All But Two
Or Three That I Have Seen Are The Most Ferocious-Looking Of
Savages, With A Physique Vigorous
Enough for carrying out the most
ferocious intentions, but as soon as they speak the countenance
brightens into a smile
As gentle as that of a woman, something
which can never be forgotten.
The men are about the middle height, broad-chested, broad-
shouldered, "thick set," very strongly built, the arms and legs
short, thick, and muscular, the hands and feet large. The bodies,
and specially the limbs, of many are covered with short bristly
hair. I have seen two boys whose backs are covered with fur as
fine and soft as that of a cat. The heads and faces are very
striking. The foreheads are very high, broad, and prominent, and
at first sight give one the impression of an unusual capacity for
intellectual development; the ears are small and set low; the noses
are straight but short, and broad at the nostrils; the mouths are
wide but well formed; and the lips rarely show a tendency to
fulness. The neck is short, the cranium rounded, the cheek-bones
low, and the lower part of the face is small as compared with the
upper, the peculiarity called a "jowl" being unknown. The eyebrows
are full, and form a straight line nearly across the face. The
eyes are large, tolerably deeply set, and very beautiful, the
colour a rich liquid brown, the expression singularly soft, and the
eyelashes long, silky, and abundant. The skin has the Italian
olive tint, but in most cases is thin, and light enough to show the
changes of colour in the cheek. The teeth are small, regular, and
very white; the incisors and "eye teeth" are not disproportionately
large, as is usually the case among the Japanese; there is no
tendency towards prognathism; and the fold of integument which
conceals the upper eyelids of the Japanese is never to be met with.
The features, expression, and aspect, are European rather than
Asiatic.
The "ferocious savagery" of the appearance of the men is produced
by a profusion of thick, soft, black hair, divided in the middle,
and falling in heavy masses nearly to the shoulders. Out of doors
it is kept from falling over the face by a fillet round the brow.
The beards are equally profuse, quite magnificent, and generally
wavy, and in the case of the old men they give a truly patriarchal
and venerable aspect, in spite of the yellow tinge produced by
smoke and want of cleanliness. The savage look produced by the
masses of hair and beard, and the thick eyebrows, is mitigated by
the softness in the dreamy brown eyes, and is altogether
obliterated by the exceeding sweetness of the smile, which belongs
in greater or less degree to all the rougher sex.
I have measured the height of thirty of the adult men of this
village, and it ranges from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 6.5 inches.
The circumference of the heads averages 22.1 inches, and the arc,
from ear to ear, 13 inches.
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