south asia history briefed

7/27/2019 south asia history briefed

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ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERNASA

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THE ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA.BY

J. R. LOGA N .GENERAL REVIEW.

SECT. 1. Introductory remarks on the ethnological importance of the races andlanguages of E . A sia , the isolation of the tonic group, an d its relation to theTartarian and other harmonic languages.T H E ethnology of the Indian Archipelago and the more easternp a r t s of Asianesia has , on mo st sides, a double aspect, one of an

African and the other of an Asiatic character. T hese, how ever,ar e frequen tly so blended tha t it is difficult to say w hich traits belong to the one and which to th e other. A ga in, African and A siaticethnology hav e m uc h in comm on, and they must have ap proximatedm or e closely in arch aic times, when all the races of the old worldw er e nea rer th e same level of barbarity tha n they hav e been inhistorical times. In forming any estimate of the proportion betweenth e ethnic traits in w hich th e A siatic imm igrants into Indon esiaagre ed with the m ore ancient Indo-African occupants and thosein w hich the y differed, it is obv ious tha t there are m any sourcesof er ro r if we confine ou r veiw to Asianesia itself. For severalthou sand s of years neg ro and non-ne gro lines ha ve ru n parallel toeach other from the A ndam ans and N icobars to Polynesia on theone side, and to Formosa and probably even to Japan on the other.I n som e regions the negro element p revails and in others theIndo-African. H e re the one race are the exclusive occupantsand there the oth er. I n one island we see the two races living inproximity and inde pen den ce; in another the negroes are wildw and erers in th e fore sts; in a third they, ha ve ceased to existas a separate peo ple, a nd left no other physical trace of theirpresence save in the partially negro character which the Polynesianor Indonesian com m unity ha s acquired. E ven in A ustralia theM alayu -Po lyne sian element is strong, and there cannot be a do ubttha t it h as pene trated into every pa rt of Papuanes ia . W e m u sttherefore go beyond Asianesia to find the African and Asiaticelem ents in a state of pu rity . W e m ust seize the distinctive featuresof the two developments in their native regions, and furnished withthis knowledge, we may tread with more certainty the labyrinth ofAsianesian ethnology.W e shall begin with E astern A sia, not only because the Asiaticraces of the islands a re the most developed, predom inant and interestin g , bu t because this course will enable us at once to investigate am ost im po rtan t problem in ethn olog y, a solution of w hich is notmerely necessary for our Asianesian researches, but is greatlydesired by ethnologists for the gen eral progress of the science. I tis well know n th at a large gr ou p of languages exist in S. E . A sia



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2 TH E ETHNOLOGY OP EASTERN ASIA.which are distinguished by their tones, their monosyllabic character,and the ir consequent want of th at pow er of phonetic compositionand flexion which pervades E urop ean langua ges, and withoutwhich they would, with our ideologic notions and habits, cease tobe lang uages , and become mere catalogues of words incapable ofbeing formed into intelligent speech. The apparent isolation ofthis group excites attention not less than its singular character,and we are especially struck by finding that its peculiarities ab rup tlystop with the shores of the continent. The soft, highly voca lic,harmonic and consequently dissyllabic character which distinguishesthe M alayu -Polynesian langua ges, becomes a phenomenon of extremeinterest when we thus find that it presents a complete contrast tothe adjacent languages of S. E . Asia, with the exception of thoseof the M alay Pen insu la. In the great circuit from S um atra to theLiu-k iu islands, the continental languages are throug hou t mono-syllabic and strongly intonated. W he n we pass to the islandslying in front of them this charac ter is entirely lost and anotherkin d of uniformity takes place. B u t when we extend our obser-vations , beyond th is circuit to the north-east and north-west, w efind that the peculiar phonetic charac ter of the insular languagesspreads at both ends into the continent, meets in the interior behindthe monosyllabic region, occupies the greater pa rt of middle andnorthern Asia, and may be followed into Europe, Africa and America. Th e tonic thus form a compact group entirely surrounded byharmonic languages.The physical facts present a somewhat different result. The tribesof the tonic languag es are not physiologically separated from thesurroun ding tribes of the harmonic languages, but the range of thelatter languag es is far beyond tha t of the physica l type of east andno rth A sia. Viewing the Tibeto-Chinese region as a centrewe find tha t varieties of this type m ay betraced throughou t itsprolongation in a south eastern direction in the great Archipe lagoextending from the B ay of B enga l and the China Sea to theM arqu esas islands and New Zealand, including the whole of theInd ian Archipelago and P olynesia, while to the east a greatportion of the no rth Pacific Ocean is occupied by tribes of thesame type. I t is continued on the north east by the races of thePeninsula of Koria and the chain of islands, including the Japanesegro up , stretching from the China Sea to K am ch atk a. In A m ericathe prevailing type is the sam e va riety of the T uranian tha t isfound in N ew Zealand, China, Ja pa n and N . E . A sia. Inthe latter continent the great Tangusian band runs up to the seaof O kh otsk and then sweeps westward to the Yenesei rive r. O nthe north, Mongolian races occupy a great tract behind China, andthese are succeeded to the west by the Tu rkish races w ho ha veextended themselves to the eastern m argin of the M editerranean.Th e other tribes in the N . E . and N . of Asia are physically alliedto the Tartarian family. O n the east, the Tibetans and the abori-



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TH E ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA. 3ginal races of eastern Ind ia complete the circuit of the Turaniannations, who thus appear to occupy the whole of Asia with theexception of the tracts occupied by African and quasi-Africantribes, and a comparatively small region in the south west includingPer sia and Arabia, and, in later times, Ind ia. The allied Finnishand Hungarian races give them a still greater diffusion to the west.T he physical evidences of a community of origin for the mono-syllabic races and the Tartarian, Tibeto-Indian and lank-hairedAsianesian races, are exceedingly strong , and almost conclusive ofthemselves.The enquiry thus arises whether there are any na tura l pho-netic laws w hich can explain the seeming contradiction betweenthe linguistic and the physical facts. Is the apparent completephonetical insulation of the Burm ah-C hinese languages capable ofbeing broken down, or have some languages always been tonic andothers always harmonic ? Can any natural causes be discoveredadequate to explain the passage of the harmonic and essentiallydissyllabic into the monosyllabic languages, or the latter into theformer ? I f so, has the transmutation of the one genus into theother, taken place all round the existing monosyllabic circle, oronly at one or more particular points ? W as the monosyllabic regionat one time of greater extent, and did the phonetic change occurat different points in it and beyond the present tonic boundaries?These are enquiries of the greatest ethnological importance, anddemanding an am oun t of observation far beyond what we atpresent possess. W itho ut seeking here to decide which isthe more ancient form, I believe that the passage of the tonic intothe harmonic is a natura l one, while I am not aware of any lawthat will admit of the conversion of a polysyllabic into a monosyllabic langu age . The probability seems to be that the primitiveTuranian language w as mainly monosyllabic, and tha t the tribewho spoke it occupied some part of the eastern region of theAsiatic mountain land. Since all the existing monosyllabic racesare placed in countries watered by great rivers that descend fromthe same district in this region, we may further believe that the seatof the tribe was at one time in some of the vallies of eastern T ibet.The preservation of the ancient phonetical character by their des-cendents along all these rivers, and its loss on all other sides, mustbe connected with the physical geography of the region. W an-dering to the south and east along the great vallies of these rivers,regions would soon be reached far more favoured by nature thanthe cold and sterile hom e of the primitive families. Here popul-tion would rapidly increase, large communities be formed, civilizationarise, and language take a fixed form. Meanwhile upon thefamilies diverging to the north and west the nomadic habit wouldbempressedyheaturefheandnhoseirections,no great fixed communities would arise,and each familyandribe,anderingnd insulated,ouldeeftohen-



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4 TH E ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA.checked operation of those na tura l laws wh ich destroy mono-syllableness. The latter character would no w here be preservedsave where fixed comm unities had grown up in an early epoch.B u t since tha t era a great succession of changes must have takenplace. A s civilisation advanced in M id-Asia, and the meansof rapid locomotion were acquired, isolation would cease. T heexpansion of strong tribes would no longer be necessarily a selfdivision and a grow th of new nations. Dom inan t races would arisein every region adjoining the great highw ays. There must thenhave ensued a grea t series of movements and displacements, tend-ing not merely to disturb , bu t in many regions to obliterate, theprim ary distribution of nations. B u t as continuous floods orstreams of foreign peoples have never been poured into middleA sia, its revolutions, even when incited by foreign causes, haveled to no change in the fundamental ethnic character of the region.Eve n foreign governm ents and foreign religions have rathe r takena native character than imposed their own.The Turanian languages, as we shall find, although sufficientlydistinguished from the monosyllabic group of S. E. and theinflectional family of S . W . Asia, present ve ry considerablevariations in their phonetic and ideologic character. I t is evidentthat the present Tartarian races have not been the immediateprogen itors of most of the more remote members of the family.The races of America and N. E. Asia, although physically mostclosely connected with the Chinese and some of the other nationsof E . Asia, possess a linguistic development tha t allies them alsoto the races of S. W . Asia and Africa, and to the single Europeanremnant of a similar development still found in Spain. M uch ofthe advance of the Tartarian nations in all directions is historical.Before their expansion began, the ethnology of middle and northernAsia probably presented a linguistic development with traits moreakin to those of the Africo-Semitic, Eu ska rian and Celtic on theone side and the Am erican on the other. B u t althou gh, in tracingthe ethnic history of the T uranian developm ent, the Tartariannations may be found to occupy a different place in more ancienttimes, and the connection of some of th e group s to the east an dwest be proved to be independent of them , their proximity to themonosyllabic family and their greater approach to it, linguistically,must always m ake them a most essential element in the investigationof the development of the languages of the Turanian races.In enormous geographical extension and in amount of population,the Turanian family is the greatest on the globe. I f philology canconnect the various branches as closely as physiology has done,and thu s demonstrate the reality of its unity, it will rend er one ofthe greatest services to e thnology. B u t the very hypothesis of sow ide a dispersion of one tribe necessarily implies a vast lapse oftime. If the Lap landers, the Tangusians, the Ea stern Indians, theNew Zealanders, and the A merican aborigines, a re all the des-



