the American Negro

NEGRO, THE AMERICAN.) In Africa three races have intermingled to a certain extent with the Negro ; the Libyans (Berbers, q.v.) in the Western Sudan; and the Hamitic races (q.v.) and Arabs (q.v.) in the east. The Bantu-speaking peoples in the southern portion of the con tinent approach the Hamites in those characteristics in which they differ from the true Negroes, and probably have a propor tion of Hamitic blood.

The colour of the skin, which is also distinguished by a velvety surface and a characteristic odour, is due to the greater abund ance of the colouring matter in the mucous membrane between the inner or true skin and the epidermis. This colouring matter is not distributed equally over the body, and does not reach its fullest development until some weeks after birth. The dark colour seems to depend neither on geographical position, the isothermals of greatest heat, nor even altogether on racial purity. The extremes of the chromatic scale are found in juxtaposition throughout the whole Negro domain, in Senegambia, the Gabun, upper Nile basin, lower Congo, Shari valley, Mozambique, rang ing from dusky or yellow brown to sooty black. Some of the mixed races, such as many Abyssinians, Galla, Jolof and Man dingo, are quite as black as the darkest full-blood Negro. The development of pigment in the dark-skinned races as a natural protection against the ultra-violet rays in which tropical light is so rich must be viewed as merely a part of a many sided modi fication of the skin under torrid conditions.

In certain of these characteristics the Negro stands on a lower evolutionary plane than the white man, and is closely related to the highest anthropoids. The characteristics are length of arm, prognathism, a heavy massive cranium with large zygomatic arches, flat nose depressed at base and the tendency of the frontal bones to fuse together and form an eminence of peculiar shape. But in respect to the character of the hair, the white man stands in closer relation to the higher apes than does the Negro.

Mental Qualities.

In reviewing the comparative studies of the differences between the Negro and the modern European, Carr-Sanders concludes that "there seems to be no marked dif ference in innate intellectual power. The differences are rather

differences in disposition and temperament. . . . The apparent arrest of development may not be so much an inevitable result of the kind of mental faculties which are inherited as the coming into play of a peculiar tradition." (Population Problem, 1922, P. 397.) It is not fair to judge of the Negro's mental capacity by tests taken directly from the environment of the white man, as for instance tests in mental arithmetic ; skill in reckoning is neces sary to the white race, and it has cultivated this faculty; but it is not necessary to the Negroes, who often surpass white men in acuteness of vision, hearing, sense of direction and topography. Given suitable training, the Negro is capable of becoming a craftsman of considerable skill, particularly in metal work, car pentry and carving. The bronze castings by the tire perdue process, and the cups and horns of ivory elaborately carved, which were produced by the natives of Guinea after their inter course with the Portuguese of the 16th century, bear ample witness to this.

Social Conditions.

Generally speaking the Negro is first and foremost an agriculturist. Next in importance to agriculture come hunting and fishing and, locally, cattle-keeping. The last is not strictly typical of Negro culture at all; nearly all the tribes by whom it is practised are of mixed origin, except perhaps the Dinka of the upper Nile, the whole of whose existence centres round the cattle pen. The social conditions are usually primitive, especially among the Negroes proper, being based on the village community ruled by a chief. Where the country is open, or where the forest presents no great obstacle to communication, a chief has often extended his rule over several villages and has ulti mately built up a kingdom administered by sub-chiefs of various grades, and has even established a court with a regular hierarchy of officials. This "empire-building" has reached its greatest pro portions in the south of the forest belt in the territory of the Bantu Negroids, where arose the states of Lunda, Cazembe, etc.