BOOK II. Lxxix. 188-LXXX. 190 



that between two sunsets, the Umbvians from middaj 

 to midday, the common people everywhere from 

 dawn to dark, the Roman priests and the authorities 

 who fixed the official day, and also the Egyptians 

 and Hipparchus, the period from midnight to mid- 

 night. But it is obvious that the breaks in dayhght 

 between sunset and sunrise are smaller near the 

 solstice " than at the equinoxes, because the 

 position of the zodiac is more slanting around its 

 middle points but straighter near the solstice. 



LXXX. We must deal next with the results cujmtea 

 connected \vith these heavenly causes. For it is '"f^''^,^ 



1 1 -ni 1 • • 1 1 characler- 



beyond question that the Ijthiopians are burnt by wtiM. 

 the heat of the heavenly body near them, and are 

 born with a scorched appearance, with curly beard 

 and hair, and that in the opposite region of the world 

 the races have white frosty skins, with yellow hair 

 that hangs straight ; while the latter are fierce 

 owing to the rigidity of their cHmate but the former 

 wise because of the mobihty of theirs ; and their 

 legs ^ themselves prove that with the former the juice 

 is called away into the upper portions of the body 

 by the nature of heat, while with the latter it is 

 driven down to the lower parts by falling moisture; 

 in the latter country dangerous wild beasts are 

 found, in the former a great variety of animals and 

 especially of birds ; but in both regions men's stature 

 is high, owing in the former to the pressure of the 

 fires and in the latter to the nourishing effect of the 

 damp ; whereas in the middle of the earth, owing to 

 a healthy blending of both elements, there are tracts 

 that are fertile for all sorts of produce, and men ire 

 of medium bodily staturc, with a marked blending 

 even in the matter of complexion ; customs are 



321 



