118 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



dynamometer no more physical strength than an Ojibbeway 

 chief. 1 We should also require, observes Hamilton Smith/ ex- 

 periments to be performed in running, spear-throwing, etc., to 

 form a judgment on the proportion of bodily strength in 

 different nations. 



We should also examine the power of endurance, as well as 

 the amount of individual momentary performances. The ma- 

 terials at hand are not sufficient to come to any conclusion in 

 this respect ; still it is not without interest to state some of the 

 more important results obtained. 



Per on 3 found that the natives of Van Diemen's Land excelled 

 the Europeans in running. This frequently occurs among 

 savages, since their safety and subsistence in war and the chase 

 often depends on their fleetness. The American deer in the 

 open prairie is sometimes caught by the Indians, which how- 

 ever is rarely the case with the Moose deer and the Bison. 4 

 Similar fleetness is ascribed to the Lapps and Tunguses. T. E. 

 Alexander 5 speaks of two Namaquas, father and son, who, 

 armed merely with a knife, gave chase to zebras, and outran 

 them. And Moffat 6 asserts that among the Barolongs there 

 are some who on foot can keep up with the giraffe. Hottentot 

 Kaffirs and Bechuanas are less muscular than the English and 

 the Dutch colonists at the Cape, but possess greater endurance. 7 

 The short thin Hottentot excels, according to Alberti, 8 the 

 Kaffirs in lifting weights, and even a White colonist at the 

 Cape, celebrated for his strength, was not equal to the Kaffirs 

 in running and throwing spears, manifestly the consequence 

 of more or less practice, and independent of peculiarity of race. 



Peron has collected many instances to prove the physical 

 weakness of the native Americans. On closely examining them 

 it will be found that they chiefly rest upon the rapid decay of 







1 Quetelet, loc. cit., p. 155. 



2 " Natural hist, of the human species," p. 165, Edinburgh, 1848. 



3 Loc. cit., ii, p. 85. 



4 J. Tanner, " Memoires trad. p. Blosseville/' i, p. 201, 1835. 



5 " Exped. of discov. into the Interior of Air.," ii, p. 261, 1838. 



6 " Miss, labours in S. Afr.," p. 260, 1842. 



7 Hoodie, " Ten years in S. Afr.," i, p. 43, 1835 ; Burchell, ii, p. 439. 



8 "Descr. des Caffres," Amst., 1811. 



