340 VARIETIES IN FIGURE, 



about the neck, but slender and thin in the limbs. You 

 hardly ever see corpulent persons among the common 

 people ; even tliose who are rich and of higher rank, living 

 in indolence and abundance, do not become immoderately 

 large ; while, on the contrary, numerous fat and unwieldy in- 

 dividuals are seen among the KIrgises, and other Tataric 

 pastoral tribes, who follow exactly the same mode of 

 life*." 



Blumenbach possesses the entire skeleton of a Don 

 Cossack, whose head, as exhibited in the fourth plate of his 

 first decade, is marked with the characters of the Mongo- 

 lian variety. The broad and flat face, the harsh muscular 

 impressions and irregular outlines of this skull, and the 

 construction of the skeleton in general, correspond to the 

 characters which this race bears for strength and hardi- 

 ness, and to the alarms which they generally create as 

 enemies. 



" Habitus in totum horridus. Orbitge maxime profundae 

 et latcE, sed valde depressae. Narium apertura late patula. 

 Limbus plani semicircularis ubi a processu orbitali externo 

 ossis frontis sursum vergit, in acutum quasi jugum abiens 

 anguli alarum maxillae inferioris fere monstrose extrorsum 

 tractae, et masseterum insertione valde inaequales et quasi 

 hispidi. Crassities ossis occipitalis prope protuberantias 

 enormis. Sed et textura ossium calvariae tam densa, ut hinc 

 illinc casu detritae marmoris durissimi aut iaspidis politi in 

 jnodum niteant. Hinc et pondus universi cranii ingens. 

 Verum et reliqui sceleti partes capitis horridae conformationi 

 respondent. Cylindrica v. c. ossa praeter mod urn crassa et 

 ponderosa. Pectoris os quatuor fere digitos transversos 

 latitudine aequans, et quae sunt hujus generis alia, rude 

 robur testantia." 



Mr. RoLLiN, the surgeon who sailed with La Perouse, 

 has given us the measurements of the Chinese whom he 

 saw at the Baie de Castries, on the east coast of China, 

 in about 52° N. lat. and 141° E. long.; and also those 



* Sav^mlungen Hist. Nach. uber die Mongol. Felkersch. 1 th. p. 98. 



