Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
The Dutch travellers tell us, that the natives of the Island of Banda
are remarkable for longevity; that they have seen one man at the age
of 130, and numbers on the verge of that period; that in general they
are indolent and inactive; and that while the men amuse themselves in
sauntering abroad, the women are subjected to all the offices of labour
at home. Dampier observes, that the original natives of the island
of Timor, which is one of those most adjacent to New Holland, are a
middling size, and of an erect form; that their limbs are slender,
their visages long, their hair black and bristly, and their skin
exceedingly black; that they are alert and dexterous, but superlatively
indolent and slothful. He adds, however, that the inhabitants of the
Bay of Laphno are, for the most part, tawny or copper-coloured.
In turning northward we find Manilla, and the other Philippine islands,
of which the inhabitants are perhaps more intermixed than those of any
other region in the universe, by the alliances they have formed with
the Spaniards, the Indians, the Chinese, the Malabars, the blacks,
&c. The negroes, who live in the rocks and woods of Manilla, differ
entirely from the other inhabitants; of some the hair is short and
frizly, like the negroes of Angola, and of others it is long. Their
colour consists of various shades of black. According to Gemelli
Carreri, there are some among them who, like the islanders mentioned
by Ptolemy, have tails of the length of four or five inches. This
traveller adds, that he has been assured, by Jesuits of undoubted
testimony, that in the island of Mindoro, which is not far from
Manilla, there is a race of men called _Manghians_, who have all tails
of that length, and that some of these men had even embraced the
Catholic faith; that they are of an olive colour, and have long hair.
Dampier says, that the inhabitants of the island of Mindanao, which is
one of the principal and most southerly of the Philippines, are of a
middling height, that their limbs are small, their bodies erect, their
heads small, their visages oval, their foreheads flat, their eyes black
and small, their noses short, their mouths moderate, their lips thin
and red, their teeth black, their hair black and smooth, and their skin
tawny, but of a brighter yellow than many of the other Indians; that in
point of complexion the women have the advantage of the men; that they
are also more shapely, and have features tolerably regular; that the
men are in general ingenious and alert, but slothful, and addicted to
thievery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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