318 



BIMANA. 



various nations, who have arrogated to themselves the territory of the 

 Red Man, and of Negroes, dragged in as slaves of the European, who, 

 multiplying in the western world, still preserve their own characters, 

 the Colurnbic branch of the Occidental stock (Homo Columbicus, Bory) 

 maintains itself, to a great degree, in purity : it is distributed through 

 the wild forests of Canada, over the regions to the north-west and west 

 of the United States, through the Antilles, Terra Firma, and Columbia, to 

 the Amazon ; but is everywhere encroached upon by the advances of 

 European colonizers. 



The physical characters of this branch, subdivided into innumerable 

 tribes, may be summed up as follows : The stature is moderate ; the 

 proportions are admirable ; the limbs are formed for activity rather than 

 strength ; the feet are turned somewhat inward, instead of outward, as 

 in Europeans ; the forehead is flattened, and this natural depression is 

 often increased by art, the head being a long oval, often elevated at the 

 vertex ; the nose is prominent and aquiline ; the lips are moderately 

 thin ; the cheek-bones are elevated, but not angular, giving breadth to 

 the face ; the teeth are vertical ; the eye is large, but lowering, the expres- 

 sion of the countenance, indeed, being austere, and often ferocious : the 

 hair of the head is long, black, harsh, and glossy ; the beard is very 

 scanty, and the few hairs that appear are diligently eradicated : the colour 

 of the skin is copper-red, varying in intensity and duskiness. The men 

 are said never to have their hair grey with age. 



SOUTH AMERICAN BRANCH. The South American Branch (Homo 

 Americanus, Bory) is thus characterized : The head is large, and round, 

 with the forehead greatly depressed ; the superciliary ridge is boldly 

 prominent at its external angles; the cheek-bones are projecting; the 

 eyes are narrow and small ; the nose is depressed, with patulous nostrils ; 

 the lips are thick ; the mouth is large ; the teeth are vertical ; the skin 

 is swarthy, or dusky, rather than tinged with copper-red ; the hair of the 

 head is long, black, and harsh. This branch occupies the sources of the 

 Orinoco, the borders of the Amazon, Brazil, and Paraguay. According 

 to M. Bory, the Araucanians of the interior of Chili, so different from 

 the Malays (Neptunians) of the shore, to which the latter confine them- 

 selves, are probably, also, referable to it. With regard to the colour 

 of the various tribes, it may be observed that the Botacudos are of a 

 light brown, and sometimes white, even near the tropic; while the 

 Guayacas, almost under the line, are perfectly white. The Charruas 

 of Buenos-Ayres, under the fortieth degree south latitude, are, on the 

 other hand, almost black, and without any tint of red. The Omaguas, 

 under the fifth degree, are of the colour of bistre, with a tumid body, a 

 thick beard, and a hairy chest. The Guaranis and the Coruados, on 

 the contrary, are destitute of hair on the chin and chest. 



