LECTURE VII.
THE ASIAN RACE.
Contents.—Physical geography of Asia. Physical traits of the Race. Its branches.
I. The Sinitic Branch. Sub-divisions. 1. The Chinese. Origin and early migrations. Psychical elements. Arts. Religions. Philosophers. Late migrations. 2. The Thibetan Group. Character. Physical traits. Tribes. 3. The Indo-Chinese Group. Members. Character and culture.
II. The Sibiric Branch. Synonyms. Location. Physical appearance. 1. The Tungusic Group. Members. Location. Character. 2. Mongolic Group. Migrations. 3. The Tartaric Group. History. Language. Customs. 4. The Finnic Group. Origin and migrations. Physical traits. Boundaries of the Siberic Peoples. The “Turanian” theories. 5. The Arctic Group. Members. Location. Physical traits. 6. The Japanese Group. Members. Location. History. Culture. The Koreans.
If you observe the relief of the continent of Asia, you will note that from the lofty plateau of Pamir, called by the orientals “The Roof of the World,” two tremendous mountain chains diverge, the one to the northeast, finally reaching the sea of Ochotsk, the other to the southeast, meeting the southern ocean on the west of the bay of Bengal. The region between them is one of high and arid table lands, intersected by mountain ranges, and giving birth to streams which flow in circuitous courses to the eastern sea. Along the coast the land sinks to alluvial plains, and north of this triangle, the endless forests, steppes, and “tundras” of Siberia and Turkestan continue to the Arctic sea.
The region thus described is the continent of Asia in the proper geological and zoölogical sense; the valleys of the Oxus, of Mesopotamia, and the land to the west of them, properly belong to Europe, and in fact, are included by naturalists in that continent, under the name “Eurasia.”[131]
Asia proper is thus divided into two contrasted geographical areas, that of the table-lands and mountains on the south, and that of the plains on the north. These features have been decisive in directing the migrations of its inhabitants, and to some extent in modifying their traits. The vast majority, however, are distinctly recognizable members of one race, which has been variously termed the Asiatic, the Mongolian, or the Yellow race.
Physical Traits of the Asian Race.—As the last mentioned adjective intimates, the prevailing color is yellowish, tending in different regions toward a brown or white, but never reaching the clear white of the western European. The hair is straight, coarse and black, abundant on the head, scanty on the face, almost absent on the body. The stature is medium or undersized, the legs thin, and the muscular power inferior to that of the Eurafrican race. The skull has a tendency to the globular form (meso- or brachycephalic), the face is round, the cheek bones prominent, the nose flat at the bridge and depressed at the extremity, the eyes are small and black, and the lids do not open fully at the inner angle, giving the peculiar appearance known as the oblique or Mongolian eye. This last trait is not uncommon in the children of Europeans, but it is generally outgrown. It is in the adult an arrest of muscular development, although in some instances it seems related to the bony confirmation of the orbit.[132]
Ethnic Chart of Eurasia and Asia.
Subdivisions.—These are the general traits of the Asian race, recurring more or less prominently wherever its members of pure descent are found. It is divisible, however, into two branches, corresponding roughly with the two geographical divisions of the continent to which I have alluded. The first of these branches I call the Sinitic, from the old Greek form of the word China, the other the Sibiric, an adjective from the proper orthography of the name Siberia (Sibiria). These branches are contrasted not only in geographical location, but quite as much so in language. The Sinitic peoples speak isolating, tonic, monosyllabic languages, while the tongues of the Sibiric population are polysyllabic and agglutinative.