MAN. 



beautiful countenances, and finer figures, 

 than those of the Georgian women, can- 

 not even be imagined." 



Various reasons conspire ih inducing 

 us to place the first families of men in 

 this quarter ; and this race forms a me- 

 dium between the two following varieties. 

 An argument on this subject arises from 

 the white colour of the Caucasian race, 

 which we should be disposed to consider 

 as the primitive colour of men : since the 

 white easily degenerates into the darker 

 shades, while those, when once fixed, 

 hardly change at all. 



2. Mongolian variety. Olive colour ; 

 black, straight, strong,and spare hair; head 

 of a square form ; broad and flattened 

 face, with the features running together ; 

 the glabella (interval between the eye- 

 brows) flat and very broad ; nose small 

 and flat; rounded cheeks projecting ex- 

 ternally ; narrow and linear aperture of 

 the eyelids ; slight projection of the chin. 



This includes the rest of the Asiatics, 

 (excepting the Malays) ; the Finnish 

 races of the colder parts of Europe, as 

 the Laplanders, See. ; and the tribes of 

 Esquimaux, extending over the northern 

 parts of America, from Bhering's Strait to 

 the extremity of Greenland. 



The Mongolians, widely scattered over 

 the continent of Asia, have generally, but 

 erroneously, been included with some of 

 very different origin and formation, un- 

 der the name of Tartars ; whereas the 

 last-mentioned tribes, properly so called, 

 belong to the first division of the human 

 race. The Cal mucks, and other Mongo- 

 lian nations, which overran the Saracen 

 empire, under Zenghis Khan, about the 

 middle of the thirteenth century, and had 

 entered Europe, are described in the 

 " Historia Major" of Matthew Paris un- 

 der the name of Tartars, whereas that 

 name (or, as it should be spelled, Tatars) 

 properly belongs to the western Asiatics, 

 who had been vanquished by the Mon- 

 guls. The error, however, arising from 

 this source, has been propagated down 

 to the present day, so that in the works 

 of the most approved naturalists, as Buf- 

 fon and Erxleben, we find the characters 

 of the Mongolian race ascribed to what 

 they call the Tartars. 



The Tartars indeed are connected by 

 the Kirgises, and neighbouring tribes, to 

 the Monguls, in the same way as the lat- 

 ter are joined by the inhabitants of Thi- 

 bet to the Indians ; by the Esquimaux, 

 to the Americans ; and by the Philippine 

 islanders, with the Malays. 



3. Ethiopian variety. Black skin; black 

 and woolly hair ; head narrow, and com- 



pressed laterally; arched forehead; cheek- 

 bones standing forwards; prominent eyes; 

 thick nose, confused with the extended 

 jaw ; alveolar arch narrow, and elongated 

 anteriorly ; the upper front teeth project- 

 ing obliquely ; the lips, and particularly 

 the upper one, thick ; the chin receding; 

 knees turned in in many instances. The 

 remaining Africans, besides those classed 

 in the first variety, belong to this. 



Several of the observations in the pre- 

 ceding parts of this article she\v how ill- 

 founded is the opinion of those who con- 

 sider the Africans as a distinct species, 

 merely because his colour, a very striking 

 character, is so unlike our own. The ob- 

 servation, thai Negroes resemble mon- 

 keys more than those of the other varie- 

 ties, is true in the same sense as it might 

 be said, that the variety of the pig, which 

 has a solid hoof, resembles the horse 

 more nearly than other pigs ; but the 

 comparison itself is not a very important 

 one, since it has been made, even by ac- 

 curate observers, of several nations in the 

 other varieties ; as the Laplanders, Esqui- 

 maux, Caaiguas of South America, the in- 

 habitants of the island Mallicollo, &c. 



4. American variety. Red colour ; black, 

 straight, strong, and thin hair ; short fore- 

 head ; deep eyes ; nose somewhat flat- 

 tened, but prominent; a broad, but not 

 flattened face, with the cheeks standing 

 out, and the different features projecting 

 distinctly and separately ; the forehead 

 and vertex often deformed by art. This 

 variety includes all the Americans, with 

 the exception of the Esquimaux. 



Several idle tales have been propagated 

 concerning the distinguishing characters 

 of this race. Some have denied the ex- 

 istence of a beard in the male, and that 

 of the menstrual discharge in the female ; 

 and others have ascribed an uniform 

 colour and countenance to all the inhabi- 

 tants of this vast continent. The con- 

 curring testimonies of all accurate modern 

 travellers prove clearly that the Ameri- 

 cans have naturally beards ; that it is a 

 very general custom with them, as it has 

 been with several Mongolian and Malay 

 tribes, carefully to eradicate this excres- 

 cence ; but that various hordes in diffe- 

 rent parts of the continent preserve it as 

 other men do. From a cloud of unani- 

 mous reports on this subject \ve select 

 the following statement of the immortal 

 Cook, respecting the natives of Xootka 

 Sound. "Some have no beards ut :di, 

 and others only a thin one on the point 

 of the chin. This does not arise from an 

 original deficiency of hair in those parts, 

 but from their plucking it out by the 



