CHAPTER VII 

 THE EFFECTS OF A LOW PROTEIN DIETARY IN THE TROPICS 



EFFEMINACY OF THE INHABITANTS OF INDOSTAN. 



" SOUTH WAKD of Lahore we see throughout India a race of men 

 whose make, physiognomy, and muscular strength convey ideas 

 of an effeminacy which surprises when pursued through such 

 numbers of the species and when compared to the form of the 

 European who is making the observation. The muscular 

 strength of the Indian is still less than might be expected from 

 the appearance of the texture of his frame. Two English sawyers 

 have performed in one day the work of thirty-two Indians. 

 The stature of the Indian is various : the northern inhabitant 

 is as tall as the generality of our own nation ; more to the south, 

 the height diminishes rapidly, and on the coast of Coromandel 

 we meet with many whose stature would appear dwarfish, if 

 this idea were not taken off by the fineness and regularity of their 

 figures. Brought into the world with a facility unknown to the 

 labours of European women ; never shackled in their infancy 

 by ligatures ; sleeping on their backs without pillows, they are 

 in general very straight, and there are few deformed persons 

 amongst them. 



" Labour produces not the same effects on the human frame 

 in Indostan as in other countries ; the common people of all sorts 

 are a diminutive race in comparison with those of higher castes 

 and better fortunes. Nature seems to have showered beauty on 

 the fairer sex throughout India with a more lavish hand than in 

 most countries. They are all, without exception, fit to be 

 married before thirteen, and wrinkled before thirty flowers of 

 too short duration not to be delicate and too delicate to last 

 long. 



" Montesquieu attributes much of the effects to climate, and 



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