Dungans. Southern Mongolic inhabitants of Zungaria, between Tian-Shan and Altai. Allied to [Chinese] (q.v.).
Durbats. See [KALMUKS].
Duranis. See [AFGHANS].
Dyaks. The aborigines of Borneo, probably akin to the [Malays] (q.v.), whom they resemble physically, though of greater average stature. They are active and warlike, and formerly indulged in the practice of head-hunting, now dying out. The Sea-Dyaks were bold and inveterate pirates. They possess a considerable degree of indigenous civilisation, and their moral character is very fine.
Easter Islanders. (1) See [POLYNESIANS]. (2) Easter Island once possessed an older race of inhabitants, now extinct, who have left very remarkable traces in the shape of numerous colossal statues, thin-lipped and disdainful, standing on platforms of Cyclopean masonry, as well as many stone houses with thick walls, painted on the inside. Nothing farther is known of their race or history.
Ecuadorians. White natives of Ecuador, in South America, of Spanish descent; noted for their laziness and political instability.
Edomites. See [IDUMÆANS].
Egbas. See [YORUBAS].
Egyptians. (1) The ancient inhabitants of Egypt—known to them as Khem, the Biblical Mizraim—who reared one of the oldest and most important civilised states of the ancient world. The aborigines of Egypt were apparently a Palæolithic branch of Ethiopic Man, allied to the modern Bushmen. They were dispossessed and practically exterminated, probably about 7000 B.C., by a slender, fair-skinned race of European type, belonging to the Hamitic family, and resembling the modern [Berbers] (q.v.) in many respects. These were probably the same as the ancient [Libyans] (q.v.). Later this race was modified by the introduction of a Semitic element, partly from Syria, partly from the Phœnician conquerors who founded dynastic rule in Egypt under Menes, between 5000 and 4000 B.C. Their later history is written on their imperishable monuments, and need not be summarised here. In later times the Egyptian racial type was modified by Greek and Roman influence. The ancient Egyptians were highly skilled in agriculture and engineering, warlike but not aggressive, and with a highly developed literature and religion. (2) The modern Egyptians are partly descended from the ancient Egyptians, whose racial type as represented on the monuments is still to be found in purity, mingled with Bedouin Arabs, Turks, Syrians, and other races. See [COPTS] and [FELLAHIN].
English. Natives of England; used in a wider sense as equivalent to citizens of the British Empire [See [BRITONS], [ANGLO-SAXONS]]. The English people are a Low German branch of the Teutonic stock of the Aryan family, with a faint Celtic element derived from the primitive Britons, a strong Scandinavian element (especially in the north-east), derived from the invading Danes and Norsemen in the ninth to eleventh centuries, and a considerable Norman element—Norse modified by French culture. The typical Englishman is white-skinned and fair-haired, belonging to the Xanthochroi, but there are many deviations due to modifying influences. The race is eminently warlike and aggressive, and makes the most successful colonisers known to the world.