46 NATIONALITY AND RACE 



the pigmentation of hair and eyes with any factor 

 in the environment, so that these appear to give 

 more valuable information regarding race than can 

 be derived from the general pigmentation of the body. 

 Taking brunet traits as a whole, including those of 

 the skin, eyes and hair, race is dominant over environ- 

 ment, and although the indications are not so clear 

 as in the case of cranial indices, they are valuable. 

 Stature, like colouration, is affected by race and by 

 environment. Rather more than ninety-nine per 

 cent, of the human species exceed five feet one inch 

 in height, and if we leave out of consideration a few 

 races and individuals that are abnormally tall or 

 abnormally short, the total range of variation in 

 stature does not exceed nine or ten inches. The 

 environment, and especially the conditions of nutri- 

 tion, affect the stature in individual lives. Bushmen 

 and Hottentots belong to a naturally short race, but 

 the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, where the 

 conditions of life are extremely severe, and where 

 semi-starvation is almost the normal condition, are 

 very much smaller than the Hottentots who inhabit 

 a more fertile area and who own flocks and herds. 

 The pigmies of the head-waters of the Congo have 

 probably been dwarfed by the extreme hardships of 

 their life. The natives of Tierra del Fuego and the 

 Patagonians of the mainland are members of a natu- 

 rally tall race. The former, living under conditions 

 of inclement weather and scarcity of food almost 

 impossible for human beings, are much less tall than 

 the Patagonians who have not to undergo great 

 hardship. In many parts of Europe, as for instance in 

 the hills between Limoges and Perigueux, there are 



