THE ALFORIAN FAMILY. 95 



known. From the accounts of voyagers they appear to he more nearly allied to 

 the Australians than to any other people. They have the flat nose, projecting 

 cheek hones, large eyes, and salient teeth, of the Negro, with straight, coarse, long 

 hair. Their limbs are long and thin, and their whole exterior repulsive in the 

 extreme. To this it is added that they are sulky, stupid and ferocious.* 



The Alfoers are considered aboriginal to many islands of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago. They are most numerous in New Guinea, the Moluccas, and Magindano : 

 in Celebes they are said to be sometimes as fair as the Malays, and the savage 

 Dyaks of Borneo appear to belong to the same family. It is not improbable, as 

 Dr. Prichard suggests, that the Alfoers are but a branch of the Australian stock.f 



Note. — The map which precedes this work is designed to show, though on a small scale, the 

 geographical distribution of the five races of men; and the lines of demarcation are those indicated by 

 Professor Blumenhach, as separating the different varieties or races in the primitive epochs of the 

 world. In every such attempt some anachronisms are unavoidable, and we necessarily judge of 

 antiquity from the observation of modern times. The ancients, for example, knew little of Africa, 

 and nothing of America and the islands of the Pacific Ocean, not to mention a multitude of subordinate 

 details; but we assume that the inhabitants of those countries were essentially the same at the Christian 

 era that they are now. The boundary between the Caucasian and Mongolian races is extremely 

 vague, but Professor Blumenbach's line (which is an approximation to accuracy) runs from the 

 Ganges in a northwestern direction to the Caspian sea, and thence to the river Obi, in Russia. At a 

 comparatively recent period, however, several Mongolian nations have established themselves in 

 Europe, as the Samoyedes, Laplanders, &c. 



The Ethiopian line is drawn north of the Senegal river obliquely east and south to the southern 

 frontier of Abyssinia, and thence to Cape Guardafui, thus embracing the Atlas mountains. Of the 

 latter little is known; but many Negro nations inhabit to the north of them, at the same time that the 

 Arab tribes have penetrated far beyond them to the south, and in some places have formed a mixed 

 race with the native tribes. 



Le3son, Voy. de la Coquille. Zool, I, p. 103, t Researches, I, p. 393. 



