154 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



feeders on human carrion, whose habits are already 

 mentioned by Ctesias, and are still not entirely extinct. 

 Other tribes there are, equally aberrant, almost as de- 

 graded in mind and form, but caused by the wretched 

 conditions of their existence, or by an apathy of cha- 

 racter, which no force of example or change of circum- 

 stances seems to affect ; such are the Samang Dwarfs 

 of the Malayan mountains, and the black Inagta of the 

 island of Lasso, whose stature seldom exceeds four feet 

 eight inches. It will be an interesting object of con- 

 sideration for anatomists, who may be placed in favour- 

 able conditions for observation, to examine the brain of 

 children belonging to these races in the foetus, and 

 particularly after birth, as it may be expected to dis- 

 play a still more imperfect state than that of a Negro 

 infant. 



The foregoing discussions have chiefly had for object, 

 to offer some points relating to the physical history of 

 man, which, it appears, have not as yet been viewed 

 in the light here shown ; perhaps, because the facts 

 relating to them are uninteresting and few, or are con- 

 cealed under a dense veil of tradition and figurative 

 mystification, with only occasional glimpses that can be 

 appreciated, and therefore difficult to grasp, and un- 

 certain in the application ; still, when collected into 

 somewhat of a series, give consistency to conjecture, and 

 frequently bestow upon it most, if not all the conditions 

 of historical truth. As we proceed, names of nations 



