374- Di' Hodgkin on the 



thickness and weight. An example of this kind of head is, if 

 I am not mistaken, exhibited in the antique statue of a Negro 

 in the act of stooping, and which is commonly called the knife- 

 grinder. The striking peculiarities of these heads are exagger- 

 ated in American caricatures, in which, contrasted with the 

 fine foreheads given to the Whites, they seem designed to sug- 

 gest the idea that they are scarcely human. 



The skulls of CafFres present a form of forehead which is inter- 

 mediate between the extremes which I have now described, the 

 lower part of the forehead being vertical, the frontal protuber- 

 ances being conspicuous, and the sides of the forehead not so 

 much bevelled oft' as in the Western heads. I was, therefore, 

 induced to believe that there was a gradual transition from the 

 most striking examples of the first type, by way of South Africa 

 to the Western coast, where the opposite type is the most 

 strongly marked. I communicated these views to my friend 

 Antonius D'Abbadie, when he was preparing himself to be- 

 come an African traveller, and who, whilst devoting much of 

 his time to the exact sciences, was not regardless of ethno- 

 graphical characteristics. Circumstances having led him to 

 visit Brazil, before his proceeding to Africa, he paid special 

 attention to the African race imported into that country. 

 The Portuguese, as is well known, have derived their slaves- 

 from the Western, as well as from the Eastern coast of Africa. 

 The observations of my friend not merely tended to confirm 

 the localities which I have assigned to forms, but on one oc- 

 casion he was enabled to correct a mistake which referred an 

 individual to the West coast, who, on more careful inquiry, 

 turned out to be derived from the East, as A. D'Abbadie had 

 insisted that he must have been. It is, however, highly pro- 

 bable that many exceptions may be met with, since it is well 

 known that Africans pass from one part of the continent to 

 another, making journeys occupying several months. Not 

 only individuals, but groups may possibly be found to clash 

 Avith the distribution, in the main correctly conjectured ; and 

 the Ethnography of Africa, when more completely filled up 

 than is at present the case, may furnish examples analogous 

 to the existence of Sclavonic families in the South of Europe. 



I much regret the want of observations and information 



