quesas, I found at Nukahiwa, but it was somewhat scarce. Besides the above common objects of food, there are a number of other fruits and roots, which the inhabitants eat in times of scarcity.

"Judging from the accounts of all navigators who have visited the Friendly and Society Isles, I am inclined to think that the people of the Marquesas and Washington Islands excel in beauty and grandeur of form, in regularity of features and of color, all the other South-Sea islanders. The men are almost all tall, robust, and well made. Few were so fat and unwieldy as the Otaheitans, none so lean and meagre as the people of Easter Island. We did not see a single cripple or deformed person, but such general beauty and regularity of form that it greatly excited our astonishment. Many of them might very well have been placed by the side of the most celebrated chef-d'œuvres of antiquity, and they would have lost nothing by the comparison.

"A certain Mau-ka-u, or Mufau Taputakava, particularly attracted our attention from his extraordinary height, the vast strength of his body, and the admirable proportion of his limbs and muscles. He was now twenty years old, and was six feet two inches high, Paris measure ;* and Counselor Tilesius, who unites the eye of a connoisseur and an artist, said he never saw any one so perfectly proportioned. He took the trouble of measuring every part of this man with the utmost exactness, and after our return to Europe imparted his observations to Counselor Blumenbach, of Gottingen, who has studied so assiduously the natural history of man. This latter compared the proportions with the Apollo of Belvidere, and found that those of that masterpiece of the finest ages of Grecian art, in which is combined every possible integer of manly beauty, corresponded exactly with our Mufau, an inhabitant of the island of Nukahiwa.

"I trust that this subject will be thought sufficiently interesting to excuse my giving the measurements of Mufau, as taken by Counselor Tilesius, and detailed in Voigt's Magazine of Natural History." These proportions will be found in the note below.

*A French foot measures thirteen inches, English measure.

↑ Height, six feet two inches, Paris measure.

Breadth between the shoulders, nineteen inches two lines.

In the periphery, forty inches.

Breadth across the breast, fifteen inches.

Length of the arms from the point of the shoulder to the end of the longest finger, twenty-two inches four lines.

The truth of these inferences will be still more evident from comparing tribes living nearly in the same climate, and with no other difference of habit than a more abundant use of vegetables. We may select for this purpose the New Zealanders and New Hollanders. Both of these nations are destitute of domestic animals; both draw a large portion of their subsistence from the sea; and both live in a climate sufficiently mild, and nearly equally removed from the equator. But the New Zealander cultivates the soil, from which he draws perhaps one half of his subsistence. The New Hollander uses no vegetables except what he picks up accidentally, the spontaneous produce of the earth. "A few berries, the yam and fern root, the flowers of the different banksias, and at times some honey make up the whole vegetable catalogue."

The whole quantity is, of course, very small. The consequence is, the New Zealander enjoys a perfect organization ; but the New Hollander is defective. "Their size," says Dr. Forster of the former, "is generally tall, their body strong and formed for fatigue, their limbs proportioned and well knit.' the latter Collins testifies, that "in general, indeed almost universally, the limbs of these people were small; of most of them the arms, legs, and thighs were very thin."

Beauty of features appears to depend upon still nicer circumstances. Many races which are perfectly vigorous are very

Length of the head from the skull to the chin, ten inches.

Circumference of the head, measured round the forehead, and just above the ears, twenty-three inches and a half.

Circumference of the breast, forty-two inches.

Periphery of the lower belly about the spleen, thirty-two inches. Periphery of the great bason, round the hips, forty-two inches. Periphery of the upper part of the thigh, twenty-five inches. -Periphery of the calf of the leg, seventeen inches and a half.

Periphery of the ankle an inch above the foot, where it is smallest, ten inches.

Length of the foot, twelve inches and a half.

Greatest breadth of the foot, five inches and a half.

Circumference of the upper part of the arm, thirteen inches and a

half.

Circumference of the arm above the elbow, thirteen inches and a

quarter.

Circumference of the hand, eleven inches and a quarter.

Length of the hand, nine inches.

Circumference of the neck, sixteen inches.

Length from the skull to the navel, thirty-one inches and a half.

Length from the navel to the division of the thighs, ten inches and a half.

Length from the division of the thighs to the sole of the foot, thirtyeight inches.-Langsdorf's Travels, p. 106.

hard favored; but it can hardly be doubted that all are beautiful in their own estimation. But the form of features which accompanies the most perfect races of mankind must be reckoned the proper standard of beauty; and where great deviations from this standard are universal, we must suspect the agency of some general cause.

The Calmucks and the Circassians are not remote from each other, but wonderfully different in their form and physiognomy. The portrait of the former is thus drawn by Dr. Clarke: "Nothing is more hideons than a Calmuck. High, prominent, and broad cheek bones, very little eyes widely separated from each other, a flat and broad nose, coarse greasy jet black hair, scarcely any eyebrows, and enormous prominent ears compose no very inviting countenance." Of the women he says: "It was difficult to distinguish the sex, so horrible and inhuman was their appearance.

