Du développement physique acquis, en Amérique et dans les îles du grand Océan, sous différents degré

CHAP. 7: > Of the physical development acquired, in America and in the islands of the great Ocean, under different degrees of latitude, by peoples of the American, Malay, and Negro species or varieties.

According to Montesquieu’s reasonings, men who inhabit cold climates must have large bodies, a healthy, well-constituted, but heavy machine. This writer does not say positively what the physique of the peoples who inhabit hot or temperate countries must be; but it is easy to see, from the whole of his system, that, in this part as in the others, the effect of heat must be opposed to that of cold. Montesquieu cites no facts to prove the truth of his system; he confines himself to a simple affirmation and to reasonings on the effect that heat and the absence of heat produce on our fibers. He no doubt thought that the facts were within everyone’s reach, and that he had only to explain them. Let us therefore examine whether the facts are as he affirms them, without dwelling on his explanations.

As, to determine the meaning of the words cold and heat ,** we were obliged to take as a mean term the temperature to which we are accustomed, we are equally obliged to take our physical constitution as being the mean term of the human race; but we must not forget that one of the two extremes considers us as a species of giants, while the other sees in us only dwarfs.If Montesquieu’s system is founded, we must find at the extremities of the habitable earth, those that are closest to the two poles, and on the highest mountains, the largest men; we must find the weakest and smallest men at the equator, between the tropics or in the lowest-lying places, and men of an average stature in the other parts of the world. Before examining whether the facts are in agreement with this system, it is good to observe that the closer a people is to the savage state, the more marked the action of the climate upon it must be. A Russian lord who enjoys an immense income can find in Saint Petersburg all the enjoyments that the climate gives to a man who lives on the banks of the Seine: he can enjoy there all year round the same temperature, the same foods, the same clothing. The climate is even harsher for a poor inhabitant of a Paris suburb than for a minister of the Russian government. But the savage inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, of Greenland, of the Aleutian Islands, of Guiana or of the Congo, cannot thus escape the influence of cold or heat; for them, nothing modifies the influence of the climate; it is therefore on them and on peoples who are in an analogous position that one can best observe its effects.

The Eskimos who inhabit the banks of the Copper River, near the seventieth degree of northern latitude, are generally small; their ordinary stature is four feet, and most are even below that; they present a rather large surface, but they are neither well-made nor strong [99]. Those who inhabit the Resolution Islands, a little beyond the sixtieth degree, are of a mediocre stature [100]; some travelers have even put at only four feet the stature of the men who inhabit Hudson Bay [101]. The natives of Canada, situated between the forty-fifth and fiftieth degrees, at about the same latitude as France, but in a colder country, generally have little corpulence [102]; but they are upright, well-made, and tall, particularly the Iroquois and the Hurons. There exist, however, at the same latitude, several tribes that are of a mediocre stature [103]. The women, in general, are small and have a very delicate complexion [104]. As they advance in age, they become massive and fat; at thirty, they have hollow eyes, a furrowed brow, and loose and wrinkled skin [105]. The Illinois, closer to the south, are of an above-average stature, and have some plumpness [106]. Finally, the natives of Louisiana, still closer to the south, and nearer to sea level, are strong and robust. The men, women, and children are of extreme vigor; they are more energetic, more indefatigable than the Iroquois [107].

The physical constitution of man is therefore stronger in the northeastern part of America, under a temperate climate, than under a cold climate [108]. We observe the same phenomenon in the northwestern part of the same continent. The Indians who inhabit the Mackenzie River, toward the seventieth degree of latitude, are thin, small, ugly, poorly made, and appear very unhealthy; they have large legs covered with scabs [109]. Those who live in Bering Bay, at the entrance of Prince William Sound, being placed at a lower latitude, are also less weak: several are of an ordinary stature, but a great number are below it [110]. Those of Port-des-Français, at the fifty-eighth degree, thirty-seven minutes of latitude, are of an average stature, but the frame of their bodies is weak; several have swollen legs, and, according to the testimony of La Pérouse, the strongest among them would have been knocked over by the weakest of his sailors [111]. The inhabitants of Nootka, placed at the forty-ninth degree, thirty-six minutes, are a little below the average stature; but their bodies are well-rounded; and their limbs, although chubby, never seem to acquire too much plumpness [112]. Finally, the Indians of Monterrey, at the thirty-sixth degree, forty-one minutes of latitude, are well-made and robust, and their works announce much skill [113].

