512 THE PKOrLlNG OF THK THILirriXKS. 



satistios. Tho blacks, it is said, have orispod hair, tho Polynosian^ and 

 lio-ht -colored peoples have smooth hair. But this declaration is erro- 

 neous in it^? g'enerality. It is in no way easy to declare absolutely what 

 hair is to be called crisp, and it is still more ditHcult to define in m hat 

 respects the so-called crisp varieties diti'er one from another. For a 

 long time the Australian hair was denominated crisp, until it was 

 evident that it I'ould be classed neither with that of the Afrii-ans nor 

 with that of the Philippine blacks. Semper, one of the tirst travelers 

 to furnish a somewhat complete description i>f the physical characters 

 of the Negritos, describes it as an "extremely thii'k. brown-black. 

 lack-luster, and crisp-wot>lly crown of hair.'*^ Among these pctniliari- 

 ties the lack-luster is unimportant, since it is dut^ to want of care antl 

 uncleanliness. On the contrary, the other data furnish true I'haracters 

 of the hair, and among them the crisp-woolly peculiarity is most 

 valuable. 



On the terms "wool" and "woolly" severe controversit^s. which have 

 not yet closed, have taken place among ethnologists during the hist 

 ten years. Also the lack of care, especially the absence of the t'omb, 

 has here acted as a disturbing cause in the decision. Rut tiiere is yet 

 a set of peoples, which were formerly included, that are now being 

 gradually disassociated, especially the Australians and tlu' Veddahs, 

 whose hair, by means of special care, appears (piite wavy if not 

 entirely sleek and smooth. Generally it is frowzy and matted, so 

 that its natural form is difficult to recognize. To it is wanting the 

 chief peculiarity, which obtrudes itself in the African blacks so char- 

 acteristically that the compact spiral form which it assumes from its 

 root, the so-called "pepper-corn." is selected as the preferable mark 

 of the race. The peculiar nappy head has its origin in the spiral 

 "r(>//c/u7^" As to the Asiatic blacks this has been for a long tunc 

 known among the Andamanese; it has lately been noticed upon the 

 Sakai of ^lalacca, and it is to be found also anu)ng the Negritos of the 

 Philippines, as I can show by specunens. Therefore, if we seek 

 ethnic relationships for the Negritos of the Philippii.es, or as the}' are 

 named, the ^l^^tas (Etas, Itas), such connections obtrude themselves 

 with the stocks named, and the more strongly since they all have 

 brachycephalic. relatively small (naunocephalic) heads and through 

 their small size attach themselves to the peculiar dwarf tribes. 



I might here comment on the singular fact that the Andaman 

 Islands are situated near the Nicobars in the Indian Ocean, but that 

 the populations on both sides of them are entirely different. In my 

 own detailed descriptions which treat of the skulls and the hair 

 specially,' it is affirmed that the typical skull shape of the Nicobarese 

 is dolichocephalic and that "their hair stands between the straight 



^ Die rhilippineu uud ihre Bewohuer, "Wurzburir, 1S69, p. 49. 



^ Verluviidl. dt'r lierliuer Authrop. Gesellschaft, 1885, pp. 104, 109, 



