for days together huddled up in their tents
beneath heaps of their clothing.

[Illustration: 99.--A MONGOL TARTAR.]

A Kalmuk’s dress consists of a shirt, of a _bechmet_, of a wide pair of
trousers, of red leather boots, and of a square cloth cap with a broad
border of sheepskin fur, generally ornamented with an immense knob on
the top. The more wealthy wear into the bargain an ample and lengthy
dressing-gown. The women do not, like the men, wear a belt round their
shirt; their hair falls from beneath their cap in several plaits tied up
with ribbons of different colours.

Cunning, trickery, fraud, and theft, are the staple occupations of these
nomadic tribes. The mother supports her child without the father
troubling himself about it, and it grows up in a state of neglect.

The food of the Kalmuks is extremely primitive. Boiled flour, diluted
with water and cooked up with pieces of horseflesh, forms the staple of
their culinary art. They are fond of tea, and drink a great deal of it,
but they season it so highly as to entirely lose its flavour. They are
downright drunkards into the bargain, and in this respect the women and
the children are not a whit behind the men. They sometimes spend whole
days in gambling with greasy and ill-assorted cards.

The Kalmuks are capital horsemen. They also breed and break-in camels,
which they sell in the Tiflis market.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Mongols proper._--The Mongols proper, or the Eastern Mongols, wander in
the steppes of Mongolia. They are divided into numerous tribes, of which
the most important have received the name of _Khalkas_.

Mongolia may be divided into two parts, as distinct by their political
proclivities as by the nature and produce of their soil.

The southern part, an arid district, is only inhabited in the vicinity
of the Chinese frontier, where numerous tribes of Mongol origin, direct
tributaries of the Chinese Empire, are to be found. The northern
division, entirely populated by Khalkas tribes, is fertile.

The Khalkas are subdivided into two castes: the Buddhist priests, and
the black men who allow their hair to grow. The latter possess an
aristocracy, leading like the rest a pastoral life, from whom are
selected the chiefs of the tribes, chosen by election. The Khalkas could
bring into the field at least fifty thousand horsemen; but they are
wretchedly armed with worthless Chinese double-edged sabres. These are
notched or spiral-shaped. Their other weapons are short spears, arrows,
matchlocks with queer-shaped breeches, shields stuffed with sheets of
leather, and coats of wire mail.

The life of a wandering Khalkasian is very uneventful. He begins his day
by going round his flocks, and mounted on a horse which is never
unsaddled, and which has spent the night fastened to a stake at the door
of his tent, he gallops after the animals that have strayed away; then
he bends his steps to a neighbouring camp to gossip with the herdsmen it
contains. Returning home, he squats in his tent for the remainder of the
day, and kills time by sleeping, drinking tea diluted with milk or
butter, or by smoking his pipe; while his wives draw water, milk the
cows, collect fuel, make cheese, or prepare wool and the skins of
various animals for clothes and shoes.

The Khalkas, hospitable and sober, possess the primitive virtues of the
Yellow Race; but they are unacquainted with either commerce or
manufactures. The only things they produce are felt stuffs, a little
embroidery, and some poorly tanned skin and leather. They dispose of
their raw produce to Russian and Chinese traders, who cheat them as much
as they can. The payments are made in blocks of tea, five blocks being
an equivalent to one ounce of Chinese silver. This tea is composed of
the coarsest kind of leaf and of the small twigs of the herb.

The dull and contemplative existence of the Khalkasian has few events to
interrupt it. It is broken only by a pilgrimage, by a funeral followed
by long festivities, by the arrival of a few travellers, or by a
marriage. This last is, as among the ancient patriarchs, only a species
of barter in which the girl is sold by her father to the highest bidder,
and is an excuse for a week’s rejoicing, in which all concerned revel in
orgies of meat, tobacco, and rice brandy.

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Burïats._--Miss Lisa Christiani, in the course of her travels in
eastern Siberia, received the chiefs of some Burïat tribes who had made
known their desire to pay her their respects. She met on the following
day, on the banks of the Selinga, an escort, sent by the Burïats in her
honour, composed of three hundred horsemen, dressed in splendid satin
robes of various colours, and wearing pointed caps trimmed with fur;
they carried bows and arrows in their shoulder-belts, and bestrode
richly caparisoned horses (fig. 100). It was in this manner the
traveller made her first acquaintance with this tribe.

[Illustration: 100.--BURÏATS ESCORTING MISS CHRISTIANI.]

At the time Miss Christiani fell in with them, the Burïats were
celebrating the obsequies of one of their principal chiefs. The
travellers were present at the funeral service and ceremonies, which
were performed in a Mongol temple, and afterwards at the games which
took place according to their ancient custom. These games included
archery, wrestling, and horse and foot races. A banquet followed, at
which roast mutton, cheese, cakes, and even some capital Champagne were
served to the guests.

The Burïats number about thirty-five thousand men, dwelling in the
mountains to the north of Baïkal. Their herds and flocks constitute
their wealth. Their religion is _Shamanism_, a species of idolatry very
prevalent amongst the inhabitants of Siberia. Their supreme God inhabits
the sun; he has under his command a host of inferior deities. Amongst
these barbarous people woman is considered an unclean and soulless
being.


THE TUNGUSIAN FAMILY.

The Tungusian family consists of two divisions: the Tunguses to the
north, and the Manchús to the south-east.

The _Tunguses_.--The Tunguses, who are scattered in Siberia from the Sea
of Okhotsk to Ienissia and to the Arctic Ocean, are nomadic, and live on
the produce of their hunting and fishing. Daouria to the north of China
is their native country. Those who live under the Russian government are
classified, according to the domestic animals constituting their
principal resources, as dog Tunguses, horse Tunguses, and reindeer
Tunguses.

The nomadic Tunguses of Daouria were described at the close of the last
century by the Russian naturalist Pallas, the same who found on the
shores of the Lena the antediluvian mammoth, still covered with its skin
and coat of hair, the discovery of which caused so much excitement in
Europe.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Manchús._--Fig. 101 represents the type of this race. We do not think it
necessary to speak of them.


THE YAKUT FAMILY.

The countenance of the _Yakuts_ is still flatter and broader than that
of the Mongols. Their long black hair flows naturally round their head,
while but little grows on their faces: they keep one tress very long, to
which they tie their bow to keep it dry when they are obliged, in the
course of their wanderings or whilst out hunting, to swim across deep
rivers.

[Illustration: 101.--MANCHÚS SOLDIERS.]

[Illustration:

_P. Sellier, p.^{t}_

_Imp. Dupuy, 22, R. des Petits Hôtels_

_G. Regamey, lith._

MONGOLIAN

ESQUIMAUX

YELLOW OR MONGOLIAN RACE]

We will take a few details about the country of the Yakuts and its
inhabitants from the interesting travels of Ouvarouski, republished in
the “Tour du Monde.” The land of the Yakuts has two different aspects.
To the south of Yakutsk, it is covered with lofty rocky mountains; to
the west and to the north, it is a plain on which grow thick and bushy
trees. It contains numberless streams of considerable depth and width.
The inhabitants, however, content themselves with boats made of planks
or wooden and bark canoes, only capable of holding two or three persons.
The reindeer is the principal means of conveyance used by the Yakuts.

[Illustration: 102.--YAKUTS.]

The severity of the cold is very great in this country--greater,
perhaps, than in any other part of Siberia. Its population is not more
than two hundred thousand. The Yakuts (figs. 102 and 103) are stoutly
made, though only of middle height. Their countenance is rather flat,
and their nose is of a corresponding width. They have either brown or
black eyes. Their hair is black, thick, and glossy. They never have any
on their faces. Their complexion is between white and black, and changes
three or four times a year; in the spring, from the action of the
atmosphere; in the summer, from that of the sun; and in winter, from the
cold and from the effects of the heat of their fires. They would make
bad soldiers, as their peaceful disposition forbids them from ever
fighting; but they are active, lively, intelligent, and affable. In
their encampments their provisions are at the service of every traveller
who seeks their hospitality. Let his stay last a week, or even a month,
there is always more than enough for both himself and his horse. They
are fond of wine and tobacco, but they endure hunger and thirst with
remarkable patience. A Yakut thinks nothing of working for three or four
days without either eating or drinking.

But let us quote Ouvarouski, the author of the description of the
customs of the Yakuts.

“The land of the Yakuts,” says this traveller, “is so extensive that the
temperature varies very much. At Olekminsk for instance, wheat thrives
capitally, because there the white frost comes late; at Djigansk on the
contrary, the earth always remains frozen two spans below the surface,
and the snow begins to fall in the month of August.

“The Yakuts are all baptised in the Russian faith, two or three hundred
of them perhaps excepted. They obey the ordinances of the church and go
annually to confession, but few receive the sacrament, because they are
not in the habit of fasting. They neither go out in the morning nor
retire to rest at night without saying their devotions. When chance has
befriended them, they thank the Lord; when misfortune overtakes them,
they regard it as a punishment inflicted by the Almighty for their sins,
and, without losing heart, patiently await better times. In spite of
these praiseworthy sentiments they still preserve some superstitious
beliefs, particularly the custom of prostrating themselves before the
devil. When long sicknesses and murrains prevail, they cause their
shamans to practise exorcisms and sacrifice cattle of a particular
colour.

“The Yakuts are very intelligent. It is sufficient to hold an hour or
two’s conversation with one of them to understand his feelings, his
disposition, and his mind. They easily comprehend the meaning of
elevated language, and guess from the very beginning what is about to
follow. Few even of the most artful Russians are able to deceive a
Yakut of the woods.

[Illustration: 103.--A YAKUT WOMAN.]

“They honour their old men, follow their advice, and consider it wrong
and unjust to offend and irritate them. When a father has several
children, he gets them married one after the other, builds a house for
them next to his own, and shares with them his cattle and his property.
Even when separated from their parents their children never disobey
them. When a father has but one son he keeps him with him, and only
separates from him if he loses his wife and marries a second who brings
him other children.

“The wealth of a Yakut is estimated in proportion to the number of
cattle he possesses; the improvement of his herds is his first thought,
his principal wish; he never thinks of putting by money till he has
succeeded in this object.

“Anger is acclimatized among all nations; the Yakut is no stranger to
it, but he easily forgets the grudge he may owe to any one, provided the
latter acknowledges his wrong and confesses himself to blame.

“The Yakuts have other failings, which must not be attributed to an
innate bad disposition. Some of them live on stolen cattle, but these
are only the needy; when they have taken enough to feed them two or
three times from the carcase of the stolen beast, they abandon the rest;
this shows that their only motive is hunger, from which they have
suffered perhaps for months and years. Besides when the thief is caught,
their princes (kinæs, from the Russian kniaz) have him whipped with
rods, according to ancient custom, before everybody. The man who has
undergone this punishment carries its degradation with him to the day of
his death. His evidence can never be again listened to, and his words
are of no weight in the assemblies where the people meet to deliberate.
He can be chosen neither as prince nor as _starsyna_ (from the Russian
_starchina_, ancient). These customs prove that theft has not become a
profession among the Yakuts. The thief is not only punished, but never
regains the name of an honest man.

“Let a Yakut once determine to master some handicraft, and he is sure to
succeed. He is at one and the same time a jeweller, a tinker, a farrier,
and a carpenter; he knows how to take a gun to pieces, how to carve
bone, and, with a little practice, he can imitate any work of art he has
once examined. It is a pity that they have no instruction to teach them
the higher arts, for they are quite capable of executing extraordinary
tasks.

“They are wonderful shots. Neither cold nor rain, neither hunger nor
fatigue, can stop them in the pursuit of a bird or an animal. They will
follow a fox or a hare for two entire days without minding their own
fatigue, or the exhaustion of their horse.

“They have a good deal of taste and inclination for trade, and are so
well up in driving a hard bargain for the smallest fox or sable skin,
that they always get a high price for it.

“The gun-stocks that they manufacture, the combs they cut and ornament,
are works of great finish. I may also remark that their oxhide leather
bottles never get foul, even if they are left for ten years full of
liquid.

“Many of the Yakut women have pretty faces; they are cleaner than the
men, and like the rest of their sex are fond of dress and fine things.
Nature has not left them without charms. They cannot be called bad,
immoral, or light women. They pay the same honour to their father and
mother, and to the aged parents of their husband, as they do to the
Deity. Their head and their feet they never allow to be seen stripped.
They never pass the right side of the hearth, and never call their
husbands’ relations by their Yakut names. The woman who is unlike this
description is looked upon as a wild beast, and her husband is
considered extremely unlucky.”

Fig. 104 represents a Yakut village and villagers.

The Yakuts profess Shamanism, an idolatrous religion practised by the
Finns, by the Samoiedes, by the Ostiaks, by the Burïats, by the
Teleouts, by the Tunguses, and by the inhabitants of the Pacific
islands. Shamanists worship a supreme being, the creator of the world,
but indifferent to human actions. Under him are male and female gods:
some good, who superintend the government of the world, and the
destinies of humanity; the others evil, the greatest of whom (Chaïtan,
Satan) is considered to be nearly as powerful as the supreme Being.
Religious veneration is also paid to their ancestors, to heroes, and to
their priests, called _Shamans_; these latter in their ceremonies
practise a great deal of sorcery.

Fig. 105 represents some of these Shamans.


THE TURKISH FAMILY.

The people belonging to the Turk or Tartar family succeeded in founding,
in very ancient times, a vast empire which included a part of central
Asia from China up to the Caspian Sea. But the Turks, attacked and
conquered by the Mongols, were subdued and driven back towards the
south-west, that is to say to the south of Europe. There they became in
their turn conquerors, and overcame, after laying it waste, a portion
of Southern Europe.

[Illustration: 104.--YAKUT VILLAGERS.]

The Turks had originally red hair, greenish-grey eyes, and a Mongolian
cast of countenance. But these characteristics have disappeared. It is
only the Turks who now-a-days dwell to the north-east of the Caucasus
who possess the characteristics of the Mongols. Those who are settled to
the south-west exhibit the features peculiar to the white race, with
black hair and eyes. The fusion of the former with the Mongols, of the
second with the Persians and the Arameans, explain these modifications.
The Turks, more than all nations, manifest the deepest zeal for
Mahometanism, and show the greatest intolerance for the followers of
other creeds.

[Illustration: 105.--YAKUT PRIESTS.]

The Turkish family comprises rather a large number of races. We shall
consider here only the _Turcomans_, the _Kirghis_, the _Nogays_, and the
_Osmanlis_.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Turcomans_.--The Turcomans wander in the steppes of Turkestan,
Persia, and Afghanistan. They stray as far as Anatolia to the west. The
tribes who dwell in this last district have the shape and the physical
characteristics of the White Race; those who inhabit Turkestan show in
their physiognomy the admixture of Mongol blood.

The Turcoman is above the middle height. He has not strongly developed
muscles, but he is tolerably powerful and enjoys a robust constitution.
His skin is white; his countenance is round; his cheek bones are
prominent; his forehead is wide, and the development of the bony part of
the skull forms a kind of crest at the top of the head. His
almond-shaped and nearly lidless eye is small, lively, and intelligent.
His nose is usually insignificant and turned up. The lower part of his
face retreats a little, and his lips are thick. He has scanty
moustachios and beard, and his ears are large and protruding.

The Turcoman’s dress consists of wide trousers falling over the foot and
tight at the hips, and of a collarless shirt open at the right side down
to the waist, falling, outside the trousers, halfway down the thigh.
Outside these an ample coat is fastened round the waist by a cotton or
wool belt. It is open in front and slightly crossed over the chest. Its
sleeves are very long and very wide, a little skull-cap is worn instead
of the hair, and is covered with a kind of head-dress called talbac,
made of sheep skin, in the shape of a cone with a slightly depressed
summit. His shoes are a sort of slipper, or simply a sandal of camel or
horse skin fastened to the foot by a woollen cord.

The type is more strongly defined in the Turcoman women than in the men.
Their cheek bones are more prominent, and their complexion is white.
Their hair is generally thick but very short; and they are obliged to
lengthen their tresses with goat-hair loops and strings, to which they
fasten glass beads and silver pearls.

We will not describe their dress, but will only observe that they wear a
round cap on their head, to which they fasten a silk or cotton veil
falling backwards. The whole is surrounded by a kind of turban of the
breadth of three fingers, on which are some little squares of silver.
One end of the veil is brought under the chin from right to left, and is
fastened, by a little silver chain ending in a hook, on the left side of
the face.

Trinkets, necklaces, bracelets, and chains play such a prominent part in
the adornment of the Turcoman women, that a dozen of them together
drawing water make as much tinkling as the ringing of a small bell.

The men wear no ornament.

Fig. 106 represents a camp of nomadic Turcomans.

M. de Blocqueville, who published in 1866, in the “Tour du Monde,” the
curious account entitled “Fourteen months’ captivity among the
Turcomans,” describes as follows the habits of these tribes:--

“The Turcomans keep close to their tent a sheep or a goat, which they
fatten and kill on special occasions. The bones are taken out and the
meat is cut up and salted; some of it is dried and acquires a high
flavour much liked by the Turcomans; the rest, cut into smaller pieces
and placed in the animal’s paunch, is kept to make soup out of. They
collect the bones and other leavings, and stew them down in a pan so as
to have some broth to offer on festival occasions to their friends and
neighbours. The intestines fall to the children’s share, who broil them
on the coals and spend whole days in sucking and pulling about this
half-cleansed offal.

[Illustration: 106.--TURCOMAN ENCAMPMENT.]

“. . . . . . Women are treated with more consideration by the Turcomans
than by other Mussulmans. But they work hard, and every day have to
grind the corn for the family food. Besides this, they spin silk, wool,
and cotton; they weave, sew, mill felt, pitch and strike the tents, draw
water, sometimes do some washing, dye woollen and silk stuffs, and
manufacture the carpets. They set up out of doors, in the fine weather,
a very primitive loom made of four stakes firmly fixed in the ground,
and, with the assistance of two large cross pieces on which they lay the
woof, begin the weaving, which is done with an iron implement composed
of five or six blades put together in the shape of a comb. These
carpets, generally about three yards long and a yard and a half wide,
are durable and well made. Every tribe or family has its own particular
pattern, which is handed down from mother to daughter. The Turcoman
women are necessarily endowed with a strong constitution to be able to
bear all this hard work, during which, they sometimes suckle their
children, and only eat a little dry bread, or a kind of boiled meat with
but little nourishment in it. It is especially turning the grindstone
that wears them out and injures their chest.

“In their rare intervals of leisure they have always got with them a
packet, of wool or of camel’s hair, or some raw silk, that they spin
whilst they are gossiping or visiting their neighbours; for they never
remain quite idle like the women of some Mussulman countries.

“The man has also his own kind of work; he tills the soil, tends the
crops, gets in the harvest, takes care of the domestic animals, and
sometimes starts on plundering expeditions in order to bring home some
booty. He manufactures hand-made woollen rope; cuts out and stitches
together the harness and clothing of his horses and camels; attempts to
do a little trade, and in his leisure moments makes himself caps and
shoes, plays on the doutar (an instrument with two strings), sings,
drinks tea, and smokes.

“These tribes are very fond of improving themselves, and of reading the
few books that chance throws into their hands.

“As a rule the children do not work before their tenth or twelfth year.
Their parents up to that age make them learn to read and write. Those
who are obliged to avail themselves of their children’s assistance
during the press of summer labour, take care that they make up for lost
time in the winter.

“The schoolmaster, mollah (priest or man of letters), is content to be
remunerated either in kind, with wheat, fruit or onions; or in money,
according to the parents’ position. Each child possesses a small board,
on which the mollah writes down the alphabet or whatever happens to be
the task; this is washed off as soon as the child has learned his
lesson.

“The parents satisfy themselves that their children know their lessons
before they set out for school: the women in particular are vain of
being able to read. The men sometimes spend whole days in trying to
understand books of poetry which come from Khiva or Boukhara, where the
dialect is a little different to their own.

“The Turcoman mollahs spend some years in these towns to enable
themselves to study in the best schools.

“All these tribes are Mahometan and belong to the Sunnite sect. The only
external difference between them and the Persians of the Schiite sect,
who recognise Ali as Mahomet’s only successor, consists, as is well
known, in their mode of saying their devotions and of performing their
ablutions.

“Whilst at their prayers, they keep their arms crossed in front of them
from the wrist upwards only, instead of keeping them by their side like
the Persians.

“Although they follow pretty regularly the precepts of their religion,
they show less fanaticism and ostentatious bigotry than most other
Easterns whom I have seen. For instance, they will consent to smoke and
eat with Jews.

“Every Turcoman has an affection for his tribe, and will devote himself,
if need be, for the common weal. Their proper and dignified manners are
far beyond a comparison with those of their neighbours--even the
inhabitants of Boukhara and Khiva, whose morals have become corrupted to
a painful degree. I have seldom seen quarrels and disturbances amongst
the Turcomans. Sometimes I have been present at very lively and animated
discussions, but I never heard any low abuse or bad language as in other
countries. They are less harsh towards their women, and show them more
consideration and respect than do the Persians.

“When strangers are present, the women pass an end of their veil under
their chin and speak in a low voice, but they are saluted and respected
by the visitors, and enter into conversation with them without any harm
being thought of it.

“A woman can go from one tribe to another, or make a journey along an
unfrequented road, without having to fear the least insult from any one.

“When a Turcoman pays a visit he makes his appearance in one invariable
manner. He lifts the door of the tent, bowing as he enters, then comes
to a stop and draws himself up to his full height: after a pause of a
few seconds, during which he keeps his eyes fixed on the dome of the
tent, probably to give the women time to cover their chins, he quietly
pronounces his salutation without making the slightest gesture. After
exchanging civilities and inquiries about the health of relations and
friends, the master of the tent begs the visitor to take a seat on the
carpet beside him. The wife then offers him a napkin with a little
bread, or bread and water, or some sour milk, or a little fruit. The
stranger discreetly only takes a few mouthfuls of what is offered to
him.”

[Illustration: 107.--KIRGHIS FUNERAL RITES.]

The _Kirghis_.--The Kirghis (fig. 107) are a nomadic tribe. They inhabit
the tract of country situated on the frontiers of the Russian and
Chinese empires. They wander to and fro on wide spreading plains from
lake Baikal to the borders of the Siberian steppes.

They travel armed, and always prepared, either for war or for the chase.
As wild beasts attack men when by themselves, they nearly always travel
on horseback in troops.

For the matter of that, the Kirghis never get off their horses. All
business is settled, and all merchandise is bought and sold, on
horseback. There is in a town, by name Shouraïahan, where the sedentary
Kirghis reside, a market-place where buyers and sellers do all their
business without leaving the saddle. The Kirghis are much below the
middle height. Their countenances are ugly. Having scarcely any bridge
to their nose, the space between their eyes is flat and quite on a level
with the rest of their face. Their eyes are long and half closed, the
forehead protrudes at the lower part, and retreats at the top. Their big
puffy cheeks look like two pieces of raw flesh stuck on the sides of
their face. They have but little beard, their body is not at all
muscular, and their complexion is a dark brown.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Kirghis are something like the Uzbeks, a race whom we can only just
mention, but the latter, living in a temperate climate, are tall and
well made, while the former, under the influence of a rigorous one, are
short and stunted.

Both these people possess a certain kind of civilization in spite of
their nomadic habits. In the districts in which they are in the custom
of travelling, they have established relays of horses, a very necessary
adjunct to their mode of life.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Nogays_.--The Nogays, who once constituted a powerful nation on the
shores of the Black Sea, are now scattered among other peoples. Many of
them still wander in nomadic tribes, on the steppes between the banks of
the Volga and the Caucasian mountains. Others who have settled down are
tillers of the soil or artisans. Such are those to be met with in the
Crimea or in Astracan. M. Vereschaguine came across some Nogays on the
Caucasian steppes. This Russian traveller says that they are peaceful
and laborious, and more capable of becoming attached to the soil than
the Kalmuks, whom they resemble a great deal in their mode of life and
in their habits and customs.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Osmanlis_.--The most important members of the Turkish family are
now the Osmanlis. The Osmanlis were the founders of the Turkish Empire
and the conquerors of Constantinople.

A tendency to a nomadic mode of life is a strong instinct with this
race. It degenerated as soon as it settled down anywhere, and this
perhaps is the cause of the decline of the Turkish nation, which at
present inhabits south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor.

The residence in Europe and the civilization of the Osmanli Turks date
from the Hegira of Mahomet in the seventh century after Christ.

Physically speaking, their outlines would seem to ally them to the
Caucasian race. This was the reason that they were so long classified
among the White or Caucasian race; but most modern anthropologists place
them in the Yellow Race.

The head of the Osmanli Turks is nearly round. The forehead is high and
broad: the nose is straight, without any depression at its bridge or
widening at the nostrils.

The Turkish head does not resemble the European head. It has a peculiar
abrupt elevation of the occiput. Its proportions, however, are very
good. Mongol descent can be traced in its shape, but scarcely in a
perceptible manner, if the features of the face alone are to be taken
into account.

The Turks, in general, are tall, well made, robust men, with a rough but
often noble physiognomy, a slightly tawny complexion, and brown or black
hair. Their carriage is dignified, and their natural gravity is still
further increased by the ample folds of their dress, by their beard, by
their moustachios, and by that imposing head-dress, the turban. They are
the most recent of all the races of Asian descent who have become
Europeanized, and they still preserve, especially in Turkey in Asia, the
habits, the costumes, and the belief that distinguished them three
centuries ago.

Now, as then, the Turks, like Easterns in general, restrict themselves
to a frugal and principally vegetable diet. They drink no wine. Bodily
exercises, such as riding on horseback and the use of arms, develop
their strength. Their hospitality is dignified and ceremonious. They are
small talkers, are much given to devotion, at least to its outward and
visible signs; and they dwell in quiet unpretending houses surrounded by
gardens. The Turk is a stranger to the feverish life of our European
capitals. Lazily reclining on his cushions, he smokes his Syrian
tobacco, sips his Arabian coffee, and seeks from a few grains of opium
an introduction into the land of dreams.

Such is Turkish life among the higher classes. The common people and the
labourers have none of these refinements of existence. Yet the lower
classes are less unhappy in Turkey, and in the East in general, than are
those of European nations. Eastern hospitality is not an empty word. A
wealthy Mussulman never sends empty away the wretched who seek his
assistance. Besides, it takes so little to support these temperate
healthy people, and the earth so plentifully supplies vegetable produce
in the East, that poor people can always find food and a roof to cover
them. The Caravanserai are public inns where travellers and workmen are
lodged for nothing; and the hospitality shown to the unfortunate
wayfarer by the country land-owners is really patriarchal.

Polygamy is less in vogue in Turkey and in the East than is supposed. A
Turkish woman being a very expensive luxury, that is to say, being in
the habit of doing nothing and of spending a great deal, it is only very
rich Mussulmans that can allow themselves the pleasure of supporting
more than one wife. Sometimes, indeed, the bride’s parents insert a
clause in the marriage contract, by which the husband gives up his right
as a Mahometan to possess four wives.

Besides their legitimate wives, the wealthy and the great keep a
collection of Georgian and Circassian slaves in the lonely sets of
rooms, closed by Eastern jealousy to all prying eyes, which are called
_harems_ and not _seraglios_. It is only within these isolated
apartments that Turkish women, whether wives or concubines, allow their
faces and arms to be seen. Out of doors they are always wrapped up in a
triple set of veils, which conceal their features from the keenest eye.

Mahomet permitted women to abstain from taking part in public prayer in
the mosques. It is therefore only in the interior of the harem that any
gathering of Mussulman women can take place. It is there, too, that they
give one another parties and entertainments.

[Illustration: 108.--A HAREM.]

An erroneous impression of the Turkish woman’s position is prevalent in
Europe. Many European women would be glad to exchange their lot in life
and their liberty for the supposed slavery of the Turkish women. Of
course we are only alluding here to their material position, and not
speaking from a moral point of view.

The Turkish lady is born to total and complete idleness. A young girl
who, at fourteen years of age, can not only sew fairly, but can actually
read, is considered a very well educated person. If she can also write,
and is acquainted with the first one or two rules of arithmetic, she is
quite learned. The woman of the middle classes never condescends to
trade, she is always idle. Even the poor woman rarely works, and then
only when it suits her.

The Turkish woman then, to whatever class she may happen to belong, is a
votary of the far niente. To drive away ennui, the wealthier make or
receive visits or frequent parties. In the harems of the rich, each lady
receives her friends in her own room. There they talk, sing, or tell one
another stories. They listen to music, they go to pantomimes, to dances,
and walk in the gardens. They pass the long hours agreeably by taking
baths together, by swinging in hammocks, by smoking the narguilhé, and
by giving elegant little dinner parties.

An evening party in a harem (la Kalva) is rather a rare occurrence, for
night festivities are not among Mussulman habits. No man is present at
these parties. As the guests arrive, the lady of the house begs them to
be seated, and places them side by side on a divan with their legs
crossed under them, or leaning on one knee. Coffee and a tchibouk with
an amber mouthpiece are handed round. Small portions of fruit jelly are
served on a silver embossed dish. Each guest, after a little ceremonious
hesitation, helps herself with the only spoon in the dish, and which
everybody uses. Each then puts her lips to a large tumbler of water
which follows the jelly.

General and animated conversation then begins. The maids of the lady of
the house seat themselves so that every one can see them, and begin to
sing, accompanying themselves on the harp, on the mandolin, on little
kettledrums, or on tambourines. Afterwards other young girls go through
a kind of pantomimic dance. When the music and the dances are over, they
play games of cards, and the party winds up with a supper (fig. 109).

Pleasure out of doors has other attractions. The Turkish ladies of the
middle class frequent the bazaars and pay one another visits.

There are three kinds of these visits: visits that have been announced
beforehand, unexpected visits, and _chance_ visits. The last are the
most curious. Several ladies collect together and go about in the
different quarters of the town, paying visits to people whom they have
never seen (fig. 110).

[Illustration: 109.--A HAREM SUPPER.]

Walking parties in Constantinople are regular picnics. On Sundays and
Fridays people leave town provided with all sorts of refreshments. The
sultans have constructed on some of the public walks overhanging
terraces, which overlook pieces of water and form level plots of ground.
Tumblers and conjurors, musicians and dancers give performances on these
terraces. Picturesque knots of women clad in their white _yaschmacs_,
which cover the whole face and only reveal the nose, are to be seen
there. Long flowing overdresses of a thousand different hues envelope
the rest of their figure.

The Turk may be lazy, but he is not at all unsociable, and many of his
characteristics indicate a great deal of gentleness. Like the Indians
and the ancient Egyptians, the Turks, and Easterns in general, have a
great repugnance to the killing of animals. Dogs and cats abound and
swarm in the streets of the large towns, but no measures are ever taken
to prevent the multiplication and the running wild of these animals. In
Constantinople flocks of pigeons fly hither and thither and levy, on the
barges laden with wheat, a species of black mail that no one disputes
with them. The banks of the canals are thickly peopled with aquatic
animals, and their nests are safe even from the hands of children, in
our country such cruel enemies to their broods. This forbearance is
extended even to trees. If it is true that in China the law requires
every land owner who fells a tree to plant one in its stead in another
spot, it is equally true in Turkey that custom forbids an avaricious
land owner from depriving either town or country of useful and wholesome
shade. The wealthy townsmen make it a point of honour to embellish the
public promenades with fountains and with resting places, both of which,
on account of the frequency of ablutions and of prayers required by the
Mahometan religion, are indispensable. Those who can only perceive in
the Turkish nation coarseness, ignorance, and ferocity, have been
deceived by the pride natural to a Mussulman, which is made the more
offensive by his silent and sometimes abrupt manners; but the basis of
the Mussulman character contains nothing to offend. The Turks are only
what it is possible for them to be with their lamentable institutions
and their faulty laws.

[Illustration: 110.--TURKISH LADIES VISITING.]

Their law we know is simply despotism, which is carried out from the
sultan down to the lowest official, unchecked by any guarantee of equity
or of justice to individuals. The sultan (_padishah_, meaning great
lord) appoints and dismisses at pleasure every dignitary and every
official: he is the master of their fortunes and of their life. But
anarchy is rife in the kingdom, and the sultan’s authority is not always
obeyed. Pachas have attacked and annihilated the troops sent to drive
them from their governorships; others have been known to dispatch to
Constantinople the head of the general sent to crush and degrade them.

The pachas are the governors of the provinces. Their rank is reckoned by
the number of their standards or tails. They unite under one head the
military and civil power, and by a still greater abuse, they are deputed
to collect the taxes. They would be absolute sultans in their own
provinces if the law did not leave the judicial authority in the hands
of the _cadis_ and the _naïbs_.

A pacha with three tails has, like the sultan, the power of life and
death over all the agents he employs, and even over all who threaten
public safety. He keeps up a military force, and marches at their head
when called on by the sultan. A pacha has under his orders several
_beys_, or lieutenant-governors.

The interior organization of Turkey may be described as a military
despotism. The Turkish nation continues to administer its conquest as if
it were a country taken by assault; it leads the life of an army
encamped in the midst of a conquered state. Everybody and everything is
the property of the sultan. Christians, Jews, and Armenians are merely
the slaves of the victorious Ottoman. The sultan graciously allows them
to live, but even this concession they are obliged to purchase by paying
a tribute, the receipt for which bears these words: “In purchase of the
head.”

The same principle is carried out in regard to land. The Turks have no
proprietary rights; they merely enjoy the usufruct of their possessions.
When they die without leaving a male child, the sultan inherits their
property. Sons can only claim a tenth part of their paternal
inheritance, and the fiscal officials are ordered to put an arbitrary
value on this tenth part. The officers of the State do not even enjoy
this incomplete right; at their death everything reverts to the sultan.

Under such laws, it is not to be wondered at if nobody cares to
undertake expensive and lasting works. Instead of building, people
collect jewels and wealth easy to carry off or to conceal.

The sultan, like a man embarrassed with such an abuse of power, shifts
the cares of government on to the shoulders of the grand vizier.

The grand vizier is the lieutenant of the sultan. He is the
commander-in-chief of the army, he manages the finances, and fills up
all civil and military appointments.

But if the power of the grand vizier is limitless, his responsibility
and the dangers he incurs are equally great. He must answer for all the
State’s misfortunes and for all public calamities. The sword is always
suspended over his head. Surrounded by snares, exposed to all the tricks
of hatred and envy, he pays with the price of his life the misfortune of
having displeased either the populace or the highest officials. The
grand vizier has to govern the country, with the assistance of a state
council (_divan_) composed of the principal ministers. The _reiss
effendi_ is the high chancellor of the empire, and the head of the
corporation of the _kodja_, or men of letters. This corporation, which
has managed to acquire a great political influence, contains at the
present time some of the best informed men of the nation. The duty of
watching over the preservation of the fundamental laws of the empire is
entrusted to the _ulema_, or corporation of theological and legal
doctors.

These laws are very short: they consist only of the Koran, and of the
commentaries on the Koran drawn up by ancient pundits. The members of
this corporation bear the title of _ulemas_, or _effendis_. They unite
judicial to religious authority; they are at the same time the
interpreters of religion, and the judges in all civil and criminal
matters.

The _mufti_ is the supreme head of the ulema. He is the head of the
church. He represents the sultan’s vicar, as caliph or successor to
Mahomet. The sultan can promulgate no law, make no declaration of war,
institute no tax, without having obtained a _fetfa_, or approval from
the mufti.

The mufti presents every year to the sultan the candidates for the
leading judicial magistracies; these candidates are chosen from the
members of the ulema. The post of mufti would be an excellent
counterpoise to the authority of the sultan, if the latter had it not in
his power to dismiss the mufti, to send him into exile, and even to
condemn him to death.

The foregoing political and judicial organization seems at first sight
very reasonable, and would appear to yield some guarantee to the
subjects of the Porte. Dishonesty unfortunately prevents the regular
progress of these administrative institutions. The venality of
officials, their greed and their immorality, are such, that not the
smallest post, not the slightest service, can be obtained without making
them a present. Places, the judges’ decisions, and the witnesses’
evidence are all bought. False witnesses abound in no country in the
shameless way they do in the Turkish empire, where the consequences of
their perjury are the more frightful, since the cadi’s decision is
without appeal. Justice is meted out in Turkey as it was meted out three
hundred years ago among the nomadic tribes of the Osmanlis. After a few
contradictory pieces of evidence, after a few oaths made on both sides,
without any preliminary inquiry, and without any advocates, the cadi or
simply the naïb, gives a decision, based upon some passage of the Koran.
The penal code of this ignorant and hasty tribunal merely consists in
fining the wealthy, in inflicting the bastinado on the common people,
and in hanging criminals right out of hand.

Yet Turkey possesses a kind of system of popular representation. The
inhabitants of Constantinople elect _ayams_, real delegates of the
people, whose business it is to watch over the safety and the property
of individuals, the tranquillity of the town, to oppose the unjust
demands of the pachas, the excesses of the military, and the unfair
collection of taxes. These duties are gratuitously performed by the most
trustworthy men among the inhabitants. The ayams undertake all appeals
to the pacha, when there exist any just grounds of complaint, and if he
does not satisfy them, they carry their appeal to the sultan.

Every trade and handicraft in Turkey possesses a kind of guild or
corporation which undertakes to defend the rights of the association and
of its individual members. The humblest artisan is protected in all
legal matters by this corporation. It is unnecessary to say that the
corporation enforces its rights before the judges by pecuniary means.

[Illustration: 111.--A TURKISH BARBER.]

It is a great mistake to imagine that the Mussulman religion
predominates in Turkey. In Turkey in Europe, not more than a quarter of
the population profess the creed of Mahomet. The remainder are
Christians, subdivided into the leading sects of that faith. The Greeks,
the Servians, the Walachians, and the inhabitants of Montenegro belong
to the eastern Greek Church. The Armenians are numerous, and are the
more powerful on account of their known character for austerity and
honesty. Other religious communities, such as the Jakobites, called
_Kopts_ in Egypt, the Nestorians, and the Maronites, have some
influence, from the unity which reigns among their different sects; the
Druzes, for instance, defy the Mahometans to their very face. There are
more Jews in Turkey in Europe, than in any other country.

All these brotherhoods, excepting the Druzes and the Maronites, were
formerly deprived of the free right of worship, were liable to marks of
ignominy, and were handed over, defenceless, to injustice. But in the
beginning of our century, an edict of the sultan declared all his
subjects, regardless of their religion, equal in the eyes of the law.

Mahometanism, which prevails in Turkey, and in the greater portion of
the East, dates from the 610th year of our era. Its principal doctrines
are purification, prayer, and fasting. The fasting takes place in the
month of _Ramazan_, a month which is the Mussulman’s Lent, and during
which all food must be abstained from in the daytime. It is followed by
the festival of _Beyram_, during which the faithful are allowed to make
up for their preceding abstinence. A _legal charity_ is instituted by
their creed. It consists in giving every year to the poor a fortieth
part of their movable property. Another religious injunction is the
pilgrimage to Mecca, which every Mussulman is obliged to undertake at
least once in his lifetime.

Their devotions take place five times a day. Friday is the day of rest
for the Mahometans, as Sunday is that of the Christians, and Saturday
that of the Jews.

Mahometanism has inherited from the ancient Arabs the practice of
circumcision. Mussulmans are forbidden to drink intoxicating drinks, but
are allowed to marry four wives, and to make concubines of their female
slaves. Their religion deprives them of all liberty of will, as it tells
them that everything that can happen, either for evil or for good, is
settled beforehand. It is this fatalism that paralyzes all individual
enterprise, and prevents the march of progress.

Mahometanism has not been more exempt than other creeds from schisms,
which have brought to pass religious wars always so terrible in their
consequences.

Its precepts, which have their advantages from a religious point of
view, have many disastrous consequences when we regard mankind’s
physical constitution. The interdict on the use of wine, for instance,
has given rise to the secret consumption of alcoholic drinks, and to the
public use of opium.

[Illustration: 112.--TURKISH PORTER.]

The Turks, although their literary civilization is still in its infancy,
possess a system of public education. The mosques of Constantinople, of
Broussa, and of Adrianople, have colleges attached to them. Young men
are sent from all parts of the Mussulman empire to these colleges, where
they receive some amount of education. When they have finished their
course of study, in which the commentaries on the Koran play the
principal part, and when several examinations have tested their
proficiency, the pupils receive the title of _mudir_ or professor. All
civil and judicial posts are monopolized by this educated class.

But in Turkey, what knowledge there is, remains absorbed among a small
quantity of individuals; no channel exists for the free
intercommunication of ideas.

Their _kodjas_, or writers, have indeed given their fellow countrymen a
large number of works, much esteemed by them--works on the Arabic and
Persian languages, on philosophy, on morality, on Mussulman history, and
on the geography of their country. But these writings, whatever their
value, never reach the mass of the nation. There are but few printing
presses in Turkey; the copyist’s art, such as it existed in Europe in
the middle ages, still flourishes there. The state of literature in
Turkey shows us what modern civilization would have become in Europe,
without the assistance of the printer.

With this general want of literary and scientific knowledge, we
naturally expect to find Turkey far behindhand in art, in manufactures,
and in agriculture. The latter, in fact, is in a sad state throughout
the whole extent of the Ottoman empire. Manufactures exist in a few
towns; in Constantinople, in Salonica, in Adrianople, and in Rustchuk.
Their principal manufactures are carpets, morocco leather, a little
silk, thread and swords. Their commerce consists in the export of their
raw produce; such as wool, silk, cotton, leather, tobacco, and metals,
particularly copper; wine, oil, and dried fruit are also largely
exported. The Turks are good cloth manufacturers, gunsmiths, and
tanners. Their works in steel and copper, and their dyes, are equal to
the best articles of European manufacture.

The Greeks, who are very numerous in Turkey, follow all kinds of trades
and callings. They make the best sailors of the Ottoman empire, while
the Armenians are its keenest traders. The latter travel all over the
interior of Asia and India; they have branch establishments and
correspondents everywhere. Most of them, while pursuing some mechanical
art, are at the same time the bankers, the purveyors, and the men of
business of the pachas, and other great officials. Jews show in a less
favourable light in Turkey than in Europe; any business suits them, if
they can make something out of it.

Figs. 111 and 112 represent two common Turkish types--a barber and a
street porter.




CHAPTER III.

SINAIC BRANCH.


The nations belonging to the Sinaic branch (from the Latin _Sinæ_,
Chinese) have not the features of the Yellow Race so well defined as
those belonging to the Mongolian branch. Their nose is less flattened,
their figures are better, and they are taller. They early acquired
rather a high degree of civilization, but they have since remained
stationary, and their culture, formerly one of the most advanced in the
world, is now very second rate compared to the progress made by the
inhabitants of Europe and America. Chemical and mechanical arts were
early practised and carried very far by nations belonging to the Sinaic
branch. Living under a despotic government, and accustomed to abjectly
cringe to those in authority, this race developed a peculiar taste for
ceremony and etiquette. Their language is monosyllabic, their writing is
hieroglyphic, and these facts perhaps account for the scant progress
made by their civilization in modern times.

[Illustration: 113.--INDO-CHINESE OF STUNG TRENG.]

The Sinaic branch comprises the Chinese, the Japanese, and the
Indo-Chinese families.

[Illustration: 114.--INDO-CHINESE OF LAOS.]


THE CHINESE FAMILY.

The Chinese, amongst whom, out of all the Yellow Race, civilization was
the first to develop itself, have the following characteristic features.
Width and flatness in the subocular part of the face, prominent cheek
bones, and obliquely set eyes. Their features as a whole partake of the
type of the Mongol race: that is to say, they have a broad coarse face,
high cheek bones, heavy jaws, a flat bridge to their nose, wide
nostrils, obliquely set eyes, straight and plentiful hair, of a brownish
black colour with a red tint in it, thick eyebrows, scanty beards, and a
yellowish red complexion.

They constitute the principal population of the vast empire of China,
and extend even further. Many have settled in Indo-China, in the islands
of the Straits, and in the Philippine islands. China in four thousand
years has been governed by twenty-eight dynasties. The emperor is merely
an ornamental wheel in the mechanism of the Chinese government, the
councillors possessing the real power. Centralization plays a powerful
part in the administrative organization of the country. The emperor’s
authority is founded on a secular and patriarchal respect, boundless in
its influence. Veneration for old age is a law of the state. Infirm old
men, too poor to hire litters, are often seen in the streets of Pekin,
seated in little hand carriages, dragged about by their grandchildren.
As they pass, the young people about receive them respectfully, and
leave off for the moment their play or their work. The government
encourages these feelings by giving yellow dresses to very old men. This
is the highest mark of distinction a private individual can receive, for
yellow is the colour reserved for the members of the imperial family.

Their respect for their ancestors is also carried very far by the
Chinese. They practise a kind of family worship in their honour.

[Illustration: 115.--A YOUNG CHINESE.]

There are many different creeds in China. The Buddhist faith, so widely
spread in Asia, is the most general; but the higher classes follow the
precepts of Confucius. But great religious toleration exists in the
Celestial Empire. The men of the higher classes affect a well founded
contempt for the external forms of worship, and the mass of the people
do not attach much importance to them. Many widely differing creeds are
seen side by side throughout the whole empire.

[Illustration: 116.--CHINESE SHOPKEEPER.]

The Buddhist priests are called Bonzes.

[Illustration: 117.--CHINESE LADY.]

The position of women is in China a humble one. She is considered
inferior to man, and her birth is often regarded as a misfortune. The
young girl lives shut up in her father’s house, she takes her meals
alone, she fulfils the duties of a servant and is considered one. Her
calling is merely to ply the needle and to prepare the food. A woman is
her father’s, her brother’s, or her husband’s property. A young girl is
given in marriage without being consulted, without being made acquainted
with her future husband, and often even in ignorance of his name.

The wealthy Chinese shut their wives up in the women’s apartments. When
their lords and masters allow them to pay one another visits, or to go
and see their parents, they go out in hermetically closed litters. They
live in a wing of the building, reserved for their use, where no one can
see them.

[Illustration: 118.--CHINESE WOMAN.]

It is otherwise amongst the poorer classes. The women go out of doors
with their face uncovered; but they pay dearly for this privilege, for
they are nothing but the beasts of burden of their husbands. They age
very rapidly.

Polygamy exists in China, but only on sufferance. A man of rank may have
several wives, but the first one only is the legitimate one. Widows are
not allowed to remarry. Betrothals often take place before the future
husband and wife have reached the age of puberty. A betrothed girl who
loses her betrothed can never marry another.

[Illustration: 119.--MANDARIN’S DAUGHTER.]

A marriage ceremony at Pekin takes place as follows. The bride goes in
great state to the dwelling of the bridegroom, who receives her on the
threshold. She is dressed in garments embroidered with gold and silver.
Her long black tresses are covered with precious stones and artificial
flowers. Her face is painted, her lips are reddened, her eyebrows are
blackened, and her clothes are drenched with musk. Many of the Chinese
women have the complexion and the good looks of Creoles; a tiny well
shaped hand, pretty teeth, splendid black hair, a slender supple figure,
and obliquely set eyes with a piquancy of expression that lends them a
peculiar charm. The drawback to their appearance is their lavish use of
paint, and their small crippled feet.

The Tartar and Chinese ladies composing the court of the Empress, as
well as the wives of the officials residing in the capital, do nothing
to distort their feet, except to wear the theatrical buskin, in which it
is very difficult to walk. But a Chinese woman of good middle class
family would think herself disgraced, and would have a difficulty in
getting a husband, unless she had crippled her feet. This is what is
done to give them a pleasing appearance. The feet of little girls of six
years of age are tightly compressed with oiled bandages; the big toe is
bent under the other four, which are themselves folded down under the
sole of the foot. These bandages are drawn tighter every month. When the
girl has grown up, her foot presents the appearance of a closed fist.
Women with their feet mutilated in this manner walk with great
difficulty. They move about with a kind of skip, stretching out their
arms to keep their equilibrium.

Another of their conventional points of beauty is to wear their
finger-nails very long. For fear of breaking them they cover them with
little silver sheaths, which they also use as ear-picks.

A quantity of toilet accessories gives a peculiar appearance to the
costume of the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire. Fans, parasols,
pipes, snuff-boxes, tobacco-pouches, spectacle cases, and purses, are
all hung at the girdle by silken strings. The use of the fan is common
to both sexes, of all classes.

The _kang_, at once a bed, a sofa, and a chair; some mats stretched upon
the floor; and a few chairs or stools with cushions on them, are to be
found in every room of a Chinese house. The interior of these dwellings
is a true citadel of sloth. The Chinaman squatted on his mat, dallying
with his fan and smoking his pipe, is amused at the European who
actually takes the trouble to use his legs.

To give a more exact idea of domestic Chinese life, we will give a few
extracts from the interesting travels of M. de Bourboulon, a French
consul in China, travels edited by M. Poussielgue, and published in the
“Tour du Monde” in 1864.

“A Chinese palace,” says M. Poussielgue, “is thus laid out: more than
half the site is taken up with alleys, courts, and gardens crowded with
rock-work, rustic bridges, fishponds full of gold fish, aviaries stocked
with peacocks, golden pheasants, and partridges from Pe-tche-li, and
especially a quantity of painted and varnished porcelain and earthenware
jars, containing miniature trees, vines, jessamines, creepers and
flowers of all kinds. The principal room on the ground floor opens on to
the garden; a piece of open trellis work separates it from the sleeping
apartment. The ground floor also comprises the dining-room, the kitchen,
and sometimes a bath-room. When there is a second story, called _leou_,
it contains beds and lumber rooms. The entrance-hall is invariably
sacred to the ancestors and to the guardian spirits of the family. In
every room the _kang_, which serves as a bed, a sofa, or a chair; and
thick mats, laid upon the floor, are to be met with. The actual
furniture is scanty; a few chairs and stools made of hard wood, with
cushions placed on them; a small table in red lacquer work; an incense
burner; some gilt or enamelled bronze candlesticks; flower stands and
baskets of flowers; some pictures drawn on rice paper; and finally the
inevitable tablet inscribed with some moral apothegm, or a dedication to
the ancestors of the master of the house. There are no regular windows;
a few square openings, pierced in the side wall where the rooms open on
a court or garden, or inserted beneath the double beams supporting the
roof where the apartment might be overlooked from the street or from the
neighbouring houses, allow a dim light to penetrate through the cross
laths of their wooden lattices which serve as fixed blinds to them
(figs. 120 and 121).

“The wealthy, abandoning themselves to a luxurious idleness, spend half
their existence in these secluded chambers; it is almost impossible for
a European to procure admittance to them, for communicative as the
Chinese are in business, at festivals, or at receptions, they are
extremely reserved on all points concerning their domestic life.

[Illustration: 120.--CHINESE BOUDOIR.]

“Physical idleness is carried to an enormous extent in China; it is
considered ill bred to take walks, and to use the limbs. Nothing
surprises the natives more than the perpetual craving for exercise that
characterizes Europeans. Squatted on their hams, they light their pipe,
toy with their fans, and jeer at the European passers-by, whose firm
measured footsteps carry them up and down the street. It is necessary to
make excuses for coming neither on horseback nor in a palanquin, when
paying an official visit, for to do so on foot is a sign of but little
respect for the person visited.

“The palanquin is in constant use. Large depôts of these, where one can
always be hired at a moment’s notice, are established in Peking. A
palanquin carried by six coolies costs about a piastre per day; with
four coolies half a piastre; with only two, a hundred sapecas. The
French Legation keeps twenty-four palanquin porters, dressed in blue
tunics with tricolor collars and facings. Palanquins are usually open
both in front and behind; they have a small window at the side, and a
cross plank on which the passengers sit.

“The rage for gambling is one of the curses of China; a curse that has
begotten a thousand others, in all ranks and at all ages. One meets in
the streets of Peking a quantity of little itinerant gaming stalls;
sometimes consisting of a set of dice in a brass cup on a stand,
sometimes a lottery of little sticks marked with numbers, shaken up by
the croupier in a tin tube. We saw crowds round these sharpers, and the
passing workman, yielding to the irresistible temptation, loses in an
hour his day’s hard earnings. The coolies attached to the French army
used to thus lose their month’s pay the day after they got it; some of
them having pledged their clothes to the croupiers, who do a little
pawnbroking into the bargain, had to make their escape amid the jeers of
the mob, and used to return to camp with nothing on but a pair of
drawers.

