, their place of origin, it will be well to deal
first with the tribes of that quarter of the globe. "The Negrito" (_i.e._,
pigmy black) "type," says the authority whom I have just quoted, and to
whom I shall have to be still further indebted,[A] "was first placed in
South Asia, which it without doubt occupied alone during an indeterminate
period. It is thence that its diverse representatives have radiated, and,
some going east, some west, have given rise to the black populations of
Melanesia and Africa. In particular, India and Indo-China first belonged
to the blacks. Invasions and infiltrations of different yellow or white
races have split up these Negrito populations, which formerly occupied a
continuous area, and mixing with them, have profoundly altered them. The
present condition of things is the final result of strifes and mixtures,
the most ancient of which may be referred back to prehistoric times." The
invasions above mentioned having in the past driven many of the races from
the mainland to the islands, and those which remained on the continent
having undergone greater modification by crossing with taller and alien
races, we may expect to find the purest Negritos amongst the tribes
inhabiting the various archipelagoes situated south and east of the
mainland. Amongst these, the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands offer a
convenient starting-point. The knowledge which we possess of these little
blacks is extensive, thanks to the labours in particular of Mr. Man[B] and
Dr. Dobson,[C] which may be found in the Journal of the Anthropological
Institute, and summarised in De Quatrefages' work. The average stature of
the males of this race is four feet six inches, the height of a boy of ten
years of age. Like children, the head is relatively large in comparison
with the stature, since it is contained seven times therein, instead of
seven and a half times, as is the rule amongst most average-sized peoples.
Whilst speaking of the head, it may be well to mention that these
Negritos, and in greater or less measure other Negritos and Negrillos
(_i.e._, pigmy blacks, Asiatic or African), differ in this part of the
body in a most important respect from the ordinary African negro. Like
him, they are black, often intensely so: like him, too, they have woolly
hair arranged in tufts, but, unlike him, they have round (brachycephalic)
heads instead of long (dolichocephalic); and the purer the race, the more
marked is this distinction.