366 FABULOUS VARIETIES. 



tween the skin and muscles ; and that it equalled four 

 fingers breadth in thickness *. Cuvier f describes the pro- 

 tuberance to be produced by a mass of fat, traversed in vari- 

 ous directions by strong cellular threads, and easily removed 

 from the glutei. The Hottentot Venus stated that this deposi- 

 tion of fat does not take place till the first pregnancy ; and this 

 statement is confirmed by the testimony of Mr. Barrow J. 



It seems almost superfluous to add, that the sacrum and 

 OS coccygis have the same size, figure, and direction in 

 these as in other females ; that the latter bone is not turned 

 backwards, much less prolonged into any resemblance or 

 even approach to a tail. 



If the Negroes and Hottentots approximate in some 

 points to the structure of the monkey kind, as they very 

 certainly do, this particular of the elongated nymphas is ra- 

 ther an instance of the opposite description : for the corres- 

 ponding cutaneous folds are barely visible in the simiae. The 

 tremulous masses of fat, with which the glutei are loaded, 

 constitute^ on the contrary, according to Cuvier § , " a 

 striking resemblance to those which appear in the female 

 mandrills, baboons, &c. ; and which assume, at certain 

 epochs of their life, a truly monstrous developement.'' 



The most analogous animal structure, however, is that 

 of the sheep, of which such vast and numerous flocks are 

 reared by the pastoral tribes of Asia. In this variety a 

 large mass of fat covers the buttocks, occupying the place 

 of the tail ; the protuberance is smooth or naked below, 

 and appears when viewed behind as a double hemisphere, 

 the coccyx being just perceptible to the touch in the notch 

 between the two. It consists merely of fat ; and fluctuates 

 in walking, when very large, like the buttocks of the Hot- 

 tentots. The mass sometimes reaches the weight of thirty 

 or forty pounds. Pallas ||, who has described this breed 



* Barrow, lib. cit. p. 160. + Ibid. p. 269. 



t Ibid. p. 1 58. h Li^' "■'• P' 268. 



II Spicilegia Zoologica ; fascic. U. p. 63, et seq. 



There are breeds of sheep in Persia, Syria, Palestine, and some parts of 



