310 MAN: PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



say even white ; the eyes also less oblique, and all other character- 

 istically Mongol features generally softened, except the black lank 

 hair, which in transverse section is perhaps even rounder than that 

 of most other Mongol peoples'. 



With this it will be instructive to compare Dr Guillemard's 

 graphic account of the Liu-Kiu islanders, whose Koreo-Japanese 

 affinities are now placed beyond all doubt : " They are a short 

 race, probably even shorter than the Japanese, but much better 

 proportioned, being without the long bodies and short legs of the 

 latter people, and having as a rule extremely well-developed 

 chests. The colour of the skin varies of course with the social 

 position of the individual. Those who work in the fields, clad 

 only in a waist-cloth, are nearly as dark as a Malay, but the upper 

 classes are much fairer, and are at the same time devoid of any 

 of the yellow tint of the Chinaman. To the latter race indeed 

 they cannot be said to bear any resemblance, and though the 

 type is much closer to the Japanese, it is nevertheless very distinct. 

 ...In Liu-Kiu the Japanese and natives were easily recognised by 

 us from the first, and must therefore be possessed 



Japanese 



and Liu-Kiu of very considerable differences. The Liu-Kiuan 

 has the face less flattened, the eyes are more deeply 

 set, and the nose more prominent at its origin. The forehead 

 is high and the cheek-bones somewhat less marked than in the 

 Japanese ; the eyebrows are arched and thick, and the eyelashes 

 long. The expression is gentle and pleasing, though somewhat 

 sad, and is apparently a true index of their character 2 ." 



This description is not accepted without some reserve by Mr 

 Chamberlain, who in fact holds that "the physical type of the 

 Luchuans resembles that of the Japanese almost to identity 3 ." 

 In explanation however of the singularly mild, inoffensive, and 

 "even timid disposition" of the Liu-Kiuans, this observer suggests 

 "the probable absence of any admixture of Malay blood in the 

 race 4 ." But everybody admits a Malay element in Japan. It 



1 See especially Dr E. Balz, Die korperlichen Eigenschaften der Japaner, 

 in Mitt, der Deutschen Ges. f. Natnr. u. Volkerkunde Ostasiens, 28 and 32. 

 ' Cruise of the Marchesa, 1886, I. p. 36. 



3 Geogr. Jonrn. 1895, II. p. 318. 



4 Ibid. p. 460. 



