1. The Appalachian B ranch may include all the nations of North America
excepting the Mexicans, together with the tribes north of the river of Amazons
and east of the Andes. The head is rounded, the nose large, salient and aquiline;
the eyes dark brown, and with little or no obliquity of position; the mouth is
large and straight, the teeth nearly vertical, and the whole face triangular. The
neck is long, the chest broad hut rarely deep, the body and limbs muscular, and
seldom disposed to obesity. In character these nations are warlike, cruel and
unforgiving. They turn with aversion from the restraints of civilised life, and
have made but trifling progress in mental culture or the useful arts.*
2. The B ra z ilia n B ranch is spread over a great part of South America east
of the Andes: its geographical position may be indicated in general terms as
embraced between the rivers Amazon and La Plata, and between the Andes and
the Atlantic; thus including the whole of Brazil and Paraguay north of. the 35th
degree of south latitude. The physical traits of these people differ but little from
those of the Appalachian branch; they possess, perhaps, a larger and more
expanded nose, and larger mouths and lips. The eyes are small, more or less
oblique and set far apart: the neck is short 'and thick, and the body and limbs
stout and full even to clumsiness.! In character the Brazilian nations scarcely
differ from the Appalachian: none of the American tribes are less susceptible of
cultivation than these; and what they are taught by compulsion in the missions
seldom exceeds the humblest elements of knowledge.!
3. T h e P a ta g o n ia n Branch. This group includes the nations south of the
La Plata to the Straits of Magellan, and the mountain tribes of Chili. They are
for the most part distinguished for their tall stature, their fine forms and their
indomitable courage, of all which traits the Araucanians possess, a conspicuous
share.
4. T h e F u eg ia n Branch. These people, who inhabit the island of Terra
del Fuego, are often called Patagonians; but this name is objectionable because it
is also applied to numerous tribes of common Indians who inhabit the plains
from the Rio de la Plata to the Straits of Magellan; wherefore, as a more local
* This division is nearly identical with the Columbian species (Homo columbicus) of Bory de
St. Vincent,
t l derive these characters chiefly from an inspection of the beautiful plates in the folio Atlas of
Spix and Martius’s Travels in Brazil.
J This division is almost the same with the American species of M. Bory, and is embraced in the
group bearing that name in the classification o f M. Dumoulins.
designation, it is proposed to adopt the name of Fuegians. Their , own national
appellation is Yacannacunnee. They rove over a sterile waste which is computed
to be as large as the half of Ireland, and yet their whole number has been
computed by Forster at two thousand souls.* The physical aspect of these
people is altogether repulsive, and their domestic usages tend to heighten the
defects of nature. They are of low stature., seldom exceeding five feet four or
five inches. They have large heads, broad faces, and small eyes. Their chests
are large, their bodies clumsy, with large knees and ill-shaped legs. Their hair
is lank, black and coarse, and their complexion a decided brown, like that of the
more northern tribes. The expression of face is vacant, and their mental operations
are to the last degree slow and stupid; they are almost destitute of the usual
curiosity of savages, caring little for any thing that does not minister to their
present wants. The difference between the Fuegians and the other Americans is
no doubt attributable to the effects of climate and locality, and the consequent
habits of life, which tend, in this instance, to depress and brutalise the mind, and
to impair the physical man.
General Observations on the Barbarous Natio n s composing the American
F am ily .__After examining a great number of skulls, I find that the nations east
of the Alleghany mountains, together with the cognate tribes, have the head more
elongated than any other Americans. This remark applies especially to the great
Lenape stock, the Iroquois, and the Cherokees. To the west of the Mississippi
we again meet with the elongated head in the Mandans, Ricaras, Assinaboins and
some other tribes. Yet even in these instances the characteristic truncation of the
occiput is more or less obvious, while many nations east of the Rocky Mountains
have the rounded head so characteristic of the race, as the Osages, Ottoes, Missouris,
Dacotas, and numerous others. The same conformation is common in Florida ; but
some of these nations are evidently of the Toltecan family, as both their characters
and traditions testify. The head of the Charibs, as well of the Antilles as of
Terra Firina, are also naturally rounded; and we trace this character, so far as
we have had opportunity for examination, through the nations east of the Andes,
the Patagonians and the tribes of Chili. In fact, the flatness of the occipital
portion of the cranium will probably be found to characterise a greater or less
number pf individuals in every existing tribe, from Terra del Fuego to the
Canadas. If these skulls be viewed from behind, we observe the occipital outline
* Obs. During .a Voy. Round the World, p. 225.