Of the Circassians we have from the pen of the same writer the following report: "The beauty of features and form for which the Circassians have been so long celebrated, is certainly prevalent among them. Their noses are aquiline, their eyebrows arched and regular, their mouths small, their teeth remarkably white, and their ears not so large nor so prominent as among the Tartars; although from wearing the head always shaven they appear to disadvantage, according to our European notions. They are well shaped and very active, being generally of the middle sizes, seldom exceeding five feet eight or nine inches. Their women are the most beautiful perhaps in the world, of enchanting perfection of countenance, and very delicate features. Those whom we saw, the accidental captives of war, were remarkably handsome. The most chosen works of the best painters, representing a Hector or a Helen, do not display greater beauty than we beheld even in the prison of Ekaterinadara, where wounded Circassians, male and female, loaded with fetters, and huddled together, were pining in sickness and sorrow."

Few will hesitate to pronounce that this ugliness of the Calmucks is the natural consequence of their diet. The horse is to the Calmuck what the rein-deer is to the Laplander, his slave in life, and his food after death. But besides horse flesh, which he often eats raw, the Calmuck devours indiscriminately every animal he can kill. "Near the entrance of the tent," says Dr. Clarke, "hung a quantity of horse flesh, with the limbs of dogs, cats, marmots, rats, etc., drying in the sun, and quite black.' And of the grossness of their manners we have the following

picture: "Just before entering the town, a young Calmuck woman passed us astride on horseback, laden with raw horse flesh, hanging like carrion before her on each side. She was grinning archly at the treasure she had obtained; this we afterward found to be really carrion. A dead horse lying in the ditch surrounding the town on the land side had attracted about thirteen dogs, whom we found greedily devouring what remained, the Calmuck having contested the prize with them just before, and helped herself to as much of the mangled carcass as she could carry away."

Such are pastoral manners, naked and undisguised by the veil of artificial refinement; and such their consequences. Of the Circassians we know little, except that they subsist chiefly by agriculture. Traveling through their territory is thought to be so dangerous, that it has hardly been attempted. A slight view that Dr. Clarke obtained of a part of it showed "a country cultivated like a garden." Probably some other local circumstances are peculiarly favorable. It is said that the teeth are remarkably white; a circumstance which indicates great purity both of the solid and the fluid matter which enters into their diet.

On the banks of the Missouri are a tribe of Indians called Ricaras. They cultivate the earth; raise corn, maize, and other produce, in quantities sufficient both for their own consumption and for sale and exchange with their neighbors. This tribe is distinguished for the beauty of their persons; the men are tall and well proportioned, the women handsome and lively. The following trait of their character sufficiently marks their intellectual endowments: "On our side we were equally gratified at discovering that these Ricaras made use of no spirituous liquors of any kind, the example of the traders who bring it to them so far from tempting having in fact disgusted them. Supposing that it was as agreeable to them as to the other Indians, we had at first offered them whiskey, but they refused it with this sensible remark, that they were surprised that their father should present to them a liquor which would make them fools."

The Laplanders are of dwarfish stature. The Greenlanders are also very short, generally under five feet. It may be thought that this is the effect of the rigor of their polar cold. But we find interspersed among them, and inhabiting the very same country, numerous families of industrious Finns, who cultivate the earth, and subsist chiefly on its produce; and this race, though they remain for centuries in the same country, do not appear to be in the least smaller than the Swedes and Norwe

gians. We must acknowledge, then, that the mode of life has infinitely more effect upon the human form than climate.

We need not, however, travel to the other side of the globe for proofs of the salubrity of vegetable food, or to show that the human body will upon no other support arrive at its full stature, attain its just proportion, and be marked by health, strength, and beauty. The great body of our English peasantry, and even vast multitudes of the inhabitants of the metropolis, subsist almost wholly on vegetables, and are perfectly well nourished. The peasantry of Lancashire and Cheshire, who live principally on potatoes and butter-milk, are celebrated as the handsomest race in England. Two or three millions of our fellow-subjects in Ireland are supported the same way. this subject it is said by Dr. Adam Smith: "The chairmen, porters, and coal heavers in London, and those unfortunate women who live by prostitution, the strongest men, and the most beautiful women perhaps in the British dominions, are said to be, the greater part of them, from the lower rank of people in Ireland, who are generally fed with this root-the potatoe. No food can afford a more decisive proof of its nourishing quality, or of its being peculiarly suitable to the health of the human constitution."

On

A notion has been very prevalent, even among philosophical writers, that the food should vary with the climate. They observe that between the tropics the natives live principally upon fruits, seeds, and roots. Though animal food is not avoided, except among some particular classes, yet men are in these climates exceedingly sparing of its use. In the temperate climates the more general habit is to use a mixture of animal and vegetable food, which is held to be in these regions the most wholesome. In the high northern latitudes animals are produced in plenty, but vegetable productions, fit for the food of man, are scanty; and in these countries, therefore, men are confined principally to animal food. They go even so far as to say, that nature herself in these regions dictates the use of the flesh of animals, for that men must of necessity use this sort of food, or perish from hunger. If this plea be well founded it must be allowed to be unanswerable.

The above is certainly a faithful account of the present habits of mankind in general; but it appears to be the result rather of an imperfect state of civilization, than springing either from wisdom or necessity. In the tropical climates animals are, or might be produced more abundantly than in the polar regions, the earth being more fertile. But men attach themselves more