INHABITANTS. 19 



who approach, nearest to the traditional type as popularised on the stage are those 

 of the Atlantic seaboard. Nowhere else has the slave-trade caused greater havoc 

 than amongst these tribes, and the hatred of the white master for his slave has 

 tended to exaggerate the repulsive type attributed to the slave races in general. 



According to physiologists, the blood of the Negro is thicker and less red than 

 that of the whites. It coagulates more rapidly and flows more sluggishly. The 

 Negro, like the yellow Asiastic Mongol, is of a less sensitive temperament than the 

 European. He suffers less under surgical operations, and runs less danger from 

 their consequences ; his nervous life is less intense, his pulsation less active, than 

 that of Europeans. Several of the maladies common in Europe are unknown, or at 

 least very rare, in Africa. Cancer, croup, dental caries, typhoid and marsh fevers, 

 seldom attack the Negro, who on the other hand suffers more from bilious and 

 cutaneous disorders. Tetanus also is much dreaded by them, and the least change 

 of climate exposes them to pulmonary affections. AYhere the whites and blacks 

 live side by side on the same plantations, the former fall victims to yellow fever, 

 the latter to cholera. Home-sickness is also one of the most fatal affections of 

 the African race. 



The portion of Africa lying in the southern hemisphere is mainly occupied by 

 the Bantus, whose various communities present a somewhat analogous type, and 

 speak languages derived from a common stock, as had already been observed by 

 Lichtenstein at the beginning of the century. The Kafirs of Natal and Cape 

 Colony are amongst the finest of this noble Bantu race, which rivals the Barabra 

 of the Nile in its proud carriage and graceful attitudes. But in direct contact 

 with these superb Africans are found other aborigines presenting a totally different 

 and far less noble type. These are the Koikoin, or Hottentots, characterised by 

 a yellowish complexion, low stature, and slightly developed muscular system. 

 These commimities, as distinct from the Bantus as are the Chinese from the 

 Aryans, may perhaps represent a vanquished race driven by the invaders gradually 

 to the southernmost limits of the continent. But such a hypothesis seems much 

 more justified in respect of certain " pigmy peoples" scattered over a great part of 

 Africa. Such are the San, or Bosjesmen, that is " Bushmen," of South Africa, the 

 Dokos of Kaffa, the Akka or Tikki-tikki of the Welle River, the Obongo of the 

 Ogowe basin. In connection with these dwarfish populations, and especially the 

 Bushmen, anthropologists have observed that if Africa is the continent of the great 

 anthropoid apes, such as the gorilla and chimpanzee, it is also the home of the 

 most ape-like human races. In this region of the globe, they tell us, the two 

 orders of primates approach nearest to each other. One is tempted to regard these 

 pigmies as a remnant of the aboriginal element deprived of their lands by stronger 

 intruding races. 



The inhabitants of Madagascar are only partly connected with those of the 

 neighbouring continent, for a portion of the population is certainly of Malay 

 origin. Like the local plants and animals, it bears witness to the geographical 

 independence of the island. But in the adjacent Comoro group the prevailing 

 speech is African. 



