Page:George McCall Theal, Ethnography and condition of South Africa before A.D. 1505 (2nd ed, 1919).djvu/68

44 head scantily covered with little tufts of short crisped hair, occasional marks of beard, cheeks hollow, nose flat, eyes far apart and often to appearance set obliquely, hands and feet small, colour light yellow to olive; weapons assagai, knobkerie, bow and arrow, shield; pursuits pastoral and to a very limited extent metallurgic; government feeble; habitations slender frames of wood covered with reed mats; domestic animals ox, sheep, and dog; demeanour inconstant, marked by levity; language abounding in clicks, but less so than that of the Bushmen, and without the croaking sounds of the wild people.

Bantu: great variety of form and feature in the different tribes, but, generally speaking, frame of those on the coast robust and as well formed as that of Europeans, of those in the interior somewhat weaker, head covered closely with crispy hair, frequently bearded, cheeks full, nose usually flat but occasionally prominent, hands and feet large, colour different tints of brown to deep black; weapons assagai, knobkerie, shield, and among the northern and interior tribes battle-axe and bow and arrow; pursuits agricultural, pastoral, and metallurgic; government firmly constituted with perfect system of laws; habitations strong framework of wood covered with thatch; domestic animals ox, goat, sheep, dog, barnyard poultry; demeanour ceremonious, grave, respectful to superiors in rank; language musical, words abounding in vowels and inflected to produce harmony in sound.

The skull measurements show great differences in the three classes, though the number—especially of Hottentot skulls—carefully examined by competent men is as yet too small for an average to be laid down with precision.

What is termed the horizontal cephalic index, that is the proportion of the breadth of a skull to its length, is given by Professor Sir William Flower, conservator of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, from thirteen Bantu specimens as 73 to 100. The highest in this series is 76.8, and the lowest 68.4. Dr. Gustaf Fritsch, from thirteen specimens, gives the average as 72 to 100. The highest in