NATURE 



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situated to the north of these, in Natal and Zululand. 

 3. The Bechuanas, occupying the central or inland 

 country ; and 4. The Ova-hereros, or Damaras, of the 

 western coast-lands. Each of these divisions is com- 

 posed of numerous small tribes, frequently at war with 

 each other, and constantly changing in relative impor- 

 tance and even locality. The growth of the Zulu nation 

 is a striking example of the mutable character of native 

 African political combinations. At the commencement 

 of the present century they were an e.\tremely insignifi- 

 cant tribe, but by the military and political genius of 

 their chief, Chaka, who conquered and absorbed all the 

 neighbouring tribes, a powerful kingdom was formed, 

 which was consolidated by his successors, Dingaan, 

 Panda, and Ketchwhyo, under whom, however, it has 

 been destroyed by the superiority of European weapons 

 and organisation, at what cost we know too well. Five 

 crania of Zulus who were killed in the fatal battle of 

 Isandthlwana, on January 22 of last year, have already 

 reached the museum, through the kindness of Mr. Fynn, 

 a magistrate in Natal, Col. Mitchell, the Colonial Secre- 

 tary, and Dr. R. J. Mann, and their uniformity of charac- 

 ters is such that they probably are very fair average 

 specimens of the race. They are the skulls of large, 

 powerful men in the prime of life. The capacity of their 

 cranial cavity is remarkable, far above that of the ordi- 

 nary negro, even above that of the lower class of English- 

 men, the average of the five being 1,580 cubic centimetres. 

 One measures as much as 1,745. Their average latitu- 

 dinal inde.\ is 75'i, their altitudinal inde.x 76'6. Their 

 orbits are remarkably small and low; index S17. The 

 form of the nasal bones and nasal index (607) is charac- 

 teristically negroid, but they differ from ordinary negroes 

 in two important points. They are not truly prognathous, 

 but mesognathous, the alveolar index (ioo'4) being inter- 

 mediate between that of the negro and the European, 

 and their teeth are small, the index being only 407. The 

 crania of other Zulu and Kalir tribes previously ex- 

 amined give similar results, especially a larger cranial 

 capacity and a less degree of prognathism than is found 

 in the equatorial negro. 



Another great division of South African people com- 

 prises those popularly known as Hottentots and Bushmen, 

 or in their own language Koi-Koin. They formerly in- 

 habited a much larger district than at present ; but, 

 encroached upon by the Bantu from the north and by 

 the Dutch and English from the south, they are greatly 

 reduced in numbers, and indeed threatened with speedy 

 extinction. The Hottentots are at present divided into 

 three principal groups — the Namaquas, Korannas, and 

 the Griquas. The latter especially are much mixed up 

 with other races, and, under the inlluence of a civilisation 

 which has done little to improve their moral condition, 

 they have lost most of their distinctive peculiarities. The 

 pure-bred Hottentot is of moderate stature, has a 

 yellowish-brown complexion, very frizzly hair, which, being 

 less abundant than that of the ordinary negro, has the 

 appearance of growing in separate tufts. The forehead 

 and chin are narrow and the cheek-bones wide, giving a 

 lozenge-shaped visage. The nose is veiy flat and the 

 lips prominent. The women are often remarkable for 

 immense accumulation of fat upon the nates, called 

 steatopygy, and also of great elongation of the nympha: 

 and oi Vac prt'putiuin ch'foiiJis. In these anatomical 

 peculiarities, and in almost everything else except size, 

 the Bushmen agree with the Hottentots. In fact they 

 appear to be a stunted, outcast branch of the same race 

 living the life of the most degraded of savages among 

 the rocky caves and mountains of the lands where the 

 comparatively civilised and pastoral Hottentots dwelt in 

 the plains. Their usual appellation is derived from the 

 Dutch Bosjesman, or " man of the woods," and they 

 have been regarded both by Kafirs and Boers as some- 

 thing only half human, and have been treated accordingly. 



and nearly exterminated. Notwithstanding their gene- 

 rally low condition of culture, they show remarkable 

 pictorial power, drawing animals especially with life-like 

 accuracy. The osteological characters of the Bushmen 

 are tolerably well illustrated in the museum both by 

 skeletons and crania. Their average height would 

 appear to be from 4 feet 6 to 4 feet 8 inches, and there is 

 very little, if any, difference between the men and women 

 in this respect. The form of the skull is extremely 

 characteristic, and could scarcely be mistaken for that of 

 any other race. It has generally a very feminine, almost 

 infantile appearance ; though the capacity of the cranial 

 cavity is not the smallest, exceeding that of the .-Xnda- 

 manese and the Veddahs of Ceylon. In general form the 

 cranium is rather oblong than oval, having straight sides, 

 a flat top, and especially a vertical forehead, which rises 

 straight up from the root of the nose. The lower occi- 

 pital region is greatly developed, in marked contrast to 

 that of the Andaman islanders. They are moderately 

 dolichocephalic or mesaticephalic, the average of ten 

 specimens being 75^4. The height is in all considerably 

 less than the breadth, the average index being 7ri, so 

 that they are decidedly low skulls. The zygomata are 

 little developed, the malars project forwards about as 

 much as in the Mongolian races, giving anasi-malarangle 

 of 140^. The glabella and supra-orbital ridges are little 

 developed except in the oldest males. The orbits are 

 elongated and low (average index 8r4), the space between 

 the orbits very wide and flat, there being no depression at 

 the root of the nose. A large portion of the ascending 

 process of the maxilla is visible on each side of the nasals. 

 The nasal bones are extremely small and tlat. and the 

 aperture wide ; the average nasal index being 6o'8, so 

 that they are the most platyrhine of all races. On the 

 other hand they are rarely prognathous. In this, and 

 some other characters, there is much that recalls the 

 infantine condition of the true negro. 



Inhabitants of North Africa. — The whole of the 

 various populations inhabiting the portion of Africa 

 north of the Sahara Desert, from the Atlantic coasts 

 as far south as the River Senegal on the west to the 

 Red Sea on the east, belong to a completely different 

 type of mankind from that which we have been last 

 considering, and, as before mentioned, the boundaries 

 between the two types coincide remarkably with those of 

 zoological regions, as indicated by distinct characters of 

 the fauna. As must naturally have happened during the 

 vast length of time during which the people of Northern 

 Africa and the negroes have occupied contiguous regions 

 since the drying up of the Sahara Sea, with absolutely no 

 physical barrier between t':em, considerable intermixture 

 has taken place along the frontier line, and even for some 

 distance into the territories of each at certain points. In 

 the east, especially, the superior northern race has en- 

 croached far southwards, and the practice, which has 

 existed from the most ancient times down to our own, of 

 importing the negroes into the northern country as slaves 

 and soldiers, has given rise to a considerable modification 

 of the type in certain districts. 



Besides the negro element which has thus partially and 

 locally modified the characters of the inhabitants of 

 Northern Africa, at least two other adventitious ele- 

 ments, although with dift'ercnces small compared with 

 those last named, appear to have come into the district 

 and assisted to diversify the physical type. The evi- 

 dence on which the first of these rests is rather shadowy ; 

 but to account for the considerable number of individuals, 

 especially in Marocco, who depart at least in colour from 

 the prevailing North African type, and have fair com- 

 plexions, eyes, and hair, an immigration of a northern race 

 is supposed; and as all such immigrations within the strictly 

 historic period, such as that of the Vandals (A.D. 500) 

 have been on too small a scale or too temporary to effect 

 such a permanent change in a considerable portion of the 



