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 Lapnanvers, 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 
.s 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 réin-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 streals 
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 aliye 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. ” 
Dazzied as they perpetually are, by the strong reflection of the snow 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 kave the upper part of the visage very large and wrinkled, even 
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