The physical constitution of man, being stronger under temperate climates than under cold climates in the north of the American continent, does it weaken as one advances into the tropics? Several tribes, who live between the twentieth and twenty-second degree of southern latitude, far exceed Europeans in their stature and their strength. The common stature of the Mbayas is five feet eight inches; that of the Lenguas is five feet nine inches: their forms and their proportions are very beautiful. Many other tribes are constituted in the same proportions [114]. The Caribs, who live almost at the equator, between the eighth and tenth degree of southern latitude, are of an even stronger constitution. They are, according to M. Alexander von Humboldt, men of an almost athletic stature. They appeared to this traveler more slender than the Indians he had seen until then; their women are also very tall. The strength and energy of these peoples are proportionate to their stature. When they are excited by some motive, they row against the most rapid current for fourteen or fifteen hours straight, in a heat of thirty degrees of the Réaumur thermometer [115]. The men who live on the Amazon, at the equator, have the same strength and the same energy [116]. The Tenateros Indians, who work in the mines of Mexico, remain continually loaded, for five or six hours, with two hundred twenty-five to three hundred fifty pounds, being at the same time exposed to a very high temperature, and climbing eight to ten times in a row staircases of eighteen hundred steps [117]. One cannot, says M. de Humboldt, tire of admiring the muscular strength of these Indians, and of the Mestizos of Guanajuato, especially when one feels exhausted with fatigue upon leaving the greatest depth of the Valenciana mine, without having been loaded with the slightest weight [118].

If from the center of America one transports oneself to the southern extremity of this continent, to Tierra del Fuego, between the fifty-second and fifty-third degree of latitude, one finds there a very rigorous climate and an entirely different population. These are small, thin, and ugly men [119]; having a face that announces the most horrible misery and filth; small and expressionless eyes; a nose continually running mucus into their half-open mouths; broad and bony shoulders and stomachs, and the other parts of the body so thin and so frail that in seeing them separately, one could not believe they belong to the same individuals [120]. This people lives at the same latitude as Denmark, on the side of the opposite pole, but under a much colder temperature.

The first tribe encountered on the American continent, returning from the west, from the Strait of Magellan toward the equator, are the Patagonians, whose stature appeared colossal to the travelers who first saw them. Captain Byron, in comparing their stature to his own, estimated that they must have been about seven English feet (about six feet six inches of France): they are formed in very beautiful proportions. They are, says this traveler, giants rather than men [121]. Two individuals of this tribe, having gone to Buenos Aires, were measured there; one was six feet seven inches, the other six feet five inches. Azara, who reports this fact, estimates that the common stature in this tribe is six feet three inches [122]. Bougainville, to whom these men also appeared to have an extraordinary stature, nevertheless found others, in advancing toward the equator, of a stronger constitution and a taller stature [123].

This tribe, which was seen around the forty-fifth degree of southern latitude, appears to be among the nomads who live south of Buenos Aires. Almost all the men were on horseback and covered with a guanaco skin [124]. Azara believes that they are the same as the Tehuelches. Other tribes that live between the thirty-sixth and fortieth degree, at almost the same latitude, are also distinguished by their tall stature and by their muscular strength. All these tribes are remarkable for their energy and their courage [125].

If one were to judge by these facts of the influence that climate exercises, in America, on the physical constitution of man, one would think that this influence is analogous to that which appears to be exercised on the vegetable kingdom. At the equator, one encounters in these lands a vigorous vegetation; it weakens as one advances toward the two poles, and finally one finds only a few stunted firs and birches. One could, with the help of these facts, found a system diametrically opposed to that of Montesquieu; but it would still be a system; for one finds, alongside the large and vigorous Caribs, some tribes whose stature is even below our own [126]. While alongside the weak peoples who live toward the North Pole, one finds some of an average strength. These variations have led several travelers to believe that cold and heat are without influence on the stature and strength of men [127].

The observations made on the peoples who inhabit the islands of the great Ocean no less belie Montesquieu’s system than those that were made on the American continent. The largest and especially the best-constituted men of this Ocean are those who inhabit the Marquesas Islands of Mendoça, observed at the tenth degree, twenty-five minutes of southern latitude. Their ordinary stature is five feet eight inches; they have broad chests and shoulders; full and muscular thighs; a strong and sonorous voice. Their beauty is such that sculptors could take them for models: one would find among them, says Fleurieu, Herculeses, Antinoüses, and Ganymedes. [128] These peoples so surpass in beauty the peoples of the other archipelagos that one cannot establish comparisons between them [129].

