DISTINCTIVE PECULIARITIES OF THE RACES OF MAN. 89 



could only affect the opulent and powerful amongst the race ; and the great 

 mass of the Turkish population have always intermarried among themselves. 

 The difference of religion and manners must have kept them separate from 

 those Greeks whom they subdued in the new Ottoman countries ; and in Per- 

 sia, the Tajiks, or real Persians, still remain quite distinct from their Turkish 

 rulers, belonging to a different sect among the Mussulmans, and commonly 

 living apart from them. In like manner, even the Negro head and face may 

 become assimilated to the European, by long subjection to similar influences; 

 thus, in some of our older West Indian Colonies, it is not uncommon to meet 

 with Negroes, the descendants of those first introduced there, who exhibit 

 a very European physiognomy; and it has even been asserted that a Negro 

 belonging to the Dutch portion of Guiana, may be distinguished from another 

 belonging to the British settlements, by the similarity of his features and ex- 

 pression to those which peculiarly characterize his masters. The effect could 

 not be here produced by the intermixture of bloods, since this would be made 

 apparent by alteration of colour. 



88. Next to the characters derived from the form of the head, those which 

 are founded upon the form of the pelvis seem entitled to rank. These have 

 been particularly examined by Professors Vrolik and Weber. The former 

 concluded from his examinations of this part of the skeleton, that the pelvis 

 of the Negress, and still more that of the female Hottentot, approximates to 

 that of the 8imia3 in its general configuration ; especially in its length and 

 narrowness, the iliac bones having a more vertical position, so that the ante- 

 rior spines approach one another much more closely than they do in the Euro- 

 pean ; and the sacrum also being longer and narrower. On the other hand, 

 Prof. Weber concludes, from a more comprehensive survey, that no particular 

 figure is a permanent characteristic of any one race. He groups the principal 

 varieties which he has met with, according to the form of the upper opening, 

 whether oval, round, four-sided, or wedge-shaped. The first of these is 

 most frequent in the European races ; the second, among the American races ; 

 the third, most common among the Mongolian nations, corresponds remarka- 

 bly with the form of their heads ; whilst the last chiefly occurs among the 

 races of Africa, and is in like manner conformable with the oblong com- 

 pressed form usually presented by their cranium. But though there are par- 

 ticular shapes which are most prevalent in each race, yet there are numerous 

 individual deviations ; of such a nature, that every variety of form presents 

 itself occasionally in any given race. 



89. Other variations have been observed by anatomists, in the relative length 

 of the bones, and in the shape of the limbs, between the different races of 

 Man ; but these also seem to have reference to the degree of civilization, and 

 to the regularity of the supply of wholesome nutriment. It is generally to 

 be observed, that the races least improved by civilization, like the uncultivated 

 breeds of animals, have slender, lean, and elongated limbs ; this may be es- 

 pecially remarked in the natives of Australia. In nearly all the less civilized 

 races of Men, the limbs are more crooked and badly formed than the average 

 of those of Europeans; and this is particularly the case in the Negro, the 

 bones of whose legs bow outwards, and whose feet are remarkably flat. It 

 has been generally believed, that the length of the forearm in the Negro is so 

 much greater than in the European, as to constitute a real character of ap- 

 proximation to the Apes. The difference, however, is in reality extremely 

 slight ; and is not at all comparable with that which exists between the most 

 uncultivated races of Men and the highest Apes ( 54). And in regard to all 

 the peculiarities here alluded to, it is to be observed, that they can only be 

 discovered by the comparison of large numbers of one race with correspond- 

 ing numbers of another ; for individuals are found in every tribe, possessing 



8* 



