604 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Gmelin, the top of the head is slightly narrowed ; the face is less narrow than that of the 

 Negro ; the fea- -^=_ tures are generally more prominent ; the hair is black, soft, 



curled, andabun- ^i~f/] fe dant; the colour of the skin is tawny, but sometimes ap- 

 proaching to that ^BBllifo^ ^ man gany. The division embraces the 

 principal tribes JKHSHrciillfefe of the Indian archipelago, and all the islanders 



of the Pacific, excepting those which belong 

 to the Ethiopic variety. 



The preceding five great divisions of Blu- 

 menbach are reduced by some naturalists to 

 three, who consider the Malay class to be 

 only a sub-variety of the Caucasian, and the 

 American a sub-variety of the Mongolian. 

 Cuvier gives only three distinct well-marked 

 divisions, the white or Caucasian, the yellow 

 or Mongolian, and the Negro or Ethiopic ; 

 at the same time stating that several tribes 

 diverge so remarkably, that they can scarcely 

 be referred to any one of these varieties. In reality, the more extended arrangement of 

 Blumenbach is but a very imperfect classification of mankind, for not only individuals 

 but whole tribes, incorporated in each particular division, have distinctive characters which 

 separate them from the rest of the class, and some peculiarities of one division are 

 frequently traceable in the others. The Caucasians might be readily divided into a large 

 number of races, each having definite characteristics. This is the case also with the 

 Ethiopic class, for there is nearly as much difference between the New Hollanders and the 

 woolly-headed Africans, included in the same department of the human species, and 

 between a Bosjesmen, a Caffre, and a Negro of Soudan, who are also comprised in the 

 Ethiopic variety, as between a Caucasian, Mongolian, and Malay. It has also occurred, 

 that from the spirit of conquest and of peaceful colonisation, nations belonging to the 

 divisions of Blumenbach have become commingle^, and have produced, by intermarriage, 

 races which cannot be distinctly traced to either the one or the other of the parent classes. 

 The Mongols, for instance, have spread out from central Asia and largely intermixed with 

 the Caucasians, especially towards their western frontiers, while the Caucasians have 

 intruded into every quarter of the globe, and blended themselves with the native inhabitants 

 of the countries they have overrun. No where has this amalgamation taken place more 

 extensively than in the West India islands, in the southern United States, in Mexico, and 

 in the northern countries of South America, where the whites have intermixed with the 

 dark-coloured native Indians and the Negros violently transported from Africa to minister 

 to their sordid avarice. The Europeans and Negros produce Mulattos ; Europeans and 

 Mulattos produce Tercerons ; Europeans and Tercerons produce Quadroons, in whom the 

 alleged contamination of dark blood is no longer visible, and the Negro character dis- 

 appears. On the other hand, the offspring of a Mulatto and a Negro, pairing with a Negro, 

 the decided African character appears in the children. Indians and Europeans produce 

 Mestizos ; Indians and Negros produce Zambos ; Europeans and Zambos and Indians 

 and Zambos produce respective varieties. It is obvious, therefore, that the preceding 

 divisions of mankind, principally derived from the supposed origin of nations, can only 

 be regarded as extremely general. 



Attending exclusively to the form of the human skull, Dr. Prichard discriminates 

 three leading varieties: The symmetrical or oval form, which is that of the European 

 and western Asiatic nations ; the narrow and elongated skull, of which the most strongly 

 marked example is perhaps the cranium of the Negro of the Gold Coast ; the broad and 



