Part 59

=Assyrians= (_a-sir´i-äns_).--The Assyrian is an ancient language extinct for at least two thousand years. No people today can claim pure physical descent from this stock. The arid region occupied by the early Assyrian empire has been swept by one civilization after another. Their ancient Hamitic speech was largely replaced by that of conquering Medes and Persians and, later, of Mohammedan hosts. It finally disappeared after the Babylonians and Chaldeans, who used a Semitic tongue replaced the Assyrians in Mesopotamia. Turkish, Persian, Kurdish, and Arabian blood has been added to the ancestral stock of the modern Assyrians. Reclus says: “The Assyrians and Chaldeans were either exterminated or else absorbed in the victorious races, forfeiting name, speech, and the very consciousness of their race.”

=Babylonians= (_bab-i-lō´ni-äns_).--Babylonia has always been a land of mixed races and tongues. The earliest of the inscriptions has revealed that the first population was a people belonging to the Mongolian family. The linguistic connection was afterwards confirmed by the discovery by de Sarzec of statues of these primitive inhabitants which present an undoubted Tartar type of features. The skull is that of the Mongolian race with high cheek-bones, curly black hair, the eyes oblique and bright; the type being ethnically related to the Elamites of Susiana and the first Medean stock to which we find this early race linguistically related.

These people were not aboriginal to the plains of Chaldea, but came, as their traditions indicate, from the mountains to the northeast, and brought with them the already fairly advanced elements of civilization which they planted in Chaldea. At a very early period in the history of Babylonia the Semites appear as an element in the population, their type being clearly indicated in the sculptures connecting them with the Hebrew and northern Arabs, while the same relationship is linguistically established. From time to time, by war or commerce, other elements were introduced into the population, until almost every nation finds its representative in the “mixed crowd of nations” inhabiting the plains of Chaldea.

The Semites, having once obtained a footing in Babylonia, soon assimilated themselves to the more advanced culture of their Sumero-Accadian masters. They borrowed the cuneiform mode of writing, the religion, mythology, and much of the science of that inventive people, and so rapidly increased in numbers and power, that as early as about 3800 B. C. we find a dynasty of Semitic kings under Sargon of Accad and his son Naram-Sin, ruling in northern Babylonia.

=THE WANDERING ARAB LOVES THE DESERT SANDS=

=Basques= (_bȧskz_).--A race inhabiting the Basque provinces and other parts of Spain in the neighborhood of the Pyrenees, and part of the adjacent territory in France. They were formerly Iberian as to language, the sole non-Aryan language of western Europe. But few now live in the old province of southwestern France, Gascony, formerly called “Vasconia,” after them; about 500,000 still remain in northwestern Spain. They are a fragment, perhaps the only distinct remnant, of the pre-Aryan race of Europe. Recent researches connect them, not with the Mongolian Finns as formerly, but with the Hamitic (Caucasian) Berbers of northern Africa. They are not now easily distinguished in physical appearance from their Spanish or French neighbors, although many still speak the strange Basque tongue. The latter is not inflected, like most European (Aryan) languages, but agglutinative, like the typical languages of northern Asia.

=Berbers= (_bér´bérz_).--A race of people constituting, with the Cushites, the Hamitic family, which is found scattered over North Africa and the Sahara, from the Red Sea to the Atlantic. The complexion of the Berbers varies from white to dark brown; their features remind one of the Egyptian type; their stature is medium. They have occupied their present habitat since the dawn of history. Never have their indomitable tribes become entirely subject to a foreign master, or lost their racial and linguistic characteristics, in spite of Punic, Roman, Germanic, Arabic, and Saracen conquests. In the mountains they are agricultural; in the Sahara, nomadic. For centuries they have been the middlemen between the Mediterranean coast and the Negro states of the Sudan. In religion the Berbers are nominally Mohammedan. A few tribes have adopted the Arabic, and so have a few Arabs adopted Berber dialects. The Berber languages are often called Libyan. They number at least 7,000,000 in Morocco and Algeria and 500,000 in Tunis and Tripoli.

=Bulgarians= (_bul-gā´ri-anz_).--The people of Bulgaria are supposed to be Finnic (Mongolian) in origin, are also the most numerous people in European Turkey. The Bulgarians and their neighbors on the north, the Roumanians, are among the rare races that are physically of one stock and linguistically of another. Both possess adopted languages. While the Bulgarians appear to be Asiatics by origin who have adopted a Slavic speech, the Roumanians are Slavs who have adopted a Latin language. While the Bulgarians adopted the language of the Slavs, whom they conquered and organized politically, they were themselves swallowed up in the Slavic population. They lost not only their ancient language but their physical type. While they are the most truly Asiatic in origin of all the Slavs, they are Europeanized in appearance and character. In some respects their life is more civilized and settled than that of some of the Slavs farther west, as in Montenegro and Dalmatia. They are not only less warriors in spirit than these, but are more settled as agriculturists. Yet they seem to feel that they do not belong to the civilization of Europe, properly speaking, for they say of one who visits the countries farther west that he “goes to Europe.”

