96 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. PART I.] 



abruptly like a wig (Sommering). In some spots it is entirely 

 wanting, so that among the Hottentots, Bushmen, and Austral 

 Negroes of the South Sea, it grows in separate tufts. 

 Although essentially differing from the wool of animals, it 

 much resembles it. Its curl is, according to Henle, owing to 

 its elliptic form. It is harder, more elastic and shining than 

 that of the European. It is usually not longer than three 

 inches, which is not owing to being cut, for all Negroes in 

 Brazil like long hair (Burmeister) . This natural shortness of 

 the hair is said not to be general. Many Negro tribes regu- 

 larly cut their hair, and, if frequently combed, it is said to 

 reach, on the coast of Guinea, the length of a foot. 1 Dandolo 2 

 saw among the Bakkara on the White Nile a couple of very 

 black Negresses with enormous heads of hair like a wig, half a 

 metre in circumference. It seems however doubtful whether in 

 these instances, pure Negroes are meant. The beard is mostly 

 very scanty, and grows only in advanced age ; whiskers are 

 generally wanting, hence the pride of the Moors living among 

 the Negroes, who by their beards exhibit their Arab descent, 3 

 and the high value put, in Ashantee, upon a strong beard. 4 

 Chest and body are but little, arms and legs not at all, covered 

 with hair. 



The relatively thick and strongly developed neck of the 

 Negro, shorter by an inch than that of the European, com- 

 bined with a less curved vertebral column, enables him to carry 

 easily burdens upon the head, so that the Fantis for instance 

 prefer, in carrying stones, to place the wheelbarrow upon the 

 head. 5 The chest is larger and more arched than in the 

 European. The pelvis is narrower, more conical, all its 

 diameters are smaller, hence the belly is more pendulous. 

 Vrolik 6 has shown its similarity to that of the ape. With 

 regard to the limbs, White has drawn attention to the greater 

 relative length of the forearm in the Negro. In the European 



1 Isert, " Neue E. nach Guinea/' p. 164, 1790. 



2 Viaggio in Egitto, " Nel Sudan e Mil.," p. 271, 1854. 



3 M. Park, " Voy. dans 1'Interieur de 1'Afr., Paris," an viii, i, 247. 



4 Bowdich, " Mission von S. Coast nach Aschante," p. 391, 1820. 



5 Duncan, loc. cit. 



6 " Consid. sur la diversite des bassins," 1826. 



