Races and Peoples: Lectures on the Science of Ethnography

by Daniel G. Brinton

III. The Asian Race.—Traits.—Color yellowish or brownish, hair straight, nose flat or medium, jaws straight, skull broad and high, languages isolating or agglutinative, religions material.

IV. The American Race.—Traits.—Color coppery, hair straight, nose narrow, jaws straight, skull variable, languages incorporating, religions ideal.

V. Insular or Litoral Peoples.—Traits.—Color dark, hair lank or wavy, languages agglutinative.

In this scheme the more prominent and permanent traits are named first. While individuals of pure blood can easily be found in all the races who do not correspond in all particulars to these descriptions, I do not hesitate to assert that ninety-five per cent. of the whole of the pure blood of any of the races here classified will correspond to the standards given.

Subdivisions of Races.—The further subdivisions of ethnography follow to some extent the important doctrine of the “areas of characterization,” that is, they are geographical; but as the classification of men advances in minuteness, other considerations become paramount, notably, language and government. These elements allow us to subdivide a race into its branches; a branch into its stocks; a stock into its groups, and these again into tribes, peoples, or nations.

Classified in this manner, the human species presents the subdivisions shown on the adjacent scheme:

General Ethnographic Scheme.

Race.	Traits.	Branches.	Stocks.	Groups or Peoples.
Eurafrican.	Color white.	I. South Mediterranean.	1. Hamitic.	1. Libyan.
				2. Egyptian.
				3. East African.
	Hair wavy.		2. Semitic.	1. Arabian.
				2. Abyssynian.
				3. Chaldean.
	Nose narrow.	II. North Mediterranean.	1. Euskaric.	1. Euskarian.
			2. Aryac.	Indo-Germanic or Celtindic peoples.
			3. Caucasic.	Peoples of the Caucasus.
Austafrican.	Color black or dark.	I. Negrillo.	1. Central African.	Dwarfs of the Congo.
			2. South African.	Bushmen, Hottentots.
	Hair frizzly.
		II. Negro.	1. Nilotic.	Nubian.
			2. Soudanese.
			3. Senegambian.
			4. Guinean.
	Nose broad.	III. Negroid.	1. Bantu.	Caffres and Congo tribes.
Asian.	Color yellow or olive.	I. Sinitic.	1. Chinese.	Chinese.
			2. Thibetan.	Natives of Thibet.
			3. Indo-Chinese.	Burmese, Siamese.
	Hair straight.	II. Sibiric.	1. Tungusic.	Manchus, Tungus.
			2. Mongolic.	Mongols, Kalmucks.
			3. Tataric.	Turks, Cossacks.
	Nose medium.		4. Finnic.	Finns, Magyars.
			5. Arctic.	Chukchis, Ainos.
			6. Japanic.	Japanese, Koreans.
American.	Color coppery.	I. Northern.	1. Arctic.	Eskimos.
			2. Atlantic.	Tinneh, Algonkins, Iroquois.
			3. Pacific.	Chinooks, Kolosh, etc.
	Hair straight or wavy.	II. Central.	1. Mexican.	Nahuas, Tarascos.
			2. Isthmian.	Mayas, Chapanecs.
	Nose medium.	III. Southern.	1. Atlantic.	Caribs, Arawaks, Tupis.
			2. Pacific.	Chibehas, Qquichuas.
Insular and Litoral Peoples.	Color dark.	I. Negritic.	1. Negrito.	Mincopies, Aetas.
			2. Papuan.	New Guineans.
	Hair wavy or frizzly.	II. Malayic.	3. Melanesian.	Feejeeans, etc.
			1. Malayan.	Malays, Tagalas.
			2. Polynesian.	Pacific Islanders.
	Nose medium or narrow.	III. Australic.	1. Australian.	Australians.
			2. Dravidian.	Dravidas, Mundas.

That these distinctions may be plain I append definitions of the ethnographic terms employed.

Race.—A variety or sub-species of the species Man, presenting a number of distinct and permanent (hereditary) traits of the character above described.