562 
PROPORTIONS OF THE HEAD AND FEATURES. 
selected from among his countrymen, as exhibiting a fair specimen 
of the national character, with respect to figure and cast of features, 
A number of other portraits, which were taken during my residence 
at Litakun, were drawn for the purpose of showing every variety of 
countenance and feature, and among them are several which differ 
much from that plate : some having more resemblance to the Guinea 
Negro, and others, on the contrary, to the Hottentot or Kora, with 
whom there frequently exists a real consanguinity ; which latter re- 
semblance may be seen in the eighth plate. The head of BoMookwe 
at page 433. shows the change which Bachapin features undergo 
from age : and the two at page 529. are given as a representation of 
a fanciful mode in which the young men often cut their hair. They 
have not the excessively flat and dilated nose and the very thick lips 
of the Negro of Guinea ; although examples more or less approach- 
ing towards them, may often be seen : nor have they the remarkably 
pointed chin or narrowness of the lower part of the face, which 
distinguishes the Hottentot race. In figure they are much more 
robust than the latter. 
While drawing many of these portraits, I was much struck with 
the little agreement which their proportions have with those of a 
European head. The relative position or distances of several features, 
differed often in a most remarkable degree ; and the head of Mol- 
lemmi would set all the rules of the art at defiance. In this occu- 
pation it appeared that nothing could be done but most scrupulously 
to copy the subject, even in those parts which a portrait-painter 
does not consider necessary to be done from life : but a traveller 
must, whether he would copy figures or landscapes, adopt more rigid 
rules, and unless he throw aside all European ' manner,' and cease to 
indulge in those licences which custom seems sometimes to tolerate 
sun or the wind. The stick or club in his hand is called in the Sichuana language, 
a mulldmu: by constant practice, these men have acquired the power of throwing it 
with great precision ; and frequently kill the smaller animals, such as hares and weasels, 
which they occasionally surprise in the plains. The upper part of his head was thickly 
covered with sibiilo ; but the lower hair was left in its natural state, and is here engraved 
in a manner which will give a correct idea of its short woolly appearance. 
