122 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



Beechey. 1 With regard to the Malays and Polynesians we hear 

 of the Macassars, that they can perform journeys of forty to 

 fifty miles per day with heavy burdens. 2 Labillardiere 3 states 

 that the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands (Tonga Archi- 

 pelago) were inferior to the French sailors in wrestling, but 

 Cook found the Tonga Islanders in boxing and wrestling 

 superior to his crew. 4 Wilkes 5 relates cases of a Tonga 

 Islander who swam about in the sea from noon till the next 

 morning, and of a woman from the Sandwich Islands who re- 

 mained in the water for thirty hours. Cheever 6 relates similar 

 cases. The great physical power of the Sandwich chiefs is 

 frequently mentioned by Jarves. 7 



It has been asserted that the mean duration of life is longest 

 in the temperate zone, and diminishes on approaching the 

 tropics. As we have no statistical accounts of uncivilized 

 nations we must rest satisfied with some stray notices, from 

 which it would appear that there exists no peculiarity of race in 

 this respect. The mean duration of life may be shorter among 

 the Australians than among Europeans, in consequence of 

 privation, but still they reach frequently seventy years and up- 

 wards. 8 It has been frequently denied that the American 

 Indians arrive at a very advanced age, but it is now admitted, 

 as proved by many instances. 9 Amerigo Vespucci relates in a 

 letter in Bartolozzi, 10 that he had seen a family consisting of son, 

 father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grand- 

 father. Leri says of the natives of Brazils (Tupinambas, 

 Tamoyos), that they are subject to fewer diseases than the 

 Europeans, and reached an age from 100 120 years, and 

 Pigafetta 11 asserts that they reach 140 years. Prince Max 12 



1 " Narr. of voy. to the Pacific/' p. 553, 1831. 



2 " Eel. de la oaptivite du Cap. Woodard dans Tile de Celebes," p. 147, 1805. 



3 Chap, ii, p. 176. 



4 Mariner, " Tonga islands," ii, p. 314, 1818. 



5 " Narrat. of the TJ. S. exped.," iii, p. 31 ; and iv, p. 45, 1845. 



6 "Life in the Sandwich islands," p. 123, 1851. 



7 " Hist, of the Sandwich islands," p. 77, 1843. 



8 Grey, " Journals of two exped. in Austr.," ii, p. 247, 1841. 



9 Burmeister, loc. cit., p. 250, 1853. 



10 " Eicerche storiche sulle scoperte d'Am. Vesp." 



n Premier voy. autour du in.," an. ix, p. 16, Paris. 

 12 " E. nach Brasil," ii, p. 107. 



