The Missing Link

1 london Academy. Through the courtesy of Mr. Farini, J have had a private interview with this curious little waif, whieh hc is now exhibitiug at the Royal Aquarium, Westminster, and for which ho claims the distinotion oí being the long-sought-foi "missing link" between man and the anthropoid apes. Krao certainly presenta some abnormal pceuliarities, but thcy are scarcely of a sufHeiently pronounccd type to justify suoh a claim. She is, in fact, a distinctly human child, apparently about seven ycars old. endowed with an average share of intelligenee, and possessing the faculty of articúlate speech. Since her aivival, about ten weeks ago, in London, she has acquired sevcral English words, which she uses intelligently, and not merely parrot fashion as has been stated. ïhus, on my suddenly producing my watch at the interview, sho was attracted by the glitter, and cried out, "C'ook, C'ook,'' that is, dock, dock! This 8howed considerable powers of generalization, aeeompanied by asoruewhatdefective articulation, and it appears that her phonetic system does not yet embrace the liquida and r. But in this and other respects hor education is progressing favorably, and she has already so far adapted lierself to civilizad ways that the mere threat to bc sent back to her own people is always sufficient to suppress any syuiptoms of unruly conduct. Physically. Krao presents severa! pecuíiar features. The head and low lorehead are covered, down to the bushy eyebrows, wit h the black, lankand Uistreless hair characteristiool theMonjoloid races. The whole body is also 3rergrown with a far less dense coating of soft black hair, about a quarter of an inch long, but nowhere cluse enough to conceal the color of the skin, which may be desoribed as of a dark olive-brown shade. The nose isextrcmely short and [ow, with excessively broail nostrils merging in the full pouched cheuks, in which she appears to have the habit of stuffing her food monkey fashion. Like those of the antliropoids, her feet are also prehensile, and the hands so flexibl that they bend quite back over the wrists. The thump also doubles completely back, and of the four iinger.s all the top joints independently bend at plcasuro inwanl. l'rognathism seems to be very slightly developed, and her beautiful round black eyes are very large and perfectly horizontal. Henee the expression is, on the whole. far trom uupleasing, and not nearly so ape-like as that of the mauy Negritos, and especially of the Javanese "Ardi," tigured bv me in Nature of December 30, 1H80. Bu't it should be mentioned that, when in a pet, Krao's lips are said to protrude so far as to give her "quite a ehjmpanzee look." feel disposed to regard this specimen merely a a "sport," or hisus natura?, possessed rather of a pathological than of a strictly anthropological interest. Certainly, isolated cases of huiry persons, and even of bairy families, are not unknown to seience. Several were iigiircil in a recent number of the BerJin Ztatschrift fur Eihnologie; and, f 1 remember, both Crawfurd ("Journal of an Embassy to Siam") and Colouel Yule "(Mission to tho Court of Ava") speak of a hairy fnmily resident for two or three generations at the Burmeso capital. This family ia reported to liave come originally frora the interior of the Lao country; and in the same región we are now told that liltle Krao and her parents, also hairy people, were found last year hy the" well-known Eastorn explorer, Mr. Cari Bock. Soon aftcr their capture, the father appears to have died of cholera, and the mot her was detained at Bangkok by the Siamese govemnient, so 'that Krao alone could be brought to England. Hut, before liis death, a photograph of the father was taken by Mr. Bock, who describes lum as "completely covered with j a thick hairy coat exactfy like that of ! the anthropoid apes. On hifi face not only had bc a heavy bushy beard and j whiskers üimilar iu every respect to the hairy family at the Court of tho King of Burmah, who also came from the same región as that in which Krao and her father were fonnd, but every part was thoroughly enveloped in hair. The long arma and the rounded stomach also proclaimed his close alliance to the monkey fonn, while his power of speech and his intelligence were so far doveloped that, before his death, he was ablo ' to ut ter a few words in Mala}-."' Assuming the accuracy of these j mente and of this deseription, little Krao of course at once acquires exeeptional scientilie importance. She would at all events be a living: proof of the preseace of a hairy raee in Farther I dia, a región atpreent mainly oecupicd i by almost, hairless Mongolo'id people. Erom these races the large, straight ¦ eyes would also detach the Krao type, i and point to a possible connection witli he hairy. strsiight-eved Aino tribes still urviving in Yeso Knd Sakhalim. and ormerly dJffüsed over Japan and the opposite mainlnnd.