TROPICAL TRIBES AND RACES 185 



These tribes inhabit hills whose height averages 5,000 to 

 6,000 feet above sea-level. The climate, though not so cold as 

 that of England, is misty and wet during most of the summer 

 months, and cold, bracing, and clear in the winter. The contrast 

 between the Bengali and the people of these hills is very marked. 

 They appear more like inhabitants of different parts of the 

 universe, rather than neighbours separated by barely fifty miles 

 of country. The men, women, and children are jolly, light- 

 hearted, always laughing, joking, and chatting ; the children 

 playing, singing skipping as they run about, much in the same 

 way as children do in England. This is all the very antithesis of 

 what will be found in Bengal and Orissa. The children in 

 Bengal are poor, miserable, pot-bellied little creatures, with 

 little or no joy in their lives, compared with these happy-looking 

 well-fed children of the hills. The hill people in general are very 

 healthy, strong, and well-developed, some tribes being of really 

 fine physique ; they are full of energy, and capable of sustaining 

 the most arduous labour and prolonged muscular exertion. The 

 loads that even the women and little children are commonly seen 

 to carry up the steepest hills are incredible, and could hardly be 

 believed possible. 



So far as the evidence goes, two factors account for the marked 

 contrast between the Bengali and these hill-tribes viz., climate 

 and diet. The other causes advocated by Dr. Kellogg are even 

 more in evidence, particularly sexual excesses, than in Bengal. 

 Whilst there is no doubt climate has a great deal to do with the 

 higher scale of general development and efficiency, that it is not 

 the only, or even the most important, factor can be shown by a 

 comparison of the several classes living under practically identical 

 conditions, but with differences in dietary forming the one out- 

 standing influence on their respective characteristics. The 

 following facts were collected : 



1. Bhutias (140 men examined), 

 (a) Tibetan Bhutias. 



Height averaged between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 7 inches. 

 Tallest, 5 feet 9 inches. 

 Shortest, 5 feet. 



Chest girth averaged between 35 and 37 inches. 

 Greatest, 38 inches. 

 Smallest, 32 inches. 



The development of the neck and calf of the Bhutia is very 

 marked for their height, an average of between 14 and 15 inches 

 being obtained from the measurements 