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TH E ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA. 5cendants of one Asiatic tribe we m u s tascend hrough thousandsof years to the point of time at which they were united in thattribe; and a complete separation of the diverging emigrants duringperiods so great and in regions so different in every physicalcharacteristic, that animal and vegetable life have no resemblance,must prepare us for an almost total obliteration of the primitivevocabulary. If anyth ing of the ancient language has been preserved we must rathe r expect to find it in the m ental and phonetictendencies and habits which produced that ancient language itself.The linguistic faculty of each tribe will retain the direction whichit received in the bosom of the original com munity, and continueto work in a manner analogous to that in which it produced theprimitive language . B ut there will be little identity in actualwords, and even in phonology and structure there will be muchdiversity. The proof of common descent will depend on theaccumulation of ethnic facts of all kinds, and a great departure bya particular language in any direction will not militate against theconclusiveness of the entire body of the evidence. It is to beanticipated that particular languages may be selected which willexhibit striking differences, and which, if considered by themselves,it will be difficult or impossible to refer to a common origin.But it may also be anticipated that other languages of the familywill enable us to discover the natural laws by which thesediversities have been occasioned, and thu s lead to a reconciliationof bo th with the mother tongue and with each other. Thegeneral comparison which we intend to make, as accessary to themore immediate purpose of this paper, will prepare the way forthe establishment of some of these laws, and, if it have no otherresult, will, we hope, at least help to awaken more general attentionin this part of the Turanian region to the high ethnologicalimportance of accurate observations of languages.*In our 2nd introductory essay we expressed our conviction thatphonetic comparisons were of more value than merely structural,

* The materials that have been accumulated for a a full linguistic review aremeagre. Many languages of the Indian Archipelago and the adjacent regions havenot been described at all. The amount of information which we possess of theothers varies extremely. Not one has been thoroughly analyzed . The sameremarks apply to the Continental languages. In America, Eastern Asia andAfrica there are hundreds of languages of which we have hardly any knowledge orare entirely ignorant. W ith tew exceptions the grammars and structural noticesof those that have been m ost fully investigated are em pirical or merely formal.Their method is not merely extremely narrow but in most cases is positively false.Instead of viewing each language as a great and complex natural phenomenon,and seeking to penetrate into the laws of its phonetic and ideologic organism by ascientific observation of the facts of all kinds through w hich these laws are mani-fested, each writer has come to the task predetermined to discover a repetition ofEuropean grammatical forms and nothing else. All we Cando therefore for the pre -sent is to select a few of the principal tongues in each region, notice their leadingcharacteristics so far as these have been ascertained , compare them with the otherknown languages of the region, and inquire how far the facts thus brought togetherprove or suggest alliances leading to a knowledge of the ethnological place of thedifferent East Asian and Asianesian languages.

D 3



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6 THE ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA.and said that in the Indonesian languages everything beyond themere surface resolved itself into their phonology. Such compari-sons demand a far greater amount of knowledge, labour andcritical skill tha n gramm atical ones. W e propose therefore toreserve them to the last and until we have made further observationson the causes and varieties of phonetic developments and changes.In the notes we shall incidentally notice the more obvious phoneticaffinities which present themselves in exam ining the ideology , post-poning a full consideration of these affinities till we take up thephonology as a whole.*

* The interest th at attac he s to th e present enq uiry, and the necessity of goingfully into the linguistic evidence in partic ula r, ma y be gathe red from th e followingremarks by Prichard and Bunsen :" Nor do we und ertak e to answer the question wh ether th at wreck of the prim itive langu age, th at gre at mon umen t of inorganic s truc ture, th e Chinese, can belinked by any scientific method to the other families of human speech, and be thus,directly or indirectly, connected with the great tripartite civilizing family ofm ank ind. B u t we add , the re is no scientific proof th at it can not. Chinesephilology, from a general point of view, is in its infancy." The study of the Tibetan or Bh otiya langua ge, and th at of the Burm ese, wouldprobably offer the nearest link between the Chinese and the more recent formations;but even the comparison with Sanscrit roots will not be without results."It would be presumptuous to anticipate the issue of such well-prepared and siftedcomparisons ; bu t we have no hesitation in saying , tha t we incline to believe it willbe in favour of the existence of a primitive connexion. Th ere is a gap between th atformation and all others ; and th at gap corresponds probably to th at caused in thegene ral development of the hum an race by gre at destruc tive floods, which se para teth e history of our race from its primo rdial origines. In thi s sense the Chinese m aybe called the mo num ent of antediluvian speech. Indeed the first em igration from.th e cradle of ma nkind is said in Genesis to have gone eastw ard." B ut wha tever be the result, there is only one method of arriving at it. and th atis a combination of acc urate philological observation and analysis with philosophicalprinciples, an d w ith th e collateral researches of history and of physiology. I t isonly b y such a combination of researches th at we can hope to fix definitively th eplace of the Chinese language in the general history of human speech, and topronounce with historical certainty on the great questions connected with thatproblem. Th e difficulties are imm ense ; bu t gre ate r ones have been overcome inth e last thirty ye ars, and we believe th at our m ethod of distinguishing betweenprim ary and secondary fo rma tion, and of determ ining the succession of th ephenomena of development, and thus of languages, will not be found entirelyuseless in the pursu it of those ulterior researches."B unsen (A dd ress to the B r i -tish Association.)" I shall endeav our briefly to describe th e principal tribes of men as I find themdistinguished b y h istorical evidence, and by th at of the most auth entic records,nam ely, by their language s, wh ich, of all peculiar endowm ents, seem to be them ost perm anently retained, and can be shewn in ma ny cases to hav e survived evenvery considerable changes in ph ysical and mo ral charac ters. Glottology, or thehis tory of langu ages , iounded on an ac cu rate analysis of their relation s, is almost anew field of inqu iry. I t has been explored w ith g rea t success of late, and newdiscoveries are every day made in it. Ou r contem poraries are becoming more an dmore convinced th at the history of nation s, term ed ethnology, m ust be m ainlyfounded on the relations of their languages. The ultimate object of this investigationis n ot to trac e th e history of langu ages , bu t of the tribes of men whose affinitythey tend to i llustrate." Prichard (N atu ra l Histo ry of M an.)



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7

THE ETHNOLOGY OP EASTERN ASIA.SECT. 2, Ethinic Regions of E as te rn A si a; the races inhab i t ing them ; their

gene ral physiological pe cu l iar i t ies ; an d their fun da m en tal connection inphysiological an d men tal chara cter , languages and customs.Eastern Asia for ethnic purposes may be divided into thefollowing reg ion s: 1st, S. E . Asia and the Tibeto-Gangeticdistricts extending nearly from the Kuen-lun to the Vindyaand Asam chains, and having the Him alay a curving diago-nally from the W . ex tremity of the northern chain to the E .extremity of the southern . The whole region forms a trian-gle, of which the apex is Singapore., and the base the southernm argin of the desert of G ob i, marked by bands of mountains(Shan -garjan, A la shan, Khilian shan, N an shan and K uen -lun,)extending along the Asiatic plateau in a S. W . and W . directionfrom the Yellow Sea to the great mountain knot formed by themeeting of the Ku en-lun, Bolor, H indu-kush and Him alayanranges. W ith the exception of the tract between the basin of theZangbo and the Kuen-lun range, which belongs to the middle ofthe eastern table land, having no drainage into the O ceanic basins,

the whole region slopes from the marg in of the plateau to the eastand south, the eastern slope being marked by the fall of the Zangbo,Ganges, Yang-tse-kiang and Hoangho throughout a large partof their courses, wh ile the southern is m arked by the fall of theIraw ad i, Saluen, M cnam and M ekon g and partly by that of thefirst mentioned rivers. 2nd, the region stretching eastward behindthe first, embracing the central desert of Gobi, a narrow marginof the S. E . basins, a large portion of the N . and E astern ones andthe Ainojapanesian Archipelago . 3rd N . E . Asia. To the lastbelong the Yak uti ,Y ukahir i ,Chu kchi-Koriak, Ka mch atka, Nam ol-lo , Aleutian and other tribes most of which are strongly allied tothe A m er ica n; to the second region belong the Aino, Japa nese ,K orian, Tangusian, M ongo lian and Turk ish races ; and to the firstregion the Chinese, Anam, Lau, Burmese, Tibetan, and Indo-Tibetan races, with many smaller ones allied to them.These races are physiologically closely related to each other, asthey all form varieties of one of the great physical types of manthe Turanian.* The predominant Turanian type of middle andnorthern Asia is distinguished by a pyramidal or rather conoidalskull ; the oval of the basis cranii laterally expanded, and compress-