“Cock and quail fighting are still practised as an excuse for gambling
by the Chinese, who stake large sums on the result. The wealthy and the
mercantile classes are just as inveterate gamesters as the common
people; they collect in the tea-houses and spend day and night in
playing at cards, at dice, at dominos, and at draughts. Their cards,
about five inches long, are very narrow, and are a good deal like ours,
with figures and pips of different colours marked on them. The game most
in vogue seems to be a kind of cribbage. Their draughtsmen are square,
and the divisions of the board are round. Their dominos are flat, with
red and blue marks. They play at draughts also with dice, a sort of
backgammon. Professional gamblers prefer dice to any other game, as it
is the most gambling of all. When they have lost all their money, they
stake their fields, their house, their children, their wives, and, as a
last resort, themselves when they have nothing else left, and their
antagonist agrees to let them make such a final stake. A shopkeeper of
Tien-tsin, who was minus two fingers of his left hand, had lost them
over the dice box. The women and children are fond of playing at
shuttlecock; it is their favourite game, and they are very expert at it.
The shuttlecock is made of a piece of leather rolled into a ball, with
one or two metal rings round it to steady it; three long feathers are
stuck into holes in these rings. The shuttlecock is kept up with the
soles of their slippers, which they use instead of battledores; it is
very seldom allowed to fall.

“Gambling, which paralyzes labour, is one of the permanent
causes of their pauperism, but there is another, still more
disastrous--dissipation. The thin varnish of decency and restraint with
which Chinese society is covered, conceals a widespread corruption.
Public morality is only a mask worn above a deep depravity surpassing
all that is told in ancient history, all that is known of the dissipated
habits of the Persians and Hindoos of our own day.

“Drunkenness, as understood in Europe, is one of the least of their
vices. The use of grape wine was forbidden, centuries ago, by some of
their emperors, who tore up all the vine trees in China. This
interdiction having been taken off under the Manchú dynasty, grapes are
grown for the use of the table, but the only wine that is drunk is rice
wine or _samchow_. A spirit as strong as our brandy is extracted from
this as well as from coarse millet seed. It induces a terrible form of
intoxication. The abuse of it by our soldiers in the Chinese campaign
caused a great deal of fatal dysentery in the army.

“The tea-houses also sell alcoholic liquor, but the eating-houses and
the taverns drive the largest trade in it.

“We cannot speak of the process of the manufacture of tea, nor of the
vast amount of labour it employs: the subject properly belongs to
southern China; we will only say that the use of tea is as common in the
north as in the south. The moment you enter a house, tea is offered to
you--it is a sign of hospitality to do so. It is given to you in
profusion; the moment your cup is empty, a silent attendant fills it,
and your host will not permit you to mention the subject of your visit
till you have drunk a certain quantity. The tea-houses are as numerous
as cafés and taverns in France; the elegant manner in which they are
furnished, and their high charges, distinguish some from others. The
rich trader and the idle man of fashion, not caring to mix with the
grimy handed workman or the coarse peasant, only frequent those houses
that have a fashionable reputation. Tea-houses can be recognized by the
large range at the end of their rooms, fitted up with huge kettles and
massive tea pots, with ovens and stoves supplying with boiling water
immense caldrons as big as a man. A singular kind of time-piece is
placed above the range; it is made of a large moulded bar of incense
divided off by equidistant marks, so that the lapse of hours can be
measured by its combustion. The Chinese can thus literally use the
expression, “consuming the time.” Morning and evening the rooms are full
of customers, who for two sapecas, the price of entrance, can sit there
and discuss their business, play, smoke, listen to music, or amuse
themselves by looking at the feats of tumblers, jugglers, and athletes.
For the two sapecas they have also the right to drink ten cups of tea
(certainly extremely small ones), with which, on trays covered with
cakes and dried fruits, a crowd of waiters keep running to and fro.

“One day,” says a letter of M. X., a French officer in the 101st
Regiment of the Line, “we determined to dine _à la chinoise_ in a
Chinese eating-house. Our coolies arranged beforehand that the price was
to be two piastres a head, a large sum for this country, where
provisions are so cheap. As a preparation for dinner, we had to thread
our way through a labyrinth of lanes, crowded with dens in which
crouched thousands of ragged beggars, poisoning the atmosphere with
their exhalations. At the entrance to the open space in front of the
eating-house stood a quantity of heaps of refuse, composed of old
vegetable stalks, rotten sausages, and dead cats and dogs, and in every
hole and corner a mass of filth as disagreeable to the nose as to the
eye. It required a strong stomach to retain an appetite after running
the gauntlet of such a horrible mess. A few tea drinkers and card
players were seated at the door, and seemed to care very little for the
pestilential character of the neighbourhood. We tried to be equally
courageous, and after admiring two immense lanterns which adorned the
entrance, and the sign inscribed in big letters, ‘The three principal
Virtues,’ we ventured to hope that honesty would prove one of them, and
that the tavern keeper would give us our money’s worth.

“Our entry into the principal room created a little excitement, for,
accustomed as the Chinese are to see us, we still, in the quarters of
the town where Europeans seldom venture, cause a certain amount of
curiosity, not unmixed with alarm. Two square tables surrounded by
wooden benches, on which had been placed, as a particular favour, some
stuffed cushions, had been prepared for us. The waiters thronged round
us with red earthen tea-pots, and white metal cups; there were no
spoons; boiling water was poured on a pinch of tea leaves, placed at the
bottom of the cups, and we were obliged to drink the infusion through a
small hole in the lid. When we had got through this ordeal like regular
Chinamen, we called for the first course, which consisted of a quantity
of wretched little lard cakes, sweetened with dried fruit; and for
_hors-d’œuvre_, a kind of caviare made of the intestines, the livers,
and the roes of fish pickled in vinegar, and some land shrimps cooked in
salt water; these were really nothing but large locusts. This dish,
however, found in most warm countries, was not at all bad. We did not
get along very well with the first course, which was immediately
followed by the second. The waiters placed on the table some plates, or
rather saucers, for they were no bigger, and some bowl-shaped dishes,
full of rice dressed in different ways with small pieces of meat
arranged in pyramids on top of it. Chop-sticks accompanied these savoury
dishes. What were we to do? Nobody but a regular Chinese can help
himself with these two little bits of wood, one of which is usually held
stationary between the thumb and the ring finger, while the other is
shifted about between the fore and middle fingers. The natives lift the
saucers to their lips, and swallow the rice by pushing it into their
mouth with the chop-sticks, but we tried to accomplish this in vain, and
all the more so, that our fits of laughter prevented us from making any
really earnest attempt. It was, however, impossible for us to compromise
the dignity of our civilization by eating with our fingers like savages,
and happily one of our number, with more forethought than the rest, had
brought with him a travelling case holding a spoon, and a knife and
fork. We then each in turn dipped the spoon into the bowls before us,
with an amount of suspicion, however, that prevented the proper
appreciation of the highly flavoured messes they contained. At last some
less mysterious dishes, in quantity enough to satisfy fifty people, made
their appearance; chickens, ducks, mutton, pork, roast hare, fish and
boiled vegetables. White grape wine and rice wine were at the same time
handed to us in microscopic cups of painted porcelain. None of the
beverages were sweet, not even the tea, but to make up for it they were
all boiling hot. The meal was brought to a close by a bowl of soup,
which was really an enormous piece of stewed meat swimming about in a
sea of gravy.

[Illustration: 121.--CHINESE SITTING-ROOM.]

“Satiated rather than satisfied, we should have preferred some more
Chinese dishes; some swallows’ nests, or a stew of _ging-seng_ roots,
but it appears that such delicacies as these must be ordered for days
beforehand, and paid for by their weight in gold. We swallowed a glass
of tafia, a liquor which is becoming quite fashionable in Chinese
eating-houses, and lighting our cigars looked about us. The day was
drawing to a close; the tavern rooms, which were at first nearly empty,
were filling with customers, who after furtively scanning us, betook
themselves to their usual occupations. The waiter kept calling out in a
loud voice the names and the prices of the dishes that were ordered, and
these were repeated by an attendant standing at the counter behind which
sat the master of the place. Some shop-keepers were playing at pigeon
fly; one held up as many of the fingers of both hands as he thought fit,
his antagonist had to guess immediately how many, and to hold up
simultaneously exactly the same number of his own. The loser paid for a
cup of rice wine.

“The room was beginning to reek with a nauseous odour, in which we
recognised the smell of opium smoke. It was the hour for that fatal
infatuation. Smokers with sallow complexions and hollow eyes, began to
disappear mysteriously into some closets at the end of the room. We
could see them lying down on mat beddings, with hard horsehair pillows.”

Fig. 122 shows one of these closets kept for the use of opium-smokers.
The utensils and paraphernalia necessary for the preparation and
lighting of the opium pipe, lie on the table.

Agriculture has in China reached a remarkable degree of perfection. It
is the great source of the wealth of the country; it is the progress it
has attained that allows the Celestial Empire to support such an immense
population in a relatively confined area. The profession of
agriculturist is consequently held in great respect. We will quote M.
Poussielgue on the subject:

“Towards the end of March, 1861,” says that writer, “Prince Kong, the
Imperial regent, proceeded in great state to the Temple of Agriculture,
on the outskirts of the Chinese part of the town of Peking, and, after
offering sacrifices to the guardian Deity of mankind, who encourages
their labour by giving them the gifts of the earth, put his own hand to
the plough, and turned up several furrows; a crowd of notabilities,
ministers, masters of the ceremonies, the great officers of state, three
princes of the Imperial family, and a deputation of labourers
accompanied the Emperor’s representative. As soon as Prince Kong had
finished ploughing the plot of ground reserved for him, and marked out
with yellow flags, the three Imperial princes, followed by the nine
chief dignitaries of the empire, took their turn at the plough, till the
whole field was covered with furrows, in which mandarins of lesser rank
scattered the seed, whilst labourers covered with rakes and rollers the
sacred germs entrusted to the ground. During the whole ceremony, choirs
of music made the air resound with their harmony.

[Illustration: 122.--OPIUM-SMOKERS.]

“This intellectual patronage, this ennobling of agriculture, has had
immense results. No country in the world is cultivated with so much
care, or perhaps, with more success than China. It does not contain a
square inch of waste ground.

“In the province of Pe-tche-li, where land is very much cut up into
small lots, agricultural operations are conducted on a limited scale,
but the intelligent manner in which they are carried out, makes up for
the inconveniences of this parcelling out. But few villages are seen
there, but in compensation for their absence a quantity of farms and
farm-houses nestle here and there under the shade of lofty trees. The
buildings take up but little room, and so economical are the peasants of
the soil, that they place their hayricks and their wheat sheaves on the
flat roofs of their dwellings. Fig. 123 represents their system.

“If, however, they are saving of the soil, they are not sparing of
pains. Thanks to the abundance and cheapness of labour, they have been
able to adopt a system of cultivating the earth in alternate rows, and
thus never to let the ground lie fallow, but to have a succession of
crops during the whole summer. Between the rows of the sorgho (_holcus
sorghum_), which reaches a height of ten or twelve feet, they sow a
plant of lesser growth, the smaller kind of millet, which thrives in the
shade of its gigantic neighbour. When they have reaped the sorgho, the
millet, exposed to the rays of the sun, ripens in its turn; they plant
rows of beans in the midst of their maize fields, and the former ripens
before the latter, of slower growth, is big enough to choke them. They
plant the earth they dig out of their draining trenches with castor-oil
or cotton plants, whose large green leaves make a kind of hedge to the
cornfields. And when the soil is barren and full of stones they plant it
with the resinous pine, or with the _cathsé_, an oily plant that
flourishes on the poorest ground.

“Nothing is more stirring than the picture presented by the wide plains
of Pe-tche-li at harvest time. The toil of the husbandman has brought
forth its fruit; the crops of all kinds fill to overflowing the
granaries; threshers, winnowers and reapers, with crowds of gleaning
women and children, fill the air with their joyous songs, as half
stripped beneath the glowing sun, with their pig-tails wound around
their heads, they zealously toil on from daybreak to night fall, only
leaving off for a few moments to swallow an onion or two, or a handful
of rice, to take a few whiffs at their pipe, or to vigorously fan
themselves when the heat becomes unbearable, and the perspiration is
running down their stalwart limbs.

[Illustration: 123.--CHINESE AGRICULTURE.]

“Water in this province is as little neglected as the land:

“Pisciculture is practised on a large scale and in the most intelligent
manner. When spring returns, a quantity of vendors of fish spawn
perambulate the country to sell this precious spat to the pond owners.
The eggs, fecundated by the milt, are carried about in small barrels
full of damp moss. These spawn-sellers are followed by hawkers of young
fry, skilful divers who catch in very fine nets the new born fish
reposing in the holes in the river beds. These fry are reared in special
ponds, and disseminated when they have grown bigger in the lakes and
larger pieces of water. The Chinese have succeeded in rearing and
preserving in artificial basins the most interesting and most productive
species of their rivers. In the immense lakes close to the Temple of
Heaven at Peking, they rear gold fish, a kind of bream weighing
sometimes as much as twenty-five pounds, carp, and the celebrated
_kia-yu_, a domestic fish. Morning and evening the keepers bring herbs
and grains for the fish, which greedily eat them, and which soon reach a
considerable size, thanks to this fattening diet. A lake managed in this
way is a greater source of revenue to its owner than the most fruitful
fields.

“The sea-shore at the mouth of the Peï-ho is covered with parks to hold
the fish at low water. These are made of several lengths of blue cotton
stuff stretched on a cane framework, which is fastened to a quantity of
small stakes. This framework folds in any direction like the leaves of a
screen. A drag net is also used by the inhabitants of the coast. Soles,
sea toads, bream, gold fish, whiting, cod and a quantity of other fish
are caught in the gulf of Pe-tche-li. Many cetaceous fish are also found
there, dolphins, several kinds of sharks, amongst them the tiger shark
(_Squalus tigrinus_), whose striped and spotted skin is used in several
manufactures, and a large species of turtle.

[Illustration: 124.--CHINESE FISHING.]

“River fishing, with which we are better acquainted, is followed in
several ingenious fashions. There is trained cormorant fishing, fly
fishing, harpoon fishing, rod fishing, and net fishing; dams are also
placed across the streams at the travelling periods of migratory fish.
The Pei-ho, crowded with fishermen, presents a most lively appearance;
on its surface you see large boats containing whole families; the women
occupied in mending the nets, in making osier fishing-rods, in cleaning
and salting the day’s catch, and in carrying in vases the fish they wish
to keep alive; the little children, with their waists girdled with a
life belt of pigs’ bladders, running about and climbing like cats up the
masts and the rigging; the men dropping their large nets perpendicularly
into the water, and easily raising them again by a piece of ingenious
mechanism consisting of a wooden counterpoise on which they lean the
whole weight of their body (fig. 124), others watching their nets lying
at the bottom of the stream, their whereabouts indicated by the wooden
floats that are bobbing up and down here and there; others again
descending the river with the current and harpooning the larger fish
with a harpoon fastened to the wrist by a strong cord. To avoid alarming
their prey, they have invented a kind of raft, made of a couple of beams
fastened together with wooden rungs ladderwise; the stem is pointed, and
in the stern, which is square, a paddle is kept with which they steer
themselves. By a wonderful piece of equilibrium they manage to keep in
an upright position, their feet on different rungs, with one hand
stretched out grasping the harpoon, and their head extended to catch a
sight of the fish as it sleeps in the sunshine on the top of the water.
It is a stirring sight to see five or six fishermen abreast, descending
with the current on these frail barks. They wear a broad-brimmed straw
hat, and their clothing consists of a waterproof jerkin of woven cane,
and a pair of drawers made of small pieces of reed stitched together.
Their naked arms and legs are muscular and bronzed, their countenance is
resolute, and its calm expression shows that they are inured to danger.
Although it often happens that the harpooned fish, more powerful than
the harpooner, makes the latter lose his balance and tumble into the
water, when his only means of safety lie in cutting the rope fastened to
his wrist to save himself from being dragged under, accidents are seldom
heard of, for all are excellent swimmers. At night a strange noise is
heard on the river, lighted up with resin torches; the fishermen rush
about the stream beating wooden drums to drive the fish towards the
spots where they have stretched their nets.”

Living is very cheap in China, owing to the skill of the agricultural
labourers and that of the artisans and mechanics. A whole family can
cook its meals with one or two pounds of dried grass, which costs about
a penny a pound. Fire-places are very little used, except in the more
northern provinces; but warm clothing is worn when the climate makes it
necessary. The dwellings have a low pitch, so that with the coal found
in many of the provinces, with the prunings of the trees, and with the
roots of the mountain shrubs, their inhabitants can cheaply procure the
fuel necessary to warm themselves with.[7]

  [7] Simon, Report of the Acclimatization Society, March, 1869.

There is a great scarcity of forests in China, as the country has been
entirely denuded to support its teeming population. Grazing fields are
equally scarce, so that butcher’s meat, beef or mutton, is dear. The
inhabitants however get along without it, thanks to the numerous
streams, rivers, lakes, and canals which intersect China, and swarm with
fish. Fishing does not take place in the streams of running water alone.
Fish are caught in the rice fields, and even in the pools caused by the
heavy rains, so rapid is the production of these animals.

[Illustration: 125.--THE CUSTOM-HOUSE AT SHANGHAI.]

A kind of fish exists in China which multiplies at such an astonishing
rate, that it produces two broods in a month, this fish is consequently
not more than a penny and the dearest tenpence a pound. All kinds of
fisheries are carried on--net, rod, otter and cormorant fishing. It is
thus that animal food for four hundred millions of inhabitants is
provided.

Pigs, ducks, and chickens are also a great resource. Pork has become
such a general article of food, that its cost is higher than that of
beef, although the latter is much the scarcest.

The ducks are found in flocks of three or four thousand on the lakes and
pieces of water. They are watched by children in a kind of small canoe.
Sometimes the drakes bring the ducklings to the water, keeping guard
over them from the bank, and recalling them when necessary with a sharp
piercing cry which the young ones perfectly understand.

There is a large trade in ducks. They dry them by putting them between a
couple of planks like plants; and they are sent in this guise to the
most remote parts of the empire. Dogs of a particular breed, reared for
the market in the southern provinces, are prepared in the same way, but
only for the consumption of the very poorest classes. Goats and sheep
are also rather largely made use of for food, but not to such an extent
as pigs, ducks and chickens.

It may be seen therefore that the Chinese have learnt how to supply the
place of the larger kind of butcher’s meat.

Vegetables however form the staple of their food. This explains how it
is possible for four hundred millions of inhabitants to exist in a
country whose acreage is not more than four or five times that of
France. Chinese horticulture contains eighty different kinds of
vegetables, and out of these eighty, at least twenty-five constitute a
direct article of food for man. But the most precious of all is rice,
and the Chinese spare no pains in perfecting its cultivation. In aid of
this cultivation they have sacrificed their forests, dug immense lakes,
and even pierced lofty mountains. For its sake they collect the water of
both stream and river, and direct its course from the mountain’s foot
over the soil they wish to irrigate. Perhaps no greater or more
grandiose work exists in the whole world than the gigantic hydraulic
system which, throughout the whole of China, from the west to the sea
coast, directs the flow of its waters, and pours them over the fields of
every tiller of its soil.

This great work was carried out four thousand years ago, but public
gratitude has not forgotten its promoter. They still point out not far
from Ning-po, the field where the little peasant used to work who after
accomplishing his enterprise became the great emperor Yu. All the
inhabitants of the canton where he was born are considered as his
descendants or as those of his family, and are exempt from taxation; and
the anniversary of his birth is celebrated every year in a special
temple with as much zeal as if the benefits he has bestowed were things
of yesterday.

The Chinese do their best not only for rice, but for every kind of
produce, or to put it better, for the earth itself, the earth that
brings it forth. Agriculture to the Chinese is more than a calling, it
is almost a religion. The Chinaman repeats to himself these words of the
old Persian law: “Be thou just to the plant, to the bull, and to the
horse; nor be thou unmindful of the dog. The earth has a right to be
sown; neglect it and it will curse thee, fertilize it and it will be
grateful to thee. It says to him who tills it from the right to the
left, and from the left to the right, may thy fields bring forth of all
that is good to eat, and may thy countless villages abound with
prosperity.” It adds again, “Labour and sow: the sower who sows with
purity obeys the whole law.”

When the earth therefore does not produce abundant crops, the Chinese
lay the blame on themselves. They purify themselves and fast. Confucius,
besides, has said: “If you wish for good agriculture, be of pure
morals.”[8]

  [8] Simon, Report of the Acclimatization Society, March, 1869.

The soil in China yields as much as ten thousand pounds of rice to
every acre. Such a result says a great deal for their rural morals.
While occupied in making the earth yield so plentifully, they have no
time for evil thoughts or actions. A moralist has said, “There can be no
cultivation without public order. Justice is begotten of the furrow.
Ceres, who at Thebes and at Athens brought men together and made the
laws, is the reflecting mind of men who till the soil.”[9] How could
Chinese agriculture be possible without a system of law, when for the
success of its rice fields it is so dependent on water, which is so
easily cut off, for the very essence of its fruitfulness. The
uninterrupted distribution of its waters, in the midst of such an
immense rural population, is a symptom of great honesty and fairness
among the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire.

  [9] Simon, Report of the Acclimatization Society, March, 1869.

Thus we see that patience, gentleness, justice and benevolence are the
predominant Chinese qualities. The Chinese have been often reproached
with being atheists; but the _devotion of labour_, the purifications and
the atonements to which they submit at the smallest warning from Heaven,
free them from this reproach.

The Bonzes, the priests of the Buddhist faith, are treated by the
Chinese with great respect. If this nation is not really a very
religious one, at least it venerates and respects the ministers of
religion.

Fig. 126 shows the usual dress of the Bonzes.

Education is widely spread in China; schools abound there. Chinese
literature, without possessing very numerous works worthy of
remembrance, has produced a good deal worthy of esteem.

The Theatre is a recreation much sought after by the people and by the
educated classes.

[Illustration:

_P. Sellier, p.^{t}_

_Imp. Dupuy, 22, R. des Petits Hôtels_

_G. Regamey, lith._

JAPANESE

CHINESE

YELLOW OR MONGOLIAN RACE]

We will make a few extracts on these points from the travels of M. de
Bourboulon, edited by M. Poussielgue, which we have already quoted:
“Their Book of Rites,” says M. Poussielgue, “directs that the education
of the child of wealthy parents shall commence from the hour even of its
birth, and bids the mother take great precautions in choosing its
nurses, whom it only tolerates. A child is weaned the moment it can lift
its hand to its mouth. At six years of age the elementary principles of
arithmetic and geography are taught him; at seven he is separated from
his mother and sisters, and no longer allowed to take meals with
them; at eight the usages of politeness are instilled into him; the
following year he is taught the astrological calendar; at ten he is sent
to a public school, where the master teaches him to read and write and
to calculate; between the ages of thirteen and fifteen he receives music
lessons and sings moral maxims instead of his hymns; at fifteen come
gymnastics, the use of arms, and riding; finally at twenty years of age,
if he is considered worthy of it, he receives the virile cap, and
changes his cotton clothing for silk garments and furs; he is also
generally married at this age.

[Illustration: 126.--CHINESE BONZE.]

“The Chinese schoolmasters (fig. 127) are rejected men of letters who
have not succeeded in passing the examinations for civil employment.
They make their scholars call out their lessons in a loud voice, and
seem to have long since appreciated the value of the system of mutual
instruction. They chastise culprits with their pigtails and with
cat-o’-nine-tails, striking them heavy blows on the hands and on the
back. Moral penalties are also inflicted; a writing fastened to his back
holds up the idle schoolboy to public contempt. The poorest class of
children are taught gratuitously in the schools.

“The importance attached by the Chinese to the writing, the reading, the
grammar, and the thorough knowledge of their language, springs from its
inherent difficulties.

“The ancient Chinese writing was ideographic, that is to say, it
represented objects by drawn characters, similar to the Egyptian system
of hieroglyphics, instead of being phonetic, that is, composed of signs
corresponding with the sounds of the spoken language. Their primitive
characters, two hundred and fourteen in number, were rough figures
imperfectly representing material objects. Ideographical writing, the
use of which by semi-barbarous peoples is easily explained, must be
rather awkward for civilized men desiring to express abstract ideas. The
Chinese have ingeniously modified their characters, so as to render them
capable of satisfying the wants of their growing civilization. Anger was
represented by a heart under a bond, a sign of slavery; friendship by
two pearls exactly alike; history, by a hand holding the emblem of
equity. As it was soon found that these ingenious figures were no longer
sufficient, they were combined in an infinite number of ways; they were
altered and multiplied to such an extent, that it takes all the science
of an old man of letters to recognize the designs of the primitive
writing in the present characters, which are more than forty thousand in
number. It is in this way that their modern writing was gradually
formed, an emblematic writing which does not correspond with the spoken
language, the one solitary exception to the rule among all civilized
nations.

“It is therefore easily to be understood that to read and write the
Chinese language is a science exacting severe study from natives of the
country, as well as from foreigners: besides, even its grammatical rules
vary very much. There are three kinds of style: the ancient or sublime
style, used in the old canonical books; the academical style, which is
adopted for official and literary documents; and the common style.

[Illustration: 127.--CHINESE SCHOOLMASTER.]

“The Chinese attach much importance to an elegant handwriting, a clever
calligrapher, or to use their own expression, a clever brush, is worthy
of their admiration. Captain Bouvier and one of the interpreters of the
French legation, were one day paying a visit to Tchong-louen, one of
the leading officials of Peking; his son, a mandarin with the blue
button, a young man of twenty-two, and already father of a child--that
is to say of a son, for girls do not count for anything--was present in
the reception-room. Tchong-louen, wishing to give an idea of his son’s
precocious accomplishments to his visitors, sent for a large cartoon in
which the youth had traced in splendid outlines, the word _longevity_,
and showed it to them with as much pride as if it had been the
certificate of some noble action or a literary work. The rooms of every
house contain similar cartoons, hung upon their walls as we in Europe
hang paintings.

“The appearance of Chinese writing is very odd; the characters are
placed one under the other in vertical lines, and run from right to
left; in a word, on this point as in many others, the Chinese proceed in
a manner diametrically opposed to ours. The position in which the
characters are placed is besides very important; for instance, the
Emperor’s name must be written with two letters higher than the others,
to omit this would be to commit treason. Everybody is familiar with
Chinese or Indian ink. It is with this substance, diluted in water and
used with a brush, that the Chinese trace the letters of their writing,
holding their hands perpendicularly, instead of placing them
horizontally, on the paper.

“Their spoken language is much less difficult; it is composed of
monosyllables, the union of which, in an infinite number of ways,
expresses every possible idea. I must not forget the accents which give
a difference of tone and expression to the monosyllabic roots. The
language of the south differs sufficiently from that of the north to
prevent the natives from understanding one another without the
assistance of the brush. Moreover, every province has its particular
dialect.

“In spite of the difficulties presented by the reading and writing of
the Chinese character, China is doubtless the land in which primary
instruction is most widely spread. Schools are found even in the
smallest hamlets whose rustics deprive themselves of some of their
gains, in order to pay a schoolmaster. It is very seldom you meet with
an entirely uneducated Chinese. The workmen and the peasants are capable
of writing their own letters, reading the government bills and
proclamations, and making notes of their daily business. Teaching in the
primary schools has for its basis, the San-tse-king, a sacred book
attributed to a disciple of Confucius, which sums up in a hundred and
sixty-eight lines all acquired knowledge and science. This little
encyclopædia, properly explained and commented on by the teacher,
suffices to give Chinese children a taste for positive knowledge, and
even to give them the desire of acquiring a wider education. There are
also colleges in the large towns where the children of the men of
letters and of the mandarins receive a complete education. Such among
others is the Imperial College at Peking.

[Illustration: 128.--CHINESE LOCOMOTION.]

“The citizens of the Celestial Empire enjoy thorough liberty of the
press, but at their own risk and peril. The government, which has no
right to forbid any publication, revenges itself afterwards by
inflicting the bastinado on the authors of the pamphlets and the
virulent satires that daily appear attacking it. A great quantity of
small portable printing-presses exists among private individuals who
both use and abuse them. There is no country in the world where the
walls are so thickly covered with bills and advertisements.

“The Chinese have practised the typographical art from time immemorial;
but as their alphabet is composed of more than forty thousand letters,
they could not make use of moveable type; they restricted themselves
therefore to carving on a piece of hard board the characters they
required, to wetting these characters with ink and to striking off a
number of copies, by applying different sheets of paper to the board.
Their binders, in opposition to ours, make these leaves up into a volume
by fastening them together by their edges. A note in the preface
generally mentions the place where the boards that printed the first
edition of the work have been deposited.

“There are in Peking several daily papers, amongst others the _Official
Gazette_, a government print, the subscription for which is a piastre
quarterly. This print, published in pamphlet shape, is a rectangular
publication containing a dozen pages, with a likeness of the philosopher
Meng-tsen on the cover. It contains a summary of all public matters, and
all leading events, the petitions and memorials addressed to the
Emperor, his decrees, the edicts of the viceroys of the provinces,
judicial ceremonies and letters of pardon, the custom-house tariffs, the
court circular, the news of the day, fires, crimes, &c., and finally the
incidents, fortunate or unfortunate, of the war against the rebel
Tae-pings. It even acknowledges the Imperial defeats, a piece of
frankness worthy of notice by the official organs of Europe and
America.

“The Chinese have a traditional and quasi-religious respect for the
preservation of all printed and written papers; they are carefully
collected and burnt when read, so as to put them beyond the reach of
profanation. It is even asserted that societies exist who pay porters to
go from street to street with enormous baskets to pick up fragments.
These new kind of rag-gatherers are paid for saving the waifs and strays
of human thought.

“Art like literature has been carried to some extent in an utilitarian
and manufacturing sense. But imaginative art, the ideally beautiful, is
a thing a Chinese does not understand.

“While acknowledging the skill with which the Chinese have written on
social economy, on philosophy, on history, and on all moral and
political science based on experience and logic, we must note the
scarcity of their purely literary works. It must not however, be
concluded that China, unlike every civilized country, does not possess
plenty of poets, novelists and dramatic authors; but their little
esteemed and badly remunerated productions are ephemeral. To-day an ode,
something appropriate to the moment, is written, it is recited or played
in the midst of applause, and to-morrow nothing remains of it.

“Theatrical propensities are nevertheless very strongly developed among
the Chinese, and the cause of this forgetfulness, this neglect is that
they are ashamed of attaching too much importance to a futile amusement.
The managers of the theatres are generally the authors of the pieces
they represent, or at any rate they modify them according to the
exigencies of the actors and the suitability of the costumes. There are
no permanent or authorized theatres in Peking: the government only
allows their temporary construction in the open spaces of the town for a
limited period during public festivals. Theatrical representations,
however, take place in many of the tea-houses, which are analogous to
our music-halls, and in nearly all the dwellings of the wealthy, who,
every time they hire a company of actors to celebrate a family
anniversary, take care, with an eye to popularity, to allow the public
free ingress into that part of their house reserved for the auditorium.”

“I have just been present,” relates M. Trèves, “at a theatrical
representation given by the secretary of state Tchong-louen in the
gardens of his palace in the Tartar town, in honour of the new year. The
theatre was something like those constructed in Paris on the esplanade
of the Invalides on the occasion of the Emperor’s fête: it was an ample
quadrilateral building in the shape of a Greek temple, supported on
either side by four columns painted in sky-blue, golden, and scarlet
stripes, and with a proscenium covered with carvings and decorations.
The stage, much wider than it was deep, was a wooden platform raised
about six feet above the level of the rest of the building. An immense
screen shuts off the back passages, where the actors dress themselves
and get themselves up. There was no scenery, only two or three chairs
and a carpet. The circular hall reserved for the audience, very large in
proportion to the stage, was paved with white marble; it was not roofed
in, and the only shelter for the spectators was the shade cast by the
large trees of the garden (fig. 129).

“We took our places on a reserved platform, placed expressly for us in
front of the stage; on either side were boxes with bamboo blinds whence
the wives of our host and those of his guests looked on at the play: to
prevent their being seen, they wore veils of silk net. The guests of
lower rank were seated in the first row, on chairs grouped round small
tables capable of accommodating four or five people. Behind them I could
see a swarm of human heads; these were the public who crowded and
pressed together to enjoy the spectacle for which they were indebted to
the munificence of the illustrious Tchong-louen. At Peking as in Paris,
the common people willingly undergo for the sake of amusement the
fatigue of standing, without any means of resting themselves, for hours
together. A few indulgent fathers had two or three children perched upon
their backs, and upon their shoulders, but I could not see a single
woman.

“At a signal given from our dais, the orchestra, placed at one wing of
the stage, and consisting of two flutes, a drum and a harp, began a
charivari which took the place of an overture; then the screen opened,
and the actors all appeared in their ordinary dress, and after bowing so
deeply that their foreheads touched the ground, their leader advanced to
the edge of the stage and commenced a pompous recital of the dramas they
were going to perform.”

Here the writer gives a description of the pieces represented, which
were kinds of allegories and historical pageants. Besides these regular
theatrical representations, there are in Peking many acrobatic troops,
male and female rope-dancers, and itinerant circuses.

[Illustration: 129.--A CHINESE PLAY.]

Marionettes, absolutely identical with those in Europe, are seen in
China. Which nation is their inventor? The name by which they have
passed from time immemorial in France, _ombres chinoises_, seems to
prove that their origin is Chinese. Hidden by ample drapery of blue
cotton stuff, the man who moves the puppets stands on a stool. A case
representing a little stage is placed on his shoulders and rises above
his head, while his hands work without revealing the mechanical means he
uses to impart the movements of players to these tiny automatons.

We will end our account of the Chinese with a glance at their
administration of justice and their judicial forms. We again quote from
M. Poussielgue:

“There is a direct relation in China between the penal judicial code and
family organization. If the Emperor is the father and the mother of his
subjects, the magistrates who represent him are also the father and
mother of those they rule over. Every outrage against the law is an
outrage upon the family. Impiety, one of the greatest crimes foreseen
and punished by the law, is really nothing but a want of respect for
parents. This is how the penal code defines impiety. ‘He is impious who
insults his nearest relations, or he who brings an action against them,
or who does not go into mourning for them, or who does not venerate
their memory, or he who is wanting in the attention due to those to whom
he owes his existence, by whom he has been educated, or by whom he has
been protected and assisted.’ The punishments incurred for the crime of
impiety are terrible; we intend to speak of them later.

“In thus carrying the feeling of what is due to family ties into the
region of politics, the Chinese legislators have created a governmental
machinery of prodigious power, which has lasted for thirty centuries,
and which, neither the numerous revolutions and dynastic changes,
neither the antagonism of the northern and southern races, neither the
immense territorial extent of the empire, neither religious scepticism,
nor finally the selfish creed of materialism developed to excess by a
decayed and stationary civilization, have been able to destroy, or even
seriously to disturb.

[Illustration: 130.--A CHINESE JUNK.]

“Amongst the supreme courts that sit at Peking, is the Court of Appeal
or Cassation (Ta-li-sse). Next to it come the assizes held in the chief
towns of each province, and presided over by a special magistrate
bearing the title of Commissary of the Court of Offences. A second
magistrate of inferior rank exercises the duties of public accuser at
these assizes. In towns of second and third importance inferior
tribunals exist which have but one judge, the mandarin or the
sub-prefect of the department. The punishments that can be awarded by
the latter are limited; when the crime deserves a greater chastisement,
the prisoner is sent to the assizes held in the chief town of his
province: if this tribunal sentences him to death, the proceedings must
be sent to the Court of Appeal at Peking, where a final decision is
pronounced at the autumn sittings. Thus no provincial tribunal has the
power of sentencing a prisoner to death; although in special cases, such
as an armed insurrection, a governor can be invested with extreme power,
similar to that conferred in Europe by martial law. Finally there are in
every part of the empire, courts of information where the sub-prefect,
in the course of his quarterly circuit, has to hear what is taking
place, decide differences, and deliver moral lectures to the public; but
this excellent institution has fallen into disuse in consequence of the
relaxation of governmental authority and the carelessness of the
mandarins.

“The result of this judicial organization is that the sub-prefect is
invested with the entire correctional power within the limits of his
civil jurisdiction, a very faulty state of things, which has been the
cause of enormous abuses.

“There are no advocates in China, and, as has been seen, very few
judges. Consequently the mode of administering justice is very summary,
and the guarantees enjoyed by a prisoner amount to nothing. His friends
or relations can, it is true, plead in his favour, but it is of no use,
unless it happens to suit the mandarin at the head of the tribunal. As
for the witnesses, they are liable to be flogged with a rattan,
accordingly as their evidence is agreeable or not. Generally speaking,
the long-winded witnesses are the most disagreeable to the mandarin who
has a mass of matters to settle, and whose time does not allow him to
enter into petty details. In point of fact the prisoner’s acquittal or
condemnation depends upon the subaltern officers of the court, who
prepare the proceedings in a manner favourable to the prisoners or the
reverse, accordingly as they have received more or less money from his
friends.

“If there is something to be praised in Chinese jurisprudence, the way
in which the punishments are carried out is on the contrary shocking.
Man is considered as a being sensitive only to physical agony and to
death; Chinese legislators have not sought to restrain him by his
honour, by his pride in himself, nor even by his self interest. The
penal code consists mainly of the bastinado, inflicted with a thick
bamboo cane, with the thick end or the thin one, and consisting of from
ten up to two hundred blows, as the crime is trifling or serious, or as
the object stolen is of little or of great value. The bastinado is given
immediately in presence of the tribunal. The most common punishments,
are, after the bastinado, the cangue, the pillory, imprisonment and
perpetual exile into Tartary for mandarins who have committed political
offences. We have mentioned that the High Court of Appeal alone can
decide on a death sentence; but the sufferings inflicted by the orders
of the inferior tribunals are so horrible, the executioners are so
ingenious in varying the tortures without causing death, the management
of the prisons is so hateful, and finally a man sentenced to the cangue,
the pillory, or the cage is exposed to such horrible anguish, that when
the death-warrant arrives from Peking, the unfortunate wretch goes
cheerfully to the scaffold, as if his last day were really the day of
his deliverance.

[Illustration: 131.--CHINESE BEGGARS.]

“Capital punishment, horribly varied in bygone days, is now only
inflicted in three ways; strangulation, decapitation, and the slow death
by stabbing.

“Strangulation is effected by means of a silken cord that two
executioners pull at each end, or by an iron collar tightened by a
screw, very much like the _garote_ at present used in Spain.
Strangulation by the silken cord, is reserved for the princes of the
Imperial family; the iron collar is used to destroy, in the silence of
the prison, those whose death it is desired to conceal.

“In public, the only mode of execution is decapitation, applied to all
vulgar crimes. The preparations for this mode of death are very simple,
and its action very rapid, owing to the temper and weight of the swords,
and the skill of those who wield them. The guillotine never attained the
lightning-like rapidity of the satellites of the dreaded Yeh, the
viceroy from whom the Anglo-French delivered the province of Canton;
they could strike off a hundred heads in a few moments. Their master
used to boast that their skill was derived from a hundred thousand
subjects of experiment he had furnished them with in less than two
years.

“The slow death of stabbing is inflicted for the crimes of treason,
parricide, and incest. The preparation for this mode of punishment must
double the miseries of the condemned convict. Securely tied to a post,
his feet and hands fastened with ropes, his head is placed in a kind of
pillory, while the magistrate delegated to witness the execution of the
sentence, draws from a covered basket a knife, on the handle of which is
written the part of the body in which it is to be inserted. This
horrible torture is continued until chance selects the heart, or some
other vital part. We hasten to add, that generally the convict’s
friends purchase the connivance of the magistrate, who takes care to
draw at the very first venture, the knife intended for the mortal blow.

“It is little wonder that the Chinese accustomed to such penalties, and
to the hideous and frequent spectacles they afford, should early become
inured to the idea of death, and that even their women and children
should possess in the highest degree the passive courage which enables
them to meet it with calmness. For many of these poor people, death is
only the welcome termination of a miserable and painful existence.

“I had the curiosity to be present at one of the last sittings of the
Court, and at my request a place was reserved for me, where I could see
without being seen.

[Illustration: 132.--CHINESE PUNISHMENT.]

“The hall of justice had nothing remarkable in an architectural sense.
It was surrounded by a lofty wall, nearly as high as the principal
edifice. The first court is enclosed by buildings used as prisons. I saw
some boxes made of enormously thick bamboo bars placed at a little
distance apart, in which prisoners were shut up during the night.

“In this court a crowd of wretched creatures with emaciated limbs, livid
faces, and barely covered with a few loathsome rags, lay sweltering in
the sun. Some were fastened by the foot with an iron chain to a weight
so heavy, that they were unable to stir it, and staggered round it like
caged wild beasts, continually turning in a space of a few feet. Others
had their arms and legs shackled together, so that they could only move
about in short jumps, which must have been very painful to judge by the
expression of their faces.

[Illustration: 133.--CHINESE PUNISHMENTS.]

“One of these prisoners had his left hand and right foot fastened in a
board a few inches in width; a policeman dragged him forward by an iron
chain fastened to a heavy collar clasped round his neck, whilst another
flogged him from behind, to make him go on. This wretched creature crept
along with great difficulty on the leg that was still free, his body
bent double in the most painful position (fig. 132).

“In another corner of the court, other prisoners were undergoing the
punishment of the cangue. I also saw a painful sight, a thief buried
alive in a wooden cage.

[Illustration: 134.--A CHINESE COURT OF JUSTICE.]

“Imagine a heavy tub upside down, under which a human being is made to
crouch; his head and his hands are slipped through three round holes,
made so excessively tight that he cannot remove them; the weight of the
cage presses on his shoulders, whatever movement he makes he must carry
it about with him. When he wishes to rest, he can only crouch upon his
knees in a most fatiguing position; when he wishes to take exercise, he
can hardly lift the weight of the tub (fig. 133). One shrinks from
attempting to realize the existence of a man condemned to a month of
such a punishment. The miserable sufferer I saw, being unable to either
eat or drink by himself, his wife had undertaken to help him; she was
standing close to the cage feeding him with rice and some little pieces
of pork, which she pushed into his mouth with chop-sticks. From time to
time, she wiped with an old piece of cloth the livid countenance of her
husband, which was running down with perspiration, whilst her little
child, slung to her back with a strap, smiled in its utter ignorance of
misery, and played with the curls of its mother’s flowing hair. This
sight affected me deeply, and I hurried on to avoid making a protest
against such atrocity.

“The entrance to the hall of justice is embellished with an external
portico, on which some mythological scenes are painted in glowing
colours.

“Presently the folding gates opened with a loud creaking, and admitted
the crowd that had gathered in the first court. At the end of the large
hall on a raised daïs, I perceived Tchong-louen in his ceremonial
costume, surrounded with his councillors and the subaltern officers of
justice. In front of him, on a table covered with a red cloth, were the
records of criminal proceedings, brushes and saucers for the Indian ink,
a bookcase containing the codes and the books of jurisprudence that
might have to be consulted, and a large case full of painted and
numbered pieces of wood. Behind the mandarin stood his fan-bearer, and
two children richly dressed in silk, who held over his head the insignia
of his dignity. On the twelve stone steps that ascended to the dais were
posted, first, the executioner, conspicuous for his wire hat, and his
red dress. He leant his right hand upon an enormous rattan cane, while
his left wielded a curved sword; then came his assistants and the
jailors carrying different instruments of torture which they clashed
noisily together, whilst continuing at measured intervals to utter
horrible yells, intended to throw terror into the minds of the
prisoners. All round the hall stood police soldiers, in the red
tasselled Manchú cap, armed with a short spear, and with two swords
sheathed in the same scabbard. Red draperies inscribed with various
sentences, and lanterns representing different monsters were hung around
the walls. In short, the whole scene was got up to impress the eager and
curious mob, which crowded thickly beneath the overhanging side
galleries, with the imposing spectacle of the symbols of justice, as
represented in fig. 134.

“I witnessed from the place reserved for me behind the judgment seat the
trial of half a score of robbers. I will not attempt to describe the
scenes of torture that followed their repeated denials of guilt. When a
prisoner persisted in asserting his innocence, the judge tossed to the
executioner one of the painted sticks or counters lying in the case on
the table before him, and on which was marked the number of blows or the
description of torture to be inflicted. This was immediately carried
into effect under the eyes of the judge and registrars who made careful
notes of the half avowals uttered by the victim in the midst of his
screams of agony.”

[Illustration: 135.--CHINESE SOLDIERS.]

Military matters are but little attended to in China. This sceptical and
timorous nation is no believer in military glory and power. Our
campaigns in China showed the value of a Chinese army. General Cousin
Montauban, since Count de Palikao, cut numbers of them to pieces, after
one or two skirmishes, in which the Chinese fled as hard as they could
the very moment they perceived a uniform.

[Illustration: 136.--CHINESE TROOPER.]

A nation of four hundred million inhabitants was conquered by six
thousand Frenchmen. The unworthy cowardice of the Chinese explain the
fact that they have always been an easy prey to conquerors.

In Chinese military matters we will restrict ourselves to reproducing
their uniforms. Fig. 135 represents that of their infantry, and fig. 136
that of their mounted troops.

[Illustration: 137.--THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.]

The real army of the Chinese nation is the care with which it holds
itself aloof from foreigners, and the manner in which it forbids them
access to its territory. Retrenched behind its wall, it is happy in its
own way and does without soldiers. The system seems a good one, since it
has succeeded for so many centuries.

The wall of China, which rigorously excludes all strangers from the
empire, is no mere metaphor. It is a solid reality. Fig. 137 gives a
view of the Great Wall taken near Peking.

The Marquis de Moges, an attaché of the embassy when M. Gros was French
Ambassador in China, has wittily summed up, in his account of his
travels, the contrast between Chinese and Western civilization. “In
China,” he says, “the magnetic needle points to the south;--the cardinal
points are five in number;--the left hand is the place of
honour;--politeness requires you to keep your head covered in the
presence of a superior, or in that of a person whom you wish to
honour;--a book is read from right to left;--fruit is eaten at the
beginning of dinner and soup at its close;--at school, children learn
their lessons aloud and repeat them all together;--their silence is
punished as a sign of idleness;--and finally, a title of nobility
conferred upon a man for some signal service rendered to the state, does
not descend to his posterity, but goes backwards and ennobles his
ancestors.”


THE JAPANESE FAMILY.

Japan, consisting of a large island, that of Nipon, and seven other
smaller islands, of which the principal are Yesso, Sitkokf, and
Kiousiou, is inhabited by an industrious and intelligent people. The
Japanese, whilst resembling the Chinese in many points, differ from them
in many others, and are far superior in a moral point of view to the
inhabitants of the Celestial Empire.

The written character of Japan is the same as that of China, and its
literature is not a distinctive one, but entirely Chinese. The two
creeds of Buddha and of Confucius prevail in Japan as they do in China.
The worship of these creeds is carried on in both countries in similar
pagodas, and their ministers are the same bonzes with shaven heads and
long gray robes. The buildings and the junks of both nations are
identical. Their food is the same, a diet of vegetables, principally
rice, and fish, washed down by plenty of tea and spirit. The coolies
carry their loads in exactly the same manner in Japan and in China, at
Nangasaki and at Peking, and make the streets resound with the same
shrill measured cries. The Japanese women wear their hair as the Chinese
women used to do before they adopted the fashion of pig-tails, and the
townspeople in Yeddo, as in Nankin, seclude themselves in their houses,
which are impervious both to heat and cold.

But the resemblance stops there. The Japanese, a warlike and feudal
nation, would be indignant at being confounded with the servile and
crafty inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, who despise war, and whose
sole aim is commerce. A Chinaman begins to laugh when he is reproached
with running away from the enemy, or when he is convicted of having told
a lie; such matters give him little concern. A Japanese sets a different
value on his life and on his honour; he is warlike and haughty. A
Japanese soldier always confronts his enemy. To deprive him of his sword
is to dishonour him, and he will only consent to take it back stained
with the life-blood of his conqueror. The duello, unknown in China, is
carried out in a terrible fashion among the Japanese. The islander of
Nipon disembowels himself with a thrust of his own sword, and dares his
adversary to follow his example. The Chinese race live in a state of
disgusting and perpetual filth; every Japanese, on the contrary, without
distinction of rank or fortune, takes a warm bath every other day. Of a
jovial and frank disposition, and of great intelligence, they are always
desirous of knowing what is going on in the world, and ever anxious to
learn; whilst the Chinese, on the other hand, shut themselves up behind
their classic wall, and recoil from everything that is strange to them.
These characteristics show that the Japanese are a far superior race to
the Chinese.

A few peculiarities, more especially found in the inhabitants of the sea
coasts, the fishermen and the sailors, separate the Japanese physical
type from that of the Chinese. The former are small, vigorous, active
men with heavy jaws, thick lips, and a small nose, flat at the bridge,
but yet with an aquiline profile. Their hair is somewhat inclined to be
curly.

The Japanese are generally of middle height. They have a large head,
rather high shoulders, a broad chest, a long waist, fleshy hips, slender
short legs, and small hands and feet. The full face of those who have a
very retreating forehead and particularly prominent cheek-bones is
rather square than oval in shape. Their eyes are more projecting than
those of Europeans, and are rather more veiled by the eyelid. The
general effect is not that of the Chinese or Mongolian type. The
Japanese have a larger head than is customary with individuals of these
races, their face is longer, their features are more regular, and their
nose is more prominent and better shaped.

They have all thick, sleek, dark black hair, and a considerable quantity
of it on their faces. The colour of their skin varies according to the
class they belong to, from the sallow sunburnt complexion of the
inhabitants of southern Europe to the deep tawny hue of that of the
native of Java. The most general tint is a sallow brown, but none remind
you of the yellow skin of the Chinese. The women are fairer than the
men. Amongst the upper and even the middle classes, some are to be met
with with a perfectly white complexion.

Two indelible features distinguish the Japanese from the European type.
Their half-veiled eyes, and a disfiguring hollow in the breast, which is
noticeable in them in the flower of their youth, even in the handsomest
figures.

[Illustration: 138.--JAPANESE.]

Both men and women have black eyes, and white sound teeth. Their
countenance is mobile and possesses great variety of expression. It is
the custom for their married women to blacken their teeth. The national
Japanese costume is a kind of open dressing gown (fig. 138), which is
made a little wider and a little more flowing for the women than for the
men. It is fastened round the waist by a belt. That, worn by the men, is
a narrow silk sash, that, by the women, a broad piece of cloth tied in a
peculiar knot at the back.

The Japanese wear no linen, but they bathe, as we have said, every other
day. The women wear an under-garment of red silk crape.

[Illustration: 139.--A JAPANESE FATHER.]

In summer, the peasants, the fishermen, the mechanics and the Indian
coolies follow their calling in a state of almost complete nudity, and
the women only wear a skirt from the waist downwards. When it rains they
cover themselves with capes made of straw, or oiled paper, and with hats
made, shield shape, of cane bark. In winter the men of the lower classes
wear, beneath their _kirimon_ or dressing-gown, a tight fitting vest and
pair of trousers of blue cotton stuff, and the women one or more wadded
cloaks. The middle classes always wear a vest and trousers out of doors.

Figs. 138, 139, 140, and 141 represent different Japanese types.

Their costume generally differs only in the material of which it is
made. The nobility alone have the right to wear silk. They only wear
their costlier dresses on the occasions of their going to court or when
they pay ceremonial visits. All classes wear linen socks and sandals of
plaited straw, or wooden shoes fastened by a string looped round the big
toe. They all, on their return to their own house, or when entering that
of a stranger, take off their shoes, and leave them at the threshold.

[Illustration: 140.--JAPANESE SOLDIER.]

The floors of Japanese dwellings are covered with mattings, which take
the place of every other kind of furniture.

A Japanese has but one wife.

The Japanese have a taste for science and art, and are fond of music and
pageants. Their manufactures are largely developed. They make all sorts
of fine stuffs, work skilfully in iron and copper, make capital
sword-blades, and their wood carvings, their lacquer-work, and their
china, enjoy a wide reputation.

Political power is divided between an hereditary and despotic governor,
the _Taïcoon_, and a spiritual chief, the _Mikado_.

The creed of Buddhism, that of the _Kamis_, and the doctrines of
Confucius equally divide the religious tendencies of the Japanese.

[Illustration: 141.--JAPANESE NOBLE.]

We will give a few details on the interesting inhabitants of Japan, from
the account of a visit to that country written by M. Humbert, the Swiss
plenipotentiary there, which was published in 1870 under the title of
“Japan.”

M. Humbert was present at the ceremonies which took place on the
occasion of an official visit paid by the Taïcoon to the Mikado, and he
gives the following account of it:--

“While I was in Japan, it happened that the Taïcoon paid a visit of
courtesy to the Mikado.

“This was an extraordinary event. It made a great sensation, inspired
the brush of several native artists, and gave resident foreigners a
chance of seeing a little more clearly into the reciprocal relation of
the two powers of the empire. Their respective position is really one of
considerable interest.

