THE
NATURAL HISTORY
OF
THE VARIETIES OF MAN.
THE
NATURAL HISTORY
OF
THE VARIETIES OF MAN.
BY
ROBERT GORDON LATHAM, M.D., F.R.S.,
LATE FELLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE;
ONE OF THE VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, LONDON;
CORRESPONDING MEMBER TO THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
NEW YORK, ETC.
LONDON:
JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.
M.D.CCCL.
LONDON:
Printed by S. & J. BENTLEY and HENRY FLEY,
Bangor House, Shoe Lane.
TO
EDWIN NORRIS, ESQ.,
OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY,
TO WHOSE VALUABLE INFORMATION AND SUGGESTIONS
MANY OF THE STATEMENTS AND OPINIONS OF THE PRESENT VOLUME
OWE THEIR ORIGIN,
~The following Pages are Inscribed~,
BY HIS FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
London, July 25th, 1850.
PREFACE.
If the simple excellence of a book were a sufficient reason for making
it the only one belonging to the sciences which it professed to
illustrate, few writers would be desirous of attempting a systematic
work upon the Natural History of their species, after the admirable
Physical History of Mankind, by the late and lamented Dr. Prichard,--a
work which even those who are most willing to defer to the supposed
superior attainments of Continental scholars, are not afraid to place
on an unapproached eminence in respect to both our own and other
countries. The fact of its being the production of one who was at
one and the same time a physiologist amongst physiologists, and a
scholar amongst scholars, would have made it this; since the grand
ethnological _desideratum_ required at the time of its publication, was
a work which, by combining the historical, the philological, and the
anatomical methods, should command the attention of the naturalist, as
well as of the scholar. Still it was a work of a rising rather than of
a stationary science; and the very stimulus which it supplied, created
and diffused a spirit of investigation, which--as the author himself
would, above all men, have desired--rendered subsequent investigations
likely to modify the preceding ones. A subject that a single book,
however encyclopædic, can represent, is scarcely a subject worth taking
up in earnest.
Besides this, there are two other reasons of a more special and
particular nature for the present addition to the literature of
Ethnology.
I. For each of the great sections of our species, the accumulation of
facts, even in the eleventh hour, has out-run the anticipations of
the most impatient; indeed so rapidly did it take place during the
latter part of Dr. Prichard's own lifetime, that the learning which he
displays in his latest edition, is, in its way, as admirable as the
bold originality exhibited in the first sketch of his system, published
as early as 1821; rather in the shape of a university thesis than of a
full and complete production. Thus--
For Asia, there are the contributions of Rosen to the philology of
Caucasus; without which (especially the grammatical sketch of the
Circassian dialects) the present writer would have considered his
evidence as disproportionate to his theory. Then, although matters
of Archæology rather than of proper Ethnography, come in brilliant
succession, the labours of Botta, Layard, and Rawlinson, on Assyrian
antiquity, to which may be added the bold yet cautious criticism and
varied observations of Hodgson, illustrating the obscure Ethnology
of the Sub-Himalayan Indians, and preeminently confirmatory of the
views of General Briggs and others as to the real affinities of the
mysterious hill-tribes of Hindostan. Add to these much new matter in
respect to the Indo-Chinese frontiers of China, Siam, and the Burmese
Empire; and add to this the result of the labours of Fellowes, Sharpe,
and Forbes, upon the monuments and language of Asia Minor. I do not
say that any notable proportion of these latter investigations have
been incorporated in the present work; their proper place being in a
larger and more discursive work. Nevertheless, they have helped to
determine those results to the general truth of which the present
writer commits himself.
Africa has had a bright light thrown over more than one of its darkest
portions by Krapff for the eastern coast, by Dr. Beke for Abyssinia,
by the Tutsheks for the Gallas and Tumalis, by the publications of
the Ethnological Society of Paris, and the researches of the American
and English Missionaries for many other of its ill-understood and
diversified populations, especially those to the south and west.
The copious extract from Mr. Jukes's Voyage of the _Fly_, show at once
how much has been added; yet, at the same time, how much remains to be
learned in respect to our knowledge of New Guinea; whilst the energy of
the Rajah Brooke has converted Borneo, from a _terra incognita_, into
one of the clear points of the ethnological world.
In _South_ America, although many of the details of Sir Robert
Schomburgk were laid before the world previous to the publication of
the fifth volume of the Physical History, many of them, though now
published, were at that time still in manuscript.
