410 HISTORY OF 



north are almost entirely black. In this manner both extremes 

 are unfavonrable to the human form and colour, and the same 

 effects are produced under the poles that are found at the line. 

 With regard to the stature of different countries, that seems 

 chiefly to result from the nature of the food, and the quantity 

 of the supply. Not but that the severity of heat or cold, may, 

 in some measure, diminish the growth, and produce a dwarfish- 

 ness of make. But, in general, the food is the great agent in 

 producing this effect ; where that is supplied in large quantities, 

 and where its quality is wholesome and nutrimental, the in- 

 habitants are generally seen above the ordinary stature. On the 

 contrary, where it is afforded in a sparing quantity, or very 

 coarse, and void of nourishment in its kind, the inhabitants de- 

 generate, and sink below the ordinary size of mankind. In this 

 respect they resemble other animals, whose bodies, by proper 

 feeding, may be greatly augmented. An ox, on the fertile plains 

 of India, grows to a size four times as large as the diminutive 

 animal of the same kind bred in the Alps. The horses bred in 

 the plains are larger than those of the mountain. So it is with 

 man ; the inhabitants of the valley are usually found taller than 

 those of the hill : the natives of the Highlands of Scotland, for 

 instance, are short, broad, and hardy ; those of the Lowlands are 

 tall and shapely. The inhabitants of Greenland, who live upon 

 dried fish and seals, are less than those of Gambia, or Senegal, 

 where nature supplies them with vegetable and animal abun- 

 dance.* 



* In Europe the human stature varies from four feet and a half to six feet. 

 Individuals of six feet and some inches are not uncommon. In various parts 

 of the world, men have reached to the height of seven, eight, or nine feet; 

 beyond this, the accounts seem fabulous : the large bones on whicli such 

 stories have been founded, modern science has ascertained to belong to other 

 animals. Among individual instances of diminutiveness in the human species, 

 authentic accounts go as low as twenty-one inches. In the Caucasian va- 

 riety there are no strongly marked national deviations from the ordinary sta- 

 ture. In some parts of Switzerland and Sweden, the natives are rather dis. 

 tingiiished for height. The Finlanders are rather short. The Latin writers 

 have remarked the stature of the ancient Germans ; it is probable that they 

 did not exceed the modern Germans in this particular. The Americana ex. 

 hibit greater varifties in stature than the Europeans. The Peruvians are 

 generally low, but well proportioned. The people Of Terra del Fuego are 

 small and ugly ; so are the tribes of Nookta Sound. The Chaymas of SoaUi 

 America are short, while the Payaguas, the Guayquilits, and the Caribeea 

 are almost gigantic. Many of the Canadian tribes are very tall. The ao. 



