boat backed into the surf in the attempt to land : he could only tremble and cry out, ‘ Dey
eat man! dey eat man!’ His friends on the other side had evidently impressed him with
that unpleasant national characteristic, and hence his. fright when apparently about to be
rolled helplessly to their feet by a boiling surf.
“ The same day upon which we .made this our last attempt to land among.them,, we
steamed along up their coast, keeping as close as was prudent,— in.fact closer, and examining
with our glasses as far back as we could see. In this way we saw small but apparently
comfortable stone houses; neatly-kept grounds,—what looked like fruitful gardens
and green fields,—all being cultivated by ‘Chinese prisoners who had not yet been eaten,’
we were told on the other, side; or rather we were .told that their friends, when captured,
were made to work until needed for culinary purposes.
“ We were surprised at this air of comfort among half-naked savages,.and could not but
wonder how they could have built.such nice-looking houses, until we finally concluded that
their prisoners had been made to turn their hands, to masonry as well as gardening. Thus
ended our second .and last visit to Formosa.’*
“ THE AINU, OR HAIB.Y K U E IL E ." 1
[See Lieut. Habersham’s comments, infra, Chapter vi., pp 620-621.]
. “Hoping that the foregoing extracts are what you want, I remain,
yours very truly,
A. W. H a b e r s h am , H . S. H . ”
“ C am b r id g e , F e b . 1, 1857.
“ M y d e a r S i r s .— In answer to your queries respecting my latest
investigations upon the question of the primitive diversity of the
races of man, I have only a few general remarks to make. Most
of the difficulties which have been in the way of a more speedy
solution of that perplexing question, have arisen from the circumstance,
that it has been considered too isolately, and without due
reference to the progress made in other branches of Zoology. I have
already shown, in the ‘ Sketch of the natural provinces of the animal
world, and their relation to the different types of man,’ which you
have inserted in ‘ Types of Mankind,’ that, so far as their geographical
distribution upon the surface of the globe is concerned, the
races of man follow the same laws which obtain in the circumscription
of the natural provinces of the animal kingdom. Even if this
fact stood isolated, it would show how intimately the plan of the
animal creation is linked with that of mankind. But this is not all:
there are other features occurring among animals, which require the
most careful consideration, inasmuch as they bear precisely upon the
question at issue, whether mankind originated from one stock, or from
several stocks, or by nations. These features, well known to every
zoologist, have led to as conflicting views respecting the unity or
plurality of certain types of animals, as are prevailing respecting
the unity or plurality of origin of the human races. The controversy
which has been carried on among zoologists, upon this point,
shows that the difficulties respecting the races of men are not peculiar
to the question1 of man, but involve the investigation of the
whole animal kingdom—though,~ strange as it may appear, they
have always been considered without the least reference to one
another.
“ I need not extend my remarks beyond the class to which man
himself belongs, in order to show how much light might be derived,
for the study of the races, from a careful comparison of their peculiar
characteristics with those of animals. The monkeys most nearly
allied to man afford even the best examples. The orang-outans of
Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, are considered by some of the most
eminent zoologists as constituting only one single species. This is
the opinion" of Andreas Wagner, who, by universal consent, ranks
as one of the highest authorities in questions relating to the natural
history of mammalia; while Bichard Owen, than whom no man,
with the exception of our own Jeffreys Wyman, has studied more
carefully the anthropoid monkeys, considers them as belonging to
at least three distinct species. A comparison of the full and beautifully
illustrated descriptions which Owen has published, of the