JAPETIC STOCK. 237 



when, issuing from their wilds, in successive hordes, and all alike termed 

 Tartars (a word of fearful sound), they overrun the civilized world, 

 which was almost ignorant of their existence, till called to meet them in 

 arms, or purchase their forbearance. To the confusion which the common 

 designation of Tartars has occasioned between nomadic tribes of distinct 

 lineage, and physical characters, there will be again occasion to allude. 



CAUCASIC BRANCH. Under the distinctive appellation of Caucasic is 

 alone included the race, so celebrated for form and beauty, which occupies 

 the Caucasian chain, between the Euxine and the Caspian Sea, and the 

 territories to the south-east, almost to the Euphrates. In the perfection 

 of their form, and the symmetrical and graceful proportions of the skull, 

 the Georgians, Circassians, and Mingrelians have ever been conspicuous ; 

 and it is from among the females of these people that the harems of the 

 Turks, the Persians, and the inhabitants of Cashmere, have been supplied 

 with wives and concubines ; and to this intermixture these nations owe 

 their physical excellences. 



" Le sang de Georgie (says Chardin) est le plus beau de 1'Orient, et, 

 je puis dire, du monde. Je n'ai pas remarque un visage laid en ce pays- 

 la, parmi Tun et 1'autre sexe, mais j'y en ai vu d'angeliques." 



The same observations apply to the Circassians. The face is oval ; 

 the eyes large and dark ; the eyebrows slender and arched ; the nose 

 straight ; the mouth small ; the hair long, black, and fine ; the com- 

 plexion, especially of the females, white and clear. 



SEMITIC BRANCH. Of the Semitic nations the Arabs, Hebrews, 

 Assyrians, Chaldeans, &c. the following are the characteristics : an oval 

 face, with a pointed chin, and elevated forehead, a slender aquiline nose, 

 large dark eyes, arched eyebrows, a well-formed mouth, and long black 

 hair, compose the marked and noble physiognomy of the Arabs : such 

 were, probably, the features of the Israelites of old ; but their inter- 

 marriages with the females of the nations and tribes they conquered, 

 and of which they often exterminated all the males, doubtless, tended 

 materially to alter their original physiognomy ; while, from an oppo- 

 site cause, namely, their national overthrow, and their captivity in 

 Babylon, their ancient language became obsolete, and that of their 

 conquerors adopted. The early history of the Israelites presents us 

 with a nomadic race of shepherds ; and it does not appear that their 

 original habits were abandoned during the first period of their sojourn 

 in Egypt, until the establishment of a new dynasty, when they were 

 treated as slaves, and forced, by the power of a jealous Pharaoh, to 

 labour for the state, or for his pleasure. After their escape from Egypt, 

 they necessarily became predatory and warlike, wandering in the midst 

 of hostile tribes, by whom they were beset on every side, until their 

 establishment in Jerusalem and other cities of Judea, and their inter- 



