*****
The Last But The Most Important Production Yet Remains To Be Considered.
Whether Plodding In London, Reeking With Human Blood In Paris Or Wandering
Amidst The Solitary Wilds Of New South Wales - Man Is Ever An Object
Of Interest, Curiosity And Reflection.
The natives around Port Jackson are in person rather more diminutive
and slighter made, especially about the thighs and
Legs, than the Europeans.
It is doubtful whether their society contained a person of six feet high.
The tallest I ever measured, reached five feet eleven inches, and men
of his height were rarely seen. Baneelon, who towered above the majority
of his countrymen, stood barely five feet eight inches high. His other
principal dimensions were as follows:
Girth of the Chest. 2 feet 10 inches
Girth of the Belly. 2 feet 6 1/2 inches
Girth of the Thigh. 18 1/8 inches
Girth of the Leg at the Calf. 12 1/8 inches
Girth of the Leg at the Small. 10 inches
Girth of arm half way between
the shoulder and elbow. 9 inches
Instances of natural deformity are scarce, nor did we ever see one
of them left-handed. They are, indeed, nearly ambidexter; but the sword,
the spear and the fish-gig are always used with the right hand.
Their muscular force is not great; but the pliancy of their limbs
renders them very active. "Give to civilized man all his machines,
and he is superior to the savage; but without these, how inferior is he found
on opposition, even more so than the savage in the first instance."
These are the words of Rousseau, and like many more of his positions
must be received with limitation.
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