Physical Characlemictics .9ature and stature of all the Bantu tribes is of middle size or larger, and a height of 'So centimetres (70.87 inches) or more is not uncommon. A lofty stature and well-devel oped muscles are rarely found, and the bones of the skeleton are brittle; the rump is generally too long, the limbs too thin, and the calves not developed 051. 83, jig. 6; p1. 84, 7 ; 85, 9; j51. 89, jig. 131. Hands and feet are small and graceful, hut the latter are often poorly arched and have a greatly projecting heel. The pelvis is narrow, the chest uniformly prominent, and consequently the upper part of the body is ugly and square (p1. 89, Jigs. 9, 13). The spinal column is often much curved *anteriorly, and as the pelvis (according to Fritsch among the Southern branch, comp. pl. S) is curved toward the front, the buttocks and the knees frequently project; the ugly shape of the foot may also come from this. The women have a tendency to corpulence (fl. 89, Jig. S); the breasts of the girls are globular and erect ( 89, Jig. 5), those of the women flabby, often hanging low down (p1. 89, jig. 8); the entire ring of the nipples is elevated, and not the nipples alone. The muscular strength is not great; the senses are acute, and the body is capable of continued exertion.
color of the Southern branch is mostly a dark brown, which on the one hand is shaded into black, and on the other hand modi fied to a leather-brown. But this light coloring, as well as the very dark line, occurs comparatively rarely. According to Fritsch, the dark color prevails among the Betchuanas. Livingstone, however, found only the inhabitants of the mountains to be of a darker color, and in general he met with a lighter tint, a light brown or bronze—which frequently occurs among the Zulus—but never a real black. We notice that the same colors are found in the east as far as the Equator.
The natives of Mozambique (p1. 86, figs. 18, 19, 20) exhibit a light black, which by a reddish tint passes over into a copper color; other tribes, as many of the Similelis (p1. 87, Jigs. 2, 4) and some Tshaga tribes (p1. 88, fig. 2), are of a faint to dark black color or brown to yellow. So also in the west the Hercros are partly reddish-brown, and in part so dark that they must be called black; generally they are of a dull iron-grav, which is frequently seen among the Benguela Negroes (p1. 90, figs. 4, 5) and the other western tribes. Dark black and brown tribes and individuals are also not rarely seen among them. The skin, which is rather thick and has a tendency to wrinkle, especially in the south, has a disagreeable odor, the smell of which is compared by Fritsch to that of butyric acid.
hair of the body, as might be expected from the charac ter of the skin, is very scant, down being entirely absent: it frequently grows in disconnected bunches (p1. 9o, fig. 8), as does also that of the head and beard ; but among some tribes and individuals it is thickly matted. The beard grows only about the chin and mouth (p1. figs. 5, 6), and even there is rarely abundant. The hair of the head, black by nature, is mostly short, as is shown by our illustrations, and that of tile women is shorter than that of the men or grows in separate long, frizzy, spiral strings (p1. 84, Jig. 1; 90, fig. 4). It is worn differently by the different nations, often in a very grotesque manner, which is produced by shaving, braiding, matting, etc. Plate 83 (fig. 4), Plate 86 (fig. 191, Plate 89 (figs. r, 9, 13) show shaved heads on which at some spots the hair has been allowed to remain.
The national head-dress of the Zulus (pl. 85, fig. 9), which is allowed only to the men, is peculiar: the hair is shaved with the exception of a narrow vertex ring, and this, pasted with mucilage, grows into a kind of crown. Plate 87 (fig. i) shows a still more grotesque and troublesome hair-arrangement. The married women of South Africa arrange their hair in a manner shown by the partially shaved head of the woman on Plate 89 (fig. 1), with this exception, that the bunch of hair which is allowed to remain is here not on the forehead, but at the highest point of the vertex.
Bantu skull, the bones of which are strong and thick, exhibits many peculiarities; it deviates from the Hotten tot skull in being narrow and high, and is not flat, thus resembling the Negro skull. The development of length is plainly shown in the top view (p1. 85, jig. 4; comp. p/. 82, jig. 9, and p1. 89, fig. I r); but on comparing the front view of the Betchuana skull (p1. 83, fig. 3) with the Hottentot skull (pi. 82, fig. 8) the greater height of the former is easily seen.
The lower jaw is broader than that of the Hottentot, and there is greater development of the teeth, the jaws projecting far less Om 82, fig. ii; PI. 85, fig. 5), although a slight prognathism cannot be mistaken (pl. 2, 12). The latter illustration shows an open space between the incisor and the eye teeth, which gap often occurs in prognathic skull formations. The base is rather even (p1. 2, 12; pl. 85, fig. 5). The Bantu skull shows a decided resemblance to the Hottentot skull in the breadth of the space between the eyes, in the small development of the nose, in the rather straight and angular forehead, in the not insignifi cant development of the frontal bones, and in the strong vertex.