The great field, however, has been the _northern_ half of the New
World; and the researches which have illustrated this have illustrated
Polynesia and Africa as well. What may be called the _personal_ history
of the United States Exploring Expedition, was published in 1845. The
greatest mass, however, of philological _data_ ever accumulated by a
single enquirer--the contents of Mr. Hale's work on the philology
of the voyage--is recent. The areas which this illustrates are the
Oregon territory and California; and the proper complements to it are
Pickering's work on the Races of Man, the Smithsonian Contributions
to Knowledge, and the last work of the venerable Gallatin on the
Semi-civilized nations of America.
Surely these are elements pregnant with modifying doctrines!
II. For each of the great sections of our species, the present
classification presents some differences, which if true, are important.
Whether such novelties (so to say) are of a value at all proportionate
to that of the fresh _data_, is a matter for the reader rather than
the writer to determine--the latter is satisfied with indicating
them. The extension of the Seriform group, so as to include the
Caucasian Georgians and Circassians on the one side, and the Indians
of Hindostan on the other; the generalization of the term Oceanic so
as to include the Australians and Papuans--the definitude given to
the Micronesian origin of the Polynesians--the new distribution of
the Siberian Samöeids, Yeniseians, and Yukahiri--the formation of
the class of Peninsular Mongolidæ, so as to affiliate the Americans
(previously recognised as fundamentally of one and the same stock) with
the north-eastern Asiatics--the sequences in the way of transition from
the Semitic Arab to the Negro--the displacement of the Celtic nations,
and the geographical extension given to the original Slavonians, are
points for which the present writer is responsible; not, however,
without previous minute investigation. The proofs thereof lie in tables
of vocabularies, analyses of grammars, and ethnological reasonings,
far too elaborate to be fit for aught else than a series of special
monographs; not for a general view of the human species, as classified
according to its varieties.
This _classification_ is the _chief_ end of his work; and, more than
anything else, it is this attempt at classification which has given
a subordinate position to certain other departments of his subject.
Where such is not the case, one of three reasons stands in its place
to account for the matters enlarged upon, apparently at the expense of
others.
1. The novelty of the information acquired.
2. The extent to which the subject has been previously either
overlooked or thrown in the back-ground.
3. And, finally (though perhaps the plea is scarcely a legitimate one),
the degree of attention which has been paid to the particular question
by its expositor.
LONDON, _July 25th, 1850_.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
_Notice of the chief works either used as authorities, and not
particularly quoted, or else illustrative of certain portions of the
subject._
Arnold.--History of Rome--Early Italian nations.
Adelung (Vater).--The Mithridates--Generally.
Baer's Beyträge, &c.--For Russian America.
Bartlett.--Report upon the present state of Ethnology. New York.
Beke.--Papers in the Transactions of the Philological and
Geographical Societies--Abyssinia.
Bopp.--Vergleichende Grammatik, &c., other works.
Brooke (Keppell and Marryat).--Borneo.
Brown.--Papers in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,
iv. 2.--The tribes about Manipur.
Balbi.--Atlas Ethnologique.
Bunsen.--Ægypt's Place in Universal History.
Catlin.--American Indians.
Crawford's.--Embassy to Ava, and Papers read before the
Ethnological Society and the British Association for the
Advancement of Science.
Dennis.--Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.
D'Orbigny.--Homme Americain--South America. The chief authority.
Ellis.--History of Madagascar.
Ermann.--Reise in Siberian.
Fellowes, Sir C.--Travels in Lycia.
Forbes (and Spratt's), Professor E.--Ditto.
Gaimard (and Quoy).--Zoology of the Voyage de l'Astrolabe--The
Papuas, Micronesians, &c.
Gallatin.--Papers in the Archæologia Americana, and the
Transactions of the Ethnological Society, New York.
Grimm.--Deutsche Grammatik, Deutsche Sprache, &c.
Grote.--History of Greece--Pelasgians and other early nations.
Hodgson.--On the Kocch, Bodo, and Dhimál. Papers in the
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Bengal--Indispensable
for the Sub-Himalayan Indians.
Hales.--Philology of the United States Exploring
Expedition--Oregon, California, Polynesia, Australia, Africa.
Humboldt, A.--Personal Narrative--Indians of the Orinoco.
Humboldt, W.--Über die Kawisprachi--Java, and the influence of
the Indian upon the Malay stock, &c.
Jukes.--Voyage of the Fly--- New Guinea.
Kemble.--The Anglo-Saxons in England.
Krapff.--MS. vocabularies of the Pocomo and other languages of
Eastern Africa.
Klaproth.--Asia Polyglotta, Sprachatlas, &c.--The chief
authorities for Caucasus and Siberia.