“In the first place, the Mikado has over his temporal rival the
advantage of birth and the prestige of his sacred character. Grandson of
the Sun, he continues the traditions of the gods, the demi-gods, the
heroes, and the hereditary sovereigns who have reigned over Japan in an
uninterrupted succession since the creation of the empire of the eight
great islands. Supreme head of their religion, under whatever form it
may present itself to the people, he officiates as the sovereign pontiff
of the ancient national creed of the Kamis. At the summer solstice, he
offers sacrifices to the earth; at the winter solstice, to heaven. A god
is specially deputed to watch over his precious destiny; from the shrine
of the temple he inhabits at the top of Mount Kamo, in the neighbourhood
of the Mikado’s residence, this deity watches night and day over the
Daïri. And finally at the death of a Mikado, his name, which it has been
ordained shall be inscribed in the temples of his ancestors, is engraved
at Kioto, in the temple of Hatchiman; and at Isyé, in the temple of the
Sun.

“It is indubitably from heaven that the Mikado, both theocratic emperor
and hereditary sovereign, derives the authority which he exercises over
his people. Though now-a-days, it must be acknowledged, he scarcely
knows how to employ it. However, from time to time it seems proper to
him to confer pompous titles, which are entirely honorary, on a few old
feudal nobles who have deserved well of the altar. Sometimes also he
allows himself the luxury of openly protesting against those acts of the
temporal power, which seem to infringe on his prerogatives. This is the
course he took with special reference to the treaties made by the
Taïcoon with several western nations; it is true that he finally
sanctioned them, but that was because he could not help himself.

“Now the Taïcoon, as everybody knows, is the fortunate successor of a
common usurper. In fact, the founders of his dynasty, subjects of the
then Mikado, robbed their lord and master of his army, his navy, his
lands, and his treasure, as if they were desirous of depriving him of
any subject of earthly anxiety.

“Possibly the Mikado was too ready to fall in with their plans. The
offer of a two-wheeled chariot drawn by an ox, for his daily drive in
the parks of his residence, doubtless a considerable privilege in a
country where nobody uses a conveyance, should not have persuaded him to
sacrifice the manly exercises of archery, hawking, and hunting the stag
or wild boar. He might likewise, without making himself absolutely
invisible, have spared himself the fatigue of the ceremonious receptions
where, motionless on a raised platform, he accepts the silent adoration
of his courtiers prostrated at his feet. The Mikado, now, they say, only
communicates with the exterior world through the medium of the female
attendants intrusted with the care of his person. It is they who dress
and feed him, clothing him daily in a fresh costume, and serving his
meals on table utensils fresh every morning from the manufactory which
for centuries has monopolized their supply. His sacred feet never touch
the ground; his countenance is never exposed in broad daylight to the
common gaze; in a word, the Mikado must be kept pure from all contact
with the elements, the sun, the moon, the earth, mankind, and himself.

“It was necessary that the interview should take place at Kioto, the
holy town which the Mikado is never allowed to leave. His palace, and
the ancient temples of his family are his sole personal possessions
there, the town itself being under the rule of the temporal emperor; but
the latter dedicates its revenues to the expenses of the spiritual
sovereign, and condescends to keep up a permanent garrison within its
walls for the protection of the pontifical throne.

“The preliminaries on both sides having been carried out, a proclamation
announced the day when the Taïcoon intended to issue forth from his
capital, the immense and populous modern town of Yeddo, the
head-quarters of the political and civil government of the empire, the
seat of the Naval and Military Schools, of the Interpreters’ College,
and of the Academy of Medicine and Philosophy.

“He was preceded by a division of his army equipped in the European
manner, and, while these picked troops, infantry, cavalry, and
artillery, were marching on Kioto by land along the great Imperial
highway of the Tokaïdo, the fleet received orders to set sail for the
inland sea. The temporal sovereign himself, embarked in the splendid
steamer, the _Lycemoon_, which he had purchased of the firm of Dent and
Co. for five hundred thousand dollars. Six other steamers escorted him;
the _Kandimarrah_, notorious for its voyage from Yeddo to San-Francisco
to convey the Japanese embassy sent to the United States; the sloop of
war, the _Soembing_, a gift from the King of the Netherlands; the yacht
_Emperor_, a present from Queen Victoria; and some frigates built in
America and in Holland to orders given by the embassies of 1859 and
1862. Manned entirely by Japanese crews, this squadron left the bay of
Yeddo, doubled Cape Sagami and the promontory of Idsou, crossed the
Linschoten straits, and coasting along the eastern shores of the island
of Awadsi, dropped its anchors in the Hiogo roadstead, where the Taïcoon
disembarked amid larboard and starboard salutes.

“His state entry into Kioto took place a few days later, with no
military parade but that of his own troops, as the Mikado possesses
neither soldiers nor artillery, with the exception of a body-guard of
archers, recruited from the families of his kinsmen or of the feudal
nobility. Indeed, he can hardly afford even on this moderate scale, the
expenses of his court; and his own revenue being insufficient, he is
obliged to accept with one hand an income the Taïcoon consents to pay
him out of his own private purse, and with the other, the amounts that
the brethren of a few monastic orders yearly collect for him, from
village to village, in even the furthest provinces of the empire.
Another circumstance that assists him to support his rank, is the
disinterested abnegation of many of his high officials. Some of them
serve him with no other remuneration but the free use of the costly
regulation dresses of the old imperial wardrobe. On their return home,
after doffing their court costume, these haughty gentlemen are not
ashamed to seat themselves at a weavers’ loom or an embroidery frame.
More than one piece of the rich silk productions of Kioto, the handiwork
of which is so much admired, has issued from some of the princely
houses, whose names are inscribed in the register of the Kamis.

[Illustration: 142.--JAPANESE PALANQUIN.]

“These drawbacks did not prevent the Mikado from inaugurating the day
of the interview, by exhibiting to his royal visitor the spectacle of
the grand procession of the Daïri. Accompanied by his archers, by his
household, by his courtiers, and by the whole of his pontifical staff,
he left his palace by the southern gateway, which, towards the close of
the ninth century, was decorated by the historical compositions of the
celebrated painter-poet, Kosé Kanaoka. He descended along the boulevards
to the suburb washed by the Yodogawa, and returned to the castle through
the principal streets of the town.

“The ancient insignia of his supreme power were carried in state at the
head of the procession; the mirror of his ancestress Izanami, the
beautiful goddess who gave birth to the sun in the island of Awadsi; the
glorious standard, the long paper streamers of which had waved above the
heads of the soldiery of Zinmou the conqueror; the flaming sword of the
hero of Yamato, who overcame the eight-headed hydra to which virgins of
princely blood used to be sacrificed; the seal that stamped the first
laws of the empire; and the cedar wood fan, shaped like a lath and used
as a sceptre, which for more than two thousand years has descended from
the hands of the dead Mikado to those of his successor.

“I will not stop to describe another part of the pageant, intended
doubtless to complete and enhance the effect of the rest, namely the
banners embroidered with the armorial bearings of all the ancient noble
families of the empire. Perhaps they were intended to remind the
Taïcoon, that, in the eyes of the old territorial nobility, he was
nothing but a _parvenu_; if so, the _parvenu_ could smile complacently
at the thought, that the whole of the Japanese grandees, the great as
well as the lesser daïmios, are, nevertheless, obliged to pass six
months of the year, at his Court in Yeddo, and offer him their homage in
the midst of the nobles of his own creation.

“The most numerous and the most picturesque ranks of the procession were
those of the representatives of all the sects who recognise the
spiritual supremacy of the Mikado. The dignitaries of the ancient creed
of the Kamis are scarcely distinguishable, as to dress, from the high
officials of the palace. I have already described their costume, it
reminds the spectators that the Japanese possessed originally a religion
without a priesthood. Buddhism, on the contrary, which came from China,
and rapidly spread throughout the empire, has an immense variety of
sects, rites, orders, and brotherhoods. The bonzes and the monks
belonging to this faith composed in the procession endless ranks of
devout-looking individuals, with the tonsure or with entirely shaven
heads, some of them uncovered, and some wearing curiously shaped caps,
mitres, and hats with wide brims. Some of them carried a crozier in
their right hand, others a rosary, others again, a fly-brush, a
sea-shell, or a holy water sprinkler made of paper. They were dressed in
cassocks, surplices, and cloaks of every shape and hue.

“Behind them came the household of the Mikado. The pontifical body-guard
in their full dress, aim beyond everything at elegance. Leaving
breast-plates and coats of mail to the men-at-arms of the Taïcoon, they
wear a little lacquer-work cap, ornamented on both sides with rosettes,
and a rich silk tunic trimmed with lace edgings. The width of their
trousers conceals their feet. They are equipped with a large curved
sabre, a bow, and a quiver full of arrows.

“Some of the mounted ones had a long riding-whip fastened to their wrist
by a coarse silken cord.

“A great deal of brutality is too often hidden beneath this imposing
exterior. The wildness and the dissipation of the young nobles of the
Japanese pontifical court have supplied history with pages recalling the
worst period of papal Rome, the days of Cæsar Borgia. Conrad Kramer, the
envoy of the Dutch West Indian islands to the court of Kioto, was
allowed to be present in 1626 at a festival held in honour of a visit of
the temporal emperor to his spiritual sovereign. He relates that the
following day, corpses of women, young girls, and children, who had
fallen victims to nocturnal outrages, were found in the streets of the
capital. A still larger number of married women and maidens, whom
curiosity had attracted to Kioto, were lost by their husbands and
parents in the turmoil of the crowded streets, and were only found a
week or a fortnight later, their families being utterly unable to bring
their abducers to justice.

“Polygamy being a legal institution for the Mikado only, it was perhaps
natural for him to make some display of his prerogative. It costs him
sufficiently dear. It is the abyss hidden with flowers that the first
usurpers of the imperial power dug for the feet of the successors of
Zinmou. It is easy to imagine the cynical smile on the lips of the
Taïcoon as he saw the long row of the equipages of the Daïri making its
appearance.

“A pair of black buffaloes, driven by pages in white smocks, were
harnessed to each of these cumbrous vehicles which were made of precious
woods and glistened with coats of varnish of different tints. They
contained the empress and the twelve other legitimate wives of the
Mikado seated behind doors of open latticework. His favourite
concubines, and the fifty ladies of honour of the empress followed close
behind, in covered palanquins.

“When the Mikado himself leaves his residence, it is always in his
pontifical litter. This litter, fastened on long shafts, and borne by
fifty porters in white liveries, can be seen from a long distance off
towering above the crowd. It is constructed in the shape of a _mikosis_,
the kind of shrine in which the holy relics of the Kamis are exposed. It
may be compared to a garden summer-house, with a cupola roof with bells
hanging all round its base. On the top of the cupola there is a ball,
and on top of the ball there is a kind of cock couchant on its spurs,
with its wings extended and its tail spread: this is meant as a
representation of the mythological bird known in China and Japan under
the name of Foô.

“This portable summer-house, glistening all over with gold, is so very
hermetically closed that it is difficult to believe that any body could
be put inside it. A proof, however, that it is really used for the high
purpose attributed to it, is that on each side of it are seen walking
the women who are the domestic attendants of the Mikado. They alone have
the privilege of surrounding his person. To the rest of his court as
well as to his people, the Mikado remains an invisible, dumb, and
inapproachable divinity. He kept up this character even in the interview
with the Taïcoon.

“Amongst the group of buildings that constitute the right of Kioto to be
styled the pontifical residence, there is one that might be called the
Temple of Audience, for it is constructed in the sacred style of
architecture peculiar to the religious edifices of the faith of the
Kamis, and it bears like them the name of Mia. Adjoining the apartments
inhabited by the Mikado, it stands at the bottom of a large court paved
and planted with trees, in which are marshalled the escorts of honour on
high and solemn festivals.

“A detachment of officers of the artillery and of the body-guards of the
Taïcoon (fig. 143), and several groups of dignitaries of the Mikado’s
suite drew up successively in this open space.

“The women had retired to their own apartments.

[Illustration: 143.--THE TAÏCOON’S GUARDS.]

“Deputations of bonzes and different monastic orders occupied the
corridors along the surrounding walls. Soldiers of the Taïcoonal
garrison of Kioto, posted at intervals, kept the line of the avenue
which led to the broad steps reaching up to the front of the building.
Up this avenue the courtiers of the Mikado, clad in mantles with long
trains, passed with measured tread, majestically ascended the steps, and
placed themselves right and left on the verandah with their faces turned
towards the still closed doors of the great throne room. Before taking
up their position they took care to lift the trains of their mantles and
throw them over the balustrade of the verandah, so as to display to the
crowd the coats of arms which were embroidered on these portions of
their garments. The whole verandah was soon curtained with this
brilliant kind of tapestry.

“Presently the sound of flutes, of sea-shells and of the gongs of the
pontifical chapel, proceeding from the left wing of the building,
announced that the Mikado was entering the sanctuary. A deep silence
fell upon the crowd. An hour passed away in solemn expectation, whilst
the preliminaries of the reception were being performed. Suddenly a
flourish of trumpets announced the arrival of the Taïcoon. He advanced
up the avenue on foot and without any escort; his prime minister, the
commanders in chief of the army and navy, and a few members of the
council of the Court of Yeddo, walked at a respectful distance behind
him. He stopped for a moment at the foot of the great staircase, and
immediately the doors of the temple slowly opened, gliding from right to
left in their grooves. He then ascended the steps, and the spectacle
which had held in suspense the expectation of the multitude at last
unveiled itself to their eyes.

“A large green awning of cane-bark fastened to the ceiling of the hall,
hung within two or three feet of the floor. Through this narrow space,
could be perceived a couch of mats and carpets, on which the broad folds
of an ample white robe spread themselves out. This was all that could be
seen of the spectacle of the Mikado on his throne.

“The chinks in the plaits of the cane awning allowed him to see
everything without being seen. Wherever he directed his gaze, he
perceived nothing but heads bent before his invisible majesty. One
alone remained erect on the summit of the stairs of the temple, but it
was one crowned with the lofty golden coronet, the royal symbol of the
temporal head of the empire. And even he too, the powerful sovereign
whose might is boundless, when he had reached the last step, bent his
head, and sinking slowly, fell on his knees, stretched his arms forward
towards the threshold of the throne-room, and bowed his forehead to the
very ground.

“From that moment, the ceremony of the interview was accomplished, the
aim of the solemnity was gained. The Taïcoon had openly prostrated
himself at the feet of the Mikado.

[Illustration: 144.--A LADY OF THE COURT.]

“The interview at Kioto, had for its result two facts. By the first, the
bending of the knee, the temporal sovereign showed that he continued to
be the traditional obedient son of the high pontiff of the national
religion; but, by the second, that is to say by accepting this act of
homage, the theocratic emperor formally recognised the representative of
a dynasty sprung from a source alien to the only legitimate one.”

As the art of war is of some importance in Japan, we quote a few details
from M. Humbert, on the equipments and the uniforms of the Taïcoon’s
soldiers.

“The common soldiers are,” M. Humbert tells us, “inhabitants of the
mountains of Akoui. They return to their homes after a short service of
two or three years. Their uniform is made of blue cotton stuff, striped
with white across the shoulders, and consists of a tight-fitting pair of
trousers, and a shirt like that worn by the followers of Garibaldi. They
wear cotton socks, leather sandals, and a waist-belt supporting a large
sword in a japanned scabbard. Their cartridge-pouch and their bayonet
are slung to their right side by a baldric. Their get-up is completed by
a pointed hat, sloping at the sides, and made of lacquered cardboard;
but they only wear it when on guard or at drill.

“As for the muskets of the Japanese troops, they have all, it is true,
percussion-locks, but they vary both in calibre and in make, according
to where they happen to come from. I saw four different kinds in the
racks of some barracks at Benten, which a Yakounine did me the favour to
show me. He showed me first a Dutch sample musket, and then one of an
inferior quality manufactured in some workshops that had been started in
Yeddo to turn out arms copied from this sample; he then pointed out an
American gun; and finally, a Minié rifle, the use of which a young
officer was teaching a squad of soldiers in the barrack-yard.”

The dress of the Japanese soldiery is curious in this respect, that it
reproduces and preserves the whole military paraphernalia of European
feudal times. A helmet, a coat-of-mail, a halberd, and a two-handed
sword, such are the equipment of the better class of soldiery.

Fencing is held in high esteem in the Japanese army. The men are very
clever at this exercise, which keeps up their vigour and their skill.
Even the women practise it. Their weapon is a lance with a bent piece of
iron at the end of it. The ladies learn how to use it in a series of
regular positions and attitudes. The Japanese Amazons can also skilfully
make use of a kind of knife, fastened to the wrist with a long silken
string. When they have hurled this weapon at the head of their enemy,
they draw it back again by means of the cord. The men also hurl the
knife, but without fastening it to their wrist, and in the same way as
they practise throwing the knife in Spain.

The Japanese nobles carry very costly weapons. The temper of their
sword-blades is matchless, and their sword-hilts and scabbards are
enriched with finely chased and engraved metal ornaments. But the chief
value of their swords lies in their great age and reputation. In old
families, every sword has a history and tradition of its own, whose
brilliancy corresponds with the blood it has shed. A maiden sword must
not remain so in the hand of its purchaser. Till an opportunity turns up
of dyeing it with human blood, its possessor tries its prowess on living
animals, or better still, on the corpses of executed criminals. The
executioner, having obtained permission, hands him over two or three
dead bodies. Our Japanese then proceeds to fasten them to crosses, or on
trestles, in a courtyard of his house, and practises cutting, slashing,
and thrusting, till he has acquired enough strength and skill to cut a
couple of bodies in two at one stroke.

The sword, in Japan, is the classical, the national weapon.
Nevertheless, in process of time, it will have to give way to the new
improved firearms. In spite of the traditional prestige with which the
Japanese nobility still endeavour to surround the former old-fashioned
weapon; in spite of the contempt they affect for military innovations;
the rifle, the democratic arm of arms, is becoming more and more used in
Japan. This weapon will inaugurate a social revolution that will put an
end to the feudal system. The rifle will cause an Eastern ’89 in Japan.

We have said that two creeds are followed in Japan, the Buddhist faith
and the religion of the Kamis. The latter, with its ancient rites, has
been replaced, however, nearly throughout the empire by the former.

We quote some of M. Humbert’s remarks on Buddhism.

“Our imagination can hardly conceive,” says this traveller, “that
nearly a third of the human race has no religious belief but that of
Buddhism, a creed without a God, a faith of negation, an invention of
despair.

“One would wish to persuade oneself that the multitudes who follow its
doctrines, do not understand the faith they profess, or at least refuse
to admit its natural consequences. The idolatrous practices engrafted on
the book of its law seem in fact to bear witness that Buddhism has
neither been able to satisfy or destroy the religious instinct innate in
man, and germinating in the bosoms of all nations.

“On the other hand, it is impossible not to recognize the influence of
the philosophy of final annihilation in many of the habits and customs
of Japanese life. The Irowa teaches the school children that life
disappears like a dream, and leaves no trace behind. A Japanese, arrived
at man’s estate, sacrifices with the most disdainful indifference his
own life or that of his neighbour, to appease his pride, or for some
trifling cause of anger. Murders and suicides are of such every-day
occurrence in Japan, that there are few families of gentle birth who do
not make it a point of honour to boast at least one sword that has been
dyed in blood.

“Buddhism is, however, superior in some respects to the creeds it has
dethroned. It owes this relative superiority to the justice of its
fundamental axiom, which is an avowal of a need for a redeeming
principle, grounded on the double fact of the existence of evil in the
nature of man, and of an universal state of misery and suffering in the
world.

“The promises of the religion of the Kamis had all reference to this
life. A strict observance of the rules of purification would preserve
the faithful from the five great ills, which are the fire of heaven,
sickness, poverty, exile, and early death. The aim of their religious
festivals was the glorification of the heroes of the empire. But were
patriotism idealized and exalted into a national creed, it would still
be true that this natural feeling, so precious and so appropriate, could
never suffice to satisfy the soul and answer its every craving. The
human soul is more boundless than the world. It needs a belief to raise
it beyond the earth. Buddhism to a certain extent met these aspirations
which had been hitherto neglected. This circumstance alone will explain
the success with which it is propagated, in Japan and elsewhere, by the
mere force of persuasion. At all events we may well believe that it is
not its abstract and philosophical form that has made it so popular, and
nothing is a better proof of this than its present state.

“The bonzes Sinran, Nitziten, and twenty or thirty others, have made
themselves a reputation as founders of sects, each of which is
distinguished by some peculiarity worthy of rivalling the ingenious
invention of Foudaïsi.

[Illustration: 145.--A KAMIS TEMPLE, JAPAN.]

“Thus one particular brotherhood has a monopoly of the patronage of the
great family rosary. It must be explained that a Buddhist rosary can
only exercise its power if its beads are properly enumerated. Now in a
numerous family there is no guarantee against errors being committed in
the use of the rosary; whence the inefficiency it is sometimes accused
of. Instead of indulging in recrimination, however, the plan pursued is
to send for a bonze of the Order of the Great Rosary to set matters
right again.

“This good man hastens up with his instrument, which is about as big as
a good-sized boa-constrictor, and places it in the hands of the family
kneeling in a circle, whilst he himself, standing in front of the shrine
of the domestic idol, directs operations with a bell and a small hammer.
At a given signal, father, mother, and children, intone with the whole
force of their lungs the prayers agreed upon. The small and the large
beads of the rosary and the strokes of the hammer fall with a cadenced
rhythm that inspires them. The rosary ring grows excited, their cries
become passionate, their arms and hands work like machinery, the
perspiration streams down them, and their bodies get stiff with fatigue.
At last the close of the ceremony leaves everybody breathless,
exhausted, but radiant with happiness, for the interceding gods must be
satisfied!

“Buddhism is a flexible conciliating, insinuating religion, which
accommodates itself to the bent and the habits of the most different
races. From the very first, the bonzes in Japan managed to get
themselves entrusted with some of the shrines and small chapels of the
Kamis, in order to protect them in the enclosures of their sanctuaries.
They hastened to add to their ceremonies symbols borrowed from the
ancient national faith; and in short, for the purpose of better fusing
the two creeds, they introduced into their temples, Kamis deities
invested with the titles and attributes of Hindoo divinities, and at the
same time, Hindoo gods transformed into Japanese Kamis. There was
nothing inadmissible in these exchanges, which were explained in the
most natural manner by the dogma of transmigration. Thanks to this
combination of the two creeds, which received the name of
Rioobou-Sintoo, Buddhism has become the prevalent religion of Japan.

“. . . . Within their temples the bonzes officiate at the altar, in the
sight of the people, beyond the sanctuary which a veil separates from
the crowd. The latter are only directly addressed by them in preaching,
and only on the special festivals consecrated to this practice.

“They are only allowed to go in procession at certain periods of the
year, and then only in the presence of the government officials who
superintend public pageants.

[Illustration: 146.--JAPANESE PAGODA.]

“The pastoral portions of their duty have been cut down to such narrow
limits, that I can only find one word to apply to the duties that
remain. They are simply the duties of a mute. In fact, the bonzes
perform the sacramental ceremonies that the Japanese of all sects are
accustomed to see accompany the last moments of the dying. They arrange
the funeral procession, and provide, according to the wishes of the
relatives of the deceased, for the burial or for the burning of his
remains, and for the consecration and protection of his tomb.”


THE INDO-CHINESE FAMILY.

The people of Indo-China, whom we consider to belong to the Yellow Race,
have a darker complexion than the Chinese and the Japanese. Their
stature is smaller, and their civilization is less developed. They are
generally of an indolent disposition.

To this group belong the Burmans, the Annamites and the Siamese.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Burmans_ and the _Annamites_.--The Burmese are a nation which has
made a good deal of progress in civilization. In this respect the
Annamites are not behind them. The physical, moral, and political
characteristics of these two nations have no particular point of
interest to engage our attention. We content ourselves with showing the
reader (figs. 147 and 148) the types and the costumes of the inhabitants
of the Burmese Empire.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Siamese_.--The population of the kingdom of Siam, which amounts to
nearly five millions, scarcely includes two millions of Siamese.

The Siamese, according to the travelling notes of M. Henry Mouhot, a
French naturalist, are easily recognized by their effeminate and idle
appearance, and by their servile physiognomy. Nearly all have rather a
flat nose, prominent cheek-bones, a dull unintelligent eye, broad
nostrils, a wide mouth, lips reddened by their habit of chewing betel,
and teeth as black as ebony. They all keep their heads entirely shaved,
except just on the top, where they allow a tuft to grow. Their hair is
black and coarse. The women wear the same tuft, but their hair is finer
and carefully kept. The dress of both men and women is by no means an
elaborate one.

Figs. 149, 150, and 151 give an exact idea of the type and mode of dress
of the Siamese. A piece of cloth, which they raise behind, and the two
ends of which they fasten to their belt, is their only garment. The
women wear besides a scarf across their shoulders. Apart from the
delicacy of her features, a Siamese girl of from twelve to twenty need
but little envy the conventional models of our statuary.

[Illustration: 147.--BURMESE NOBLE.]

The Siamese are passionately fond of trinkets. Provided they glitter,
it matters little whether they are real or false. They cover their women
and their children with rings, bracelets, armlets, and bits of gold and
silver. They wear them on their arms, on their legs, round their necks,
in their ears, on their bodies, on their shoulders, everywhere they can
place them. The king’s son is so covered with them, that the weight of
his clothes and jewellery is heavier than that of his body.

The greatest conjugal harmony seems to prevail in Siamese families. The
wife is not kept secluded as in China, but shows herself everywhere. As
a shadow to this picture, we must add that parents have a right to sell
their children as slaves.

[Illustration: 148.--BURMESE LADY.]

The Siamese have retained intact all the superstitions of the Hindoos
and the Chinese. They believe in demons, in ogres, in mermaids, &c. They
have faith in amulets, philtres, and in soothsayers. They support a
king, a court, and a seraglio, with its numerous progeny. A second king
possesses also his palace, his army, and his mandarins. Between these
two kings and the people intervene twelve different ranks of princes,
several classes of ministers, five or six of mandarins, and an endless
series of governors and lieutenant-governors, all equally incapable and
rapacious.

[Illustration: 149.--WOMEN OF BANKOK.]

Like all degraded and servile nations, the inhabitants of Siam devote a
great part of their existence to games and amusements.

[Illustration: 150.--SIAMESE DOMESTIC.]

[Illustration: 151.--SIAMESE LADIES DINING.]

M. Mouhot visited Udeng, the present capital of Cambodia. The houses of
this town are made of bamboo, sometimes of planks. The longest street is
nearly three-quarters of a mile long. The tillers of the soil and the
hard-working classes, as well as the mandarins and the other employés
of the government, dwell in the suburbs of the town. M. Mouhot met at
every moment mandarins in litters or in hammocks followed by a swarm of
slaves each carrying something; some, a red or yellow umbrella, the size
of which is an indication of the rank and quality of its owner; others,
boxes of betel. Horsemen, mounted on small active horses caparisoned in
a costly manner and covered with little bells, and followed by a pack of
slaves begrimed with dust and sweat, often took their turn in the
panorama. He also noticed some light carts drawn by a couple of small
but swift oxen. Elephants too, moving majestically forwards with
outstretched ears and trunk, and stopped occasionally by the numerous
processions which were wending their way to the pagodas to the sound of
boisterous music.

[Illustration: 152.--TOMB OF A BONZE, AT LAOS.]

The town of Bankok, the capital, was formerly called Siam, whence the
name of the country.

[Illustration: 153.--CAMBODIANS.]

An absolute sovereign, looked upon as the incarnation of Buddha, rules
over the kingdom of Siam, which is divided into four provinces; Siam,
Siamese Laos, Siamese Cambodia, and Siamese Malacca. At one time a
tributary of the Burmese Empire, the kingdom of Siam recovered its
independence in 1759, and in 1768 even increased its territory by
conquest.

There are scarcely any manufactures in Siam, but commerce still
flourishes there, although less vigorously than formerly. The Siamese
exchange their agricultural produce, their wood, their skins, cotton,
rice, and preserved fish, with the Chinese, the Annamites, the Burmese,
and especially with the English and Dutch possessions. Elephant’s tusks
are also an important article of barter, and elephant-hunting is the
calling of many of the natives.

The country is rather fertile. It is an immense plain, hilly towards the
north, and intersected by a river, the Meinam, on the banks of which are
placed its principal towns. Bankok is situated on this river, not far
from its mouth in the gulf of Siam, and is consequently the principal
port of the whole kingdom, the head-quarters of its entire trade. The
periodical overflowings of the Meinam fertilize the whole of its basin.

Art and science are not entirely neglected in the kingdom of Siam. It is
one of the few Asiatic countries which possess a literature of its own
and some artistic productions.

Although the Buddhist religion prevails in Siam and is the state
religion, yet different sects are tolerated there, and Christianity can
reckon two thousand five hundred disciples.

Fig. 154 represents the young prince-royal.

The Stieng savages are subjects of the king of Siam. Their stature is a
little above the average. They are powerful, their features are regular,
and their well-developed foreheads show intelligence. Their only
clothing is a long scarf. They are so much attached to their mountains
and forests, that when away from their own country they are frequently
seized with a dangerous kind of home-sickness.

[Illustration: 154.--THE PRINCE-ROYAL OF SIAM.]

These Siamese aliens of civilization work in iron and ivory; and make
hatchets and swords which are sought after by collectors. Their women
weave and dye the scarves they wear. They cultivate rice, maize,
tobacco, vegetables, and fruit-trees. They possess neither priests nor
temples, but they acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being. The time
they can spare from their fields they devote to hunting and fishing.
Indefatigable in the chase, they penetrate with extraordinary rapidity
the densest jungles. The women appear to be as active and as untiring as
the men. They use powerful cross-bows with poisoned arrows to shoot the
elephant, the rhinoceros, and the tiger. They are fond of adorning
themselves with imitation pearls of a bright colour, which they make
into bracelets. Both sexes pierce their ears, and widen the hole every
year by inserting in it pieces of bone and ivory.

[Illustration: 155.--CHINESE GIRL.]




THE BROWN RACE.


With M. d’Omalius d’Halloy we class in the Brown Race a great variety of
peoples who have nothing in common but a complexion darker than that of
the White and Yellow races, and whom we are led to believe the product
of the mixture of these two with the Black Race. This theory accounts
for one portion of the Brown Race possessing White characteristics,
while the other has a greater resemblance to the Yellow Race.

The Brown Race forms three branches or geographical groups, viz.--

1. The Hindoo branch.

2. The Ethiopian branch.

3. The Malay branch.

We will proceed to describe the principal peoples belonging to these
three branches.




CHAPTER I.

HINDOO BRANCH.


The peoples composing the Hindoo branch have been frequently classed in
the White Race. In fact, their shape, their language, and their
institutions partly correspond to those of Europeans and Persians, but
their darker and sometimes black skins distinguish them from either.

The civilization of the Hindoos was, in the earliest historic times,
already far advanced; but for many centuries it has remained stationary,
or has gone backwards.

Most Hindoos practise the creed of Brahma, a religion sprung up in their
own land. A few have embraced Mahometanism, others have become
Buddhists.

The most striking feature of Hindoo society is its division into castes.
These castes, originating ages and ages ago, have always been the
principal obstacles to the development of civilization. How can
progress, talent, or remarkable works be expected from men whom society
forbids ever to emerge from the conditions of their birth?

These castes are four in number. The _Brahmin_ caste, whose members are
devoted to the practice of religious rites, to the study of the law, and
to teaching. The _Rajpoots_ or _Cshatriyas_, who are professional
soldiers. The _Banians_, who are agriculturists, cattle breeders, and
traders. Lastly, the _Sudras_, who follow various callings, and who are
subdivided into many sub-castes corresponding to as many different
handicrafts.

Each caste has its peculiar religious observances. Its members cannot
intermarry with those of other castes, and must always follow the
profession in which destiny has placed their parents.

The descendants of those, who, by improper marriages or otherwise, have
forfeited their caste, form an inferior caste, known under the name of
_Varna-Sancára_. Finally below even this last division come the
_Pariahs_, beings cursed by destiny, who exist in the most deplorable
state of moral abjection.

[Illustration: 156.--NATIVES OF HYDERABAD.]

The Hindoos are well made, but their limbs are far from robust. They
have small hands and feet, a high forehead, black eyes, well arched
eyebrows, fine bright black hair, and a more or less brown skin, which,
in the south of India, and particularly among the lowest classes, is
sometimes black. Ethnologically speaking, there are two families in the
Hindoo branch:--the _Hindoo_ family, and the _Malabar_ family.

[Illustration: 157.--A BANIAN OF SURAT.]


HINDOO FAMILY.

The _Hindoo_ family constitutes the greater part of the population of
northern Hindostan. The dialects spoken in this country have generally
some relation to Sanskrit. The colour of the skin, in the higher
classes, is fair enough, but becomes darker among the lower castes.

[Illustration: 158.--AN AGED SIKH.]

Among the people belonging to the Hindoo family we may name the Sikhs, a
warlike people, remarkable for the beauty of their oval countenances;
the Jats, the Rajpoots, and the Mahrattas; the Bengalese, a peaceful
people, devoted to trade, and the Cingalese, or inhabitants of the
island of Ceylon.

An accomplished traveller, M. Alfred Grandidier, has published in the
“Tour du Monde,” in 1869, the account of a “Voyage dans l’Inde.” We
learn from him a few general facts that perfectly sum up the social
condition of the India of to-day, especially that of the central portion
of the peninsula, for it would perhaps be difficult to generalize on the
manners and customs of the whole of India, of which the population
amounts to more than a hundred and eighty millions, and the superficies
to that of the whole of continental Europe with the exception of Russia.

India is, in fact, divided into three distinct basins; that of the
Indus, that of the Ganges, and the plain of the Deccan, constituting
Central India. This last is classic India, that is to say, the only part
of the country thoroughly known to Europeans. M. Grandidier’s travels
were in the Deccan, to which refer the remarks we are about to quote:--

“The Hindoos of the Deccan,” says M. Grandidier, “resemble the Aryan
(Caucasian) race in the oval shape of their head, in the formation of
their cranium, and in their facial angle. They are distinct from it,
however, in colour. Their bodies are frail; the low caste native is thin
and slight, but makes up for his lack of strength by his activity and
lightness. His skin varies from a light copper colour to a dark brown;
his hair is a fine glossy black, and grows plentifully on his face.

“Gentle and timid, the Hindoo is wanting in perseverance and firmness;
gifted with a rapid comprehension, he is yet incapable of any sustained
effort. A double yoke, from time immemorial, has weighed him down; caste
distinctions and a foreign sway have made him a flexible creature,
possessing more prudence and cunning than energy and uprightness; more
keenness of wit than nobility of soul.

[Illustration: 159.--A PARSEE GENTLEMAN.]

“A lively imagination, never subdued by a rational education, has
brought him under the influence of the gross superstitions sanctioned by
the Hindoo religion, with its train of ignoble divinities. The timidity
of his character has preserved him from the violent fanaticism of the
Mussulman, but his religion is very dear to him, and the belief of the
lower classes is at least a sincere one.

“Sivaism, to which belong most of the inhabitants of the Deccan, is so
priceless in their eyes, that they value it far beyond their lives. They
repose an ardent and lively faith in the most absurd doctrines. This
form of religion pleases their imagination by its fantastic dreams and
by its poetic materialism, and its ceremonies amuse them, while
gratifying their passions.

“The paucity of their wants tends to render them improvident, and their
lively and childish imagination, feeding on the smallest and vaguest
facts, which they poetise and exaggerate in their own manner, develops
in them a dreamy and indolent mode of life.

“Their doctrine of metempsychosis still further increases the natural
tendency of their mind, and helps to cause their almost incredible
mental inaction, which nothing can surprise or stimulate. The only lever
that can move the masses must be one attacking their religious faith.

“The dress of the Hindoos is the _dhoti_, a long scarf of cloth rolled
round the figure, passing under the legs and fastened behind the back.
This garment leaves the legs and the upper part of the body uncovered.
The upper classes wear a short shirt (_angaskah_) and a long white robe
(_jamah_). Their head is always covered with a turban, of different size
and colour, according to their caste. Few Hindoos wear shoes, sandals
being in almost universal use. The women wear the _choli_, a little
jacket with short sleeves, just covering the bosom, which it supports,
and the _sari_, a large piece of cloth which they fold around them, and
throw coquettishly over the shoulder or the head. This graceful drapery
recalls the chlamyde worn by the Diana of Gabies.

“This dress of the Hindoos is, as a rule, tasteful, and suited to the
climate and to their mode of life. Although each caste, each sect, has
its own particular method of wearing it, it is still, all over India,
the most uniform and the most characteristic feature of the population.

“Both sexes are passionately fond of jewellery; women of the very
poorest class often wear gold rings set with pearls in their noses.
Their arms are covered with silver, copper, and glass bracelets. The
large toes of their feet are adorned with rings, and their legs with
heavy metal bangles. As for their ears, they literally droop beneath the
weight of the golden earrings with which they are laden; and their lobes
are pierced with large holes, often nearly an inch in diameter, into
which are introduced gold ornaments in the shape of small wheels,
replaced on working days by pieces of rolled leaves. This custom has
actually reached Polynesia.

[Illustration: 160.--SIR SALAR JUNG, K.S.I.]

“Hindoos turn all their little capital into jewellery. This habit
springs from a medley of vanity and superstition, the latter leading
them to consider trinkets as talismans against spells and witchcraft.

“It was also, under the ancient Mogul dynasty, a means of preserving
their property from the rapacity of Mussulman tyrants, whose religion
forbade them to appropriate women’s chattels.

“The Hindoos are very tenacious of their prerogatives, and India has
frequently been convulsed by sanguinary struggles occasioned by some one
of its castes refusing to conform to traditional custom. Terrible
conflicts have, ere now, been caused by an inferior caste attempting to
wear slippers of a certain shape, the privilege of a higher one, or
because it wished to use, in its religious rites, certain musical
instruments hitherto reserved for the worship of the superior
divinities.

“The Hindoos may lay claim to a refined politeness and elegant manners;
but the smallest concession in the respect to which their social
position entitles them, the least relaxation in the prescribed etiquette
are considered a sign of weakness and an avowal of inferiority.

“The conversational formulæ used towards a native vary according to his
station. Nothing is easier than to affront their susceptibility. Never
speak to an Oriental of his wife or of his daughters. To do so, is
contrary to custom. To use the left hand in bowing, in eating, or in
drinking, is to offer an insult; the right hand alone is reserved for
the higher uses, and the left, the ignoble hand, is used for ablutions.

“In Europe, it is a sign of respect to uncover the head, in the East, to
take off the turban is a disrespectful act. On entering a house,
conversely to us, they keep their heads covered, but leave their shoes
at the threshold. This habit seems to me a most sensible one. A white
cloth is stretched on the floor of their apartments, on cushions placed
on which they sit cross-legged. It appears to me that shoes were
invented to preserve the feet from the roughness of the ground, from the
mud and from the dust of the roads. Are they not then objectionable, or,
at any rate, useless in the interior of a well-kept house?

“When paying a visit, the Hindoo waits until his host bids him adieu.
They very properly suppose that a visitor can be in no hurry to leave
the friend whom he has purposely come to see. The host, on the contrary,
may have urgent business claiming his immediate attention. The forms of
this dismissal vary:--‘Come and see me often,’ or ‘Remember that you
will always be welcome.’ Presents of flowers and fruit generally
terminate these visits, and betel is invariably handed round.

“The usual food of the Hindoo is very simple, and their meals are of but
short duration. Rice boiled in water, and curry (a compound of
vegetables, ghee--a sort of clarified butter, spices, and saffron),
sometimes eggs or milk, a little fish, and occasionally coarse meal
cakes, bananas, and the fruit of the bread tree, form the morning and
evening meal of rich and poor. The leaves of the banana tree are used
instead of plates and dishes. In eating vegetables and rice, fingers are
used instead of spoons and forks; and the meat is torn by the teeth in
default of the absent knife. An European is rather likely to be
disgusted with the sauce trickling down the chins and the fingers of the
guests at a Hindoo meal. Water is the prevailing drink, and but little
use is made of arrack (a spirit extracted from the palm tree).

[Illustration: 161.--NAUTCH GIRL OF BARODA.]

“Faithful observers of their religious injunctions, which forbid them to
touch animal food under pain of being excluded from society and from the
bosom of their families, the high caste natives never eat meat; as for
the Pariahs, they eat all kinds of animals, and are very fond of arrack.

“Betel is incessantly used all over India. In hot countries, where the
inhabitants lead a sedentary life, their digestion becomes sluggish, and
can neither receive nor absorb the same quantity of nourishment as it
does in Northern countries. The vegetable diet of the Hindoos is not
very rich in azotic matter, and its continual use would cause an
internal formation of gas, without the alkaline stimulant used by all
the inhabitants of India to prevent its development. This stimulant is
the astringent areca nut, which they chew with a little lime placed on a
betel leaf.

“This mixture dyes the lips and the tongue red; it is pernicious in its
effect on the teeth, but it is certainly useful to the digestive
functions.

“Tobacco, rolled in a green leaf and lighted like a cigarette, is the
universal method of smoking.

“Many different languages are spoken in India. Philologists have
enumerated as many as fifty-eight, but not more than ten have an
alphabet and literature of their own. Sanskrit, a dead language, is more
or less mixed with all the dialects of India. In the north it forms
their incontestable basis, but in the south it is merely grafted on to
pre-existing tongues, and frequently but faint traces are found of it.
All the alphabets seem to have been invented separately, but they have
been improved by the regular and philosophical arrangement of the
_Devanagri_. This is the name of the Sanskrit alphabet, the most perfect
of all. The living languages have a very simple grammatical
construction.

“Hindostani, which is spoken in the province of Agra, is the most
cultivated and the most generally employed of all Indian languages. It
has received a large Persian element since the Mussulman conquest.
Besides the local dialect of each district, Hindostani is everywhere
spoken by the educated classes, and by all professing the Mussulman
faith.

[Illustration: 162.--A COOLIE OF THE GHATS.]

“The ties of caste replace in India the ties of family. Hindoos love
their wives and children; but this affection is subordinated to their
caste duties. Expulsion from the family is principally caused by
violation of religious ordinances or by the illicit connection of high
caste women with men of a lower rank. The Brahmins and the Sudras, and
even the Pariahs themselves, are divided into a number of sub-castes, a
member of one of which can neither eat, drink, nor intermarry with one
of another. If a Hindoo becomes degraded, if he loses his caste, he is
disowned by his relations; his wife is considered a widow, his children
orphans; he must expect no assistance, no pity, from those who hitherto
have surrounded him with the most considerate care.

“Europeans are ranked with Pariahs on account of their daily habit of
eating beef. It is true that the Brahmins consent to shake hands with an
European, but on their return home after doing so, their first care is
to undress and perform their ablutions so as to purify themselves from
the stain of such an impure contact; it is even asserted by them that
the mere gaze of a Pariah is enough to cause contamination.

“Every village in the Deccan is composed of two parts, separated by an
interval of a few yards. These are two distinct quarters, one reserved
for the men of caste, the other, surrounded by hedges, allotted to the
Pariahs. These miserable beings are not allowed to enter the streets of
the village without the consent of the inhabitants, and they must only
presume to draw water in the wells set aside for their particular use.
Where the Pariahs have no special wells, they place their _chatties_ by
the well-sides of the men of caste, and await humbly and patiently the
alms offering of a few glasses of water. It is always the women that
attend to this household care.

“The higher castes often make the Pariahs presents, which they
invariably place on the ground, for fear of contracting by mere physical
contact the moral leprosy with which in their eyes the Pariahs are
affected. A person of caste never accepts a gift from the hands of a
Pariah.

“If on the one hand the high-caste natives are physically and
intellectually superior to the Pariahs; on the other hand the latter are
more laborious, more docile, and more accessible to European influence.
In the Presidency of Madras they constitute the best and the most solid
nucleus of the native English army.

“If I wished to enumerate all the subdivisions of caste based on the
conduct, the calling, and the occupation of every one, if I described
in detail the clothes and the ornaments which vary ad infinitum
according to caste, if I attempted to recite all the existing prejudices
about food and the daily minutiæ of life, I should fill several volumes.

“The same tendencies are met with everywhere. The desire of making a
figure in the world, and the ambition for command without having taken
the necessary trouble to become worthy of it. Yet the existence of caste
has always prevented the formation of a really homogeneous nation. Caste
is the cause of the sharp rivalries, the endless hostilities, that have
always been fatal to national independence, and facilitated the
invasions of strangers.

[Illustration: 163.--PAGODA AT SIRRHINGHAM.]

“Besides the social consequences we have mentioned, the Hindoos believe
in religious ones. Their different castes cannot here below receive the
same education, nor be initiated into the same mysteries. These
differences, according to the dogmas of _Siva_, are to extend into the
next world.”

The preceding paragraphs refer to the inhabitants of the Deccan. It
would be too tedious to describe the other populations of the peninsula,
the Bengalese, the Rajpoots, the Mahrattas, &c. We will merely say a few
words about the Cingalese, or inhabitants of the island of Ceylon.

The Cingalese are entirely Indian in figure, in language, in manners, in
customs, in religion and in their government. Their features are not
widely different from those of Europeans, but they differ from them in
their colour, in their height, and in the proportions of their bodies.
The hue of their skin varies from light brown to black. Black is the
usual colour for their eyes and hair. They are shorter than Europeans,
but well made, with well defined muscles. Their chests and their
shoulders are broad, their hands and feet small. Their hair grows in
large quantity and to great length, but they have little on their faces.
Their women are, as a rule, well made.

The attractions which a lady ought to combine in order to be a perfect
beauty are, according to a Kandian fop, as follow: her hair should be as
bushy as the tail of a peacock, long enough to reach the knees, and
gracefully curled at the ends; her eyebrows arched as the rainbow, eyes
blue as sapphires, and her nose like a hawk’s beak; her lips must vie
with coral in redness and lustre, and small, even, and closely-set
teeth, resembling jessamine buds, should complete the picture.

Ceylon, as everybody knows, is indebted for its great prosperity to its
coffee plantations, a large trade being carried on between the English
and its inhabitants, who enjoy a well-earned reputation as cultivators
of that shrub.

“The Kandians,” says M. Alfred Grandidier, “possess more robust
constitutions, less feeble limbs, and features not so effeminate as
their countrymen of the coast; their lusty shoulders, broad chests, and
short but muscular legs, are a proof of the effect which climate can
produce on the development of the human frame.

“The habits of the mountaineers have undergone scarcely any change in
consequence of the foreign influences which have impressed a complex
character upon the manners of the people nearer the sea. Their primitive
customs, originated by the imperious necessities of life, are still
found in existence among them; and they have none of the timidity and
servility which are the attributes of the dwellers in the maritime
districts. The feudal state in which they have long lived has preserved
in them an energy and independence rare among Indian populations. The
configuration of the country enabled them, in fact, to retain their
freedom more easily than their brethren of the northern plains, either
when aggression came from their own ruler or from foreign intruders;
but, nevertheless, that indolence still prevails among them which comes
naturally to every people who are not obliged to contend against any
material obstacle in order to supply themselves with the necessities of
life. The tyranny of their masters, whether chiefs or kings, has
unhappily accustomed them to hypocrisy, and made them vindictive.

“Whilst the Cingalese of the coast have applied themselves to trade and
industry, those of the high regions always show repugnance to such
occupations. They have invariably shunned any connection with
foreigners; and so great, even at the present day, is their desire to
withdraw as much as possible from association with the English settlers,
that they conceal their villages in the middle of the jungle, and at a
distance of some hundreds of yards from the least frequented paths. A
rice-field in the midst of forests, or a glimpse of the tall tops of
cocoa-trees, alone indicate the presence of human beings in places that
would otherwise be thought uninhabited. In countries like these, where
nature has accumulated so many of her treasures, the relations of man
with man, which assuredly conduce to the happiness of all, are not
indispensable; and the natives love a solitude, where they enjoy
benefits of every kind in profusion.

“The Cingalese of the hills have a traditional respect for their chiefs,
and a deep attachment to ancient usages. Their costume differs from that
of the inhabitants of the plains, insomuch that they do not habitually
wear the vest, this garment being, in fact, exclusively reserved for
their nobles, who assume it on grand occasions; their hair is allowed to
grow to its full length, and is not confined by a comb. Sumptuary laws
and religious injunctions settle in other respects the clothing suitable
to each class, the greater part of these laws being, to the present day,
still in force among the Kandians, in spite of the abolition of castes
which has been decreed by the English administration.

“The length of the frock-like petticoats worn by men and women both in
the high and low lands, and which seem to be the part of the national
costume to which the greatest importance is attached, was formerly
proportioned according to the social position of the individual.

[Illustration: 164.--PALANQUIN.]

“The pariahs were not permitted to let this skirt come lower than the
knee, and males and females of inferior caste had the breast uncovered.
Among the chiefs themselves a difference existed, and still exists, as
to the method of wearing the _comboy_. After rolling it twice or three
times round the hips and legs, they form with it round the waist a more
or less bulky girdle, the dimensions of which depend upon their rank.
The nobles are also distinguished from the lower orders by their
extraordinary headgear, consisting of a sort of round, flat, white linen
cap, like that worn by the Basque peasantry, while the lower classes
merely surround the head with a silk handkerchief, leaving none of it
bare except the top. The king alone possessed the privilege of wearing
sandals. Prohibitions, such as one against wearing gold and silver
chains or ornaments, are still scrupulously observed by the Kandians,
who strenuously resist any encroachments of the inferior castes.”

M. Guillaume Lejean has published some interesting particulars of his
travels in Cashmere and the Punjaub. It is not our intention to follow
the learned wanderer in his rapid journeys across Hindostan, but we
should like to draw attention to a novel opinion which has been
expressed by him as to the ethnology of the Indian population.

M. Lejean believes that he has re-discovered in Hindostan the Aryans,
that is to say, the primitive people from whom the Aryan or Caucasian
race is descended. The features of these peoples, our own genuine
ancestors, are regular and of an European type. Their complexion is not
browner than that of the inhabitants of Provence, Sicily, or Southern
Spain. This statement does not apply to the lower castes, whose skin
grows darker and darker, until it reaches the sooty tint of the Nubian.
The country people have long and slightly wavy hair, blacker and more
brilliant than jet. Though not effeminate in appearance, the race is
deficient in muscular vigour, an effect attributed by the traveller to
the torrid heat of the climate. The women are generally of middle
height, with pleasing but expressionless countenances of little
originality; their eyes are large, black, and submissive, and their
hands delicately beautiful.

In the opinion of M. Lejean, the fine, symmetrical heads, small,
well-formed hands, and regular features of the natives of Scinde, remind
one completely of the white European race, and allow us to identify the
inhabitants of that part of Asia with the ancient Aryans, who were the
colonizers of primitive Europe, and who springing, as is said, from the
regions of Persia, spread themselves over our own continent and that of
Asia.

This is an opportune moment for alluding to a race, sprung seemingly
from Hindoos of the lower classes, which had probably abandoned its own
land, and from which those detached groups that traverse the entire
globe, without ever fixing themselves anywhere, or ever losing their
peculiar characteristics, derive their origin. Under this category come
the wandering tribes, commonly known in different languages, as Gipsies,
Bohemians, Zingari, Gitanos, &c., who wander over countries either as
beggars or in pursuit of the lowest callings. These Gipsies and
Bohemians, who are especially numerous in the South of France, and enjoy
a considerable repute as horse-clippers and tinkers, who are invariably
vagrants, and now and then thieves, appear to be descended from
low-caste Hindoos. They are travelling Pariahs. Such, at least, is the
opinion entertained by some modern ethnologists.


MALABAR FAMILY.

The Malabar Family inhabiting the Deccan differs in many respects from
the Hindoo, and the peoples included in it are very dark and sometimes
black in complexion. This branch is divided into three principal
divisions: the _Malabars_ proper, who dwell in the country of that name;
the _Tamuls_, in the Carnatic; and the _Telingas_, in the north-east.
Neither the language nor the customs of the tribes composing this group,
exhibit peculiarities sufficiently important to induce us to stop to
describe them.




CHAPTER II.

ETHIOPIAN BRANCH.


The African populations which we class with the Brown Race have a
resemblance in the formation of the body to those of the White Race, but
their skin is darker in colour, being intermediate between that of the
Negro and that of the White. The natives constituting this branch have
never attained to any appreciable degree of civilization, and there is a
complete void of positive notions as to their origin or migrations,
while even the different languages in use among them, are partly unknown
to us. We shall distinguish in the Ethiopian branch, two great families,
the _Abyssinian_ and the _Fellan_.


