March 15, 1900J 



NATURE 



463 



logical characters of human races, and their physio- 

 logical and psychological characters. The chapters on 

 the social life of men are prefaced by a useful classifica- 

 tion of states of civilisation. One chapter is devoted to 

 the various methods of the exchange of ideas, and others 

 deal with the factors of material life, such as food, fire, 

 pottery and habitations ; in the latter section, the author 

 draws attention to the essential distinction between fixed 

 and removable dwellings. The view is adopted that, in 

 warm climates, vanity begot ornaments which became 

 transformed little by little into dress. 



The chapter on the psychic life alludes to games 

 and recreations, fine arts, religion, myths and science. 

 Finally, there is one chapter devoted to family life, 

 and another to social life. 



With such a wide field to cover, the accounts of the 

 multitudinous aspects of human life must of necessity 

 be brief; but the author has maintained an admirable 

 perspective, and his descriptions are written clearly and 

 tersely, with no attempt at " fine writing." As Dr. 

 Deniker gives copious references, the reader will have 

 no difficulty in finding fuller information on any particular 

 subject, and his hope that " even professional anthro- 

 pologists " will be able to consult his works profitably is 

 well founded ; the tables of measurements and indices are 

 in this respect particularly useful. The book is well 

 illustrated, the racial types being very carefully chosen. 

 The introduction of more maps illustrating the dis- 

 tribution of the principal groups would have increased 

 the value of ^ the book. 



It is impossible in a book of this nature to avoid slips 

 of various kinds. For example, on p. 65, in the ex- 

 planation of Fig. 13, K is twice printed for X ; Bornea 

 is printed for Borneo, pp. 486, 487 ; and there are a few 

 other obvious misprints. On dealing with the question 

 of anthropophagy (p. 147), it should be noted that the 

 abandonment of cannibalism by the Fijians is very 

 recent, and that was due to the pressure brought to bear 

 on them by Europeans ; the same applies to several 

 tribes in New Guinea, but in others the practice still 

 continues. The fire-syringe (p. 150) is known in Java, 

 and the sawing method of making fire in New Guinea. 

 The fish-hnok ornament of Torres Straits (p. 204) was 

 made of tortoiseshell, not of mother-o'-pearl. Flinders 

 Fetrie has for some time abandoned the view that the 

 "new race" was of Libyan origin, and has shown that 

 these people were the neolithic ancestors of the Egyptians 

 (footnote, p. 429). 



It is scarcely fair to charge Dr. A. B. Meyer (foot- 

 note, p. 483) with supporting the Negrito origin of the 

 Kalangs of Java, as in his original paper in 1877 he did 

 so " with a certain reservation," and he candidly admitted 

 his mistake in his fine monograph on the Negritos in 

 1893. Although Dr. Deniker is usually so careful in his 

 references, he has omitted to refer the reader to any of 

 Dr. Meyer's valuable publications, with the exception of 

 this unfortunate instance. 



Like most anthropologists. Dr. Deniker employs the 

 term Dyak to signify a native of Borneo. Since the pub- 

 lication of Ling Roth's book on "The Natives of 

 Sarawak," there is little excuse for employing that term 

 in an ambiguous manner, unless, of course, an author, 

 who may be quoted, gives no more precise information. 

 NO. 15ii5, VOL. 61] 



The Land Dayaks inhabit the original Sarawak territory. 

 The Sea Dayaks are a very differ'fent people, and equally 

 distinct are the extensive groups cf Kenyahs, Punans, 

 Muruts, &c. ; but, as no precise anthropometrical data 

 were available when the book was written, it is unreason- 

 able to expect a thorough disentangling of the complex of 

 peoples in this large island. Suffice it to say, that a pro- 

 nounced dolichocephalic element is present, which is 

 probably that recognised by Dr. Deniker as Indonesian. 

 Dr. Deniker states (p. 486) : — 



" It is even possible that the Malays are a mixed 

 nation, sprung from the intermixture of Indonesians with 

 various Burmese, Negrito, Hindu, Chinese, Papuan, and 

 other elements. In this case, the Indonesians would be 

 the pure Malay type, the real proto- Malays." 



It is probable that the " Malays " everywhere are a 

 mixed people, and have a different composition in various 

 localities, but our author appears to have overlooked what 

 would be the probable effect of a mixture of most of these 

 elements on the cephalic mdex of his proto-Malays. He 

 states that the Indonesians have a cephalic index of 78"5 

 while the Malays have an index of 85. The Burmese 

 index and that of the Aeta Negritos is somewhat less than 

 this, while that of the Sakais is about 79. The Southern 

 Chinese have an index of 81, and Hindus {i.e. Talugus or 

 Klings) and the Papuans are markedly dolichocephalic. 

 It is, then, difficult to see how the brachycephaly could 

 have arisen ; on p. 590 the presumably fairly pure 

 Sumatran Malays are put down as 82'8, but though this 

 lessens, it does not do away with this difficulty. 



There is no particular reason for the surprise of M. 

 Senart (p. 404) at Brahmans offering water to travellers 

 at railway stations ; a high caste Hindu could not receive 

 water from one of low caste, and by the simple ex- 

 pedient of avoiding absolute contact of person or vessel 

 no contamination is received from giving water to low 

 caste Hindus. 



The Kolarians (p. 408) have a tradition that they came 

 from the North-east, and they may be the remains of one 

 of the various migrations which have assisted towards 

 forming the complex population of India. This does 

 not necessarily imply that they have a Mongolian strain. 

 Sir William Turner-has recently ^ investigated the crani- 

 ology of the Hill Tribes of the North-east Frontier, and 

 he identifies a dolichocephalic, non-Mongolian element, 

 which appears to the present writer to be akin to the 

 Indonesian stock. Some authorities regard the true 

 Dravidians as the more or less modified relics of another, 

 and possibly later, migration from the North-west, which 

 partially replaced and submerged the Kolarian stock. 



A special feature in the book is the classification of 

 the peoples of Europe. He recognises : (i) a Northern 

 Race (fair, dolichocephalic, very tall) ; (2) an Eastern 

 Race (fair, sub-brachycephalic, short) ; (3) an Ibero- 

 Insular Race (dark, dolichocephalic, short) ; (4) a Wes- 

 tern or Cevenole Race (dark, very brachycephalic, short) ; 

 (5) a Littoral or Atlanto-Mediterranean Race (dark, 

 mesocephalic, tall) ; (6) an Adriatic or Dinaric Race (dark, 

 brachycephalic, tall), and several sub-races. The first, 

 third, and fourth of these races are commonly accepted, 

 and there will probably be some discussion concerning 



1 "Contributions to the Craniology of the People of the Empire of India. 

 Part 1." Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. xxxix. 1899, pp. 703. 



