50 MAMMALIA — MAN. 



of small-sized men, whose figure is uncouth, and whose physiognomy is as 

 wild as their manners are unpolished. Though they seem to be of a degen- 

 erate species, they yet are numerous, and the countries they occupy are 

 extensive. 



The Laplanders, the Danes, the Swedes, the Muscovites, the inhabitants 

 of Nova Zembla, the Samoyedes, the Ostiacs of the old continent, the Green- 

 landers, and the savages to the north of the Esquimaux Indians of the new 

 continent, appear to be of one common race, which has been extended and 

 multiplied along the coasts of the northern seas, and over deserts considered 

 as uninhabitable by every other nation. In these countries, the visage is 

 large and broad, the nose is flat and short, the eyes are of a yellowish brown 

 inclining to black, the eyelids are drawn towards the temples, the cheek 

 bones are extremely prominent, the mouth is very large, the lower part of 

 the countenance is very narrow, the lips are thick and turned outward, the 

 voice is shrill, the head is bulky, the hair is black and straight, and the skin 

 is tawny. The Laplanders are small in stature, and, though meagre, they 

 are yet of a squat form. In general, their size is about four feet, nor do 

 the tallest exceed four feet and a half; and among these people, if there 

 is any difference to be found, it depends on the greater or less degree of 

 deformity. 



In winter the Laplanders clothe themselves with the skin of the rein-deer, 

 and in summer with the skins of birds. To the use of linen they are utter 

 strangers. The women of Nova Zembla have their nose and their ears 

 pierced, in order to have them ornamented with pendants of blue stone ; 

 and, as an additional lustre to their charms, they also form blue streaks 

 upon their forehead and chin. Those of Greenland dress themselves with 

 the skin of the dog-fish : they also paint the visage with blue and yellow 

 colors, and wear pendants in the ears. They all live under ground, or in 

 huts almost entirely covered with earth, and with the bark of certain trees, 

 or the skins of certain fishes ; and some form subterranean trenches, by which 

 one hut communicates with another, and by which, during the winter 

 months, they enjoy the conversation and society of their neighbors. A con- 

 tinued darkness for several months, obliges them to illuminate their dreary 

 abode with lamps, which they keep alive with that very train oil they 

 use as drink. Under all these hardships they are subject to few diseases, 

 and live to a prodigious age. So vigorous indeed are the old men, that they 

 are hardly to be distinguished from the young. The only infirmity they 

 experience, and it is an infirmity common to them all, is that of blindness. 

 Dazzled as they perpetually are, by the strong reflection of the snoAV in 

 winter, and enveloped in clouds of smoke in autumn and spring, rarely, 

 when advanced in years, are they still found to retain the use of their eyes. 



The Tartar country, taken in general, comprehends the greatest part of 

 Asia, and in fact extends from Russia to Kamtschatka. All the Tartar 

 nations have th.e upper part of the visage very large and wrinkled, even 



