On the Physical Constitution of the Arabians. 319 



try presents some slight modifications, which are to be attribu- 

 ted to the differences of the surface, or to the nature of the soil, 

 in each of its principal regions. Its productions are well known ; 

 and its native inhabitants and animals have a physiognomy and 

 character which are quite peculiar, and which distinguishes 

 them generally from all those which appear in the other regions 

 of the globe. 



The physical study of the first class among them, viz. the 

 Arabians, has been the principal object of my researches, as I 

 have stated in my Egyptian campaign ; and this variety of our 

 race may be easily distinguished into three different groups : 

 1^^, That of the Eastern Arabs, coming from the margin of 

 the Red Sea, or from Arabia properly so called ; 9,d, Tliat of 

 the Western Arabs, or the original Africans of Mauritania or 

 of the coasts of Africa ; and, 3{i, That of the Bedouin Arabs 

 or Scenites, the wandering hordes of the confines of the de- 

 serts. 



The individuals of the first group, who abound and are perpe- 

 tuated in the class of Fellahs or labourers, and in those of all the 

 artisans of the whole of Egypt, and the fertile countries of 

 Africa, are somewhat above the average stature ; they are ro- 

 bust and well formed ; their skin is sun-burned and brown, 

 and is elastic ; their countenance is oval and copper-coloured ; 

 their forehead is broad and elevated ; the eyebrow is black and 

 bushy ; the eye is of the same colour, deep-seated, and quick ; 

 the nose is straight, and of medium size ; the mouth is well 

 defined, the teeth well set, beautiful, and white like ivory ; the 

 ear, beautifully formed and of the normal size, is slightly curved 

 forwards ; the auditory foramen is exactly in the same level with 

 the external or temporal commissure of the eyelids, as generally 

 happens in every individual of every race.* Some additional 

 differences may be observed in the women ; the graceful con- 

 tour of their limbs is especially admirable, also the regular 



* These lineaments have been traced in all their accuracy by the able 

 pencil of Girodet, in the head of an Arab Chief which I have presented to 

 the Academy. It is also to be obsei-\'ed, that the external ear varies widely 

 both as to foi-m and size, not only in different nations, but also among indi- 

 viduals of the same tribe. 



