and angularity. The dimensions of the orbits are moderate; the
malar bones small, flat, and retreating; the zygomatic processes
slender, and the general expression of the face resembling that of the
Circassians, from which latter it differs in being shorter. The Persian
head is less angular, the frontal region broader, the occiput
fuller; and the malar bones larger. The lower jaw is small and
rather round. The Affghan skull —that of a boy, aged about sixteen
years—resembles, in several respects, the Hindoo type already
described.
The Syro-Arabian or Semitic race, comprising the Arabians, Assyrians,
Chaldæans, Hebrews, and cognate tribes, also falls within
the European area.
“ The physical conformation of the Arabs proper,” says M orton,
“ is not very unlike that of their neighbors, the Circassians, although,
especially in the women, it possesses much less of the beautiful. . . .
The Arab face is a somewhat elongated oval, with a delicately-pointed
chin, and a high forehead. Their eyes are large, dark, and full of
vivacity ; their eye-brows are finely arched ; the nose is narrow and
gently aquiline, the lips thin, and the mouth small and expressive.”234
In another place, he says : “ The head (of the: southern or peninsular
Arabs) is, moreover, comparatively small, and the forehead rather
narrow and sensibly receding; to which may often be added a meagre
and angular figure,235 long,‘slender limbs, and large knees.”239 Mr.
F razer thus describes the physiognomy of the genuine Arabs. “ The
countenance was generally long and thin ; the forehead moderately
high, with a rounded protuberance near its top ; the nose aquiline ;
the mouth and chin receding, giving to the line of the profile a circular
rather than a straight character; the-eye deep set under the
brow, dark, and bright.”237 According to D e P ages, the Arabs of
the desert between Bassora and Damascus have a large, ardent, black
eye, a long .face, features high and regular, and, as the result of the
whole, a physiognomy peculiarly stern and Severe.”238
The famous Baron L a r r e y asserts that the skulls o f the Arabians
display “ a most perfect development of all the internal organs, ¿s
well as o f those which belong to the senses. . . . . -Independently
of the elevation of the vault of the cranium, and its almost spherical
form, the surface of the jaws is of great extent, and lies in a straight
or perpendicular line ; the orbits, likewise, are wider than they are
234 Cran. Americana, p. 18.
235 “ Tontes lenrs formes sont anguleuses,” says Denon; “ leur barbe courte et à mèches
pointues.” Voyage en Egypte, I., p. 92.
236 Cran. Ægyptiaca, p. 47. 237 Narrative of a Journey in Khorasan.
288 Travels round the World.
usually seen in the crania of Europeans, and they are somewhat less
inclined backwards; the alveolar arches are of moderate size, and
they are well supplied with very white and regular teeth; the canines,
especially, project but little. The Arabs eat little, and seldom of
animal food. g We are also convinced that the bones of the cranium
are thinner in the Arab than in other races, and more dense in
proportion to their size, which is proved by their greater transparency.”
239
The reader will obtain some idea of the Arabian cranial type from
the subjoined figure, representing several Bedawees of the Isthmus
of Suez (Bos. 766-770, of the Mortonian Collection.)
Fig. 38.
A r a b s . (Bédawes o f Isthmus).
Figs. 39 and 40 represent the profile and facial views of an ancient
Assyrian skull, obtained, by Dr. B ay a r d , from an ancient mound,
Fig. 39. Fig. 40.
A n c ie n t A s s y r ia n .
and now deposited in the British Museum. The representations
here given are reductions from natural-size drawings sent to Dr.
N ott by Mr. J. B. D a v is , of Shelton, Staffordshire, who, in an
239 Comptes Rendus, t. 6, p. 774.