Men Women
84 79
90 86
90 90
91 92
95 92
97 92
97 97
98 98
100 98
109
All of these nasal indices, with the sole exception of the woman
mentioned above, are below mesorhinian or pronouncedly platyrhinian
and negroid.
The shape of the Negrito nose is peculiar and after it has once
been carefully observed can be easily recognized. The root is deeply
depressed from a smooth and rounding forehead, the bridge is short
and low, and the end rounding and bulbous. Sometimes, but not usually,
the nostrils are horizontally visible. The apertures of the nostrils
are very flat and their direction almost parallel with the plane of
the face.
It has been repeatedly asserted that the body color of the Negrito is
black, but this is a gross exaggeration. It is a dark brown, several
shades darker than the Malay, with a yellowish or saffron "undertone"
showing on the less exposed parts of the body. As compared with the
lighter colored peoples about him his color is pronounced enough to
warrant the appellation of negro which is applied to him, but this
term must not be considered as other than a popular description.
The hair of the Negrito is typically African. It is kinky and grows
in the little clusters or "peppercorn" bunches peculiar to negro
races. The Negrito man and woman usually wear the hair short, cutting
it more or less closely so that it resembles a thick pad over the
head. Sometimes a tonsure on the back is cut away, and among still
other Negritos a considerable part of the hair is removed from the
head. In persons of mixed Negrito-Malayan blood the hair, if left
uncut, grows into a great wavy or frizzly mop standing up well from
the head.
The Negrito is seldom prognathous, nor is the lower part of his
face excessively developed. His profile and features on the whole
are comely and pleasing, especially in the pure type, which is less
"scrawny" than in mixed individuals. The body, too, is shapely and
the proportions good, except that the head appears a little large,
the legs too short, and the arms, as above noted, excessively long.
The muscular development is slender rather than stocky, seldom obese,
legs a little thin and deficient in the calf.
The Negrito eye is distinctly pretty. It is dark brown and well
opened. It has no suggestion of doubled lid and in all these respects
differs from the eye of the Malayan.
The lips are full, the chin slightly retreating, the ear well shaped
and "attached."
Such are, I believe, the normal characters of the Negrito of the
Philippines. He is a scattered survivor of the pygmy negro race, at
one time undoubtedly far more important and numerous; brachycephalic,
platyrhinian, woolly headed, and, when unaffected by the higher
culture of the surrounding peoples, a pure forest-dwelling savage.
The only other undisputed members of the Negrito race, besides those
found in the Philippines, are the Andaman islanders and the Semang
of the Malay peninsula. De Quatrefages' diligent and hopeful search
through the literature of Malaysia for traces of the Negrito led him to
the belief in their existence in a good many other places from Sumatra
to Formosa, but Meyer in a subsequent essay assailed De Quatrefages'
evidence except for the three areas mentioned above. If by Negrito
we mean compact, independent communities of relatively pure type,
I think we must agree with Meyer, but if on the other hand we mean by
the presence of the Negrito the occurrence of his typical characters in
numerous individuals of reputed Malayan race, then we must, I think,
admit the presence of the Negrito in a great proportion of the peoples
and localities of Malaysia. And in this sense there is much evidence
that the Negrito still exists from the Andamans to Formosa and even
to Japan, absorbed in the stronger populations that have overrun
these regions.
Meyer's Distribution of the Negritos in the Philippines and Elsewhere
is a very valuable sifting of the evidence, but it is not final, as
was quickly apparent eight years ago when we came to locate Negritos
on the ground. There are none for instance in Cebu, where Meyer
was led to place them, and it is certain that they live in Guimaras
and on Palawan. Those of the last island are a very curious people,
locally called "Batak." They were first described in a brief note with
photographs by Lieutenant E. Y. Miller published by the Philippine
Ethnological Survey in volume II of its Publications. Doubt has been
cast on the Negrito character of these people, some supposing them
to be predominantly Malayan, but there is no doubt about their being
Negrito, although in places they have perhaps received Malayan blood.
In June, 1909, I measured a few Batak who had a small settlement called
Laksun near the village of Bintuan, thirty miles up the coast from
Puerto Princesa. The individuals of this group were typical Negritos,
in color, character of hair, and general appearance. Four men who were
measured were 1433, 1475, 1497, and 1590 respectively in stature. Their
arm-reach in every case exceeded the height, in one the excess being
152 mm. The head indices were 80 to 81, the nasal indices 85, 98, 102,
and 102. These are all true Negrito characters and, while there may be
in some communities of Batak a considerable amount of Malayan blood,
the predominant type is Negrito.
