130 



ORDER BIMANA^GENUS HOMO 



limbs, without 'oemg thin; their shoulders in just proportion, and the 

 bust nearly hemispherical — " Elles n'ont presque pas de poil au pubis, 

 mais il y est ordinairement tres-dur ; elles accouchent avec une prodigi- 

 euse facilite, passent pour tres-lascives, et font connaitre leur penchant 

 a la volupte par la variete de mouvemens et d'attitudes qu'elles savent 

 prendre avec tant de souplesse dans ces dances qui les ont rendues des 

 Bayaderes celebres." (Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. art. Homme.)' The 

 puberty of the females is very precocious, as they often become mothers 

 at the age of nine or tea years, but lose this power of production at 

 thirtv. Few instances of longevity occur among the Hindoos. 



The Sanscrit, or dead language in which their sacred books were com- 

 posed, is written with fifty-two letters, and many thousands of abbreviat- 

 ing syllables. The Pracrit or common dialects of the country are very 

 numerous. From the earliest ages the Hindoo nation has been sub- 

 divided into four Tchadi or castes, consisting of the Brahmins, or sacred 

 order ; the Kshatriyas or soldiers, sometimes called the Rajas or Rajepoo- 

 tras, princes or sovereigns ; the Vaisjas, or shepherds and agriculturists ; 

 and the Sudras or labourers. This division, and the reputed dishonour 

 of a marriage out of each caste, have tended greatly to preserve the primi- 

 tive traits of the genuine Hindoo from foreign intermixture. Every 

 thing serves to prove the extreme antiquity of their civilization ; yet so 

 strong is the influence of their religious and political prejudices, tliat they 

 have preserved themselves almost stationary like the Chinese, though 

 exposed to a constant intercourse with Europeans. The simplicity, mild- 

 ness, and docility of their character, with their ignorance of the art of 

 war, have led them to submit to a handful of Europeans, allured to their 

 coasts merely by views of commercial advantage. Industrious and seden- 

 tary in their habits, they leave the rich commerce of their country to Arabs, 

 Jews, Malays, hinese, and especially to Europeans. Rice, seasoned with 

 pepper and other stimulants, forms their habitual food. The use of Ele- 

 phants in war, as well as for domestic purposes, was first introduced by 

 the Hindoos, and adopted afterwards by the Carthaginians in Northern 

 Africa, Spain, and Italy. 



The Hindoos believe in the transmigration of human souls into the 

 bodies of other animals, and consequently never embalm their dead. All 

 animals are more or less the objects of veneration. The extravagant my- 

 thology of the Hindoos would almost defy all powers of analysis ; and 

 the existence of a Trimurti or Indian Trinity, consisting of Brahma, the 

 Creator, — Vishnou, the Preserver, — and Siva, the Destroyer, bears a pro- 

 minent place among Oriental dogmas. They practise no barbarous muti- 

 lations of the body ; but from the earliest ages, purification in the Ganges 

 has been considered a sacred duty. The self-immolation of widows on 

 the funeral piles of their husbands is now discouraged ; and an enlightened 

 government endeavours by humane regulations to lighten the terrors of 

 that superstition, which once led thousands to sacrifice themselves under 

 the car-wheels of Juggernaut. 2 



/3. Persicus. — Medo-Peesian Races. 

 Syn. Les Anciens Perses. — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 82. 



Icon. Blumenb. Dec. Cran. V. t. 35. (Skull of a Persian;) V. t. 41. 

 (Skull of an Armenian.) 



From the earliest ages, until the subjugation of Persia by the Arabs, 

 that country has been the abode of a distinct indigenous race, composed 

 of different nations, and speaking languages in many respects allied to the 

 Germanic dialects. As might be expected from their frequent alliances 

 with the females of other nations, and especially with those of the Proper 

 Caucasians, their physical traits approach more nearly to the European 

 nations, than to the Hindoo branch of the Indo-Persians. Like them, 

 however, the Persians and Armenians have a tinge of yellow and even of 

 olive, but not so dark a skin. The hair is black, the nose aquiline, and 

 the countenance oval, with an elevated forehead. The females are of 

 middle stature, with long black hair, large and dark eyes ; the nose small, 

 and the feet narrow. To these we may add small feet and hands, slender 

 shape, a soft skin, the neck long, and the breast of moderate proportion, 

 long eye-lashes, arched eye-brows, a slight rosy complexion, and we have 

 a portrait of the Persian beauty of the present day. The man of rank 

 and wealth is often distinguished by aportly rotundity of form. 



