24 POETRY. THE DEEP. THERE'S beauty in the deep:- And sun and moon most sweetly shine There's music in the deep:- There's quiet in the deep:- And earth-born whirlwinds wake the wave; Brainard. EXPLANATION OF WORDS AND PHRASES. We are under the necessity of interrupting our alphabetical order, to enable us to introduce certain terms, phrases, sentences, &c. from foreign languages, which are frequently used in our own. As soon as we bring up these terms, phrases, &c. to the point at which we have suspended the other, we shall proceed with both in connexion, designating which is foreign, and to what language each belongs, by the suitable abbreviations. Gr. will signify Greek, Lat. Latin, Sp. Spanish, Ital. We shall inclose the Italian, Fr. French, and so on. pronunciation of words that need it in a parenthesis.We shall give both the literal and the free translations. AB ACTU AD POSSE VALET CONSECUTIO. Lat. "The induction is good, from what has been to what may be;" or, more freely, "It is reasonable to suppose, that what has happened can take place again." AB ALIO EXPECTES, ALTERI QUOD FECERIS. Lat. from Laberius. "You may expect from one person that which you have done to another;" or, "You may expect to be treated according to your own conduct." Fr. (proA BARBE DE FOU, ON APPREND à RIRE. "Men nounced, ah barb deh foo ong approng ah rere,) learn to shave on the chin of a fool;" or, "Men make experiments on those who will bear them." ABATIS. Fr. military term, (pron. Ah-bat-tee,) Trees felled and fastened together, to check the progress of an enemy. 66 AB INCONVENIENTI. Lat. "From the inconvenience," or, "Unsuited to the case;" for example: the phrase, Argumentum ab inconvenienti," signifies an argument showing that the result of a proposed measure will prove inconvenient, or unsuitable to the circumstances the case. AB INITIO. Lat. "From the beginning." A BIS ET à BLANC. Fr. (pron. ah bee a ah blaung.) "At the brown and the white;" that is, "By fits and starts;" first at one thing, and then at another. ABNORMIS SAPIENS. Lat. from Horace. "Wise from intuition;""A natural, self-taught genius." A BON CHAT, BON RAT. Fr. (pron. ah bong shah, bong rah.) "To a good cat, a good rat;" "Well matched." POVERTY, VICe, and Crime iN CITIES We have for some time past been of the opinion, that much of the poverty, vice, and crime in cities, results from ignorance and idleness, and consequently, that one of the most effectual means to remove those evils is, to furnish all with intelligence and employment. We are pleased therefore to find, that a Society has been formed in this place, entitled "The New York Society for the Promotion of Knowledge and Industry." So important do we consider its objects, and so well devised its plan, that we intend to insert in our next its Constitution, and the list of its officers. Suffice it at this time to say, that the Mayor of the city is its President. ITEMS OF NEWS. A The cholera is raging at Matanzas, carrying off from 100 to 150 a day. Its ravages are principally among the lower classes and the blacks. One plantation had lost nearly 300 of the latter letter from that place says, "Two cargoes of slaves (over 1000) arrived a few days since; one of them landed her cargo south_of this, on the other side, all of whom died, though landed in perfect health; and the other, a few leagues to leeward of this, the most of whom are dead, and the residue dying." At Havana it has sub sided. The loss of lives there by this terrible disease, is estimated at 15,000, which is one-tenth of the whole population. The President and Vice President of the United States, are expected to spend the Fourth of July in Boston. A draft drawn by the Government of the United States on the French Government, for the first instalment of the indemnity agreed by treaty to be paid by the latter, for spoliations committed on our commerce, has been protested! The amount of the draft was about $900,000. The Legislature of this State adjourned on Monday last, after a session of one hundred and twenty days, which is said to be longer than any previous one. Number of acts passed, 323, very few of which were of a public nature. The bill to repeal the law abolishing imprisonment for debt, was indefinitely postponed in the Senate, for want of sufficient time to act upon it after it came from the House. One of the most desolating conflagrations ever known in this city occurred on Tuesday evening last. Four squares of the section of the city denominated Greenwich Village, lie smouldering in ruins. In the whole of this space there were but seven buildings preserved. The number destroyed, including rear buildings, is estimated at 150. It is supposed, that 500 families have, by this tremendous visitation, been rendered houseless, and many of them pennyless. The loss of property is variously estimated. We should suppose $150,000 a moderate calculation, although few of the buildings were very valuable. The desolated squares were bounded as follows: by Bank, Hudson, Hammond and Greenwich streets-by Bank, Greenwich, Hammond, and Washington by Hammond, Hudson, Perry, and Greenwich-and by Hammond, Greenwich, Perry, and Washington. Measures are in train for the relief of the sufferers. ONE HUNDRED AGENTS Could be advantageously employed in different sections of the Union, in obtaining subscribers for the Magazine. It is not of a local character, but is calculated for general circulation; and hence subscribers may as well be obtained in one part of the country as another. Good encouragement vill be given to agents; and a number to the amount of one hundred at least, could be furnished by us with profitable employment. We have taken the office recently occupied by the "Free Enquirer," 222 William street. Letters should be addressed thus: Editor of the Family Magazine, 222 William street, New York. TERMS. ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE. Should an order for the Magazine be received unaccompanied by advance payment, one number will be sent, showing our terms after which, no more will be forwarded till payment shall have been received. Companies of four individuals, sending FIVE DOLLARS, current here, free of postage, will be furnished with four copies for one year. Companies of ten, sending TEN DOLLARS as above, will be furnished with ten copies. Schools adopting the Magazine, will be supplied at ONE DOLLAR per annum for each copy. As the sum of $1 50, which is the price of the Magazine to a single subscriber, cannot be sent by mail, it will be necessary that two subscribers at least send payment in a letter together. The postage on the Magazine is 3-4 of a cent under one hundred miles, and 1 1-4 cent for any distance over. We would have it distinctly understood, that our terms are not published as a mere matter of course. We shall adhere to them to the very letter. Experience has taught us their necessity. The credit system is the bane, the ruin of periodicals. Prompt payment is absolutely indispensable to their prosperity, nay, to their very existence. Scattered as is their patronage over a wide extent of country, their proprietors, for the want of promptitude on the part of their subscribers, are compelled to resort to loans, and to purchase their paper and hire their printing at a heavy advance. And not unfrequently are they forced to wind up their concerns altogether. Now we view our object to be altogether too important to be jeoparded thus; and we shall therefore require payment in all cases IN ADVANCE. Our expenses are heavy, and those who have our paper must pay them, seeing we have no money to throw away. Every reasonable man will at once perceive the propriety and necessity of these terms. OR WEEKLY ABSTRACT OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. VOL. I. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1833. HISTORY. WE date, then, the commencement of history according to the testimony of Moses; and as there is no other work extant of equal antiquity, no other furnishing any thing like a clear, connected account of the world's infancy, we must make his history our sole guide for no inconsiderable space of time, coroborating it with coincident traditions, and contrasting it with the puerile and whimsical speculations of those who substitute fancy for research. According to this ancient author, the Almighty formed man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, thereby rendering him a living soul. From his side he extracted a rib, of which he made woman, having thrown Adam into a deep sleep for that purpose. From this pair, as has been already seen, sprung the whole human race. Their residence was fixed by God in a delightful garden called Eden. The Jewish Talmudists, giving wings to their fancy, represent them to have been of sufficient size to reach from one end of the earth to the other; for, say they, Adam must have been able to pass the seas, to visit all parts of his dominions. The reader will perceive, that this is not an item of Mosaic, but of Talmudic history, and that it is founded, not on records or authority, but on theory-one of the last sources whence to derive history. He will likewise note the monstrosity and absurdity of the conception, its unnatural and ludicrous cast, giving it the air of fiction. We notice this, not for the sake of confuting this whimsical tale, but to compare it with the account of Moses, who professes to give history, and not speculation. And surely, the comparison redounds greatly to his advantage, and gives us grounds for increased confidence in his narration. The idea we receive by reading that narration is, that Adam was only the size of an ordinary man; and this from the mere circumstance, that he is not said to have been larger. Hence the Talmudists virtually contradict Moses. Which has given the marvellous, and which the truth; which speculation, and which history; it is not difficult to perceive. Man was made innocent at first, and laid under no other restriction than to abstain from the fruit of one tree in the garden, denominated the tree of knowledge of good and evil. His labour was light, barely sufficient for exercise, having only to dress the garden, and to keep it. His situation was in every respect desirable. "Now the the serpent," says Moses, "was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and NO. 4. they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God, among the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat, all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Thus runs the Mosaic account of what is denominated the Fall of Man. This account has been the