112 EVIDENCE FROM HEADS. 



overlapping its north-east corner, are tlie darkest, together 

 ■with some of the east coast and southern tribes. 



As regards stature, the lighter races are probably a little 

 below the average English height, with well-proportioned 

 limbs and graceful and agile movements. I think, however, 

 I have detected in some families of Andrians or nobles a 

 superior stature to the majority of the people, a fact which 

 may probably have arisen from the chiefs being able in 

 former times to procure more abundant and nutritious food, 

 from which circumstance also it is well known that the 

 chiefs of many of the Polynesian islands are of much superior 

 stature to their subjects. Some of, if not all, the darker- 

 coloured people are somewhat taller and more robust than 

 their lighter-tinted neighbours, with a fuller chest and more 

 massive limbs. 



The Hovas are noticeable for their well-shaped heads, 

 with high foreheads, and often European cast of counte- 

 nance. Their appearance gives one the idea of considerable 

 intellectual capacity. In some I have noticed the slightly 

 oblique position of the eyes, and a somewhat Chinese ex- 

 pression. Mr. Ellis's description of them in his Three Visits 

 to Madagascar may be accepted as generally correct, when he 

 says : " The foreheads were always well shaped, even when 

 the space between the eyebrows and hair, as in some few 

 instances, was comparatively narrow. The eyes were never 

 large and projecting, but clear and bright, and the eyebrows 

 well defined without being heavy. The nose was frequently 

 aquiline and firm ; it was, however, more frequently straight, 

 and sometimes short and broad, without fulness at the end. 

 Their lips were occasionally thick and slightly projecting ; 

 though seldom round and large, but often thin, and the lower 

 one gently projecting (possibly from snuff-taking), with short 

 curling upper lip. Their eyes are dark brown and hair jet 

 black. Style of feature seems to mark the Hovas much 

 more distinctly than colour and hair." The portraits given 

 in the works cited in the footnote '"" will fully confirm the 



* See The. History of Madagascar, vol. i. pp. Ii6, 117; Three Visits to 

 Madagascar, pp. 129, 137, 138, 413, 417; Madagascar Revisited, iip. 74, 220; 

 Tour du Monde, 2476 liv. pp. 211, 217, 219. 



