OF THE HUMAN RACE. 



655 



rieties of hair ; some being more or less woolly, others frizzled, 

 almost like that of a mulatto.* 



The occasional peculiarities of outward form, on which so 

 much stress has been laid, to the prejudice of the Hottentots 

 especially, are considered by able anatomists whom I have con- 

 sulted to be of no more real consequence than that existing in 

 a six-fingered family. On their authority it may be shown 

 that such occasional deviations from ordinary conformation, 

 which are sometimes continued in particular families, and 

 therefore might be found in a whole tribe who were origi- 

 nally but one family, in no degree constitute distinct species. 

 From them we learn also that all varieties of the human race are 

 alike in their anatomical structure, and that intermarriage be- 

 tween any two varieties whatever is productive of a prolific 

 offspring. 



Considerable stress has been laid on lano^uao-e as a means of 

 tracing affinities or descents ; but with great deference for the 



* Of the natives of" Van Diemen's Land Cook remarks that their hair 

 differed in texture from that of the natives of New South W ales, being 

 in Adventure Bay as woolly as that of any native of Guinea, while that of 

 the aborigines of New South Wales was naturally long and black, though 

 cropped short. — Cook's Voyage, 1769-71. 



Bligh says that the aborigines of Van Diemen's Land are black, and 

 that their hair, " which resembled the wool of the Caffres," was separated 

 into shreds, and powdered with red ochre. They were generally slender, 

 tolerably well made, kept their shoulders back, and upon their prominent 

 chests several had marks raised in the skin. — Bligb's Voyage — Adven- 

 ture Bay, 1788-1792. 



Flinders saw only one native of this country, but his appearance much 

 resembled that of the inhabitants of New South Wales. He had also 

 marks raised upon the skin, and his face was blackened, and hair rud- 

 dled, as is sometimes practised by them. The hair was either cropped 

 close, or naturally short, but it had not the appearance of beins: woolly. 



In Marion's voyage a skijmish with the natives of Van Diemen's 

 Land took place, after relating which, the writer says, " on entering 

 among the trees they found a dying savage. This man was a little more 

 than five feet seven inches in height, (French measure). His breast was 

 marked like those of the Mosambique Caffres, and his skin appeared as 

 black ; but, on washing off the soot and dirt, his natural colour appeared 

 to have a reddish tinge." 