subject of much speculation, some conceiving it to be a mere allegory, representing the condition of mankind at large in giving heed to temptation, while others believe it to have been a literal event―an historical fact. That there was a literal Adam, is as clearly taught in the Bible, as any other fact whatever. His age, the names of his children, and various other circumstances are mentioned; insomuch that if we are not to understand him to have been the identical being he is described to have been, viz. the progenitor of the human race, we must confess we have no means for ascertaining the proper signification of terms, and language is altogether useless. But admitting there was a literal Adam and a literal Eve, it would be a violation of every rule of language to make the other part of the account figurative. There is the same evidence of a literal garden, literal trees and fruit, and so on throughout, as of a literal man and woman. It will do, perchance, for those who know all about the invisible world, who know the precise nature of supernatural beings,-what is appropriate, what consonant to their nature,-to object to the idea of the literal appearance and conversation of the serpent, as described in this account. It is for them to say, whether or not the Devil can metamorphose himself into the appearance of a serpent, or take actual possession of a real one, and, in this form, hold converse with human beings: whether, as a mark of the disapprobation of the Almighty, there would be any thing incongruous in his dooming the serpent race, which can of course realise no degradation, to a condition inferior to that in which they were before they had been thus personated in the manner here described, any more than in causing the earth to produce thorns and thistles, as a mark of his disapprobation of the conduct of man. I say, it is for those geniuses who know how every thing should be managed in the invisible world, to say whether or not there is any thing inconsistent with the nature of that world, in the account under consideration. For ourselves, making not the least pretensions to such knowledge; being the furthest of any thing conceivable from omniscient; totally ignorant of the peculiar nature of spirit; we are unable to say, whether this account is absurd or not; and we must therefore depend altogether on testimony in relation to the subject. In this case, as well as in that of the creation, we find corroborating heathen testimony; which testimony we will present, not for the sake of proving Moses, but the historical fact of the fall. Plato, Strabo, Ovid, Virgil, the Egyptian writers, and others, mention the state of innocence and the fall. Several particulars of the fall were received by the most ancient heathen. Many particulars relating to Adam and Eve, the forbidden tree, and the Serpent, are to be found among the natives of Peru and the Philippine islands. The very name of Adam is known among the Indian Brachmans! The Hindoos have an ancient basrelief of the Serpent Caliya, vanquished by the mediatorial God Krishna. Krishna is represented as pressed within the folds of the Serpent, and then as triumphing over him, and bruising his head beneath his feet! The Edda, the record of the ancient Scythians, says the great Serpent is an emanation from Loke, the evil principle, and gives a highly poetic description of his overthrow. A plain allusion is made to the sin of Eve, in the legend of Pandora, who was led by curiosity to open a casket given to her by Jupiter, out of which flew all the evils into the world, hope alone remaining at the bottom. Inherent, original sin, is not only acknowledged, but deplored, by many of the ancient heathen philosophers, poets, and moralists. And the universal prevalence of the custom of offering sacrifices for sin, attests at once to the truth of this sentiment. The Talmudists, who, as we have seen, made Adam so enormously large before the fall, say that, after that event, he was reduced to a hundred ells-large enough still, in all conscience. And the Mahometan doctors are even less liberal of the dimensions which they assign to him, allowing him only the height of a tall palm tree. But neither those doctors nor the Talmudists seem to have considered how extremely ill-adapted their huge man must have been to the state of things around him. To correspond with his size, bushes must have been trees, trees as much larger in proportion,-and so of every thing else. Thus readily may the marvellous be distinguished from grave reality. In the former there is always absurdity, always something monstrous, unnatural; while the latter is consistent with itself, consistent with the nature of things. Various have been the speculations with regard to the location of the garden in which man was first placed; and not only the globe, but the very air, and even the moon, have been ransacked, in imagination at least, to find it! According to the description given in the Bible, it must have been situated in or near Mesopotamia. It is evident that Moses intended to give an intelligible description of its location, by his naming the rivers that Issued from it, which continue even to this day to bear the names by which he called them-another evidence, by the way, that a literal garden is to be understood of Eden, and that