* The observation of the varieties of the Tu ran ian head found in Singap ore hassuggested the following remarks on the mode in which they affect the contour of theface, w hich it may be useful to be ar in mind in read ing the tex t. The prev alentforms of th e skull in the Tu ranian , as in othe r races, give either an an gu lar or acurved contour to the face, and the angular or the curved may be oblong or oblate.In th e Tu ran ian race s we shall call the oblong ang ular simply oblong, and theoblate angular squ are or lozenge shaped as it may approxim ate to the one or otherform. In the Tu ran ian the ovoid is far more common tha n th e elliptic. Theoblong ovoid sometimes approximates to the elliptic and the oblate ovoid sometimesbecomes nearly orbicular



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8 THE ETHNOLOGY OF EAST ERN ASIA.ed at the ends, particularly in fron t; length of the lower jaw, pro-minence and angularity of the cheek bones, outer extension of both,producing a great breadth of face, particularly across the cheekbones, and a comparative narrowness of the forehead, so as to givethe whole contour a lozenge shape ; nasal bones flat and broad, sothat the cheek bones and the space between the eyes are nearly inthe same p la n e ; the lower part or end of the nose rounded, fleshyand thic k, not flat as in the ne gr o; nostrils open, broadanddiverg-ing, but in this respect there is considerable difference in the variousrace s; orbits very large and deep, but the eyes small and widely apartand the opening between the eyelids narrow and inclined upwardsfrom the nose ou twards ; eyebrows thin and arched ; lips largeand thick but not projecting ; hair black, thick and lo n g ; beardscanty; colour yellowish to copper; persons in most racesof or rather below the middle height, in some races 6quat,but in others neat and l ig h t; trunk square, limbs sh or t; insome the muscles thick and well developed with a tendency to fat, in others thin. Besides the pyram idal or lozenge shaped contour there are many other prevailing types,but the most important varieties are the oblong or elongatedand the obtusely ovoid or approx imately orbicular forms. Th e6rst depends greatly on the depth of the jaws and the distancebetween the angles of the lower jaw and the zygom a, and may becombined with the lozenge or ovoid as the forehead is narrow orexpanded. Th e second depends chiefly on the expansion of theforehead and consequent obliteration of the lateral projection of the

In all these changes the expansion of the head at the cheek bones is the distin guishing feature of the Tu ranian contour, and th at which preven ts its attainin gthe oblong elliptic of the finer Ind o-E uro pe an physiognomy. The cheek bonesm ay eithe r stand out latera lly both from the face and the forehea d; or they m ayform a portion of the lateral facial projection and stand out with it from theforehead ; or lastly they m ay form a con tinuation of a sinciputal latera l expansionand thus stand out with it from the face.The most marked form is the first, which produces the lozenge, acutely orbicularand oblate elliptic forms.The lateral facial expansion (includ ing the cheek bones) produ ces the oblong, inwhich the lower jaw s are large and extend outwards more tha n upw ards, sometimessomuch as to m ake the face broader at, the base tha n at the zygo ma . This ex ag gerated variety may be terme d the wide jawe d oblong. The common varieties areth e ang ular oblong and the curved oblong, th e face in all being rem arably larg e.Th e latte r is the most common Am erican and Chinese form. The former is alsofound amongst the Chinese, Jap an ese and allied races. In the oblong forms, thena rro w sinciput, retrea ting and high but som etimes low, is generally conoidal, orridged, and the cheek bones have an anterior prom inence. This, in the tribes tend ing to obe sity, produces a heavy fleshy face. When the forehead is less narrow amore re gu lar rounded oblong is produced.In the third typ e, in which the cheek bones make an unbroken continuation ofth e laterally expand ed forehead, th e latte r is generally orbicular and sometimesoval, and the lower p ar t of the face gene rally acutely hyperbolic. This producesth e ovoid form, of w hich there are man y var ieties . When the sinciput ha s a gr ea tdevelopment compared with the lower part of the face, it may be called obtuse, andwhen the whole has a sha rp pear shape it may be called acute. W hen the wholehas a remarka ble later al d evelopment it m ay be called oblate an d when gre atlyelongated oblong. It, will be rem arked th at this form is to a cer tain exte nt thesecond form rev ersed, th e expansion being transferred from the jaw s to the forehead.



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THE ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA. 9

zygoma, but this must be accompanied by a short and rapidlyascending ja w , so as to bring the chin, the angle of the jaw andthe cheek bone into one curve which passess un interrup tedly intothat of the temples. W he re the ja w is longer and more horizontala squa re head is produced. Th e finely rounded form of the oblong,or prop er oval, is rarely found, alth ou gh approximations it arefrequent in m any tribes . A ll these forms are probab ly exhibitedby every Turanian race, but in each, one will be found to predomi-nate. In the N . E . and M iddle Turan ian the lozenge shape pre-vails, and most of the features are generally much h arsher and moreprominent than in the S. E . Turanian. Th e northern Tangusianphysiognom y is the broadest and flattest of all, and the formbecomes still m ore exaggerated in the extreme northe rn races ofA sia and A m erica the latter of which (the Esquim aux) have thegreatest lateral prominence of the cheek bones of all races.T he M . Turan ian is intermediate between the N . E . and the8 . E . In the latter the oblong and ovoid prevail, the zygomaar e less projecting, and the face m uch less lozenge shaped andmore rounded, but the degrees of the Turanian characteristics varygreatly even in the same race and harsh features are found in manyof them, just as amongst the Mongolians softened and roundedvarieties are frequently seen. Am ongst the Chinese and Jap an esethe oblong form prevails, and amongst the Tibetans, Indo-Tibetans,An am ese and ma ny of the Indonesian races, the ovoid. T he moststrik ing pecu liarity in the Chinese is the smallness of the eye and theoblique position of the eyelids, which m akes the eye app ear tobe half veiled and much inclined. Th e open ing between the eyelids is often very narrow , and the tum id eye, instead of openingboldly, peeps out with a half cunning, half timid, or dull and whollyinexpressive, character, from behind the heavy and down-hangingupper lid. Th e cheek bones are prominent, bu t in general m uchless so than in the M ong olian , and in th e elongated heads theprominence is anterior rath er than lateral, as is the case with theAm erican Ind ians, and some of the Tangusian tribes. Th e noseis in general small and depressed, the alae diverging and often somuch rounde d and thrown out as to m ake the nostrils circular andquite open or exposed. B u t besides this flat M ongolian nose, a smallaquiline or long and slightly arched nose occurs frequen tly, givingthe face a most striking resemblance to the prevailing Am ericanInd ian and N ew Zealander type , which also characterises someof the S. Indonesian tribes to whom the latter are allied. T heTibetan and the harsh er Indo-Tibetan head bears a close resem-blance to the Chinese, but is distinguished by its obtusely ovoidform, the distance between the eyes, their somewhat greate r sizeand ap erture, the slightness o r absence of their obliquity, and theprojection of the mou th and its osseous basis in the side view .The first cha racteristic appears to be also very common and ac-compained by a greate r lateral expansion of the forehead in the



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01 THE ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA.Bh otia and the adjacent Indo-Tibetan races. Th e Tibetan, Bhotiaand a few of the other Him alayan tribes have the M ongolian cha-racteristics more pronounced than is comm only the case in m an yof the latter. In the lower Indo-Tibetan races the ovoid formbecomes more delicate, and it is found in perhaps still greate r per-fection the Anam ese, whose head is small and tends to thoobtuse ovoid and glob ular ; the Turan ian features are still m oresoftened and rounded than in the Chinese, and the eye is m ore openand less inclined. I t is one of the most delicate forms of the T ura -m an . A form intermediate between the ovoid and the finer oblongapproach es most nearly of all to the oval, and indeed often passesinto it. It is found most abundantly amongst the lower Himalayanand V indyan tribes, in Ultraindia amongst the Arrakanese , the Ka-rens and the K a-ky ens , in part of Indonesia and Po lynesia* . Inm any races the eye is as large and open as in the Ind o-E uro pe anfamily, and often rem arkable for its mingled boldness, softness andbrilliancy, as in most of the S. E . Indonesian tribes. In many ofthese tribes the forehead has the roundness and expansion of the ovo id,but with a greater fullness and finer moulding of the lower part ofthe head than in the Tibeto-Anam form. The Ch epan g a re a dege-nerate breed of Tibeto-Indians, the forehead being narrow and themo uth large and protruding. The B od o, who approach m ore tothe Newari than the other Himalayan tribes, frequently resemblethe M ug s or Bu rm ese. Th e G aro belong to the same type butwith the features harsh. The Tangusians near the Chinese frontierdiffer little from the adjacent Ch inese. The Lau tow ards Chin adiffer little from the Chinese of the western provinces. Th e Siamesehow ever are distinguished by a rem arka ble flatness of the back ofthe head, lowness of the hair on the forehead, and largeness andheig ht of the face. Th e occiputal flatness ap pears also in Po lyne siaand in many of the tribes of S. E . A sia, though in them it is lessm arked than in the Siamese. Th e B urm ese have somewhat mo reprom inent features. Of the other Iraw ad i tribes the Na ga appea r totend to the orb icular. The most primitive people of the w estern sideof the basin of the Iraw ad i, the K ye ns , hav e more of the Ch ineseflatness than the Burm ese . Th e Nicobarians also, when withoutM alay or Bu rmese blood, approach to the Chinese. The obliquityand narrowness of the eye, which is the most marked characteristicof the Chinese , is very grea tly diminished, and often little percep-

