SECT. IV.] NEGRO TYPE. 193 



of very inferior tribes of abnormal form, as the Cagots, 

 Tschuwasches, and some others, the Cumbrie-Negroes on 

 the Niger, reduce'd to slavery by their neighbours, the extinct 

 Guanches of the Canary Islands and the Ompizes (Yazimbres ?) 

 of Madagascar, in order to support the theory that there are 

 remnants of human races older than the present, a race which 

 was once surrounded by a different flora and fauna than ours, 

 and which was spread over the globe before the extinction of 

 some species of animals. The Papuas (Austral-Negroes ?) 

 especially, are said to belong to this most ancient population, 

 and date, perhaps, from an earlier period of the history of our 

 planet. This latter point has been descanted upon by Hom- 

 bron. 1 He assumes, in every part of the globe, several central 

 points of creation, and makes man see the light of the world 

 in three successive periods of creation. In fixing the latter, 

 and the selection of the peoples, he seems very unfortunate. 

 According to him the Samoiedes, Lapps, and all black people, 

 were created first ; then came the Mongols, Americans, Egyp- 

 tians, and Berbers; European humanity was created last. 

 He who feels inclined to assign different periods of creation 

 to the chief types of humanity, will necessarily consider the 

 Negroes as the most imperfect and oldest species, and connect 

 his colour with the greater quantity of carbon contained in the 

 air of primeval times. 



On depriving these bold theories of their varnish, we would 

 first draw attention to the fact that it is, under all circum- 

 stances, very difficult to ascertain whether human tribes sunk so 

 low are to be considered as originally defectively organized ; and 

 that especially incase of their extinction the question cannot be 

 decided one way or another. Where particulars are wanting, 

 both theories are equally tenable. Among the peoples men- 

 tioned by Smith, the Cumbries are unquestionably a Negro tribe, 

 (universally despised and oppressed, but nothing shows that they 

 specifically differ from other Negroes ; by Paltas is probably de- 

 signated the old Peruvian people with abnormal skulls, the shape 

 of which was by Morton first considered as original, but subse- 



1 D'Urville, " Voy. au Pole Sud. Zoologie," i, p. 184. 



