On Dwarfs and Giants. 149 



as one to one and a half. In fact, the smallest dwarfs are little 

 more than two feet high, and the tallest giants a little more than 

 eight feet and a]^half. On the other hand, the average height 

 of the Esquimaux, and mountaineer Boschmen, is a little more 

 than four, whilst that of the Patagonians is about six feet. If 

 travellers have differed much as to the height of these Pata- 

 gonians, some calling them thirteen feet high, while others 

 have attributed an ordinary height to them, it not only arises 

 from a love of the marvellous, but a mistake, produced by a mix- 

 ture which exists south of the La Plata, of many nomadic tribes, 

 some of whom are very tall, and others of an ordinary stature. 



It has been discovered, with a few exceptions, that all the 

 people remarkable for their small stature inhabit the northern 

 hemisphere, in the most northerly part of it, and that those who 

 are of great stature generally live in the southern hemisphere, 

 some on the continent of South America, others in the archipe- 

 lagoes of the Pacific Ocean, from the eighth to the fiftieth de- 

 gree of south latitude. On an attentive study, however, of the 

 geographical distribution of the human race, we come to this cu- 

 rious result, — that people of small stature live almost always near 

 the tallest nations, and, on the other hand, those of a high sta- 

 ture near nations peculiarly distinguished for their diminutive 

 growth. Thus Terra del Fuego, near Patagonia, is inhabited 

 by short and ill-made men : and the people of Sweden and Fin- 

 land, which border on Lapland, are above the middle height. 

 The influence of climate is without doubt incontestable; an 

 acute cold is unfavourable to the development of height, whilst 

 a moderate degree is favourable. The preceding example may 

 tend to prove it. 



Climate, however, is not the only active cause. Regard 

 must be had to food, more or less abundant, to severe or easy 

 labour. Misery and fatigue, not less than excessive cold, pre- 

 vent the development of the body ; on the other hand, ease and 

 good living are favourable to it. It is also necessary to pay at- 

 tention to the difference of the races, which connects itself with the 

 conditions of the original type. Thus the Malayan is generally 

 larger, and the Mongolian smaller, than the Caucasian and 

 American races ; each of them possesses a tendency constantly 

 to reproduce with the same characters, a tendency so much the 