There would appear to be little doubt that the Bulgars came through southern Russia to their present home in the time of the early migrations of the middle ages. Some records locate them in the second century on the river Volga, from which they appear to have taken their name. In fact, a country called “Greater Bulgaria” was known there as late as the tenth century. If the common supposition be correct, the Bulgarians are most nearly related in origin to the Magyars of Hungary and the Finns of northern Russia. After these they are nearest of kin to the Turks, who have long lived among them as rulers. But Turks and Finns alike are but branches of the great Ural-Altaic family, which had its origin in northern Asia, probably in Mongolia.

=Carthaginians.=--See Phœnicians.

=Celts=, or =Kelts= (_kelts_).--The peoples which speak languages akin to those of Wales, Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland, and Britanny, and constitute a branch or principal division of the Indo-European families. Formerly these peoples occupied, partly or wholly, France, Spain, northern Italy, the western parts of Germany, and the British Islands. Of the remaining Celtic languages and peoples there are two chief divisions, viz., the GAELIC, comprising the Highlanders of Scotland, the Irish, and the Manx, and the CYMRIC, comprising the Welsh and Bretons.

Irish, because of its more extensive literature and greater antiquity, is considered to be the chief branch of the Gaelic group. Modern Erse or Scotch is thought to be a more recent dialect of Irish. Manx is the dialect spoken by a small number of persons in the Isle of Man. Welsh is the best preserved of the Cymric group. It has a literature nearly if not quite as rich as that of Irish, and is spoken by a larger population than any other Celtic language found in the British Isles. Low Breton, or Armorican, is the speech found in Lower Brittany, in France. It is spoken by nearly two-thirds as many persons as are all other Celtic dialects combined.

This “Celtic” race seems to have had its main center of dissemination in the highlands of the Alps of midwestern Europe. While all Celtic-speaking peoples are mixed races, those of the British Isles are distinctly long-headed and tall, in fact, are among the tallest of all Europe. It is almost impossible to give the population of the Celtic race--that is, of those whose ancestral language was Celtic--since most of its members now speak English or French only.

=Chaldean.=--See Babylonian.

=Chinese= (_chī-nēs´_ or _-nēz´_).--The race or people inhabiting China proper. Linguistically, one of the Sinitic groups of the Mongolian or Asiatic race. The name Chinese is also applied, erroneously from an ethnical standpoint, to all the natives of the Chinese Empire, including China proper; that is, to the entire Sibiric group. These are, on the northeast the Manchus, on the north the Mongols, on the west the tribes of Turkestan and of Thibet. The name does not properly apply to the other Sinitic peoples--the Cochin-Chinese and the Annamese of the French colonies and the Burmese of the British colonies, all of whom border on China on the south and southwest. The people of Manchuria and of Mongolia are not so nearly related linguistically to the Chinese as they are to the Japanese. All these “Sibiric” peoples have agglutinative languages, while the Chinese is monosyllabic, being more nearly related to the languages stretching from Thibet southeast to the Malay Peninsula.

The Chinese physical type is well known--yellowish in color, with slanting eyes, high cheek bones, black hair, and a flat face. The eye is more properly described as having the “Mongolic fold” at the inner angle. This mark is found to some extent in all Mongolian peoples, in the Japanese, and now and then in individuals of the European branches of this race in Russia and Austria-Hungary.

=Egyptian= (_ē-jipt´ē-ăn_).--The ancient race or people of Egypt, best represented to-day by the Copts or Fellahs, although those are generally of mixed stock. In a political sense, any native of Egypt.

The origin of the Egyptians is still a matter of dispute. It is quite probable that they were Hamitic and belonged to the Berber type. They have no real negroid trace about them, though probably there is a strain from intermarrying; thus it is likely that they may have been a fair-skinned indigenous race, mixed also with people of Asiatic origin, and a certain amount of negro blood. The earliest types, as pictured by themselves on monuments, show men of fine build with no trace of the negroid type; the males are painted red-brown and the females a light yellowish tint.

The fellah (Arabic for ploughman) forms the bulk of the peasantry. They are chiefly Mohammedan in faith, though the Copts, also natives of Egypt, have kept their Christian belief.

The fellah is a hard-working and industrious person, of big build, with a fine, oval face, smooth black hair (the head is usually shaved), and well formed features. The women are often of great beauty, both in form and figure, though they lose their youth early. The Copts are racially the purest descendants of the ancient Egyptians. The coloring of the fellah varies from a fair yellowish shade in Lower Egypt to a deeper tone in Middle Egypt, and in Upper Egypt the majority are a deep bronze. The Arab portion of the population are of two classes: the Arabic speaking tribes who come from the deserts, and the Hamitic tribes who speak a language of their own. The Nubians are chiefly mixed with Arab blood. The foreigners are mainly Greeks, Turks, Italians, British, French, Syrians, Levantines, and Persians.