* The aboriginal Indian tribes, with the exception of the Turanian Rajmahali,Khond, Kol and Gond, appear to be intermediate between the Iranian and Turanian,but m uch nearer the former, and with a strong resemblance to man y African tribes.They are smaller, more squat, thicker in the lip , broader and flatter in th e face,less prominent in the nose, and darker in complexion than the Rajputs. Th e colouris nearly black in many. Amongst these tribes are the Dora, Raw at, Bh il, Ku liand Marathi, and probably most of the sudra class throughout India. The Dom ,Rawat and Bhil have much of the negro, Indo-African or Melanesian character,which may be largely traced in S. India.M. Brugiere who lived for some time at Sivan amongst the Manchus, aftertravelling through China, declares that they differ little from the Chinese save inhaving the eyes more prominent. The colour is tawny red. Ann de la Prop . 1837,293.



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TH E ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA. 1 1tible, in the Ultraindian and A sianesian races, including the K hyior Kasia in which however it still remains small. In someof the Nicobar tribes the eyes have the Chinese obliquity, and theAsam ese, Kachari, Garos, A kh as, M iris, Khamtis and I presumethe other northern Lau also possess it, though subdued. In theAsianesian races the eye is generally much larger and finer thanin the Tibetan and m ost of the E . Hima layan tribes. Indeed thelatter in this respect approach much more to the Chinese than tothe Asianesian physiognomy.The effects of scanty and precarious food in rendering the personstunted and meagre, with the frequent but not invariable concomi-tant of thin legs and protuberant belly, are seen in the Ch epan g,Karen s and some other tribes of the region, as amongst theKurumbar of S. India, the Andaman and many other negro andIndo-African tribes of Asianesia.In complexion, stature and other respects great differences areobservab le. The prevailing colour is yellow of various tingesfrom light to deep brownish. The Chinese are the fairest, beingof a dull unwholesome looking light-yellow or reddish-yellow,passing into tawny in those who are much exposed to the weatherand into a fine whitish yellow, with a faint ruddy flush, in thosewho are confined to the house. This fairness is probably attribu-table to the prevalence of mountains and humid plains, because inthe more cold and arid regions to the N . , the Mongoles andTangusians have a decided tawny colour. I t may be in somedegree caused by the greater exposure of the nomades. TheTibetan complexion is tawny. Tha t of most of the HimalayanTuranian tribes is a little darker or a light brown. In and on themargin of the plain they are darker. In India the colour variesfrom dark-yellow, to dark-brown or copper and even black. TheGaro like the Rajmahali are black. In the Burm ese , Siamese andAnamese it becomes successively lighter, changing from an olive-brow n, to light-brown and brownish yellow. In the Chinese it ismuch lighter. The Nagas are brownish but those of the interioryellowish. Good living and freedom from exposure tend topreserve the natural colour, which in most of the insular racesmust be considered the same as the Chinese, bu t with less of redand more of yellowish, and therefore acquiring on exposure a fineclear brown instead of a tawny or copper tinge . Most of theAsianesian varieties from golden- yellowish to brow n are agreeable.The height is generally a medium one, but the Tibetans, Bhotiasand the Abor-M iri rise often much above it. M any are above6 feet.* Some of the Him alayan races are small. The Rongor Lepcha are only 5 feet, the Ekth um ba somewhat tallerand the M urm i taller still, and coarser than the other Himalayantribes. Am ongst the allied Polynesian tribes the Tibetan height is

The Yakutes often attain a similar he ight.



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1 2 TH E ETHNOLOGYY OF EASTERN AS IA.often attained by the upper classes. B u t amongst the easternTuranian races as a w hole the general character of the person is tha tit is short, thick, muscular and active, the legs are short in propor-tion to the trunk , bu t generally fleshy and muscular, often dispro-portionately so. The Anamese, Siamese and Burm ese reach toabout 5f . 2 to 3 inches, and am ongst the former the height is oftenunder 5 f. and sometimes as low as 4 f. The Chinese are some-what taller.The expression of the face is the chief physical distinction betweentribes whose features are nea rly identical. The practised observercan at once discriminate every tribe by this characteristic. To at-tempt a notice of them all here would be impossible, but a fewmany be noticed One general rem ark applies nearly to all. Th etimidity w hich characterises the S .E . Asian tribes is never betrayed ,save in the more secluded, by the expression, because the predom -nan t feeling is a profound adm iration of themselves. U nd er allmasques, grave , severe, stolid, respectful or good hu m oure d, aquiet but boundless vanity sways the mind. Owing to theirphlegmatic temparament they are plain and seemingly open in theirphysiognomy, and do not express their conceit in their manne r andmotions like the mercurial natives of S. Ind ia. Th e Tibetans havea mild, good hum oured, cheerful and pleasant expression. I n theBhotia it degenerates to a heavy and cunning look, but in the otherHimalaya n tribes it is nearer the Tibetan. In the R on g it is pecu-liarly soft and lively. A m on g the eastern races the Chinese have theleast expressive face. It s character must be described by nega tives.V igo ur or boldness there is none, but neither is there a slavishtimidity. They look as if their minds were always bent on moneym ak ing and sensual enjoyment, and went steadily and sensibly towo rk to attain their objects. Th e eye and the m outh are entirelysensual. Th e general expression is subdued and without force oranimation, but it is cheerful, combining gravity with lightness andserenity of disposition, and thorough self-esteem. T he Anam eseface is distinguished by its levity, good hum our and pow er ofassuming a degree of sprightliness, all however in keepingwith a kind of gentle gravity. Th e Siamese, K ham ti (and I pre-sume the whole La u family) have, on the contrary, a rema rkab lygrave or severe expression, sometimes with a melancholy but oftenerwith a harsh, sinister or sullen cast. Th e Balinese like theAmerican Indians have a striking resemblance to them in thisrespect. Th e Burmese have a more cheerful, light and livelyexpression under their gravity. Th e M alay varies mu ch , but iscommonly intermediate between the Siamese and the Burm ese .It is generally however superiour to both in boldness and determi-nation. Th e general Indonesian and Polynesian expression issoft and indolent ye t bold and exceedingly pleasant. In sometribes it is com paratively dull and weak, bu t in most it is lively, andintelligent. The eye , good hum oured and determined in the Kol,



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TH E ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA . I3is dull and weak in the Chinese, more expressive in the Anam ese,Lau and Bu rmese, still more so in the M alay in which however itvaries m uch , being generally cloudy and sometimes sinister. In manyof the Indonesian races it is exceed ingly brilliant, and soft or boldac co rding to the charac ter of the people. In the lowest tribes itha s a grea t quickness and vivacity, ow ing to their constant exerciseof it. A soft, delica te, pleasing, alm ost feminine, expression iscommon to some of the Himalayan tribes (Le pch as) and many ofthe Asianesian from Bo rneo to Polynesia.The Am erican Ind ians have also the T uranian skull. Theprominent zygom atic arch has not the angularity of the M . Asiatictype bu t is on the contrary well rounded. The prevailing type ove rconsiderable regions strikingly agrees with a common Chinese form,in which the face is elongated and the vertex conical. Inde ed theChinese more frequently tends to the A merican than to the Tibetanor M ongo l forms. The Siamese tendency to lowness of the foreheadand flatness of the occiput characteristics some American tribes ,and makes its appearance occasionally in most.

