Both sexes, even when
running to polysarcia, have delicate limbs and extremities, and
the features, though negroid, are not the negro of the
tobacconist's shop: I noticed several pyramidal and
brachycephalic heads, contrary to the rule for African man and
simiad. In the remarkable paper read (1861) by Professor Busk
before the Ethnological Society, that eminent physiologist proved
that the Asiatic apes, typified by the ourang-outang, are
brachycephalic, like the Mongolians amongst whom they live, or
who live amongst them; whilst the gorillas and the African
anthropoids are dolichocephalic as the negroes. The Gaboon men
are often almost black, whilst the women range between dark brown
and cafe au lait. The beard, usually scanty, is sometimes bien
fournie, especially amongst the seniors, but, whenever I saw a
light-coloured and well-bearded man, the suspicion of mixed blood
invariably obtruded itself. It is said that during the last
thirty years they have greatly diminished, yet their habitat is
still that laid down half a century ago by Bowdich, and all admit
that the population of the river has not been materially
affected.
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