THE HUMAN SPECIES. 205 



and all the fair-haired natives of the north-west of Europe, are 

 of greatest height, since the standard size for the military- 

 service is above that of any other people in Europe. Northern 

 Chinese, or Highland Tahtars, we have been informed by a 

 general officer who served in the late war, were found to be 

 fully equal, in stature and bulk, to our stoutest grenadiers; but 

 we have since learned, from another officer, that when these 

 men appeared on the field, they were found to be Miao-tze, — 

 that is, a people of Caucasian or Caucaso-Malay origin. 



Elasticity of frame is, however, a quality very distinct from 

 weight and strength. The Caucasian of Europe is trained to 

 harder manual work than other races; but it may be doubted 

 whether he could ride continuously, like the Turkish Talitar 

 messengers, or Persian Chuppers ; or whether he could sustain 

 the fatigue of such unceasing marches as the aboriginal Ameri- 

 can warriors perform, or run on foot with the speed of Bechuana 

 Hottentots, or even compete with New Hollanders, the most 

 slender-limbed race on earth. When, therefore, comparative 

 trials of strength are made with other nations, the selection of 

 the modes should not be more than one half in favor of those 

 which Europeans are most inured to. Captain Cook found his 

 seamen unequal to a boxing contest with Hapaceans. There 

 have been Negroes able to dispute the sparring championship 

 of the English fancy ring; and beside the porters of Constanti- 

 nople and Smyrna, celebrated for prodigious strength of loins, 

 there are Pehlwans, professed wrestlers, in middle Asia, whose 

 physical powers are certainly equal to any Europe can produce. 

 It is not by comparing French or British seamen, as Peron did, 

 with natives of Van Diemen's Land, New Hollanders, or 

 Timorians of torrid regions, — all notoriously of small bone 

 and light weight, — that a true estimate can be obtained of the 



easily found Englishmen of six feet and more in height, and Negroes 

 below that standard j but had he visited tropical market-places, and com- 

 pared the stature of our planters and sailors by that of the Negroes, he 

 would most likely have found the white men the smallest. 



IS 



