V. Agassiz divides the entire surface of the globe into nine great regions or kingdoms. I cannot here give in detail the numerous criticisms to which the fixed limits and characterisation of these centres are open. I shall confine myself to a few short remarks upon each.
1. Polynesian Kingdom. We shall see presently that it is impossible to regard Polynesia as a centre of human appearance. This region has been entirely peopled by migration from the Indian Archipelago, the history of which has been partly preserved. The first kingdom of Agassiz must be struck out as far as we are concerned; it is an exclusively animal and vegetable centre. Agassiz, moreover, though he supports it in the text and upon the map, does not assign it a place in the illustrated table, in which he sums up his ideas.
2. Australian Kingdom. Agassiz includes New Guinea in this kingdom. He thus destroys the homogeneity of the mammalogical fauna. At the same time he unites the several human races of Australia with the Negrittoes and Papuans. This alone destroys all unity of type.
3. Malay or Indian Kingdom. This kingdom comprises India, the Malay Archipelago, and the Andaman Islands. Now, anterior to the Aryan conquest, Yellows and Blacks lived in India. The latter are still found in a pure state in the peninsula of Malacca, and in the Andaman Islands; Malaysia presents a perfect mixture of most different races, from the White to the Negro. The Malays, properly so-called, are much rather a population levelled by the action of Islamism, than a race in the true sense of the word; they present in a high degree the characters of intercrossing. All these facts protest against the idea of making these regions a centre of human appearance.
4. Hottentot Fauna. Agassiz abandons the expression kingdom in speaking of the south of Africa, without giving any reason for the change. Whatever the cause may be, this is one of the least unfavourable regions for the application of his theory. From a geological or botanical point of view, South Africa constitutes a veritable centre. The Bosjesman and the Hottentot might be considered as the characteristic human type. But the Negroes of Delagoa and the Kaffirs still protest against this partial coincidence.
5. African Kingdom. This region is considered by Agassiz to comprise the rest of Africa, with the exception of the shores of the Mediterranean. He adds Madagascar and the southern half of the Arabian peninsula. Now, from a mammalogical point of view, Madagascar forms a little centre of itself, whilst the human population is very mixed. The Hovas are very slightly modified Malays, and the languages of the Sacalaves themselves indicate relations with the Malayo-Polynesians. As to the continental portion of the kingdom, it is enough to remark that it includes Negroes, Abyssinians, Arabs, etc. History, as well as the present state of things, protests against the connection made in this case by the author.
6. European Kingdom. This division Agassiz considers as comprising the entire circumference of the Mediterranean, Persia and Beloochistan. Consequently it embraces very different fauna and flora; it mixes up Aryan, Semitic and Chamitic populations, and takes no account of history. Agassiz himself recognises this fact, and declares that he has only taken into consideration prehistoric times. Since the Quaternary epoch, however, France alone has supported tribes which were tall and dolichocephalic, and others which were short and brachycephalic. Finally, although Agassiz includes the Persians with the Europeans, he leaves out the Hindoos who are ethnologically connected with them, and places them in an entirely different kingdom.
7. Mongolian or Asiatic Kingdom. This kingdom encloses all the central portion of Asia, beginning at the Bolor and the Himalayas, and extending as far as Japan. The Mongol is taken as the human type of this vast extent of country. But Agassiz forgets the Aryans of the Bolor, the white Jutchis, the Japanese of the same type, the Aïnos, etc. He unites, therefore, people which belong to at least two extreme types of mankind.
8. American Kingdom. Agassiz makes but one kingdom of the whole of America, whilst all zoologists and botanists are agreed in dividing it into at least two great and distinctly characterised centres. He adopts the opinion of Morton, who only admits one human race in America, with the exception of the Esquimaux. Now, since the publication of d’Orbigny’s Homme Américain, it is no longer possible to believe in this uniformity. The numerous investigations which have been undertaken upon this question have, moreover, proved still more strongly the multiplicity of races admitted by this traveller. Again, if the human races of America are compared with those of the old world, we shall find, with a few exceptions, a very close connection with Asia, especially in certain populations of Central America: if we compare the fauna and flora, the connection is, on the contrary, closer in North America. These facts are in direct opposition with the theory of Agassiz.