THE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MAN. 
119 
Those of the jEga:an Archipelago are very white, lively, and agreeable ; 
like all Greeks, their eyes are very large and of great beauty. 
But the most enchanting models formed by the hand of Nature are 
allowed to be the Circassians, the Cashrneriaus, the Georgians, the Min- 
grolians, and in general all those from Gnrgi.stan, Iinerita, and the 
neighbourhood of the Caucasian chain of mountains. All travellers agree 
upon this point ; and the beauties of these nations being largely exported 
for slaves, are exclusively reserved, by the laws of Mahomedau countries, 
for the Faithful alone, while .lew.s and Christians are not permitted to pur- 
chase them in the markets of the Turkish empire. According to the 
most recent observations, the Lesghian women surpass all the others in 
beauty. Their manners are not, however, the most unobjectionable. In 
the regions inhaliited by this beautiful race, scarcely an ugly countenance 
can be seen in either sex. Constancy is there as rarely to be found among 
the women as jealousy .unong the men. It is a remarkable fact, that this 
handsome race is immediately surrounded by the ugliest inhabitants of 
the earth, the hideous Calmucksand Nogais Tartars, with flat noses, high 
cheek-bones, their eyes far apart, their skins deeply son-burnt, and of 
a dark brown colour. Yet the climate, the soil, the habits and mode of 
life in both, are the same ; but the races are very difll^rent. The Calmnck 
women are not less frightful than their Inisbands. Imagine a mouth al- 
most reaching to the ears j a skin of the colour of soot ; oblique eyes, not 
very dissimilar to those of a goat ; a nose so flat that the holes of the nos- 
trils are alone visihlo ; the lips and cheeks projecting and elevated; the 
hair stiff, black, and coarse as a horse’s mane ; a small stature and meagre 
limbs ; flaccid manimso hanging down like sacks of tanned leather, sur- 
mounted with a jot black ni|)ple, — and we have the picture of a Calmnck 
beauty. The young Circassian female is a conqilete contrast in every 
particular. Witli a skin of the utmost delicacy and whiteness, she pos- 
sesses fair and flowing tresses, blue eyes, a gently-swelling bosom, a slen- 
der and flexible figure, — qualities which are combined with a lightness of 
step, a softness of voice, and an expression of the eye, which rcinlers her 
the most charming of women, in respect at least to her external form. 
We must not, however, expect to find in her either the polished educa- 
tion, or that propriety of conduct w liich belongs exclusively to the most 
civilized nations. It is indeed chiefly from intermarrying with the females 
of Cashmere, Circassia, and other nations inhabiting the ancient Colchis, 
that the higher classes among the Persians are more handsome than the 
lower. The descendants of the ancient Guebres, or Parsecs, of tlie sect 
of Zoroaster, who were forbidden, like the Jews, to marry out of their own 
caste, still continue brown and very ugly. 
The exprtsssive physiognomy and brilliant complexions of the English 
ladies are admired by foreigners. The general elegance of the bti.st, pro- 
bably derived from their Norman ancestors, finds an exact counterpart 
at the present day' in Belgium, Normandy, and Switzerland. Their hair 
and eyes are most commonly light, sometimes the former is even red, 
especially towards the northern p.art of the island. In Scotland, the 
bones of the cheeks and ancles appear rather too prominently, and the 
fieneral complexion is paler, aiiproaching more nearly to that of the 
Lutch ladies. Tlie latter arc remarkable for an excessive embonpoint. 
Among the Germans, the Saxon ladies bear the palm of heauty. Scarce- 
ly an ugly face can be seen in the territory of Hildesheim, and the charm- 
'»g complexions of its inhabitants have given rise to the German proverb, 
that “ q’he pretty women spring from the earth like flowers.” Although 
tbo Austrian ladies are not in general ugly, the Hungarians far exceed 
tbcm in beauty ; but among all the German nations, a tendency towards 
^^nhonpoint is rather common. 
file Poli.sh women are said to possess all the whiteness, as well as the 
coldness, of their native snows. This observation must, however, he con- 
sidered as rather hyperboliciil, for nearly all the fem.ales of Sclavonian 
Origin are lively and ardent, though doubtless their countenances want 
citpression. The Russian ladies were recently in the habit of daubing 
Iheir faces with a thick paint, while the abuse of the vapour-bath soon 
deprived them of their attractions. Their forms are masculine, and like 
tnost Sclavonian women, their dispositions arc energetic and passionate. 
he Albanian females are more agreeable than the Morlachians. The skins 
of the latter are very much sun-burnt, while long, pendant mamma;, sur- 
'•'ounted by black nipples, are often exhibited to the traveller’s eye. In 
^he extreme North of Europe, in Denmark, and Sweden, the women are 
® iiiost always of a pale blonde, with blue eyes, and complexions often 
ading into a deadly whiteness. They usually have very large families, 
especially on the borders of the Baltic Sea. 
