ANIMALS. 



181 



hair. Their customs and ceremonies are 

 nearly the same ; their ideas of beauty simi- 

 lar; and their artificial deformities of black- 

 ening the teeth, and bandaging the feet, en- 

 tirely alike in both countries. They both, 

 therefore, proceed from the same stock ; and 

 although they differ very much from their bru- 

 tal progenitors, yet they owe their civiliza- 

 tion wholly to the mildness of the climate in 

 which they reside, and to the peculiar fertili- 

 ty of the soil. To this tribe, also, we may re- 

 fer the Cochin Chinese, the Siamese, the Ton- 

 quinese, and the inhabitants of Arracan, Laos, 

 and Pegu, who, though all differing from the 

 Chinese and each other, nevertheless have 

 too strong a resemblance not to betray their 

 common original. 



Another, which makes the third variety in 

 the human species, is, that of the southern 

 Asiatics ; the form of whose features and per- 

 sons may be easily distinguished from those 

 of the Tartar races. The nations that inha- 

 bit the peninsula of India, seem to be the prin- 

 cipal stock from whence the inhabitants of the 

 islands that lie scattered in the Indian ocean 

 have been peopled. They are, in general, of 

 a slender shape, with long straight black hair, 

 and often with Roman noses. Thus they re- 

 semble the Europeans i.-i stature and features; 

 but greatly differ in colour and habit of body. 

 The Indians are of an olive colour, and, in | 

 the more southern parts, quite black ; al- 

 though the word Mogul, in their language, sig- 

 nifies a white man. The women are extreme- 

 ly delicate, and bathe very often; they are 

 of an olive colour, as well as the men: their 

 legs and thighs are long, and their bodies 

 short, which is the opposite to what is seen 

 among the women of Europe. They are, as 

 I am assured, by no means so fruitful as the 

 European women ; but they feel the pains of 

 child-birth with much less sensibility, and are 

 generally up and well the day following. In 

 fact, these pains seem greatest in all coun- 

 tries where the women are most delicate, or 

 the constitution enfeebled by luxury or indo- 

 lence. The women of savage nations seem, 

 in a great measure, exempt from painful la- 

 bours; and even the hard-working wives of 

 the peasants among ourselves, have this ad- 

 vantage from a life of industry, that their child- 

 bearing is less painful. Over all India, the 



children arrive sooner at maturity, than with 

 us of Europe. They often marry and consum- 

 mate, the husband at ten years old, and the 

 wife at eight ; and they frequently have chil- 

 dren at that age. However, the women who 

 arc mothers so soon, cease bearing before they 

 are arrived at thirty ; and at that time they 

 appear wrinkled, and seem marked with all 

 the deformities of age. The Indians have 

 long been remarkable for their cowardice and 

 effeminacy ; every conqueror, that has at- 

 tempted the invasion of their country, having 

 succeeded. The warmth of the climate en- 

 tirely influences their manners ; they are 

 slothful, submissive, and luxurious; satisfied 

 with sensual happiness alone, they find no 

 pleasure in thinking ; and contented with sla- 

 very, they are ready to obey any master. 

 Many tribes among them eat nothing that has 

 life ; they are fearful of killing the meanest in- 

 sect ; and have even erected hospitals for the 

 maintenance of all kinds of vermin. The 

 Asiatic dress is a loose flowing garment, ra- 

 ther fitted for the purposes of peace and in- 

 dolence, than of industry or war. The vi- 

 gour of the Asiatics is, in general, conformable 

 to their dress and nourishment; fed upon rice, 

 and clothed in effeminate silk vestments, their 

 soldiers are unable to oppose the onset of an 

 European army ; and from the times of Alex- 

 ander to the present day, we have scarcely 

 any instances of their success in arms. Upon 

 the whole, therefore, they may be considered 

 as a feeble race of sensualists, too dull to find 

 rapture in any pleasures, and too indolent to 

 turn their gravity into wisdom. To this class 

 we may refer the Persians, and Arabians, and, 

 in general, the inhabitants of the islands that 

 lie scattered in the Indian ocean. 



The fourth striking variety in the human 

 species, is to be found among the negroes of 

 Africa. This gloomy race of mankind is found 

 to blacken all the southern parts of Africa, 

 from eighteen degrees north of the line, to its 

 extreme termination at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. I know it is said, that the Caff'res, 

 who inhabit the southern extremity of that 

 large continent, are not to be ranked among 

 the negro race : however, the difference be- 

 tween them, in point of colour and features, 

 is so small, that they may very easily be group- 

 ed in this general picture; and in the one or 

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