[Reprinted from the American Anthropologist, Vol. 12, No. 3,
July-Sept., 1910.]
Nine years of residence and travel in the Philippines have produced
the conviction that in discussions of the ethnology of Malaysia,
and particularly of the Philippines, the Negrito element has been
slighted. Much has been made of the "Indonesian" theory and far too
much of pre-Spanish Chinese influence, but the result to the physical
types found in the Philippines of the constant absorption of the
Negrito race into the Malayan and the wide prevalence of Negrito
blood in all classes of islanders has been generally overlooked.
The object of this paper is to present some physical measurements of
the Negrito and then of several other pagan peoples of the islands
whose types, as determined by measurement and observation, reveal
the presence of Negrito blood.
The physical measurements here given were taken by me at various times
between 1901 and 1909. They were taken according to the methods of
Topinard (Éléments d'Anthropologie Générale) and are discussed in
accordance with his system of nomenclature.
The first Negritos measured are members of a little community on the
south slope of Mount Mariveles in the province of Bataan. They are of
a markedly pure type. While it is usual to find Negrito communities
considerably affected by Malayan blood, in this case I doubt if there
is more than a single individual who is not of pure Negrito race. Nine
men and ten women, all adults, practically the entire grown population
of this group, were measured. Although this is a small number, the
surprising uniformity of characteristics in all practically assures
us that in these individuals we have the normal, pure type of Negrito,
which may be used as a standard for comparison with other peoples.
The stature of these nine men and ten women arranged serially appears
below:
Men Women
1374 1266
1381 1292
1435 1305
1439 1326
1440 = mean 1341
1467 1375
1495 1385
1526 1396
1532 1400
1460
These figures give an extreme variation of 158 mm. for the men and
194 mm. for the women. The mean stature for men is 1440, the average
1454, and for the women 1341-1375 and 1354 respectively. These,
it scarcely need be said, are extremely low statures, perhaps as
low as have ever been recorded on any group of people. According to
Topinard's nomenclature they are all distinctly "pigmy."
In every individual the extreme reach of the arms ("grande envergure")
exceeded the stature. In the men the excess varied from 30 mm. to
139 mm. and in the women from 23 mm. to 102 mm. This measurement
shows the Negritos to have unusually long arms. In yellow races the
arm-reach is about equal to the stature, and in the white race it is
usually a little above. I think we may take this excessive reach of
arms to be a truly Negrito character.
The cephalic and nasal indices for both men and women are next given: