Warlike by nature, here we see him scouting the silent wastes with his ever faithful companion in peace or war—restless as the shifting sands.The desert oasis is his place of assembly for recreation or trade. In the above picture we have a view of a desert market held far remote from any city but at the junction of several caravan routes.
Warlike by nature, here we see him scouting the silent wastes with his ever faithful companion in peace or war—restless as the shifting sands.
The desert oasis is his place of assembly for recreation or trade. In the above picture we have a view of a desert market held far remote from any city but at the junction of several caravan routes.
Basques(bȧskz).—A race inhabiting the Basque provinces and other parts of Spain in the neighborhood of the Pyrenees, and part of the adjacent territory in France. They were formerly Iberian as to language, the sole non-Aryan language of western Europe. But few now live in the old province of southwestern France, Gascony, formerly called “Vasconia,” after them; about 500,000 still remain in northwestern Spain. They are a fragment, perhaps the only distinct remnant, of the pre-Aryan race of Europe. Recent researches connect them, not with the Mongolian Finns as formerly, but with the Hamitic (Caucasian) Berbers of northern Africa. They are not now easily distinguished in physical appearance from their Spanish or French neighbors, although many still speak the strange Basque tongue. The latter is not inflected, like most European (Aryan) languages, but agglutinative, like the typical languages of northern Asia.
Berbers(bér´bérz).—A race of people constituting, with the Cushites, the Hamitic family, which is found scattered over North Africa and the Sahara, from the Red Sea to the Atlantic. The complexion of the Berbers varies from white to dark brown; their features remind one of the Egyptian type; their stature is medium. They have occupied their present habitat since the dawn of history. Never have their indomitable tribes become entirely subject to a foreign master, or lost their racial and linguistic characteristics, in spite of Punic, Roman, Germanic, Arabic, and Saracen conquests. In the mountains they are agricultural; in the Sahara, nomadic. For centuries they have been the middlemen between the Mediterranean coast and the Negro states of the Sudan. In religion the Berbers are nominally Mohammedan. A few tribes have adopted the Arabic, and so have a few Arabs adopted Berber dialects. The Berber languages are often called Libyan. They number at least 7,000,000 in Morocco and Algeria and 500,000 in Tunis and Tripoli.
Bulgarians(bul-gā´ri-anz).—The people of Bulgaria are supposed to be Finnic (Mongolian) in origin, are also the most numerous people in European Turkey. The Bulgarians and their neighbors on the north, the Roumanians, are among the rare races that are physically of one stock and linguistically of another. Both possess adopted languages. While the Bulgarians appear to be Asiatics by origin who have adopted a Slavic speech, the Roumanians are Slavs who have adopted a Latin language. While the Bulgarians adopted the language of the Slavs, whom they conquered and organized politically, they were themselves swallowed up in the Slavic population. They lost not only their ancient language but their physical type. While they are the most truly Asiatic in origin of all the Slavs, they are Europeanized in appearance and character. In some respects their life is more civilized and settled than that of some of the Slavs farther west, as in Montenegro and Dalmatia. They are not only less warriors in spirit than these, but are more settled as agriculturists. Yet they seem to feel that they do not belong to the civilization of Europe, properly speaking, for they say of one who visits the countries farther west that he “goes to Europe.”
There would appear to be little doubt that the Bulgars came through southern Russia to their present home in the time of the early migrations of the middle ages. Some records locate them in the second century on the river Volga, from which they appear to have taken their name. In fact, a country called “Greater Bulgaria” was known there as late as the tenth century. If the common supposition be correct, the Bulgarians are most nearly related in origin to the Magyars of Hungary and the Finns of northern Russia. After these they are nearest of kin to the Turks, who have long lived among them as rulers. But Turks and Finns alike are but branches of the great Ural-Altaic family, which had its origin in northern Asia, probably in Mongolia.
Carthaginians.—SeePhœnicians.
This group of present day Bulgarian college girls shows that a striking transformation has been wrought by European influences upon a people of Mongolian origin centuries ago.
This group of present day Bulgarian college girls shows that a striking transformation has been wrought by European influences upon a people of Mongolian origin centuries ago.
Celts, orKelts(kelts).—The peoples which speak languages akin to those of Wales, Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland, and Britanny, and constitute a branch or principal division of the Indo-European[281]families. Formerly these peoples occupied, partly or wholly, France, Spain, northern Italy, the western parts of Germany, and the British Islands. Of the remaining Celtic languages and peoples there are two chief divisions, viz., theGaelic, comprising the Highlanders of Scotland, the Irish, and the Manx, and theCymric, comprising the Welsh and Bretons.
Irish, because of its more extensive literature and greater antiquity, is considered to be the chief branch of the Gaelic group. Modern Erse or Scotch is thought to be a more recent dialect of Irish. Manx is the dialect spoken by a small number of persons in the Isle of Man. Welsh is the best preserved of the Cymric group. It has a literature nearly if not quite as rich as that of Irish, and is spoken by a larger population than any other Celtic language found in the British Isles. Low Breton, or Armorican, is the speech found in Lower Brittany, in France. It is spoken by nearly two-thirds as many persons as are all other Celtic dialects combined.
This “Celtic” race seems to have had its main center of dissemination in the highlands of the Alps of midwestern Europe. While all Celtic-speaking peoples are mixed races, those of the British Isles are distinctly long-headed and tall, in fact, are among the tallest of all Europe. It is almost impossible to give the population of the Celtic race—that is, of those whose ancestral language was Celtic—since most of its members now speak English or French only.
Chaldean.—SeeBabylonian.
Chinese(chī-nēs´or-nēz´).—The race or people inhabiting China proper. Linguistically, one of the Sinitic groups of the Mongolian or Asiatic race. The name Chinese is also applied, erroneously from an ethnical standpoint, to all the natives of the Chinese Empire, including China proper; that is, to the entire Sibiric group. These are, on the northeast the Manchus, on the north the Mongols, on the west the tribes of Turkestan and of Thibet. The name does not properly apply to the other Sinitic peoples—the Cochin-Chinese and the Annamese of the French colonies and the Burmese of the British colonies, all of whom border on China on the south and southwest. The people of Manchuria and of Mongolia are not so nearly related linguistically to the Chinese as they are to the Japanese. All these “Sibiric” peoples have agglutinative languages, while the Chinese is monosyllabic, being more nearly related to the languages stretching from Thibet southeast to the Malay Peninsula.
The Chinese physical type is well known—yellowish in color, with slanting eyes, high cheek bones, black hair, and a flat face. The eye is more properly described as having the “Mongolic fold” at the inner angle. This mark is found to some extent in all Mongolian peoples, in the Japanese, and now and then in individuals of the European branches of this race in Russia and Austria-Hungary.
Egyptian(ē-jipt´ē-ăn).—The ancient race or people of Egypt, best represented to-day by the Copts or Fellahs, although those are generally of mixed stock. In a political sense, any native of Egypt.
The origin of the Egyptians is still a matter of dispute. It is quite probable that they were Hamitic and belonged to the Berber type. They have no real negroid trace about them, though probably there is a strain from intermarrying; thus it is likely that they may have been a fair-skinned indigenous race, mixed also with people of Asiatic origin, and a certain amount of negro blood. The earliest types, as pictured by themselves on monuments, show men of fine build with no trace of the negroid type; the males are painted red-brown and the females a light yellowish tint.
The fellah (Arabic for ploughman) forms the bulk of the peasantry. They are chiefly Mohammedan in faith, though the Copts, also natives of Egypt, have kept their Christian belief.
The Egyptian features are as unchangeable as the pyramids themselves. On the right is the sculptured likeness of Queen Tiy of four thousand years ago; on the left of an Egyptian girl of the present day.
The Egyptian features are as unchangeable as the pyramids themselves. On the right is the sculptured likeness of Queen Tiy of four thousand years ago; on the left of an Egyptian girl of the present day.
The fellah is a hard-working and industrious person, of big build, with a fine, oval face, smooth black hair (the head is usually shaved), and well formed features. The women are often of great beauty, both in form and figure, though they lose their youth early. The Copts are racially the purest descendants of the ancient Egyptians. The coloring of the fellah varies from a fair[282]yellowish shade in Lower Egypt to a deeper tone in Middle Egypt, and in Upper Egypt the majority are a deep bronze. The Arab portion of the population are of two classes: the Arabic speaking tribes who come from the deserts, and the Hamitic tribes who speak a language of their own. The Nubians are chiefly mixed with Arab blood. The foreigners are mainly Greeks, Turks, Italians, British, French, Syrians, Levantines, and Persians.
Etrurians(ē-tru´ri-anz), orEtruscans(ē-trus´-kanz).—The ancient inhabitants of Etruria, the modern Tuscany. The Etrurians are the most mysterious people of antiquity. According to ancient tradition, they came from Lydia in prehistoric times, and colonized Latium. Certain details of their costumes and customs appear to be identical with those of Lydia, and the legend is probably based upon fact.
The Etruscans were proverbially a religious people. Their tombs bear witness to a belief in a future life, and a dread of the malignant power of their deities.
Greeks.—The ancient Greeks belonged to Aryan or Indo-European race. They entered Greece from the North, and as they moved south in separate tribes, the foremost tribes were impelled forward by the pressure of those behind. Even when the whole of the peninsula had been for some time filled and fully occupied, a fresh wave of immigrants swept over the whole country, disturbing everything. Such a wave was the “Return of the Heraclidæ,” or the Dorian Invasion. The result was to drive emigrants on to and over the isles of Greece, and to plant Greek cities and Greek culture on the coasts of Asia Minor. At later times Sicily, the Black Sea, Libya, etc., were dotted with Greek colonies, the ancient Greeks were pre-eminent in philosophy and science, leaders in the civilization of their own day, and laid the foundations of modern civilization.
The modern Greek race or people is that which has descended, with considerable foreign admixture, from the ancient Greeks. While the stock has changed much, physically and otherwise, the modern language is more nearly like the ancient Greek than Italian, for instance, is like the ancient Latin.
The Greek race of today is intensely proud of its language and its history, and naturally wishes to be considered as genuinely Hellenic. The official title of the country is now the “Kingdom of Hellas,” and any citizen, however mixed in race, styles himself a Hellene. The people are wide-awake on political questions, are avid readers of newspapers, and, like the Greek of older times, eager to learn some new thing. Generally speaking, in customs, superstitions, and folklore, the modern race is a continuation of the ancient.
It may not be commonly known that the greater part of the Greeks live outside of Greece, probably twice as numerous as those in Greece. Ripley says that they form a third of the total population of the Balkan States. On the other hand, von Hellwald says that of the population of Greece itself only about 1,300,000 are truly Greek in race.
Gypsies(jip´sēz).—A peculiar wandering race which appeared in eastern Europe in the fourteenth century and is now found in every country of Europe, as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, and America. The Gypsies are distinguishable from the peoples among whom they rove by their bodily appearance and by their language. Their forms are generally light, lithe, and agile; skin of a tawny color; eyes large, black and brilliant; hair long, coal black, and often ringleted; mouth well shaped; and teeth very white. Ethnologists generally concur in regarding the Gypsies as descendants of some obscure Hindu tribe. They pursue various nomadic occupations, being tinkers, basket-makers, fortune-tellers, dealers in horses, etc.; are often expert musicians; and are credited with thievish propensities. They appear to be destitute of any system of religion, but traces of various forms of paganism are found in their language and customs.
The Gypsy calls himself “Rom,” whence comes Romany as a name for the language. Special names are applied to Gypsies in the different countries where they are found. Some of these relate to the supposed origin of this singular people, as Gypsy or Egyptian in the British Isles, Bohémien in France, Gitano (Egyptian) in Spain, and Tatare in Scandinavia. In some countries they are known, by a term of contempt, as Heiden (heathen) in Holland, Harami (robbers) in Egypt, and Tinklers in Scotland, but in most parts of Europe a local form of the word Zingani is used to designate them, as Zigeuner in Germany, Cygany in Hungary, and Zingari in Spain.
Intermarriage with other peoples is becoming more frequent. Through loss of language, the assumption of a sedentary life, and intermarriage, Gypsies are decreasing in numbers and seem everywhere doomed to extinction by absorption.
Of the total population of Gypsies in the world, three-fourths are in Europe. There are 200,000 in Roumania, 100,000 each in Hungary and the Balkan Peninsula, 50,000 each in Spain, Russia and Servia, and 50,000 in Germany and Italy combined. The number in the British Isles is variously estimated at from 5,000 to 20,000. There are thought to be 100,000 in Asia and 25,000 in Africa. Only a few thousand are found in the Americas.
Hebrews(hē´bruz),JewishorIsraelite.—The race or people that originally spoke the Hebrew language. They were primarily of Semitic origin, and according to tradition, descended from Heber, the great-grandson of Shem, in the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are scattered throughout Europe, especially in Russia, yet preserve their own individuality to a marked degree. Linguistically, the nearest relatives of the ancient Hebrew are the Syriac, Assyrian, and Arabic languages. While the Hebrew is not so nearly a dead language as the related Syrian, Aramaic, or the ancient Assyrian, its use in most Jewish communities is confined mainly to religious exercises. The Jews have adopted the languages of the peoples with whom they have long been associated. More speak Yiddish, called in Europe “Judeo-German,” than any other language, since the largest modern population of Jews borders on eastern Germany and has been longest under German influence.
Physically the Hebrew is a mixed race. In every country, however, they are found to approach in type the people among whom they have long resided. The two chief divisions of the Jewish people are the northern type, and the Spanish or southern type. The latter are now found mainly in the countries southeast of Austria. They consider themselves to be of purer race than the northern Jews and in some countries refuse to intermarry or worship with the latter. Their features are more truly Semitic.
The social solidarity of the Jews is chiefly a product of religion and tradition. Taking all factors into account, and especially their type of civilization, the Jews of today are more truly European than Asiatic or Semitic.
The Jews are endowed with the most varied qualities, as shown by the whole course of their checkered history. Originally pure nomads, the Israelites became excellent husbandmen after the settlement in Canaan, and since then they have given proof of the highest capacity for poetry, letters, erudition of all kinds, philosophy, finance, music, and diplomacy. The reputation of the medieval Arabs as restorers of learning is largely due to their wise tolerance of the enlightened Jewish communities in their midst.
This remarkable Cliff Palace of Chapin’s Mesa, Colorado, is believed to have been constructed either by the Pueblo Indians or their immediate predecessors. Originally it was a city in itself, being prepared for siege, drought, and famine, besides the necessities of every-day life.
This remarkable Cliff Palace of Chapin’s Mesa, Colorado, is believed to have been constructed either by the Pueblo Indians or their immediate predecessors. Originally it was a city in itself, being prepared for siege, drought, and famine, besides the necessities of every-day life.
In late years the persecutions, especially in Russia and Roumania, have caused a fresh exodus, and flourishing agricultural settlements have been founded in Argentina and Palestine.
Jewish immigrants usually, however, settle in the cities. New York City, for example, has the largest Jewish population of any city in the world, now estimated by some at about 1,000,000, or nearly one-fourth of the total population. About 50,000 more are added annually. Among large cities, Warsaw and Odessa have a still larger ratio of Jewish population, namely, one-third. In London, on the contrary, only one-fiftieth of the population is Hebrew. The Jewish population of the entire United States is less than 2,000,000.
Hindus(hin´duz), orHindoos.—The native race in India descended from the Aryan conquerors. Their purest representatives belong to the two great historic castes of Brahmans and Rajputs. Many of the non-Aryan inhabitants of India have been largely Hinduized. More loosely the name includes also the non-Aryan inhabitants of India.
