is better than that of the natives' of the lower country, consisting
of the flesh of bullocks of a small breed, fine goats,
fowls, and an abundance of yams, the root of the dioscorea
bulbifera. In colour the Eboes are much fairer than the
neighbouring people of the coast, many of them being, of a
light copper colour. Their physiognomy is that of the Negro,
with retreating foreheads, flat noses, and thick lips.*
Mr. Edwards,'in his history of the West Indies, says,: that
all the slaves brought from Calabar and Benin ?f@ the; colonies
are termed Eboes, except a particular class distinguished
by the name of Mokos. In complexion they are much yellower
than the Gold Coast and Whidah Negroes; but their
colour is said to be a sickly hue, and their eyes to appear as
if suffused with bile, even when they are in perfect health.
Mr. Edwards adds, “ I cannot help observing, that the conformation
of the face, in a great majority of them, very much
resembles that of the baboon, the lower jaw being more elongated
among the Eboes than in any other Africans.”
I have examined the skull of an Ibo in the Collection- ©f
Mr. W. Coates, of Clifton, which displays the Negro.character;
but not in an exaggerated degree. In weight and density
it resembles the majority of European skulls, and it is
very much lighter than the cranium of a Gipsey in the same
collection. The forehead is as much expanded as in many
European heads, but the jaws are prominent, though mptin
so great a degree as in the cranium of Philip Bernard, figured
in the first volume of this work. The temporal bone ?isi fully
separated on the side of the head from the frontal bone,
by an extensive juncture of the parietal with the sphenoidal,
contrary to the fact observed in the skull of an Ashanti, represented
in the plate to which I have already referred.
S e c t io n VIII.—General observations on the physical characters
of the nations mentionedrin the foregoing chapter,
and specimens of their languages.
It would be premature to attempt in this place any exten-
* Oldfield in Lond. Med., and Surg. Jo., Oct. 1835.
sive generalization, but it may be interesting to my readers
to trace somo. instances in which the physical characters of
the races already described, bear a reference to particular
conditions.
1. On reviewing the descriptions of all the races enumerated,
we may observe a relation between their physical
character and their moral condition. , Tribes having what
is termed the Negro- character in the most striking degree
are the least'.‘civilized. The Papels, Bisagos, Ibos, who are
in the greatest;degree remarkable for deformed countenances,
projecting jaws, flat foreheads, and for other. Negro peculiarities,
are the most savage and morallyfpdegraded of the
nations hitherto described. The converse. of this remark
is applicable, to all the most?cmlized races. .The Fulahs,
Mandineos, and some of the. Dahomeh" and Inta nations
have, as far as form is concerned, nearly European countenances
and a corresponding configuration of the head.
2. In general the tribesjjinhabiting elevated,, countries in
the interior are very superior to those who dwell oh low
tracts on the ^sea-coast, and this5Superiority is manifest both
in mental .and bodily qualities. Not only the Mandingos and
Fulahs, but all the other races'’yet described, who are aborigines
ofmoh ntainous regions, are'more intelligent than the
maritime tribes, as well as physically superior to them. The
Iolofs, who are one of the most beautiful human races in
Africa, may appear, in one respect, an exception to, this remark
; but the Iolofs are, in great part, an inland people. -
3. In the region of Western Africa, surveyed in this chapter,
we do not perceive any relation, between latitude and the
colours of human races. But the extent of country is ’only
from the tropic to the equator. The Fulahs, who' are of a
red colour in the highest and coldest parts of Senegambia,
furnish one instance to which we shall hereafter find many
that are parallel. The Fulahs are as much fairer than,:other
African tribes as are the Kabyles of Mount Auress compared
to the other Berbers and Tuaryk.
The ten numerals will afford a specimen of the relation between,
the languages mentioned in the preceding chapter- I
have given in the first place those of the lolof which bear little