ABYSSINIAN FAMILY.

[Illustration: 165.--ABYSSINIAN.]

That portion of Eastern Africa which bears the name of Abyssinia,
contains several tribes, speaking different languages. These tribes are
ranked by many ethnologists as belonging to the White Race, and their
complexion, though darker invariably than that of the European, is
fairer than that of the negro. Their hair, which is generally frizzled,
their lips usually thick, and their nose less flat than that of the
Negro, are so many characteristics which assign to them a place
intervening between the Black and the White races. These tribes
doubtless spring from a union of black inhabitants, aborigines of the
country, with the Orientals who conquered them.

[Illustration: 166.--NOUERS OF THE WHITE NILE.]

We shall instance among the principal groups belonging to this family,
the _Abyssinians_, the _Barabras_, the _Tibbous_, and the _Gallas_,
about any of whom, with the exception of the first named, little is as
yet known.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Abyssinians._--Most authors place this people in the White Race and the
Semitic family. There is, in fact, reason to believe that Abyssinia was
many times overrun, and perhaps civilized, by the nations of Western
Asia; but the colour of their skin, which is very much darker than that
of the Arameans, is a proof that the conquerors intermarried with the
conquered, and that from this union the present Abyssinian race has
sprung.

According to Dr. Rüppel, there are two predominant types existing among
the people of this country, the more widely spread approaching to that
of the Arabs, while the second approximates closely to the Negro.

The Abyssinians forming the first group, are finely formed, showing
resemblance to the Bedouins in feature and expression of countenance.
Their peculiar characteristics are, an oval face, a long, thin, finely
cut nose, a well proportioned mouth with lips of moderate thickness,
lively eyes, regular teeth, slightly crisp or smooth hair, and a middle
stature. Most of the people dwelling on the high mountains of Samen, and
the plains surrounding Lake Tzana, belong to this branch, which also
includes the _Falæshas_, or Jews, the _Garnants_, who are idolators, and
the _Agows_.

The second type is chiefly distinguishable by a shorter and broader
nose, slightly flattened; thick lips; long eyes, with little animation
in them; and very curly and almost woolly hair, which is so close, that
it stands straight out from the head. A portion of the population along
the coast, in the province of Hamasen and other neighbouring districts,
belongs to this second group.

The results of Baron Larrey’s comparison of the Abyssinian with the
Negro, are, that the eyes of the former are larger and of a more
agreeable look, and have the inner angle slightly more inclined. In the
Abyssinian the cheek-bones and the zygomatic arches are more prominent
than in the Negro; the cheeks form a more regular triangle with the
angle of the mouth and the corner of the jaw; the lips are thick without
being turned out like a Negro’s; the teeth are handsome, well set and
less projecting; and the alveolar ridges are not so prominent. The
complexion of the Abyssinian is not so black as that of the Negro in the
interior of Africa. Baron Larrey adds, that the features which he has
described above, belonged to the genuine Egyptians of olden times, and
that they are to be found in the heads of Egyptian statues, and above
all in that of the Sphinx.

[Illustration: 167.--A NOUER CHIEF.]

[Illustration: 168.--CHIEF OF THE LIRA.]

In the account which he published in 1865, of his journey through
Abyssinia two years previously, M. Guillaume Lejean has given
considerable information as to this part of Africa and its inhabitants,
and the victorious enterprise undertaken by England in 1866, afforded an
opportunity of establishing the accuracy of the French traveller’s
statements.

At the moment when the British expedition was directed against him, the
army of the Abyssinian potentate, the Negus Theodorus, numbered about
40,000 men. The infantry carry a spear, shield, and long curved sabre,
and they attack their enemy impetuously at close quarters. The light
cavalry is excellent. The horsemen, when charging, let go their bridles,
fight with both hands, and guiding and urging their horses with leg and
knee only, make them perform the most prodigious feats. Each man has a
sword and two lances; the latter always hit the mark, and their wound is
deadly. They are used like javelins, and are about two yards long. Every
horseman is followed by an attendant retainer, whose duty it is to dash
among the enemy, sword in hand, in order to recover his master’s weapon,
and bring it back to him. These horsemen charge headlong against an
infantry square, making their horses bound into its midst over the heads
of the soldiers, and then backing them in order to break its formation.

The skirmishers are Tigré mountaineers, of cool, resolute courage, and
their aim is remarkably good.

The Emperor Theodorus seldom occupied his palace. His real capital was
his camp, which he kept incessantly moving from one end of his dominions
to the other. He maintained strict discipline in his household and on
his staff, among the members of which the bastinado was often liberally
used.

Two fifths of the Abyssinian population are in the service of the
wealthier classes, and probably there is no country in the world where
servitude is more widely spread. A person possessed of an income equal
to £160 a year, keeps at least eight dependants. M. Lejean had no fewer
than seventeen attendants during his journey, and his travelling
companion, an Englishman, as many as seventy.

The religion of this country forms a rare exception in Africa, as the
inhabitants are Christians. The head of the Abyssinian church is styled
the “Abouna,” and his theocratic powers are almost boundless. King and
pontiff entertain a mutual hatred of one another, each dreading his
rival and keeping close watch upon his movements. Whichever of the two
possesses greater courage and energy gains the upper hand.

Monks and priests are common in Abyssinia.

The natives take a decoction of _kousso_ once a month as a cure for the
tapeworm. The fact is, that in consequence of some local circumstances,
the meat used in the country is full of cysts, which, getting into the
stomach along with the food, generate in the intestines this troublesome
guest that must be got rid of from time to time. This remedy for
tapeworm has been recently introduced into Europe.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Barabras._--The Barabras are the natives of Nubia. They occupy that
part of the valley comprised between the southern frontier of Egypt and
Sennaar, that is to say, Nubia.

This race differs widely from the Arabs, and all adjoining nations. They
dwell on the banks of the Nile, and, wherever the soil is found
favourable, plant date trees, sink wells for irrigation, and sow various
kinds of leguminous plants.

Blumenbach was forcibly struck with the resemblance of the Barabras to
the figures and paintings to be met with on the different monuments of
ancient Egypt. This people, like the Egyptians, have a reddish black
skin, but of a much darker tint. The characteristic features of the pure
Barabras are oval and somewhat long faces, with aquiline noses, very
well formed and slightly rounded towards the point, lips thick without
being protruding, a receding chin, thin beard, animated eyes, very curly
but never frizzled hair, a body perfectly in proportion and usually of
the middle height, and lastly a bronze-coloured skin.

The Barabras are classed in three groups, each of which has a dialect of
its own, namely, the _Noubas_ or _Nubians_, the _Kenous_, and the
_Dongoulahs_; all of whom inhabit the Nile valley.

According to Burckhardt the Noubas differ in many respects from the
Negroes, especially in the softness of their skin, which is very smooth
and flexible, while the palm of a genuine Negro’s hand is rough and as
hard as wood. Their noses, too, are less flat, their lips less thick,
and their cheek-bones less prominent than those of a Negro. Pritchard’s
opinion is that the Barabras probably migrated from Kordofan.

A description of this race is also to be found in the “Voyage en
Egypte,” by MM. Henri Cammas and André Lefèvre, by whom the country was
explored in 1860, and from its pages we take the following extract:--

“We are in Nubia, and Arabic is no longer spoken. The inhabitants,
though usually inoffensive, have nevertheless a warlike gait; the dagger
hanging by a strap to their arm, their ironwood bow and their buckler of
crocodile hide are the tokens and protectors of their liberty. Their
rulers obtain nothing from them except by force.

“The moment the river recedes, these vigorous husbandmen dispute with it
for the fertilizing slime which suffices for a fourfold harvest.

“Do not imagine that they labour: it is enough for them when they have
sown pinches of corn in shallow holes, for nature does all the rest.

“So favoured a climate, as may well be imagined, does not impose on the
Nubian the inconvenience of having to wear clothing. The majority carry
nothing more upon them than a few weapons and their dusky skins. The
women’s costumes are oddly fashioned. They stain their lips and twist
their hair into numberless tiny plaits, which are not re-made every day.
Egyptian females would look on them as indecent, for allowing the lower
part of the face to be seen; and more than that even, the girls, up to
the time of their marriage, wear no covering beyond a narrow girdle. The
villages are rather near each other, and seldom consist of more than
fifteen or twenty earthen huts, having flat roofs thatched with palm
branches. In front of the cabins are ranged, as at Dolce for instance,
large jars, in which the corn is kept stored.

“Ruins belonging to all ages and every ancient divinity are to be found
in Nubia.”

The inhabitants of Eastern Nubia are merely wandering tribes who
traverse the country included between the Nile and the Red Sea; the
dwellers in the northern part are known as the _Ababdehs_.

The _Bicharyehs_ spread themselves as far as the Abyssinian frontiers,
and the _Hadharebs_ are still more to the south, reaching to Souakin on
the Red Sea. The _Souakins_ belong to the last-named race.

The Bicharyehs are savage and inhospitable, and it is asserted that they
drink the still warm blood of living animals. They are chiefly nomadic,
and maintain themselves on the flesh or the milk of their flocks. All
travellers agree in representing them as fine men with regular features,
large, expressive eyes, light, elegant frames, and a dark
chocolate-coloured complexion. Their method of wearing the hair is very
curious. Those who possess it in sufficient length to reach below the
ear, allow it to hang in straight, tangled locks, each of which
terminates in a curl. This headgear is impregnated with grease, and is
so much matted that there would be a difficulty in getting a comb
through it. They refrain, besides, from touching it, and in order not to
spoil its arrangement are always provided with a bit of pointed stick,
like a large needle, which they put into requisition whenever scratching
becomes necessary.

The head-dress of the Souakins is equally extraordinary, and the
scratching pin is also an obligatory accompaniment of their toilet.

The Ababdehs have hair from two and a half to three inches long; their
lips are slightly thick, their noses rather long, and in complexion they
are almost black. They are nomadic, and live in the same way as the
Bedouins.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Tibbous._--The Tibbous, who wander over the country to the east of the
Sahara, have been looked upon as belonging to the Berber family, but
their complexion is darker and they do not speak the Arab tongue. Their
noses are aquiline, their lips but slightly thick, they have intelligent
faces, and are of slender build. Their activity is very great and they
are addicted to robbing caravans.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Gallas._--The Gallas are strangers to civilization, the majority
scattered over the plains which extend to the south of Abyssinia,
leading a pastoral and nomadic life. They are divided into a great many
independent tribes, being kept united, however, by origin and language.
They are warlike, cruel, and given to plunder. Their colour is very
handsome and their hair usually curly or woolly; they have coarse, short
features and large lips. Islamism has been embraced by a few tribes, but
the greater number remain attached to the old African Paganism.


FELLAN FAMILY.

The _Fellans_, who are also called Fellatahs, Pouls, or Peuhls, have not
been long known except by some tribes who inhabit Senegambia and who
sometimes penetrated the Soudan. Their skin is extremely dark, inclining
sometimes to a reddish, and sometimes to a copper colour, but being
never really black; they have rather long hair, smooth and silky; their
nose is not flattened; the shape of their face is oval; their stature
tall and slight; the extremities of the limbs delicate and small; their
step light and commanding.

We class among the Fellan family the people dwelling in the western part
of Africa, such as the inhabitants of Nigritia and Bambara.

The capital of Nigritia, Sego or Segou, is a tolerably large town
situated on the Niger.

Probably many other nations of Western Africa ought to be placed side by
side with the Fellans and a comparison should also be established
between them and the people of Madagascar, the _Owas_.

All these races differ from the Negroes, although dwelling on the
confines of the country belonging to the latter branch, with which some
authors erroneously confound them, but the physical characteristics that
mark them as distinct are well-established.




CHAPTER III.

MALAY BRANCH.


This branch approaches closely to the Indo-Chinese. The races composing
it are of medium height, regularly made and with well-proportioned
limbs; their skin varies from an olive-yellow to a brown hue, and their
hair is smooth, black, or occasionally brown. They appear susceptible of
civilization and are often divided into regular nations.

Dumont d’Urville has distinguished among these races three divisions
which he has designated by the appellations of _Malays_, _Polynesians_,
and _Micronesians_; and these groups will be treated here as so many
families.


MALAY FAMILY.

The Malay family, which inhabits Malaysia and the peninsula of Malacca,
is made up of a vast number of nations, the widely varied
characteristics of which partake more or less of those of the
Indo-Chinese, the Hindoos, and even the Negroes. We shall specify in
this family the Malays, Javanese, Battas, Bugs, or Bougis, the
Macassars, Dyaks, and Tagals.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Malays._--The Malays constitute the most numerous and remarkable branch
of this family. They are spread over the peninsula of Malacca, the
islands of Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and Celebes, and in the Moluccas,
etc. This group of islands was formerly known as the Indian Archipelago,
and owes its name of Malaysia to the naturalist Lesson.

The chief characteristics of the Malays are a lithe and active body,
medium stature, somewhat slanting eyes, prominent cheekbones, a flat
nose, smooth glossy hair, and a scanty beard. Their limbs are elegantly
formed and their hair is black and curling. The flatness of their noses
is attributable to an artificial cause, as, immediately on the birth of
an infant, this feature is compressed until the cartilage is broken, for
a broad flat face is considered a point of beauty, and a projecting nose
would be looked on as a snout. Their lips are deformed by the inordinate
chewing of the betel leaf, and become ultimately repulsive in appearance
on account of their exaggerated redness and the extravasated blood
beneath their surface. The yellow colour of their skin is heightened
still more by artificial means, for it is regarded as an attraction, and
is the aristocratic tint; daily rubbing with henna or turmeric bring it
to a saffron tinge. The natural complexion of the women is pale and
dull; brown is predominant among the men. The princes and dignitaries
stain a dark yellow every part of the body exposed to view.

A Malay’s clothing is of a very light description, consisting, both for
men and women, of two large pieces of stuff skilfully arranged and
confined at the waist by a scarf. Princes and moneyed persons alone wear
a kind of drawers.

The indolence of the Malays is excessive. With the exception of the
slaves, no one works. They are in fact an utterly demoralized people;
murder, pillage, and outrage are familiar to them, they possess neither
honour nor gratitude, and have no respect for their pledged word. Play
is with them a passion, a frenzy. They gamble away their property, their
wives and children, everything, in fact, except their own persons. They
are victims of opium and the betel plant. Nevertheless some laws have
existence among them, for murder and robbery are punishable by fines and
corporal punishments.

The Malays of the Malacca peninsula are not, like the inhabitants of the
Archipelago, violent, passionate, and lazy. They are an energetic,
provident, trading, industrious race, but quite as rapacious and as
tricky as the others. Like the inhabitants of Malaysia, too, they are
prone to vengeance, and when under the influence of opium this sentiment
becomes inflamed, and turns into a kind of fury, directed not only
against the person of the offender but also against harmless passers-by.
The Malay who is a prey to this double paroxysm of opium and frenzy,
snatches up a sharp weapon, dashes forth furiously, shouting “Kill!
Kill!” and strikes everyone who crosses his path.

[Illustration: 169.--MALAY “RUNNING A MUCK.”]

The police of the country employ a small body of very strong and active
men whose special duty it is to seize these raging maniacs. They hunt
the miserable wretch through the streets, and having caught him by the
neck in a kind of fork, throw him on the ground and pin him there until
a sufficient reinforcement arrives to enable them to tie him hand and
foot, when he is brought before a court of justice and nearly always
sentenced to death (fig. 169).

       *       *       *       *       *

_Javanese._--These people, who inhabit the island of Java, are rather
light in complexion, and bear a close resemblance to the Indo-Chinese.
For the following information about the population of this wonderful and
splendid country, we are indebted to M. de Molins, who made a stay of
two years there, and whose notes have been arranged and published by M.
F. Coppée, in the “Tour du Monde.”

The stranger traversing Batavia, the chief town of Java, cannot be an
uninterested observer of the motley crowd perpetually renewing itself
before his eyes. Among the numberless half-clothed men he sees none but
brawny shoulders and wiry, muscular frames. He is struck by the dull,
dark brown complexion of the Indian, whose hue appears to vary with the
district where he happens to be located; for his skin which seems
brick-red on the sea coast assumes a violet and pinkish tinge near
masses of vegetation, and becomes almost black in a dusty region. The
perfectly naked children gambolling in the full rays of the sun look
like fine antique bronzes, so graceful are their attitudes and so
faultless their mould. The Malay in his turban, tight-fitting green
vest, and grey petticoat striped with whimsical patterns, has quite a
handsome head. His face is oval with eyes of almond shape and a thin,
straight nose; the mouth is shaded by a slight, glossy black moustache
and his high broad forehead is admirably formed. All do not perhaps
possess so many advantages, but they are without exception finely made,
with beautiful black, smooth, and silky hair.

The Javanese wear hats of bamboo, the plaiting of which is perfect.
These are of all patterns, large and small, round, pointed, or made in
the shape of shields, extinguishers, or basins. Their costume varies;
some of the men wear Arab vests and wide trousers; some would be naked
but for a sort of drawers; while a few swathe their loins in a piece of
Indian calico which displays the form; and others are clad in a very
narrow petticoat that produces a most picturesque effect. The natives
make all their garments out of a broad piece of stuff manufactured in
the country, the devices and colours of which manifest extraordinary
variety and astonishing taste.

The women’s head-dress consists of a handkerchief which is tied and
arranged in a more or less artistic manner.

[Illustration:

_P. Sellier, p.^{t}_

_Imp. Dupuy, 22, R. des Petits Hôtels_

_G. Regamey, lith._

POLYNESIAN

MALAY

BROWN RACE]

At Sourabaya the traveller mingled in the throng, composed of a
sprinkling of Chinese, Malays, and natives of Madura, but throughout
which the Javanese element predominated. The typical costume of the
country may be said to consist of the long-folded _sahrong_, a very
close-fitting vest, and a kind of sunshade on the head, covered in blue
cloth interwoven with gold and silver thread, and lined with red. The
colours used here are not very gaudy, and the priests may at once be
recognized by their ample turbans and white muslin vests. A few
palanquins were moving about through the crowd; those of the Javanese
are formed of a hammock suspended from a bamboo cross-stick and
sheltered from the rays of the sun by a little roof of bamboo or
palm-leaf matting. Long boats laden with cargo and having gracefully
curved prows were passing up and down the river.

On fête days all the components of this motley multitude are drawn
together by the performances of the Javanese bayaderes, or dancing girls
(fig. 172).

[Illustration: 170.--MALAY.]

When visiting the cemetery M. de Molins saw the native Prince of
Soerabaya, who had come there to pray at the tomb of his forefathers.
His excessively simple costume was only distinguished from that of
ordinary Javanese by a loop of diamonds stuck in the very small turban
enveloping his head, and by a beautiful gold clasp fastening the belt of
his sahrong.

[Illustration: 171.--JAVANESE.]

In the Javanese _Kampong_ our traveller saw copper articles; such as
betel-roll boxes, bowls, and water vases; which were ornamented in
charming and fantastic taste with engraved arabesques representing the
flowers, fruits, and animals of the country; and he was struck with
surprise at the goldsmiths being able to form such marvellous trinkets
with tools of the most primitive description. He went to see one of the
large manufactories where are made the curious sahrongs worn by the
inhabitants, the shades of colour in which rival those of the most
valuable cashmeres in brilliancy, harmony, and richness. The process of
making these fabrics is a slow and difficult one. A fine sahrong is
worth more than £4 and does not exceed two and a half yards in length by
one yard in width.

[Illustration: 172.--JAVANESE DANCING GIRLS.]

In one of his excursions M. de Molins met a wedding procession. The
happy couple, who belonged to two equally rich families, were in a very
pretty palanquin surmounted by a canopy ornamented with palm leaves and
a trellis-work of bamboos and reeds. The garments of the newly married
pair were of red silk brocaded with gold embroidery, and their heads,
necks, arms and hands were covered with jewellery. Children ran
alongside and in front shouting and making the air resound with the
noise of gongs, tom-toms, and cymbals (fig. 173). Four men in yellow
breeches, with blue and white girdles, their hips adorned by long
pointed strips of blue and yellow silk, and their heads bound with a
tightly-fitting turban of the same colours, carried at the end of long
poles, bright, waving bouquets made of tiny rosettes of blue, yellow,
and white paper attached to thin canes. Relatives, friends, and all
those who expected to partake of the repast which was generously
provided, followed the palanquin.

Ceremonies of different kinds precede this solemn procession; and for
several days before it takes place the betrothed couple are obliged to
submit to a public exhibition and general hubbub, and are condemned to
remain nearly completely motionless and in almost total abstinence, lest
they should in any way damage their clothes.

This marriage festival is the grand occasion for displaying all the
resources of Javanese culinary art. The fruits are served at the
beginning of the banquet, and steamed rice only slightly cooked forms
the principal dish.

The feast would be a sorry one, if the bill of fare did not include
pickles, salt fish dried in the sun while alive, half-hatched eggs also
salted, a hash of meats perfumed with roses and jessamine, the seeds of
various plants, and slices of cocoa-nut rolled in pimento. The first
time a European tastes these dishes he feels a dreadful sensation of
burning, which passes from the mouth to the stomach and seems to be ever
increasing. But people soon appear to grow accustomed to these spicy
ragouts; and M. de Molins says that in a short time this kind of
cookery, which greatly tends to stimulate the appetite, becomes
indispensable.

[Illustration: 173.--JAVANESE WEDDING.]

During this gentleman’s stay at Soerabaya, the Dutch Governor-General of
Java was there on his tour of inspection of the island, which takes
place every five years. High festivities had been ordered for the
reception of this exalted personage, and M. de Molins gives us a sketch
of the princes who were present at a grand revel. The skin of many was
blue; their perfectly delicate and regular features bore the melancholy,
stamp peculiar to Orientals, and their movements were full of ease and
grace. Their sahrong, woven in silk of the most beautiful shades, was
fastened at the waist by a flowing girdle that fell over extremely tight
pantaloons, and sparkled with gold embroidery; their chest, shoulders,
and arms were left naked, and had been thickly coated with
saffron-coloured powder for the occasion. Their head-gear consisted of a
truncated cone, either blue, red, or black, braided with gold or silver
lace; and their ears were adorned with a kind of wing, in goldwork of
the most exquisite finish and lightness. The princes were accompanied by
the officers of their suite, among whom the Umbrella-Bearer was
conspicuous. The enormous sunshades carried by those functionaries bear
a double resemblance to a shield and a lance, and are at once
warlike-looking and foppish. They are gilt or silvered, green, blue, or
black, and produce the most uncommon effect.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Battas._--The Battas, who inhabit the island of Sumatra, exhibit a very
singular mixture in their habits, as they unite with ideas of order and
civilization practices quite as ferocious as those of the most savage
people.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Bougis and Macassars._--The Bougis and Mankasses (Mangkassars, which
Europeans have turned into Macassars) occupy the Celebes Islands, and
are renowned for their courage.

The former nation is looked on as the most ancient and enlightened race
in the Celebes group. Not only have they a secret and sacred language,
but a second idiom which is familiar to all classes, and in addition a
written tongue. They possess a system of writing, and even a literature.
These men are upright, faithful to their promise, and thoroughly loyal
in diplomatic and commercial dealings. Their mere word is of more value
than the most solemn oaths of the inhabitants of Java, Sumatra, and
Borneo.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Tagales._--The Tagales and Bissayes who dwell in the Philippines, the
former in Luzon, and the latter in the centre group, speak dialects very
different from those of the Malays, properly so-called. The anonymous
author who has described the voyage of the Austrian frigate Novara, has
supplied us with some details as to the varied and amusing aspect of the
population of Manilla, the chief town of Luzon.

The _padres_, in long black soutanes, and spout-shaped felt hats, stroll
under the shade of the palm trees; Christian Brothers jostle
Confraternities of the Virgin and Fathers of the Conception and of the
Nativity. Make way for grey, yellow, and brown-frocked monks, and for
those who discipline themselves with hair shirts and whips!
Galley-slaves, chained two and two, are quietly moving hither and
thither with pails of water. Charming senoritas, mostly Spanish
half-bloods, with mantillas falling like a cascade of black lace along
their raven and glossy tresses, in which green leaves and scarlet
blossoms intertwine, compel us to admire their listless mien and their
well-arched eyebrows shading their almond-shaped eyes. After the
half-breeds, come the native Tagales, of pure or of mixed blood; Chinese
women; and little negresses selling fruit and bouquets, or lounging
about with cigarettes in their mouths.

The Tagales whom M. de Molins saw at Manilla, were small and weak. Their
faces were by no means disagreeable, their colour a little lighter than
that of other Malays, and their hair black without being woolly. The
combinations of this race with the Negroes and Chinese, appeared to him
most interesting.

Many travellers have described the natives of the Philippines. They are
well-made men, of elegant, easy figure, and medium stature. Their feet
and hands are small, exhibiting extreme delicacy at the point where they
join the limbs. They have oval faces, with small but regular noses,
well-coloured lips, and teeth that are long and white until they become
spoiled by chewing the betel-leaf. The men’s hair is silky and curled;
that of the women, soft, fine, and glossy.

The brown tint of the complexion is very changeable among these
islanders, varying from the dark shade which belongs to those living in
the open air, such as fishermen, hunters, and tillers of the soil, to
the fair skins of the upper and sedentary classes. That portion of the
people which has not been subjected to foreign influence is ingenious,
industrious, and active. The men are warlike, and make excellent
boat-builders. Their junks made of plaited bamboo, and manned by a
couple of hundred warriors and rowers, spread such powerful sails and
possess such speed, that they are the envy of the Spanish ship-builders.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Dyaks._--There are some tribes living in the vicinity of the people of
whom we have just spoken and especially in the interior of the countries
of which the Malays occupy the coasts, who are generally distinguished
by the name of _Alfusus_. They have been often regarded as members of a
separate stock, and a connexion has even been traced between them and
the black race, but the greater part of these tribes ought to be
considered as forming part of the Malay family. Among them are the
_Dyaks_, a numerous people inhabiting the interior of Borneo, and the
_Turajas_ who dwell in the Celebes Islands.

The Dyaks (fig. 174) have well-made bodies, and the women’s faces are
mild and agreeable in expression, but the men’s far from attractive. The
constant warfare which they carry on with the Malays of the coast may be
the cause why their features become ultimately so changed under the
combined influences of fear, passion, and revenge.

The Dyaks who occupy the plains, and those living on the borders of
rivers or in the woods, may be separately classed. Both groups are of
similar stature, possess features alike, and the same lank, black hair,
with large curls, which is however never woolly or frizzled; but those
occupying the dense forests rising from the river banks have fairer
complexions. Mutual hatred has been sworn between the two races, and
they abandon themselves to incessant conflicts, and have ever to be on
their guard against terrible surprises in which many heads are cut off.
No Dyak would venture to present himself to a girl, without being able
to show her the head of an enemy who had been overcome and sacrificed by
him. A warrior’s renown depends on the number of heads he has acquired,
and skulls dried in the fire form the ornaments and trophies of his hut.


These cutters off of heads are very cleanly, and bathe twice a day
regularly. They have extremely severe laws, by which murder, outrage,
and robbery are punished in the same way. They profess great veneration
for old age as well as towards the dead. Their chronological system is
based upon the _yongas_, or ages, as among the Hindoos, and they believe
the present to be the age of misfortune. Their notion is, that some day
during an eclipse of the sun or moon, a dragon will devour the stars;
consequently whenever such phenomena occur, they make a terrific uproar
in order to scare the monster away, a proceeding which has been
invariably successful!

In her travels along the rivers Lappas and Kapouas (western side of
Borneo) Madame Ida Pfeiffer visited a tribe of independent Dyaks, who
are called “Head-Cutters” by the English and Dutch. She saw an immense
cabin about sixty yards long, in the verandah of which fabrics made of
cotton or of plaited bark of trees, splendid mats and baskets of every
shape and size, were displayed. Drums and gongs hung on the walls, and
large piles of bamboos, bags of rice, and dried pork, showed that the
Dyaks had exhibited all their wealth for the occasion.

Nor were their own persons by any means forgotten. They had loaded their
necks down to the breast with glass beads, bears’ teeth, and shells;
brass rings covered the lower part of their legs, reaching half-way to
the knee, their arms were adorned in the same way to the shoulders, and
similar decorations were in their ears. Some wore a sort of red stuff
cap, embellished with pearls, shells, and little flat bits of brass;
others had wound round their heads a fillet formed of a piece of bark,
the deeply fringed ends of which stuck out like feathers. A man decked
out in this fashion, covered with ornaments from head to foot, presents
a rather comical appearance.

The women had fewer adornments; they wore no earrings, nor bears’ teeth
collars; a few displayed some glass beads; but more were satisfied with
an incalculable number of brass or leaden rings.

Madame Pfeiffer, while among the Dyaks, witnessed a sword-dance, which
was executed in the most skilful and elegant manner.

This travelled lady also visited another tribe located higher up the
river, where she observed the same things, and in addition saw two human
heads lately cut off. When showing them to Madame Pfeiffer, the Dyaks
spat in their faces, and the children cuffed them, and spat on the
ground.

[Illustration: 174.--DYAKS.]

The shocking custom of decapitation owes its origin to superstition. If
a rajah falls ill, or sets out on a journey among another tribe, he and
his subjects undertake to sacrifice a human head in case of his recovery
or safe return; and should he die, they chop off a skull or two. The
heads which they have sworn to immolate must be obtained at any cost.
The Dyaks hide themselves in the long jungle grass, behind felled
branches of trees, or under the dry leaves, and lie in wait for entire
days. If anybody, man, woman, or child, comes in sight, they shoot a
poisoned arrow at him, and rush like tigers on their prey. At one blow
the head is severed from the body, and placed in a little basket
reserved for this purpose, and ornamented with human hair.

These assassinations frequently give rise to bloody wars; for the tribe,
a member of which has been thus sacrificed to the law of chance, takes
up arms, and never lays them down until the most terrible reprisals have
been exacted. Severed heads are borne back in triumph and solemnly hung
up in the place of honour, the retaliation being celebrated by
festivities which last for a month.

On one occasion, when Madame Pfeiffer had been received with profuse
respect by a tribe, she found a freshly cut off head suspended over her
bed, along with others already dried. She could not close her eyes. She
felt in a perfect fever at being thus encompassed by frenzied men, at
being smothered by the odour of these human remains, and at being lulled
to rest by the sinister sound of skulls jangled together by the wind.

Yet in spite of chopped-off heads and festoons of human skulls, this
lady considers the Dyaks to be honest, prudent, and endowed with some
good qualities. She places them higher in the scale than the other
tribes with which she had an opportunity of coming in contact. Their
domestic life, which is truly patriarchal in its nature, is alluded to
by her with pleasure, as are also their morality, the love they bear
their offspring, and the respect evinced by the children towards their
parents.

The independent Dyaks are richer than those living subservient to the
Malay yoke. They cultivate rice, maize, tobacco, and sometimes the sugar
cane; find in the woods Dammana resin which answers lighting purposes,
and gather large harvests of sago, yams, and cocoa-nuts. Some of these
productions are exchanged by them for pearl beads, brass, salt, and
cloth. Their houses, or huts, are clean and well-kept (fig. 175).

A Dyak can take to himself as many wives as he pleases, but he usually
contents himself with one, whom he treats well and does not burden with
work. Their habits are purer and better than those of the Malays. They
have no system of writing. Madame Pfeiffer did not see among them either
temples or idols, priests or religious sacrifices.

[Illustration: 175.--A DYAK HUT.]


POLYNESIAN FAMILY.

The tribes included by Dumont d’Urville under the name of Polynesians
inhabit the entire eastern part of Oceania, namely, the Sandwich
Islands, the Marquesas, the Friendly and Society groups, the Low
Archipelago, New Zealand, etc.

The people of all these bear the closest affinity to each other. Their
complexion is olive, verging on brown, but not copper-coloured; they are
tall in stature, and have sinewy limbs, high foreheads, black, lively,
and expressive eyes, and but slightly flattened noses. Their lips are
generally larger than those of the whites, but they nevertheless have
handsome mouths and splendid teeth. Their hair is black and frizzled.
Throughout the whole vast expanse occupied by them they speak the same
language.

Most of the tribes belonging to the Polynesian family are thorough
savages, but their stock is diminishing day by day, and the final result
of neighbouring civilization will be to replace the native element by
European races. Meanwhile, the most cruel customs prevail among them,
and even cannibalism is practised by some.

“Taboo” holds universally an important place among the populations of
Oceania.

This word expresses a state of interdiction, during which the object
struck with it is placed under the immediate control of the divinity. No
man can infringe upon its power without becoming exposed to the most
disastrous consequences, that is, unless he has impaired its action by
certain formalities.

Thus, the piece of ground consecrated to a god, or which has become the
burial place of a chief, is “tabooed,” and they place under the same
spell a canoe which they desire to render safer for long voyages. To
fight in a spot subjected to “taboo” is forbidden, and in order to
prevent certain productions from becoming scarce, they are placed under
similar protection. Anyone guilty of robbery or other crime, commits a
fault against “taboo,” and the man who touches the dead body of a chief
or anything he was in the habit of wearing, falls under a like ban,
which time alone can remove, etc.

We shall allude chiefly to the aborigines of New Zealand, giving also
some details about the natives of the Sandwich Islands, as well as about
the Tongas, or Friendly Islanders.

       *       *       *       *       *

_New Zealanders._--The inhabitants of New Zealand, sometimes designated
by the name of Maoris, are tall, robust, and of athletic frames. Their
stature is generally from five feet seven inches to five feet eight
inches, seldom lower, and their skin scarcely differs in colour from
that of the people of the South of Europe. The expression of their
countenance almost always indicates a gloomy ferocity. The face is oval,
the forehead narrow, the eye large, black, and full of fire. The nose is
sometimes aquiline, but oftener broad and flat, the mouth wide, the lips
big, and beneath them rows of small, beautifully enamelled teeth.

The New Zealanders wear their hair long and falling in scattered locks
over the face; chiefs alone take the trouble to comb it back on the head
in a solitary tuft. It is rough and black, and seems occasionally
reddish, because some individuals sprinkle it with powdered ochre.

Women who are not slaves possess strong vigorous figures, and are rarely
under five feet and a few inches in height. The young girls have a broad
face, masculine features, coarse lips frequently stained black by
tattooing, a large mouth, flat nose, and uncombed hair hanging about
them in disorder. Their bodies are disgustingly filthy, and impregnated
with an odour of fish or of seal oil, which is revolting in the extreme.

They possess a few advantages as a set-off against the repulsiveness of
this picture. The teeth of a New Zealand female are of excessive
whiteness, and her black eyes beam with intelligence and fire, but
household work and the birth of a family soon cause these attractions to
disappear. The women have, moreover, the most deeply-rooted dirty
habits. A thick layer of mud covers their bodies, which are nearly
always smeared with seal or porpoise oil. Both sexes are capital
swimmers.

There is little difference between the costume worn by males and
females. The natives know how to weave very elegant textures from the
fibres of the _Phormium tenax_ (or New Zealand flax), and a broad mat
of this material floats carelessly over their shoulders and body, while
another is wrapped round the waist, descending to the knee. In winter
they throw over the former garment a thick, heavy cloak generally made
from the peelings of a kind of osier, but which, in the case of chiefs,
consists of dogskins sewn together. These fabrics are also varied in
design, some being smooth and without any pattern, while others are
covered with very delicate ornamentation. The slave girls stick
unthreshed slips of the _Phormium tenax_ in their skirts, thus giving
immoderate fulness to their bodies.

A warrior’s rank and bravery are denoted by a great number of little
pins made of bones or green talc, which are worn across the breast at
the edge of the matting. The original use of these articles was to
scratch the head and kill the insects on it.

Like all the other races, the New Zealanders have a fancy for personal
ornaments. They like to stick plumes in their hair, and a tuft of soft
white feathers is thrust into the ears. Their unkempt locks are seldom
covered by any kind of head-dress; but Lesson, the naturalist, from whom
we derive these details, saw a few young girls in whom a coquettish
taste was more developed, and who wore graceful wreaths of green moss.

The women adorn themselves with shell necklaces, from which little dried
hippocamps are sometimes suspended. They are very fond of blue glass
beads of European make. The most precious ornament of this people,
however, consists of a green talc fetish, which hangs on the breast
attached to some portion of a human bone. There are religious ideas
connected with this amulet, and it is worn by men only.

One of the Zealanders’ superstitions is to fasten a shark’s sharp tooth
to one of their ears, with the point of which the women lacerate their
bosoms and faces when they happen to lose a chief or one of their
relations. The greatest value attaches to these objects when they have
been handed down from ancestors, and have become “tabooed,” or sacred;
the happiness of a native’s whole existence seems bound up in their
possession; yet they are rated as completely worthless when derived from
a slain enemy.

Tattooing plays an important part among the New Zealanders, and they
submit annually to the painful operation which it requires. This marking
usually covers the face all over, and, as it is renewed very often,
produces deep furrows stamped in regular rings, that impart the oddest
expression to the countenance. Circles, one within the other, are also
punctured on the lower part of the loins, and the women have a broad
zone of lozenge-shaped figures engraved round their waist. Deep black
lines are cut in the lips, and a design like a spear-head is traced at
the angles of the mouth and in the middle of the chin. The young men
draw large flies on their noses, staining them black, and the girls
sketch similar insects in blue. None but slaves and persons of the
lowest class are without tattooing of some sort, and it is considered a
downright disgrace to have the skin in its natural state.

[Illustration: 176.--NEW ZEALAND CHIEF.]

In a region subject to the terrible storms of the Southern Hemisphere,
the dwellings ought to be, and are in fact, small and low. Villages are
never found in a plain, because there they might be surprised and
pillaged, but are situated in steep localities difficult of access; the
huts cannot be entered except on all fours; families sheltered by them,
sleep huddled together on the straw in a narrow space; and there is no
furniture inside, beyond a few carved boxes, and some red wooden vessels
thickly covered with designs.

The industry for which these islanders are chiefly noted, is the
manufacture of matting; we have already alluded to the beautiful
materials made from the fibres of the _Phormium tenax_ by the women and
girls.

The soil of New Zealand does not, like that of Equatorial Asia, furnish
a large supply of edible substances. The basis of the inhabitants’ food
consists of the root of a fern tree, resembling our _Pteris_, which
covers all the plains. The natives catch a large quantity of fish in the
bays along the coast, and dry or smoke the greater portion of it, in
order to guard against famine in time of war, and to be provided with
sustenance whenever the fury of the elements makes it impossible for
them to launch their boats. Europeans have introduced several vegetables
among them, which grow readily in the easily tilled and fertile land.

Their cookery is as simple as their food; they drink nothing but pure
water, and hate strong liquors. Their victuals are laid on the ground,
and each one eats with his fingers; the warriors, however, sometimes use
instruments, made of human bones, and Lesson bought from one of them a
four-pronged fork, fashioned from the large bone of a man’s right arm,
minutely carved, and adorned with many raised ornaments in
mother-of-pearl.

New Zealand canoes are remarkable for the carving which embellishes
them. Most of these boats are hollowed from the trunk of a single tree,
and are generally about forty feet long. Lesson measured a specimen,
made in this way from one piece, the depth of which was three, the
breadth four, and the length sixty feet. They are painted red, and have
their sides festooned with birds’ feathers. The stern rises to a height
of about four feet, and is covered with allegorical carvings; the prow
exhibits a hideous head, with mother-of-pearl eyes and a tongue
protruding to an inordinate extent, in order to show contempt for an
enemy. These canoes are capable of holding about forty warriors. The
oars are sharp pointed, and can be used, in case of need, as weapons
against an unforeseen attack. The sails consist of reed mats, coarsely
woven, and triangular in shape.

Although they are eminently warlike, the New Zealanders possess no great
variety of destructive implements. Arrows are unused by them: a
_paton-paton_, or tomahawk, of green talc, which is fastened to the
wrist by a strap of hide, is the weapon above all others with which they
smash or scalp the skull of their enemy. They rush headlong one against
the other, and conquer by dint of sheer weight and force. The badge
which betokens a priest’s functions is a heavy whalebone stick, covered
with carvings. Their _tokis_ are hatchets, also made of talc, with
carefully worked handles decorated with tufts of white dog’s hair. A
great many of their clubs are of extremely hard polished red wood.

In latter days the numerous tribes inhabiting the islands resorted to by
English and American whalers, receive firearms in exchange for the fresh
provisions with which they supply the European vessels.

The chant of the New Zealanders is solemn and monotonous, made up of
hoarse, drawling, and broken notes. It is always accompanied by
movements of the eyes and well-practised gestures that are very
significant. Most of those chants turn upon licentious subjects. Their
dance is a pantomime in which the performers seldom move from one place,
and consists of postures and motions of the limbs, executed with the
greatest precision. Each dance has an allegorical meaning, and is
applicable to declarations of war, human sacrifices, funerals, &c.

The only musical instrument that Lesson saw in the hands of the New
Zealanders was a tastefully worked wooden flute. The language of these
tribes is harsh: some poems of high antiquity have been transmitted to
them by oral tradition. They possess a religion, a form of worship,
priests, and ceremonials. Marriages are made by purchase; a chief who
had some dealings with the crew of the ship to which Lesson belonged,
had bought his wife for two firelocks and a male slave.

The friendship which the aborigines of the same tribe entertain for each
other is very warm, and Lesson has depicted for us the strange manner in
which they evince it. When one of them came on board, and met there an
intimate whom he had not seen for some time, he went up to him in solemn
silence, applied the end of his own nose against that of his friend’s,
and remained in that attitude for half an hour, muttering some confused
sentences in a doleful tone. They then separated, and remained for the
rest of the time like two men utter strangers to each other. A similar
formality was observed by the women among themselves.

No race cherishes the desire of avenging an insult longer than that of
which we are sketching an account; consequently, eternal hatreds and
frequent wars desolate their islands.

The loss of a chief is deeply felt by the whole tribe. The funeral
obsequies last for several days: should the deceased be of high rank,
captives are sacrificed who will have to attend him in the other world,
and the women, girls, and female slaves tear their bosoms and faces with
sharp sharks’ teeth. Each tribe forms a sort of republic. The districts
are ruled by a chief who has a special kind of tattooing, and who is the
most generally esteemed for bravery, intrepidity, and prudence.

Lesson declares that the New Zealanders are openly and cynically
cannibals; that they relish with extreme satisfaction the palpitating
flesh of enemies who have fallen at their hands, and regard as a
festival the day on which they can gorge themselves with human flesh. A
chief expressed to Lesson the pleasure which he experienced in eating
it, and indicated the brain as being the most delicate morsel, and the
buttock as the most substantial.

After a victory the bodies of the chiefs who have been killed in the
fight are prepared for serving up at this horrible banquet. The head
belongs to the victor, the fleshy parts are eaten by the men of the
tribe, and the bones are distributed among them to be made tools of.
Common warriors are scalped, chopped into pieces, roasted, and devoured.
Their heads, if they had any reputation, are sold to the Europeans in
exchange for a little powder.

A chief’s head is preserved. If the victorious clan wishes to make peace
it sends this trophy to the defeated tribe. In case the latter raises
loud shouts, a reconciliation will take place, but should it preserve a
gloomy silence, it is a sign that preparations are being made to avenge
the chief’s death, and hostilities are recommenced. When a tribe has
regained the head of its chief it preserves it religiously and venerates
it; or else, knowing that it will bring a respectable sum, sells it to
the Europeans.

       *       *       *       *       *

M. Hochstetter during a recent voyage visited these same islanders. A
chief of Ohinemuta, named “Pini-te-Kore-Kore” came to see the
travellers. He was attired in European fashion, wore a cloak and straw
hat, and carried a white banner which bore in blue letters the
inscription, “Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis.” He was a Christianized
chief, and modified as to exterior appearance. He had been brought up at
the missionary school, was about thirty years of age, and tattooed only
on the lower part of the face. He had acquired much from his French
masters both in manner and demeanour, and being extremely communicative
gave M. Hochstetter some curious particulars about the horrible wars to
which his forefathers had devoted themselves.

For the last thirty years the conflicts have not been carried on as they
were formerly, that is to say, they consist no longer in a series of
duels, as it were, but of musketry firing kept up by bodies of troops,
from a distance, in the European style.

The traveller had occasion to pay a visit to the Maori king
“Potateau-te-Whero-Whero,” before the door of whose dwelling was posted
a solitary sentinel clad in a blue uniform cloak with red facings and
brass buttons, forming the whole guard of the palace. About twenty
persons were assembled in a hut, where his Majesty, who was blind and
bent double, sate upon a straw mat. His face, though overloaded with
tattooings, was fine and regular, and a deep scar on his forehead
bespoke him as a warrior who had taken part in severe battles. He was
wrapped in a blanket of a dark brown colour. Like Homer’s Nausicaa, the
daughters of this supreme chief of a proud and warlike race were engaged
in washing. His son, seated near him, was a young man with black and
sparkling eyes.

The Maori tribes had risen in rebellion a few years previously, with a
desire of founding a national government as soon as they had recovered
their independence. But the natives were overcome after much bloodshed,
and fell again under the yoke of their former ruler.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Tongas._--The inhabitants of the Tonga or Friendly Islands resemble
Europeans, but their physiognomy presents such varied expressions that
it would be difficult to reduce them to a characteristic type. At the
first glance flatness of the nose seems a distinguishing mark of their
race, but according as we examine a large number of individuals we find
the different shapes of that organ grow more numerous. It is the same
with the lips, which are sometimes fleshy and sometimes thin. The hair
is black; but brown and light chestnut are also to be met with. The
colour of the complexion is equally changeable. Women and girls of the
better classes who avoid the rays of the sun are but little coloured;
the others are more or less dark.

The population of these islands has been carefully described by Dumont
d’Urville in an account of the voyage which he made in command of the
_Astrolabe_, during the years 1826, 1827, 1828, and 1829.

“The natives of the Tonga Islands,” he says, “are in general tall,
well-made, and of good proportions. Their countenances are agreeable and
present a variety of features that may be compared with those observable
in Europe. Many have aquiline noses and rather thin lips, while the hair
of nearly all is smooth. Finally, the colour of their skin is only
slightly dark, especially among the chiefs. Women may be seen whose tall
stature, stately step, and perfect forms are united to the most delicate
features and a nearly white or merely dusky complexion.”

Cook and Forster had previously affirmed that the women of the Tonga
Islands might serve as models for an artist.

In their first dealings with Europeans these aborigines displayed
themselves in the most favourable light. Tasman, Cook, Maurelle, and
Wilson bore witness to their gentleness, politeness, and hospitality;
Cook even gave the name of “Friendly” to their islands. The crew of the
_Astrolabe_ was at first led astray by these appearances; but the
natives gave many and repeated proofs that at the very moment when they
were overpowering the navigators with caresses and marks of friendship,
they were meditating how to attack and plunder them.

These men are also endowed with a force of character and energy by no
means common. Their bravery often approaches the most reckless temerity,
and they do not recoil an inch from the greatest danger. They possess,
nevertheless, a general tone of suavity and courtesy, and a natural ease
of manner, which no one would in the least expect to find among a people
verging so closely upon the savage state. Their intelligence is more
developed than that of the Tahitians. They treat their wives with
kindness, have great love for their children, and profess deep respect
for old age.

They make canoes which are remarkable for their proportions and the
elegance and finish of their handiwork; carve whales’ teeth for
necklaces, and incrust their various instruments with the same material;
know how to construct houses, as well as stone vaults for the burial of
their chiefs; and trace delicate chasings on their clubs with a
sharpened nail fastened in a handle. The culinary art has advanced to a
higher degree among them than among any other of the Polynesian
islanders. They prepare from thirty to forty different dishes,
consisting of pork, turtle, fowl, fish, bread-fruits, bananas,
cocoa-nuts, &c., mixed according to certain processes, and dressed in
different methods. The peasants till the land by means of stakes
flattened and sharpened at the extremity, and furnished a little way
from the end with a stirrup for supporting the foot.

The manufacture of cloth, mats, and reed baskets is the special
occupation of the women. In order to make the cloth in most common use,
they take a certain quantity of the inner bark of the paper-mulberry
tree properly prepared, beat it flat, stain it with different vegetable
colours, and print patterns of all kinds upon it. Mats of the finest
quality are woven from leaves of the Pandanus; others, stronger, are
made from the bark of a kind of banana-tree; those resembling horsehair
are worn by the common people in the canoes to protect them against wet.
Mattings of other descriptions, ornamented in different patterns, and
formed from the young leaves of the cocoa-tree, are used to preserve
the walls of their buildings against the inclemencies of the weather.

Women of a certain rank amuse themselves by making combs, the teeth of
which are formed from the ribs of cocoa-leaves. The manufacture of
thread appertains to females of the lower classes, and the material for
it is extracted from the bark of the banana-tree.

These islanders tattoo their bodies in various places, especially the
lower part of the stomach and the thighs, with designs which are really
elegant and present a vast variety of patterns, but they leave the skin
in its natural state. Their tattooing never exhibits deep incisions and
does not seem to be a sign of distinction or of warlike prowess. The
women only tattoo the palms of their hands.

Their houses are neatly and solidly built; the master and mistress sleep
in a division apart, while the other members of the family lie upon the
floor without having any fixed place. The beds and their covering are
composed of matting.

The clothing of the men, like that of the women, consists of a piece of
cloth six feet square, which envelopes the body in such a way as to make
a turn and a half round the loins, where it is confined by a belt.
Common people are satisfied with wearing an apron of foliage, or a bit
of narrow stuff like a girdle.

The natives of the Friendly Islands bathe every day. Their skin,
besides, is constantly saturated with perfumed cocoa-nut oil. When
preparing themselves for a religious feast, a general dance, or a visit
to the residence of a personage of high rank, they cover themselves with
oil in such profusion that it drips from their hair.

The ornaments of both sexes consist of necklaces composed of the red
fruit of the Pandanus, or fragrant flowers. Some of them hang from their
necks little shells, birds’ bones, sharks’ teeth, and pieces of carved
and polished whalebone or of mother-of-pearl, and high up on the arm
they wear bracelets of the last material or of shells. They have also
mother-of-pearl or tortoise-shell rings, and hanker greatly after glass
beads, especially those of a blue colour. The lobe of their ears is
pierced by large holes for the reception of small wooden cylinders about
three inches in length, or of little reeds filled with a yellow powder
used by the women as paint.

They have flutes and tom-toms for beating time. The most ordinary form
of the former instrument is a piece of bamboo closed at both ends and
pierced by six holes, into which they blow with the right nostril while
the left is stopped with the thumb.

Their chants are a kind of recitative which has for its subject some
more or less remarkable event; or else consist of words intended to
accompany different descriptions of dances or ceremonies.

The inhabitants of these islands recognize a host of divinities, who
possess among themselves various degrees of preeminence. Of these gods,
those of elevated rank can dispense good or evil in proportion to their
relative powers. According to the natives’ notion the origin of these
divine beings is beyond the intelligence of man, and their existence is
eternal.

“Taboo” reigns as despotically in these islands as it does in New
Zealand.

There is a barbarous ceremony in use here, by which a child is strangled
as an offering to the gods and to gain from them the cure of a sick
relation; the same rite also takes place when a chief inadvertently
commits a sacrilege which might draw down the anger of the divinities
upon the whole nation.

In other cases, they cut off a joint of the little finger in order to
obtain the recovery of a parent who is ill, and consequently crowds of
people may be seen who have lost in succession the two joints of the
fourth finger of each hand, and even the first joint of the next.

Charms and signs occupy a prominent place in the religion of this
people. Dreams are warnings from the divinity; thunder and lightning are
indications of war or of some great catastrophe.

Sneezing is an act of the worst possible omen. A chief was near clubbing
to death a traveller who had sneezed in his presence at the moment when
the native was going to fulfil his duties at his father’s tomb.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Tahitians._--Tahiti and the whole group of the Society Islands
are almost exclusively inhabited by the same branch of the
Malaysio-Polynesian race. The people of these islands have become
celebrated in France by the charming and interesting accounts of their
manners and habits, which have been published by Bougainville. We have
taken the details which follow from Lesson, the naturalist, who made a
somewhat lengthened stay in this island.

The natives of Tahiti are all, with scarcely an exception, very fine
men. Their limbs are at once vigorous and graceful, the muscular
projections being everywhere enveloped by a thick cellular tissue, which
rounds away any too prominent development of their frames. Their
countenances are marked by great sweetness, and an appearance of good
nature; their heads would be of the European type but for the flatness
of the nostrils, and the too great size of the lips; their hair is black
and thick, and their skin of light copper-colour and very varying in
intensity of hue. It is smooth and soft to the touch, but emits a
strong, heavy smell, attributable, in a great measure, to incessant
rubbings with cocoa-nut oil. Their step wants confidence, and they
become easily fatigued. Dwelling on a soil where alimentary products,
once abundantly sown, harvest themselves without labour or effort, the
Tahitians have preserved soft effeminate manners, and a certain
childishness in their ideas.