It is not generally realized how great a number of races and tribes there are in India, many of them extremely low in civilization and approaching the Negro in physical characteristics. Such are some of the Dravidas and Mundas, who occupy all of southern India. In greatest contrast with these are the Aryan Hindus of the north, more closely related in language, if not in physical appearance, to the northern Europeans than are the Turks, Magyars, and various peoples of eastern Russia.
Hindi and Hindustani are the most widely spread modern languages or group of dialects of India. Hindustani is generally understood to be the polite speech of all India, and especially of Hindustan. Hindi, in the wider sense of the term, is spoken by 97,000,000 of people, mainly of northern India. The darker non-Aryans and Mongolians alone of India nearly equal the population of the United States. There are one hundred and forty-seven peoples or tribes speaking different languages.
Indians(in´di-anz).—The aboriginal inhabitants of North America were so named on the supposition that the lands discovered by the early navigators were parts of India. This erroneous name has continued in use ever since, notwithstanding attempts at its correction. The Indians were not nomadic until after the arrival of Europeans, who drove many tribes from their established seats to those occupied by other tribes. From the same Europeans they procured the horse and firearms, both of which were necessary to a nomadic life under the existing conditions.
Explorers and early settlers gave fanciful names to many of the groups of Indians which they encountered. Efforts to reproduce native tribal names (unpronounceable in foreign tongues) in the traveler’s own language, resulted in many different names for the same tribes. Several thousand names for Indian tribes or groups are found in the English and European writings of the last three hundred years.
Recent ethnological study tends to recognize possibly two marked types of North American Indians, (1) those facing the Pacific and the Asiatic Continent with its broad-headed Mongolic races; and (2) those found chiefly on the Eastern Slope, looking toward Africa and Europe. They incline to the view, also, that the race is not traceable to a “singleorigin, but that immigrants came by many routes from many regions.” While a similarity in the new environment tended to bring the fragments of the old populations into similarity of physical type, likenesses in language, are accepted as the sound basis for classification of Indian tribes and groups.
Major J. W. Powell, in 1891, recognized “fifty-eight linguistic families,” and mapped the geographic distribution of these great stocks over the continent. The Pacific coast has a multiplicity of small linguistic families; while the more populous central and eastern parts have comparatively fewer linguistic stocks. Dr. McGee, in 1896 estimated the number of Indian tribes belonging to various linguistic families at 782—the largest number of these, tribes of little importance, numerically or historically. Some of the principal linguistic families are:
1.The Algonquian(including thirty-six tribes) originally distributed along the Atlantic Coast from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia as far south as North Carolina, and throughout the middle portion of the continent from Tennessee, northward throughout the main part of Canada. Among them were the tribes found in New England and Virginia by the earliest settlers from Europe,—the Abnaki, Delawares, Narragansetts, Pequots, Powhatans, Mohegans, Ottawas, Illinois, Objibwa (Chippewa), Cheyennes, Siksika and Arapaoes, with the now largely civilized and dispersed Potawatomi.
2.The Athabascan(fifty-three tribes) chiefly found now in Northwestern Canada, but including also the large Southwestern tribe of about 30,000 Navahoes, in Arizona and New Mexico; the Apaches and the Mescaleros, with a few small tribal groups on the coast of central and northern California.
3.The Iroquoian(thirteen tribes) among which were the famous “Five Nations” of New York, including the Cayugas, Oneidas, Senecas, Onondagas, Tuscaroras, Mohawks, the numerous Cherokees, and the Hurons, nearly annihilated in 1650 by the Iroquois.
TWO INSTRUCTIVE VIEWS OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
The former free and open life of the plains is now supplemented with the refinements and even luxuries of modern American life. Rich in lands, and protected by the guardianship of the American government, the future of the Indian is unusually safe-guarded.
The former free and open life of the plains is now supplemented with the refinements and even luxuries of modern American life. Rich in lands, and protected by the guardianship of the American government, the future of the Indian is unusually safe-guarded.
The Indian farmer is under the instruction of upward of five hundred skilled specialists who demonstrate the art of profitable farming. His lands equal in area all New England and New York, and their value is placed at six hundred million dollars.
The Indian farmer is under the instruction of upward of five hundred skilled specialists who demonstrate the art of profitable farming. His lands equal in area all New England and New York, and their value is placed at six hundred million dollars.
4.The Siouan(sixty-eight tribes) including the great Dakota (Sioux) tribes, with their numerous sub-divisions; the Omahas, Poncas, Osages, the Winnebagos, Iowas, Crows; and the Catawbas in Carolina, who perhaps mark the original eastern habitat from which Siouan tribes moved northwest.
5.The Shoshonean(twelve tribes) including the Comanches, Utes, Hopis, and Shoshone.
6.The Muskhogean(nine tribes) including the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles.
7.The Eskimauanfamily (seventy tribes) scattered through Greenland and the Arctic Coast and islands of Central and North America and Alaska.
8.The Pueblo, including the Zuñi, Hopi and Tegna.