=Etrurians= (_ē-tru´ri-anz_), or =Etruscans= (_ē-trus´-kanz_).--The ancient inhabitants of Etruria, the modern Tuscany. The Etrurians are the most mysterious people of antiquity. According to ancient tradition, they came from Lydia in prehistoric times, and colonized Latium. Certain details of their costumes and customs appear to be identical with those of Lydia, and the legend is probably based upon fact.

The Etruscans were proverbially a religious people. Their tombs bear witness to a belief in a future life, and a dread of the malignant power of their deities.

=Greeks.=--The ancient Greeks belonged to Aryan or Indo-European race. They entered Greece from the North, and as they moved south in separate tribes, the foremost tribes were impelled forward by the pressure of those behind. Even when the whole of the peninsula had been for some time filled and fully occupied, a fresh wave of immigrants swept over the whole country, disturbing everything. Such a wave was the “Return of the Heraclidæ,” or the Dorian Invasion. The result was to drive emigrants on to and over the isles of Greece, and to plant Greek cities and Greek culture on the coasts of Asia Minor. At later times Sicily, the Black Sea, Libya, etc., were dotted with Greek colonies, the ancient Greeks were pre-eminent in philosophy and science, leaders in the civilization of their own day, and laid the foundations of modern civilization.

The modern Greek race or people is that which has descended, with considerable foreign admixture, from the ancient Greeks. While the stock has changed much, physically and otherwise, the modern language is more nearly like the ancient Greek than Italian, for instance, is like the ancient Latin.

The Greek race of today is intensely proud of its language and its history, and naturally wishes to be considered as genuinely Hellenic. The official title of the country is now the “Kingdom of Hellas,” and any citizen, however mixed in race, styles himself a Hellene. The people are wide-awake on political questions, are avid readers of newspapers, and, like the Greek of older times, eager to learn some new thing. Generally speaking, in customs, superstitions, and folklore, the modern race is a continuation of the ancient.

It may not be commonly known that the greater part of the Greeks live outside of Greece, probably twice as numerous as those in Greece. Ripley says that they form a third of the total population of the Balkan States. On the other hand, von Hellwald says that of the population of Greece itself only about 1,300,000 are truly Greek in race.

=Gypsies= (_jip´sēz_).--A peculiar wandering race which appeared in eastern Europe in the fourteenth century and is now found in every country of Europe, as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, and America. The Gypsies are distinguishable from the peoples among whom they rove by their bodily appearance and by their language. Their forms are generally light, lithe, and agile; skin of a tawny color; eyes large, black and brilliant; hair long, coal black, and often ringleted; mouth well shaped; and teeth very white. Ethnologists generally concur in regarding the Gypsies as descendants of some obscure Hindu tribe. They pursue various nomadic occupations, being tinkers, basket-makers, fortune-tellers, dealers in horses, etc.; are often expert musicians; and are credited with thievish propensities. They appear to be destitute of any system of religion, but traces of various forms of paganism are found in their language and customs.

The Gypsy calls himself “Rom,” whence comes Romany as a name for the language. Special names are applied to Gypsies in the different countries where they are found. Some of these relate to the supposed origin of this singular people, as Gypsy or Egyptian in the British Isles, Bohémien in France, Gitano (Egyptian) in Spain, and Tatare in Scandinavia. In some countries they are known, by a term of contempt, as Heiden (heathen) in Holland, Harami (robbers) in Egypt, and Tinklers in Scotland, but in most parts of Europe a local form of the word Zingani is used to designate them, as Zigeuner in Germany, Cygany in Hungary, and Zingari in Spain.

Intermarriage with other peoples is becoming more frequent. Through loss of language, the assumption of a sedentary life, and intermarriage, Gypsies are decreasing in numbers and seem everywhere doomed to extinction by absorption.

Of the total population of Gypsies in the world, three-fourths are in Europe. There are 200,000 in Roumania, 100,000 each in Hungary and the Balkan Peninsula, 50,000 each in Spain, Russia and Servia, and 50,000 in Germany and Italy combined. The number in the British Isles is variously estimated at from 5,000 to 20,000. There are thought to be 100,000 in Asia and 25,000 in Africa. Only a few thousand are found in the Americas.