It appears also that the other pagan element in Palawan, known as
"Tagbanwa," while predominantly Malayan and exhibiting the general
appearance and manner of life of the Malayan, is in part Negrito, as
is revealed by the following measurements of five "Tagbanwa" men taken
at Eraan, thirty miles south of Puerto Princesa. These men include
the chief, "Masekampo Kosa" and four of his retainers. Their stature
varied from 1521 to 1595, less than the usual stature of a group of
Malayan men. The arm-reach was notably greater than the height. All
were brachycephalic, the indices being 79, 81, 81, 82, and 83. All were
platyrhinian, except one who was mesorhinian, the indices being 79,
88, 95, 100, and 105. In spite of these pronouncedly Negrito results,
these men had the appearance of Malays, not Negritos. Their skin
color was light brown, hair wavy not curly; their habits, bearing,
and speech indicated the temperament of the Malay.
The "Mamanua" of Surigao peninsula, Mindanao, have long been recognized
as of Negrito race. They were seen and described by Montano in 1880. At
the present time they are very few in number, and are found in the
forest about Lake Mainit and in the hill country southward. They
are fast being absorbed by the Manobo, who join their communities
and intermarry with them. In a little village called Kicharao in the
forest near Lake Mainit are Mamanua men married to Manobo women and
Manobo men married to Mamanua women, the children of these unions
sometimes presenting Negroid and sometimes Malayan characters. The
opportunity to observe the immediate results of mixture between two
different races is very unusual. Naturally this group is of mixed
race, some individuals looking like pure Negritos and from this
type varying all the way to primitive Malayan. Three men whom I
measured had a stature exceeding the Negrito but in other respects
were Negritic. The statures were 1583, 1594, and 1612; the cephalic
indices, 80, 85, and 86; the nasal indices, 97, 102, and 111.
What has not been generally noted, however, is the fact that nearly
all the peoples of eastern Mindanao, usually described as "Malayan"
or "Indonesian," are to a large degree Negrito. This is especially
true of the Manobo of the lower waters of the river Agusan. I have
no measurements of these people, but the appearance of nearly every
individual in their communities is Negritic rather than Malayan. The
stature is very low and frail, hair black and wavy to frizzly, features
negroid, and behavior that of the pacified Negrito. Similar characters,
though in a less marked degree, display themselves among the tribes
southward and about the gulf of Davao. There is no doubt that there is
a large amount of absorbed Negrito stock in the pagan peoples of all
this great island. Even among the Subanon of the Samboanga peninsula,
who are perhaps as purely Malayan as any, I have seen occasional
individuals with marked Negrito characters.
I shall not attempt here to estimate the proportion of Negrito blood
in the Christian peoples of the Philippines--Bisaya, Bikol, Tagalog,
Ilokano, etc.--further than to express my conviction that in certain
regions it is very large and has greatly modified the primitive Malayan
type. But let us turn to the consideration of possible Negrito blood in
two interesting pagan stocks of northern Luzon, the "Igorot" and the
"Ilongot" or "Ibilao."
The term Igorot is used to include all the wild, headhunting,
mountain-dwelling peoples of the great cordillera of Luzon, a region
some two hundred miles in length by forty across. This mountain area is
divisible into regions wherein the culture, physical type, and language
of the inhabitants are homogeneous or nearly so. These regions, in
reports made some years ago on the wild tribes of the Philippines,
I have called "culture areas," and they may serve, in the absence of
the tribal relation, as the basis of classification. Beginning with
the southern end of this mountain system we have the area of southern
Benguet and Kayapa inhabited by Igorot speaking a dialect called
"Nabaloi." In northern Benguet, Amburayan, and southern Lepanto are
the "Kankanay." In the central mountain region, a great area with
several subdivisions, the "Bontok"; and southeast, occupying the
former Comandancia of Kiangan, the "Ifugao." North of Bontok are the
"Tinglayan," the "Tinggian" or "Itnig," the "Kalinga," and "Apayao"
areas, and perhaps others. Of these most northerly peoples I have no
anthropometric data. Their general appearance is somewhat different
from that of the Igorot farther south. They appear to the eye to be
more slender and handsomely built, with finer features, especially
in the case of the Tinggian. I am of opinion, however, that these
dissimilarities are apparent rather than real, and that measurements
and careful observation will demonstrate unity of physical type
throughout the entire cordillera. This unity does not refer of course
to manner of dressing the hair, ornamentation, artificial deformations,
etc., in which there is wide variation. The ethnological origin of
these Igorot peoples is at first very puzzling. They are obviously
not typical Malayans. Some physical measurements which I have should,
and I believe do, throw some light on the problem.
On September 26, 1902, at Ambuklao, Benguet, I measured ten Igorot men
from the villages of Baguio, Trinidad, Tublay, and Ambuklao. All were
adults, from 20 to 40 years of age, except one, a boy of 16, who was,
however, married and not inferior in stature to the others. These
men all belonged to the poor or "kailian" class, except one who had
arisen to the "principal" class from poor parentage. By "poor" class
in Benguet is meant those who have no cattle, rice terraces, mines,
or other productive property and are liable to the forced labor of
"polistas." The stature, arm-reach, and cephalic and nasal indices
of these Igorot are arranged below: