No. 32. — 1886.] ETHNOLOGICAL STUDIES. 



283 



is only seen in the case of the newly born, or in children of 

 tender years. Even sandals when constantly worn press the 

 toes together, and cause a permanent deformity very soon. 



One seeks in vain among marble statues for a regularly 

 formed foot. Even the gods of the Greeks have their small 

 toes laterally compressed. Here, however, I was overjoyed 

 to find feet with perfectly natural shapes. As their stay in 

 Berlin was to be short, I begged Herr Hagenbeck to have a 

 selection of casts of hands and feet made for me in Hamburg, 

 and I am in the fortunate position to be able to lay before 

 you good models of these. For this I have to thank Herr 

 Hagenbeck.* 



In the first place, there is a strong contrast between the 

 feet of the Sinhalese and that of the Indians. This is partly 

 due to the general development of the body. The ratio 

 between the length of the foot and the height of the body is 

 in all three the same, viz. : in the men as 1 : 6*6 ; women, 1 : 6*5. 

 But the development of the feet is quite different. In 

 Murugappa the whole foot is heavy, bony, and broadly 

 developed, whilst in the Sinhalese the foot is delicate, thin, 

 and narrow. The breadth-index of Murugappa is 405, of 

 Girigoris 36*8, of Lusa Nona 28*2. The Paris Commission 

 found among the men indices of 39*5 to 44*3 ; among the 

 women 36' 5 to 40*6. 



In all, the toes were very movable, and they were capable 

 of diverging widely at will. On this depends the safety 

 in climbing, — which is possessed by Girigoris to a wonderful 

 degree, — and the capability to seize objects with their toes. 

 As seen from the illustration,* the divergent position in the 



* Illustrations of a few of these are annexed to the German text. The 

 views of them are taken laterally and from above, and designed with the 

 greatest care by Herr Eyrich, one-sixth their natural size. No. 1 is the 

 foot of Lusa Nona, No 2 that of Girigoris Appu, and No. 3 that of Muru- 

 gappa, one of the Indians. The cast of the foot of Inga Nona is not given, 

 nor the casts of the hands of any of the troupe. 



112—86 c 



