in seeking subsistence in the forests: But we cannot regard
this hideous picture, which each people draws of its neighbouring
tribe, as authentic. The Endam6nes whom we saw, had
a repulsive physiognomy, flat noses, cheek-bones projecting,
large eyes, prominent teeth, long and slender legs, very black
and thick hair, rough and shining, without being long. Their
beards were very hard and very thick. An excessive stupidity
was stamped upon their countenances—probably the effect
of slavery. These savages, whose skin is of a very deep,
dirty-brown or black colour, go naked. They make incisions
upon their arms and breasts, and wear in their noses pieces of
wood nearly six inches long. Their character is taciturn, and
their physiognomy fierce: their motion is uncertain and slow.
The inhabitants of the coasts nave us some ...... • .......... O ' details of the Endamenes;
but as they seemed to us to be dictated by hatred,
and as their accounts differed, whether because the sense of
what they told us was badly understood, or" they related to
us statements which they did not themselves credit, with th e ’
intention of inspiring us with fear, we think it useless to make
a race of men known by false or inexact descriptions, whose
history is still enveloped in thick darkness.
The Endam£nes, confined in the interior of New Guinea,
in the northern region of that country, still continue, as is> supposed
by M. Lesson, to be the sole possessors of the southern
coast; if they reach to the northern limits of Torres’ Straits,
the supposition that in former times they may have passed
over the channel, and spread themselves in the vast regions
of Terra Australis, becomes very probable. M. Lesson refers
the Australians to th e class of Alfourous. The- following is
the general description of their physical character.
The stature of the Australians is moderate and often below
the mean. The limbs among many tribes are slender, thin,
and, in appearance, of unproportioned length, while some individuals,
on the contrary, have them stout and well-proportioned.
Their hair is not woolly ; it is hard, very black and
thick; they wear it dishevelled, and in general short, in frizzled
masses. Their beard is of the same nature as their h a ir;
commonly rough and tufted on the sides of their face. Their
countenance is flattened, their nose very large, with nostrils
almosttransversely placed, thick lips, mouths of unproportioned
width, teeth projecting) but of the finest enamel. Loose circular
ears very amply developed and eyes half closed by the laxity
of their upper -eyelids, give to their physiognomy a savage
and repulsive aspect. The colour of their skin, generally of
a smoky black, varies in its hue;,-which is never very deep.
The Australian women, still more, ugly than the men, have
squalid and disgusting forms; the distance which separates
them* from the beau appears immense in the eyes of an
European. A great number of families place in the septum
of the;nose, round sticks, from four to six inches long, which
give a ferocious aspect, to their countenances. This custom
was found to exist among all the Papuas.
Section IV.— O f the Iranian or Indo-Atlantic, and o f the
T u ra n ia n Nations, |
If we divide the continent of Asia by a line running from
west to ' east in the direction of the longest diameter of the
Euxine, passing at first along the chain of Caucasus, dividing
the Caspian, going along the Oxus nearly to the source of
that river, thëhce turning toi1 the scMh-feàst and following the
direction of the Himâlaya mountain range, and descending
to the Gulf of Bengal, we shall separate by this line two
great regions of the world -which have been from the earliest
periods the abode.of two great classes of human races, differing
from each other in their manners and social character, as
remarkably as the arid and saline plains of Mongolia and
the cold desert of Gobi differ from the warm and fertile countries
of southern Asia. To the north-eastward of this line
have been the immemorial abodes of many nations, clearly
distinguished from each other by total differences of language
and equally separate in all that relates to their habits of life
and social character, yet for the most part similar and agreeing
among themselves in physiognomy, complexion, and configuration
of body. To the southward and westward of the same
line, we find other races widely distinguished from the preceding
class in physical constitution, but agreeing with each