Evening star., 1926-02-21
FINDS BLACK GIRLS
WITH YELLOW HAIR
Dr.. Hrdlicka Also Encounters
Bearded Women in South
Australia.
DR.. AIes Hrdlicka, curator OF phys,.

DR.. Ales Hrdlicka, curator OF physi.
cal anthrOpology at the Smithsonian
Institution, yesterday announced the
discovery in South Australia among
black people of female children and
young women who have yellow hair.
This Is one OF the most curious phe-
nomena he has ever encountered, DR..
Hrdltcka said. and solution Of the
problem which 1t brings up Is likely
to throw much light On the early wan
derings OF the human race.
The discovery, DR.. Hrdlicka en-
phasized. is by no means to be char
acterized as that OF race of blonde
negroes. The people. although black
OF skin. are not scientifically classified
as members OF the negro or negrito
race. They have straight hair, much
like that OF Europeans.
Neither are they in any respect
albinoes. such as DR.. Hrdlicka be-
lieves the blonde" Indians OF Pan
anna to have been, and which probably
accounts for the blonde Eskimos dis
covered by, Stefansson in the Far
North.
May Have Wandered South.
A likely explanation, he said. is that
these people are the remnants Of a
race which may have originated in
Europe or Northern India in the far
distant past Of mankind and wandered
into the South Seas. Centuries ago
the last resemblance to white men, SO
far as color Is concerned. vanished.
The blonde hair OF the girls. DIR.
Hrdlicka said, possibly is an atavism
or throw back to distant ance estry.
DR.. Hrdlicka now is classifying and
studying the results of his explora-
ton trip to the Far East. during
which he came across other curious
anthropological phenomena
Another curious feature of the
Australian aborigines in the Murray
River region of South Australia, and
one which affords an interesting prob
lem to anthropologists. is the extreme
hairiness of the people.
Find Bearded Women.
It ID pst 'nIsual to find women with
we'll develoi-.1 Leards. particularly
older women, said DR.. Hrdlicna-
The bodies Of the men sometimes
are covered with a coat Of hair that
would do credit to one Of the anthro-
poid apes .-..- -.... .z-..
DR.. Hrdlicka said:
: During my 1925 trip to the Far
Southeast, including Australia, came
enon that calls for elucidation. 1t is
the occurrence of light hair in full
blood natives. The first case was that
in a female child a year and a half
old, at Derby on the northwestern
coast It was the second child Of a
young couple. both ordinary full.
bloods, in the service of the local pro-
tector Of the aborigines. The fathers
hair was black, the mothers brown
~ oh 1snI 4
old. was also quite ordinary with
brown black hair like the mother.
But the baby, without in any way
suggesting a mix-blood, had hair that
was decidedly lighter brownish. No
one had any explanation Of this and
Il did not seem to be regarded as
anything very strange. Other natives
(about 40 adultsl seen at Derby showed
nothing special in this respect.
Some time afterW;ard / had
chance to see two groups OF natives
along the railroad between Koolgarie
and Adelaide. The first group con-
sister Of seven women, five men. a hoy
and a small child. In the child the
hair was Of a ginger color, or OF a
yellowish- dirty wool, but there was
some brownish- black later hair nearer
the skin. In two of the women the
hair was also not fully black custer
less DrOWnlSn DldCkJ, pCL dll were lUll-
bloods to all indications.
Notes Other Instances.
THE next and larger group was
seen near the desert station Of Coldea.
In this group there were IS natives,
men, women and children, all ap-
parently full-blood, but with hair in
quite a few Of the children and girls
approaching the dull yellow Of crude
Sleeps wool, or that of rope, tow or
ginger, ranging to brownish black in
some individuals. None of the adult
men or older women showed the con-
dition. One girl of al out .12 had a
particularly fine head Of ginger hair
but would not give a sample.
Later on 1t was learned, particu-
larly from Spencer and Gillen and
from DR.. Herbert Basedow Of Adelaide,
that hair OF this nature Is well known
to occur among full-blood Australian
aborigines, though the subject has
has never been studied; and it was
possible through the kindness Of DIR.
Basedow to secure both a sample Of
the tow hair and a photograph show
ing three young adult gins" twomen}
with SUCH hair.
In all cases that came to my notice
the tow or ginger hair was associated
with ordinary full-blood features and
brownish-black skin color. In no case
was there any nystagnus or any
other indication Of albinism. The con-
dition plainly Is not albinic. 1t may
possibly be related to the transitory
presence Of light hair in the children
among the Loyalty islanders, recently
reported by Sarasin. but 1t is much
more lasting, though seemingly not
absolutely permanent in the Aus
tralian. How frequently 1t is In the
Australian child, why 1t Is limited las
it would seern) to the females, and
just what 1t means, are interesting
points to be determined"