74 Prof. Hausmann on the Physiognomy of Scandinavia. 



make them pleasing ; so a district in which there is a mountain, 

 a rock, a soHtary group of trees, or a waterfall in a prominent 

 situation, often interests more than another in which the out- 

 line of mountain and wood is marked out by gently undulating 

 lines. Inasmuch as the striking attachment of the inhabitants 

 of mountains to their native homes, has assuredly various 

 sources ; so we can ascribe this, partly at least, to the form of 

 the countries which surround them. But we can proceed still 

 farther ; we can even concede to the different shapes of coun- 

 tries no inconsiderable influence over the character and tempera- 

 ment of the inhabitants of entire regions and provinces. Must 

 not the dweller amidst the heaths of Luneburg, who is obliged 

 to plough up sand all day-long, and seldom sees any thing more 

 than the heath plant and the sky, must he not have an usually 

 sluggish gait, and heavy closing of his eye-lids ? From the 

 sameness of the external nature around him, can we suppose him 

 to possess a rich store of ideas, and a lively interest in what is 

 taking place around him ? On the contrary, compare with him 

 the native of the Hartz, who, now in deep valleys, and soon 

 again on highly elevated lands, from which are stretched out 

 before his view the low country ; who, in the mines, surround- 

 ed with darkness and constant danger, raises to the surface the 

 treasures which the earth conceals in its bosom ; who is necessi- 

 tated, by the form of the ground, to carry manure for his fields 

 up the ridges of the steepest mountains, and then to carry 

 back the produce of the sweat of his brow into the valley. We 

 find that this person possesses a lively temperament, and a 

 higher feeling of self-gratification ; and that he partakes of 

 these qualities with the inhabitants of mountains in general. 

 Lastly, it might be shewn, that, in the above respects, the inha- 

 bitant of the hilly country occupies a place intermediate between 

 that of the mountaineer, and the peasant of the heath land. May 

 the above few remarks suffice to shew, that reflections upon the 

 various forms of the earth's surface cannot fail to possess a va- 

 ried and general interest. 



The circumstances by which the physiognomy of a country 

 is distinguished from that of other countries, constitute the 

 character of the same. And as certain resemblances can be tra- 

 ced among the countenances of the individuals of a nation ; so 



