SECT. I.] CLIMATE. . .45 



Hindoos in the cold mountainous regions,, especially in the Hi- 

 malayas, are white and have frequently blue eyes, the beard and 

 hair of the head are sometimes curly, brown, or red. The 

 Siah-Posh, or Kaffirs of Hindukuh, who speak a language 

 allied to the Sanskrit, are of European whiteness ; the inhabi- 

 tants of Cashmir are brown. 1 The Hindustani are tall, vigorous, 

 warlike, light coloured ; the Bengalese in their damp and mild 

 climate, short, weakly, timid, and black. 2 Those who consider 

 the colour of the skin as permanent, must attribute it, in regard 

 to the Hindoos, to intermixture with the dark aboriginal inhabi- 

 tants of India. 3 The institution of castes may, perhaps, support 

 this explanation. A remarkably striking contrast is exhibited 

 by the fine vigorous Tudas in the high healthy parts, in com- 

 parison with the miserable Curumbars, inhabiting the un- 

 healthy lowlands. If the Abyssinian, whose olive coloured 

 skin becomes usually lighter during the rainy period, approach- 

 ing that of the European, descend from the highlands into the 

 valleys, he becomes of a dark brown. Analogous changes are 

 observed in the hair and wool of animals. 4 The inhabitants 

 of Enarea in the low and marshy parts are perfectly black, and 

 have the features and the woolly hair of Negroes, whilst those 

 of the mountainous parts of Enarea and Kaffa are not even so 

 dark as the Neapolitans ; 5 and .though this may, according to 

 Combes et Tamisier, 6 be going too far, there still exists an im- 

 portant difference. The natives on the banks of the Zambesi are 

 very dark and negro-like, but the colour of the mountaineers is 

 like that of coffee and milk mixed. In harmony with these facts 

 is the remarkable circumstance that the proper and well-marked 

 Negro type is only found in hot low countries, whilst the in- 

 habitants of highlands mostly deviate from it, and are both 

 physically and intellectually superior. Hombron (p. 282) en- 

 deavours to prove that the Polynesians become in unhealthy 



1 Elphinstone, Alex. Burnes, Prichard, iv, pp. 91, 209. 



2 " Lassen Ind. Alterthumsk.," i, p. 404. 



3 Hombron, " Zoologie. zu D. d'Urville Voy. au Pole Sud," 164. Omaluis 

 d'Halloy. 



4 Lefebvre, " Voy. en Abyss.," iii, p. 299, 1845. 

 * Bruce, " Quellen des Nils," ii, p. 309, 1790. 



6 " Voy. en Abyssinie," iv, p. 285, 1838. 