The inhabitants of the Navigators’ Islands live between the thirteenth and fourteenth degree of southern latitude; they are consequently only four degrees farther from the equator than the inhabitants of the Marquesas Islands: they differ from them only very little. They are the largest and best-made that La Pérouse encountered in his travels; their ordinary stature is five feet nine, ten, or eleven inches; but they are less remarkable for their stature than for the colossal proportions of the different parts of their bodies. A very small number are below this stature; some are only five feet four inches; but, says the celebrated traveler who gave us the description of them, these are the dwarfs of the country; and although their stature seems to approach our own, their strong and vigorous arms, their broad chests, their legs, their thighs, are still in a very different proportion; one can be sure that they are to Europeans what Danish horses are to those of the different provinces of France [130]. The stature of the women is proportionate to that of the men; they are tall, slender, and have grace; some are very pretty [131]. The descendants of the Malays, adds La Pérouse, have acquired in these islands a vigor, a strength, a stature, and proportions that they do not hold from their fathers, and that they doubtless owe to the abundance of subsistence, to the mildness of the climate, and to the influence of the different physical causes that have acted constantly and for a long series of generations [132].

Advancing four or five degrees toward the south pole, at the seventeenth degree, twenty-nine minutes of latitude, one finds the Society Islands. The inhabitants of these islands are only seven degrees farther from the equator than the inhabitants of the Marquesas Islands. Although inferior to the latter and even to the inhabitants of the Navigators’ Islands, one finds among them such beautiful men that, according to Bougainville, they could serve as models to paint Hercules and Mars. One sees some, says this traveler, whose stature exceeds six feet [133]. Other travelers have judged them to be of a lesser stature [134]. The stature of some, and particularly of the chiefs, is of a remarkable strength and firmness. The circumference of one of the thighs of one of them, says Cook, almost equaled that of the body of one of our stoutest sailors measured at the waist [135]. But not all men, in these islands, have an equally strong and tall stature; there is a great number whose stature is mediocre and who differ so much from the others in color, hair, features, and strength, that Bougainville believed they belonged to a different species [136].

The inhabitants of the Friendly Islands, a little farther still from the equator (at the twenty-seventh degree of southern latitude), rarely exceed the ordinary stature; but they are strong and well-constituted [137]; they have very beautiful forms, and their muscles are very pronounced [138]. They are, however, inferior to the inhabitants of the Navigators’ Islands, which has been attributed to the aridity of the soil and to other physical circumstances of the territory and the climate [139]. There also exist, in these islands, two classes of men who differ enough from one another for travelers to have thought that they did not belong to the same race. The individuals who belong to the lower classes have neither the stature, nor the constitution, nor the strength of those who belong to the first. They are below the average stature, sometimes they are even very small; they have a darker complexion, coarser features, and frizzy hair as hard as horsehair [140].

The Sandwich Islands, placed at the same distance from the equator as the Friendly Islands, but on the northern side, contain inhabitants of the same stature, but less well-constituted. The common stature among them is about five feet three inches; they have strongly pronounced muscles, little plumpness, and coarse facial features. The women are small and have a poorly built stature; they are big, heavy, and awkward; they have coarse features and a somber air [141]. In these islands, as in some others situated closer to the equator, the chiefs are distinguished, however, from the rest of the population by a taller stature and a stronger constitution [142]. The population of these islands seems more subject to skin diseases [143]. The inhabitants of Queen Charlotte Island, situated at about the same latitude as those of the Sandwich Islands, but on the other side of the equator, are also of an average stature; but the women there are better made [144].

The inhabitants of Easter Island, placed at the twenty-seventh degree, nine minutes of southern latitude, and consequently farther from the equator than the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands by about seven degrees, are much inferior to them. Their ordinary stature is about five feet four inches; one sees none of five feet six inches (six English feet), a stature so common in the islands situated between the tropics. The physician who accompanied La Pérouse judged them to have an ordinary plumpness, but the English travelers, in comparing them to men of the same species placed in the islands closer to the equator, found them to be of a weak constitution, having a thinner body and a thinner face than any of the other peoples of these seas [145].