The seductive attractions of Tahitian women have been very charmingly
painted by Bougainville, Wallis, and Cook, but Lesson assures us, on the
contrary, that they are extremely ugly, and that a person would hardly
find in the whole island thirty passable faces, according to our ideas
of beauty. He adds, that after early youth all the females become
disgusting, by reason of a general flabbiness, which is all the greater
because it usually succeeds considerable stoutness. There is room for
believing that the good looks of the race have deteriorated in
consequence of contagious diseases since the first European navigators
landed in this island, a very fortunate one in the magnificence of its
vegetation and the mildness of its temperature.

Tahitian girls before marriage have full legs, small hands, large
mouths, flattened nostrils, prominent cheek-bones and fleshy lips; their
teeth are of the finest enamel, and their well-shaped prominent eyes,
shaded by long, fringed lashes, and sheltered by broad black eyebrows,
beam with animation and fire. Too early marriage and suckling, however,
very soon destroy any charms which they may possess. Their skin is
usually of a light copper-colour, but some are remarkable for their
whiteness, particularly the wives of the chiefs.

Family ties are very strong among the Tahitians. They have great love
for their children, speak to them with gentleness, never strike them,
and taste nothing pleasing without offering them some of it.

The women manufacture cloth, weave mats or straw hats, and take care of
the house. The men build the huts, hollow canoes, plant trees, gather
fruits, and cook the victuals in underground ovens. Essentially
indolent, the Tahitians generally go to bed at twilight.

[Illustration: 177.--NATIVE OF TAHITI.]

All the members of the family live huddled together in the same room, on
mats spread upon the ground; chiefs, alone, reposing upon similar
textures stretched on frames. The siesta is also one of their habits,
and they invariably sleep for three hours after noon.

Flesh-meat, fruits, and roots constitute their usual sustenance; but
the basis of their food is the fruit of the bread-tree. They venerate
the cocoa-tree.

Their ordinary drink is pure water. They have an unrestrained fancy for
European garments, and seek by every imaginable means to get themselves
coats, hats, silk cravats, and especially shirts. But as they do not
possess sufficient of our manufactures to dress themselves completely in
our style, they frequently exhibit a sort of motley attire. The women
when within-doors are almost naked; some pieces of cloth, skilfully
arranged and half-covering their bosoms, form a kind of tunic, while
their feet are bare. They have a great liking for chaplets of flowers,
and bright blossoms of the _Hibiscus Rosa sinensis_, or China rose,
adorn their foreheads. They pass through the lobe of their ears the long
tube of the white and perfumed corolla of the _gardenia_, and protect
their faces from the fiery rays of the sun with small leaves of the
cocoa-tree.

The chief employment of the Tahitians is the manufacture of cloth. By
very simple means they form fabrics from various barks, with which they
clothe themselves in a manner as ingenious as it is comfortable. The
paper-mulberry tree, the bread-tree, the _Hibiscus tiliaceus_, &c., are
the plants of which they generally use the inner bark. They dye these
stuffs with the red juice extracted from the fruit of a species of
fig-tree, or in canary-yellow.

Their garments are not the only things which these people embellish in
brilliant colours and with different patterns. They have a passionate
love for tattooing, but, nevertheless, do not bear a single device on
their faces. The parts on which they trace indelible marks are the legs,
arms, thighs and breast. Everything leads to the conclusion that
tattooing, which is forbidden by the missionaries under the severest
penalties, was, and is doubtless still, the symbol of each individual’s
functions and the emblazonment of the armorial bearings of families, for
its designs are always varied.

The Tahitians of former days constructed canoes ornamented with very
carefully executed emblematic carvings, but since iron tools have taken
the place of their imperfect implements, they do not give signs of the
same pains in adorning their workmanship. Their ancient weapons are also
greatly neglected since they have acquired firearms. Heretofore, they
had long spears with pointed ends, slings formed from the husk of the
cocoa-nut, basalt axes of perfect shape, and files made out of the
rasp-like skin of a skate.

They have a passionate love for dancing. The instrument they use for
beating the measure is a drum, the cylinder of which consists of a trunk
of a tree scooped very thin. The dog-skins which constitute the
drum-head are stretched by ribbons of bark. They blow with the nose into
a little reed flute having three holes at its open end, and one only at
that which is furnished with a diaphragm, and produce deep, monotonous
tones from it.

The Tahitians are hospitable, and display great civility in guiding
travellers in the middle of the woods, and in their mountains.
Christianity has modified their habits a little. They attend the
Protestant churches because they are obliged to do so, but they have
little religion. Among themselves property is sacred; that of strangers
is, however, eagerly coveted.

We cannot dwell here upon the sanguinary human sacrifices which their
priests formerly commanded the natives of this island to offer up, nor
upon their coarse mythology. The English missionaries of the Reformed
Church have long since caused these fiendish customs to disappear.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Pomotouans_--The Pomotouans, who inhabit the low, flat islands known to
geographers and mariners by the name of the Dangerous Archipelago, are
constituted in a physical point of view like the Tahitians, to whom they
bear a close resemblance, but they do not possess the benevolent
character nor the affectionate manners of the latter. Their look is
fierce, and the play of the features savage. They cover their bodies and
faces with tattooing, the figures of which consist of lozenges and
numerous circles, and their nakedness seems quite to disappear beneath
the mass of these designs. As the islands they inhabit are poor in
alimentary productions, they only think of repelling by force any
navigators who attempt to enter into communication with them. Deriving
as they do their daily sustenance from the sea, they are daring sailors
and skilful fishermen. They form, from a very hard wood, javelins that
are sometimes fifteen feet long, and ornament them with carvings
executed with much taste; their paddles are also engraved in very
graceful patterns, as well as their axes, which are cut with coral. The
women wear on their throats pieces of mother-of-pearl, which are shaped
round and notched at the edges, making brilliant and elegant necklaces.
Our spirituous liquors are frantically sought after by the natives.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Marquesans._--The aborigines of the Marquesas are closely allied to
those of the Society Islands, having similar features and a colour which
presents like varieties. Cook affirmed that they excelled perhaps all
the other races in the nobleness and elegance of their forms, and the
regularity of their lineaments. The men are tattooed from head to foot
and appear very brown, but the women, who are only lightly marked, the
children, and the young people, who are not so at all, have skins as
white as many Europeans. The men are in general tall, and wear the beard
long and arranged in different ways. Their garments are identical with
those of the Tahitians, and made from stuffs of the same materials.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Sandwichians._--The colour of this people is that of Siena clay,
slightly mixed with yellow. Their hair would be magnificent if they
allowed it to grow, for it is as black and shining as jet. Their manners
are pleasing. They usually shave the sides of the head, allowing a tuft
to grow on the top, which extends down to the nape of the neck in the
form of a mane. Some, however, preserve their hair entire, and let it
float in very gracefully twisted locks about their shoulders. Their eyes
are lively and full of expression; their nose slightly flat and often
aquiline; their mouth and lips moderately large. They have splendid
teeth, and it is consequently a great pity when they extract a few on
the death of a friend or benefactor. Their chests are broad, but their
arms show little muscle, while the thighs and legs are sinewy enough,
and their feet and hands excessively small. They all tattoo their bodies
or one of their limbs with designs representing birds, fans,
chequer-work, and circles of different diameters. The same superstition
that deprives them of their teeth at the death of a relation or of a
friend also imposes upon them the obligation of cauterizing every part
of their bodies with a red-hot iron.

The women are not so well-made as the men, and their stature is small
rather than tall, but their ample shoulders, and the smallness of their
hands and feet, are generally admired. They have a great love for
coronets of green leaves. Princesses and ladies of high rank have
reserved to themselves the exclusive right of wearing flowers of
_vacci_ passed through a reed. Hardly any of them use more than one
earring, but they have a passion for necklaces, and make them of flowers
and fruits.

These details are derived from Jacques Arago, who published under the
title, “_Voyage autour du Monde_,” an account of the long and remarkable
journey which he made in 1817, and the three following years, on board
the French corvettes, _L’Uranie_ and _La Physicienne_, commanded by
Freycinet.

In a letter dated from Owhyhee, as was also that from which the
preceding information has been taken, the same traveller gives us the
following sketch of the “palace” of the Sovereign of the Sandwich
Islands, as well as of its occupants.

It was a miserable thatch hut, from twelve to fifteen feet in breadth,
and about five-and-twenty or thirty feet long, with no means of entrance
but a low, narrow door. A few mats were spread within, on which some
half-naked colossi--generals and ministers--were lying. Two chairs were
visible, destined on ceremonial days for a huge, greasy, dirty, heavy,
haughty man--the king. The queen, but half-dressed, was a prey to the
itch and other disgusting maladies. This tasteful and imposing interior
was protected by walls of cocoa leaves and a sea-weed roof, feeble
obstacles to the wind and rain.

       *       *       *       *       *

M. de la Salle in his account of the voyage of the _Bonite_ (1836 and
1837), states that the natives of the Sandwich Islands generally possess
good constitutions; that their slender and well-formed figures are
usually above middle height, but far from equalling that of the chiefs
and their wives, who seem from their tall stature and excessive
corpulence to have a different origin from the common people. These
exalted personages appear in fact to be descended from a race of
conquerors, who, having subjugated the country, established there the
feudal system by which it is still oppressed. The same author adds that
the Sandwichians have mild, patient dispositions, are dexterous and
intelligent, and capable of bearing fatigue with ease.

Such is the state of misery in which the lower classes live, that the
unfortunate wretches have scarcely what will keep them from dying of
starvation. This distress is not the result of idleness alone; the ever
increasing exactions of the chiefs harass and discourage the labourer.

The voyagers in the _Bonite_ when drawing near the Sandwich Islands,
could think of nothing but the pictures of them which Captain Cook has
left us; of those wild, energetic, kind, simple men; those warriors in
mantles of feathers; those women full of grace and voluptuousness; of
whom the English explorer has given the most alluring descriptions. They
were first pleased by the neat and elegant shapes of the canoes as well
as by the expertness of the swimmers. They beheld the islanders as naked
as in the days of Cook, without any other attire than the traditional
“maro;” but these men did not now come, by way of salute, to crush their
noses against those of their visitors; they were profuse of handshaking
all round, in the English fashion, and affected the airs of gentlemen.
Bananas, potatoes, and other fresh provisions had been brought on board
by them, but when, as in olden times, they were offered necklaces,
bracelets, and ear-rings, the savages no longer showed the genuine
admiration and fierce eagerness which were looked for from them. After a
disdainful glance thrown at the beads, they asked for clothes and iron.
These men had ceased to be the artless islanders of the time of Captain
Cook!

[Illustration: 178.--NATIVE OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.]

One of the officers of the _Bonite_, M. Vaillant, was invited to come on
shore by a district chief, named Kapis-Lani, who happened to be a woman.
Her toilet did not in the least resemble that of the natives, consisting
of a white muslin robe confined at the waist by a long blue riband, a
silk kerchief rolled about her neck, and a head-dress of hair fastened
by two horn combs.

The former customs of the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands have been
completely modified, from every point of view, by the English
missionaries, who, in order to gain their object have availed themselves
of the weapon heretofore so powerful in the hands of priests and of
kings,--“taboo.”

Formerly, when a ship arrived, a multitude of women used to come to take
it by assault, either in canoes or swimming, contending among
themselves, _per fas et nefas_, for the bounties of the strangers: the
missionaries declared the sea “tabooed” for the softer sex.

In order to restrain the laxity of morals, wives were proclaimed
“tabooed” for everyone except their husbands, and unmarried girls
“tabooed” for all. It was necessary to proscribe the passion for strong
drinks, and consequently brandy, wine, and other liquors were struck
with the same interdiction.

We should add that these reformers did not limit themselves to the moral
authority of “taboo,” but supported it by the stick and hard labour on
the roads.

By such means they have succeeded in altering the external and public
behaviour of the natives, but not in uprooting vice among them.

       *       *       *       *       *

We shall borrow a few features from the picture which M. Vaillant has
sketched of his walk in a village of Hawaii.

Scarcely had he arrived when he heard himself called from the interior
of a large cabin in which were assembled about thirty persons, who
invited him to enter.

The dwelling was built of straw, and along its walls calabashes,
cocoa-nuts, and a few fishing utensils were to be seen hanging in
confusion.

A single apartment usually answered all purposes, but it was separated
into two parts. Some mats spread upon the ground at one side indicated
where the occupants slept; the ground opposite was bare, and in the
latter division the hearth was placed.

The officer seated himself on the matting in the same way as his hosts,
who surrounded him and overpowered him with questions. Men and women,
moreover, without giving a thought to decency or the civilization
introduced by the English missionaries, put themselves perfectly at
their ease, and were content with the very simple attire of their
forefathers; the “maro” formed the whole extravagance of their toilette.

The most apparent result of the efforts of the missionaries is that the
natives of the Sandwich Islands are for the most part able to read and
write. These perfectly naked savages possess a prayer-book, a treatise
on arithmetic, and a bible.

Any little presents which people liked to offer them were accepted by
the women with gratitude; after a few coquettish advances, in case a
person pressed them closely, they uttered slowly and distinctly, the
word, “taboo.”

When out-of-doors their costume consisted of a piece of cloth which they
draped around them not ungracefully; but they did not appear very pretty
to the eyes of the voyagers in the _Bonite_.

The governor of Hawaii, Kona-Keni, was a man of goodly presence and
pleasing face; his height was almost gigantic and his corpulence
enormous, so much so that he could scarcely support himself upon his
legs. His wife received M. Vaillant. She reclined on a heap of mats
forming a bed raised a foot above the ground, and was covered from head
to foot in a loose gown of blue brocaded silk. Her proportions also were
immense. Laid heavily on the piled-up mats her prodigious mass reminded
him of a seal basking in the sun. Around the bed of the lady paramount,
were ranged, squatted on mats, the numerous dames forming the court of
Kona, and who were clad in loose robes of cotton stuff with coloured
flowers. Their head-dresses consisted of hair only, in the American
style. Two of them were provided with fly-flappers, which they waved
incessantly round Kona’s head. The governor wore a straw hat, a vest and
shirt of printed calico, gray trowsers, and had his neck bare.

[Illustration:

_P. Sellier, p.^{t}_

_Imp. Dupuy, 22, R. des Petits Hôtels_

_G. Regamey, lith._

ABYSSINIAN

HINDOO

BROWN RACE]


MICRONESIAN FAMILY.

The Micronesian Family inhabits the small islands lying to the
north-west of Oceania, that is to say the archipelagos of the Marianne
(or Ladrone) Islands, as well as of the Caroline and Mulgrave groups,
&c. According to Dumont d’Urville these tribes differ from those
dwelling in the east by having a darker skin, thinner face, less widely
opened eyes, more slender forms, and altogether distinct dialects, which
vary from one group to another. Their manners are gentle. They do not
recognize “taboo.”

       *       *       *       *       *

We shall avail ourselves of some interesting details which Lesson has
given of the Caroline islands, mentioning in the first place what he has
told us concerning the Gilbert group.

A solitary canoe containing three men ventured to approach his corvette,
and it was only after prolonged hesitation that these individuals made
up their minds to go on board. They had lank and miserable limbs; a dark
colour, and broad, coarse features; their hair was cut close by means of
a shell, and neither beard nor moustache was apparent. The only covering
they wore was a little round cap of plaited dry leaves of the cocoa
tree, and a roughly-made mat with a hole in the middle, for the
protection of the shoulders and breast. Their stomachs were bound round
with twists of a rope formed from the husk of cocoa-nuts.

Lesson and his companions were the first Europeans whom the natives of
the island of Oualan had seen. They made a ring round the voyagers,
touched them with their hands, and overwhelmed them with questions. This
race is generally of low stature. The men have high and narrow
foreheads, thick eyebrows, small oblique eyes, broad noses, large
mouths, white teeth, and bright red gums. Their black unfrizzled hair is
long, and their beard far from abundant. They possess rounded and
well-formed limbs, and a hard, light bronze-coloured skin. They are
spiritless and effeminate.

The women and young girls have agreeable countenances, their black eyes
being full of fire, and their mouths furnished with superb teeth; but
their figures are badly formed, and they have hips of immoderate size.
They go about in almost complete nudity. Both sexes have a habit of
making a large hole in the right ear, for the purpose of placing in it
everything that people give them, and sometimes articles very unfit for
earrings, such as bottles. Girls usually fill it with bouquets of
_pancratium_, a plant of the amaryllis family, and often detach a few of
these sweet-smelling flowers, and try to put them into a traveller’s
ears, while smiling graciously. The men also wear chaplets of brilliant
flowers or arum stalks.

These aborigines do not make use of any kind of garments as a protection
against the frequent rains of their climate, but they shield their heads
from the sun with a broad arum leaf.

The chiefs seem to try not to expose themselves so much to the
influences of the heat, and are whiter and better made than the other
islanders. The patterns of their tattooing are their sole mark of
distinction; they fasten feathers, however, in the knot which confines
their hair, and whenever persons give them nails they stick them around
their forehead, arranging them regularly like a diadem. The women
appeared chaste; nay more, the men were anxious to keep them out of the
strangers’ sight, a feeling all the more remarkable because quite at
variance with the usual habits of the South Sea Islanders.

Oualan was governed at that time by one chief only, whom the people
encompassed with extraordinary reverence, never pronouncing his name
without veneration.

The prerogatives of the chiefs appear to rest upon religious ideas. They
differ in general from the people by an erect carriage, a more imposing
and solemn manner, as well as by the better executed tattooing which
indicates their rank. A great many chiefs rule in the districts of the
island, and appear to hold absolute rights over property, and, it may
be, over persons.

As regards industry, the only manufactures for which the natives of
Oualan are remarkable are cloth and canoes. They draw threads from the
leaves or the stems of the wild banana tree (_Musa textilis_), which
they know how to dye in red, yellow, or black, and with which they make
stuffs that are not greatly inferior to European textures.

They build their boats with hatchets formed of stone or shell, and
notwithstanding the imperfection of these implements, give to their work
a finish of finical nicety. The body of the canoe is hollowed from a
single tree, sometimes a very big one. They polish the wood with
trachyte, or by means of large rasps made from the skin of the
sea-devil. These little vessels are propelled by oars, without either
sails or masts.

Lesson, in alluding to the people of the Mac-Askill Islands, who bear
the closest analogy to the inhabitants of Oualan both in physical
characteristics and the state of their industry, remarks on the taste
which some savages display for flowers as an adornment of the person.
There were young females in these islands who wore on their heads crowns
of _Ixora_, the corollas of which are a brilliant crimson; a few had
passed through the holes in their ears leaves of flowers exhaling the
fragrant odour of violets, and white blossoms were twined in the hair of
others. These ornaments, adds the learned traveller, possessed a charm
more easy to feel than to express.




THE RED RACE.


This race is sometimes designated as the American, because in the
fifteenth century it formed in itself alone almost the whole population
of the two Americas. But Europeans, and especially the English of the
United States, constitute, at present, the greatest part of the
inhabitants of America. They have to a certain extent monopolised the
name of “Americans,” so much so that people generally call the nations
of the Red Race _Indians_, a title which was given to them by the
Spaniards, in the time of Christopher Columbus, in consequence of that
strange mistake of the great Genoese navigator, who discovered the New
World without knowing it, that is to say, while imagining that he had
simply found a new passage by which to reach the “Great Indies,” in
Asia.

The denomination of _Red Race_ is, besides, a defective one, in so much
that several tribes ranked in this group have no shade of red in their
colour. This division is, in fine, rather imperfect from an ethnological
point of view, but it possesses the advantage of fixing geographically
the _habitat_ of the nations included in it.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _American Indians_ approach closely to the Yellow Race belonging to
Asia, in their hair, which is generally black, rough, and coarse, in
the scarceness of their beard, and in their complexion, which varies
from yellow to a red copper colour. Among one portion of them the very
prominent nose and large open eyes recall to mind the White Race. Their
forehead is extremely retreating, but no other race have the back part
of the head more developed, or broader eye-sockets. Though usually
hospitable and generous, they are cruel and implacable in their
resentments, and make war for the most frivolous causes. Two of these
nations, the primitive Mexicans and Peruvians, had formerly founded wide
empires, and had attained a somewhat advanced civilization, though lower
than that of Europeans of the same epoch. But these monarchies having
been swept away by their Spanish conquerors, progress was checked. The
Indians who escaped the destruction of their race, and submitted to the
victors, are now no better than husbandmen or artisans, while as for
those that remained independent, they wander in the woods and the
prairies, and are the last representatives of man in the savage or
semi-savage state. They live in the forests and savannahs, on the
produce of their hunting and fishing; their wives are kept by them in a
state of the greatest abjectness, and are loaded with the heaviest
labour; while certain tribes still continue to offer human sacrifices to
their idols.

A fact which deserves notice is, that the Indians who were already
settled and who were husbandmen when the Spaniards arrived, speedily
submitted to the strangers, but never has it been found possible to tame
those who have shown themselves, from the fifteenth century to this day,
rebels to foreign influence, and who have preferred to become masters of
the forest solitudes rather than accept the yoke and customs of the
Europeans. Moreover, the number and population of the wild tribes of the
two Americas diminish every year, especially in the north, a result
attributable to their continual wars, the ravages of the small-pox, and,
above all, to the fatal passion of these savage nations for brandy.

Anthropologists have taken great trouble to discover the real origin of
the Indians of America, and to establish their affinity with the other
human families, but up to the present their studies have led to no
satisfactory result. The Indians cannot be accurately brought into
connection with either the White, Yellow, or Brown Race; nor on the
other hand can the mingling of these three groups be explained, nor the
American Indian be recognized as a determinate original type.

The great differences, both in the shape of the skull and the colour of
the skin, which are known to exist among the Indian tribes, proclaim
numerous crossings. Many circumstances prove that in very remote times
some Europeans made their way into America by the north, and that they
found there one or many native races, whom they partially overcame, and
with whom they are mingled to the present day. The degree of
civilization that had been reached by the Mexicans and Peruvians of old,
when Columbus landed in the New World; the American tradition which
holds that the founders of their empires were foreigners; the existence
on the Northern continent of ruins announcing a state of things at least
as far advanced as that of the _Nahuath_ and the _Quichuas_, (the former
Mexicans and Peruvians); such are the facts which establish that a
blending formerly took place between the primitive Indians and Northern
Europeans.

The shape of the body peculiar to the Indians of the north-east, has
equally led to the supposition that they reckon some Europeans among
their ancestors, an idea which appears all the more admissible, because
in the tenth century the ancient Scandinavians undoubtedly had relations
with America.

Consequently, the original race which has peopled the Western Hemisphere
is almost impossible to be traced. Probably the population which existed
in the New World before the arrival of the Europeans was made up of
several types different from those that are extant at present in the
other regions of the globe, types having a great tendency to modify
themselves, and which were obliterated whenever they came in contact
with the races of Europe. But to re-ascend back to this primordial
population would now be impossible.

       *       *       *       *       *

In commenting on the tribes of the Red Race, we shall separate the
Indians who inhabit North America from those dwelling in the southern
continent, for certain characteristics mark these two groups; in other
words, we shall distinguish in the Red Race two divisions--the southern
branch and the northern branch.




CHAPTER I.

SOUTHERN BRANCH.


The nations of the southern branch of the Red Race have affinity to
those of the Yellow Race. Their complexion, which is often yellowish or
olive, is never so red as that of the northern Indians; their head is
usually of less length and their nose not so prominent, while they
frequently have oblique eyes.

We intend to divide this branch into three families, named respectively
the _Andian_, _Pampean_, and _Guarani_.


ANDIAN FAMILY.

This family contains three different peoples:--firstly, the _Quichuas_;
secondly, the _Antis Indians_; and thirdly, the _Araucanians_.

The characteristics which the tribes belonging to this group possess in
common are an olive-brown complexion, small stature, low retiring
forehead, and horizontal eyes, which are not drawn down at the outer
angle. They inhabit the western parts of Bolivia, Peru, and the State of
Quito. These countries were completely subjugated by the Spaniards in
the sixteenth century, and the natives converted to Christianity.

We shall notice in the first division, _Quichuas_ or ancient _Incas_,
the _Aymaras_, the _Atacamas_, and the _Changos_.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Quichuas_ or _Incas_.--The Quichuas were the principal people of the
ancient empire of the Incas, and they still constitute almost half the
free Indian population of South America. In the fifteenth century the
Incas were the dominant race among the nations of Peru, speaking a
language of their own, called Quichu.

The former Incas, those who lived before the Spanish invasion, were
possessed of a certain degree of civilization. They had calculated
exactly the length of the solar year, had made rather considerable
progress in the art of sculpture, preserved memorials of their history
by means of hieroglyphics, and enjoyed a well-organized government and a
code of good laws. Orators, poets, and musicians were to be found among
them, and their figurative melodious language denoted prolonged culture.
Their religion was impressed to the highest degree with a devotional
character. They recognized a God, the supreme arbiter and creator of all
things. This divinity was the sun, and superb temples were raised by
them to its honour. Their religion and their manners breathed great
sweetness. The fierce Spanish conquerors encountered this mild,
inoffensive race, and never rested until they had annihilated with fire
and sword these unsophisticated, peaceable men, who were of more worth
than their cruel invaders.

[Illustration: 179.--HUASCAR, THIRTEENTH EMPEROR OF THE INCAS.]

Figs. 179 and 180 represent types of Incas drawn from the genealogical
tree of the imperial family, which was published in the “_Tour du
Monde_,” in 1863.

According to Alcide d’Orbigny, the naturalist, who has given a perfect
description of this race, the Quichuas are not copper-coloured, but of a
mixed shade, between brown and olive; their average height is not more
than five feet two inches, that of the females being still lower. They
have broad, square shoulders, and an excessively full chest, very
prominent, and very long. Their hands and feet are small. The cranium
and features of this people are strongly characteristic, constituting a
perfectly distinct type, which bears no resemblance to any but the
Mexican. The head is oblong from front to back, and a little compressed
at the sides; the forehead slightly rounded, low, and somewhat
retreating; yet the skull is often capacious, and denotes a rather large
development of the brain. The face is generally broad; the nose always
prominent, somewhat long, and so extremely aquiline, as to seem as if
the end were bent over the upper lip, and pierced by wide very open
nostrils. The size of the mouth is large rather than moderate, and the
lips protrude, although they are not thick. The teeth are invariably
handsome, and remain good during old age. Without being receding, the
chin is a little short; indeed it is sometimes slightly projecting. The
eyes are of moderate size and frequently even small, always horizontal,
and never either drawn down or up at their outer angle. The eyebrows are
greatly arched, narrow, and thin. The colour of the hair is always a
fine black, and it is coarse, thick, long, and extremely smooth and
straight, and comes down very low at each side of the forehead. The
beard is limited to a few straight and scattered hairs, which appear
very late across the upper lip, at the sides of the mouth, and on the
point of the chin. The countenance of these men is regular, serious,
thoughtful, and even sad, and it might be said that they wish to
conceal their thoughts beneath the still, set look of their features. A
pretty face is seldom seen among the women.

[Illustration: 180.--COYA CAHUANA, EMPRESS OF THE INCAS.]

An ancient vase has been found on which is a painting of an Inca, who is
in every way so entirely like those of the present day as to prove that
during four or five centuries the lineaments of these people have not
undergone any perceptible alteration.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Aymaras_ bear a close resemblance, so far as physical
characteristics are concerned, to the Quichuas, from whom, however, they
are completely separated by language.

They formed a numerous nation, spread over a wide expanse of country,
and appear to have been civilized in very remote times. We may consider
the Aymaras as the descendants of that ancient race which, in far-off
ages, inhabited the lofty plains now covered by the singular monuments
of Tiagnanaco, the oldest city of South America, and which peopled the
borders of Lake Titicaca.

The Aymaras resemble the Quichuas in the most remarkable feature of
their organization, namely the length and breadth of the chest, which,
by allowing the lungs to attain a great development, renders these
tribes particularly suited for living on high mountains. In the shape of
the head and the intellectual faculties, as well as in manners, customs,
and industry, both peoples may be compared, but the architecture of the
monuments and tombs of the former race diverges widely from that of the
Incas.

       *       *       *       *       *

Two nations inferior in numbers to those of which we have just spoken,
may be mentioned here; they are the _Atacamas_, occupying the western
declivities of the Peruvian Andes, and the _Changos_, dwelling on the
slopes next the Pacific. Both one and the other are like the Incas in
physical characteristics, but the colour of the skin of the Changos is
of a slightly darker hue, being a blackish bistre.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Antis._--The Antis Indians comprise many tribes, namely, the Yuracares,
Mocéténès, Tacanas, Maropas, and Apolistas, races which inhabit the
Bolivian Andes. Their complexion is lighter than that of the Incas, they
have not such bulky bodies, and their features are more effeminate.

The account which M. Paul Marcoy has given in the “_Tour du Monde_” of
his travels across South America from the shores of the Pacific to those
of the Atlantic, is accompanied by several sketches representing Antis
Indians and some wandering hordes which belong to the same group; and we
have reproduced a few of these drawings in our pages, the first two
(figs. 181 and 182) being types of the heads of these people. We also
derive from the same source the following details as to this race.

The Antis is of medium stature and well-proportioned, with rounded
limbs. He paints his cheeks and the part round his eyes with a red dye,
extracted from the rocou plant, and also colours those parts of his body
exposed to the air with the black of genipa. His covering consists of a
long, sack-shaped frock, woven by the women, as is also the wallet, in
the shape of a hand bag, carried by him across his shoulder, and
containing his toilet articles, namely:--a comb made with the thorns of
the Chouta palm; some rocou in paste; half a genipa apple; a bit of
looking-glass framed in wood; a ball of thread; a scrap of wax; pincers
for extracting hairs, formed of two mussel-shells; a snuff-box made from
a snail’s shell, and containing very finely ground tobacco gathered
green; an apparatus for grating the snuff, made of the ends of reeds or
two arm bones of a monkey, soldered together with black wax at an acute
angle; sometimes, a knife, scissors, fish-hooks, and needles of
European manufacture.

[Illustration: 181.--AN ANTIS INDIAN.]

Both sexes wear their hair hanging down like a horse’s tail, and cut
straight across just over the eyes. The only trinket they carry is a
piece of silver money flattened between two stones, which they pierce
with a hole and hang from the cartilage of their nostrils. For ornaments
they have necklaces of glass beads, cedar and styrax berries, skins of
birds of brilliant plumage, tucana’s beaks, tapir’s claws, and even
vanilla husks strung upon a thread.

[Illustration: 182.--AN ANTIS INDIAN.]

The Antis almost always build their dwellings on the banks of a
water-course, isolated and half hidden by a screen of vegetation. The
huts are low and dirty, and pervaded by a smell like that of wild
beasts, for the air can scarcely circulate in them. In the fine season
of the year sheds take the place of closed-up huts (fig. 183).

The weapons used by the Antis are clubs and bows and arrows. Fishermen
capture their prey in the running streams with arrows barbed at the
ends, or having three prongs like a trident. Other darts, with
palm-points or bamboo-heads, are employed by the hunter for birds and
quadrupeds.

The Antis occasionally poison the waters of the creeks and bays by means
of the _Menispermum cocculus_. The fish become instantaneously
intoxicated; they first struggle, then rise belly uppermost, and come
floating on the surface, where they are easily taken with the hand (fig.
184).

The earthenware of this people is coarsely manufactured, and is painted
and glazed. They live in families, or in separate couples, and have no
law beyond their own caprice. They do not elect chiefs, except in time
of war, and to lead them against an enemy. The girls are marriageable at
twelve years of age, and accept any husband who seeks them, if he has
previously made some present to their parents. They prepare their lord
and master’s food, weave his clothes, look after and gather in the crops
of rice, manioc, maize, and other cereals; carry his baggage on a
journey, follow him to battle, and pick up the arrows which he has
discharged; they also accompany him in the chase or when fishing, paddle
his canoe, and bring back to their dwelling the booty gained from an
enemy, and the game or fish which has been killed; and yet,
notwithstanding this severe work and continual bondage, the women are
always cheerful.

[Illustration: 183.--SUMMER SHED OF THE ANTIS.]

They use a large earthen vessel to cook the fish caught in the nearest
stream, or the game killed in the adjoining forest.

[Illustration: 184.--ANTIS INDIANS FISHING.]

When one of this nation dies, his relatives and friends assemble in his
abode, seize the corpse (which is wrapped in the loose sack-like frock
usually worn,) by the head and feet, and throw it into the river. They
then wreck the dwelling, break the deceased’s bow, arrows, and pottery,
scatter the ashes of his hearth, devastate his crops, cut down to the
ground the trees which he has planted, and finally set fire to his hut.
The place is thenceforth reputed impure, and is shunned by all
passers-by; vegetation very soon reasserts its sway, and the dead is for
ever effaced from the memory of the living.

[Illustration: 185.--PERUVIAN INTERPRETER.]

These people who thus treat their dead so badly, profess an equal
disdain for the aged, for whom they reserve the refuse of their food,
their worn-out rags, and the worst place at the hearth.

Their religion is a jumble of theogonies, in which however are
recognizable a notion of the existence of a supreme God, the idea of the
two principles of good and evil, and finally, a belief in reward or
punishment on leaving this life.

The manners of these tribes are, as may be seen, a somewhat singular
medley; free will is the ruling law and, as it were, the wisdom of their
race, which lives unfettered in the bosom of nature.

The Antis Indians have a soft smooth idiom, which they speak with
extreme volubility in a low, gentle tone that never varies.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Araucanians._--These tribes spread themselves over the western slopes
of the Andes, from 30 degrees south latitude to the extremity of Tierra
del Fuego, and also occupy the upper valleys and plains situate to the
east of the Cordilleras.

The Araucanians constitute two nations, namely, the people who properly
bear that name, indomitable warriors, whose heroism is celebrated in the
history of the Spanish conquest of Peru: and the _Pecherays_, who
inhabit the most southern link of the American mountain chain.

According to A. d’Orbigny, both these races present a great similitude
as regards their physical characteristics, which consist of a head that
is large in proportion to the body, a round face, prominent cheekbones,
a broad mouth, thick lips, a short, flat nose, wide nostrils, a narrow
retiring forehead, horizontal eyes, and a thin beard.

Fig. 186 is a representation, after Pritchard, of one of those
Araucanian Indians who may be considered as forming the least barbarous
of the independent native tribes of South America.

These people do not, in fact, lead the nomadic existence of Indians.
Being protected by thick forests from the attacks and invasions of the
Americans, they build what are real houses with wood and iron, and
their customs denote a rudimentary civilization.

A Périgueux attorney has rendered the Araucanian nation celebrated in
France. He had succeeded in getting himself chosen as its king, and when
chased away by the Peruvians came to relate his Odyssey in Europe,
returning afterwards to reconquer his unstable throne. Orélie, the First
of the name, has according to rumour recovered at present his lofty
position among the Indians of Araucania. We wish him a tranquil reign.

[Illustration: 186.--ARAUCANIAN.]

The _Pecherays_ inhabit the coast of Tierra del Fuego and both shores of
the Straits of Magellan. The life they lead and the ice covering all the
interior of the hilly country they occupy, force them to remain
exclusively on the borders of the sea.

Their colour is olive or tawny; they are well built but of clumsy
figure, and their legs bowed, from continually sitting cross-legged,
give them an unsteady gait. Their pleasant natural smile gives
indication of an obliging disposition.

Being essentially nomadic, they do not form themselves into communities,
but move about in small numbers, by groups of two or three families,
living by hunting and fishing, and changing their resting-place as soon
as they have exhausted the animals and shell-fish of the neighbourhood.
Dwelling in a region which is split up into a multitude of islands, they
have become navigators, and continually traverse every shore of Tierra
del Fuego as well as of the countries situated to the east of the
strait. They build large boats, twelve to fifteen feet long and three
feet broad, from the bark of trees, with no other implements than shells
or hatchets made of flint.

[Illustration: 187.--PECHERAY HUTS.]

Their huts (fig. 187) are covered over with earth or sealskins and some
fine morning the whole family will abandon them and take to their canoes
with their numerous dogs. The women ply their oars, while the men hold
themselves in readiness to pierce any fish they perceive, with a dart
pointed by a sharpened stone. When in this way they arrive at another
island, the women, having placed their little vessel in safety, start
in search of shell-fish and the men go hunting with the sling or the bow.
A short stay is followed by a fresh departure.

These poor people are thus incessantly exposed to the dangers of the sea
and the inclemency of the seasons, and yet they are, it may be said,
without clothing. The men’s shoulders are barely covered with a scrap of
sealskin, whilst the whole apparel of the women consists in a little
apron of the same material.

Notwithstanding this rude existence, the Pecherays display some
coquetry. They load their necks, arms, and legs with gewgaws and shells,
and paint their bodies, and oftener their faces, with different designs
in red, white, and black. The men occasionally ornament their heads with
bunches of feathers. All wear a kind of boot made of sealskin.

Like all other tribes who subsist by hunting, the Pecherays have among
themselves frequent quarrels, and even petty wars, that last only a
short time but are continually renewed.

They share their food with their faithful companions, the dogs; it
consists of cooked or raw shell-fish, birds, fish, and seals, and they
eat the fat of the latter raw. They do not, like the inhabitants of the
North Pole, pass the most rigorous period of the winter underground, but
pursue their labours in the open air, protecting themselves as best they
can against the cold which prevails on these shores, notwithstanding the
deceitful name of Tierra del Fuego. This “Land of Fire,” by reason of
its proximity to the South Pole, is, during the greater part of the
year, a region of ice.

The women are subjected to the roughest labours. They row, fish, build
the cabins, and plunge into the sea, even during the most intense cold,
in their search for the shell-fish attached to the rocks.

The language of the Pecherays resembles that of the Patagonians and the
Puelches in sound, and that of the Araucanians in form. Their weapons
and their religion, as well as the paintings on their faces, are also
those of these three neighbouring nations.


PAMPEAN FAMILY.

The rather numerous tribes of South America who compose this family are
frequently of tall stature, with arched and prominent foreheads
overhanging horizontal eyes which are sometimes contracted at the outer
angle. They inhabit the immense plains or _Pampas_, situated at the foot
of the eastern slope of the Andes. They rear great numbers of horses,
and consequently the men, like the tribes who roam over the steppes of
Asia, are nearly always mounted.

The peoples comprised in this family are: the _Patagonians_, properly so
called; the _Puelches_, or the tribes of the Pampas to the south of the
La Plata river; the _Charruas_, in the vicinity of Uruguay; the _Tobas_,
_Lenguas_, and _Machicuys_, who occupy the greater part of Chaco; the
_Moxos_, the _Chiquitos_, and the _Mataguayos_; and finally the famous
_Abipones_; the centaurs of the New World. We can only speak of some of
these groups.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Patagonians._--Under this name we include, besides the Patagonians
proper, several other nomadic races resembling them, who are found, some
to the north, and others to the south, of the La Plata. The latter
wander over the pampas which stretch from that river as far as the
Straits of Magellan; while the northern tribes, who bear a physical
resemblance to the genuine Patagonians, inhabit that portion of the
country comprised between the Paraguay river and the last spurs of the
Cordilleras, and which stretches northward as far as the twentieth
degree of latitude, including the inland plains of the province of
Chaco.

The Patagonians are the nomads of the New World. They furnish the
horsemen who scour its vast arid tracts, living under tents of skins, or
who hide in its forests, in huts covered with bark and thatch. Haughty
and unconquered warriors, they despise agriculture and the arts of
civilization, and have always resisted the Spanish arms.

These savages have darker skins than most of those in South America.
Their complexion is an olive-brown; and among the men composing them we
find the tallest stature as well as the most athletic and robust frames.
The tribes dwelling furthest south are the tallest, and the height of
the others diminishes as the Chaco region is approached.

As has been stated in the introduction to this work, the stature of this
people has been heretofore greatly exaggerated. M. Alcide d’Orbigny,
who resided for seven months among many distinct divisions of the
Patagonians, measured several individuals in each. He assures us that
the tallest of all was only five feet eleven inches in height, and that
the average is not above five feet four.

M. Victor de Rochas, in the account he has given of his voyage to
Magellan’s Straits, has proved in a similar manner that the stature of
the Patagonians is by no means extraordinary. He found them possessed of
a brown complexion; coarse straight black hair, little beard; serious
countenances--those of the men being manly and haughty, and the women’s
mild and good--and regular but coarse features. The hands and feet of
the females were small.

Broad, robust bodies, stout limbs, and vigorous constitutions
characterise all the tribes in question, the women as well as the men.
The Patagonians proper have large heads and wide flat faces with
prominent cheek-bones.

Among the nations of Chaco, which we shall speak of further on, the eyes
are small, horizontal, and sometimes slightly contracted at the outer
corner; the nose is short, flat and broad, with open nostrils; the mouth
big, the chin short, and the lips thick and prominent; they have arched
eyebrows, little beard, long straight black hair, and gloomy
countenances, frequently of ferocious aspect.

Though the languages of these races are essentially distinct, they have
a certain analogy between themselves; all are harsh, guttural, and
difficult of pronunciation.

The details which follow are derived from the narrative of a traveller,
M. Guinard, who spent three years in captivity among the Patagonians.
Fate threw him into the hands of the tribe of the Poyuches, who wander
along the southern bank of the Rio Negro, from the neighbourhood of
Pacheco Island.

Whether these nomadic Indians live in the vicinity of the Spanish
Americans or in the solitudes of Patagonia, beneath the outlying woody
spurs of the Cordilleras, or on the bare, wild soil of the Pampas, they
lead identically the same life. Their occupations are the chase, tending
their domestic animals, horsemanship, and the use of the lance, the
sling, and the lasso.

Their dwellings consist of hide tents, carried by these savages from
place to place in their migrations. Their costume is composed of a piece
of some sort of stuff with a hole in the middle to pass the head
through, and their waist is girt by another fragment of smaller size. A
cloth rag is tied round their head, separating the hair in front, and
allowing it to fall in long waves over the shoulders. They carefully
pluck the hair from every part of their bodies, without even sparing the
eyebrows. Their faces are painted with volcanic earths which the
Araucanians bring them, the colours varying according to taste, but red,
blue, black, and white have the preference. The women wear a frock with
holes for their heads, arms, and legs; they pull out their hair and
eyebrows like the men, and paint their faces, the strange and hard
expression of which is enhanced by ornaments of coarse beads. Bracelets
and square ear-rings complete their toilette. They can throw the lance
and the lasso with as much ease as the men, and ride on horseback like
them. M. Guinard learned how to manage the horses and use the weapons of
this people, for they made him join in their nandu and _guanaco_ hunts.

[Illustration: 188.--PATAGONIAN.]

The chief occupation of these Indians is, in fact, the chase, and they
devote themselves to it all through the year. The _Chen-elches_, one of
the Patagonian tribes, who have no horses, pursue their game on foot.

[Illustration: 189.--A PATAGONIAN HORSE SACRIFICE.]

On their return from hunting the Patagonians abandon themselves to
gambling and debauchery. They cheat at play and become intoxicated to
madness, when they fight among themselves with fury. Two religious
festivals are observed by them during the year, on which occasions they
dance and indulge in fantastic cavalcades.

A custom of piercing their children’s ears exists among these people,
and the ceremony which then takes place is analogous to that of baptism.
The child is laid on a horse, which has been thrown down by the chief of
the family or tribe, and a hole is solemnly bored through the little
lobe of his ear.

Let us add that the existence of a new-born infant is submitted to the
consideration of the father and mother, who decide upon its life or
death. Should they think fit to get rid of it, it is smothered, and its
body carried a short distance, and then abandoned to wild dogs and birds
of prey. If the poor little one is judged worthy to live, its mother
nurses it until it is three years old, and at four years of age its ears
are solemnly pierced, as described above.

The Patagonians in their religious ceremonials, sacrifice to the Deity a
young horse and an ox given by the richest among them. When these
animals have been thrown on the ground, with their heads turned towards
the east, a man rips open the victim (fig. 189), tears out the heart and
sticks it, still palpitating, on the end of a spear. The eager and
curious crowd, with eyes fixed on the blood flowing from the gash, draw
auguries, which are almost always to their own advantage, and then
retire to their abodes, under the belief that God will favour their
undertakings.

Marriage among these nations is a traffic, a barter of various articles
and animals for a wife. The woman, moreover, is burdened with work,
whilst the man takes his ease, whenever he is not hunting or engaged in
minding the cattle.

The Patagonian who dies in his own home is buried with pomp. His body,
covered with his handsomest ornaments, and with his weapons laid beside
it, is stretched on a winding-sheet of skins. They then wrap it in these
skins and tie it on the back of his favourite horse, whose left leg they
break. All the women of the tribe join the wives of the deceased and
utter piercing shrieks. The men, having painted their hands and faces
black, escort the body as far as the place of burial, where horses and
sheep are sacrificed to serve as food for the dead during his journey
into the next world.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Tobas_, _Lenguas_, and _Machicuys_.--These three tribes, which must, as
we have said, be included in the Pampean family, are termed collectively
the Indians of the Grand Chaco, or Great Desert. It will not be
uninteresting, in order to give an example of the customs of the wild
South American races, to quote here some pages in which an account of
his visit to the Grand Chaco nations is related by Dr. Demersay in his
travels in Paraguay.

“Reduced at the present day to very small numbers and, indeed, almost
extinct, the remnant of the Lengua nation,” says Dr. Demersay, “lives to
the north of the river Pilcomayo, in union and amalgamated with the
Emmages and Machicuys, within a short distance of the Quartel. Their
actual enemies are the Tobas, who are allied to the Pitiligas, Chunipis
and Aguilots, and who constitute a numerous horde on the other side of
the Pilcomayo.

“The remnants of the Lenguas are more especially joined and mingled with
the Machicuys: in fact, they no longer form more than a dozen families,
and the Mascoyian cacique is theirs as well.

“There are _payes_ or doctors, among the Lenguas, who administer nothing
to a sick person beyond water or fruit, and who practise suction with
the mouth for wounds and sore places. They interlard this operation with
juggleries and songs, accompanied by gourds (_porongos_), shaken in the
invalid’s ears. These porongos are filled with little stones, and make a
deafening clatter. The payes are also sorcerers, and read the future as
well as heal the sick.

“Some girls, but the custom is not general, tattoo themselves in an
indelible way at the age of puberty, an event which is always marked by
rejoicing. This festival consists of a family gathering, during which
the men intoxicate themselves with brandy, if they can obtain some by
barter, or with a fermented liquor (_chicha_) extracted from the fruit
of the _algarobo_.

“The tattooing of the women consists of four narrow and parallel blue
lines, which descend from the top of the forehead to the end of the
nose, but are not continued on the upper lip, as well as of irregular
rings traced on the cheeks and chin as far as the temples.

[Illustration: 190.--A BOLIVIAN CHIEF.]

“Both sexes pierce their ears when extremely young, and pass through
them a bit of wood, the width of which they keep incessantly increasing,
so that towards forty years of age the holes are of enormous dimensions.
I measured several of these orifices, and found their average length to
be two inches and a half, whilst their diameter was somewhat less
considerable. The pieces of wood are solid, irregularly rounded, and
about an inch and three-quarters in thickness at their widest part. The
Lenguas often replace them by a long fragment of the bark of a tree,
rolled spirally like a wire spring. This ear-ring is called a _barbote_.

“The Lenguas comb their hair, which they cut at the top of the forehead,
forming a lock which is drawn backwards, passing over the left ear,
until it falls into the mass collected and tied behind with a riband or
a woollen string. This body of hair, which is always black, straight,
and generally very fine and even silky, then falls between the
shoulders. The women do not always dress their hair in this way; I saw
many who allowed it to hang in loose disorder. Moreover, though they may
sometimes comb it, no one can say that these people take care of their
hair; their extreme filthiness argues to the contrary, for nothing can
possibly be seen dirtier than this nation, which in this respect closely
resembles the others.

“The weapons of the Lenguas consist of a bow and arrows, which they
carry behind their backs bound up in a hide; they have also an axe,
called by them _achagy_, borne in a similar manner. They carry in their
hand a _mahana_, or staff, made of hard, heavy wood; and to these is
also added a spear tipped with iron, and they sometimes have the _bolas_
and the lasso. They are excellent horsemen, riding barebacked with their
wife and children, all on the same animal, and all, women and men,
sitting in the same way. They use no bit, contenting themselves with a
piece of stick; they make reins from the fibres of the _caraguata_.

“Their olive brown colour, darker than that of the Tobas, their
prominent cheek-bones, small eyes, broad flat faces, slightly depressed
noses, wide mouths, and large lips, give to the countenance of these
savages a peculiar look which is not a little enhanced by a pair of ears
that come down to the base of the neck, and with some individuals as far
as the collar bone. The Lenguas, like all Indians, become hideous as
they grow old.

“A few weeks had passed since my excursion in this direction, when, as I
was returning to Assumption from a fresh journey into the interior of
the country, I heard that the Quartel had been the object of a
completely unforeseen attack on the part of the Chaco tribes, and that,
after an encounter in which two Indians had lost their lives, the troops
had been able to recover the stolen cattle and to take some prisoners,
who were immediately sent on to the capital, where they were confided to
the keeping of the guard at the cavalry barrack near the arsenal and
port. A more favourable opportunity could not have offered for
continuing and completing my ethnological studies, so the next day I
hastened to the building.

“On arriving there I found a dozen Indians loaded with irons, seated
here and there in the centre of a narrow court. They were covered with
dirty European garments, in tattered _ponchos_, or draped in antique
fashion with wretched blankets. Two boys, one eight and the other
fifteen years old, were among the prisoners, and all seemed sad and
dejected. They preserved a profound silence, which I had some trouble to
make them break.

“Side by side with the Lenguas, whom I had seen at the Quartel, there
were some Tobas and Machicuys; but although known to the first, my
interpreter questioned them in vain as to the motive of their attack.

“The Tobas are generally of tall and erect stature. I measured three of
them, and found their height to be respectively, 5 feet 10¼ inches, 5
feet 8½ inches, and 5 feet 6¼ inches. Their muscular system is
developed, and their well-formed limbs, like those of all the other
nations of the Chaco, are terminated by hands and feet which would cause
envy to an European.

“They have an ordinary forehead, which is not retreating; lively eyes,
larger than those of the Lenguas, and narrow thin eyebrows. The iris is
black, and they do not pluck out their eyelashes. Their long regular
nose is rounded at the end, where it becomes slightly enlarged, and
their mouth, which is a little turned up at the angles, is better
proportioned and smaller than that of the Lenguas, and is furnished with
fine teeth, which are preserved to a very advanced age. They are also
without prominent cheek-bones, and their faces are not so broad as that
of the other nation.

[Illustration: 191.--A BOAT ON THE RIO NEGRO.]

“The Tobas seem to have renounced the use of the barbote, which at the
time of Azara they still wore, and none of them had any scar on the
lower lip. Their ears were not pierced. They allow their hair to grow,
letting it float freely without being tied; a few, however, cut it
straight across the forehead, a habit which is even practised by some of
the women.

“The colour of their skin is an olive brown, not so dark as that of the
Lenguas, and contains no yellow tint; but I confess to the great
difficulty there is in expressing shades so varied in hue.

“Nothing could draw the prisoners from their taciturnity; their
countenances remained impassive, cold, and serious during all our
questioning. A winning smile and interesting face are attributed by some
travellers to the women while still young; but their features
deteriorate at an early age, and, like the men, they grow into repulsive
ugliness. Their breasts, which are of moderate size and well formed at
first, lengthen to such an extent as to enable them to suckle the
children carried on their backs.

“The Toba nation occupies, or, to speak more accurately, overruns a
considerable extent of the Chaco plains. We meet its members on the
banks of the Pilcomayo, from its mouth to the first spurs of the Andes,
where they come in contact with the Chiriguanos, with whom they are
often at war.

“Being usually nomadic, the Tobas occupy themselves in fishing and
hunting; their weapons consist of arrows, _makanas_, long spears with
iron points, and the _bolas_. Some of their tribes, more settled in
their habits, add the produce of agriculture to that of the chase, by
cultivating maize, manioc, and potatoes.

“The children of both sexes wear no covering; men and women roll a piece
of cloth round their loins, or envelope themselves in a cloak made from
the skins of wild animals. Necklaces and bracelets of glass beads or
small shells form the ornaments of the females, while in some tribes the
men twine round their bodies long white rows of beads, composed of
little fragments of shells rounded like buttons, and strung together at
regular intervals.”

