1350 



VARIETIES OF MANKIND. 



not to be regarded as Arian, but as Mon- 

 golian ; and the introduction of the Sanscrit 

 language was accomplished by an invading 

 branch of the Arian stock, the only trace of 

 which is to be found in the distinctness of 

 the Brahminical portion of the Hindoo popu- 

 lation, in whose religious and other writings 

 the Sanscrit language is still preserved. 



In the Asiatic group of Indo-Germanic 

 nations, the same general type of conforma- 

 tion presents itself as in the European : there 

 is, however, a much greater variety of com- 

 plexion. The mountaineers, even within the 

 tropics, are often as fair as Europeans ; whilst 

 those who live in the level plains, and are ex- 

 posed to the full heat of the torrid zone, may 

 be of a very deep brown or even black hue. 

 The variety of complexion shown among 

 the Hindoos, even in the Brahminical caste, 

 has been already adverted to. There is 

 but little to remind us of the Mongolian type 

 in the countenances of the Hindoos, which 

 are often remarkable for symmetrical beauty, 

 that only want a more intellectual expression 

 to render them extremely striking ; some traces 

 of it, however, may perhaps be found in the 

 rather prominent zygomatic arches (Jig. 828) ; 



Fig. 828. 



the colour darker, but the cheek bones are 

 more prominent, the hair coarse, scanty, and 

 straight, the nose flattened ; and sometimes 

 the lips are very thick, and the jaws project, 

 so that we have indications of a transition 

 towards both the pyramidal and the progna- 

 thous types. 



The south-western portion of Asia is occu- 

 pied by the Arabs and other Semitic races, 

 which, as will be presently explained, form the 

 transition between the proper Asiatic and pro- 

 per African nations. 



The whole remainder of the vast Asiatic 

 continent is occupied by nations which present 

 a sufficiently close approximation to each 

 other, either in physical characters or in lan- 

 guage, or in both, to justify their association 

 in one extensive group, under the name of 

 Mongolian. The typical character of this 

 great family of nations, as seen in a Mongolian 

 or a Tungus from Central Asia, consists in 

 the pyramidal form of the skull (fig. 811. et 

 seq.), with the broad flat face and prominent 

 cheek-bones, and its antero-posterior diameter 

 scarcely exceeding the parietal ; the nose is 

 flat, neither arched nor aquiline ; the eyes 

 drawn up wards at their outer angle (fig. 8 1 4.) ; 

 the skin of a swarthy yellow ; the hair straight 

 and scanty, and the beard deficient ; and the 

 stature undersized. These characters are 

 softened down in many members of the group ; 

 and may even be entirely wanting, as for in- 

 stance, in the Circassians and Georgians, (p. 

 1328.), termed by Dr. Latham the Dioscurian 

 Mongolidae. Still they are very extensively 

 distributed ; and there is by no means the same 

 amount of variation in complexion, under the 

 influence of temperature, that is seen in the 

 Indo-Germanic races. The following, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Latham, are the principal groups 

 into which the Asiatic nations may be ar- 

 ranged : 1. The Seriform stock, distributed 

 over China, Thibet, the Indo-Chinese penin- 

 sula, and the base of the Himalayan range of 

 mountains ; their configuration is Mongolian, 

 softened down (fg. 829.) ; their languages 



Fig. 829. 



Hindoo Female of Pondicherry. (From a portrait 

 in M. Geringer's " L'Inde Francaise.") 



but this is a character which not unfrequently 



shows itself strongly in the Arian races (e.g. 



the Celts) ; and the cranial part of the skull 



presents no approach to the pyramidal type, 



being often very regularly elliptical. Among 



the southern inhabitants of the peninsula, 



however, a much greater departure from the are aptotic, or with only the rudiments of an 



Caucasian type presents itself ; for not only is inflexion ; and they thus preserve more than 



Skull of a Chinese Ladrone. (From a specimen in 

 the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.) 



