On the phenomena of hybridity in the genus Homo

Abstract

With regard to the mop-headed Papuans, they live in a re¬ gion the ethnography of which is scarcely known.MM.Quoy and Graimard are of opinion that they are the issue of a mixture between the Malays and indigenous Negroes (sic) ; but they Africa in 1673, twenty years after the first disembarkation of Europeans, already mentions the existence of a Hottentot people who went by the name of Gregoriquos (t.xv, p. 122).Thirty years after (1705) Kolbe designates the same people Gauriquas (t.xv, p. 253).There existed at that time another people, called Chirigriquas.In 1775 Thunberg still speaks of Gauriquas (t.xvi, p. 201), and of Chirigriquas.All these names have evidently the same root, and the singularity of Hottentot enunciation induced probably the various travellers to adopt a different orthography.It is thus presuma¬ ble that the Hottentots of Klaarwater, in calling themselves Griquas, merely adopted the old name Gauriquas.There exists to this day the people Koraquas, signifying " people who wear shoes" (Burchell, t. xx, p. 60), They live in the neighbourhood of Klaarwater.Be this as it may, the new people of the Griquas gave to Klaarwater, influenced by the English missionaries, the name of Griqua-town.This town, called by Malte-Brun Kriqua, grew rapidly by the adjunction of the Koranas.In 1813 there were not less than 1,341 Koranas in a population of 2,607 inhabitants (t.xviii, p. 393).In 1814 the governor of the Cape tried to force the Griquas to furnish men for the indigenous army.The proposal was very badly received, and the nation was nearly in a state of dissolution.A portion of the inhabitants of Griqua-town escaped to the surrounding mountains, and formed bands of robbers, who, under the name of Bergmaars, devastated the country, and, associating with bands of Koranas, pillaged and massacred the Betchouanas and the Bosjesmen, and carried off their women and children.In 1825, owing to the inter¬ vention of John Philips, the Bergmaars were reduced to order, and returned to Griqua-town.They had now crossed with the Koranas, the Betchouanas, and Bosjesmen (t.xviii, p. 357).Some time previously a grave dissension had broken out among the settled Griquas.The governor of the Cape had sent an agent, John Melvil, with an important charge to a certain Waterboer, a Bosjesman by origin.The supremacy had hitherto belonged to the family Kok, who, proud of the drops of European blood in their veins, would not recognise the authority of Waterboer, and emigrated accordingly, Waterboer was, however, not dismissed; and in 1825 John Philips found the Griquas divided in three kraals, under the chiefs Kok, Berend, and Waterboer (t.xix, p. 370).If Dr. Prichard had taken the trouble to consult these documents he woidd have recognised that the Griquas had, by so many consecutive crossings, be¬ come almost a pure African race.Modern geographers range therefore the Griquas among the Hottentots, calling them Hottentot-Griquas.It is also noteworthy tliat Prichard, in citing the Griquas as an example of a mixed race, has given no description of them.In order that the example should be of any value, it is requisite that the Griquas should present an intermediate type between the Europeans and the natives.Neither Dr. Prichard nor any travellers say so.There is another consideration.The origin of the Griqua nation dates from the beginning of the nineteenth century.Dr. Prichard last speaks of them in 1843.Two generations had not yet elapsed.There is another point.In 1800 the tribe of Kok was a horde but little numerous; in 1824 it was a people of five thousand souls, including seven hundred armed warriors (Thompson, loc.cit., t. xxi, p. 22).It is clear that this people were not descended from the primitive tribe, but had increased by numerous ad¬ junctions.Father Peteam himself, if he were still alive, would be obliged to admit this.I have been very minute as to the Griquas, but I flatter myself that this is sufficient to discard from science the assertion of Prichard, which all modern monogenists have received with so much favour.

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