NEGRO PHYSIQUE. 273 



stand at the opposite extreme. Enjoying an excellent 

 climate and a wholesome supply of food, they are 

 superior ( to most other people of their race. Yet it 

 is certain that they are negroes, for they have woolly 

 hair, and they do not differ in language or manners 

 from the inhabitants of the other platforms. When 

 the Portuguese first traded on the African coasts, they 

 gave the name Caffres (or Pagans) to the negroes of 

 Guinea as well as to those of the Cape and the 

 Mozambique. It is quite an accident that the name 

 has been retained for the latter tribes alone ; yet such 

 is the power of a name, that the Caffres and negroes 

 are universally supposed to be distinct. It is impos- 

 sible, however, to draw any line between the two. 

 Pure negroes are born on the coast of Guinea and in 

 the interior with complexions as light, with limbs as 

 symmetrical, and with features as near to the Euro- 

 pean standard as can be found in all Caffraria. Be- 

 tween the hideous beings of the Nile and Niger 

 deltas and the robust shepherds of the south, or the 

 aristocratic chieftains of the west, there is a wide 

 difference no doubt, but the intermediate gradations 

 exist. There is also much variety among the negroes 

 in respect to manners, mental condition, political 

 government, and mode of life. Some tribes live only 

 on the fruit of net and spear, eked out with insects, 

 and berries, and shells. Property is ill defined among 

 them ; if a man makes a canoe, the others use it when 

 they please ; if he builds a better house than his 

 neighbours, they pull it down. Others, though still in 

 the hunting condition, have gardens of plantains and 

 cassada. In this condition the head man of the 

 village has little power, but property is secured by 

 law. Other tribes are pastoral, and resemble the 

 s 



