26 MAN 



No profitable purpose connected with our immediate 

 task would be served by endeavouring to trace the exact 

 manner in which mankind, descended from a common 

 parent, has spread itself over every portion of the globe 

 and ramified into a thousand tongues and nations. The 

 very distribution of man is but one more convincing proof 

 of his superiority over the beasts of the field. The inferior 

 animals, notwithstanding, in many cases, marked powers 

 of locomotion, are constrained to occupy particular regions 

 owing to their physical structure, their covering, and the 

 limitations of their natural diet. Man is not restricted to 

 any particular environment, since he can clothe himself in 

 accordance with varying temperatures, and he can find 

 food of some kind wherever he may take up his abode. 

 Thus in mountain and valley, forest and desert, anywhere 

 between the burning regions of the Torrid zone, and the 

 ice-girt shores of the Polar seas, we find man modifying 

 his food according to the locality. Upon the heated 

 plains of India he thrives upon rice, the plantain, and 

 the palm ; on the frozen snows of Greenland he feasts 

 upon the raw flesh and blubber of the seal and between 

 these points there are innumerable grades and distinctions 

 in habits, manners, and fo,od, in civilisation and moral 

 qualities. 



Notwithstanding the number of tribes into which 

 humanity is divided, presenting distinct differences in 

 stature, tint and feature, the few great races of mankind 

 possess their own special and unmistakable characteristics. 



The population of the entire globe is approximately 

 1,700,000,000 and consists of three main types, the Caucasian, 

 the Negro, and the Mongolian. 



The Caucasian, Indo-European, or White family includes 

 nearly the whole of the people of Europe, Arabia, Persia, 

 Afghanistan, and Hindostan ; the Jews, wherever they are 

 found ; and some of the inhabitants of Northern Africa. 

 The chief characteristics are a white or fair skin, which is 

 naturally swarthy in the warmer regions, a large skull, an 

 expanded forehead, an oval face, and long wavy hair. That 

 the Hindoo should be classed with the Briton may appear 

 strange upon the face of it ; but though he varies in colour 



