THE HUMAN SPECIES. 407 



become, from the most ill shaped and wretched looking 

 of barbarian Mongoles, a people that can now dispute 

 the palm of beauty with the handsomest of Europe. 



For, and with these nations, commencing in Central 

 Asia, Kaufirs, Affghans, Georgians, Circassians, Cos- 

 sacks, tribes of Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and the 

 Gothic people of the north, on to the west of Europe, 

 there are ever sympathetic feelings, an enduring inte- 

 rest independent of religious motives, political consi- 

 derations, or commercial purposes. In England, espe- 

 cially, we feel for them more than curiosity, travel 

 among them, overlook or palliate their barbarism; 

 nay, so strong and deep is the inclination, that among 

 British captives made during the disastrous winter 

 months in Cabul, most spoke highly of the urbanity 

 they had experienced ; several of the softer sex felt 

 unwilling to be released ; and some, it is said, actually 

 escaped from those who were to restore them to their 

 homes. Nothing but original consanguinity could re- 

 produce such effects. To that cause alone we must 

 ascribe the long duration of a Macedonian monarchy 

 subsisting for so many generations among the most 

 warlike people in existence; and in more modern 

 times, that the fierce bigotry of Islamism has not obli- 

 terated that tendency ; for beyond this line of consan- 

 guinity, the Tahtar race, now in possession of Thibet 

 and Bokhara, or the Arab on the south, never excite 

 similar affections, nor feel themselves yearning for 

 approximation. 