Lesson.--Mammologie.--Classification of Man as a Mammal.
Zoology of the Uranie and Physicienne--Micronesia, &c.
Leyden.--Asiatic Researches--For the Indo-Chinese Languages.
Layard.--Antiquities of Assyria.
Müller.--Die Ugrischen Völker--The Ugrian Mongolidæ.
Marsden's Sumatra.
Mallat.--Description des Isles Philippines.
Morton.--Crania Americana, Crania Ægyptiaca, &c.
Newbold.--Malacca Settlements.
Niebuhr.--Roman History--Ancient Nations of Italy, Etruscans,
Pelasgi.
Newman (Francis).--Berber Grammar. Paper in the Philological
Transactions. Hebrew Monarchy.
Prichard.--Physical History of Mankind. Eastern origin of the
Celtic Nations.
Prescott.--History of Mexico, Peru.
Pickering.--The Races of Men. See Hales and Wilkes.
Quoy (and Gaimard).--Zoology of the Astrolabe--Papuans and
Micronesians.
Retzius.--Papers in the Literary Transactions of Stockholm.
Rosen.--On the Languages of Caucasus.
Rühs.--Finnland und seine Einwohner.
Raffles.--- History of Java.
Renouard.--Abstract of Spix and Martius on the Indians of
Brazil. Transactions of the Royal Geographical Society.
Rüppell.--Reise in Kordofan.
Schomburgk, Sir R.--Transactions of the Geographical,
Ethnological and Philological Societies--British Guiana.
Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.--(Squier and
Davis.)--North American Archæology.
Scouler, Dr.--Papers in the Transactions of the Geographical
and Ethnological Societies.--Oregon and the Hudson's Bay
Territory.
Stockfleth.--Om Finnerne--Om Quänerne.--The Laplanders, and
Finlanders of Scandinavia.
Sharpe.--History of Ægypt.
Sharpe (Dan.).--On the Lycian Inscriptions--Transactions of the
Philological Society.
Spratt (and Forbes).--Travels in Lycia.
Transactions of the Ethnological Societies of
London--Paris--New York.
Wilson, H. H.--Ariana Antiqua, &c.
Wilkes.--United States Exploring Expedition.
Zeuss.--Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstämme.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
FIG. PAGE
1. A Yakut. From Von Middendorf (_Travels in Siberia_) 1
2. Skull of an Eskimo. From Prichard's Physical History of
Mankind 5
3. Skull of one of Napoleon's Guards killed at Waterloo. _Ibid._ 5
4. Skull of a Creole Negro. _Ibid._ 6
5. A Yakut Female. From Von Middendorf 94
6, 7. Papuan skulls. From the Voyage sur L'Uranie et La
Physicienne 213
8. A Native of Van Diemen's Land. Drawn by Campbell De
Morgan, Esq., from a cast belonging to the Ethnological
Society 245
9. Samöeid Man. From Von Middendorf 268
10. Ground-plan of embankments in Ohio. From the Smithsonian
Contributions to Knowledge 360
11. Ground-plan, &c., in Wisconsin. _Ibid._ 361
12. Antiquities from the Tumali of the Valley of the Mississippi.
_Ibid._ 362
13. Casa Grande. From a Treatise of Mr. Squier's upon the
Ethnology of California and New Mexico 388
14. A Patagonian Female. From a Treatise of Professor Retzius
on the Patagonians 417
15. Fac-simile of a Vei MS., in the possession of the Royal
Geographical Society, taken by E. Norriss, Esq., F.A.S. 474
16. Arrow-headed Persian character. From Rawlinson. Transactions
of Asiatic Society 522
17. Tuarick Alphabet. From Richardson 523
18. Specimen of the Cherokee syllabic alphabet. From a Cherokee
Newspaper 524
19. Sub-Himalayan Indians. From Hodgson's Kocch, Bodo, and
Dhimál 548
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Explanation of Terms 1
Terms descriptive of differences in the way of physical conformation 2
_Typical, sub-typical, transitional, quasi-transitional_ 7
Terms descriptive of differences in the way of language 9
Terms descriptive of differences in social civilization 12
The primary varieties of the human race 13
PART I.
MONGOLIDÆ 15-462
A.
