ComparaUve Muscular Strength of Maorics and EuroiKans. 125 



The average of the foregoing gives 367 lbs., the highest 

 being 420 lbs., the lowest 250 lbs. A similar experiment 

 made with 31 soldiers of the 58th regiment (averaging in. 

 weight 14-i lbs.) gave the following iigm^es : — 



2 soldiers lifted 504 lbs. 



6 „ „ 460 „ to 480 lbs, 



14 „ „ 400 „ „ 460 „ 



9 „ „ 350 „ „ 400 „ 



Thus the average weight which the British soldiers could lift 

 from the ground was 422 lbs., or ^b lbs. more than the Maori. 



Perron in his ''Voyage des D<^couvertes aux Torres Aus- 

 trales," observed as the result of numerous experiments, that 

 the weakest Frenchman had more muscular strength than 

 the most powerful native of Van Diemen's Land, and 

 that the weakest Englishman was stronger than the strong- 

 est native of New Holland. Judging by that standard, the 

 Maories are of a far more powerful build than the Australian 

 aborigines. 



What appears to us most interesting in the results of Dr. 

 Thomson's observations, is the immense disparity of the 

 muscular strength of the Maori as compared with that of the 

 Anglo-Saxon race, although in height, weight, and girth they 

 so closely resemble them. The main reason of this astonishing 

 dissimilarity is undoubtedly due in the main to the exclu- 

 sively vegetable diet of the New Zealanders, which it is 

 well known promotes the deposition of fat in the system, 

 without proportionately increasing the amount of muscu- 