On the continent of North America, north of Mexico, three or four hundred years ago, there were probably about 1,150,000 Indians. Of these, perhaps 850,000 were on territory now that of the United States proper; 220,000 in British America; 72,000 in Alaska; and 10,000 in Greenland. Numerous and prolonged intertribal wars, ravages of tuberculosis, and fevers, are known to have swept off entire populations of large districts, before contact with Whites had greatly accelerated the death-rate of the American Indians. Smallpox, introduced by the Whites, has nearly extinguished entire tribes, time after time. Whiskey, and attendant dissipation, sexual diseases brought in by Whites, and the lowered vitality which results from changed conditions of life, with tuberculosis, rendered much more deadly in the conditions of life forced upon Indians by the Whites, had largely reduced the Indian population before 1800, and have steadily tended toward the extermination of Indians since that date, although intermarriages and enrolment of mixed-bloods have kept up the numbers on tribal rolls.
The most interesting groups of Indians in Central and South America have been the (a) Aztecs, (b) Pipils, making theNahuatlangroup; and the (a) Mayas, (b) Quichés, (c) Pocomans, making theHuastecangroup.
The Aztecswere the dominant race in Mexico prior to their conquest by Spaniards. Although the name is usually extended to all the semi-civilized tribes of Nahuatlan (Aztlan, “heron clan”) stock, it properly belongs only to a small group of seven related clans. The principal tribe had its capital at Tenochtitlan, now the city of Mexico. They developed a form of astronomy which was mainly astrological, and could take accurate observations, not only of lunations, but also of the periods of Venus. They divided the solar year into eighteen months of twenty days each and named each day by consecutive hieroglyphics. Their writing system was mainly pictorial. The Aztec monuments, however, or pyramids surmounted by temples, were not to be compared with those of Yucatan, while the finest in Mexico itself (Teotihuacan, Colula, Papantla) were the work of their Toltec predecessors.
Possessed of a high degree of culture, the Aztecs were also notorious for their cruelty and the barbarous character of their religious rites. Some of their descendants, comparatively pure in blood and retaining the ancient language, are still to be found in the neighborhood of the city of Mexico.
Incas(ing´käz).—The reigning and aristocratic order in ancient Peru from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. They were originally a tribe or family of the Quichés who inhabited certain valleys near Cuzco and first became dominant under Manco Capac about 1240. Their own traditions described Manco Capac as a child of the Sun. From him descended the twelve other historical sovereigns of Peru, the last reigning one being Huascar, though the lineage was preserved long after. These sovereigns (the Incas in a restricted sense) always married their own sisters, and the throne was inherited, in general, by the oldest son proceeding from this marriage. Children by their other wives could not, by custom or law, receive the crown, though this rule was broken when Atahualpa inherited a part of the empire in 1523. The rule of the Incas was absolute, but very mild. They had attained to a high state of civilization before the arrival of the Spaniards. They cultivated many of the arts, and had some knowledge of astronomy. They had domesticated the llamas and alpacas, had brought under cultivation maize, potatoes and other edible roots, understood mining and the working of metals, and excelled as masons, weavers, potters, and farmers. They brought the science of government to a high pitch of perfection. The Incas composed songs and dramas; and as soldiers their skill and prowess enabled them to conquer and consolidate a vast empire. Three centuries of oppression under Spanish rule have deteriorated the character of the Inca Indian, but he is still industrious and honest, and retains some of the virtues of his ancestors.
Israelites.—SeeHebrews.
Japanese.—The Japanese and Koreans form the easternmost group of the great Sibiric branch, which, with the Sinitic branch (Chinese, etc.,) constitutes the Mongolian race. The Japanese and Koreans stand much nearer than the Chinese to the Finns, Lapps, Magyars, and Turks of Europe, who are the westernmost descendants of the Mongolian race. The languages of all these peoples belong to the agglutinative family, while Chinese is monosyllabic.
Although many people may mistake a Japanese face for Chinese, the Mongolian traits are much less pronounced. The skin is much less yellow, the eyes less oblique. The hair, however, is true Mongolian, black and round in section, and the nose is small. These physical differences no doubt indicate that the Japanese are of mixed origin. In the south there is probably a later Malay admixture. In some respects their early culture resembles that of the Philippines of today.
Then there is an undoubted white strain in Japan. The Ainos, the earliest inhabitants of Japan, are one of the most truly Caucasian-like people in appearance in eastern Asia. They have dwindled away to less than 20,000 under the pressure of the Mongolian invasion from the mainland, but they have left their impress upon the Japanese race. The “fine” type of the aristocracy, the Japanese ideal, as distinct from the “coarse” type recognized by students of the Japanese of today, is perhaps due to the Aino.
The race, as a whole, is physically under-developed, the men being small, and harsh in feature, while the women lose their good looks after the first bloom of youth is over. The girls, with their rosy cheeks, fascinating manners, and exquisitely tasteful dress, are, however, particularly attractive, and the children are bright and comely, being allowed full liberty to enjoy themselves—indeed Japan is the paradise of children.
The Japanese have many excellent qualities, they are kindly, courteous, law-abiding, cleanly in their habits, frugal, and possessed of a high sense of personal honor which makes sordidness unknown. This is associated, moreover, with an ardent patriotic spirit, quite removed from factiousness. On the other hand the people are deficient in moral earnestness and courage, which leads to corruption in social life and institutions.
The people of Japan are noted for their love of things beautiful. The above scene is a typical picture of an exquisite garden, presided over by several picturesquely gowned Japanese girls.
The people of Japan are noted for their love of things beautiful. The above scene is a typical picture of an exquisite garden, presided over by several picturesquely gowned Japanese girls.