I he most beautiful French women are found tow'ards Avignon," Mar- 
seilles, and the ancient Provence, which was formerly peojiled by a Greek 
Colony ol Phneians. Further to the north, the Cauchoises, the Picardes, 
*'od the Belgians, are the prettiest, their skins being of a dazzling whitc- 
Ooss. There is, however, less elegance in their motions, as well as deli- 
C‘‘cy in their forms. The Parisian ladies are more distinguished for the 
finished elegance of their manners than for beauty. In Brittany, the 
ccient Armorica, the women are generally too thick in the limbs. The 
prettiest Portuguese ladies have rather long necks ; those of the Castilians 
arc excessively short. The more attractive beauties of Italy are found in 
Tuscany, about Florence, Sienna, or even Venice; but in Lombardy and 
the neighbourhood of the Alps, their forms, being more voluminous and 
massive, are less attractive. 
In those regions of Asia situate on this side of the Ganges, and peo- 
pled, like Euro[)e, by the same white race, we still observe some beauti- 
ful features in the females. The Persian women, born under a fertile and 
temperate climate, are generally very agreeable. The women of Turkey 
are pretty, for the moat part. “ Even among the lower classes in the 
East, every woman,” says Belon, “ has afresh and blooming countenance, 
with a white skin as soft as velvet," probably owing to the fretpient use 
of the hot-bath. They destroy the hair on every |)art, excepting the eye- 
brows and head, with the Ihwna, a depilatory' substance madeoflime and or- 
piment ; while they tinge their nails and fingers red with Henna (^Lawsonia 
inermk, Linn.') From the excessive inactivity of their harems, their coun- 
tenances acquire, according to the Turkish expression, the roundness of 
the full moon. An unusual rotundity of form is hero considered as the 
highest beauty; so that, according to Volney, beauty is estimated by the 
quintal. As in Egypt, their mamma; arc of enormous size. Yet nothing 
can be more monotonous than the physiognomy of all Turkish women, 
owing to their faces being always covered. Indeed, so much are they' at- 
tached to this practice, that some of the poorer women, who can afford 
only a partial clothing, prefer exposing any part of their body rather than 
the face. Their countenances thence become wholly destitute of every 
expression. 
The Arab women, although tolerably agreeable in their extreme youth, 
and remarkable at all times for large black and brilliant eyes, which their 
poets compare to those of the Gazelle, disfigure themselves by passing a 
large ring through the cartilage of the nostril ; also by designs engraved 
upon the skin with the point of a needle, and dyed of various colours. 
The Hindoo women place a similar ring in the left nostril. The heat of 
the sun dries up and browns the Bedouin and Hindoo females. '1 hey 
sometimes paint the forehead and cheeks blue, and the nails alway's red. 
Nearly the same observations are applicable to the Moorish and Ber- 
ber women of the white races ; their features arc considered tolerably re- 
gular. Those who never leave the harems and towns preserve a very 
white appearance, according to Bruce and Poiret. They are even etio- 
lated or blanched like plants which vegetate in obscur.ty. 
In Malabar, Bengal, Lidiore, Benares, all Iliiuloostan, and Mongolia, 
the women seem agreeable in general, but small, yellow, and slender; 
])artly from the heat of the climate, which enervates them, and partly 
from marrying excessively young, at ten or twelve years of age, before 
their constitutions can be completely formed. 'I’ho continual transpiration 
which they experience from the surface of the skin renders its appearance 
always fresh, and this is increiused by the use of perfumed oil of cocoa. 
The latter is also copiously ajrplied to the hair ; and they make freiptent 
application of some depilatory substance. It is stated that the jaws of 
the women of Malabar are very narrow, that their legs are long in pro- 
portion to the body, and their ears phaced very high. All the women of 
the East, according to many travellers, have the pelvis very broad, a de- 
fect which the Armenian and Jewish dealers in female beauty endeavour 
to remedy by tight bandages. 
The females of the White races, according to the notions prevalent in 
our climates, engross the whole beauty of the sex. We must, however, 
add a few words regarding tlie Yellow and Black beauties, — such, at least, 
as they appear in the eyes of those who have learned by habit to get rid 
of the prejudices of colour. 
In Asia, the yellow ladies of Golconda .and Visapour are much prized; 
their features are lively and attractive. Those of Guzerat are olive-co- 
loured ; but paler than the men, who are more tanned by the heat of the 
sun. It is said that the prettiest Chinese beauties come from the [iro- 
vince of Nan-king, and Nan-chou its capital. 
Even the Negresses are not without their degrees of beauty. In the 
markets of the East, they bear their proportionate price.s, especially the 
younger females. According to the reports of the slave-merchants, no 
black beauty is ever imported from countries where the waters are bad, 
or the soil steril. The black women from the shores of the Red Sea are 
much esteemed by the Persians, who import a great number annually. 
The East Indians are also partial to the Caffre girls, who are entirely 
black, and exported in large numbers from Mozambique. “ Les lemmes 
Kamtchadalcs et Samiiiudes out, dit-on, les parties de la generation tres- 
larges. On sail (pie plusieurs Hottentotes out les gratides levres dii va- 
gin longues et pendantes comiiie le fanon dn bcciif, et (piehpiefois decoupees 
en festons; mais elles n’oiit point cc pretciidu tablier de peau qu’on ieur 
attribuoit; les femmes ties Houzouanas portent vers la croupe un coussin 
de graisse (pii ressemble ii uu cul iiosticho.” 
Many attempts have been made to estimate the total nuniher of human 
beings on the surface of our globe ; but relative to this subject nothing 
has hitherto appeared but conjectures of great vagueness. While some 