From this strong general resemblance in physical constitutionpreva iling am ongst so m any and so widely scattered tribes, andwhich may be extended to the N . W . extremity of Eu rop e and theS. extremity of Africa, it follows tha t physical evidence alone mustbe inadequate for the discovery of the alliances and migrationsof particular tribes. W e have gone but a small way when weha ve ascertained the boundaries of the Turanian structure. W ithinthese limits there may be tribes which have been separated froman original Turanian stock for as many thousand years as the Ira-nian have diverged from a comm on Irano-Tu ranian stock. TheTimorian islanders may be nearly as distant ethnologically fromthe M ongols as the B ritish islanders are. The elements of pnysicalevidence furnished by the varieties of the Tu ranian typ e are far toofew, too w eak, and probab ly also too inconstant, to determine themore archaic ethnic genealogy of each race. W e shall find that thesame rem ark applies to customs. Language alone presents elementssufficiently num erous, subtle and constant for this purpose. T h epossible varia tions in person and in customs, of families d iverg ingfrom the same progenitors into hundreds of isolated tribes innone of which civilization becomes highly deve loped, bear noproportion to those which are possible in lang uag e. W ithin thecircle of the same external life the mind continually works andsports, in all the variety of modes produced by the multiplex or-ganisms of each generation of individuals. Eve ry idea of the pastpreserved in words becomes the object of new feelings, new combi-nations and new associations in the course of the numberless times itoccupies the minds of individuals, in the course of a few thousands ofyea r. Th e transmission of sounds throu gh some hundreds ofgenera-tions of men, va ryin g in their delicacy of ear and mode of articulation,and subject to the frequent influences of fashion, independently ofE 3



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14HE E T H O N O L O G Y OF EASTERN ASIA.all purely mental sources of c hange, produces the most strikingand universal mutations. In certain stages of of society oneman can alter the pronunciation of a language to a greater extentthan can be effected in centuries in a high ly civilised race. E veryfounder of a family produces a dialect and a few generationsproduce new languages. Am idst the constant migrations whichtak e place, rude tribes b rought in contac t, after havin gbeen separated from a common ancestor for some thousands ofyears, may present few m arked physical contrasts, bu t it isimpossible that their languages can have remained the same. M anyfundamental traits may be alike, num erous common w ords may betraceable, particu larly by the aid of a profound com parative pho-nology, but the variations as a whole must give a high characterof individuality to each language, group and family.Differences in physical geog rap hy , civilisation and habits of lifehave necessarily produced many varieties in the general ethniccharacter of E . Asia. B u t the races as a whole are well dis-tinguished from the Ind o-E uro pe an , Semitic and African familiesand united amongst themselves, by rem arkab le traits intemparament,intellect, fundamental superstitions, domestic and clan institutions,and many specific habits and usages, which may be traced over thewhole region, and have been largely preserved in the Chinese deve-lopm ent.* W e shall be able to establish the same radica l connectionby linguistic evidence, and when all the elements of the enquiryare combined, the reade r, we believe, will be satisfied tha t, amidstgrea t and numerous changes tak ing place during a vast lapse oftime, the races of Eastern- Asia have maintained a decidedrelationship in physical and m ental charac ter, languages, and custom s,and that offsets of the same great type of mankind may be identifiedwith even more certainty in Asianesia than in Europe and America.Indonesia and Australia form, geographically and geologically,so well marked a continuation of S. E. Asia, that the wholem ight be considered as one region,the Ch ina Sea running inlike a great gulph and partially dividing the insular from thecontinental portion. Th is close geographical connection requ iresus to examine the ethnology of S . E . Asia more narrowly thanwill be necessary in the two northern regions. W e shall findhatthe change from the monosyllabic to the dissyllabic form oflanguage takes place within this region, and even that the peculiarideologic traits of the Turanian languages which have spread overthe greater part of the globe, are discoverable here in languagestha t are still mainly monosyllabic. The best linguistic divisionseems to be 1st, the Chinese, Lau , A nam , and allied languages2nd, the Burmese group-3rd, the Tibetan4th, the Indo-Tibe-

* These form the subjects of separate papers which we shall endeavour to publishalternately with those treating of particular races or districts. In the text we haveconfined ourselves to the physiological resemblances, as they are the most funda -mental.



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TH E ETHNOLOGY OF EASTERN ASIA. 1 5t an and Indo -Bu rm ese 5th , the K orean , Japa nese , A ino , and Tar tar ian group6th, the N. E . Asian. This order suppl ies examplesof a gr ad at io n of develop me nt. B u t as al l these gro up s ru n intoeach oth er and intermixtures ha ve tak en place, we shal l ado pt aso m ew ha t different descr ipt ive a rran ge m en t and one mo re in acco rdan ce with the gene ral ethnic relat ions of each gro up of t r ibes.W e shal l begin with the Bur m ah -C hin es e family, because some ofth e leading cha racteristics of a la rge portion of all th e tribes arefound in it. in the pu rest and m ost prim itive form . It will affordthe best i l lustration s of m an y of the prin ciples con tained in ourpre lim ina ry essay,* and the clear conception which we der ive fromit of an ideo logic m eth od w idely different from tha t w ith w hichou r m inds are mo st famil iar, w ill rende r our comprehension of thepecu liarities of the oth er families co m pa rativ ely easy. If we dw ellrat he r longer on the Ch inese in p ar t icu lar than m ay seem con-sistent w ith the lim its w ithin wh ich we are confined, i t isbecause it enables us to anticipate some of the most importantcharacter ist ics not only of the M alay u-P oly ne sian but of al l theoth er harm on ic gr ou ps, and discloses pr inciples by the l ight ofwhich the more obscure and complex ideologic history of theabstract and inflectional languages can be best investigated.Having endeavoured to refer the character ist ics in quest ion totheir t r ue na tura l pr inciples w hen considering the Chine se, theywill give li t t le tro ub le an d occ up y lit tle space in the rem ain de r ofou r lab ou r . E th n ic philology being yet in i ts infancy, and thefacts asce rtained for this region bein g few in prop ortion to thoseth at rem ain unk no w n, any use which an essay l ike the present canhav e m ust be merely tem porary . W e have therefore wr i t ten outou r notes rap idly , bearing in m ind that there is m uc h wo rk beforeus , an d th at ou r object now is no t to tak e a com plete view of an ypart icular race or language, but only to seize on such character ist icsas , in the present state of ou r kno w ledg e, are avai lable for co mp arat ive purpo ses. A n y trai ts of this kin d wh ich we m ay inadv ertently omit, will be noticed in our final recapitulation.

" * Preliminary remarks on the generation, growth, structure and analysis olanguages,"Ante Vol. iii. p. 637



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16

THE ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIASSCT. 1. General physical characteristics of the region.In investigating the range and numbers of the different tribeswho inhabit Sumatra,* we remarked that the best mode of describ-ing the whole island, would be by considering it as a series ofriver districts. The ethnological influence of rivers is so great,particularly in rude ages, that they ought to arrest our attentionbefore any thing else, when considering the probable directions ofmigration and the connections of races. In all parts of the

Indian Archipelago, save the most highly civilized and fertile,they regulate the distribution of its human inhabitants. It is ontheir banks only that considerable communities exist, and theircourses and ramifications are in general those of the streams ofpopulation also. The thinly peopled regions of Ultraindia pre-sent the same phenomenon, and there must have been a timewhen China and India had no other routes for man through theirdense jungle but the rivers, and no population save a successionof petty tribes scattered along these primeval highways of races.It is only in advanced stages of civilization that rivers lose thissupreme ethnological importance. The earth passes more andmore fully under the dominion of man, natural obstacles tocommunication are overcome by the growth of arts and the spreadof population, and the separate tribes of each river, once perhapsas numerous as its branches, merge, by successive agglomerations,into single nations, whose limits may include many basins andparts of basins. This has taken place to a considerable extent insouth eastern Asia, but the influence of its rivers still predominates,and in order fully to understand the present distribution of itsinhabitants, and to assist our enquiries into their primitive connec-tions, it is necessary to advert to them. W e must not be understoodto give an exclusive, but only the highest, importance to rivers.Different portions of the same basin are sometimes separated bybarriers impassable to rude tribes, and ethnic highways oftenconnect adjacent basins. The entire physical geography of a regionis the only sound basis for its ethnology. But the distribution ofmountains is chiefly important as it determines the size anddirections of vallies and plains. The drainage embraces the wholedisposition of the land and includes the mountains, and, as a generallaw , liable however to many striking exceptions, the different partsof each basin are more closely connected with each other thanwith the adjacent basins.The river system of the tonic region is one of the most remark-able in the world. Its unity is as distinctly marked as that of themonosyllabic languages, and its limits are almost exactly coincidentwith those of the latter. The Irawaui and the Hoang-ho are itsgreat eastern and western members, and between them are the

Joura. Ind. Arcb,Vol.iii:p.863.



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THE ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA. 1 7Sa luen , M ekon g and Yang-tse-kiang, with the included or secondary basins of the M enam , Song-ka and H ong -kiang. Theprincipal rivers either, as in the South-west or Ultraindian division,by direct courses, or, as in the Eas t or Chinese division, by verywandering courses, carry us up to a country on the west of themonosyllabic region in which they all approach each other. Ifwe take the head of the Yang-tse-kiang as the centre or apex ofthis land of origin or upper river reg ion, we see that the regionin question in nea rly a quadrant of a circle with a radius of about20 of lat. and with the coast, from M ergu i (12 N . ) to the headof the Yellow Sea , agreeing rough ly with its arc . The northernboundary both of the Burmah-Chinese region and of the land oforigin of its rivers, is well defined by the long mountain rangewhich begins in the Nan-shan in Tangu t, the southern extremityof M ongolia, and extends to the head of the Gulf of Leatong,separa ting it from M ongolia and Tangusia. Th e southern bounda ry of the land of origin is formed by the Him alay a, and it is tothe circumstance of this vast longitudinal range being interruptedon the S. E . confines of Tibet by the transverse system that formsthe Ultraindian peninsulas, that the divergence of the easternrivers is owing. This transverse system begins further north inthe grea t C hinese meridional system consisting of the Yun-lingand the allied northern ranges, by which the Hoang-h o is forcedfar no rth to the Shan G ajar or boundary range, and the Yang-tse-kiang south to the borders of Yun-nan. In the narrow spacebetween the eastern extremity of the Himalaya and the southernextremity of the Yun-ling, the valleys of the Zangbo, Saluen,M e-kong and Yang-tse-kiang are compressed. From thispoint the Yang-tse-kiang becomes involved in the longitudinalranges that reappear on the eastward, and is forced by themtowards the Yellow Sea. Th e whole lower region, or that beyondthe place of convergence, presents two well marked divisions. T heeastern, or Chinese, consisting of the basins of the Hoang-ho andYang-tse-kiang, to the eastward of the Yun-ling range and itsnorthern branches ; and the southern or Ultraindian, consisting ofthe basins of the other principal rivers, and having the Assam chainas their landward or northern boundary. The indentation of theGulf of Tonkin coincides with the divergence of the two divisions.I t is in the region occupied by the closely approaching upperbasins, lying west of the Y un-ling and north of the Assam andHim alaya system, tha t we must seek for the cause of the resemblance between the languages of the Irawadi and those of theH oa ng -ho. This mountain land, with the eastern and southerndivisions of the lower region proceeding from it, is at onceunited and insulated by natu re. Fro m the angle formed bythe approximation of the Himalaya and Yun-ling systems, thecompressed river courses again diverge, ascending to the westand north west through the elevated basins between the mountain



