Liberia *♦- 



for and put on one side as somewhat specialised sections of 

 the Negro race, the remaining mass of black Negroes must be 

 divided into two principal physical types, the short-legged and 

 the long-legged. The most striking exemplars of the long- 

 legged Negro are the Nilotic tribes of the White Nile and 

 the north-east coast of the Victoria Nyanza. Amongst these 

 people it will be noticed that the legs both in men and women 

 are almost disproportionately long in comparison with the bust. 



Typical examples of the short-legged type may be seen 

 in the Lendu, Baamba, and Ba-nande Negroes of the north- 

 eastern fringe of the Congo Forest. The Red jQr of the 

 Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Congo Pygmies are other examples 

 of this short-legged type, which perhaps, on the whole, is 

 more characteristic of Western Africa and the forest region 

 than of the eastern and southern parts of the continent. The 

 long legged type crops out all down the eastern half of Africa, 

 as far south as Zululand. It is often noticeable at the north 

 end of Lake Nyasa or to the east of the Upper Zambezi. 



The Krus, generally speaking, belong to this short-legged 

 type. They have magnificent busts, but as a rule their legs 

 are short though sturdy, and this detracts from the sculptural 

 beauty of the upper part of the body, even making them look 

 clumsy and badly proportioned.' The arms, on the other 

 hand, are disproportionately long (from the point of view of 

 the European ideal), and when dropped flat against the sides 

 of the thighs the tip of the second finger is nearly level with 

 the beginning of the knee. The relative shortness of the 

 lower limbs is not so apparent in the women as in the men. 



' But there are exceptions, striking exceptions, to this general rule, notably 

 in the Kru peoples of the Ivory Coast east of the Cavalla River. Among these, 

 and occasionally among the Liberian Krus, may be seen noble specimens of 

 humanity. This well-proportioned type is illustrated on p. 311 in Singer's book, 

 Du Niger, etc. 



