CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEGRO. 517 



their regular features, the elegance of their forms and the development 

 of their faculties, evidently connect them, some with the Semites, 

 others with the Aryan-Hindus. 



On the other hand, several varieties of Negroes properly so-called 

 wear but a fuliginous or reddish-brown tint. It is, therefore, by less 

 superficial peculiarities that we distinguish the true Negro. His skull 

 is elongated, and laterally compressed. Sometimes his jaw projects, 

 a characteristic scientifically designated by the name of prognathism ; 

 sometimes it is more vertically disposed, but then the cheek-bones (or 

 " zygomathic arches ") are extremely prominent. His teeth project ; 

 that is, they are inclined outward, and always long and white. The 

 skeleton, whiter than our own, is also heavier and more massive. 

 The abdomen is exceedingly narrow, and with a conical cavity ; the 

 legs are bowed. Short the neck, broad the thorax, and convex, and 

 generally well made. The muscles, but slightly developed in propor- 

 tion to the dimensions of the osseous framework, have not the vivid 

 red colour which distinguishes the flesh of the European ; the blood 

 is black, thick, and circulates slowly. The body is always deprived 

 of hair ; there is little or no beard ; the hair of the head is black, 

 woolly, and frizzled. The eyes are of the deepest black, but inexpres- 

 sive. The forehead is low, the chin short, the mouth large, the lips are 

 long and thick. Finally, and this is the most remarkable sign of the 

 Negro's inferiority, the type of the face, in the same race, is so uni- 

 form that it is difficult to distinguish one individual from another. 

 To this physical uniformity corresponds a moral and intellectual 

 uniformity, which effaces, so to speak, all individuality. In Africa 

 we meet with numerous tribes more or less intelligent and capable 

 of being educated, many sanguinary and fierce, others benevolent and 

 inoffensive ; but the character and dispositions of a tribe are repro- 

 duced among all the individuals who compose it with scarcely per- 

 ceptible differences. 



The Negroes of Africa may be divided into three principal 

 varieties : the pure Negroes, the Kaffirs, and the Hottentots. The 

 former comprehends all the populations of the east, centre, and west 



