342 Essays. 
of the northern tribes) were wholly without hair on the face; no doubt 
mainly owing to their continual and early attempts to eradicate it. In age 
the hair became grey, yet not commonly thin, and sometimes, though rarely, 
quite white. Hair on the thorax or shoulders, as in some Europeans, was 
wholly unknown. 
5. Their frame being strongly built, and constitution good, they were 
naturally long lived, and generally retained their hair, and their teeth sound 
and white to the last; baldness being very rare among them. The old natives 
have always and everywhere affirmed that formerly they lived to a very 
advanced age, and commonly only died gradually through old age. The 
writer is quite inclined to believe this, from the numbers of wiry, lithe, and 
active aged men and women he has seen among them; as well as from the 
testimony of Captain Cook. 
6. Their sensorial faculties were particularly good—far more so than 
those of Europeans—no doubt quickened both through their absolute need 
and constant use. The senses of seeing, hearing, and feeling were pre- 
eminently vigorous and acute, insomuch that the writer has been often 
astonished at the quiet displays he has witnessed. To define an object plainly 
a long way off among the fern or shrubs; to distinguish clearly a far-off and 
indistinct sound among many others; to know certainly, by the feel of the 
foot, that the dense moss in the traekless mountain forests had been before 
trodden by man (an accomplishment which took the writer many years to 
learn), were common things to them; though the last, in its perfection, was 
confined to the natives inhabiting the mountains. Their senses also of smell 
and of taste were peculiar, as well as keen, and, though blunt and rude, were 
plain and unsophisticated. 
7. They early arrived at the age of puberty, from twelve or even eleven 
years upwards; they did not, however, cease growing until eighteen or 
nineteen years. A few females have been mothers at the age of thirteen, 
but such cases were rare. Large families were by no means uncommon; 
ry many women have each borne more than ten or even twelve children, 
RAE. they seldom reared them all. Of course the strongest lived ; which 
was a very good kind of natural selection, no doubt highly beneficial to the 
race. The act of giving birth, with them, was easy, and mostly a very 
common matter; sometimes women delivered themselves alone, and having 
done what was necessary for themselves and infant, returned to their usual 
occupations. They commonly suckled their children until they were two 
years old, and sometimes much older. Instances are known of married 
women having given birth to children when nearly forty years of age, and 
` „often after several years of cessation. Twins were not uncommon, though 
E Here birib wm tiu Formerly it was almost unknown for mothers to 