A most extraordinary resemblance may be traced between the Persian 

 and German languages, in their roots, their inflexions, and the forms of 

 their syntax. , This affinity may be traced likewise in many Gothic words 

 belonging to the English, Danish, or Icelandic languages, and especially 

 in the latter.' Thus the English word door, corresponds with the Ger- 

 man tMir, the Danish dor, and the Persian dar. The most ancient dialect 

 of the Persians is the Zend, in which the sacred books called the Zend- 

 Avesta, of great antiquity, are written. The ancient Parsee has been pre- 

 served in the Shah-Naameh, or Historical Work of Ferdoosi, and in the 

 Ayer-Akbeir. The modern Parsee, the Deri, and the Pehlevi, are now 

 the prevailing dialects of the race. The ancient philosophy of Zerdusht or 

 Zoroaster, once the prevailing religion, and tenaciously held by the perse- 

 cuted Guebres or Fire-worshippers, has now given place to the Mahomet- 

 anism of the sect of Ah. The Persians are said to possess that politeness, 

 and versatility of mind, which characterizes a neighbouring nation, and 

 they have been not unaptly termed the Frenchmen of Asia. Many of 

 the arts have made great progress, but their science is almost nominal. 



The Armenians must be placed in the same division as the Persians. 

 Their language, according to Adelung, possesses much analogy to others 

 of the lapetan races. 



C. HOMO CELTICUS CELTS. 



Syn. Race Celtique — Bory Ess. Zool. I. 120. — Desmoul. Tab. Hum. 



Bosc. Ess. 30. 



H. jAPETrcus c. Celticus Fisch. Syn. Warn. 2. 



Races occidentales ue l'Europe. — Malte-Brun, Geog. Uuiv. 



The lapetan races were preceded in Europe by the Celtic tribes, 

 who came originally from the North [or more probably from the 

 East],* and were once widely distributed ; and by the Cantabrians, 

 who emigated from Africa to Spain. The former were soon confined 

 to the most western extremities of Europe, and the latter have now 

 become blended among the numerous nations whose posterity inhabits 

 the Spanish Peninsula at the present day. 



The languages spoken by the Celts, in so far as they have reached 

 our times, appear to bear some affinity to those of the lapetans, an affi- 

 nity which, according to some writers, amounts almost to an absolute 

 identity. The Celtic dialects may be arranged under two distinct 

 divisions, each of which is unintelligible to men of the other division. 

 The Gaelic dialects are spoken in the Highlands of Scotland, in Ireland, 

 and the Isle of Man ; and the Cymbric dialects in Wales, Cornwall, and 

 Lower Brittany. Both branches unquestionably belong to the same family 

 of nations. The dialects spoken in the Basque provinces of Spain are 

 commonly referred to this sub-division. 



The Celts, Kelts, or Gauls, were the aborigines or primitive inhabitants 

 of Western Europe, and once extended from Ireland as far as the Danube. 

 Before they adopted an agricultural mode of life, they tlireatened Spain, 

 Greece, and Italy, with their migratory bands, and succeeded in forming 

 permanent settlements in many places, even as far as Asia Minor, where 

 they gave their name to the province of Galatia. 



They differed from the Germans in obeying an order of Druids, who 

 united the sacerdotal and political functions, and practised human sacrifi- 

 ces, with other barbarous rites. Their skulls are of an unusual thick- 

 ness ;= the forehead rather protuberant on the sides : the nose is not recti- 

 lineal, but more or less marked by a depression between the eyes. Their 

 hair is of no great length, but thickly furnished, of a deep chestnut or 

 brown colour, and of tolerable fineness. Their eyes are not so large and 

 prominent as in the Proper Caucasians and Pelasgians, and generally black 

 or brown, sometimes grey. In respect to stature, they are rather taller than 

 the two races just mentioned, their medium height being about five feet 

 nine inches. Their body is well proportioned, robust, and more plentifully 

 covered with hair than that of almost any other race. 



All the nations on the left bank of the Rhine were anciently^ of Celtic 

 origin, and at the present day, nearly three-fourths of the French popula- 

 tion exhibit at least some considerable proportion of Celtic characters, 

 though greatly mixed with those of the Pelasgians and Germans, and oc- 

 casionally with the traits of some Aramean races. 



The article " Homme," by M. Bory de St Vincent, forms the basis of his 



1 DiCT. Class. d'Hist. Nat.— Dictionnaire Classique d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris, 1825. 

 *' Essai Zoologique," already quoted. 



2 Malte-Brun, Geog. Univ., torn. III., lib. 50, consists of an excellent chapter on the Moral and Political State of the Hindoos. 



a See M. Baibi, Atlas Ethnographique du Globe, Paris, 1827, wherein the several nations of the world are arranged according to the analogy of the idioms and roots of 

 their languages, as well as their manners and customs. 



* Fritchard, on the Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations. 



5 Rl. Latouv d'Auvergne (Origines Gauloises, Hamburgh, 1801) considers the thickness of the skull as a special distinction of the Celtic race'., and to be found at the 

 present day among the Lower Bretons. We have examined the skulls of several ancient Druids from the Hebrides, deposited in the Museum of the Phrenological Society of 

 Edinburgh, and found them to be in general of very considerable thickness. One skull, in particular, from the Monastery of lona. and apparently of great antiquity, was re- 

 markable m this respect. j o i j ' 



6 Csesar de Bello GalUco, lib. 1. 