=Hebrews= (_hē´bruz_), =Jewish= or =Israelite=.--The race or people that originally spoke the Hebrew language. They were primarily of Semitic origin, and according to tradition, descended from Heber, the great-grandson of Shem, in the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are scattered throughout Europe, especially in Russia, yet preserve their own individuality to a marked degree. Linguistically, the nearest relatives of the ancient Hebrew are the Syriac, Assyrian, and Arabic languages. While the Hebrew is not so nearly a dead language as the related Syrian, Aramaic, or the ancient Assyrian, its use in most Jewish communities is confined mainly to religious exercises. The Jews have adopted the languages of the peoples with whom they have long been associated. More speak Yiddish, called in Europe “Judeo-German,” than any other language, since the largest modern population of Jews borders on eastern Germany and has been longest under German influence.

Physically the Hebrew is a mixed race. In every country, however, they are found to approach in type the people among whom they have long resided. The two chief divisions of the Jewish people are the northern type, and the Spanish or southern type. The latter are now found mainly in the countries southeast of Austria. They consider themselves to be of purer race than the northern Jews and in some countries refuse to intermarry or worship with the latter. Their features are more truly Semitic.

The social solidarity of the Jews is chiefly a product of religion and tradition. Taking all factors into account, and especially their type of civilization, the Jews of today are more truly European than Asiatic or Semitic.

The Jews are endowed with the most varied qualities, as shown by the whole course of their checkered history. Originally pure nomads, the Israelites became excellent husbandmen after the settlement in Canaan, and since then they have given proof of the highest capacity for poetry, letters, erudition of all kinds, philosophy, finance, music, and diplomacy. The reputation of the medieval Arabs as restorers of learning is largely due to their wise tolerance of the enlightened Jewish communities in their midst.

In late years the persecutions, especially in Russia and Roumania, have caused a fresh exodus, and flourishing agricultural settlements have been founded in Argentina and Palestine.

Jewish immigrants usually, however, settle in the cities. New York City, for example, has the largest Jewish population of any city in the world, now estimated by some at about 1,000,000, or nearly one-fourth of the total population. About 50,000 more are added annually. Among large cities, Warsaw and Odessa have a still larger ratio of Jewish population, namely, one-third. In London, on the contrary, only one-fiftieth of the population is Hebrew. The Jewish population of the entire United States is less than 2,000,000.

=Hindus= (_hin´duz_), or =Hindoos=.--The native race in India descended from the Aryan conquerors. Their purest representatives belong to the two great historic castes of Brahmans and Rajputs. Many of the non-Aryan inhabitants of India have been largely Hinduized. More loosely the name includes also the non-Aryan inhabitants of India.

It is not generally realized how great a number of races and tribes there are in India, many of them extremely low in civilization and approaching the Negro in physical characteristics. Such are some of the Dravidas and Mundas, who occupy all of southern India. In greatest contrast with these are the Aryan Hindus of the north, more closely related in language, if not in physical appearance, to the northern Europeans than are the Turks, Magyars, and various peoples of eastern Russia.

Hindi and Hindustani are the most widely spread modern languages or group of dialects of India. Hindustani is generally understood to be the polite speech of all India, and especially of Hindustan. Hindi, in the wider sense of the term, is spoken by 97,000,000 of people, mainly of northern India. The darker non-Aryans and Mongolians alone of India nearly equal the population of the United States. There are one hundred and forty-seven peoples or tribes speaking different languages.

=Indians= (_in´di-anz_).--The aboriginal inhabitants of North America were so named on the supposition that the lands discovered by the early navigators were parts of India. This erroneous name has continued in use ever since, notwithstanding attempts at its correction. The Indians were not nomadic until after the arrival of Europeans, who drove many tribes from their established seats to those occupied by other tribes. From the same Europeans they procured the horse and firearms, both of which were necessary to a nomadic life under the existing conditions.

Explorers and early settlers gave fanciful names to many of the groups of Indians which they encountered. Efforts to reproduce native tribal names (unpronounceable in foreign tongues) in the traveler’s own language, resulted in many different names for the same tribes. Several thousand names for Indian tribes or groups are found in the English and European writings of the last three hundred years.

Recent ethnological study tends to recognize possibly two marked types of North American Indians, (1) those facing the Pacific and the Asiatic Continent with its broad-headed Mongolic races; and (2) those found chiefly on the Eastern Slope, looking toward Africa and Europe. They incline to the view, also, that the race is not traceable to a “_single_ origin, but that immigrants came by many routes from many regions.” While a similarity in the new environment tended to bring the fragments of the old populations into similarity of physical type, likenesses in language, are accepted as the sound basis for classification of Indian tribes and groups.

Major J. W. Powell, in 1891, recognized “fifty-eight linguistic families,” and mapped the geographic distribution of these great stocks over the continent. The Pacific coast has a multiplicity of small linguistic families; while the more populous central and eastern parts have comparatively fewer linguistic stocks. Dr. McGee, in 1896 estimated the number of Indian tribes belonging to various linguistic families at 782--the largest number of these, tribes of little importance, numerically or historically. Some of the principal linguistic families are: