MG VARIETIES OF FIGURE. 



themselves ; and the inability of the former to sustain the 

 severe labour of the mines, led to the introduction of Afri- 

 can slaves, one of whom was equal to three or four Indi- 

 ans *. In engagements between troop and troop, or man 

 and man, the Virginians and Kentuckians have always shewn 

 themselves stronger than the American savages f. Hearne, 

 Mackenzie, Perouse, Lewis, Clarke, and others, have 

 found the same inferiority of physical force in various parts 

 of the North American continent. 



The testimony of Pallas respecting the Mongolian tribe 

 of the Burats is very remarkable : " Their appearance is 

 generally effeminate ; and they are mostly so small in stature 

 and weak, that five or six Burats are often unable to effect 

 what a single Russian can accomplish. This want of power 

 is not the only circumstance which proves, in the Burats 

 and other Siberian nomadic people, that a mere animal diet 

 is unnatural, and incapable of maintaining in perfection 

 the physical prerogatives of our species. The body in 

 all these people is remarkably light in comparison to its 

 size. You can raise and hold up the children with one 

 hand, when those of the Russian boors of the same age 

 could only be lifted with both hands. Even adult Burats, 

 compared to the Russians, are astonishingly light ; so that 

 the horses, which are not indeed powerful, when tired 

 by a Russian rider, recover themselves if a Burat takes 

 his place |. 



In order to procure some exact comparative results on 

 this point, Peron took with him on his voyage an instru- 

 ment called a dynamometre, so constructed, as to indicate, 

 on a dial-plate, the relative force of individuals submitted 

 to experiment. He directed his attention to the strength 

 of the arms and of the loins, making trial with several indi- 

 viduals of each kind, viz. twelve natives of Van Dieman*s 



* IIerrera, Dec. 1. lib. ix, cap. 5. 



+ VoLNEY, Tableau des Etats-unis ; i. i. p. 447. 



X Sammlungcu Ilistor. Nac/iricht,p. 171-2. 