       *       *       *       *       *

_Machicuys._--Dr. Demersay does not share the opinion expressed by M.
d’Orbigny that the Machicuys may be nothing more than a tribe of the
Tobas, whose language they perhaps speak. According to the first-named
traveller, the tongues of the two nations are different, and other
distinctions separate them.

“The Machicuys,” says Dr. Demersay, “are more sedentary in their habits,
are greater tillers of the soil, and are endowed with less fierce
manners than the Lenguas, but they resemble them in the extraordinary
dimensions of the lobe of the ears as well as in their weapons and
method of fighting. Azara says that they differ in the shape of their
barbote, which is said to resemble that of the Charruas. To reiterate an
observation we have already made, we say that none of the Machicuys we
have seen showed any marks of the opening intended for the reception of
this savage ornament, which they are abandoning, after the example of
the Brazilian Botocudos, whilst certain tribes of the ancient continent
religiously preserve it. In the same way the Berrys, a black nation on
the borders of the Saubat, a tributary on the right bank of the Nile,
pierce their lower lip, in order to insert a piece of crystal more than
an inch long.

“In height, formation, and proportions the Machicuys are similar to the
Lenguas, and like them they have small eyes, broad faces, large mouths,
flat noses, and wide nostrils. Their hair is allowed to hang loosely,
and its thick curls partly cover their faces and fall on their
shoulders.

“The language of these nations, like that of all the Indians of the
Chaco, is strongly accentuated and full of sounds that require an effort
to be forced from the nose and throat; it contains double consonants
extremely difficult to pronounce.”

       *       *       *       *       *

_Moxos_ and _Chiquitos_.--The interior and, to some extent, central
regions of South America lying north of the Chaco, have been called by
the Spaniards the “Provinces of the Moxos and Chiquitos,” from the names
of the two principal families of Indian race living in these countries.

The Moxos inhabit vast plains, subject to frequent inundations and
overrun by immense streams, on which they are constantly obliged to
navigate in their boats. They are the ichthyophagists of the river
districts of the interior.

The land of the Chiquitos is a succession of mountains inconsiderable in
height, covered with forests and intersected by numerous small rivers.
They are husbandmen and have fixed abodes.

[Illustration: 192.--EXAMINADOR OF CHILI.]

The Chiquitos live in clans, each of which has its own little village.
The men go about naked, but the women wear a flowing garment, which they
like to ornament. These Indians are gifted with a happy disposition and
amiable manners; they are sociable, hospitable, inclined to gaiety, and
passionately fond of dancing and music. They have become permanently
converted to Christianity. Their physical characteristics include a
large and spherical head, almost always circular, a round, full face,
prominent cheekbones, a low, arched forehead, a short nose, slightly
flattened and with narrow nostrils, small horizontal eyes, full of
expression and vivacity, thin lips, fine teeth, a mediocre mouth, little
beard, and long black, glossy hair, which does not whiten in extreme old
age, but grows yellow.

The manners of the Moxos are strongly analogous to those of the
Chiquitos. Their colour is an olive brown, and their stature of the
average height. They have not very vigorous limbs, their nose is short
and not very broad, their mouth of medium size, their lips and
cheekbones but little prominent; their face is oval or round, and their
countenances mild and rather merry. This race dwells on the confines of
Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil.

Before the conquest these tribes were established on the banks of the
rivers and lakes. They were fishers, hunters, and more especially
agriculturists. The chase was a relaxation for them; fishing a
necessity; husbandry afforded them provisions and drinks. Their customs,
however, were barbarous. Superstition made a Moxos sacrifice his wife in
case she miscarried, and his children if they happened to be twins. The
mother rid herself of her offspring _if it wearied her_. Marriage could
be dissolved at the will of the parties to it, and polygamy was
frequent. These Indians were all, more or less, warriors; but tradition
and writings have only preserved for us the memorials of one single
nation, the members of which were cannibals and devoured their
prisoners. The counsels of the missionaries have modified the manners of
this people, without removing all its savage usages.

Both the Moxos and the Chiquitos have broad shoulders, extremely full
chests, and most robust bodies.

Each of these two races includes a certain number of hordes which we see
no necessity for alluding to particularly here, for their half wild
habits resemble those of the tribes we have just commented on; and for
similar reasons we shall pass over in silence the other races ranked in
the Pampean family, and whose names have been enumerated in a preceding
page.


GUARANY FAMILY.

The _Guarany Family_ is spread over an immense space, from the Rio de La
Plata as far as the Caribbean Sea. Its principal characteristics consist
of a yellowish complexion, a little tinged with red, a middle stature, a
very heavy frame, a but slightly arched and prominent forehead, oblique
eyes turned up at the outer angle, a short, narrow nose, a
moderate-sized mouth, thin lips, cheekbones without much prominence, a
round, full face, effeminate features, and a pleasing countenance.

D’Orbigny has established two divisions only in this family, namely, the
_Guaranis_ and the _Botocudos_.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Guaranis._--At the period of the discovery of South America, all that
portion of the continent lying to the east of the Paraguay and of a line
drawn from the sources of that river to the delta of the Orinoco, was
inhabited by numberless indigenous nations, belonging to two great
families. One of these families was that of the Guaranis, diffused over
the whole of Paraguay, and allied with the wild tribes of Brazil; the
other included the races occupying the more northern provinces, and
extending to the gulf of Mexico. The Indians appertaining to both these
families strongly resemble each other in features as well as complexion,
and d’Orbigny attributes to them the same physical type, one marked by a
yellowish colour, medium height, foreheads that do not recede, and eyes
frequently oblique and always raised at the outer angle.

The entirely exceptional aptitude which the Guarany nation has evinced
for entering on the path of social improvement, renders it one of the
most interesting in South America. The _Southern Guaranis_, or natives
of Paraguay, include at the same time the tribes who have submitted to
the sway of the missions, in the establishments which the Jesuits have
formed in the country, and others who still roam in freedom throughout
the forests of that province. Besides the Guaranis, properly so called
who are all Christians, and inhabit thirty-two rather extensive villages
situated on the borders of the Parana, the Paraguay, and the Uruguay
rivers, there exists a certain number of wild hordes belonging to the
same race, who remain hidden in the depths of the woods. These tribes
bear names derived in most instances from those of the rivers or
mountains in whose vicinity they dwell, and among the principal of them
are mentioned the _Topas_, _Tobatinguas_, _Cayuguas_, _Gadiguès_,
_Magachs_, etc.

M. Demersay, who has visited the Jesuit establishments in Paraguay, also
traversed the forests inhabited by the wild races of which we are
speaking, and the results of his observations were published by him in
the “Tour du Monde” in 1865. We shall avail ourselves here of those
parts of his narrative which refer to the savage nations of Paraguay.

“The history of the American races,” says M. Demersay, “might be
comprised in a few pages. Some have accepted the semi-servitude which
the conquerors imposed on them; the others, more rebellious, preferred
to struggle, and have been destroyed; those who still struggle will also
perish. The nations which chose subjection rather than death, have, by
mingling their blood in strong proportions with that of the Europeans,
only disappeared as a race in order to enter as an integral and
sometimes dominant element into the American nationalities. The great
family of the Guaranis forms the most striking example of this intimate
fusion offered to the notice of the ethnologist.

“But in its midst, side by side with the unsubdued hordes of the Grand
Chaco, so remarkable for their fine proportions, there exists yet
another tribe, small in numbers, whose ranks grow thinner every day, and
which on the eve of its disappearance, has bequeathed intact to the
present generation, along with its complete independence, its creeds,
its customs, and the glorious traditions of its ancestors.

“At the time of their discovery, the _Payaguas_, as this valiant race is
called, were divided into two tribes, the _Gadiguès_ and the _Magachs_,
who lived on the banks and numerous islands of the Rio Paraguay, towards
21° and 25° S. latitude. Their dwelling places were by no means fixed;
masters of the river and jealous of its control, they started from Lake
Xarayes, and made distant excursions on the Parana as far as Corrientes
and Santa Fé on one side, and to Salto Chico on the other.

“A rather rational etymology which has been proposed for the name of
these Indians, is that of the two Guarany words ‘pai’ and ‘aguaà,’ which
signify, ‘tied to the oar,’ a meaning quite in unison with their
habits. In the term ‘Paraguay,’ applied as the denomination of the
river, before it became the name of the province, some have wished to
perceive a corruption of ‘Payagua,’ a likely enough derivation, and one
which seems to us highly admissible.

“Whatever there may be in this supposition, the value of which we shall
not discuss here, this unconquered and crafty nation was during two
centuries the most redoubtable adversary of the Spaniards. The writers
on the conquest, the works of Azara, the ‘Historical Essay’ of Funes,
and numerous documents preserved in the archives of Assumption, contain
a recital of their daring enterprises.

“. . . What their numbers were in the first half of the XVIth century it
is impossible to say with certainty; but the old narratives, which do
not seem on this point to deserve the reproach of exaggeration more than
once and with justice attributed to them, estimate them as no fewer than
several thousand combatants. In Azara’s time the entire tribe scarcely
reckoned a thousand souls, and at the present day it cannot count two
hundred.

“Their stature is remarkable, and unquestionably surpasses that of most
nations of the globe. The measurements of eight individuals, taken at
random, would justify the application of this epithet to the Payaguas,
as they gave me an average of 5ft. 9in. The women’s height is no less
striking: that of four females over twenty was--the first and second, 5
feet; the third, 5 feet 2 inches, and the fourth, 5 feet 3¾ inches; or
an average of 5 feet 1¼ inches. Many conclusions may be drawn from this
double series of measurements. On comparing the average stature of the
Payaguas with that of mankind in general, which physiologists agree in
fixing at about 5 feet 6 inches, it will be seen that the difference in
favour of the former is no less than 3 inches. And further, if we place
in comparison the measurements taken by accurate travellers of the races
which pass for the tallest on the globe, of the Patagonians for
instance, we find that their average height as stated by M. d’Orbigny is
5 feet 7 inches. Consequently the Payaguas actually surpass by two
inches the height of a race which has from time immemorial been regarded
as fabulously tall.

“The Payaguas are invariably lanky, none but the women ever showing
signs of corpulence. Their shoulders are broad and the muscles of their
chests, arms, and backs display a development produced by constant use
of the oar, for they live in their canoes; but, as a species of
compensation, the predominance of the proportions of the upper limbs
causes the lower extremities to appear slight and meagre.

[Illustration: 193.--A PARAGUAYAN MESSENGER.]

“Their skin, smooth and soft to the touch, like that of the natives of
the New Continent, is of an olive-brown shade, which it would be
difficult to define more accurately. It seems somewhat lighter than that
of the Guaranis, and does not exhibit the same yellowish or Mongolian
tints.

“The Payaguas carry their massive heads erect, and have an abundant
supply of long, straight, or slightly curly hair, which they cut across
the foreheads, and never comb, allowing it to grow and fall about them
in disorder. The young warriors alone partly gather it at the back of
the crown where it is tied by a little red string, or by a strap cut
from a monkey skin. A similar custom obtains among the Guatos of Cuyaba,
who, we may say incidentally, have more resemblance to this nation than
to the Guaranis, though a learned classification has placed them side by
side with the latter. Their small, keen eyes, a little contracted but
not turned up at the outer angle, have an expression of cunning and
shrewdness, and the lines of the long slightly rounded nose recall the
Caucasian conformation to the mind. Their cheekbones are but little
prominent; their lower lip protrudes beyond the upper, thus imparting to
their grave and impressive countenances an expression of scornful pride,
well in keeping with the character of this unsubdued race.

“The women when young are well-proportioned without being slight, but
they fatten early, their features become deformed, and their figures
grow squat and dumpy. To atone for this, however, their hands and feet
always retain a remarkable smallness, although they walk barefooted and
take no care whatever of their persons. I have also observed this
delicate formation, a distinction which European ladies covet so much,
among the tribes of the Chaco, who are, with the Payaguas, the finest in
America. Their hair is allowed to float about the shoulders and is never
confined.

“A young girl on emerging from childhood undergoes tattooing. By means
of a thorn and the fruit of the genipa, a bluish streak, about half an
inch wide, is drawn perpendicularly across the forehead and down the
nose as far as the upper lip; and when she marries this stripe is
prolonged over the under lip to below the chin. Its shades vary from
violet to a slate-coloured blue, and its marks are indelible. Some women
add other lines to this, as well as designs traced with the flaming tint
of the _urucu_; this latter fashion, however, though general half a
century ago, and which Azara describes minutely, has become more and
more uncommon.

“The Payaguas go about naked in their tents (_toldos_), but out of doors
they wear a small cotton garment encircling them from the pit of the
stomach to just below the knee. This piece of cloth which they lap round
their bodies in the style of the _chiripa_ of the creoles, is one of the
few productions of their ingenuity. Its manufacture devolves upon the
women, and they make it with no other help than that of their fingers,
without using either shuttle or loom. Some others content themselves
with a short shirt, devoid of collar or sleeves, rather like the _tipoy_
of the Guarany. Nevertheless the use of clothing seems to become every
day more familiar to all of them; and amongst those I saw roaming
through the streets of Assumption not one was satisfied, as in former
times, with covering his limbs with paintings representing vests and
breeches.

“Other ancient customs have also disappeared, such as that which the men
had of wearing, as the case might be, either the _barbote_ or a little
silver rod analogous to the _tembeta_ of the wild Guaranis or Cayaguas.
Others are only resumed at rare intervals or at certain epochs, on which
solemn occasions long tufts of feathers fixed on the top of the head are
seen to reappear, and all manner of fanciful patterns tattooed in bright
colours on face, arm, and breast; as well as necklaces of beads or
shells, and lastly bracelets of the claws of _capivaras_, rolled round
wrist and ankle. But the tradition of this elaborate ornamentation has
been religiously preserved by the _paye_ or medicine-man of the tribe.

“The Payaguas live on the left bank of the Rio Paraguay. They never take
up their abode on the opposite side, where the Indians of Chaco, with
whom they are always at war, would not be slow to attack them. Their
principal hut (_tolderia_) is erected on the river’s edge, and consists
of a large oblong cabin from twelve to fifteen feet high, and made with
bamboos laid on forked poles and covered over with unplaited cane mats.
Jaguar or capivaras’ skins are spread on the ground for beds, and
weapons and fishing and household utensils hang on the posts sustaining
the frail roofing of the dwelling, or lie pell-mell with earthen
vessels, in a corner.

“. . . The very limited occupation of this people constitutes
nevertheless their sole resource, for they are perfectly ignorant of
husbandry, and cultivate neither maize, potatoes, nor tobacco. They are
fishermen, spend their lives on the water, and become early in life very
expert sailors. Sometimes they are to be seen in the stern of a canoe,
letting it float with the current while watching their lines; at
another, standing upright in a row, they bend to their oars in good time
and make the little craft fly along with the swiftness of an arrow.
Their boats are from five to a little over six feet in length, and
between two and a half to three feet wide; they are hollowed from the
trunk of a _timbo_, and terminate in a long tapering point at each end.

[Illustration: 194.--BRAZILIAN NEGRO.]

“Their paddles are sharpened like lances, and form in their hands very
formidable weapons, to which must be added bows and arrows, as well as
the _macana_. They are cruel in warfare, and grant no quarter except to
women and children. Their method of fighting shows no peculiarity. They
attack the Indians of the Chaco by falling upon them unawares and
endeavouring to surprise them, but they take good care not to move far
from the rivers, for those tribes of famous horsemen would soon overcome
them in the open country.

[Illustration: 195.--INDIAN WOMAN OF BRAZIL.]

“This nation, as the reader has doubtless surmised, lives in a state of
absolute liberty and complete independence of the government of the
Paraguayan Republic, which imposes neither tax nor statute labour upon
it, but on the contrary pays the Payaguas for any services that are
exacted of them, whether as messengers on the river or as guides in the
expeditions directed against the wild hordes that wander along the right
bank.

“. . . Being desirous to become acquainted with, and to be able to
sketch at my ease, in the midst of all the savage luxury of his garb,
the individual who was entrusted with these functions, I contrived to
get him to come to my house arrayed in the emblems of his high dignity
and accompanied by some other Indians. The promise of a certain quantity
of his beloved liquor, coupled with the prospect of an evening’s
drunkenness, speedily got the better of his reluctance.

“On the day named the paye came to see me. He was an old man, somewhat
bent with years, but with nothing repulsive in his countenance,
notwithstanding the disfiguration of the features, which is always
premature and so remarkable among the natives. His hair was still black
and confined in a fillet bordered with beadwork, over which was a tuft
of feathers, while nandu plumes waved behind his head; a necklace of
bivalve shells was on his neck, and from it hung, as a trophy, a whistle
made from the arm-bone of an enemy. He was quite naked beneath his
sleeveless and collarless vest which consisted of two jaguar-skins, and
wore strings of capivaras’ claws round his ankles. Finally, his right
hand contained an elongated gourd, and he held in his left a long tube
of hard wood, which I had some difficulty in recognizing as a pipe.

“The curtain rises. The sorcerer gave the pipe to his companion, whose
duty consisted in lighting it, and, taking it again, inhaled several
puffs which he blew noisily into the calabash through the orifice bored
in it; then, without removing it from his lips, he began shouting,
sometimes slowly and sometimes rapidly, uttering alternately the
syllables ‘ta, ta’, and ‘to, to, to’, with extraordinary, inexpressible,
reiterations of voice and piercing yells. He gave way at the same time
to violent contortions, and executed a measured series of leaps, now on
one foot, and now on both joined together. This performance did not last
any length of time, and on a pretext of fatigue he was not long without
coming to a stand-still. A bumper was indispensable in order to set him
on his legs again, and the monotonous chant immediately recommenced.

“My drawings being finished, I at last broke up the sitting to the
general satisfaction of my guests, and dismissed them, having first
purchased his pipe and whistle from the paye. The former article was
made of hard and heavy wood and covered with regular tracings engraved
on the surface with a good deal of skill. It was about a foot and a half
long, ornamented with gilt nails, and pierced by a tube which was
widened at one end and terminated at the other by a mouth-piece. This
pipe is also to be found among other neighbouring nations, as well as
among the Tobas and Matacos on the banks of the Pilcomayo. It gives an
idea of those enormous cigars made from a roll of palm or tobacco
leaves, which played so important a part in Brazil, in the ceremonies of
the Tupinambas, and among the Caraibs of the Antilles, on all occasions
when the question of peace or war had to be decided, when the shades of
ancestors were to be conjured up, etc., and which the first navigators
mistook for torches.”

[Illustration: 196.--NATIVE OF MANAOS, BRAZIL.]

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Western Guaranis_ include the tribes known by the names of
Guarayis, Chiriguanos, and Cirionos, the first of which have been
converted by the Jesuits. Between the province of the Chiquitos and that
of the Moxos there are still some hordes of wild Guarayis. The
uncivilized Chiriguanos are barbarians, very formidable to their
neighbours. The natives of a hundred and sixty villages of the Andes,
comprised between the great Chaco river and that of Mapayo, in the
province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, speak the Guarany language in all
its purity. The barbarous Cirionos, among whom a dialect of that tongue
is in use, dwell to the north of Santa Cruz.

The _Eastern Guaranis of Brazil_ include the Brazilian aborigines. The
general language of the country does not seem to differ more from
Guarany, than Portuguese does from Spanish. The _Caryis_, _Tameyi_,
_Tapinaquis_, _Timmimnes_, _Tabayaris_, _Tupinambis_, _Apontis_,
_Tapigoas_, and several other tribes occupy the maritime districts
situated to the south of the mouth of the Amazon, speaking the _Tupi_
tongue with little or no alteration.

During their voyage to Brazil, of which an account was published in the
“Tour du Monde,” in 1868, M. and Madame Agassiz visited many Indian
tribes, and examined their habitations in the midst of the woods. We
extract a few pages from their description.

“We arrive at the _sitio_,” writes Madame Agassiz, “and disembark. These
dwellings are usually located on the banks of a lake or river, within a
stone’s throw of the shore in order that fishing and bathing may be
better within reach. But this one was more retired, being placed at the
extremity of a pretty by-path winding beneath the trees, and on the
summit of a little hill, the slopes of which at the other side plunged
into a broad and deep ravine through which flowed a rivulet. The ground
beyond rose undulating in uneven lines, on which an eye accustomed to
the uniformly flat country of the upper Amazon cannot rest without
pleasure. Wait for the time of the rains, and the brook, swollen by the
increase of the river, will almost bathe the foot of the house, which,
from the top of the little eminence, at present commands the valley and
the embanked bed of the tiny stream. Great, consequently, is the
difference between the appearance of the same places in the dry and the
wet seasons. The residence consists of several buildings, the most
remarkable of which is a long open hall in which the _brancas_ (whites)
of Manaos and of the neighbourhood dance when they come, as is not
infrequent, to spend the night at the sitio, in high festivity.

[Illustration: 197.--BRAZILIAN NEGRESSES.]

“I learned these particulars from the old Indian lady who did me the
honours of the house. A low wall, from three to four feet in height,
skirted this shed. At its sides and along the whole length were placed
raised wooden seats, and both ends were closed from floor to roof by
thick blinds made of glittering palm-leaves, as fine as they were
handsome, and of a pretty straw colour. In a corner we found an immense
embroidery loom (Penelope’s was doubtless like it), which was occupied
at the moment by a hammock of palm fibre, an unfinished work of the
‘senhora dona’, or mistress of the house, who allowed me to see the way
in which she used the machine. She squatted herself on a little low
bench, in front of the frame, and showed me that the two rows of cross
threads were separated by a thick piece of polished wood in the shape of
a flat rule. The shuttle is thrown between these two threads and the
woof is drawn close by a sharp blow of the thick rule. I was then led to
admire some hammocks of various colours and textures which were being
arranged for the accommodation of the visitors, and whilst the men set
off to bathe in the brook, I went through the rest of the lodge with our
hostess and her daughter, a very pretty Indian. The direction of
everything devolves on the elder of the two ladies; the master is
absent, as he holds a captain’s commission in the army operating against
Paraguay.

[Illustration: 198.--BRAZILIAN DWELLING.]

“On the same carefully-kept piece of ground where the hall I have
described is situated, there are several _casinhas_ or small buildings,
more or less close to each other, which are covered with thatch, and
merely consist of a single apartment (fig. 198). Then comes a larger
cottage, with earthen walls and bare floor, containing two or three
rooms, and with a wooden verandah in front. This is the private abode of
the senhora. A little lower down the hill is the manioc sifting-house,
with all its apparatus. No place could be better kept than the courtyard
of this sitio, where two or three negresses have just been set to work
with brooms of thin branches in their hands.

[Illustration: 199.--NEGROS OF BAHIA.]

“The manioc and cocoa plantation surrounds these buildings, with a few
coffee trees peeping out here and there. There is a difficulty in
judging of the extent of these farms, as they are irregular, and
comprise a certain variety of plants; manioc, cocoa, coffee, and even
cotton being cultivated together in confusion. But this part of the
estate, like all the rest of the establishment, seemed larger and better
cared for than those usually seen. As we were departing, our Indian
hostess brought me a nice basket filled with eggs and _abacatys_, or
alligator’s pears, according to the local name. We returned home just in
time for the ten o’clock meal, which draws everyone together, both
idlers and workers. The sportsmen had returned from the forest, laden
with tucanas, parrots, paroquets, and a great variety of other birds,
while the fishermen brought fresh treasures for M. Agassiz.

“We left the dinner-table, and while taking coffee under the trees, the
president proposed an excursion on the lake at sunset. . . . . The
little craft glided between the glowing sunset and the glitter of the
deep sheet of water, seeming to borrow its hues from each. It rapidly
drew near, and was soon quite close, when a burst of joyous shouts broke
forth, and was merrily responded to by us. Then side by side the two
boats descended the stream together, the guitar passing from one to the
other, as Brazilian songs alternated with Indian airs. Nothing could
possibly be imagined bearing the national impress more strongly marked,
more deeply imbued with tropical tints, more characteristic, in fine,
than this scene on the lake. When we arrived at the landing-place the
rosy and gold-tinged mists had become transformed into a mass of white
or ashen-grey vapour, the last rays of the sun were fled, and the moon
was shining at its full. In ascending the gentle slope of the hill,
someone suggested a dance on the grass, and the young Indian girls
formed a quadrille. Although civilization had mingled its usages with
their native customs, there were yet many original traits in their
movements, and this conventional dance was deprived of much of its
artificial character. At length we returned to the house, where dancing
and singing recommenced, whilst groups seated on the ground here and
there laughed and chatted, all, men and women, smoking with the same
gusto. The use of tobacco, almost universal among females of the lower
class, is not altogether confined to them. More than one senhora
delights to puff her cigarette as she rocks in her hammock during the
warm hours of the day.” Fig. 200 represents some natives of French
Guyana, who closely resemble the Brazilian negroes we have just
mentioned.

[Illustration: 200.--NATIVES OF FRENCH GUYANA.]

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Ouragas_ are affiliated to the Brazilio-Guarany race, with a few
other tribes very closely allied to them. They form one of the nations
most widely spread over the northern parts of South America. They were
formerly in possession of the banks and islands of the Amazon river for
a distance of five hundred miles from the mouth of the Rio Nabo.

The Caribbee race has a close affinity to the Guarany. The Indians who
have given their name to this group, one of the most numerous and
extensively scattered of the southern continent, are those celebrated
Caribs who in the sixteenth century occupied all the islands from Porto
Rico to Trinidad, and the whole of the Atlantic coast comprised between
the mouth of the Orinoco and that of the Amazon, that is to say, as far
as the Brazilian frontier.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Tamanacs_ belong to the same family, and live on the right bank of
the Orinoco, but their numbers are at the present day greatly reduced.
The same remark applies to the _Arawacs_ or _Araocas_, to the
_Guaranns_, who are said to build their houses upon trees, to the
_Guayquerias_, _Cumanogots_, _Phariagots_, _Chaymas_, &c. Humboldt has
written of the latter:--

“The expression of countenance of the Chaymas, without being harsh and
fierce, has in it something sedate and gloomy. The forehead is small and
but little prominent; the eyes are black, sunken, and lengthy, being
neither so obliquely set nor so small as those of the Mongolian race.
Yet the corners perceptibly slant upwards towards the temples; the
eyebrows are black or dark brown, thin, and not much arched; the lids
fringed with very long eyelashes; and their habit of drooping them, as
if heavy with languor, softens the women’s look and makes the eye thus
veiled appear smaller than it really is.”

The Botocudos (fig. 201) who dwell round the Rio Doce, in Brazil, have
been cannibals, and are still to the present day the most savage of all
Americans. They wear collars of human teeth as ornaments. Perpetually
wandering and completely naked, they take a pleasure in adding to their
natural ugliness, and impart a more repulsive appearance to their
countenances by a habit they have of slitting their under lip and ears,
in order to introduce “barbotes” into the openings thus made.

[Illustration: 201.--BOTOCUDOS.]

In his “Travels in Brazil,” M. Biard saw some Botocudos. One, who seemed
to him to be the chief, carried, like his companions, in an opening in
the lower lip, a “barbote” consisting of a bit of wood somewhat larger
than a five-shilling piece. He made use of this projection as a little
table, cutting up on it, with the traveller’s knife, a morsel of smoked
meat which had then only to be slipped into his mouth. This method of
utilizing the lip as a table struck M. Biard as thoroughly original. The
comrades of this Botocudos had also large pieces of wood in the lobes of
their ears.




CHAPTER II.

NORTHERN BRANCH.


The members of the _North American Branch_ present more decided
differences among themselves than those in the southern division, so far
as race is concerned, but their characteristics are merged one in the
other. Nevertheless, the populations inhabiting respectively the south,
the north-east, and the north-west can be considered as forming so many
distinct families, which we shall pass in review in succession.


SOUTHERN FAMILY.

The southern family of the Northern Branch still preserves much
resemblance to the families of the southern branch which we have just
been considering. The complexion of its members is rather fair, the
forehead depressed, and the figure tolerably well proportioned.

This group embraces a great number of tribes speaking different
languages, peculiar to the central part of the northern continent. The
principal among these nations are the _Aztecs_, or primitive Mexicans,
and the _Moya_ and _Lenca_ Indians.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Aztecs._--When the Spaniards landed in Mexico, they found there a
people whose customs were far removed from those of savage life. They
were very expert in the practice of different useful and ornamental
arts, and their knowledge was rather extensive, but thorough cruelty
could always be laid to their charge.

The Aztecs were intelligent and hard-working cultivators. They knew how
to work mines, prepare metals, and set precious stones as ornaments.
Superb monuments had been erected by them, and they possessed a written
language which preserved the memorials of their history. Those who dwelt
in the region of the present Mexico were advanced in the sciences; they
were profoundly imbued with the sentiment of religion; and their sacred
ceremonies were full of pomp, but accompanied by expiatory sacrifices
revolting in their barbarism. They carried their annals back to very
remote antiquity. These annals were traced in historical paintings, the
traditional explanation of which was imparted by the natives to some of
their conquerors, as well as to a few Spanish and Italian ecclesiastics.

[Illustration: 202.--INDIAN OF THE MEXICAN COAST.]

The principal events recorded in these archives relate to the
migrations of three different nations, who, leaving the distant regions
of the north-west, arrived successively in Anahuac. They were the
_Toltecs_, _Chichimecas_, and _Nahuatlacas_, divided into seven distinct
tribes, one of which was that of the Aztecs, or Mexicans. The country
whence the first of these people came was called Huehuetlapallan, and
they commenced their exodus in the year 544 of our era. Pestilence
decimated them in 1051, and they then wandered southwards, but a few
remained at Tula. The Chichimecas, a barbarous race, arrived in Mexico
in the year 1070, and the incursion of the Nahuatlacas, who spoke the
same language as the Toltecs, took place very soon afterwards. The
Aztecs, or Mexicans, separated themselves from the other nations, and in
1325 they founded Mexico. In a word, the former inhabitants of Mexico
were immigrants from a country situated towards the north, on the
central plateau of Anahuac, and their successive migrations had
continued during several centuries long prior to the discovery of
America by the Europeans.

[Illustration: 203, 204.--INDIANS OF THE MEXICAN COAST.]

The ancient portraits of the Aztecs and the faces of some of their
divinities are remarkable for the depression of the forehead, from which
results the smallness of the facial angle--a peculiarity which appears
to have belonged to the handsome type of the race.

The aboriginal Mexicans of our own time are of good stature and well
proportioned in all their limbs. They have narrow foreheads, black eyes,
white, well-set, regular teeth, thick, coarse, and glossy black hair,
thin beards, and are in general without any hairs on their legs, thighs,
or arms. Their skin is olive coloured, and many fine young women may be
seen among them with extremely light complexions. Their senses are very
acute, more especially that of sight, which they enjoy unimpaired to the
most advanced age.

The native Indians forming part of the Mexican population are
characterized by a broad face and flat nose, recalling somewhat the
lineaments of the Mongolian cast of countenance. They may be judged of
from Figs. 202, 203, 204, and 205, which represent aborigines of the
interior and coast of Mexico.

M. Roudé, who has published the narrative of his travels in the state of
Chihuahua, brought back accurate drawings illustrative of the usages and
customs of the population of the Mexican capital.

The ladies envelope themselves very gracefully in their _rebosso_, with
which they cover the head, partly hiding the face, and only allowing
their eyes to be seen. Among the wealthy this _rebosso_ is generally of
black or white silk, embroidered with designs in bright and gaudy
colours. Women of the lower classes wear a _rebosso_ of blue wool dotted
with little white squares. Their petticoat is short, and its lower part
embroidered with worsted work. The favourite colour for this latter
garment among common people is glaring red.

[Illustration: 205.--MEXICAN INDIAN WOMAN.]

The men’s costume (fig. 206) is richer and more varied than that of the
women. On Sundays it is laced with silver; white trowsers are
indispensable, and they are covered by another pair made of leather,
open along the sides from the waist downwards, and ornamented with a
row of silver buttons. A China crape sash is wound round the waist, and
the vest is of deerskin or velvet with silver embroidery. The sombrero
has a very broad brim, is made of straw or felt, and decorated with a
thick twisted band of black velvet or of silver gilt lace. The _sarapé_
is spangled with striking colours and with varied patterns, and the men
possess a special talent for draping themselves gracefully in it.

[Illustration: 206.--MEXICAN PICADOR.]

The place above all others where the popular life of the inhabitants of
Mexico should be studied is in the markets (fig. 207). There may you see
Indians, creoles, and foreigners, beggars in rags and rich citizens,
black frock coats, embroidered deerskin jackets, threadbare uniforms,
soldiers, muleteers, porters, monks of all shades, shod and shoeless
Carmelites, all elbowing each other fraternally. There Basil throws the
lengthening shadow of his fantastic head-gear on the wall of the
neighbouring church; there dealers in hats, poultry, or wooden trays
offer their wares to buyers; there pretty fruit and flower girls, tidy
servant maids of some decent house, or winsome _Chinas_ with sparkling
eyes, pass to and fro draped in their rebossos. They bear on the
upturned palms of the left hand, on a level with the shoulder, and in
the most artistic manner, a basket full of green plants, or the graceful
red earthenware _cantaro_ painted and glazed, and filled with water.

Through this noisy crowd the water-carrier (_aguador_), clothed in
leather, treads his way with short steps, bearing on his back an
enormous red earthen jar, fastened by means of two handles and a broad
strap to his forehead, which is protected by a little cap of leather;
another band passing across the top of the crown supports a second and
much smaller pitcher, hanging before him at his knees.

[Illustration: 207.--THE ROLDAU BRIDGE MARKET, MEXICO.]

If a person wishes to become acquainted with Mexico, it is among the
lower orders that he must study the country. The people are good; eager
for knowledge, notwithstanding the want of instruction, and full of
energy in spite of their long bondage. He need be on his guard against
the higher classes only, a small minority spoiled by the priests, whose
influence is all-powerful. The ignorance of the monks, who swarm in this
land, is doubled by an intolerable vanity that inspires them with
antipathy to all progress.

[Illustration: 208.--MEXICAN HATTER.]

The people of Mexico are very simple in their habits. Broth (_pilchero_)
and the national dish, _frijoles_ (beans), form the ordinary fare of the
middle class, to which a stew of spiced duck is sometimes added. They
allay their thirst with pure water, contained in an immense glass, which
holds from one to two quarts. This flagon is placed in the centre of
the table, and is the only one that appears on the board, from which
decanters and bottles, and very often even knives and forks, are
banished. Each in turn steeps his lips in this cup, returning it to its
place or passing it to his neighbour. Besides, Mexicans in general do
not drink except at the end of the meal. In the evening the circle is
swelled by a few friends; guitars are taken down from the wall, and some
simple ballads are sung to mournful airs, or they dance to the same
measure.

[Illustration: 209.--MEXICAN HAWKER.]

       *       *       *       *       *

The Aztecs, or primitive Mexicans, like their predecessors, the Toltecs,
were, as we have said, strangers in Anahuac. Before their arrival this
plateau had been inhabited by different races, some of which had
acquired a certain degree of civilization, whilst others were utterly
barbarous. The Aztecs spread themselves extensively in Central America.

The _Olmecas_ are mentioned among the most ancient tribes, and they are
supposed to have peopled the West India Islands and South America. This
nation shared the soil of Mexico with the _Xicalaucas_, _Coras_,
_Tepanecas_, _Tarascas_, _Mixtecas_, _Tzapotecas_, and the _Othomis_.
The last named and the _Totonacs_ were two barbarous races occupying the
country near Lake Tezcuco, previously to the coming of the Chichimecas.
Whilst all the other known languages of America are polysyllabic, that
of the Othomis is monosyllabic.

Farther to the north, and beyond the northern frontiers of the Mexican
empire, dwelt the _Huaxtecas_. The _Tarascas_ inhabited the wide and
fertile regions of Mechoacan, to the north of Mexico, and were always
independent of that kingdom. Their sonorous and harmonious tongue
differed from all the others. In civilization and the arts they advanced
side by side with the Mexicans, who were never able to subdue them; but
their king submitted without resistance to the rule of the Spaniards.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Moyas_ and _Lencas_.--These are tribes which still live in a wild state
in the forests situated between the Isthmus of Panama and that of
Thuantépec, but an inquiry into their manners and customs would offer no
features of interest. The life of savage nations exhibits an uniformity
which greatly abridges our task.


NORTH-EASTERN FAMILY.

In the fifteenth century the North-eastern family occupied that immense
expanse of North America which is comprised between the Atlantic Ocean
and the Rocky Mountains, but all its nations are now reduced to a few
far from numerous tribes, confined to the west of the Mississippi.

The distinguishing qualities of the red race are strongly marked among
these groups. A complexion of a light cinnamon-colour, a lengthened
head, a long and aquiline nose, horizontal eyes, a depressed forehead, a
robust constitution, and a tall stature constitute their principal
physical characteristics, to which must be added senses sharpened to an
extraordinary degree. They have a habit of painting their bodies, and
especially their faces, red. Their disposition is proud and independent,
and they support pain with stoical courage.

Almost all these Indian tribes have already disappeared in consequence
of the furious war waged upon them by the Europeans. Those that lived in
olden times on the declivities of the mountains facing the Atlantic are
very nearly extinct. Among such are the Hurons, Iroquois, Algonquins,
and the Natchez, rendered famous by Chateaubriand, and the Mohicans,
whom Cooper has immortalized.

We cannot speak detailedly here of these different nations, but in order
to give an idea of them we shall open Chateaubriand’s “Voyage en
Amérique,” and, having quoted a few lines from it, we will make the
reader acquainted with the pith of the observations made in our own day
in these same countries by contemporary travellers.

Speaking of the Muscogulges and the Simnioles, Chateaubriand writes in
the following terms:--

“The Simnioles and the Muscogulges are rather tall in stature: and, by
an extraordinary contrast, their wives are the smallest race of women
known in America; they seldom depass a height of four feet two or three
inches; their hands and feet resemble those of an European girl nine or
ten years old. But nature has compensated them for this kind of
injustice: their figure is elegant and graceful; their eyes are black,
extremely long, and full of languor and modesty. They lower their
eyelids with a sort of voluptuous bashfulness; if a person did not see
them when they speak, he would believe himself listening to children
uttering only half-formed words.”

The great writer passed along the borders of the lake to which its name
has been given by the Iroquois colony of the _Onondagas_, and visited
the “Sachem” of that people:--

“He was,” says Chateaubriand, “an old Iroquois in the strictest sense of
the word. His person preserved the memory of the former customs and
bygone times of the desert: large, pinked ears, pearl hanging from the
nose, face streaked with various colours, little tuft of hair on the top
of the head, blue tunic, cloak of skins, leathern belt, with its
scalping-knife and tomahawk, tattooed arm, mocassins on his feet, and a
porcelain necklace in his hand.”

The following is the sketch of an Iroquois:--

“He was of lofty stature, with broad chest, muscular legs, and sinewy
arms. His large round eyes sparkled with independence; his whole mien
was that of a hero. Shining on his forehead might be seen high
combinations of thought and exalted sentiments of soul. This fearless
man was not in the least astonished at firearms when for the first time
they were used against him; he stood firm to the whistling of bullets
and the roar of cannon as if he had been hearing both all his life, and
appeared to heed them no more than he would a storm. As soon as he could
procure himself a musket, he used it better than an European. He did not
abandon for it his tomahawk, his knife, or his bow and arrows, but added
to them the carbine, pistol, poniard, and axe, and seemed never to
possess arms sufficient for his valour. Doubly arrayed in the murderous
weapons of Europe and America, with his head decked with bunches of
feathers, his ears pinked, his face smeared black, his arms dyed in
blood, this noble champion of the New World became as formidable to
behold, as he was to contend against, on the shore which he defended
foot by foot against the foreigner.”

With this terrible portrait Chateaubriand contrasts the blithe
countenance of the Huron, who had nothing in common with the Iroquois
but language:--

“The gay, sprightly, and volatile Huron, of rash, dazzling valour, and
tall, elegant figure, had the air of being born to be the ally of the
French.”

We now come to travellers of our own day. Fig. 210 is a sketch of the
costumes of the wild Indians dwelling at the foot of the Rocky Mountains
in Missouri, and who bear the name of Creeks.

[Illustration: 210.--CREEK INDIANS.]

In his travels through the United States and Canada, M. H. Deville had
an opportunity of visiting an establishment of Iroquois. These savages
were remarkable for their reddish colour and coarse features. They wore
round hats with broad brims, and robed themselves in Spanish fashion in
a piece of dark cloth.

The manufacture of the native coverings for the legs and feet forms the
principal occupation of the women, and under the pretext of purchasing
some of their handiwork M. Deville entered several Iroquois dwellings.

Divested of the thick mantle worn by them out of doors, the women had
assumed a long, coloured smock-frock with tight-fitting pantaloons that
reached to the ankles, and their varnished shoes allowed coarse worsted
stockings to be seen. Earrings and a gold necklace constituted their
chief ornament. Their hair is drawn up to the top of the head and tied
there in a knot. To say that their features are agreeable would be
untrue, but in early youth their figures are rather handsome. Work,
order, and cleanliness reign in their household. Their brothers and
husbands are wood-cutters, steersmen, or conductors of rafts.

The same traveller met with some _Chippeway_ Indians on the heights of
Lake Pepin. Their stature was tall, but they had coarse features, and a
skin of a very dark reddish colour. Half their face was covered by a
thick layer of vermilion extending as far as their hair, which was
plaited over the crown. They wore long leather gaiters, tied at the
sides by innumerable thongs, and over a sort of tattered blouse was
thrown a large woollen blanket, which completely covered them. One
individual, armed with a long steel blade shaped like a dagger, had
stuck his pipe in his hair.

In his “Voyage dans les Mauvaises Terres du Nebraska,” M. de Girardin
(of Maine-et-Loire) describes his journey across part of the Missouri
basin occupied by some free and wild Indians.

He brought back with him sketches and illustrations of those tribes, the
principal among which are the _Blackfeet_, and the _Dacotas_, or
_Sioux_, and was present at a grand council of the latter nation, The
chiefs of the various clans, clad in their most brilliant costumes,
harangued the warriors, whilst a score of young braves, without any
other covering than a thick coat of vermilion or ochre, made their
steeds curvet and executed numberless fanciful manœuvres. The horses
were painted yellow, red, and white, and had their long tails decked
with bright-coloured feathers.

[Illustration: 211.--ENCAMPMENT OF SIOUX INDIANS.]

An immense tent, composed of five or six lodges of bison-skins, was
erected in the centre of the camp. The chiefs and principal warriors
formed a circle, in the midst of which the agent, the governor of Fort
St. Pierre, and his interpreters were stationed. According to Indian
custom, the grand chief lit the calumet of peace, a magnificent pipe of
red stone, the stem of which was a yard long and adorned with feathers
of every hue. After some impassioned orations the council refused the
travellers permission to pass over their territory in order to reach
that of the Blackfeet.

Fig. 211 represents the encampment of these Indians visited by M. de
Girardin: fig. 212 is a sketch of one of their horsemen, and fig. 213 a
likeness of a Sioux warrior, all from the pencil of the same gentleman.

M. de Girardin happened to go to another camp, that of an old chief of
the same tribe. It consisted of five or six tents, conical in shape, and
made of bison-skins. Remarkable for their whiteness and cleanliness
these habitations were covered with odd paintings which portrayed
warriors smoking the calumet, horses, stags, and dogs. Numerous freshly
scalped locks were hanging at the end of long poles. At the side of each
tent, a kind of tripod supported quivers, shields of ox-hide, and spears
embellished with brilliant plumage. A few young warriors of strongly
marked features, with aquiline noses and herculean forms, but hideously
daubed in black and white paint, were engaged in firing arrows at a ball
which was rolled along the ground or thrown into the air.

[Illustration: 212.--SIOUX WARRIOR.]

The chiefs made the travellers seat themselves on skins of bears and
bisons, and conversed with the interpreter, whilst M. de Girardin
remained exposed to the curiosity of the young folks, women, and
children. The girls ventured so far as to search his pockets and extract
from them his knife, pencils, and notebook. The most inquisitive, a fine
girl with very soft eyes and magnificent teeth, perceiving he had a long
beard wished to assure herself that he was not shaggy all over like a
bear, when the traveller took it into his head to put a little powder
into the hand of the pretty inquisitor and lit it by means of a glass
lens, an incident which gave a tremendous fright to the assemblage.

[Illustration: 213.--A SIOUX CHIEF.]

During a journey to the north-east of America in 1867, M. L. Simonin had
an opportunity of visiting a Sioux village, and we avail ourselves of a
few of his descriptions. It consisted of about a hundred huts, made with
poles and bison skins, or pieces of stitched cloth. The entrance to them
was by a low narrow hole covered over with a beaver skin. A fire blazed
in the centre of each hovel, and around it were pots and kettles for the
repast. The smoke which escaped at the top rendered this abode
intolerable. Beds, mattresses, cooking utensils, quarters of wild bison,
some raw, others dried and smoked, were scattered here and there.
Half-naked children, girls and boys, scampered about outside, as well as
troops of dogs that constituted at once their protectors, their vigilant
sentinels, and their food.

M. Simonin went inside many of the huts, where warriors were silently
playing cards, using leaden balls for stakes. Others, accompanied by the
noise of discordant singing and tambourines, were playing at a game
resembling the Italian “mora,” the score of which was marked with arrows
stuck in the ground. Some tents, in which sorcery, or “great medicine,”
was being practised, were prohibited to the visitor. The women were
sitting in a ring round some of the wigwams, doing needle-work,
ornamenting necklaces or mocassins with beads, or tracing patterns on
bison skins.

Some old matrons were preparing hides stretched on stakes, by rubbing
them with freestone and steel chisels set in bone handles. The squaws of
the Sioux, on whom, moreover, all domestic cares fall, are far from
handsome. They are the slaves of the man who purchases them for a horse
or the skin of a bison. The great Sioux nation numbers about
thirty-five thousand individuals.

The same gentleman from whom we have just been quoting, was enabled to
make some observations among the _Crows_, a tribe of Prairie Indians who
are neighbours of the Sioux. Their features are broadly marked, their
stature gigantic, and their frames athletic, while, according to M.
Simonin, their majestic countenances recall the types of the Roman
Cæsars as we see them delineated on antique medals.

The traveller was admitted into the hut of the chiefs, where the
“Sachems” were seated in a circle, and as he touched their hands
successively, they uttered a guttural “a hou,” a sound which serves as a
salutation among the Red Skins. He smoked the calumet.

These men had their cheeks tattooed in vermilion. They were scarcely
covered; one had a woollen blanket, the next a buffalo hide or the
incomplete uniform of an officer, while the upper part of another’s body
was naked. Several wore collars or eardrops of shells or animals’ teeth.
Hanging from the neck of one was a silver medal bearing the effigy of a
President of the United States, which he had received when he went on a
mission to Washington in 1853; and a horse, rudely carved in the same
metal, adorned the breast of another of their number.

M. Simonin was afterwards present at a council of the Crow Indians, but
we do not intend to give any report of this conference of savages, of
which, however, the reader may form some idea by casting a glance at
fig. 214.

In dealing with the relations existing between the wild Indians of North
America and the civilized inhabitants, that is to say, the Americans of
the United States, M. Simonin enters into some interesting reflections
which we believe we ought to reproduce.

“A singular race,” says M. Simonin, “is that of the Red Skins, among
whom Nature has so lavishly apportioned the finest land existing on the
globe, a rich alluvial soil, deep, level, and well watered; still this
race has not yet emerged from the primitive stage which must be
everywhere traversed by humanity at the outset--the stage of hunters and
nomads, the age of stone! If the Whites had not brought them iron, the
Indians would still use flint weapons, like man before the Deluge, who
sheltered himself in caverns and was contemporary in Europe with the
mammoth. Beyond the chase and war, the wild tribes of North America shun
work; women, among them, perform all labour. What a contrast to the
toiling, busy population around them, whose respect for women is so
profound! This population hems them in, completely surrounds them at the
present day, and all is over with the Red Skins if they do not consent
to retire into the land reserved for them.

[Illustration: 214.--CROW INDIANS IN COUNCIL.]

“And even there will industry and the arts spring up? How poorly the Red
race is gifted for music and singing is well known: the fine arts have
remained in infancy among them; and writing, unless it consists in rude
pictorial images, is utterly unknown. They barely know how to trace a
few bead patterns on skins, and although these designs are undoubtedly
often happily grouped and the colours blended with a certain harmony,
that is all. Industry, apart from a coarse preparation of victuals and
the tanning of hides and dressing of furs, is also entirely null. The
Indian is less advanced than the African negro, who knows at least how
to weave cloths and dye them. The Navajoes, alone, manufacture some
coverings with wool.

“The free Indians of the Prairies, scattered between the Missouri and
the Rocky Mountains, may be reckoned at about a hundred thousand, while
all the Indians of North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are
estimated at four times that number. These calculations may possibly be
slightly defective, statistics or any accurate census being quite
wanting. The Red men themselves never give more than a notation of their
tents or lodges, but the assemblage of individuals contained in each of
these differs according to the tribe, and sometimes in the same tribe;
hence the impossibility of any mathematically exact computation.

“In the north of the Prairies the great family of the Sioux numbering
thirty-five thousand is remarkable above all others. The Crows,
Bigbellies, Blackfeet, &c., who occupy Idaho and Montana, form, when
taken altogether, a smaller population than the Sioux--probably about
twenty thousand. In the centre and south, the Pawnees, Arapahoes,
Shiennes, Yutes, Kayoways, Comanches, Apaches, &c., united, certainly
exceed forty thousand in number. The territories of Nebraska, Kansas,
Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico are those which these hordes overrun.
The Pawnees are cantoned in Nebraska, in the neighbourhood of the
Pacific Railway, and the Yutes in the ‘parks’ of Colorado.

“These races possess many characteristics in common; they are nomadic,
that is to say, they occupy no fixed place, live by fishing, or above
all by hunting, and follow the wild buffalo in its migrations
everywhere.

“A thoroughly democratic régime and a sort of communism control the
relations of members of the same tribe with each other. The chiefs are
nominated by election, and for a period, but are sometimes hereditary.
The most courageous, he who has taken the greatest number of scalps in
war or has slain most bisons, the performer of some brilliant exploit or
a man of superior eloquence, all these have the right to be chosen
chiefs. As long as he conducts himself well a chief retains his
position; if he incur the least blame his successor is appointed. Chiefs
lead the tribes to battle, and are consulted on occasions of difficulty,
as are also the old men. The braves are the lieutenants of the chiefs,
and hold second command in war. There is no judge in the tribes, and
each one administers justice for himself and applies the law at his own
liking.

“All these nations hunt and make war in the same manner, on horseback;
with spear, bow and arrows, in default of revolvers and muskets, and
using a buckler as a defence against the enemy’s blows. They scalp their
dead foe and deck themselves with his locks; pillage and destroy his
property, carry away his women and children captives, and frequently
subject the vanquished, above all any white man falling into their
hands, to horrible tortures before putting him to death.

“The squaws to whom the prisoner is abandoned exhibit the most revolting
cruelty towards him, tearing out the eyes, tongue, and nails of their
victim; burning him, chopping off a hand to-day, and a foot to-morrow.
When the captive is well tortured, a coal fire is lighted on his stomach
and a yelling dance performed round him. Almost all Red Skins commit
these atrocities phlegmatically towards the Whites when engaged in a
struggle with them.

“Tribes often make war among themselves on the smallest pretext, for a
herd of bisons they are pursuing, or a prairie where they wish to encamp
alone. They have not indeed any place reserved, but they sometimes wish
to keep one so, to the exclusion of every other occupant. Nor is it
uncommon for the same tribe to split itself into two hostile clans. A
few years ago the Ogallallas when maddened by whisky fought among
themselves with guns, and have been broken up ever since into two
bands, one of which, the ‘Ugly-Faces,’ is commanded by Red Cloud, and
the other, by Big-Mouth and Pawnee-Killer.

[Illustration: 215.--PAWNEE INDIANS.]

“The languages of all the tribes are distinct; but perhaps a linguist
would recognize among them some common roots, in the same way as in our
own day they have been found to exist between European tongues and those
of India. These languages all obey the same grammatical mechanism; they
are ‘agglutinative,’ or ‘polysynthetic,’ and not ‘analytic’ or
‘inflected,’ that is to say, the words can be combined with each other
to form a single word expressing a complete idea; but relation, gender,
number, etc., are not indicated by modifications of the substantive. I
pass over the other characteristics which distinguish agglutinative from
inflected languages. The dialects of the Red Skins have not, or seem not
to have, any affinity in the different terms of their vocabulary, which
is, besides, often very limited.

“In order to comprehend each other the tribes have adopted by common
accord a language of signs and gestures which approximates to that of
the deaf and dumb. In this way all the Indians are capable of a mutual
understanding, and a Yute, for instance, can converse without difficulty
for several hours with an Arrapahoe, or the latter with a Sioux.