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1 8 TH E ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA.ranges of eastern Tibet ; the Zangbo draining the great longitudinalval ley between the H im ala ya s and the Za ng to i ts head in N g ar ito the no rth we st of D ha w ala gi ri and not far to the east of th esacred lakes of Manas Sarowar and Rawan Rhada, the upperextremity of the In d us basin ; the Sa luen prob ably flowing th ro ug hthe midclle of this elevated reg ion an d bend ing w est ro un d theeastern ext remit ies of the Za ng and Shaot G an gr i c ha in s; theM ek o ng draining the t ract between the northern w atershed of theSaluen and the great chain of the K u lk u n ;* and the Ya ng- tse -kiangdescending the basin between that range and the Bain K h a r aO ola by w hich i t is separated from the uppe r basin of the H o an g -h o .O n the other side of the long m ountain chain of the K ue nlu n-Kulkun which forms the nor th and nor th western boundary ,stretches the vast and desert plateau of Gobi . Within the bounding ran ge are the cold and elevated deserts of K at ch i and K h o r,t raversed by the chains of K h o r and Zaga D ab ah u. B y G ob i ,sw eeping for abou t 1,800 m iles and w ith a m ean bre adthbetween 3 00 and 40 0 mi les from M an chu r ia in the N . E .near ly to the western cu rve of the H im ala ya and the Bo lor ,the Za ng bo -H oa ng ho region is separated from the pro pe r regionof the Tu rks and M o n g ol s , th e pla teaus and vall ies belonging to the central m ountain system of A sia or that ex tend ingfrom the north of the B olo r th rou gh the K ian-sh an or Celest ialmo untains , the A l ta i and the Y ablono i . Th e H im alay a separateit from the G an ge tic ba sin. T h e chief l inks betw een it an d th einhabitable pa r t of the continent are on the S. W ., w here it abutson Be ng al and the N . E . where i t abuts on M an ch ur ia . Th enatu ral barr iers to com mu nicat ion are how eve r considerab le atboth points.The directions of the primitive migrations in this region must have

* It mu st be recollected th at the geography of this region is still obscure, andth at it even remains a question whether the Zang-bo falls into the B rah m ap ut ra,the Iraw adi or into both. It is possible tha t the Iraw ad i, Saluen and M ekongonly drain the S. E. extrem ity of the Tibetan table land."T he remarka ble feature of the table-land is the desert of the Gre at Gobi, whichoccupies an area of 300,000 squa re miles in its eastern extrem ity, interru pted on lyby a few spots of pa stu re and low bushes. Wide tracts are flat and covered withsmall stones or sa id , and at a gre at distance from one another there are low hills,destitute of wood and water ; its general elevation is abo ut 4000 feet above the sea,but it is intersected from west to east by a depressed valley aptly named Shamo, orth e " Sea of San d," which is also mixed w ith salt. West from it lies the H an -H ai ,the " Dry Sea a barren plain of shifting sand blown into high ridges . Here , asin all deserts, the summ er sun is scorch ing, the win ter's cold intolerab le. All theplains of Mongolia are intensely cold, because the hills to the nor th are too low toscreen them from the polar blast, and, being higher than the Siberian deserts, theyare bitterly co ld ; no month in the year is free from frost and snow, yet it is notdeep enough to prev en t cattle from finding pastu re . Sandy deserts like tha t of theGreat Gobi occupy mu ch of the country south of the Chinese branches of the A ltai.'M rs Somerville {Ph ysica l Geography.)I do not here indicate any opinion as to the land of origin of these races, bu tmerely allude to the fact of the grea t bulk of their tribes having occupied thisregion at the dawn of history , or having come from it according to their own t ra -ditions.



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THE ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA. 1 9been from the dreary and inhospitable margin of the grea t centralpla tea u, to th e fertile an d gen ial vallies and plains of the lowe rbasins on t h e east and sou th. T h at the eastern tribes sho uld ha veattaine d th e earliest and greatest deve lopm ent w as a necessaryresu lt of the greater size and ferti li ty and the m ore tem pera tecl im ate of the al luvial plains of the H oa ng -h o and Yang -tse-k i a n g .The secondary distr icts of the Hong-kiang or Canton r iver andth e Ton kin, intermed iate between the M e- ko ng and Yan g-tse-kiang, appear as an isolated tract separating the southern fromthe eastern divisions. Th ey prob ably originally derived the irpopulation from the basins of the bounding rivers, and in early agesthe y m us t long have been occup ied by tribes disconnected withthose of the latter.T h e othe r districts no t includ ed in an y of the g rea t basins are th efollowing 1st, the insu lar chain of H ain am ; 2n d, the eastern oroceanic face of th e ma rginal An am ran ge , forming the who leof A na m and part of Tonk ing 3rd, the S. W . or oceanicface of the m arg inal chain of of Pa n t i a m o ; 4 th , the M alayanPe nin su lar chain, to which m ay be added the small basin ofthe Ta va y r iver imm ediately to the north of the last prop erpeninsular basin, that of the Tenasserim.T he region as a whole prese nts, f irst, the western elevated pla teau sha vin g a gen eral slope from n orth to south and from w est to east,separated by chains of mountains rising above the snow line, havingan exceedingly cold cl imate du ring the winter mo nths, and a ho tone in sum m er wh en the southern vallies are warm and their vege tation lu xu rian t, but the plateaus arid a nd co vered with cloudsof dust, l ike the vast desert wh ich lies behind them on the nor th.The vallies and ferti le parts of the plateaus are covered with grass,in some places lux uria nt, in m ost scan ty. N o trees are to be seen,and the higher regions of the mountains present only snow, glaciersan d ro ck s. B ey on d th is the land slopes m ore rapidly on the eastan d south tow ards the Pac if ic an d Ind ian Ocean s, but this slopeis at first on ly in dicate d by the rap id descent of rive rs in de epvallies, for gre at m oun tain chains, r ising far abo ve the snowline an d the hig he st range s of the table land , are so closely pa cke d

* The entire basins of these two rivers cover 537, 400 and 547,800 square milesgiving a total of 1,085,200 square miles.t For brevity and clearness w e shall term the mou ntain chains which form thew ate r shed between two princip al river basins ce n tr al chains ; those which havea basin on one side and the sea on the other, m ar gi n al c ha ins; and thosewhich have the sea on both sides pe nin sula r and insular chains. The drainage ofthe first is on both sides, and th at of the second on one side, into the central rive rs,while th a t of the second on one side, and th at of the third on both sides, is into thesea. The one kind of drainage presents a succession of small insulated basins,each directly un iting itself to the Oceanic basin. In the other these are unitedinto one basin an d com municate with th e Ocean by a common mo uth. Theethnograph ic influence of these two systems must always differ, bu t this differencevaries with the civilisation.



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20 THE ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA.th at n o plains or p lateaus exist . To the south of the opp osin ggreat depress ions of the B ram ah pu tra and Yan g- tse-kiang,* theeastern chains d ive rge , spreading themselves, on the one sid e,over Yu n-na n and by the Nan g- l in nearly to Ch usa n and do w nthe eastern m argin of the U ltraind ian Pen insu la alo ng the C hi nasea, and throwing out , on the other side, the chains of Burmah, Laosand the M ala y Peninsu la . T he nor thern a lp ine system advancesinto China, a land of great mountain ranges, basins and plants, slop-in g to the Pa cific . Th is eastern slope retainin g its north ern la titu de ,has , for the most par t , a tem pera te climate bu t with heat and coldin excess, owing to its lying on the margin of the great mass of Asia.T he western m ou nta in land is cold but in gen eral cov ered with trees,save in the n or th . T h e vallies tow ards the east ar e ferti le. T h esou thern slope in its up pe r p art assimilates to the aspe ct and clim ateof th e north ern alpine land, bu t to the south the cl imate rap idlybeco m es tropica l, and the w hole regio n is covered with forest. T h eregion as a wh ole presents every aspe ct of surface and clim ate :-in the no rth west, elevated and arid de serts, the m ov ing an dsco rching sands of m an y pa rts of wh ich are only laid b y the intensecold of w in te r; in the east and sou th, plains ne arly at the sea leveland of great fer t il i ty; in the no rth, snow covered m oun tains w ithglacial vallies ; in the sou th, chains clothed to their su m m its w ithdense jung le .