ALTAIC MONGOLIDÆ 15-106
_Seriform Altaic Mongolidæ_ 15-60
Chinese 16
Tibetans 18
Anamese 20
Siamese 21
Kambojians 22
Burmese 23
Môn 23
Si-Fan 24
Miaou-tse 25
Lolos, &c. 25-34
Garo 34
Brown's Tables 36
Dhimál and Bodo 37-53
Tribes of Sikkim and Nepaul 53
Antiquity of the Chinese civilization--how far indisputable 55-60
_Turanian Altaic Mongolidæ_ 61-106
Mongolians 63-73
Tungús 74
Turks 75-95
Ugrians 95-106
Voguls 96
Permians 97
Tcheremiss 99
Finlanders 99
Esthonians 101
Laplanders 101
Hungarians 101
B.
DIOSCURIAN MONGOLIDÆ 107-128
Georgians 112
Lesgians, Mizjeji, Irôn 115
Ossetic grammar 116
Circassians 119
Circassian grammar 120
Table of comparison between the Dioscurian and
Seriform languages 123
C.
OCEANIC MONGOLIDÆ 129-264
_Amphinesians_ 133-210
_Protonesians_ 133-183
Malacca 133
Sumatra 137
Mythology of the Battas 143
Malay characteristics 147
Java 152
The Teng'ger Mountaineers 153
Bali, &c. 158
Languages between Sumbawa and Australia 158
Timor 160
Timor Laut 161
The Serwatty and Ki Islands 161
The Arru Isles 162
Borneo 163-169
Celebes 169
Bugis constitution 170
The Moluccas, &c. 175
The Philippines 176
Philippine Blacks 177
---- languages 178
Extent of Hindu influences 178
Remains of original mythology 179
Formosa 182
_Polynesians_ 183-210
_Micronesians_ 186-191
Lord North's Island 186
Sonsoral, The Pelews 187
The Mariannes 188
Carolines 189
Isles of Brown, &c. 190
_Proper Polynesians_ 191-210
The mythology 191-195
Navigators' Isles 195
Tonga group _ibid._
Tahitian group 196
Easter Island 197
The Marquesas 198
Sandwich Islands 198
New Zealand, &c. 203
Tikopia 204
Questions connected with the Ethnology of Polynesia 205-210
_Kelænonesians_ 210-264
_Papuan Branch_ 211-229
Waigiú 212
New Guinea 213
Vanikoro, &c. 222
Erromango 224
Tanna, Annatom 225
New Caledonia _ibid._
The Fiji Islanders 226
_Australian Branch_ 229-246
Australians 229-245
Tasmanians 244
Andaman Islanders 246
Nicobarians 247
Origin of the Kelænonesians 250
---- Polynesians 253
Ceremonial Language 262
D.
HYPERBOREAN MONGOLIDÆ 265-272
Samöeids 266
Yeniseians 268
Yukahiri 269
Table of languages 270-272
E.
PENINSULAR MONGOLIDÆ 273-286
Koreans 275
Japanese 277
Aino 281
Koriaks 283
Kamskadales 285
F.
AMERICAN MONGOLIDÆ 287-460
Eskimo 288
Kolúch 294
Doubtful Kolúches 297
The Nehanni 298
Haidah, &c. 300
Nutkans 301
Athabaskans 302-310
Chippewyans, &c. 303
Hare Indians _ibid._
Dog-ribs _ibid._
Carriers 304
Sikani 306
Southern Athabaskans 308
Table of languages 308-310
Tsihaili 310-316
The Salish 311
Kútanis 316
Chinúks 317-323
The Lingua Franca 321
Sahaptin, &c. 323-328
Algonkins 328
Bethuck 330
Shyennes _ibid._
Blackfoots 332
Iroquois _ibid._
Sioux 333
Catawba, Woccoon 334
Extinct tribes _ibid._
Cherokees 337
Choctahs _ibid._
Uché, Coosadas, Alibamons 338
Caddos _ibid._
Value of Classes 339
The Natchez 340
Taensas, &c. 341
Ahnenin, Arrapahoes 344
Riccarees and Pawnees _ibid._
The Paduca areas 345
Wihinast 346
Shoshonis, Cumanches 347
Apaches 348
Texian tribes 349-351
The unity or non-unity of the American populations 352-380
Opinions 352
Vater's remark 354
_Polysynthetic._--Philological paradox 356
Grounds for disconnecting the Eskimo 357
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Peruvians _ibid._
Archæology of the Valley of the Mississippi 359-362
American characteristics 363
---- languages 365-380
Tables for simple comparison 366
---- ---- indirect 371
Paucity of general terms 375
Numerals 376
Verb-substantive 378
Negative points of agreement _ibid._
Positive 379
The Californias 380-395
Description of a Casa Grande 388
Pimos Indians 390
Coco-Maricopas 394
New Mexico 395-398
Tarahumara 398
Casa Grande 399
Tepeguana, &c. 400
Otomi 403-408
Supposed monosyllabic character of the language 404
Tables 405
Mexico 408
The Maya 410
Indians of the Isthmus 411
---- ---- ---- Andes (western) 412-414
Moluché, Puelché, Huilliché 415
Conventional ethnological centre 418
Charruas 420
Indians of Moxos 424
---- ---- Chiquitos 425
---- ---- Chaco 428
---- ---- Brazil (_not_ Guarani) 429
Warows 438
Tarumas 439
Wapityan, &c. _ibid._
Atures 440
Maypure 441
Achagua, Yarura, Ottomacas 442
Chiricoas _ibid._
Guarani 443
Caribs 445
Their supposed North American origin 447
Indians of the Eastern Andes 448
Yuracares _ibid._
Apolistas _ibid._
Northern Indians of the Eastern Andes 450
Reasons for not separating the Eskimo from the other
Americans 452
Reasons for not separating the Peruvians, &c. 454
Classification of D'Orbigny 459
G.