“The Whites are not acquainted with the languages of the Prairie
Indians, or know them very badly. Frequently, there is but one
interpreter for the same tongue, often a very poor one, merely
understanding the idiom he has translated, not speaking it. Many, _à
fortiori_, are not able to write the language which they interpret.
Neither Dr. Mathews, John Richard, nor Pierre Chêne could spell for me
in English characters the names of the Crow chiefs. How would it be in
the case of the Arrapahoes or Apaches, whose strongly guttural speech is
only accentuated by the tips of the lips?

“In all this it must be understood that I speak only of the tribes of
the Prairies, and not of those who lived in olden times on the
declivities of the mountains overlooking the Atlantic or skirting the
Mississippi. The majority of the latter are, as is known, extinct, the
Algonquins, Hurons, Iroquois, Natchez and Mohicans, and it is also well
to avow that France has contributed in a large measure to their
disappearance.

“The residue of these tribes, which I shall term Atlantic--Delawares,
Cherokees, Seminoles, Osages, and Creeks--is now cantoned in the
reserves, especially in the Indian Territory, where little by little the
Red Skins are losing their distinctive characteristics. Histories and
authentic documents regarding all these races are extant, whilst only
very little is known up to the present concerning those of the Prairies.
The greater part of the legends and traditions with which people endow
them are only due to the invention of travellers.

[Illustration: 216.--A CHAYENE (SHIENNES) CHIEF.]

“It is towards a new territory analogous to the one just mentioned, and
bordering upon it, that the Commissioners of the Union have recently
pushed back the five great nations of the south; while they intend to
indicate a reserve of the same kind in the north of Dacota to the Crows
and the Sioux, if they find them well disposed to accept it.

“And then, people may say, what will become of the Indians? For this is
the question which every one asks when he hears the Red Skins spoken of.
If the Prairie tribes go into the reserves, the same will happen to them
which has befallen those of the Atlantic borders; little by little they
will lose their customs, their wild habits; they will yield insensibly
to the sedentary and agricultural life, and, step by step--last phase,
of which the first example remains to be seen--their country will pass
from the rank of a territory to that of a state. Arrived at this final
stage the Indian will be altogether blended with the White; after a few
generations he will not perhaps be more distinguishable from him than
the Frank is discernible from the Gaul among us, or the Norman from the
Saxon in England.

“But if the Indian does not submit; if he will not consent to be
cantoned in the reserves? Then must ensue a death-struggle between two
races differing in colour and customs, a merciless war of which,
unfortunately, so many examples have already been seen on the same
American soil. Where are now the Hurons, Iroquois, and Natchez, who
amazed our ancestors? The Algonquins, who had no limits to their
territory, where and how many are they to-day? All have gradually
disappeared by disease or warfare.

“The war which will break out this time will be short, and it will be
final, for in it the Indian will finally sink. He has on his side
neither science nor numbers. Undoubtedly, by his ambushes, by his
flights, by his isolated and totally unforeseen attacks, he bewilders
scientific warfare, and the most able strategists of the United States,
with General Sherman at their head, have been beaten by the Indians, who
have gained no small share of glory against the Whites. But the next war
will be no longer one of regulars but of volunteers. The pioneers of the
territories will arm themselves, and if the Red man demands tooth for
tooth, eye for eye, the Whites will inflict upon him the inflexible
penalty of retaliation, and the Indian will disappear for ever.”

[Illustration: 217.--A YUTE CHIEF.]

In the narrative of his travels from the Mississippi to the coasts of
the Pacific Ocean, made in 1853, M. Mollhausen has given various details
concerning the remnants of the nearly extinct Atlantic tribes.

The _Choctaws_, to the number of twenty-two thousand souls, are spread
over the regions bordering on Arkansas on the east, the plains inhabited
by the _Chicksaws_ on the south, and those occupied by the _Creeks_ on
the west, while their neighbours to the north are the _Cherokees_.

The vast plains which adjoin the Choctaw territories, are used for the
pastimes of the Indians, and especially for their game of ball or
tennis. The Choctaws, Chicksaws, Creeks, and Cherokees are passionately
attached to this amusement. A challenge borne by two able performers
usually gives rise to the festival, and having arranged the day for the
contest, the players dispatch their heralds to all quarters. These
emissaries are tattooed horsemen, accoutred in a fantastic style.
Carrying a ceremonial racket, they repair from village to village and
hut to hut, proclaiming throughout the entire tribe the names of the
individuals who have proposed the match, and making known the day of the
struggle and the place of meeting. As each of the actors is accompanied
by his relatives, half the nation is often found assembled at the
appointed locality on the eve of the solemn day, some to take part in
the fray, and the others to bet upon the result. This game (fig. 218) is
a tremendous tussle, a general scrimmage in which almost the whole tribe
is engaged.

Between the Canadian border and Arkansas, sprinkled with flourishing
farms, is the fertile domain of the Creek Indians. It is not so long
since the warriors there covered themselves with whimsical tattooing;
but progress has to-day penetrated into these savannas, and these same
Indians to-day read a newspaper printed in their language.

Like the Choctaws, the Creeks formerly inhabited Alabama and
Mississippi, which they ceded for a pecuniary consideration to the
American government. Their numbers do not amount to more than twenty-two
thousand.

A similar estimate may be made of the _Cherokees_, who have abandoned
New Georgia for higher Arkansas.

Further off are the _Shawnees_, a nation which is reduced to about
fourteen hundred members, and yet was once one of the most powerful in
North America. They were the first to oppose resistance to the
encroachments of civilization, and hunted from everywhere have strewn
the bones of their warriors along their route.

[Illustration: 218.--CHOCTAW INDIANS PLAYING BALL.]

The _Delawares_, who have diminished to the insignificant total of eight
hundred individuals, originally inhabited the eastern parts of the
States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Their fate resembled
that of the Shawnees; being ever obliged to subdue new territories which
they were afterwards compelled to yield to the government. Driven from
the plains which contained the tombs of their forefathers, deceived and
betrayed by the strangers, the Delaware Indians have repelled Christian
missionaries. Placed at the extreme limits of civilization, on the very
border of virgin nature, they devote themselves fearlessly to their
adventurous propensities. They go to hunt the grizzly bear in
California, the buffalo on the plains of Nebraska, the elk at the
sources of the Yellowstone, and the mustang in Texas, scalping a few
crowns on their way. A Delaware only requires to see a piece of land
once, in order to be able to recognize it after the lapse of years, no
matter from what side he may approach it; and wherever he sets his foot
for the first time, a glance suffices to enable him to discover the spot
where water should be sought for. These Indians are admirable guides,
and on their services, which cannot be too dearly paid for, the
existence of a whole caravan often depends.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Comanches._--The great and valiant nation of the Comanche Indians,
which is divided into three tribes, overruns in every direction the vast
expanse of the Prairies: outside those green savannahs they would be
unable to live. Those of the north and of the centre are ever hunting
the buffalo, and the flesh of that animal constitutes almost their sole
sustenance. From the most tender childhood till advanced age they are in
the saddle, and a whip and bridle render the Comanche the most expert,
agile, and independent of men. They gallop in thousands over the
Prairies hanging to the sides of their steeds, and directing their
arrows and spears with marvellous skill at their mark. They plume
themselves on being robbers, attack the establishments of the Whites,
lead men, women, and children away prisoners, and carry off the cattle.

Fig. 219 represents two Comanche Indians; fig. 220, one of their
encampments, and fig. 221, a buffalo hunt among the same tribe.

_Apaches._--The _Apache_ nation is one of the most numerous of New
Mexico, including many tribes, several of which are not even known by
name.

[Illustration: 219.--COMANCHE INDIANS.]

The _Navajoes_ belong to this group. They are the only Indians of New
Mexico who keep large flocks of sheep and pursue a pastoral life. They
know how to weave the wool of their flocks, of which they manufacture
thick blankets fit to compete with the productions of the west, twisting
bright colours into these rugs in a way that imparts to them a very
original appearance. Their deerskin leggings are made with the utmost
care, and have thick soles and a pointed end, shaped like a beak, a
necessary precaution against the thorny cactus plants with which the
soil bristles. Their head-gear consists of a leathern cap in the form of
a helmet, adorned by a bunch of cock’s, eagle’s, or vulture’s feathers.
In addition to bows and arrows, they carry long lances which they handle
very skilfully as they dash along on their fleet steeds.

[Illustration: 220.--A COMANCHE CAMP.]

In the last rank of the Apache nation are to be placed the tribes of the
_Cosninos_ and _Vampays_, thievish, savage, and suspicious hordes with
which it has been found impossible to establish any relations, and who
are natives of the mountains of San Francisco. Cedar-berries, the fruit
of a species of pine-tree, and the grass and root of a Mexican plant,
constitute their means of subsistence, for they are wretched hunters.

[Illustration: 221.--A BUFFALO HUNT.]

Within sight of the Rio Colorado M. Mollhausen encountered some Indians
belonging to the three tribes of the _Chimehwebs_, _Cutchanas_ and
_Pah-Utah_s, who bear a resemblance to each other. Their complexion was
dark in colour, their faces striped with bistre, and their black hair
hung down their backs in locks which were confined with wet clay. They
were of fine stature, and perfectly naked but for a waistband. They
bounded forward like deer to meet the travellers, and their expression
of countenance was frank, kind, and merry. Their women on the contrary
were small, thickset, and clumsy, but their large black eyes and
pleasant manners gave them a certain charm.

The travellers also fell in with the _Mohawk Indians_ (fig. 222), men of
herculean forms who were tattooed from the roots of the hair to the sole
of the foot in blue, red, white and yellow, and with eyes that glowed
like coals under this layer of paint. Most of them wore vulture’s,
magpie’s, or swan’s feathers on the top of their heads, and carried
large bows and spears in their hands.

Mr. Catlin made numerous excursions among the Indian tribes of the
plains of Columbia and Upper Missouri, and we shall quote presently his
remarks concerning the _Nayas_ and _Flat-Heads_.

Both these nations dwell to the west of the Rocky Mountains, occupying
all the country situated round Lower Columbia and Vancouver’s Island.
The latter tribe derives its name from the singular custom which exists
among them of flattening their children’s heads at their birth.

The Flat-Heads (fig. 223) live in a region where very little in the way
of food is to be found except fish, and their lives are spent in
canoes. The artificial deformity which constitutes the national
characteristic is to be found more especially among the women, with whom
it is almost universal; but it is only a question of fashion, and does
not appear to have any perceptible effect on the functions of the
organs, for persons whose heads have been compressed seem as intelligent
as those who have not undergone this strange operation.

[Illustration: 222.--MOHAWK INDIANS.]

Mr. Catlin says:--

“In the course of the year 1853 I found myself on board the Sally Anne,
a little vessel flying the star-spangled flag, which having made a few
trading cruises along the coast of Kamtschatka and Russian America, was
on her way to land in British Columbia several passengers who had been
attracted thither by the reputation of the auriferous deposits newly
discovered in that country.

“On the third day from our entry into Queen Charlotte’s Sound, the long
and magnificent strait separating Vancouver’s Island from the continent,
we got into the long-boat to go on shore, and arrived at the village of
the Nayas. The Indians had been informed of our visit and were all
assembled in their huts; the chief, a very dignified man, being seated
in his wigwam, with lighted pipe, ready to receive us. We squatted
ourselves on mats spread upon the ground, and whilst the pipe was being
passed round--this is the first ceremony on such occasions--hundreds of
native dogs--half wolves,--which had followed in our track, completely
invaded the approaches to the wigwam, barking and howling in the
shrillest and most mournful manner. The sentinel whom the chief had
stationed at the door to prevent anyone entering without permission,
discharged an arrow at the leader of the band, piercing him to the
heart, a proceeding which calmed the rest of the pack, which was then
dispersed with many blows of oars by the Indian women. We were not a
little embarrassed at having no other way of expressing our thoughts
than by signs, yet we seemed to understand each other perfectly, and we
gathered that the chief had sent to a village at no great distance in
search of an interpreter who ought very soon to arrive. I recommended my
companions not to breathe a word before his arrival as to our object in
visiting the locality, and in the meantime did not myself lose an
instant in endeavouring to rouse the interest of our hosts.

“I motioned to Cæsar to bring me the portfolio, and having seated myself
beside the chief, opened it before him, while I gave an explanation of
each portrait; he expressed no great surprise, and yet took an evident
pleasure in examining them. I showed him several chiefs of the Amazons,
as well as others of the Sioux, Osages, and Pawnees. The last likeness
was a full-length one of Cæsar, on seeing which he could not restrain
himself from bursting into the most tremendous fits of laughter, and
turning towards the subject of it who was sitting opposite, signed to
him to approach, gave him a grasp of the hand and made him place himself
beside him. These drawings excited great animation in the assemblage;
three or four under-chiefs were anxious to see them, and the chief’s
wife and their young daughter came close to us for the same purpose.

[Illustration: 223.--FLAT-HEAD INDIANS.]

“One detail of their toilette attracted Cæsar’s attention: a man had a
round slip of wood inserted in his under lip and the chief’s daughter
also carried a similar ornament. Like Cæsar, my companions were ignorant
of this strange and incredible custom, and contemplated the Indians thus
adorned, with the utmost astonishment.

“The chief’s daughter wore a magnificent mantle of mountain-sheep’s wool
and wild-dog’s hair, marvellously interwoven with handsome colours in
the most intricate and curious patterns, and bordered all round with a
fringe eighteen inches deep. The making of this robe had occupied three
women during a year, and its value was that of five horses. The bowl of
the pipe which the chief passed round, was of hard clay, black as jet
and highly polished, and both it and the stem were embellished with
sketches of men and animals carved in the most ingenious manner. I have
seen several of these pipes, and have had many in my possession, with
their eccentric designs representing the garments, canoes, oars,
gaiters, and even the full-length likenesses of their owners. These
designs of the Nayas are different from all those we saw among the other
tribes of the continent. The same ornaments are found on their spoons,
vases and clubs; on their earthenware, of which they make a great
quantity; and on everything else manufactured by them. Up to the present
these figures are inexplicable hieroglyphics to us, but they possess
great interest for archæologists and etymologists.

“I did not find in this Naya Chief the same superstitious dread which
the Indians of the Amazon and of other parts in the south of America
evinced when I asked them to have their portraits taken; on the contrary
he said of his own accord to me: ‘If you think any of us worthy of the
honour, or handsome enough to be painted, we are ready!’ I thanked him;
Cæsar went for my box of colours and my easel, and I began his likeness
and that of his daughter, for he had told me how much he loved this
child, adding that it was his rule to have her almost always with him,
and that he thought I should do well to draw them together, both on the
same canvas. I agreed to his request, telling him at the same time how
much I appreciated such natural and noble feelings on his part.

[Illustration: 224.--NAYA INDIANS.]

“. . . . As we neared the village a great crowd came to meet us, and I
noticed that the throng, especially the women, attached themselves to
the steps of Cæsar as he marched solemnly along, his tall figure drawn
up to its full height, and with the portfolio on his back. So large were
the numbers for so small a village, that I asked the interpreter to
explain what this signified. He told me that the news of our arrival and
the attraction of the dance which was sure to take place in the evening
had drawn and would still draw a vast concourse of Indians from the
adjoining districts. At sunset we partook of a meal of venison in the
chief’s wigwam, and afterwards set ourselves to smoke until night came
on. Then in the midst of dreadful yelling, barking, and singing, we saw
about a dozen flaming torches approaching the hut in front of which the
dance of masks now began. Grotesque is an imperfect word to convey an
idea of the incredible eccentricities and buffoonery that took place
before us, and Cæsar was seized with such a fit of laughing as to be
almost choked. Picture to yourself, fifteen or twenty individuals, all
full-grown men, masked or tricked out in the most extraordinary guise,
while many spectators, placed in the first rank, were costumed in
similar style. A great medicine man was the conductor of the revels and
the most whimsical of all. He represented the ‘King of the Bustards,’
another was ‘Monarch of the Divers,’ a third, ‘Doctor of the Rabbits;’
and there were also the ‘Brother to the Devil,’ the ‘Thunder-Maker,’ the
‘White Rook,’ the ‘Night-travelling Bear,’ the ‘Soul of the Caribout,’
and so on, until the names of every animal and every bird were entirely
exhausted. The dancers’ masks, of which I procured several, are very
ingeniously made. They are cleverly hollowed from a solid block of wood
in such a way as to fit the face, and are held inside by a cross-strap
which is taken between the teeth, thus enabling the voice to be
counterfeited and disguised; they are covered, moreover, with odd
patterns in various colours. With the exception of that of the leader of
the dance, all these masks had a round piece of wood in the under lip,
to recall the singular custom which exists in the country.
Entertainments of this description are not confined to the Nayas, for I
have witnessed similar recreations in many other tribes in North as
well as South America.

[Illustration: 225.--A CROW CHIEF.]

“They also slit the cartilages and lobes of their ears, lengthen them,
and insert little billets as ornaments. Those in the lip are principally
worn by the women, though some of the men have adopted this fashion,
which becomes more and more in vogue among both sexes as the coast is
ascended northwards. The same may be said of the masks, which are to be
found as far as among the Aloutis. All the women have not the lip
pierced, and those who have do not carry the wooden ornament except on
certain occasions, at settled periods, when they don full dress. They
remove it when eating and sleeping or if they have to talk much, for
there are plenty of words which cannot be pronounced with this
inconvenient trinket.

“The lip is perforated at the earliest age, and the aperture thus
formed, though almost imperceptible at first when the ‘barbote’ is taken
out, is kept open and grows larger daily.”

The same traveller had the pleasure of again meeting the _Crows_, but as
we have already spoken of the Indians of this tribe, we shall content
ourselves with reproducing here his very picturesque costume of one of
their chiefs (fig. 225).

Mr. Catlin twice visited the _Mandan Indians_ in the course of the
summer of 1832. The solitary village in which they were collected, to
the number of two or three thousand, was on the left bank of the
Missouri, at a distance of about 1400 miles from the city of St. Louis.
Of medium stature, and comfortably clad in skins, all wore leathern
leggings and mocassins elegantly embroidered with porcupine silk dyed in
various colours.

Each man had his tunic and his mantle which he assumed or laid aside
according to the temperature, and every woman her robe of deer or
antelope skin. Many among them had a very fair skin, and their hair,
which was silvery gray from childhood to old age, their light blue eyes
and oval faces, doubtless testified to an infusion of white blood.
Almost all the men adopted a curious fashion, peculiar to this tribe;
their hair, long enough to reach the calf of their legs, was divided
into matted locks, flattened and separated by hardened birdlime or by
red or yellow clay.



NORTH-WESTERN FAMILY.

The Indian tribes composing the _North-Western family_ of the North
American Branch, are less warlike and cruel than those of the east. They
take no scalps. Their stature is not so tall, their face broader, their
eyes more sunken, and their complexion browner. M. d’Omalius d’Halloy
cites in this group the _Koliouges_ (from 60° to 50° N. lat.), the
_Wakisches_ or _Nootkans_ (Island of Nootka and neighbouring coasts),
the _Chinooks_ (mouth of the Oregon), and the _Tularenos_, or Indians of
California.

A detailed description of these different American tribes would be
devoid of interest; in fact, we should be only able to repeat with but
little alteration what has been said in previous pages concerning the
manners, habits, customs, &c., of the last remaining savages who still
people the interior of the North American forests.

In connection with the aboriginal inhabitants of California, we must
direct the reader’s attention to the fact, that the Californians have a
skin of such a deep reddish-brown that it seems black. This colour is
certainly exceptional among the primitive inhabitants of America, but
the characteristic is so pronounced in the present instance, that we
felt that we could not avoid pointing it out, although it may be opposed
to the classification which we have adopted, placing in the Red Race all
members of the human family proper to America. This exception is one of
the inconveniences of classification to which we must submit, without
however endeavouring to conceal it.




THE BLACK RACE.


The Black Race, as considered in the various peoples constituting its
type, is distinguished by its short and woolly hair, compressed skull,
flattened nose, prominent jaws, thick lips, bowed legs, and black or
dark brown skin. Its members are confined to the central and southern
regions of Africa and the southern parts of Asia and Oceania. The blacks
found in America are the descendants of African slaves transported into
the New World by Europeans.

The peoples belonging to the Black Race present great variations. Some
have the type altogether peculiar to the Race we have just
characterized, while others show a tendency to approach the Yellow and
the White Races. The inhabitants of Guinea and Congo are quite black,
but the Caffres are only excessively brown and resemble Abyssinians. The
Hottentots and Bushmen are yellowish, like the Chinese, though at the
same time possessing the features and physiognomy of the Negro.

As striking varieties are, therefore, observable in the Black Race as in
the White, and a rigorous classification of it is consequently very
difficult to establish; but as we coincide in that which has been
suggested by M. d’Omalius d’Halloy, we shall separate the Black Race
into two divisions, the _Western_ and the _Eastern_ Branches.




CHAPTER I.

WESTERN BRANCH.


We shall notice three families in the _Western_ Branch of the Black
Race, those of the Caffres, Hottentots, and Negroes. These general
groups comprise an immense number of tribes, many of them still unknown,
constituting a population of about fifty-two millions.


CAFFRE FAMILY.

The Caffres who inhabit the south-east of Africa form, so to speak, the
stepping-stone or intermedium between the brown and the black nations.
Their hair is woolly, but their complexion is not so dark nor their nose
so flat as those of a Negro. Possessing more aptitude for civilization
than the other black races, they are associated together in large
communities, each of which obeys a chief, and though half wandering in
their habits, occupy some very populous towns, of considerable extent,
and resembling vast camps. Their clothing is very scanty, being reduced
in the men’s case almost to a cloak, whilst the women are better covered
in leathern garments.

The Caffres have great herds of cattle and devote themselves to
agriculture. They cultivate maize, millet, beans and watermelons; make
bread and beer, and manufacture earthenware, are able to utilize metals,
employ iron and copper, and know how to turn both into tools and
ornaments. They believe in a Supreme Being as well as in the immortality
of the soul, but pervert their religious sentiments by divers
superstitions.

The various tribes of this great family possess physical characteristics
in common which are not to be found in other African nations. Caffres
are far taller and stronger; they have well-proportioned limbs, a brown
skin, black and woolly hair; the elevated forehead and the projecting
nose of the European with the thick lips of the Negro, and the high
prominent cheekbones of the Hottentot. Their language is sonorous,
sweet, and harmonious, with a rumbling in its pronunciation.

[Illustration: 226.--A CAFFRE.]

We class with this family:

1. The Southern Caffres, who include the Amakisas, Amathymbas, or
Tamboukis, Amapendas, and other tribes;

2. The Amazulas, Vatwas, and some other warlike wandering hordes who
have lately advanced southward into the interior;

3. The inhabitants of Delagoa Bay, who bear a closer resemblance to the
Negroes;

4. The Bechuanas and all the numerous tribes situated towards the north
and in the interior, speaking a language of their own, called
_Sichuana_.

[Illustration: 227.--NATIVE OF THE MOZAMBIQUE COAST.]

The Bechuana nations are the most advanced of these four groups. The
traveller Livingstone, who made a long stay in their country, has given
excellent descriptions of them in his “Expedition to the Zambesi.” They
have made progress in arts and civilization, inhabit large towns, have
well-built houses, till the soil, and know how to preserve one year’s
crop until the next. Their features tend towards an approach to those of
Europeans.

In the region of the _Tammahas_, not far from Marhow, a town of ten
thousand inhabitants, fields of corn several hundred acres in extent,
testify to a rather forward state of agriculture and industry.

The _Maratsi_ cultivate sugar and tobacco, make knives and razors,
construct their houses in masonry, and ornament them with pilasters and
mouldings.

We must also affiliate to the Caffres, the inhabitants of the Mozambique
coast, that is to say, that portion of the east coast of Africa between
the mouth of the Zambesi and Cape Delgado. Fig. 227 represents a typical
native of this district.


HOTTENTOT FAMILY.

The _Hottentots_, whom the Dutch colonists call Bosjesmans or Bushmen,
inhabit the southern extremity of the continent. Their skin is of a dark
yellowish hue, and it is only in consequence of their features and
conformation, which are those of Negroes, that the Hottentots are placed
in the Black Race, for if their colour is considered, they should be
ranked in the Yellow one.

Prior to the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by European navigators,
the Hottentots formed a numerous people, whose little tribes lived
happily and tranquilly under the patriarchal rule of their chiefs or
elders. Composed of from three to four hundred individuals only, these
hordes roved about with their flocks and assembled in villages, the
houses of which being constructed of branches of trees and reed mats,
were taken asunder on the signal of departure, and removed by oxen to
the site of the new encampment selected by the chief. The wildest of
them had for covering a cloak of sheepskins sewn together, and their
weapons were a bow and poisoned arrows. This people were active and
intrepid hunters, and they found an opportunity of proving to the
Europeans that they were brave in war. Their cruel invaders, the Dutch,
exterminated the majority of these tribes, others were violently
divested of their possessions and hurled back into the forests or the
deserts, where their wretched descendants still live.

The Hottentots or Bushmen seem to be the lowest of mankind, as much by
their physical characteristics as by the inferiority of their
intelligence. They are of small stature, yellowish complexion, and
repulsive countenance. Prominent foreheads, small sunken eyes, extremely
flat noses, and thick projecting lips, form the distinctive features of
their face. In consequence of their miserable state of existence, they
become worn out and decrepit early in life. They delight in personal
adornment, and deck ears, arms, and legs with beads, and with iron,
copper, or brass rings. The women colour the whole or part of their
faces; for all covering, they throw over their shoulders a kind of
sheepskin mantle.

[Illustration: 228.--THE HOTTENTOT VENUS.]

We give here (fig. 228), as an accurate specimen of the Hottentot race,
the portrait (from a cast in the French Museum of Natural History) of a
woman of that country, who died at Paris in 1828, and who was known by
the name of “The Hottentot Venus.” The physical specialty which rendered
her remarkable, and which consisted in a considerable development of the
posterior muscles, was merely an individual anomaly, and does not
permit of any general conclusion being drawn from it as a characteristic
of the Hottentot race. The skeleton of this female is preserved entire
in the Museum, where a cast of the whole body, coloured as in life, may
also be seen.

The Bushman’s dwelling is a low hut or a circular cavity. They formerly
lived in a species of natural caves among the rocks, and a few
individuals, even to the present day, occupy these same dens, which
convey to us a perfect idea of man’s habitations at the time of his
first appearance on the globe.

These wild beings have never been seen engaged in any other occupation
than that of making or repairing their weapons and their barbed or
poisoned arrows. In times of scarcity, they eat herb-roots, ants’ eggs,
locusts, and snakes. Their language is a mixture of chattering, hissing,
and nasal grunts.

As regards physical type, the Hottentots are small, but
well-proportioned, and erect without being muscular. They are generally
extremely ugly. Their nose is usually flat, their eyes long and narrow,
very wide apart from each other and with the inner angle rounded as
among the Chinese, whom the Hottentots resemble besides in some other
respects. Their cheekbones are high set and very prominent, and form
almost an equilateral triangle with their sharp-pointed chin. Their
teeth are very white. The women sometimes possess pleasing figures in
early youth, but later on their breasts lengthen immoderately, their
stomach becomes protuberant, and sometimes the hind part of their body
is covered with an enormous mass of fat. This inclination was visible to
an exaggerated excess in the case of the “Hottentot Venus;” but as we
have said, she merely constituted an individual exception, and it would
be erroneous to set it down as a general characteristic of the whole
Hottentot family.


NEGRO FAMILY.

The Negroes occupy a large part of Central and Southern Africa.
Senegambia, Guinea, a portion of the western Soudan, the coast of Congo,
along with the immense extent of country, as yet almost entirely
unknown, which is comprised between Congo on the west and the coasts of
Mozambique and Zanzibar on the east, are the dwelling-places of the
Negroes, properly so called.

Guinea and Congo are the classic homes of the Negro. There live the
representatives of this race, with the most characteristic and repulsive
features. The belief is, that, as the incursions of Asiatic and European
populations into Africa were always effected by the Isthmus of Suez and
the Red Sea, the aboriginal blacks were thrust back more and more
towards the west of the continent. The inhabitants of Guinea and Congo
would consequently be the descendants and contemporary representatives
of the primitive black stock.

Negroes are also to be found in the numerous islands of the Southern
Ocean; New Guinea, New Britain, New Caledonia, Australia, Madagascar,
&c., &c. In the last named large island, a vast Negro kingdom is in
existence, governed by a queen, who sent ambassadors to England and
France at the commencement of the present century. Finally, there are
Negroes in the United States, and in the West Indies. From 1848, when
slavery was declared abolished in the French possessions, the blacks
have been free in those colonies, and the gradual emancipation of the
Negroes which has taken place since, both in the American and Spanish
territories, has completely relieved them from bondage.

We proceed to study the Negroes, firstly as regards organization, and
then from the intellectual and moral stand-point.

The physiognomy of the Negro is so strongly distinctive that it is
impossible not to recognize it at the first glance, even if the
individual should have a fair skin. His protruding lips, low forehead,
projecting teeth, woolly and half-frizzled hair, thin beard, broad, flat
nose, retreating chin, and round eyes, give him a peculiar look amongst
all other human races. Several are bow-legged, almost all have but
little calf, half-bent knees, the body stooped forward, and a tired
gait.

The masticatory muscles are more powerful in the Negro than in the
White, on account of the greater length of the jaw. Their occiput is
flatter than that of the White, and the great occipital hole placed
further back. Dr. Madden has noticed skeletons of Negroes in Upper
Egypt, showing six lumbar vertebræ instead of five, a fact which
explains the length of their loins and shambling gait. The hips are less
prominent than in a white man. We may add that in this race the trunk is
not so broad as in the other human families, the arms are slightly
longer in proportion, and the legs rather perceptibly bent, with flat
and high placed calves.

The bones of the skull and those of the body are thicker and harder than
in the other races.

The bony cavity of the pelvis is much narrower in the Negro than in the
European, but it is broader towards the os sacrum, which renders
delivery easy to a Negress. Accurate measurements show the upper portion
of the pelvis to be a fourth wider in the European than in the Negro.

The thighs also differ in the Negro and the White, being very
perceptibly flattened in the former.

The foot participates in this general ugliness of the limbs. Flat feet,
which are sufficient to exempt from military service among the French,
are not only no deformity in the Negro, but a normal characteristic.
Instead of forming that curve which imparts elasticity to the whole
frame, the under part of the Negro’s foot is flat, thus rendering it
less fitted to support the body on marches. So apparent is this
malformation in the black, that they say of him in America, “The sole of
his foot makes a hole in the sand;” and it is easy, in consequence, to
distinguish by a mere look the footprint of an European from that of a
Negro. The first only shows the marks of the toes and heel, while the
other is the impress of the entire sole, from one end to the other.
Besides, the foot of the Negro is large and narrow, with wide divisions
between the toes, while the nails are so sharp and pointed, that they
resemble claws.

The complexion of the skin is one of the most apparent, though not most
characteristic, attributes of the Negro race. The belief was long
entertained that the colour of the blacks resulted from the prolonged
action of the sun on their bodies, but observation has shown that such
is not the case, and that their extremely dark hue by no means depends
either on the intensity or brilliancy of the solar rays. White men are
to be found in the central parts of Africa, in the Soudan and the
Sahara, for instance, as well as among the Touaricks, whilst black
tribes exist in countries subject to the most rigorous cold, such as Van
Diemen’s Land, and New Zealand. In another direction, too, quite close
to the white Icelanders and Norwegians, people with very dark skins may
be seen, like the Laplanders; and in California, a country of cold
latitude, the aborigines are, as we have stated, almost black.

The black colour resides in an oily, greasy principle, termed _pigmentum
nigrum_ (black pigment), which is deposited in a layer in the mucous
tissue on the cuticle. This penetrates into the hair, dyeing it black,
and diffuses itself throughout the entire system even to the membranes
surrounding the brain. This black mucous net-work appears to protect the
skin from the violent action of an African sun, and preserves it from
those inflammations which are called sun-strokes in our climate.

[Illustration: 229.--A ZANZIBAR NEGRO.]

Crossing with the White gradually diminishes the Negro’s colour, and in
proportion to the preponderance of black or white in its progenitors,
the offspring presents various gradations of complexion. The following
are the names which according to Valmont de Bomaire are given in the
colonies to the issue of the union of the two races: 1. The child of a
white man and a Negress, or of a Negro and a white woman, is called a
_mulatto_, who is neither black nor white, but of a blackish yellow hue,
and who has short and frizzly black hair. 2. The offspring of a white
man and a mulatto woman, or of a Negro and a mulatto woman, is termed a
_quadroon_, who, as regards colour, is a mixture of three-quarters white
with one-quarter black, or three-quarters black with one-quarter white.
In the first case the complexion is fairer; in the second, darker than
that of a mulatto. 3. A white man and a fair quadroon, or a Negro and a
dark quadroon produce an _octoroon_, seven-eighths white and one-eighth
black, or seven-eighths black and one-eighth white. 4. The child of a
White and an octoroon, or of a Negro and a dark octoroon, is in the one
case almost entirely white, in the other, nearly quite black.

Valmont de Bomaire adds, that in succeeding mixed generations (the union
with the white man taking place in Europe, and that with the black man,
in Senegal) the complexion would grow lighter or darker, until at last a
white or a black being was brought into the world. Such is the course of
physical influences and the causes of deterioration or relapse in the
colour of the human species. Only four or five generations of mixed
blood are required in order to render the Negro stock white, and no more
are wanted to make the white black. The union of a mulatto with a
quadroon or octoroon woman will produce, as may be understood, other
hues approaching to white or black in proportion to the progression
described above. The progeny of a black and a quadroon is termed
“saltatras” in the colonies; the word signifies “a leap-backwards” or a
return towards the black race.

Crossings of the Negro with individuals of the Yellow or Red Races,
with Asiatic Indians or American red-skins, beget offspring of varied
shades of colour, bearing different designations according to the
countries. These men of colour are seen in many islands of Polynesia.
Possessing neither the intelligence of whites nor the submissiveness of
blacks, despised by the former and hated by the latter, they constitute
an equivocal caste, with no settled position, and less disposed to
labour than revolt.

The colour of his skin takes away all charm from the Negro’s
countenance. What renders the European’s face pleasing is that each of
its features exhibits a particular shade. The cheeks, forehead, nose,
and chin of the White have each a different tinge. On the contrary all
is black on an African visage, even the eyebrows, as inky as the rest,
are merged in the general colour; scarcely another shade is perceptible,
except at the line where the lips join each other.

The skin of Negroes is very porous, so much so that the pores show
visibly; but it is far from hard in all cases, being in some instances
quite the reverse, smooth, satiny, and extremely soft to the touch.

The most unpleasant thing about a Negro’s skin is the nauseous odour it
emits when the individual is heated by perspiration or exercise; these
emanations are as hard to endure as those which some animals exhale.

A Negro’s hair is quite peculiar. Whilst that of a White is cylindrical,
the Black man’s is flat. It is also short and crisp, like the wool of a
sheep, and in contradistinction to the abundant supply of Europeans, the
women among whom can even trail their locks on the ground, it only
attains the length of a few inches. The beard, also, is very scanty and
scarcely covers the upper lip.

The eye of the Negro differs also from that of the white; the iris is so
dark as almost to be confounded with the black of the pupil. In the
European, the colour of the iris is so strongly marked as to render at
once perceptible whether the person has black, blue, or grey eyes.
Nothing similar in the case of the Negro, where all parts of the eye are
blended in the same hue. Add to this that the white of the eye is always
suffused with yellow in the Negro, and you will understand how this
organ, which contributes so powerfully to give life to the countenance
of the White, is invariably dull and expressionless in the Black Race.

Nature adapts the Negro to the torrid countries he inhabits. His
constitution is in general lymphatic and lethargic. His slow, sluggish
gait and invincible laziness provoke Europeans, who cannot understand so
much indolence. The relaxation of the limbs of the Negro betrays itself
by his inertia and drowsiness, as well as by the flabby flesh of the
women (Fig. 230).

Negroes are much less subject than Europeans to the influence of
stimulants. The strongest spirit, rum, pepper, the most irritant spices,
only feebly rouse their inert palate. Their soft, thick, oily skin,
smooth and hairless, is encrusted beneath the epidermis, as we have
said, with a black mucous deposit which gives it its colour. This viscid
film envelopes the nervous ramifications beneath the cuticle, thus
blunting the sensibility. The fine and delicate skin of the European
experiences horrible torture under the lash; but even when he is torn by
leathern thongs, the bleeding weals of which are sometimes, in an excess
of barbarity, rubbed with pepper and vinegar, the Negro supports this
cruel usage with indifference. Some blacks are seen joining the dance
after this punishment, as if nothing had happened.

Before speaking of the brain and understanding of the Negro, we should
make some remarks on the facial angle observed in this race. We have
said that a relatively exact judgment may be formed from the size of
this angle as to the value of a race of mankind, from the intellectual
point of view.[10] The more obtuse the angle, the greater indication
does it afford of noble and lofty sentiments; the smaller it is, the
nearer the head approaches to that of animals. A prominent forehead is
the sign of a developed intellect, whilst protruding jaws reveal brute
instincts. Consequently, the facial angle increases or diminishes
according as the forehead or the jaws project forward. The facial angle
of Europeans is about 76½ degrees, sometimes reaching 81. An angle of 90
degrees, that is to say a right angle, is found in the ancient statues
of Greece. But by reason of his retreating forehead and prominent jaws
the Negro only exhibits a facial angle of from 61¼ to 63 degrees,
approaching that of the monkey, which in those of the species to which
the orang-outang and gorilla belong, is of 45 degrees.

  [10] See Introduction, p. 26.

This proportionate weakness of intelligence, revealed to us by the
smallness of the facial angle in the Negro, is confirmed by an
examination of his brain. The labours of anatomists of our own day have
established that not only is it the bulk of the brain which corresponds
relatively with intellectual activity, but that the genuine indication
revealing the superiority of mind in man consists in the number and
depth of the furrows or circumvolutions of the brain. Now the outlines
and windings of the cerebral mass in the European are so numerous and
deep that they can scarcely be measured, whilst the complications in the
head of the black are, as regards the same qualities, less by one half.
The brain of a Negro is also perceptibly smaller than that of a White.
It is the front part especially, that is to say the cerebral lobes,
which is so much larger in the European, and hence the fine arch of the
forehead peculiar to the White or Caucasian race.

[Illustration: 230.--ZANZIBAR NEGRESSES.]

The intellectual inferiority of the Negro is readable in his
countenance, devoid of expression and mobility. The black man is a
child, and like a child he is impressionable, fickle, easily affected by
good treatment, and capable of self-devotion, but capable also of hatred
in some cases, as well as of working out his revenge. The people of the
Black Race living in a free condition in the interior of Africa,
demonstrate by their habits and the state of their mind that they can
hardly get beyond the level of tribe life; and on the other hand such
difficulty is experienced in many colonies, in endeavouring to induce
the Negroes (so indispensable has the guardianship of Europeans become
to them) to maintain among themselves the benefits of civilization, that
the inferiority of their intelligence, compared with that of the rest of
mankind, is a fact not to be disputed.

Several instances might doubtless be adduced of Negroes who have
surpassed Europeans by their capacity of mind. Generals Toussaint
Louverture, Christofle, and Dessalines were no ordinary men, and
Blumenbach has preserved to us the names of many illustrious blacks,
among whom he mentions Jacob Captain, whose sermons, and theological
writings, in Latin and Dutch, are truly remarkable. It is not from
individual cases, however, but from the whole, that a judgment must be
arrived at, and experience has proved that the Negroes are inferior in
intelligence to all known races, not even excepting the savage people of
America and the Oceanian islands.

The Negro tribes would be excessively numerous if their children lived,
but negligence and laziness cause a notable proportion of their
offspring to perish. The continual wars, too, in which they indulge
against each other, equally impede the spread of their species, and
notwithstanding the fertility of the soil in a great part of Africa, the
improvidence and carelessness of the natives bring on real famines which
decimate their numbers.

Another cause of depopulation that happily becomes less important every
day is the trade which the blacks themselves are most eager to keep up.
They sell their children for a packet of beads or for a few flasks of
“fire-water.”

Thought grows sad as it carries itself back to the time, not yet very
remote, when Negro traffic and slavery, which to-day form the exception,
were the universal rule along the whole coast of Western Africa. Negroes
then were torn ruthlessly from their country and transported to other
climes to be reduced to bondage, or in other words to sacrifice life and
strength for their master, and in serving him, to exhaust themselves by
toil without gaining as much pity as is extended to beasts of burden.
With our animals, in fact, repose succeeds fatigue and food restores
vigour; whilst, in colonies subject to Europeans, dread of punishment,
the lash, and the most shocking usage, subdued the Negro to forced
labour.

This horrible traffic having excited universal indignation for half a
century, most States decreed its abolition. France by laws passed
between the years 1814 and 1848, definitively emancipated the slaves in
all her possessions, and since 1860 or so, almost the whole of America
has followed this example. Cruisers are now kept permanently on the
coasts of Africa both by England and France, which renders the slave
trade, if not impossible, at least difficult and dangerous for the
grasping, barbarous men who are not afraid to devote themselves to it
still.

This commerce, against which European nations have effected so much,
nevertheless, reckons as its partizans the Negroes themselves. The
tribes are, in fact, incessantly waging war on each other in order to
take prisoners and sell them to the traders who pay prohibited visits to
their shores. Even now, convoys of captives, chained together by means
of forked sticks, are too often to be seen traversing the forests on
their way to a slave-ship moored in some unfrequented creek.

Since the almost general abolition of slavery, many Negro tribes have
been remarked to live in better accord among themselves. Fathers have
some little love for their children, as they no longer entertain the
hope of selling them for a bottle of rum or a glass necklace!

This bondage of the Negroes is not, we may add, a social institution of
recent date. The Romans possessed black slaves, and had been preceded by
the Egyptians in a custom which, at a period yet more remote, prevailed
among the Assyrians and Babylonians. Three thousand years ago the
Arabians and Turks carried off Negroes. They ascended the Nile in large
vessels, collecting, as they went, the blacks that were delivered up to
them in Nubia and Abyssinia, and returning to Lower Egypt with this
cargo of human cattle, sold it for slaves.

A cruelty which occasionally approaches ferocity is the sad attribute of
some African tribes. Molien said of the inhabitants of Fouta-Toro, that
those Negroes had derived nothing from civilization but its vices, and
the same reproach is applicable to some of the modern tribes. The
natives of Dahomey, a Negro kingdom extending along the shores of the
Gulf of Guinea, distinguish themselves among all other blacks by their
callous and revolting inhumanity. To kill and slay is to them a
pleasure, which anyone who can indulge in it rarely denies himself, and
the post of executioner is sought for by the richest and most powerful
in the land as affording an opportunity for the most coveted enjoyments.
To form an idea of a similar excess of savagery and depravity, the
shocking account should be read in the “Tour du Monde,” narrated from
personal experience by Doctor Répin, who passed through Dahomey in 1856.
We cannot attempt to reproduce here the picture of such cold-blooded
barbarity.

The Negroes impose heavy labours on their women. Among them the wife is
merely a helper in toil, a servant the more. Making flour and bread,
tilling the ground, and the most fatiguing occupations, are the
Negress’s lot in her own country; and it has been said, perhaps rightly,
that the former slavery was possibly a benefit to her, as she at any
rate changed tyrants. The Negress grinds the corn by placing it in a
hollow stone and crushing it with a round flint, the flour falling
through a hole in the stone and being received in a mat laid on the
floor.

The religious notions possessed by the Negroes are very dim; they
doubtless believe in a supreme God, in a creator; but addict themselves
in excess to the practices of fetishism. Their fetishes are a kind of
secondary divinities, subordinate to the great God, master of nature.
Each person chooses for fetish whatever he likes--fire, a tree, a
serpent, a jackal, water, a hog, down to a piece of wood shaped by the
hand of man. The worship of the serpent is in much favour among the
inhabitants of Dahomey. They construct tents and dwellings for these
reptiles, rear them in great numbers, and allow them to rove about
wherever they please. Immediate death would follow any attempt to kill
or pursue the fetish serpents.

[Illustration: 231.--A NEGRO VILLAGE.]

Belief in the power of chance or destiny predominates among these rude
men. They feel that events do not depend on their own will, but upon
some hidden influence which directs everything, and which it is
necessary to render favourable to them. Hence the magicians and
soothsayers whose duty it is to avert evil fate or hurtful destinies,
and hence also the incalculable quantity of fetishes. Each Negro has his
own, to which he offers sacrifice so long as he obtains something from
it, and which he abandons the moment he recognizes its uselessness.
Lamentable effect of the natural degradation of these races!

The sad defects of the Negro in his savage state should not cause his
aptitudes to be forgotten. When he has been snatched from tribe life, or
freed from the chains that weighed him down, the black manifests
qualities which deserve to be brought into relief.

Let us remark firstly, that the Negroes, or the mulattoes resulting from
their union with the whites, are often gifted with an extraordinary
memory which gives them a great facility for acquiring languages. They
are not slow to appropriate the language of the people amidst whom they
are placed. They speak English in North America, Spanish in the Central
and Southern parts of the New World, and Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope.
They can even change their tongue with their masters. If a Dutch Negro
enters the service of an Englishman, he will abandon his former idiom
for that of the latter, and will forget his old mode of speech. Nay
more, their memory sometimes retains widely diverse languages at the
same time. Travellers have met negro traders in the centre of Africa,
having connections with different nations, who expressed themselves in
several tongues, and understood both Arabic and Koptic as well as
Turkish.

The towns inhabited by the Negroes resemble European cities sometimes so
much as to be mistaken for them; there is only a difference of degree in
their civilization and knowledge when compared with those of Europe.
Towns, properly so called, in the interior of Africa are however very
much scattered, but travellers bring to light fresh information
concerning the country every day, and the future will perhaps reveal to
us particulars about the civilization of Central Africa, of which we
have as yet hardly a suspicion.

Negroes are not bad accountants; they calculate mentally with great
rapidity, far surpassing Europeans in this respect.

The industrial arts are pursued with some success by many black tribes.
Iron can be extracted from its ores easily enough to admit of the trades
of founders and blacksmiths being carried on in every Negro village, and
some excellent handicraftsmen in both these callings are to be found in
Senegambia and several of the interior regions.

[Illustration: 232.--FISHING ON THE UPPER SENEGAL.]

Fermented drinks, such as beer, sorgho wine, &c., are also manufactured
with considerable skill.

Negroes possess the talent of imitation to a very remarkable extent.
They seize hold of and are able faithfully to mimic a person’s
particular characteristics or behaviour if they show any ludicrous
peculiarities. Negro humour is also generally gay and pleasant. They
like to laugh at their masters and overseers, the children of the house,
&c., and delight in making themselves merry at their expense.

Yet this imitative faculty inherent to blacks, does not go so far as to
endow them with any artistic talents. Drawing, painting, and sculpture
are unknown to Negroes, and it is impossible to infuse into them the
smallest capacity for such subjects, either by lesson or advice. Their
temples and dwellings are, in fact, only decorated with shapeless
scratches; Africans of the present day are utterly unskilled in drawing
and sculpture.

Negroes, if thus obtuse to the plastic arts, are on the contrary very
easily affected by music and poetry. They sing odd and expressive
recitatives at their festivals and sports, and in some Negro kingdoms a
caste of singers is even to be met with, which is alleged to be
hereditary, and whose members are also at the same time the chroniclers
of the tribe.

Musical instruments are rather plentiful among the Africans. In addition
to the drum, which holds so prominent a place in the music of the Arabs,
they use flutes, triangles, bells, and even stringed instruments, with
from eight to seventeen strings, the latter being supplied from the tail
of the elephant. They also possess instruments fashioned from the rind
of cucumbers, forming a sort of rude harp. The Mandigoes who live on the
banks of the Senegal, about the middle of its course, have a species of
clarionet, from four to five yards long.

[Illustration: 233.--A ZAMBESI NEGRESS.]

“The Negroes,” says Livingstone, in his “Expedition to the Zambesi,”
“have had their minstrels; they have them still, but tradition does not
preserve their effusions. One of these, apparently a genuine poet,
attached himself to our party for several days, and, whenever we halted,
sang our praises to the villagers in smooth and harmonious numbers. His
chant was a sort of blank verse, and each line consisted of five
syllables. The song was short when it first began, but each day he
picked up more information about us, and added to the poem, until our
praises grew into an ode of respectable length. When distance from home
compelled him to return, he expressed his regret at leaving us, and was,
of course, paid for his useful and pleasant flatteries. Another, though
less gifted son of Apollo, belonged to our own party. Every evening,
while the others were cooking, talking, or sleeping, he rehearsed his
songs, which contained a history of everything he had noticed among the
white men, and on the journey. In composing, extempore, any new piece,
he was never at a loss; for, if the right word did not come, he didn’t
hesitate, but eked out the measure with a peculiar musical sound,
meaning nothing at all. He accompanied his recitations on the _sausa_,
an instrument held in the fingers, whilst its nine iron keys are pressed
with the thumbs. Persons of a musical turn, too poor to buy a _sausa_,
may be seen playing vigorously on a substitute made of a number of thick
sorgho-stalks sewn together, and with keys of split bamboo. This
makeshift emits but little sound, but seems to charm the player himself.
When the _sausa_ is played with a calabash as a sounding board, it
produces a greater volume of sound. Pieces of shell and tin are added to
make a jingling accompaniment, and the calabash is profusely
ornamented.”

The music of the Negroes is not confined, it may be remarked, to simple
melody. They are not satisfied with merely playing the notes sung by the
voice, but have some principles of harmony. They perform accompaniments
in fourths, sixths, and octaves, the other musical intervals being less
familiar to them, except when sometimes employed to express irony or
censure. The advanced state of music amidst the Negro tribes is all the
more noticeable from the fact that among ancient European races, among
the ancient Greeks, at the most brilliant epoch of their history, for
instance, no idea whatever prevailed of harmony in music.

The faculties of the blacks can consequently in certain respects become
developed, and it is established that Negroes who live for several
generations in the towns of the colonies, and who are in perpetual
contact with Europeans, improve by the connection, and gain an
augmentation of their intellectual capacities.

To sum up, then, the Negro family possesses less intelligence than some
others of the human race; but this fact affords no justification for the
hateful persecutions to which these unfortunate people have been the
victims in every age. At the present day, thanks to progress and
civilization, slavery is abolished in most parts of the globe, and its
last remnants will not be slow to disappear. And thus will be swept
away, to the honour of humanity, a barbarous custom, the unhappy
inheritance of former times, repudiated by the modern spirit of charity
and brotherhood; and with it will vanish the infamous traffic which is
called the slave-trade.

No little time will, however, be needed in order to confer social
equality on the enfranchised Negro. We cannot well express the scorn
with which the liberated blacks are treated in North and South America.
They are hardly looked on as human beings, and notwithstanding the
abolition of slavery, are invariably kept aloof from the white
population. Centuries will be required to efface among Americans this
rooted prejudice, which France herself has had some trouble in shaking
off, since an edict of Louis XIV. cancelled the rank of any noble who
allied himself with a Negress, or even with a mulatto woman.

The general assuagement of manners and customs will ultimately, it must
be hoped, entirely obliterate these distinctions, so cruel and unjust to
the unhappy people whom a fatal destiny has condemned to a state of
perpetual martyrdom, without their having done anything to deserve it,
beyond coming into the world beneath an African sky.




CHAPTER II.

EASTERN BRANCH.


The _Eastern Blacks_, who have also been called _Melanesians_ and
_Oceanian Negroes_, inhabit the western part of Oceania and the
south-east of Asia. Their complexion is very brown, sometimes increasing
in darkness until it reaches intense black. Their hair is frizzled,
crisp, flaky, and occasionally woolly. Their features are disagreeable,
their figures of little regularity, and their extremities often lank.
They live in tribes or small divisions, without forming themselves into
nationalities.

We shall divide them into two groups, one, the _Papuan Family_, composed
of peoples among whom the characteristics indicated above, are the most
developed; the other, the _Andaman Family_, made up of tribes which more
resemble the Brown Race, and probably result from a mixture of it with
the Black one.


PAPUAN FAMILY.