The inhabitants of New Zealand, placed between the thirty-fifth and forty-fifth degree of the same latitude, and belonging to the same species of men, do not exceed the ordinary stature of Europeans. In general, they are not as well-made, especially in the arms, legs, and thighs; some have strong muscles and present a fine build, but there are few who have any plumpness [146]. In some parts, however, they are better constituted; they equal the tallest Europeans, without approaching the inhabitants of the Navigators’ Islands [147].

Thus, the men who, in the great Ocean, are placed closest to the equator are the largest, the best-constituted, the most vigorous, in a word the most beautiful; and as one advances toward one or the other pole, one finds that the men degenerate. But it is not possible to follow the gradation on the ocean as on the American continent; the innumerable islands with which a part of these seas are covered are almost all placed between the tropics. To continue our observations, it is necessary to cross on the southern side an interval of nearly thirteen degrees, and an interval of nearly forty degrees on the northern side; on this side, one must pass from the Sandwich Islands to the Aleutian Islands in the Sea of Kamchatka; and on that one, from Easter Island to New Zealand, and to the southern extremity of New Holland. But, if the difference from one climate to another is great, that which exists between the populations is no less so. In the scale of the proportions of human strength, it is almost as far from the natives of Port Jackson, or of Van Diemen’s Land, to the natives of the Navigators’ Islands, as it is far, in the scale of distances, from the equator to the southern extremity of New Holland. It must be observed, however, that the men of this latter country belong to a different species.The natives of Van Diemen's Land, placed between the forty-first and forty-third degree of southern latitude, are of an average stature that varies between five feet two inches and five feet four inches. They have, like the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, broad shoulders and chests; but, like them, they have slender and weak extremities, and a large, protruding, and as if bloated stomach. Their arms and legs are so slender that they were astonished to see those of the men of the French crew. The weakness of their limbs corresponds to their poor constitution; when they tried to wrestle with sailors or officers of the French navy, they were easily overthrown [148]. Their wrists are as weak as their loins; in the experiments that were done on them with the dynamometer, the best-constituted were far inferior to the French, whom a long voyage had nevertheless weakened [149].

The natives of New Holland, although a little closer to the equator than those of Van Diemen's Land, are neither better constituted, nor stronger. Their stature is about the same; but they have a less developed torso [150], and limbs of a remarkable smallness [151]. The experiments done on them with the dynamometer gave the same results; they established that they are of an extreme weakness, not only comparatively to the inhabitants of the Navigators’ Islands, but comparatively to Europeans [152]. The women are even more poorly constituted than the men; they have lean and emaciated forms, withered breasts hanging down to their thighs, and the most disgusting filthiness adds to their natural ugliness [153].

The peoples of the same race who inhabit New Guinea, and who are consequently much closer to the equator, are of a glistening black, robust, and of a tall stature; they have large eyes and a very wide mouth [154].

I will say nothing here of the peoples who inhabit the Aleutian Islands; they belong to the Mongolian or Asiatic race. But I will speak of them in the following chapter, and it will be seen that here the cold climates are no more favorable than elsewhere to the development of human forces.

In the islands of the great Ocean, as in America, one remarks several species of men, and under the same latitude one finds some who have no resemblance to one another. Thus, the inhabitants of the New Hebrides, placed a short distance from the Navigators’ Islands, under the same latitude as the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands, but belonging to a different species, are infinitely smaller. Their stature barely reaches five feet, their limbs often lack proportion; they have long and slender arms and legs; they are black and have the features and woolly hair of negroes [155]. The inhabitants of New Caledonia, placed under the same latitude as those of the Society Islands, have a weak body and slender arms and legs. Their excessive thinness reveals their misery; they are similar to the inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land [156]. The inhabitants of Mallicollo are much smaller still; they have a tanned complexion, the wool of negroes, and the face of monkeys: having their bodies cinched by a rope, they resemble large ants [157]. Other varieties have been observed, under diverse latitudes, without it having been possible to attribute the differences remarked between them to the difference of climates [158]. But these are exceptions, and it is even remarkable that, when alongside strong and well-constituted peoples there is found some weak one, the latter always belongs to a different species, is less industrious, and inhabits a less fertile land; so that, if the greater or lesser heat of the climate has some influence on the physical constitution of men, this influence is inappreciable or imperceptible [159]. We will see, in the following chapter, what are the parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe in which the physical faculties of the men who inhabit these lands have best developed. We will then endeavor to determine the causes and effects of this development.