The town costume of the Japanese gentleman consists of a loose silk robe extending from the neck to the ankles, but gathered in at the waist, round which is fastened a girdle of brocaded silk. Over this is worn a loose, wide-sleeved jacket, decorated with the wearer’s armorial device. White cotton socks, cleft at the great toes, and wooden pattens complete the attire. European costume has been prescribed by government as the official dress, and the empress and her suite have recently adopted foreign costume, being followed to a certain extent by the fashionable ladies of the capital. Hats are not generally worn, except by those who follow European fashions or in the heat of summer.
The women wear a loose robe, overlapping in front and fastened with a broad heavy girdle of silk (obi), often of great value. In winter a succession of these robes are worn, one over the other. The formerly universal chignon coiffure of the women, stiff with pomatum, which was done up by the hair-dresser once or twice a week, is rapidly yielding to the simpler Grecian knot.
Mode of Living.—Japanese houses are slight constructions of wood. In the northern districts at least two sides of the house are closed in with walls of mud plastered on wicker-work. The floors are covered with thick soft straw mats, measuring six by three feet, and the accommodation of the houses is reckoned by the number of these mats. On them the inmates sit, eat and sleep, the bed-clothes—heavily padded quilts—being kept during the day in adjoining closets. Rice is the staple food of the people, but in the poorer mountainous regions millet often takes its place. Fish, seaweed, and beans in all forms are served with the rice, especially in the soups, which likewise contain bean curd, eggs, and vegetables. Chestnuts and hazel-nuts are also largely eaten, and the walnut is made into a sweetmeat.Shōyu(soy), a sauce made of beans and wheat, is the universal condiment. Fowls are now pretty widely used for the table, and pork and beef, as well as bread, are increasingly eaten.
Manners and Customs.—The social position of women is more favorable than in most non-Christian countries, but still leaves much to be desired. Marriages are arranged through an intermediary, and both sexes marry at an early[287]age. As the continuance of families is a point of great importance, adoption is largely resorted to in order to prevent families dying out. Great respect is paid to the dead, and posthumous names are conferred after death, some of the most celebrated names in Japanese history being posthumous titles. Heavy sums are lavished on funerals.
The Jinrikisha (jin-rik´i-shaw) or two-wheeled carriage generally in use in Japan.
The Jinrikisha (jin-rik´i-shaw) or two-wheeled carriage generally in use in Japan.
Until lately the only vehicles in Japan were two kinds of palanquin; but in all the more level districts these have now been superseded by thejinrikĭsha(man-power-carriage), a sort of two-wheeled perambulator drawn by a man who runs between the shafts. In many of the more mountainous regions the roads are impracticable even for thejinrikĭsha.
The Japanese are essentially a pleasure-loving people, and spend comparatively large sums upon amusements. The theater, though formerly despised by thesamuraiclass, who refused to enter its doors, forms one of the chief national resorts. The time of greatest festivity is the New Year, now held contemporaneously with our own, when pinetrees are planted before the doors, the houses are gay with decoration, and presents are lavishly made. The favorite game at this season isoyobane, a kind of battledore and shuttlecock. January is the kite season; the smaller kites are of various fantastic shapes, while the larger and more powerful ones are usually rectangular. Wrestling, juggling, and archery are favorite sports.
Religions of Japan.—There are two prevailing religions in Japan—Shintoism(The way of the gods), the indigenous faith; and Buddhism, introduced from China in 552.
The characteristics of Shintoism in its pure form are the absence of an ethical and doctrinal code, of idol-worship, of priestcraft, and of any teachings concerning a future state, and the deification of heroes, emperors, and great men, together with the worship of certain forces and objects in nature.
Of Buddhists there are no fewer than thirty-five sects. The monks have assumed the functions of priests, and Japanese Buddhist worship presents striking resemblances to that of the Roman Catholic Church. Notwithstanding the increased patronage recently bestowed upon Shintoism by the government, Buddhism is still the dominant religion among the people.
Japan is a land of temples, but many are now falling into decay, while others are turned into schoolhouses. Every grove has its shrine andtorii, a structure in wood or stone, consisting of two upright pillars joined at the top by two transverse beams or slabs; metal torii are also not unknown. The Buddhist monasteries in the Japanese middle ages were undoubtedly wonderful centers of civilization, and the priests for long commanded reverence by their self-denial.
Latins, orLatini(la-tī´ni), orRomans.—The ancient Latins inhabited Latium, on the west coast of central Italy, before the existence of Rome. It would seem that they had branched off from the Aryan stem next after the Celts, and upon entering Italy soon united with the primitive Liguirians, later forming a confederation or league of which Alba Longa became the head.
Out of the Latins,Etruscans(which see) and Sabines (another primal stock), the Roman people were originally formed, each speaking a most marked variety of the original Italic mother-tongue. The principal element wasLatin, as the language shows. The next in importance was theSabine, and the third, in order both of time and of influence, was theEtruscan. But with the spread of the Roman arms (the Romans were Latins), all were absorbed by the Latin variety, which still lives in its modern progeny—Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Langue d’Oc (South France), Langue d’Oïl (North or Standard French), Roumanian, Walloon of Belgium, Rumansch or Ladin and Vaudois of Switzerland. Thus half of Europe has been Latinized, while the different nationalities still retain their distinctive physical and mental characters.