* The mountainous b arrier between the B ramah putra-Gan getic and the Y an g-tse -kiang depressions, w hich would otherwise be continuous, appea rs to indicate anaction of the subterranean elevatory forces transverse to that which raised thegrea t chains of Asia and gave the general direction to the continen t. This tra ns verse elevation is continued in Ultraindia, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra &c.



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21

THE ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA.SECT .2. In ne r, Middle an d Outer or Oceanic D iv is io n . Their influence eneth nic movements in different eras. Th e present distribution of the racesinh ab iting them. Influence of the region on phy sical and mental ch aracteran d civilisation. Interm ixture with surrounding races.

For ethnographical arrangement the Hoangho-Gangetic regionmay, in accordance with the differences in climate and aspectwhich we have before indicated, be divided into certain districtsmarked out by strong physical characteristics. The first is theinner or central division, the mountainous plateau of Tibet,including a portion of the western margin of China. This divisionis about 4,000 feet above the level of the sea in its northern partwhere it joins the great Asiatic plateau. In the south where theswelling of the Himalaya begins to be felt, it is 11,000 to 12,000feet in height. A t its western extremity, where the Zangbo basin,meets that of the Indus and its trans-Himalayan tributaries in thelocality of the sacred lakes, it rises to 17,000 feet. The mostfertile and accessible part of the region is the narrow southerndepression included between the Himalaya on the S . and the KaraKoram and Zang chains on the N ., descending on both sides so asto form the upper basin of the Zangbo on the east and that of theIndus on the w est. The middle part of this division consists ofdreary plateaus, at some places 10 ,000 feet above the sea, inclosedbetween mountain chains rising 3,000 to 4 ,000 feet above them.The W . and N . portion between the Karakorum-Zang chain andthe Kuenlun, is very little known. The north eastern portion orthe upper basin of the Hoang-ho, between the ranges of BainKhara Oola and Kilian-shan, is also traversed by lofty mountainsbut they are separated by plateaus of considerable extent. W iththe exception of some portions of the basin of the Zangpo, thewhole region is dreary and inhospitable in the extreme. Thesouth eastern portion of the division also contains plateaus, butas we advance to the east and south east, the mountain chainsconverge till the whole country becomes a vast and lofty highland,consisting of great chains running to the S. E ., the deep centralTallies between which give an outlet to all the rivers of the regionsave the Hoang-ho.Between this portion of the second or middle division and theinner one there is no well defined demarcation. The eastern partis a great arc of mountainous country, extending from the northernline of the Hoang-ho nearly to Ava, and embracing S. E. Tibet, theeastern part of the province of Kansuh, the western part of Shensi,the greater part of Szechuen, all Yunan and the northern part ofBurm ah. From the upper basin of the Hoang-ho to the southernextremity of Yunnan, it is above 700 miles in length and about240 miles in breadth. Amongst the western chains is the Mangli.F 3



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2 2 THB ETHNOLOGY OP SOUTH EASTERN ASIA.which has the Yang-tse-kiang (Kin-sha-kiang) on its eastern side,and the Me-kong (Lachu) on its western. This chain must be veryhigh as a great part of it is always covered with snow. Many ofthe passes are 10 ,000 to 11,000 feet in height, and in some placesthe summits are supposed to rise to 26 ,000 feet. The great easternchain is the Yun-ling which extends from the Pe-lin grange intoYunnan, the Yang-tse-kiang finding a passage in a great depressionacross it on the north of that province. Save in this depressionand the lower parts of the vallies of tributaries which herejoin it from the north, the alpine tract appears to be, for the mostpart, uninhabitable from snow, barrenness and steepness. But insome districts many of the vallies are hot in summer and inhabitableall the year round.The western portion of the middle division consists of the Hima-layan range,about 1,500 miles in length and with a probableaverage breadth of about 100 miles,by which the eastern alpineland is continued without interruption to the mountains whichimmemorially formed the grand ethnic boundary between Turanand Iran.

The outer or oceanic division comprises the remainder of theregion, the eastern or Chinese, the south or Anam Burmese dis-tricts, and the west or Cis-Himalayan portion of the G angetic*basin. Its chief features are the great alluvial plains of the principalbasins, the long mountain chains which divide the south westernones, and the numerous ranges which traverse the Chinese provin-ces to the west and south of the Great Plain . One of the mostremarkable of all the mountain chains is the Malayan, whichadvances from the continent and extends for 540 miles into thesouthern ocean. The eastern face of the region thus acquires anextraordinary extension, for Pekin near its N.E. extremity is in40. N .L ., while Singapore almost touches the equator. The wholeof the oceanic division contains lands eminently adapted for thehabitation of man. It is abundantly watered, its alluvial plainsare capable of containing an enormous population, the great riverswhich traverse them compel and favour internal communication,and the far divergent basins are again united by the highway of theocean. It is far however from presenting a surface tending to therapid amalgamation of its human races. It contains twelve greatand innumerable small ethnic districts, for from the alpine landnumerous mountain chains diverge or are continued, which extendto the ocean, and in the east carry far into the oceanic divisionmany peaks, perpetually covered with snow. B y these rangesthe plains o f the large rivers are secluded from each other. Butwe must look more closely on the features of the whole regionas affecting ethnic movements.

InthisI ncludetheBramahputrabasin



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THE ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA 23A region of which the physical features are so strongly markedmust always have powerfully influenced the distribution, movements

and condition of the human families located in it. A s in all otherparts of the world, this influence must have been graduallymodified as population and development progressed. The existenceof extrem ely rude tribes in different parts of the region, the littleadvancement which the Tibetan, eastern Tartarian and N . E .Asian bribes have made, independently of their acquisitions fromChina and India, the barbarity of the oldest Indonesian tribes, and,above all, the very archaic character of the Chinese and Ultraindianlanguages, compared with those of the surrounding races, lead usto the inference that the tribes of the present families which firstinhabited S. E Asia were ruder than the rudest of the peopleswhich now encompass it. In the first era of their history theymust have slowly spread down the mountain vallies andthrough the dense forests of the middle region. After they firstentered the river basins of the outer division, numerous scatteredfamilies and scanty tribes would long continue to occupy eachlateral or secondary basin. W e cannot conjecture when artsfirst arose, but until they did, the whole region must have containedalmost innumerable separate ethnic locations. Am ongst the 200,000square miles of Alps of which the western part of China consists,rude savages might be enclosed for an indefinite number of agesbefore any families emerged into the lower and more open land.The great plains of the lower basins would oppose their progressto the eastern shores, because they continued until a recent periodto be overspread with marshes, while the obstructions in therivers prevented their offering a free outlet to the vast bodies ofwater that from time to time poured down from the upper regionsand inundated the low lands. The geography of a large part ofthe region is too imperfectly known to enable us to examine thedetails of its ethnic influences. But the leading characteristics areeasily seized. The inner and middle regions not only, as a whole,form an enormous barrier between middle Asia and the southernand eastern plains, but by the extraordinary reticulations of themountain chains which rise above the table land or are pressedtogether so as to leave hardly room for vallies, each districtwithin the mountains is surrounded by barriers of its own. Evennow , with all the aids of civilisation, the routes by which Chinacan be reached from the valley of the Zangbo are full of difficultiesand dangers. Betw een the upper basin of the Hoang-ho and theZangbo several chains of steep and icy mountains have to be crossed.The pssage of one of them occupies twenty days, and the wholejourney over these ranges andthebleak and snowy steppes betweenthem , can only be accomplished by considerable companies, andwith a sacrifice of life. The routes across the mountain band to theeast of Tibet are still more formidable, for in addition to the greatelevation of the chains, they are worn full of terrific ravines and



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24 THE ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA.chasms, by the numerous rivers which issue from them. Thesnowy range of the Himalaya, again, forms a barrier between thevalley of the Zang-bo and that of the Ganges which must havebeen insurmountable in the earlier ages of the Tibetan tribes. Alarge portion of the outer division, as we have seen, consists ofprolongations of the middle mountain chains, with most extensiveramifications. The whole eastern and southern land indeed is com-pacted of bands and groups of mountain chains. China, notwith-standing its two long vallies and the great N. E. plain, is mountai-nous for two thirds of its surface, and Ultraindia is almost whollycomposed of a succession of ranges of lower elevation. The greathighways must have long continued to be separated from each other.The inland valley of the Hoang-ho, where it Cows southwardbetween the provinces of Shansi and Shensi, must have been cutoff from the low lands of Pichili on the east,with which it stillcommunicates by a single route,and from the basin o f the Yang-tse-kiang on the south, while separated by similar barriers from itsupper basins between the Khilian-shan and Bayan-khara-oola. Thecentral valley of the Yang-tse-kiang must have been insulated duringthe greater part of its eastern course between the Nang-linmountains on the south and the Yun-ling, Tapa-ling and Pe-lingon the north. The southern maritime provinces must havepresented several ethnic districts divided from each other byconsiderable obstacles, and totally secluded from the valley of theYang-tse-kiang behind them. Even now there appear to be onlythree passes by which the Nang-lin chain is crossed. The valleyof the Ton-kin river must also have been isolated from those of theCanton river, the Yang-tse-kiang and the Mekong. A ll thesedistricts must have retained a great degree of ethnic independencelong after the numerous subordinate or included ones were united.Amongst the mountainous regions between them many tribes muststill longer have continued to be secluded. There are still numerousremnants in the Nang-lin and all the other ranges of S . E . Asiathat lie to the south and west of the Yang-tse-kiang.The western or inner division is chiefly occupied by the Tibetantribes who possess the whole of the great trans-Himalayan depression which slopes westward to the margin of the Hindu-Khush,forming the transalpine basin of the Indus, and eastward to theunknown point where the basin of the Zangbo bends south andsends its waters into the basin of the Brahmaputra or of theIrawadi. They have even extended to the S. East and entered theupper part of the eastern basin of the Brahmaputra where they arein contact with the Mishmi. Tibetan tribes and others allied tothem have spread over the basin of the Ganges, although they arenow chiefly confined to the Himalayas, the Vindyas and the basinof the Brahmaputra. In the basin of the Brahmaputra they areblended with allied tribes of the Mayama family. Rude Tibetantribes of nomadic predacious habits, known in Tibet chiefly under