The _Papuan Family_ seems to dwell only in small islands or on the
coasts of larger ones. Two groups of peoples are observable in it, one,
resembling the Malays, consists of the _Papuans_, who inhabit the New
Guinea Archipelago, and the other, resembling the Tabuans, occupies the
Fiji Islands, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and the Solomon range. We
proceed to say a few words as to the manners and customs of these
different sections of the Black Race.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Papuans._--A remarkable feature presented by the Papuans, is the
enormous bulk of their half-woolly hair. Their skin is dark brown, their
hair black, and their beard, which is scanty, is, as well as their
eyebrows and eyes, of the same colour. Though they have rather flat
noses, thick lips and broad cheekbones, their countenance is by no means
unpleasant. The women are more ugly than the men, their withered
figures, hanging breasts, and masculine features render them
disagreeable to the sight, and even the young girls have a far from
attractive look.

[Illustration:

_P. Sellier, p.^{t}_

_Imp. Dupuy, 22, R. des Petits Hôtels_

_G. Regamey, lith._

PAPOUAN

NEGRO OF NEW GUINEA

BLACK RACE]

Lesson considered the Papuans fierce, inhospitable, crafty men, but the
inhabitants of Havre de Doresy and generally of the northern part of
this Oceanic region, as far as the Cape of Good Hope, seemed to him of
great mildness and more disposed to fly from Europeans than to hurt
them. He thinks, nevertheless, that the Negroes in the south of New
Guinea, pushed back into that part of the island, and whom no
intermixture has altered, have preserved their savage habits and rude
independence. The state of perpetual hostility in which they live
renders their character distrustful and suspicious. Never did Lesson
visit a village, in a small boat manned by a fair number of men, that
women, children, old men, and warriors did not take to flight in their
large canoes, carrying off with them their movables and most precious
effects. He adds, that by good treatment and plenty of presents, people
may succeed in making way with them, may be able to lull their
uneasiness and establish friendly relations. The coloured Plate
accompanying this part of the work represents a native of the Papuan
Islands.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Vitians._--The first accurate information about the Viti or Fiji
Islands is due to Dumont d’Urville. Mr. Macdonald, an assistant-surgeon
on board the English ship Herald, has published an account of his visit
to Fiji, and from it we extract the following particulars.

Thakombau (fig. 234), the king, was a man of powerful and almost
gigantic stature, with well-formed limbs of fine proportions. His
appearance, which was further removed from the Negro type than that of
other individuals of lower rank, sprung from the same stock, was
agreeable and intelligent. His hair was carefully turned up, dressed in
accordance with the stylish fashion of the country, and covered with a
sort of brown gauze. His neck and broad chest were both uncovered, and
his naked skin might be seen, of a clear black colour. Near him was his
favourite wife, a rather large woman with smiling features, as well as
his son and heir, a fine child of from eight to nine years old. His
majesty was also surrounded at respectful distance by a crowd of
courtiers, humbly cringing on their knees.

[Illustration: 234.--THAKOMBAU, KING OF THE FIJI ISLAND.]

In the course of his peregrinations, Mr. Macdonald was present at a
repast, consisting of pork, ignames, and taro,[11] served in wooden
dishes by women. Freshwater shell-fish of the cyprine kind completed the
banquet. The broth was very savoury, but the meat insipid. During the
conversation which followed, the traveller became convinced that gossip
is a natural gift of the Fijians. Figs. 235 and 236 represent types of
these people.

  [11] The native substitute for bread.

[Illustration: 235.--NATIVE OF FIJI.]

The Fijians are fond of assembling to hear the local news, or to
narrate old legends. Respect for their chiefs is always preserved
unalterable among this people, turbulent in their behaviour, depraved in
their instincts, and familiar with murder, robbery, and lying. The
homage paid to their chiefs makes itself manifest both by word and
action; men lower their weapons, take the worst sides of the paths, and
bow humbly as one of the privileged order passes by. One of the oddest
forms taken by this obsequiousness is a custom in accordance with which
every inferior who sees his chief trip and fall, allows himself to
stumble in his turn, in order to attract towards himself the ridicule
which such an accident might have the effect of drawing upon his
superior.

[Illustration: 236.--NATIVE OF FIJI.]

The different classes or castes into which the Fijian population is
divided, are as follows: 1, sovereigns of several islands; 2, chiefs of
single islands, or of districts; 3, village chiefs, and those of
fisheries; 4, eminent warriors, but born in an inferior station, master
carpenters, and heads of turtle-fisheries; 5, the common people; and 6,
slaves taken in war.

The horrible custom of eating human flesh still exists in Fiji; the
missionaries have succeeded in bringing about its disappearance in some
parts of the island, but it remains in the interior districts,
concealing itself, however, and no longer glorying in the number of
victims devoured! Cannibalism does not owe its existence among the
Fijians, as in most savage tribes, to a feeling of revenge pushed to the
utmost limits; it arises there from an especial craving for human flesh.
But as this choice dish is not sufficiently abundant to satisfy all
appetites, the chiefs reserve it exclusively to themselves, and only by
extraordinary favour do they give up a morsel of the esteemed delicacy
to their inferiors.

[Illustration: 237.--A TEMPLE OF CANNIBALISM.]

The engraving (fig. 237) is taken from a sketch made by the missionary
Thomas Williams, of a sort of temple used on occasions of cannibalism in
Fiji. The four persons squatted in front of the edifice are victims
awaiting their doom, and whose bodies will afterwards serve for the
feast of these man-eaters.

Mr. Macdonald discovered that the custom of immolating widows is still
in full vigour in one of the districts of the island.

Dancing is the popular diversion of the Fiji Islands. The chant by which
it is usually regulated is of monotonous rhythm, its words recalling
either some actual circumstance or historical event. The dancers’
movements are slow at first, growing gradually animated, and being
accompanied by gestures of the hands and inflections of the body. There
is always a chief to direct the performers. A buffoon is sometimes
brought into the ring whose grotesque contortions bring applause from
the spectators.

Two bands, one of musicians, the other of dancers, take part in the
regular dances of the solemnities at Fiji (fig. 238); the first usually
numbers twenty, and the other from a hundred and fifty to two hundred,
individuals. These latter are covered with their richest ornaments,
carry clubs or spears, and execute a series of varied evolutions,
marching, halting, and running. As the entertainment draws towards its
close their motions increase in rapidity, their action acquires more
liveliness and vehemence, while their feet are stamped heavily on the
ground, until at last the dancers, quite out of breath, ejaculate a
final “Wa-oo!” and the antics cease.

       *       *       *       *       *

_New-Caledonians._--The inhabitants of New Caledonia belong to the
branch of Oceanian Negroes. This island, hidden in the Equinoctial
Ocean, is a French possession, and has been marked out for the reception
of those Communist insurgents and incendiaries arrested in Paris in June
1871, after the “seven days’ battle” who were sentenced to
transportation by the courts-martial. We are indebted to MM. Victor de
Rochas and J. Garnier for some valuable details concerning the
population of the colony.

The aborigines of New Caledonia have a sooty-black skin; woolly, crisp
hair and abundant beard, both black; a broad, flat nose deeply sunk
between the orbits; the white of the eye bloodshot; large, turned-out
lips; prominent jaws; a wide mouth; very even and perfectly white teeth;
slightly projecting cheekbones; a high, narrow, and convex forehead; and
the head flattened between the temples. Their average stature is at
least as tall as that of the French, their limbs are well-proportioned,
and their development of both chest and muscles is generally
considerable.

[Illustration: 238.--A FIJIAN DANCE.]

The men are not very ugly, many even showing a certain regularity of
feature; and some tribes on the east coast are better favoured than the
rest in this respect. Figs. 239 and 240 convey a fair idea of the male
population.

The ugliness of the women is proverbial. With their shaven heads and the
lobes of their ears horribly perforated or pinked, they present a
revolting appearance, even when young in years. The rude toil and bad
treatment to which they are subjected bring upon them premature old age.
They suckle their children for a long period, for three years on the
average, and sometimes for five or six.

Like all savages, the New-Caledonians possess an exquisitely keen sense
of sight and hearing. They are active and capable of exerting
considerable strength for a short effort, but have no lasting power.
Their inability to support fatigue for any length of time doubtless
arises from the nature of their nourishment. They swallow really nothing
beyond sugary and feculent vegetable food, seldom eating meat, the true
source of the sustainment and recuperation of strength. Their island
supplies the New-Caledonians with no quadrupeds which they can capture
for sustenance, and they possess no weapons suitable for killing birds.

The quantity of eatables these people can gorge at a single meal is
wonderful, quite three times as much as an European would be equal to.

M. Garnier visited the village of Hienghène. Its chief came to meet the
travellers and presented to them his eldest son, while numbers of naked
warriors, with blackened chests, beards, and faces, stood round in a
silent and motionless group. They might have been taken for bronze
statues were it not for their dark and sparkling eyes which followed the
smallest gesture of the visitors.

At a signal from the chief, several youths dashed forward and in a few
seconds showered down from the cocoa-trees a hail of nuts, the pulp of
which in the liquid state is the most agreeable drink imaginable for
allaying thirst.

[Illustration: 239.--YOUNG NATIVE OF NEW CALEDONIA.]

The village of Hienghène is one of the most considerable in the island.
Its dwellings are shaped like beehives, and are crowned with a rude
statue surmounted by a quantity of shell-fish or sometimes by skulls of
enemies slain in war.

These cabins have a single opening, very low and narrow. In the evening
they are filled with smoke in order to banish the mosquitoes; the narrow
aperture is then shut and the occupants lay themselves down to sleep on
mats, whilst the smoke, by reason of its lightness, remains floating
over their heads; but to sit upright without being half smothered by it
is impossible.

Great numbers of aborigines dwell along the sea-coast. They came on
board M. Garnier’s vessel in crowds, bringing provisions and shell-fish,
and examining everything with the greatest attention.

The natives of this tribe are of a fine type. M. Garnier noticed among
the visitors several men admirably built, and with a perfectly developed
muscular system; but he nevertheless remarked as a general defect of the
New Caledonians, that they have too thin legs in comparison with their
bodies, and calves placed higher than in Europeans.

Whether from habit, or in consequence of anatomical formation, these
people assume positions at every moment which would fatigue us terribly.
They sit down on their heels for whole days, and when they climb up into
a cocoa-tree, or rest themselves by the way, place themselves without
any effort in postures that are really surprising.

The singular fancy which some of these tribes have for clay, has been
already noticed, and M. Garnier convinced himself of the reality of the
fact. The earth in question, is a silicate of magnesia, greenish in
colour. It is ground by the teeth into a soft, fine dust, by no means
disagreeable in taste. The habit of eating this clay, is, however, far
from general; women only, in certain cases of illness, take a few
pinches of it.

M. Garnier had an opportunity of being present at the _pilou-pilou_, a
dancing festival which takes place on the occasion of the igname
harvest. On a piece of high but level ground, overlooking a vast plain,
were seated the chiefs and old men; the crowd were assembled below,
and in front of them was piled a huge heap of ignames. Thirty or forty
youngsters, selected from the handsomest of the tribe, advanced and each
took a load, and then ascended the plateau in a body, all dashing at
full speed to lay their burdens at the feet of the chiefs. Then, still
running, they returned to the great mass of ignames to carry away a
fresh cargo, and so on until the whole pile disappeared. They were
pursued during this wild race by the yelling crowd, bounding around them
with brandished weapons. Every European would have been interested in
this strange spectacle; but a painter or a sculptor would have never
grown weary of admiring the forms of the young performers: finer
artistic models have seldom “posed” in any studio.

[Illustration: 240.--NATIVE OF NEW CALEDONIA.]

This _fête_ was interrupted by a mock fight, during which the warriors,
either in complete nudity or with gaudy cloths tied round their waists,
whirled their weapons about as they kept bounding, yelling, and taunting
their adversaries. The old withered men, whose hands could throw neither
stone nor javelin, animated the courage of the young people and showered
insults on their opponents.

We are unable to retrace in its entirety, the curious and graphic
description which M. Gamier has given of this contest, but a scene of
cannibalism at which he was present, is too dramatic to be passed over.

Near a large fire sat a dozen men, in whom the traveller recognized the
chiefs he had seen in the morning, and pieces of smoking meat surrounded
with ignames and taros were laid on broad banana leaves before them. The
bodies of some unfortunate wretches killed during the day, supplied the
materials for this ghastly banquet, and the hole in which their limbs
had just been cooked was still there. A savage joy was pictured on the
faces of these demons. Both hands grasped their horrid food. An old
chief with a long white beard did not seem to enjoy so formidable an
appetite as his comrades. Leaving aside the thigh-bone and the thick
layer of flesh accompanying it which had been served him, he contented
himself with nibbling a head. He had already removed all the meaty
parts, the nose and cheeks, but the eyes remained. The old epicure took
a bit of pointed stick and thrust it into both pupils, then shook the
horrid skull until bit by bit he brought out the brain; but as this
process was not quick enough, he put the back of the head into the
flames, and the rest of the cerebral substance dropped out without
difficulty!. . . .


ANDAMAN FAMILY.

We comprise in the _Andaman_ Family those Eastern blacks who possess the
characteristics of the Negro race strongly marked. These nations are as
yet but little known. The inhabitants of New Guinea, the aborigines of
the Andaman Isles, in the bay of Bengal, the blacks of the Malacca
peninsula, those dwelling in some of the mountains of Indo-China, the
natives of Tasmania, and, finally, the indigenous population of
Australia are included in this group.

Among all these people the facial angle does not exceed 60 degrees; the
mouth is very large, the nose broad and flat, the arms short, the legs
lanky, and the complexion the colour of soot. The women are positively
hideous.

The tribes which form these groups are, in general, numerous and subject
to the arbitrary authority of a chief. Language is extremely limited
among them; they possess neither government, laws, nor regularly
established ceremonies, and some do not even know how to construct
places of abode.

In order to convey to the reader an idea of the people composing the
Andaman Family we shall give a glance at the inhabitants of the Andaman
Isles and also at those of Australia.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Andamans._--The dwellings of the Andamans are of the most rudimentary
kind, being hardly superior to the dens of wild beasts. Four posts
covered with a roof of palm-leaves constitute these lairs, which are
open to every wind, and “ornamented” with hogs’ bones, turtle shells,
and large dried fish tied in bunches.

As for the inhabitants themselves, they are of an ebon black. They
seldom exceed five feet in stature; their heads are broad and buried
between their shoulders; and their hair is woolly, like that of the
African blacks. The abdomen is protuberant in a great many cases, and
their lower limbs lank. They go about in a state of complete nudity,
merely taking care to cover the entire body with a layer of yellow ochre
or clay, which protects it from the sting of insects. They paint their
faces and sprinkle their hair with red ochre.

Their weapons are, however, manufactured with much cleverness. Their
bows, which require a very strong pull, are made of a sort of iron-wood
and gracefully shaped. Their arrows are tipped with fine points, some of
them barbed, and they shoot them with much skill. They handle expertly
their short paddles, marked with red ochre, and hollow their canoes with
a rather rude implement formed of a hard and sharp stone fastened to a
handle by means of a strong cord made from vegetable fibres.

The Andamans are ichthyophagists, for the seas which wash their islands
abound in excellent fish and palatable mollusks. Soles, mullets, and
oysters constitute the staple of their food, and when during tempestuous
weather fish runs short, they eat the lizards, rats, and mice which
swarm in the woods.

Though not cannibals, the Andamans are nevertheless a most savage race,
who do not even exist in a state of tribedom, but who are merely
gathered into gangs.

The bitterest contempt has been lavished on these rude inhabitants of
the islands of Bengal, and people have been willing to consider them as
brutes of the worst cruelty, and most extreme ugliness; but more recent
observation, and the few facts which we have mentioned, show that this
estimate should be somewhat mitigated.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Australian Blacks._--We have arrived at the black people who occupy
part of Australia, and take advantage of some valuable information
concerning them, found in M. H. de Castella’s “Souvenirs d’un Squatter
Français en Australie,” and which was acquired by the author’s personal
experience of these uncouth beings.

The wild state in which the aborigines of Australia exist is the result
of the poverty of their country, which affords no other source of
sustenance than animals. True, these abound there; kangaroos, squirrels,
opossums, wild-cats, and birds of all kinds are so numerous, that the
natives need, as it were, only stretch out their hands in order to take
them. In this mild climate they can live without any shelter.

According to M. de Castella, the Negroes of Australia are not so ugly as
they have been represented. Among the men whom he examined, some were
tall and well made. Their slow, lounging gait, was not devoid of
dignity, and the solemnity of their step reminded one of the strut of a
tragedian on the stage.

[Illustration: 241.--ENCAMPMENT OF NATIVE AUSTRALIANS.]

The Australian blacks recognize family ties. None of them have more than
one wife, but they do not marry within their own particular tribe. They
live encamped in bands, and now that they are reduced to small numbers,
in entire tribes. They do not build permanent huts, but protect
themselves in summer from the sun and hot winds merely by a heap of
gum-tree branches, piled up against some sticks, thrust in the ground.
When winter comes on, they strip from the trees large pieces of bark,
eight or ten feet high, and as wide as the whole circumference of the
trunk, forming with these fragments a screen, which they place at the
side whence the rain is blowing, and alter if the wind happens to
change. Squatted on the bare earth, in the opossum skin which serves the
double purpose of bed and clothing, each of them is placed before a
hearth of his own. Fig. 241 is an engraving taken from a photograph of
Australian natives.

The Australian Negroes of the present day have guns, and employ little
axes for chopping their wood and cutting bark, but it is not so long
since the only weapons they possessed were made of hard wood, and their
hatchets consisted of sharp stones fastened to the end of sticks, like
the flint instruments used by men before the Deluge. There is in fact
little or no difference between the people of the age of stone, and the
Negroes of Australia, and consequently an acquaintance with the wild
manners and customs of these races has been of great advantage to
naturalists of our day in throwing light upon the history of primitive
man.

M. H. de Castella was greatly struck by the agility of the Australian
blacks in climbing gum-trees whose straight stems are often devoid of
branches for twenty or thirty feet from their base, and are besides too
thick to be clasped. When by perfect prodigies of acrobatism the native
reached the wild cats and opossums’ nests, he seized the animals, and
threw them to his wife.

This wife carried everything; her last-born in a reed basket hanging
from her neck, the slaughtered game in one hand, and in the other a
blazing gum branch, to light the fire when the family took up fresh
quarters. The man walked in front, carrying nothing but his weapons;
then came the wife, and after her, their children according to height.

A batch of Australian blacks is never, by any chance, to be met walking
abreast, even when in great numbers, and if a whole tribe is crossing
the plains, only a long black file is to be seen moving above the high
grass.

[Illustration: 242.--NATIVE AUSTRALIAN.]

M. de Castella was a spectator of the curious sight which eel-fishing
affords among these natives. Holding a spear in each hand, with which to
rake up the bottom, they wade through the water up to their waists,
balancing and regulating their movements to the even measure of one of
their chants. When an eel is transfixed by a stroke of one lance, they
pierce it in another part of the body with the second, and then,
holding the two points apart, throw the fish upon the ground, the
quantity which they take in this manner being enormous. They dispense
with saucepans and cooking utensils of all kinds in the preparation of
their meals, simply placing the game or fish on bright coals covered
over with a little ashes.

[Illustration: 243.--AN AUSTRALIAN GRAVE.]

Everyone has heard of the skill with which savages navigate their rivers
in bark canoes, but the people of whom we are now speaking render
themselves remarkable above all others by their adroitness in guiding
their little crafts over the rapids. Only two persons can sit in their
boats, while a spear supplies the place of an oar, and is used with
astonishing dexterity.

No one acquainted with this kind of barbarous life will be surprised to
hear that the blacks of Australia are diminishing at a wonderfully quick
rate. Of the whole Varra tribe, formerly a numerous one, M. de Castella
could find no more than seventeen individuals.

What most struck the author of an account of a journey from Sydney to
Adelaide, which appeared in the “Tour du Monde,” in 1860, was the small
number of aborigines which he met in a distance of more than two hundred
and fifty miles. Sturt and Mitchell, in the middle of the present
century, had visited tribes on the higher tributaries of the Murray
river, which then consisted of several hundred persons, but M. de
Castella found them only represented by scattered groups of seven or
eight famished individuals. Fig. 242 portrays one of the types sketched
by this gentleman.

Mitchell has given a description in his “Travels,” of the “groves of
death”--those romantic burial-places of the Australians--but the
writer in the “Tour du Monde” found them no longer in existence. The
tombs of the natives at the present day are as wild and rude as
themselves. In the bleak deserts of the land of the West four branches
driven into the ground and crossed at the top by a couple more (fig.
243), support the mortal remains of the Australian aboriginal, whose
only winding sheet is the skin of a kangaroo.





INDEX.


  ABABDEHS, 362
  Abases, 204
  Abipones, 420
  _Abouna_, 360
  Abruzzans, 104
  Abstraction, a faculty of man, 1
  Abyssinians, 355, 357
  Abyssinian Christians, 360
  ---- Family, 355
  ---- religion, 360
  ---- soldiers, 360
  ---- type, 355, 357
  _Achagy_, 427
  _Acquajolo_, 105
  Afghans, 190, 199
  Africa, original population of, 11
  ---- populations of, 355
  Agglutinative languages, 9, 32
  Agora, 154
  Agows, 357
  Agricultural stage of Man, 35
  Aguilots, 425
  Aïnos, 210
  ---- type, 210
  Alanians, 70
  Albanians, 149, 152, 160, 161, 162
  Alfusus, 375
  Algonquins, 460, 472
  Alphabetic writing, 33
  Aluta River, 109
  Amakisas, 496
  Amapendas, 496
  Amathymbas, 496
  Amazulas, 496
  American Indians, 404, 416, 460, 471
  ---- type, 65
  _Amin_, 166
  _Amin-el-oumena_, 166
  Anahuac, 452
  Ancient Chinese writing, 282
  ---- Egyptians, 173
  ---- Etruscans, 93, 101
  ---- Illyrians, 160
  ---- Incas, 408
  ---- Mexicans, 405, 454
  ---- Peruvians, 405
  ---- Persian type, 191
  Andaman Family, 532
  ---- Islanders, 532
  Andian Family, 407
  _Angaskah_, 342
  Angles, 55
  Annamites, 324
  Antis Indians, 407, 410, 411
  ---- customs, 412, 413, 414, 415
  ---- religion, 416
  ---- type, 411
  Apaches, 470, 481
  Apolistas, 410
  Apontis, 444
  Aquitanians, 66
  Arab type, 184
  Arabs, 183
  ---- nomadic, 184
  ---- Shegya, 184
  Aramaic Race, 163
  Aramean Branch of White Race, 40, 163
  ---- civilisation, 163
  Araocas, 449
  Arapahoes, 470
  Araucanians, 407, 416
  Arcadians, 150
  _Arch_, 166
  Ardschis River, 109
  Aristocracy, English, 62
  Armenians, 190, 201
  ---- in Turkey, 253
  Armenian population, 202
  ---- religion, 202
  ---- type, 201
  Artisans, French, 76
  Aryans, 353
  Aryan Race, 10, 40
  Asia, original population of, 11
  Assyrians, 183
  Atacamas, 407, 410
  Athens, 157
  Athenian type, 160
  Australian aboriginals, 533
  ---- native customs, 531, 536
  ---- native tombs, 538
  _Ayams_, 248
  Aymaras, 407, 410
  Aztecs, 451

  BAKTYAN, 199
  Bambara, 364
  Banians, 336
  Bankok, 330, 332
  Barabras, 357, 361
  Barabra type, 361
  Barbotes, 428, 432, 440, 450, 492
  Baskirs, 129
  Bavaria, 48
  Batavians, 368
  Battas, 365, 373
  Bechuanas, 497, 498
  Bedouins, 183
  _Beglebeig_, 191
  Behring’s Straits, 10
  Beloochees, 199
  Bengalese, 340
  Berbers, 163
  Beyram, 250
  Beys, 246
  Bible, unity of Man proclaimed in the, 11
  Bicharyehs, 362
  Bielo-Russians, 118
  Big-Bellies, 470
  Blackfeet Indians, 464
  Black Race, 495
  Bohemians, 112
  _Bolas_, 427
  _Bolero_, 90
  Bonzes, 259, 280
  Bosniaks, 113, 130, 141, 142, 143, 145
  Botocudos, 435, 449
  Bougis, 365, 373
  Brahminism, 336
  Brahmins, 336
  Brahnis, 201
  Brain of the ape, 22
  ---- of man, 22
  ---- of the negro, 508
  Brazilian Indian customs, 448
  Brazilian Indian dwellings, 447
  British Isles, 55
  Brown Race, 335
  Bucharest, 109
  Buddhism, 163, 307, 319, 320, 322, 332
  Bulgarians, 113, 130
  Burgundians, 71
  Burïats, 218, 221
  Burïat customs, 223
  Burmans, 324
  Burmese, 324
  Bushmen, 499

  _CADIS_, 246
  Caffre Family, 496
  ---- type, 496, 497
  Calabrians, 104
  Californian Indians, 493
  Cambodian customs, 329
  Campagna, The, 93
  _Cangue_, 296
  Cannibalism, Fijian, 523, 524
  ---- Maori, 386
  ---- New Caledonian, 531
  Caper fig-tree, 168
  Capital punishment in China, 294
  Caprification of the fig-tree, 168, 169, 170
  Capuans, 103
  _Caravanserai_, 240
  Caribbean Group, 450
  Caribs, 450
  Carinthia, 116
  Carniola, 116
  Caroline Islanders, 400, 401
  Carpathian Mountains, 109
  Carthaginians, 183
  Caryis, 444
  Caste, 347, 348
  Cathsé, 272
  Caucasian Race, 40
  Cayuguas, 435
  Celtic type, 57, 67
  ---- weapons, 67
  Celts, 66, 67
  Chaldeans, 186
  Changos, 186
  Characteristics of Man, Intellectual, 30
  ---- of the White Race, 40
  Charruas, 420
  Chaymas, 450
  Chen-elches, 422
  Cherokees, 478
  Chichimecas, 452
  Chicksaws, 478
  Chimehwebs, 484
  Chinese agriculture, 271
  ---- army, 300
  ---- centralization, 256
  ---- civilization, 36, 301
  ---- corruption, 266
  ---- court of justice, 295, 296, 298, 299
  ---- customs, 262
  ---- dinner, 268
  ---- drama, 287
  ---- eating-house, 267
  ---- education, 280, 281, 284
  ---- Family, 256
  ---- feet, 262
  ---- fishing (river), 274, 275, 276
  ---- fishing (sea), 274
  ---- food, 278
  ---- gambling, 265
  ---- idleness, 264
  ---- interior, 263
  ---- irrigation, 279
  ---- jurisprudence, 290
  ---- language, 284
  ---- law courts, 290, 291
  ---- literature, 287
  ---- marionettes, 288
  ---- marriages, 261
  ---- opium smoking, 270
  ---- pisciculture, 274
  ---- polygamy, 260
  ---- printing, 286
  ---- punishments, 292, 294-296
  ---- religion, 257
  ---- religious toleration, 258
  ---- rice fields, 278
  ---- tea houses, 266, 267
  ---- theatres, 288
  ---- type, 256
  ---- women, 259
  ---- writing, ancient, 282
  ---- writing, modern, 282, 283, 284
  Chinooks, 493
  Chiotians, 158
  Chippeway Indians, 463
  Chiquitos, 420, 432, 433, 434
  Chiriguanos, 444
  Choctaws, 478
  _Choli_, 342
  Chunipis, 425
  Cingalese customs, 351
  ---- costume, 351
  ---- of the coast, 351
  ---- of the hills, 351
  ---- type, 350
  ---- women, 350
  Circassian Family, 163, 204
  ---- slaves, 240
  ---- type, 204
  Circulatory system of Man, 30
  Cirionos, 444
  Civilization, Aramean, 163
  ---- Chinese, 36, 301
  ---- Egyptian, 36
  ---- progress of, 37
  Classification of Man, Blumenbach’s, 18
  ---- ---- Bory de Saint Vincent’s, 18
  ---- ---- Buffon’s, 17
  ---- ---- Cuvier’s, 18
  ---- ---- Desmoulins’, 18
  ---- ---- d’Omalius d’Halloys’, 19
  ---- ---- de Quatrefages’, 19
  ---- ---- Lacépède’s, 18
  ---- ---- Pritchard’s, 18
  ---- ---- Virey’s, 18
  ---- of the Human Race, 17, 38
  Clavel’s “Races Humaines,” 48, 53
  Comanches, 480
  Confucius, doctrines of, 258, 307
  Coras, 459
  Cossacks, 120, 124
  ---- of the Ukraine, 118
  Cosninos, 482
  Cranium, brachycephalous, 25
  ---- dolichocephalous, 25
  ---- of Man, 25
  Creation, animal centres of, 8
  ---- of Man, cause of, 3
  ---- ---- in the quaternary period, 3
  ---- ---- manifold, 6
  ---- ---- special, 3
  ---- one human centre of, 6, 8
  ---- vegetable centres of, 8
  Creek Indians, 462, 478
  Croats, 113
  Crow Indians, 468
  Cshatriyas, 336
  Cutchanas, 484
  Cymri, 67

  DACIA, 106
  Dacotas, 464
  _Daïri_, 313
  Dalmatians, 116
  Danes, 42, 46
  Danube, 109
  Danubian Principalities, 107
  Daouria, Tunguses of, 223
  Deccan, 340
  Deccan Hindoos, 340
  Definition of Man, 1
  ---- of Race, 12, 13, 14
  ---- of Species, 12, 13, 14
  _Déhera_, 166
  Delawares, 474, 480
  Denmark, 46
  _Dhamans_, 166
  _Dhoti_, 342
  _Divan_, 247
  _Djama_, 166
  _Djelodar_, 198
  _Djemaa_, 166
  Dokhar, 168
  Dongoulahs, 361
  Druids, 71
  Druzes, 188, 250
  Dutch language, 55
  Dyak customs, 376, 378
  ---- head-cutters, 376
  ---- superstitions, 376
  Dyaks, 365, 375

  EASTERN NUBIANS, 362
  Egyptian civilization, 36
  ---- dancing girls, 180
  ---- marriages, 179
  ---- polygamy, 180
  ---- sailors, 179
  ---- type, 173
  Egyptians, ancient, 173
  ---- modern, 174
  Emmages, 425
  _Enderoun_, 196
  English, 42
  ---- aristocracy, 62
  ---- middle class, 64
  ---- type, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65
  ---- women, 60, 61
  ---- working class, 65
  Esthonians, 129
  Esquimaux customs, 211, 212, 213, 216, 217
  ---- dress, 214
  ---- Family, 206, 211
  ---- type, 211
  Etruscans, ancient, 101
  Etruscan sarcophagi, 101
  European Branch (White Race), 40

  FACIAL ANGLE, 26
  ---- ---- of the Negro, 508
  Falæshas, 357
  _Fandango_, 90
  Fehles, 183
  Fellahs, 176, 177, 178, 179
  Fellans, 355, 363, 364
  Fellatahs, 363
  _Fetfa_, 247
  Fetishes, 512
  Fez, 154
  Fiji, king of, 520
  Fijian cannibalism, 523, 524
  ---- dances, 526
  Fijians, 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525
  Finlanders, 129
  Finns, 113, 125, 129
  ---- of Eastern Russia, 127
  ---- of Silesia, 127
  ---- of the Baltic, 127
  Flat-head Indians, 485, 486
  Flemish language, 55
  Foudaïsi, 321
  Franks, 71
  Frank type, 71
  French, 66
  ---- artisans, 76
  ---- bourgeois, 77
  ---- peasant, 76
  ---- soldier, 78
  ---- type, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80
  ---- women, 71, 79, 80
  Friendly Islanders, 388
  Frieslandic language, 55
  Fundamental languages of Man, 9
  _Fystan_, 154

  GADIGUÈS, 435, 436
  Gaels, 68
  Gallas, 357, 363
  Gallic customs, 69
  ---- type, 57, 68, 72
  Garnants, 357
  Gauls, 66
  Georgian Family, 163, 203
  ---- slaves, 240
  ---- type, 204
  ---- women, 204
  Germanic type, 50, 51, 52, 53, 58
  Germans, 42, 47
  _Gholaums_, 191
  _Ging-seng_ root, 269
  Goths, 71
  Grand Chaco, 425
  Grand vizier, 247
  Gränzer, 137, 140, 141
  Greek church, 249
  ---- Family, 41, 149
  ---- peasants, 154
  ---- type, 152, 153
  Greeks in Turkey, 252
  Groves of Death, 538
  Guarani, 407, 434, 435, 444
  Guaranns, 449
  Guarany language, 444
  ---- type, 435
  Guarayi, 444
  Guatos of Cuyaba, 438
  Guayquerias, 450

  HADHAREBS, 362
  Harems, 240
  Hawaiians, 399, 400
  Hebrews, 183
  _Hegira_, 239
  Highlanders, 68
  Hindoos, 339
  Hindoo castes, 336, 346, 347, 348
  ---- characteristics, 340
  ---- civilization, 336
  ---- customs, 344, 348
  ---- food, 345
  ---- ornaments, 342
  ---- religion, 342
  ---- society, 336
  ---- type, 339
  Hindostani, 346
  Hispanians, 80
  Hospodars, 107
  Hottentots, 499
  Hottentot type, 499, 501
  ---- Venus, 500
  Huaxtecas, 460
  Hungarians, 48, 113
  Huns, 72, 145
  Hurons, 460, 462
  Hyperborean Branch (Yellow Race), 205, 206

  IBERIANS, 66
  Icelanders, 43
  Ienissian Family, 206, 217
  Indian games, North American, 478
  ---- languages (East), 346
  ---- territory, 473, 478
  Indo-Chinese Family, 324
  Inflected languages, 9, 32
  Intelligence of Man, 1
  ---- of brutes, 1
  Ionians, 158
  Irish, 68
  Iroquois, 462, 463, 472
  _Isba_, 121
  Ischorians, 129
  Italians, 66
  Italian climate, 93
  ---- type, 94

  JAKOBITES, 249
  Jalovitza River, 109
  _Jamah_, 342
  Japanese, 256, 302, 304, 306, 312, 320
  ---- Bonzes, 302, 320, 321, 322, 323
  ---- characteristics, 302, 303
  ---- costume, 304, 305, 306
  ---- government, 307
  ---- literature, 302
  ---- manufactures, 306
  ---- religion, 302, 307
  ---- soldiers, 308
  ---- type, 304
  ---- weapons, 318, 319
  ---- writing, 302
  Jats, 340
  Javanese, 365, 367, 369
  ---- costume, 368
  ---- dancing girls, 369
  ---- princes, 369
  ---- trinkets, 371
  ---- weddings, 371
  Jews, 183, 184, 186
  Jukaghirite Family, 206, 217

  KABYLES, 163
  Kabyle agriculture, 168
  ---- type, 165, 167
  Kabylia, 165, 171
  Kachintz, 127
  _Kakim_, 191
  Kaliouges, 493
  Kalmuks, 218
  Kalmuk customs, 219
  ---- type, 219
  _Kalva, La_, 242
  _Kalyaudjy_, 198
  Kamis, 307, 312
  ---- religion, 320, 322
  Kamtschadale Family, 206, 209
  ---- type, 210
  Kandians, 350
  _Kang_, 262
  Kayoways, 470
  Kenous, 361
  _Ketlkhoda_, 191
  Khalkas, 220
  Khalkasian customs, 221
  ---- type, 221
  _Khanoun_, 166
  _Kharouba_, 166
  _Khodja_, 166
  King of Fiji, 520
  Kioto, 310
  Kirghis, 232, 238
  _Kodju_, 247
  Kopts, 174, 175, 176
  Koptic language, 174
  _Koran_, 247
  Koriak family, 206, 217
  _Kousso_, 361
  Kurds, 190, 201
  Kymes, 28
  Kyrials, 129

  LADRONE ISLANDERS, 400
  Languages, agglutinative, 32
  ---- inflected, 32
  ---- monosyllabic, 31
  Laplanders, nomadic, 208
  ---- sedentary, 208
  Lapp Family, 206, 207
  ---- customs, 208
  ---- type, 206
  ---- women, 209
  Latins, 49, 66, 72
  Latin Family, 41, 66, 93
  ---- type, 66, 72
  Lencas, 459
  Lenguas, 420, 425, 426, 427, 428
  Libyan Family, 163
  Lithuanians, 113, 116
  Livonians, 129

  MACASKILL ISLANDERS, 402
  Macassars, 365, 373
  Macedonians, 152
  Machicuys, 420, 428, 430, 432
  Madagascar, 364
  Magachs, 435, 436
  Magyars, 113, 146, 147, 148, 149
  Magyar type, 149
  _Mahana_, 427
  Mahometanism, 163, 193, 250
  Mahrattas, 340
  Malabar Family, 339, 354
  Malay Branch (Brown Race), 365
  ---- customs, 366
  ---- type, 365, 366
  Malaysia, 365
  Man, agricultural stage of, 25
  ---- birthplace of, 8
  ---- brain of, 22
  ---- carriage of, 27
  ---- colour of, 29
  ---- cranium of, 25
  ---- definition of, 1
  ---- divine origin of, 24
  ---- fundamental languages of, 9
  ---- types of, 9
  ---- hand of, 23
  ---- hunting stage of, 35
  ---- intelligence of, 1, 30
  ---- language of, 31
  ---- moral attributes of, 33
  ---- nervous system of, 29
  ---- organization of, 21
  ---- origin of, 3, 4, 8
  ---- original migrations of, 9
  ---- pastoral stage of, 35
  ---- primitive societies of, 35
  ---- senses of, 22
  ---- stature of, 28
  ---- unity of, 16
  ---- writing of, 32
  Manchús, 223
  Mandan Indians, 492, 493
  Manilla, 374
  Manufactures, primitive, 37
  Maoris, 381
  Maori cannibalism, 386
  ---- chiefs, 387
  ---- costume, 381
  ---- customs, 382, 386
  ---- dances, 385
  ---- language, 385
  ---- religion, 385
  ---- type, 381
  ---- weapons, 385
  ---- women, 381
  Maratsi, 498
  _Maro_, 398
  Maronites, 188, 250
  Maronite manuscripts, 190
  Maropas, 410
  Marquesans, 395
  Mataguayos, 420
  Melanesians, 519
  Mesopotamians, 186
  Messenians, 150
  Metscheriaks, 129
  Mexicans, 452
  ---- ancient, 405, 454
  ---- modern, 454, 455, 456, 458
  Mexican Indians, 454
  Micronesians, 365, 400, 401, 402
  Mikado, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 316, 317
  Military Confines, 132, 140
  Mingrelians, 204
  Mirdites, 162
  Mixtecas, 460
  Mnemonic writing, 32
  Moadueinites, 129
  Mocéténès, 410
  Mohawk Indians, 484
  Mohicans, 460, 472
  Moldavians, 106
  Moldo-Walachians, 66, 105
  Mongolian Branch (Yellow Race), 205, 218
  Mongols, 218, 220
  Mongrels, 15
  Montenegriners, 116
  Moorish type, 87
  Moors, 172
  _Mora_, _La_, 97
  Moscas, 432, 434
  Moyas, 459
  _Mudir_, 252
  _Mufti_, 247
  Mulatto, 505
  Mulgrave Islanders, 401
  Muscogulges, 461
  Mutualis, 190

  NAHUATH, 406
  Nahuatlacas, 453
  Naïbs, 246
  Natchez Indians, 460, 472
  Navajoes, 481
  Nayas Indians, 485, 486, 488, 490, 492
  Neapolitans, 104
  Negroes, 361, 501
  Negro, brain of, 508
  ---- characteristics, 506, 508, 509, 512, 514, 515, 516, 517
  ---- cross breeds, 505
  ---- cruelty, 512
  ---- facial angle of, 508
  ---- imitative talent of, 515
  ---- memory, 514
  ---- music, 515, 516
  ---- religion, 512
  ---- slavery, 510
  ---- type, 502, 503, 504, 505
  Negus Theodorus, 360
  Nervous system of the White Man, 29
  ---- of the Negro, 30
  Nestorians, 250
  New Caledonians, 526, 527, 530
  New Caledonian cannibalism, 531
  New Zealanders, 381, 382, 384, 385, 386
  Nigritia, 364
  Nogays, 232, 238
  Northern Branch (Red Race), 451
  ---- north-eastern Family of, 459
  ---- north-western Family of, 493
  ---- southern Family of, 451
  Northern Italians, 101
  Norwegians, 42, 44
  Noubas, 361
  Nubians, 361, 362
  ---- Eastern, 362
  Nubian customs, 362
  ---- ruins, 362

  OCEANIA, 380
  Oceanian negroes, 519
  Octoroons, 505
  Olmecas, 459
  Organization of Man, 21
  Origin of coloured Races, 11
  ---- Man, 3, 4, 8
  Orthognathism, 26
  Osages, 478
  Osmanlis, 232, 239
  Ossetines, 190, 202
  Ostiaks, 129
  ---- of Temisia, 217
  Othomis, 460
  Oualan, 401
  _Ouhil_, 166
  Ouragas, 449
  Owas, 364
  Owhyhee, 397

  _PACHA_, 246
  _Padishah_, 244
  Pah-Utahs, 484
  _Pai-aguaá_, 436
  Palanquins, 264
  Pampas, 419
  Pampean Family, 407, 419
  Pandours, 144
  Pannonians, 116
  Papuan Family, 519
  Papuans, 520
  Paraguay, 435
  Parana, 435
  Pariahs, 337, 346, 348
  Patagonians, 420, 421
  Patagonian customs, 421, 422, 424
  ---- sacrifices, 424
  ---- stature, 28, 420
  _Paton-paton_, 385
  Pawnees, 470
  Payaguas, 437, 438, 440
  Payaguasian customs, 440, 441
  ---- stature, 437
  _Payes_, 425, 441, 442, 443
  Pecherays, 416, 417, 418, 419
  Pei-Ho river, 274
  Peking Imperial College, 286
  Permians, 129
  Persians, 163
  Persian customs, 194, 195, 196, 198, 199
  ---- Family, 190
  ---- government, 191
  ---- manufactures, 191
  ---- population, 193
  ---- religion, 193
  ---- type, ancient, 191
  ---- type, modern, 161
  ---- visits, 199
  ---- women, 197
  Peruvians, ancient, 405, 408
  ---- modern, 408, 409
  Peuhls, 363
  Phanariots, 155
  Phariagots, 450
  Philippine Islanders, 374
  Phœnicians, 183
  Piasts, 118
  _Pilou-pilou_, 528
  Pitiligas, 425
  Poles, 48, 113
  Polygenists, doctrines of, 16
  Polynesian customs, 380
  ---- Family, 365, 380
  Pomotouans, 395
  Populations of Africa, original, 11
  ---- America, original, 405
  ---- Asia, original, 11
  ---- Europe, original, 40, 41
  Portuguese, 80, 90
  ---- type, 90
  ---- women, 90
  Pouls, 363
  Procidans, 103
  Prognathism, 26
  Prussians, 54
  ---- type, 54
  Puelches, 420
  Pygmies, 28

  QUADROONS, 505
  Quarries, 129
  Quichuan type, 408
  Quichuas, 406, 407

  RACE, BLACK, 495
  ---- Brown, 335
  ---- definition of, 12, 13, 14
  ---- Red, 404
  ---- White, 30
  ---- Yellow, 205
  Races, Human, 38
  Rajpoots, 336, 340
  _Ramazan_, 250
  _Rebosso_, 454
  Red Indian characteristics, 470, 471, 486, 492
  ---- languages, 472
  ---- type, 460
  _Reiss effendi_, 247
  Rivobon-Sinton, 322
  Roman peasants, 96
  Romanians, 72
  Romans, 93
  Rousniaks, 120
  Russian type, 123
  ---- women, 124
  Russians, 113, 120, 121, 122
  _Russians_ (Bielo-), 118
  Ruthenians, 118

  SAGAÏS, 127
  Sahara, 172
  _Sahrong_, 368, 371
  _Saltatras_, 505
  Samchow, 266
  Samoiede Family, 206, 209
  Sandwichians, 396, 397
  Sandwichian morals, 399
  ---- type, 396
  ---- women, 396
  Sanskrit, 346
  _San-tse-king_, 284
  _Sarapé_, 455
  Sarmatians, 114
  Saxons, 55
  Saxon type, 16
  Scandinavians, 41
  Schiite sect, 236
  Scinde, natives of, 353
  Scythians, 114
  Seminoles, 478
  Semitic Family, 183
  Semitics, 163
  Senses of animals, 22
  ---- of Man, 22
  Seraglio, 240
  Servians, 113, 114, 130
  Shah, 191
  Shamanism, 223, 229
  Shamans, 229
  Shawnees, 480
  Shegya Arabs, 164
  Shellas, 163, 172
  Shiennes, 470
  Siamese, 324, 330, 331
  ---- agriculture, 332
  ---- Cambodia, 331
  ---- costume, 325
  ---- government, 328
  ---- Malacca, 331
  ---- population, 324
  ---- type, 324
  Sichuana language, 497
  Sikhs, 340
  Simnioles, 460
  Sinaic Branch (Yellow Race), 205, 254
  Sioux, 464
  ---- customs, 464, 465, 466
  Sivaism, 342
  Skin of Man, colours of, 29
  Slavonian Family, 41, 113
  Slavonians, 116
  ---- northern, 118, 119
  ---- southern, 120
  Slavonian type, 113, 114, 118, 119, 133
  ---- women, 134
  Slavonians, 116
  Slovachians, 118
  _Soff_, 166
  Sosists, 193
  Souakins, 363
  Sounanis, 186
  Southern Branch (Red Race), 407
  ---- Italians, 103
  ---- Italian type, 103
  Spaniards, 66, 80
  Spanish dances, 90
  ---- inquisition, 86
  ---- intolerance, 86
  ---- type, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88
  ---- women, 87
  Spartans, 150
  _Spathar_, 107
  Species, definition of, 12, 13, 14
  Stature of Man, 28
  Stieng savages, 332, 334
  Sudras, 336
  Suevians, 71
  Sunnite sect, 236
  Swedes, 42
  Symbolical writing, 33
  Syrians, 183, 186

  _TABOO_, 380, 391, 399
  Tabayari, 444
  Tacanas, 410
  Tadjiks, 190
  Tagals, 365, 373
  Tahitians, 391
  Tahitian customs, 393, 394, 395
  ---- type, 391, 392
  ---- women, 302
  Taïcoon, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 316, 317
  _Taktikios_, 154
  _Talagani_, 154
  Tamanacs, 449
  Tamboukis, 497
  Tameyi, 444
  Tammahas, 498
  Tamuls, 354
  Tapigoas, 444
  Tapinaqui, 444
  Tarascas, 459
  _Tatare_, 112
  Tattooing, 382, 390, 425, 438
  Taygetans, 150
  Tchecks, 113
  Tcheremissians, 129
  Tchoudans, 116
  Tchourachians, 129
  Teleouts, 127
  Telingas, 354
  _Tembeta_, 440
  Tepanecas, 459
  Teptiars, 129
  Terra del Fuego, 416
  Territory, Indian, 473, 478
  Teutonic Family, 41
  Thracians, 152
  Tibbous, 163, 357, 363
  Tibbou type, 363
  Tigré mountaineers, 360
  Timmimnes, 444
  Tobas, 420, 425, 428, 430
  Tobatinguas, 435
  Tokis, 385
  Toltecs, 452
  Tongas, 388
  Tonga customs, 389, 390, 391
  ---- type, 388
  Topas, 435
  Totonacs, 460
  Touaricks, 163, 172
  _Touloupa_, 123
  Tularenos, 493
  Tunguses, 218, 223
  ---- of Daouria, 223
  Tungusian Family, 223
  Tupi language, 444
  Tupinambi, 444
  Turajas, 375
  Turcomans, 232
  Turcoman customs, 234, 235, 236
  ---- religion, 235
  ---- type, 232
  ---- women, 232, 233, 234
  Turks, 218, 239, 244, 248
  Turkish administration, 246, 247, 248
  ---- agriculture, 252
  ---- corruption, 248
  ---- customs, 240, 242, 243, 244, 246
  ---- education, 252
  ---- Family, 229
  ---- Jews, 250
  ---- law, 244
  ---- literature, 251, 252
  ---- manufactures, 252
  ---- polygamy, 240
  ---- religion, 248
  ---- temperance, 239
  ---- type, ancient, 230
  ---- type, modern, 231, 239
  ---- women, 240, 241
  Tuscans, 101
  Tuscan type, 101
  Tzapotecas, 459

  _ULEMA_, 247
  United States, 65
  Uruguay, 435
  Uscoks, 116
  Uzbeks, 238

  VALENCIANS, 87
  Vampays, 484
  Varegians, 116
  Varna-Sancára (caste of), 337
  Varra tribe, 538
  Vativas, 497
  Venedians, 114
  Vogouls, 127, 129

  WALACHIANS, 105, 106, 111, 113
  Walachian minerals, 112
  ---- type; 109
  Wall of China, Great, 301
  Walloons, 72
  Western Branch (Black Race), 496
  Western Guarani, 444
  Writing, alphabetic, 33
  ---- Chinese, 282, 283, 284
  ---- symbolical, 33
  Würtembergers, 48

  XICALAUCAS, 460

  YAKOUBIS, 186
  Yakuts, 218
  Yakut customs, 226, 227, 228
  ---- Family, 223
  ---- religion, 226
  ---- type, 224, 225
  ---- women, 229
  Yankees, 65
  _Yaschmac_, 244
  Yeddo, 309
  Yellow Race, 205
  Yuracares, 410
  Yutes, 470

  ZASKAM, 112
  Ziguans, 112
  Zingari, 353
  Zoroath (religion of), 193


    BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.




Transcriber’s Notes:


  This text follows the text of the original work, including
  inconsistencies in spelling, lay-out, hyphenation, capitalisation,
  etc.; these have not been changed, except as mentioned below.

  Notes on the text:
  Some words from the Index do not occur in text.
  Wrong accents (Pyreneés, Lozére) have not been corrected.
  Page 151, Fallmeseyer: this is possibly a reference to Jakob Philipp
  Fallmerayer.
  Page 216, penguin eggs: this seems unlikely on the North Pole; the
  accompanying illustration shows flying birds. This is possibly a
  mistranslation from the French.

  Changes made to the original text:
  Illustrations have been moved outside paragraphs. Footnotes have been
  moved to directly underneath the paragraph to which they refer.
  Some obviously missing or incorrect punctuation has been corrected
  silently.
  Coloured plates and an unnumbered illustration have been added to the
  List of Illustrations.
  Page xii: BURIATS changed to BURÏATS as in text
  Page 10: terrestial changed to terrestrial
  Page 26: γηαθος changed to γναθος
  Page 65: silen men changed to silent men
  Page 66: Moldo-Wallachians changed to Moldo-Walachians as elsehwere
  Page 116: Slevenians changed to Slavonians
  Page 170: hundreth changed to hundredth
  Page 174: fig. 80 changed to fig. 74
  Page 214: This consist changed to This consists
  Page 243: (fig. 109) changed to (fig. 110)
  Page 262: develope changed to develop
  Page 267: Tea houses changed to Tea-houses as elsewhere
  Page 280 Footnote [9]: the original text “Idem” has been replaced with
  the same text as Foootnote [8]
  Page 305: tight fiting changed to tight fitting
  Page 342: developes changed to develops; threw coquettishly changed to
  throw coquettishly
  Page 361: Cammar changed to Cammas
  Page 381: tatooing changed to tattooing as elsewhere
  Page 395: somtimes changed to sometimes
  Page 420: Abipoous changed to Abipones
  Page 488: archeologists changed to archæologists as elsewhere
  Page 518: disagreeble changed to disagreeable
  Page 540: Caryii changed to Caryis as in text
  Page 541: Demoulins changed to Desmoulins as in text
  Page 542: Gadigues changed to Gadiguès; Dchera changed to Déhera;
  Dhamars changed to Dhamans; Djelodas changed to Dejelodar; Dejemua
  changed to Djemaa; Flathead changed to Flat-head; Fondaisi changed to
  Foudaïsi; Gadigues changed to Gadiguès (all as in text)
  Page 543: Hindôstani changed to Hindostani; Huasetecas, 489 changed to
  Huaxtecas, 460; Ischonians changed to Ischorians; kalyandjy changed to
  kalyaudjy (all as in text)
  Page 544: Manchus changed to Manchús as in text
  Page 545: Miridites changed to Mirdites; Pai-agnaa changed to
  Pai-aguaá as in text; Negus Theodoras changed to Negus Theodorus (all
  as in text)
  Page 546: Sagaris changed to Sagaïs as in text
  Page 547: Slevenians changed to Slavonians; Spathas changed to
  Spathar; Tamboukies changed to Tamboukis; Tchourachians changed to
  Tchouvachians (all as in text)
  Page 548: 242, 242, 244 changed to 232, 232, 234; Wurtembergers
  changed to Würtembergers (as in text); Yuracaures changed to Yuracares
  (as in text).