Malays(mālāz´).—Blumenbach, the father of ethnology, regarded the Malays as one of the five grand divisions of mankind; but the weight of modern authorities is in favor of considering them as a branch of the Mongolian race. They are distinguished in color by a variety of shades of brown, and are native to the Malay Archipelago and Peninsula and the Island of Madagascar, with perhaps a few related remnants of tribes in Indo-China. The Malay Archipelago includes the Philippines, but not New Guinea on the east. Within this archipelago there is no other native race with the exception of the small groups of pigmy Negroes called Negritos distantly related to the Papuan of New Guinea, if not to the Australian.
All the languages spoken by the Malay race belong to the great Malayo-Polynesian family of languages, which are found everywhere among Polynesians; that is, as far east as the waters of South America and northward to include the Hawaiian Islands. The term Malay is also applied in a narrower sense to that part of the Malay race called the “true Malay” or “Orang[288]Malaya,” that is, the section speaking the standard Malay tongue and which lived originally in and about the Malay Peninsula.
While linguistically the Malays are radically distinct from the Mongolians, physically they approach them more nearly than any other great race. The lighter brown color found in some sections approaches the yellow of the Chinese, and the slanting eye or “Mongol fold” of the upper lid is frequently found where no intermixture can be assumed. The appearance of the face and head is also somewhat similar in these races. In temperament and native civilization, however, the Malay is quite distinct. He has primitive, cruel instincts more like those of the American Indian. He has nowhere accepted the Mongolian type of civilization so much as the Caucasian type. The Filipinos are far in advance of any other Malay people in the latter respect, although the earlier Malayan civilization was most highly developed in Java. Buddhism has here been replaced by Mohammedanism, which has extended even into the southern Philippines.
The question of their origin has been much discussed, some fixing the cradle of the race on the Asiatic mainland, others in Sumatra.
The Malay intellect is of a low order, and the race has never developed a native culture, their civilization being entirely due to foreign influences, chiefly Hindu and Arab.
Mongolian(mon-gō´li-än).—The second in Blumenbach’s classification of the races of mankind. The chief characteristics are broad cheekbones, low, retreating forehead, short and broad nose, and yellowish complexion. It included the Chinese, Japanese, Turks, Tartars, Indo-Chinese, Lapps, etc. The Mongolian and the Caucasian are the two largest races, or divisions, of mankind,—the latter being somewhat the larger because it includes the greater part of the population of India.
Finish girl of to-day—a descendent of Mongolian ancestors who settled in Europe centuries ago.
Finish girl of to-day—a descendent of Mongolian ancestors who settled in Europe centuries ago.
Just as the Caucasian race extends into southwestern and southern Asia, so the Mongolian race extends far into Europe, embracing not only the Lapps of Scandinavia, the Finns, Cossacks, and many other peoples of Russia, and the Turks of southern Europe, but even the Magyars of Hungary, the most advanced of all the Europeans of Mongolian origin. The main western branches of the Mongolians, although Europeanized in blood as well as in culture, still possess a Mongolian speech.
Brinton divides the Mongolian race into two great branches, the Sinitic and the Sibiric.
The word “Sinitic” is derived from the late LatinSina, China. It comprises that branch of the Mongolian race of which the Chinese, Indo-Chinese, and Tibetan groups are the chief representatives.
The Sibiric branch of the Mongolian race comprises the Japanese, Arctic, Tungusic, Finnic, Tataric, and Mongolic groups, and therefore all the Mongolian peoples which have invaded Europe, such as the Finns, Lapps, Magyars, and Osmanlis or Turks.
Mooris a term applied to very different peoples of northwestern Africa. In Roman history it is applied to inhabitants of Mauretania (Morocco and Algeria), who were in part Phoenician colonists. In Spanish history the “Moors” and “Moriscos” were mainly Berbers rather than, as commonly supposed, Arabs. Today the word is wrongly applied to the Riffs of Morocco and to the town dwellers of Algeria and Tunis. The latter call themselves generally “Arabs,” although often in part of Berber blood. The Moors, in a stricter racial sense, are the mixed Trarza and other tribes on the western coast, from Morocco to the Senegal, mainly of nomadic habits. They are of mixed Berber, Arab, and often Negro blood. Many speak Arabic.
Negro.—The only negroes to whom practically all ethnologists are willing to apply the term are those inhabiting the central and western third of Africa, excluding even the Bantus, who occupy practically all Africa south of the Equator. The Bantus, well typified by the Zulu subdivision, are lighter in color than the true negroes, never sooty black, but of a reddish-brown. From the negroes proper of the Sudan have descended most American negroes.
To some extent the northern Negro stock has become intermixed with the African Caucasian, especially about the Upper Nile, in Abyssinia, and in Gallaland and Somaliland farther east. Keane’s theory is that the Australians and Africans represent the earliest offshoots of the precursors of man who inhabited the continent now submerged in the Indian Ocean. In line with this theory is the claim that the Veddahs and Dravidians of India are still more divergent branches toward the north which have become more affected by Caucasian or, perhaps, Mongolian elements.
The Papuans and Nigritos of Australasia, having all or most of the characteristics of the African negroes, are classed with them.
There is a bewildering confusion in the terms used to indicate the different mixtures of white and dark races in America. Thus, all natives of Cuba, whether colored or white, are called “creoles,” as this word is loosely used in the United States; but creole, as more strictly defined, applies only to those who are native-born but of pure European descent. This is the use of the word in Mexico. In Brazil and Peru, on the contrary, it is applied to those possessing colored blood in some proportion; in Brazil to Negroes of pure descent; and in Peru to the issue of whites and mestizos. “Mestizo” is the Spanish word applied to half-breeds (white and Indian.)
