244 N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y of N R WAT. 



nations ; and a dark complexion is as rare here as a fair com- 

 plexion in France or Italy. We fee that the cold changes, hares, 

 partridges, and rnofr. of the Norwegian animals, from a dark or 

 brown colour, to the fineft. white. We have the following ob- 

 fervations concerning the fair complexion of the Norwegians, in 

 the Hamburg Magazine, torn. I. p. 48. " Farther from the 

 aequator the black colour of the inhabitants is gradually loft ; 

 they are ftill pretty brown above the tropics \ but we meet with 

 none that are entirely white till we have gone a great way into 

 the temperate zone, and at the extremities of thefe zones we find 

 the faireft complexions. The blonde, or flaxen complexion of 

 the Danifh women, fbikes the eye of the admiring traveller, and 

 he can fcarcely believe that the female he now beholds, and the 

 African he lately caft his eyes upon,, are of the fame fex. 



Car. Linnaeus, in his Fauna Suecica, obierves, that the nor- 

 thern people have generally light grey, or blue eyes, as well as 

 light-coloured hair, page t. " Gothi corpore proceriore, capillis 

 albidis rectis, oculorum iridibus cinereo-casrulefcentibus." But in 

 the mean time, tho' John Ifaac Pontanus, in his HifL Dan. pag. 

 777, makes it common to all the people that live north of the 

 Baltick, we may fay, that there is no rule fo general as to be with- 

 out an exception ; and therefore it is only to be underftood with 

 fame limitations, which Pontanus mufl mean : but if it implies 

 all the nations north of the Baltick, then he mufl: have forgot, 

 that north of the Swedes and Norwegians, there is the Lapland 

 nation, which differs greatly from them in manners, cuftoms, 

 and language. They are of a lefs feature, have a flatter vifage, 

 and, in particular, a dark brown complexion and black hair. 

 This fhewsj that where the temperate zone terminates, and the 

 frigid commences, there the inhabitants lofe their fair complexion, 

 and grow darker, as exceflive heat darkens the fkin, and gives the 

 inhabitants of the torrid zone a tawny complexion. Hence we 

 fee, that two oppoflte caufes, namely, extreme cold, and ex- 

 ceflive heat* in this refped: produce the fame effect *. 



*Lorfque lefroid devient extreme, il produit quelques effects fern blables a ceux de 

 la chaleur exceflive. Les. Samoyedes, les Lappons, les Groenlandois, font fort ba- 

 fanez. On affure meme, comme nous l'avons dit, tju'il fe trouvq, parmi les Groen^ 

 iandois, des hommes auffi noirs que ceux de l'Afrique. Le froid comme le chaud, 

 doit defjecher la peau, l'alterer, & luy donner cette couleur bafanee. BuiFon. hift. 

 natur. torn. iii. p, 527. 



3 the 