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TH E ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA. 2 5the generic name of Kham and in China under that of Si-fan, arespread ove r all Tibet to the northw ard of the depression of theInd us and Zangbo, and eastward along the greater part of theeastern margin of the inner division to a considerable distancewithin the boundaries of the Chinese Provinces.* They probablycome in contact with the inner tribes of the Brahmaputra andIrawadi basins, and are intermixed with the most westerly Chinesetribes and the M angolian tribes who chiefly occupy the northernand N.E. portions of Tibet.The ethnology of the E . middle division is very obscure, and willprobably pro ve to be of extraordinary interest. In a region ofwhich a great portion is inaccessible from lofty mountains andsnow, many of the inhabited districts must still be secluded.N um erous petty tribes must retain their ancient independence andthe ir aboriginal languages and manners, and it is probable thatamongst the former some will be found intermediate between theChinese, the Bu rmese and the Tibetan. This region promises tobe the richest for ethnological discoveries of any that yet remainsunexplored in Asia, or perhaps in the world. A ll the S. E . Asiantribes appear to meet in it. On the south the upper division ofB urm ah and the Chinese province of Yun-nan are known to con-tain many rude tribes akin to the Burmese and the Lau and all ormost of the Turanian races who now occupy the lower basins of therivers which descend throug h this region must have been derivedfrom it. The great provinces of Sze-chuen and Kan-suh are alsoknow n to contain rude tribes, and the languages of even the morecivilised comm unities of the latter are peculiar. In the western partsof these provinces the Kham or Sifan of Mongolian habit, and thetrue Mongol tribes of the Mongfan and Kukunor Tartars meet theChinese tribes. In the S . the M ongfan are in contact with themost northerly tribe of the Iraw adi basin, the Kha nu ng . Thecivilised Chinese have pushed themselves into all the more openand fertile portions of the western Prov inces. I t is through theProvinc e of Kan-su h that the great trading route lies which con-nects China with W estern Asia, and the movements along whichmust in all eras have affected the distribution of the tribes of mid-dle Asia.The outer division is occupied by the great bu lk of the Chinesepeoples in its eastern section or in the basins of the P e ih o , Hoan g-ho ,Yang-tse-kiang and Hong-kiang, the subject Mongol tribes extend-ing along the northern boundary. Th e S. W . section is occupied bythe Anamese in Tonkin and An am , the M uong and Moi in themoun tains separating this region from the valley of the M e k o n g ;the Loi or Cham (Champa) Kammen, or Kommen, (Kambojans),

* They are found to the west ofthe Yalong and probably in someplacesreachto theYun-ling mountains.According toChinesewriterssomeof the eastern Tibetan dialectsapproximateto theChinese.



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THE ETHOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA. 27The more primordial relations of these tribes to each other

and to the other races of mankind are indicated by their languages.Seizing on the broader features we observe that the Chinese, Anamand Lau languages form an eastern linguisticg roup. The Bur-mese and the adjacent languages akin to it have many of thecharacteristics of this group, but by strongly marked traits theypass decidedly into the postpositional class of languages, whichretains it slightly tonic and highly monosyllabic characterin the basin of the Irawadi, throws off the tones without becomingaccentual or harmonic in the Tibetan, is developed in its fullharmony and dissyllabic tendency in most of the old Indian,old N . European Middle Asian and Aino-Japanesian members,assumes a more complex phonetic character tending toflexions nthe American, the N.E. and some of the N. and W. Asian, ancientEuropean, and, still further developed by tribes of a higher abstractpower, obtains the flexiona l and intellectual organism whichlanguage presents amongst the Iranian tribes which preserve post-flexion.The later archaic and historical relations cannot be adverted tohere without anticipating numerous details which will find theirproper place in the ethnography of each division and district.W e shall therefore postpone this until our concluding review, andat present merely offer a few general remarks on the distributionof the existing races.The influence of the region in producing physiological and mentalvarieties is a subject demanding much deeper enquiry than I havebeen able to give to it. There seems obviously however to be adifference in this respect between the inner plateaus and the oceanicdivision. The harsner Turanian organism of the former is accom-panied by a greater intellectual dullness. The southern andeastern basins display a considerable variety in mental culture andcharacter as well as physiognomy. I am not prepared to saythat this is so striking as to sanction the adoption of the strongopinions respecting the comparatively great influence of location, andthe small ethnic effect of intermixture of blood, which although notdecidedly maintained in the introductory portions of Dr Prichard'sworks, pervade every volume of his able and learned Researchesand colour his views of the ethnology of most regions in the world.I t rather appears that the influence of a region depends greatlyon the state of development which a tribe has attained when itenters it, A tribe that leads the life of animals, wandering aboutnaked and houseless, and subsisting chiefly on raw food, mustbe much affected by external agencies. It is easy to conceivethat such a tribe passing from a temporate region into a hot andhumid valley in the lower districts of Africa, might undergo fargreater changes than a civilised Arab or European would. Itis easy to conceive that such a tribe possessed of a Turanianphysiognomy might be preserved unchanged for thousands of



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28HE ETHNOLOGY O F SOUTH EASTERN A S I A .yeari in the Asiatic table land, because there is everything there toprevent mental culture and produce permanence and uniformity.But we must pause before admitting that the Turanian physiog-nomy is proper to such regions, and the negro to the African. Ishould hesitate to believe that an English race would be physicallytransformed into negroes in the one region or into M ongols in theother, however prolonged their residence, provided the bloodremained pure. It must have been a mere accident, humanlyspeaking, that the progenitor of the Turanian family,by whateverinfluences of physical geography, the tendency to the form trans-mitted to him from his forefathers was originally given, andwherever these influences first operated,happened to be locatedin a particular part of the globe which favoured the spread of therace over the eastern and northern regions, and not over the south-western. Hitherto it appears that the different types are verypersistent in climates and regions that differ widely. The physiog-nomy of the Laplander and the Mongol may be found in Indiaand in the Indian Archipelago. The snows of Lapland and ofGreenland have not affected the colour of the Turanian hair, whichremains as black in the latter and in some tribes of the formeras amongst the Chinese, the Malays and the S. American tribes.The type common to New Zealand, America and China must havebeen preserved, during several thousands of years, under all theclimatic changes presented by the regions over which differenttribes must have been diffused, before this type spread itself topoints so remote from each other as those in which it is now found.I am inclined to give much greater importance to intermixtureof blood than Dr Prichard has done. H e has systematicallydepreciated the influence of this great transforming power. Butas the subject cannot be entered on incidentally in the mode inwhich my high respect for him requires, I will not at presentadvance any positive opinion on its bearing on S. E . Asian ethno-logy , but merely draw attention to the fact that the Turanianphysiognomy exhibits the greatest changes when its tribes approachthose belonging to the other types, or are placed in regions wherethey are exposed to the contact of foreigners. In the middle ofAsia they have always been in great measure secluded. On theirsouth eastern frontier the Mongols and Tungusians march with,people of the same type,the Chinese,and they pass imperceptiblyinto them . On the west and south-west the Turanian are incontact with Indo-European, Semitic and Indo-African races, andI think it will be found that wherever this contact has lasted long,a change has been wrought and new varieties resulted. It isimpossible that different races can come together in the same districtor region without a process of assimilation commencing whichextends to person, language and manners, in a word to every thinghuman. They may be kept apart in a greater or less degree, andfor a longer or shorter period, by geographical obstacles and by



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THE ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA. 2 9prejudices.* B u t there are no barriers between m an and hisfellows w hi ch time does not rem ov e. Betw een civilised tribes,and betw een a civilised an d rud e tribe , the process proceeds withmost act iv i ty .Along the whole boundary between the Turanian and otherraces it appe ars to m e tha t a ch an ge from m ixture of blood is tak-ing place and has alway s been proc eed ing. I f a par t ial ly cha ng ed ,family and tribe becom es com paratively secluded the cha ng e is ar-rested, and the varie ty becomes perm anent . T he O sm anli , the lowerH im alay an an d V indy an tr ibes, the m ore ancient Ultraindian an dthe As ianesian lank -haire d tribes appe ar to be far m ore il lustrative of* The influence on religious prohibiti

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