The ABYSSINIAN.--This race inhabits the table lands of
Abyssinia, and its extension into the interior. Dr. Pickering thus
describes the appearance of three individuals of this race whom he met
at Singapore--
[Illustration: ABYSSINIAN.]
"The hair was much alike in all three, and was crisped and fine,
neither coarse enough nor in sufficient quantity to form a resisting
mass. The beard of one individual was in pellets absolutely like the
close wool of the Negro, but the prominence of nose, greater even
than usually occurs in the white race, bore sufficient testimony to
his purity of descent. The second individual had the face very much
elongated, but the nose was not particularly prominent. The third had
a straighter beard, which was black and grey in regular stripes. The
complexion was the same in all three, and though very light, was by no
means of a sickly hue, and indeed these persons might readily have been
passed in the streets as belonging to the white race."
[Illustration: MONGOLIAN.]
[Illustration: ESQUIMAUX.]
The MONGOLIAN race, according to Pickering, includes the
inhabitants of part of China and all the north-eastern parts of Asia,
also the aborigines of North and South America, with the exception
of a tract of land on the south-western coast, including what is now
California, and part of the United States. This race is probably
the most numerous in the world. The complexion of the Mongolian is
decidedly yellowish brown, but rather pale withal (it is well seen in
the Chinese); the head is flattened from before to behind, and expanded
from side to side, so that in some well-marked cases the head is as
broad as it is long, the eyes are drawn upwards at the outer angles,
and appear wide apart, from the inner angle, being but little prolonged
inwards, the cheek-bones are prominent; the eyes black, and the hair
black and straight. The best specimens of this family are the Tartars
and Chinese. The Chinese are highly skilful in most of the useful arts,
especially in agriculture. Their history extends very far back, and
probably the longest series of recorded events in existence, being
continuous for a period of about 4,000 years, during the whole of which
time they have been in a state of civilisation nearly the same as they
are at the present time.
The aboriginal tribes of America belong to this family. Dr. Latham
derives their origin from the Esquimaux (or Eskemo), and their
migration from north-eastern Asia, Kamschatka, and the Aleutian
Islands, to the eastern or Pacific shores of America.
The Chinese and Tartars are of a decidedly yellow tint. The Americans
are of a dark copper-coloured hue, hence their designation "Red
Indians."
[Illustration: AMERICAN INDIAN.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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