INDIAN MONGOLIDÆ. 461-468
Tamulians 462
Pulindas 463
Rajmahali 464
Brahúi _ibid._
Indo-Gangetic Indians 465
Purbutti 466
Cashmirian 467
Cingalese 468
Maldivians _ibid._
ATLANTIDÆ 469
A.
NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ 471
Woloffs 473
Sereres _ibid._
Serawolli _ibid._
Mandingos _ibid._
The Vei alphabet 474
Felúps, &c. 475
Fantí, &c. 476
The Ghá _ibid._
Whidah, Maha, Benin tribes 477
Grebo, &c. 478
The Yarriba 479
The Tapua _ibid._
Haussa _ibid._
Fulahs 480
Cumbri _ibid._
Sungai 481
Kissour _ibid._
Bornú, &c. _ibid._
Begharmi _ibid._
Mandara _ibid._
Mobba 483
Furians _ibid._
Koldagi _ibid._
Shilluk, &c. _ibid._
Qamamyl 484
Dallas, &c. _ibid._
Tibboo 485
Gongas _ibid._
B.
KAFFRE ATLANTIDÆ 487-494
Peculiarities of Kaffre language 487
Western Kaffres 489
Southern Kaffres 490
Eastern Kaffres _ibid._
Kazumbi, Mazenas, &c. 491
Pocomo, Wanika, Wakamba, &c. 492
C.
HOTTENTOT ATLANTIDÆ 495-498
Hottentots 496
Saabs 497
Dammaras _ibid._
Overlapped peripheries 498
D.
NILOTIC ATLANTIDÆ 499-506
Gallas 499
Agows and Falasha 500
Nubians _ibid._
Bishari 501
The M'Kuafi, &c. _ibid._
E.
AMAZIRGH ATLANTIDÆ 507, 508
F.
ÆGYPTIAN ATLANTIDÆ 509, 510
G.
SEMITIC ATLANTIDÆ 511
Syrians _ibid._
Syriac literary influence 512
Assyrians _ibid._
Babylonians _ibid._
Beni Terah 513
Edomites 514
Beni Israel _ibid._
Samaritans _ibid._
Jews _ibid._
Arabs 515
Æthiopians 517
Canaanites, &c. 518
Malagasi 519
Question to the single origin of alphabetical writing 520
On the accumulation of certain climatologic influences 524
IAPETIDÆ 527
A.
OCCIDENTAL IAPETIDÆ 528
Kelts _ibid._
B.
INDO-GERMANIC IAPETIDÆ 531
_European Class_ 531-543
Goths 531-535
Teutons 532-534
Mœso-Goths _ibid._
High Germans 533
Franks _ibid._
Low Germans 534
Batavians _ibid._
Saxons _ibid._
Frisians _ibid._
Scandinavians _ibid._
Sarmatians 535-541
Lithuanians 536
Slavonians 538
Russians _ibid._
Servians _ibid._
Illyrians 539
Bohemians (T`sheks) _ibid._
Poles _ibid._
Serbs _ibid._
Slavonians of the Germanic frontier _ibid._
Mediterranean Indo-Germans 541
Hellenic branch _ibid._
Italian branch 542
_Iranian class_ 543
The Sanskrit language _ibid._
Population of Persia 546
Siaposh 547
Lughmani _ibid._
Dardoh _ibid._
Wokhan _ibid._
* * * * *
Armenians 549
Iberians 550
Finnic hypothesis 552
Albanians _ibid._
* * * * *
Pelasgi 553
Etruscans 554
Populations of Asia Minor 555
Hybridism _ibid._