graphical property, bearing upon types of man—Europeans hardly
included—now in existence. This enables ethnography at the
present advanced day to boast, that she possesses about half an individual
per million to represent all Mankind! whereas, out of 216
known species of Monkeys, there are not a dozen of which naturalists
do not possess exact and elegant delineations. And yet, steeped in
the slough of our common ignorance, it is pretended to give us
systems vindicating the “ unity of the human species.”
TJnder all these lamentable deficiencies, my attempt reduces itself
to an exhibition of 54 of the best characterized ethnographic portraits
condensible into a “ Tableau.” Their number (fifty-four) is purely
accidental. No cabalistic enigma underlies its selection, which was
superinduced merely by the mechanical eligibilities considered requisite
by our publishers. What may have been the labor incurred to
present even so small a number at one view, may be inferred through
the Table of References. Such as it is, the reader will find nothing
yet published comparable to it for attempted accuracy; at the same
time that none can be more alive than myself to its defects, nor will
be more happy to hail the publication of something better within the
limited price of this present volume. Had not this last inexorable
condition been part of our publishing arrangements, my own portfolio
and note-books could have supplied for every row (except for
the Australian realm, which seems tolerably complete in 6 specimens)
18 different heads, each typical of a race, in lieu of only 6; and
then, through 132 colored portraits, a commencement might have
been made to portray, at one view, the earth’s known inhabitants;
leaving to future collectors the task of adding other types, in the
ratio either of their discovery or of their acquisition, to ethnic iconography.
With these remarks, the “ Tableau” is submitted to liberal
criticism; which will perceive the reason why SO many essential and
well-known types are unavoidably excluded, in the fact that 132
distinct things cannot be compressed into a space adapted to 54.
A F I T C L O S I N G O B S E R V A T IO N S .
Notwithstanding that perfectly-traced fac-similes, and sometimes
the original plates and photographs themselves, were placed in
the hands of the best lithographic establishment in this city, rigid
comparison with a few of the originals referred to in the explanatory
text, will prove what has been previously deplored regarding ethnological
portraits generally, viz., that a merely artistic eye, untrained
in this new specialite of art, is unable even to copy with absolute
correctness. A draughtsman, accustomed to draw solely European
faces, cannot, without long practice and a peculiar instinct for race-
ieonography, seize, on so small a scale as such drawings must be
made, the delicate distinctions between ethnic lineaments perceived
by the eye of an anthropologist. In consequence; it has happened
in our Tableau, that, through infinitesimal touches of his pencil,
there are few heads (in the eyes especially) which have not been more
or less Europeanized by the artist. These defects aré herein irremediable;
nor would I call attention to them, but to meet a possible
(nay, very probable)-charge, that these portraits have been tampered
with in order to favor Dr. Nott’s and my common polygenistic
views: whereas, on the contrary, the truth is, that artistic execution,
by softening down diversities of feature, palpable in the originals,
seems unconsciously to have labored father to gratify the yearnings
and bonhomie of philanthropists and monogenists. \
In respqéjfi to the coloring, also, although to each face I have appended
authority for 'its hue, much allowance should be made for a
book the price- of which, to the American subscriber, must not
exceed $5. The colorist (who has performed her part extremely
well) had to give 53 distinct tints to 54 (the Tasmanians, Nos. 53, 54,
being one color) different faces,— each, too, restricted to one stroke
of her brush. To have attempted the coloration of eyes, hair, or
dress, would have made this volume Cost half as much again. Nevertheless,
I have deposited with our publishers one standard and
Completely-colored copy, critically executed by my wife, and they
tell me that any one desirous of possessing our “ Ethnographic
Tableau,” perfectly colored, varnished, and mounted upon rollers, can
obtain such copy on application to them, and paying the expense
thereof;
As for the wood-cuts,—in Our present, no less than in our former
volume —I am free to say, that the only extenuation, for often-
stupid deviations from perfectly-drawn originals, lies' simply in the
fact, that where (owing to bibliothecal deficiencies in a given spot
of our yet new and youthful American republic) the plates themselves
could not be furnished to the .engraver, my wife’s pencil-marks
on the box-wood “blocks” having been rubbed more or less in our
travels,—or, by carelessness, after their delivery to the wood-eutter
— “pencils,” under such circumstances, are treacherous and slippery.
Hence our collaborators, Messrs. Pulszky and Meigs, I am
sure, will be charitable enough to overlook any accidental drawbacks
to the attainment of that correctness, which was equally desired by
Mrs. Gliddon, Dr. Nott, and myself. The reader will also, I trust,
be so considerate as to overlook such blemishes in the artistic,
cranioscopic, and typograpical exactitude of our book.