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272 



U E M A R K S ON THE 



CAUSES tive inliabitants of that part of the world, it appears, that exclufive 



OF VARI- 

 ETIES of the way of living atid food, the climate alone cannot occafion 



this material and ftriking variety ; nay, that even thefe caufes, when 



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united, are not fufficient to produce this tffcO:, as fome of the very 



1 



remote Dutch farmers live almofl in the fame manner as their 

 neighbours the Hottentots j they have wretched huts, inflead of 

 houfes ; lead a rambling nomadic life, attend their herds and flocks 

 all day long, and live upon milk, the produce of the chace, and the 

 efh of their cattle ; it is therefore evident, that if climate can 

 work any material alteration, it muft require an immenfe period of 

 time to produce it -, and as our lives are fo fhort, our hiftorical ac- 

 counts fo imperfedl, in regard to the migrations of the human 

 fpecies, and our philofophical obfervations on the fubjed, all of a 

 very modern date, it cannot be expeded we can fpeak with preci- 



fion on the fubjed. 



It muil however be obferved, that when the fair Northern na- 



w 



tions are removed into the hot tropical climates, they themfelves 

 and their progeny foon change, and gradually become fomewhat 

 more analogous in colour, and other circumftances, to the former 



r 



inhabitants, whofe migration is of fo old a date, that no memo- 

 rial of it is prefented ; iHll, however, they may be ealily diftin- 

 guifhed from thefe aboriginal tribes : it is likewife true, that na- 



tions removed from the vicinity of the line towards the poles, keep 



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their 



