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0192 Ancient Khotan : vol.1
Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / Page 192 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000182
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Racial affinities of modern population.

144   THE KHOTAN OASIS : ITS GEOGRAPHY AND PEOPLE [Chap. VI

its detailed examination and analysis was undertaken by such a competent scholar as Mr. T. A. Joyce, Secretary of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain. The results of his investigations, published in the journal of the Anthropological Institute l, have so important a bearing on a number of questions connected with the historical past of the Khotan region that I regret having been unable, from considerations of space, to reproduce the paper embodying them in an Appendix to the present work.

Referring to this publication for all evidence, I restrict myself here to a succinct statement of Mr. Joyce's results, as far as possible in his own words. Before, however, proceeding to this I think it advisable to call attention to two facts upon which he lays stress in the introductory part of his paper 2. ` With regard to the deduction therefrom of a theory as to the race or races which enter into the composition of the inhabitants of these oases, it must be admitted that the material is somewhat small for the attainment of any degree of certainty.' Hence all conclusions must be regarded as purely tentative, to be confirmed or refuted by further researches '. It was with special regard to this fact that I considered it necessary to recommend to my collaborator the advisability of keeping his investigation of the anthropometrical materials at present available entirely clear of any indications, positive or conjectural, which might be deduced from historical and similar extraneous data. For it is obvious that any anthropological conclusions drawn from such restricted materials could only have weight with critical students if the risk of any unconscious bias were excluded. A reference to the body of Mr. Joyce's paper will show how careful he has been to base his conclusions on purely anthropological evidence.

The results of his investigations on these lines are briefly the following. A scrutiny of the physical characteristics of the inhabitants of Khotan and Keriya, with a view to connecting them with one or other of the great racial stocks of Asia, proves the general absence of those traits which are recognized as distinguishing the Mongolian s. On the other hand, it is noted as regards the people of Khotan ` that in their complexion, character and colour of hair and eyes, and cephalic index, is shown a very close correspondence with the Galchas ; in fact, they seem to bear a general resemblance rather to this than to any other type''. The Galchas or Alpine Tâjiks are taken by Ujfalvy, the chief authority on the subject, as fairly pure representatives of Lapouge's Homo Alj5inus, and are certainly of Aryan' stock. To their race belong the mountain tribes settled in the high valleys between the Hindukush on the south and the Alai on the north, who speak closely allied Eastern Iranian dialects 5. Among these are the Wakhis and Sarikolis, whose close approach to the Khotanese in outward appearance is clearly traceable in my photographs 6.

Certain differences, however, are at the same time noticed between the Galchas and the Khotanese with regard to stature, nasal form, and facial index, together with a tendency in the latter to darker tints in hair and eyes. In looking for an explanation of these differences Mr. Joyce arrives at the inference that in the case of the Khotanese there has been, besides a slight admixture of Turki blood, an admixture also of Tibetan. The tendency towards the characteristics traceable to a Tibetan admixture, such as short stature, platyrrhiny, black hair

Mr. Joyce's investigations.

I See Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1903,

vol. xxxiii. pp. 305-324, with Plates xxvi, xxviI.

2 See ibid., pp. 305 sq.

Comp. ibid., p. 315.

4 See ibid., p. 322.

s For an interesting summary of observations on the

Galchas of the Zarafshân Kôhistân, who are the physically

best-known representatives of the race, see Ujfalvy, Observations sur les Tadjiks des montagnes, Bulletins de la Société d' Anthropologie, 1887.

6 Comp. Fig. 5 (also PI. xxvii in/ Anthrop. Inst., 1903), with Figs. 22, 23. This general resemblance of the two types struck me at the time when I first became acquainted with Khotanese.