294 THE PYGMY RACES OF MEN xix 



ments will scarcely be prepared, however, to learn how meagre, 

 unsatisfactory, and unreliable our knowledge of the stature 

 of most of the races of mankind is at present, although un- 

 questionably it has been considerably increased within recent 

 years. We must, however, make use of such material as we 

 possess, and trust to the future correction of errors when 

 better opportunities occur. 



It is convenient to divide men, according to their height, 

 into three groups tall, medium, and short ; in Topinard's 

 system, 1 the first being those the average height (of the men) 

 of which is above 1*700 metres (5 feet 7 inches), the last 

 those below 1*600 metres (5 feet 3 inches), and the middle 

 division those between the two. In the short division are 

 included certain of the Mongolian or yellow races of Asia, as 

 the Samoyedes, the Ostiaks, the Japanese, the Siamese, and 

 the Annamites ; also the Veddahs of Ceylon and certain of 

 the wild hill -tribes of Southern India. These all range 

 between 1*525 and 1*600 metres say between 5 feet and 

 5 feet 3 inches. 



It is of none of these people that I am going to speak to- 

 day. My pygmies are all on a still smaller scale, the average 

 height of the men being in all cases below 5 feet in some 

 cases, as we shall see, considerably below. 



Besides their diminutive size, I may note at the outset 

 that they all have in a strongly-marked degree the character 

 of the hair distinguished as frizzly i.e. growing in very fine, 

 close curls, and flattened or elliptical in section, and therefore, 

 whatever other structural differences they present, they all 

 belong to the same primary branch of the human species as 

 the African negro and the Melanesian of the Western Pacific. 



I will first direct your attention to a group of islands in 

 the Indian Ocean the Andamans where we shall find a 

 race in many respects of the greatest possible interest to the 

 anthropologist. 



These islands are situated in the Bay of Bengal between 

 the 10th and 14th parallels of north latitude, and near the 

 meridian 93 east of Greenwich, and consist of the Great and 

 Little Andamans. The former is about 140 miles long, and 



1 Elements d'Anthropologie Gtntral, p. 463. Paris, 1885. 