Slave Traffic in America.—The importation of Negroes into America has been going on steadily since the early years of the sixteenth century, when it was begun by the Spaniards, even the good Las Casas recommending it in the interest of the native Indians. Both Queen Elizabeth and King James I. issued patents to English slave-trading companies operating between the coast of Guinea and the American colonies. Britain, by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, engaged to carry out the contract of the old French Guinea Company, and to import into the New World one hundred and thirty thousand slaves in the course of the next thirty years, and is said to have more than made good the engagement.
In the United States the traffic was open and active until the passage of the Act of 1794 prohibiting the importation of slaves into any of the federal ports. Long after this it continued to be[289]a brisk business in the West Indies and South America. As late as 1840 there were seventy-five ships plying constantly between Brazilian ports and the African coast, bringing cargoes of three or four hundred slaves at each trip. The principal points at which the slaves were obtained were along the coast of Guinea, especially on what was known as the Slave Coast, between the rivers Lagos and Assinie, where were the crowded marts of Waidah and Anamaboe, and again along the Angola coast. In these two regions the traders encountered two quite different branches of the African race, and their human wares in America show that they were derived from different sources. Along the Guinea coast, whence most of the slaves brought to the United States were derived, the population belongs to the true negro type.
In Brazil and other parts of South America the preponderance of importations was from the negroid stock of the equator, whose dialects and physical traits are allied to those of the Kaffirs and Zulus of the east coast (Bantus). The slaves in all parts, however, being from mixed stocks, their descendants do not present any well-marked peculiarities inside those of the race. As a rule, they are in strength equal to the whites, and in endurance of exposure and labor under a tropical sun are superior to all other immigrants.
It is usually held that the negro is not naturally industrious; but this seems to some extent answered by the severe field labor of many tribes, both men and women, in their native continent, and by the official reports of the United States government showing a greater acreage of land under cultivation in the former slave states and a larger crop of cotton than before the Civil War. When under the control of a strong social organization, and with obvious motives for industry and economy before his eyes, the American negro is both industrious and provident, and the instances are numerous where members of the race have accumulated fortunes of respectable size. Their vitality appears on the whole to be about the same as the whites, except in the more northern states, where it is unquestionably much less. In New England and Canada negroes gradually but surely perish.
Negro Characteristics.—The negro is a tireless talker and story-teller. Many of them reveal a high stage of the art of story-telling, as the Georgia tales collected from the southern states by various writers attest. Many of them belong to the class of “beast-fables,” similar to some which have been collected among the American Indians and the natives of the African continent, and such as were favorite staples of amusement in Europe during the middle ages.
One of the principal figures is the rabbit—the “brer rabbit” of the “Uncle Remus” tales. He figures conspicuously not only in the southern United States, but in the West Indies and on the Amazons, and in the folklore of the Venezuelan negroes.
Along with story-telling, singing and music are favorite diversions of the colored population. This tendency is a direct inheritance from their African ancestry, as throughout that continent the natives are passionately fond of these diversions. In Central America the negroes still employ themarimba, a native African instrument with wooden keys placed over jars or gourds, the keys being struck with a stick. In the United States the violin, the fife, and the guitar are used, but the favorite is the banjo, an instrument of African derivation, modified from the guitars with grass strings still in use on the Guinea coast. With these simple means they produce music of pleasant though not artistic character. In individual instances (as Blind Tom, born in Georgia in 1849) members of the race have attained remarkable skill on the piano and organ, rendering the most difficult compositions with spirit. No negro composer, however, has attained wide celebrity. Their songs are numerous, many of them of a religious character, others turning on the incidents of daily life. They are generally defective in prosody and without merit, being often little more than words strung together to carry an air.
Persians(per´shanz).—The natives or inhabitants of ancient or of modern Persia. The Persian race or people is quite different from the Persian nationality. The latter includes several very different peoples, as will presently be seen. Linguistically the Persian is the chief race of Persia speaking an Iranic language, that is, one of the Aryan tongues most nearly related to the Hindi. Physically, the race is of mixed Caucasian stock. It is almost entirely composed of Tajiks. The small section known as “Parsis” or, incorrectly, “Fire worshipers,” have for the most part emigrated to India. The Armenians are so closely related to the Persians as to be put with them by some into the Iranic branch. The Kurds, the Beluchis, and the Afghans also belong to the latter.
Of the 9,500,000 estimated population of Persia about two-thirds are true Persian or “Tajik.” The other third is also Caucasian for the most part, including Kurds (400,000), Armenians (150,000), and other Iranians (820,000), and the non-Aryan Arabs (350,000). There are 550,000 Turks and 300,000 Mongols in the Empire. The only Christians are the Armenians and a small group of 25,000 “Chaldeans,” “Assyrians,” or “Nestorians,” really eastern Syrians, about Lake Urmia, on the northwestern border.
In intellect, if not in civilization the Persian is perhaps more nearly a European than is the pure Turk. He is more alert and accessible to innovation. Yet he is rather brilliant and poetical than solid in temperament. Like the Hindu he is more eager to secure the semblance than the substance of modern civilization.