Physical may consider together the physical quali ties of the Vindhya and the Deccan people. We have first to remark that the wilder a people is, so much the more wild is the general outward appearance, and that in this respect the Paharias and the Gonds (both of Deccan descent) are quite similar to the Bheels of the Vindhya Mountains.
In general, they are only of middle size, as we find among the Meels, the Kolhs, the Paharias, the Khonds, the Singhalese (p/. Si, fig. 4), the Canarese, and the Malabars; but they are by no means weak, except in the worn-down tribes, who are small, but, on the contrary, muscular and extremely agile, having good proportions and trim bodies. Others are large, athletic, even herculean—as many of the Gonds, of whom, again, others are only of middle size; and further the Tudas, in the Neilglierry Hills, who are described as an athletic race, very well built, and nearly all six feet in height.
Color, Hair, and color of all these races is a dark, Negro black, lighter among the women, and in some cases (as in many of the Singhalese) dark or light brown. The Paharias are of lighter color than the Bengalese. In spite of the color, these people are by no means like Negroes, as is proved by their bodily build and the abundant hair on the person, which often—c. g. among the I3rahuis, the Tudas, and the Bheels—grows into luxuriant beards, as well as by the character of the. hair of the head, which is fine, bushy, sometimes growing in locks, and among the women (pi. Si, fig. 10, Kolb woman) quite long. It is never woolly: the only statement given of woolly hair among the Gonds is of doubtful authenticity. It is almost always dark in color. The beard is often want ing among, the Singhalese, the Klionds, etc. The formation of the skull and their features are by no means like those of the Negro, still less like those of the Mongolians. Jellinghaus properly calls them, even the Vinci hya people, rather Aryan. The features of the northern Deccan tribes, of the Paharias (Hamil ton) and of the Uranhs( Jellinghans), are in every respect like those of the Vindhyas; the nose is generally straight and thick at the point, the eyes dark and not oblique, lips full, the mouth not ugly, the cheekbone not prominent, and the face oval (pl. Si, fig. io).
Another type is seen in the Tndas. According to Harkness, they have entirely European features, large, quick eyes, fine teeth, and Roman noses.
They also have rather full lips (pl. Sr, S, 9). The Teliugas are an example of this type (pl. Sr, fig. 3), also the Tamils (fig. 1). The more cultivated Singhalese show it, while the Veddahs stand nearer to the first type. There is no very essential difference between the two types—arched noses and a fine exterior may now and then be found among the Vindhyas, while the Deccanees show the less handsome features that have already been described. The Malabars (fi/. ST,Jig. 2) may serve as an example. The majority of the Bralmis belong to the latter type. A disproportion in the limbs is often seen in these races. The arms and the hips are long, while the hands and feet are remarkably small.
:night imagine that this second type had arisen in consequence of the intermixture of Aryan blood. Of course frequent mix tures between the Aryan immigrants and the Drayidians have taken place, as the greater space covered by the latter in early times, as well as the many peculiarities of speech even in the Aryan tongues, goes to prove. Yet the forms as we find them to-day among the Dravidians certainly do not rest upon such a mixture. Lassen properly remarks that with the introduction of castes into India the mixtures with foreign races were compelled to stop; and from the caste system it may be concluded that the immigrants from the very beginning had a strong aversion to the Mack and at that time savage people with whom they came in contact. Moreover, the Tudas, the isolated inhabitants of the highest Neilgherry Hills, living in a healthy climate and in general comfort, show the same Aryan type, although with them no intermixture has been possible: the same is true of the more refined and better-situated inhabitants of the cities in the plains; while, on the other hand, the wild tribes of the Deccan as well as of the Vindhya depart more and more from these handsome forms. Accordingly, the opinion is a justifiable one that the physical nature of these as of all nations improved when their exterior life and their mental culture were bettered. The Tamils, Telingas, Canarese, and Malabars—in short, all the more refined Deccan people—have adopted the Indian culture, religion, and .customs, and their speech has been greatly influenced by the Aryan idioms.