the account of the fall is not an allegory, out sober history. As to the precise spot where Eden was situated, it would be difficult to ascertain. If it was not destroyed by the Deluge, the lapse of time must so have changed its appearance, as to render it impossible be identified. In the cut before us is represented the heathen deity Mercury. He appears like a youth, with an open, lively countenance, having wings attached to his sandals and his cap, with a winged rod or wand in his hand, entwined by two serpents. His winged sandals were denominated talaria; his cap was called petasus; and his wand caduceus. He was presented with the talaria and petasus by Jupiter, to enable him to go with celerity on his messages. The caduceus he received from Apollo, in exchange for the lyre, which Mercury invented. With this won drous wand, he could cause sleep, or induce wakefulness, and could even raise the dead. It was likewise possessed of the peculiar property of being able to settle quarrels. The discovery of this quality in the rod was made by Mercury, who, seeing two serpents fighting, put his rod between them, when lo! they were immediately reconciled, and embraced each other, cleaving at the same time to the rod, as seen in the cut. Hence it was, that ambassadors sent to make peace, used to be denominated Caduceatores, deriving the name from the caduceus. According to Cicero, there were five Mercuries: one a son of Coelus and Lux; another a son of Valens and Coronis; another a son of the Nile; another called by the Egyptians Thaut; and another the son of Jupiter and Maia, the daughter of Atlas, to whom the actions of all the rest are attributed, and of whom we shall therefore treat in this article. Some add a sixth Mercury. a son of Bacchus and Proserpine. Mercury is said to have been born on Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia, and to have been intrusted in his infancy to the care of the Seasons. His name is derived from mercibus, he being the god of merchants among the Latins. Among other characters which he sustained, was that of prince and god of thieves; and surely, never did one better deserve the title; for, the very day he was born, or, as some say, the day after, he stole some of the cattle of Admetus, which Apollo tended; and as the latter, | with his bow bent, was on the point of shooting him, cients were accustomed to place at cross-roads, were Mercury stole his arrows, which was so adroit and amu- called by them Indices, because with an arm or finger sing a theft, that the anger of Apollo was changed to extended, they pointed out the way to travellers, as Index laughter. While yet an infant, he stole from Vulcan or Battus pointed out the stolen cattle to Mercury. The many of his implements of labour. He stole the girdle Romars set up some in public places and highways. of Venus, as she was embracing him. He robbed Nep- The Athenians stationed some at their doors, to drive tune of his trident, Mars of his sword, and Jupiter him- away thieves; probably in accordance with the maxim, self of his sceptre, and would even have stolen his thun- Set a rogue to catch a rogue." These statues they derbolts, had he not been fearful that they would burn denominated Hermæ, from Hermes, the Greek name of him. These specimens of his skill commended him to Mercury. These Hermæ had neither hands nor feet; the notice of the gods, and Jupiter adopted him as his and hence Mercury was denominated Cyllenius, and by messenger, interpreter, and cup-bearer, in the latter of contraction Cyllius. The Romans used to join the sta which capacities he acted, till the promotion of Gany-tues of Mercury and Minerva together. These united mede to the same office. By means of a small sword which he possessed, called herpe, and which he lent to Perseus, he could render himself invisible, or transform himself into any shape at pleasure. He was entrusted with all the secrets of Jupiter. He was the confidant of his amours, and was often appointed to watch over the jealousy and intrigues of Juno. He was also the ambassador and plenipotentiary of the other gods, and was concerned in all alliances and treaties. Skilled to a wonderful degree in the art of pacification, he not only conciliated men, but the gods themselves, and even the infernal deities, whenever they had quarrels among them. Hence the words of the poet: "Thee, wing-foot, all the gods, both high and low, The arbiter of war and peace allow." images they called Hermathenæ, and sacrificed to both on the same altar. His worship was well established, particularly in Greece, Egypt, and Italy. He was worshipped at Tanagra, in Boetia, by the name of Criophorus, and was represented as carrying on his shoulders a ram, because, when a pestilence raged there, he directed the inhabitants to carry a ram in that manner round the walls of the city; which being done, the pestilence abated. It was customary to offer him sacrifices on the 15th of May, on account of his mother, whose name was Maia. At this festival was sacrificed a pregnant sow, and sometimes a calf, but especially the tongues of animals. He is sometimes represented on monuments with a large cloak round his arm, or tied under his chin. He is likewise someOn account of this pacific character of his, he was sometimes represented as seated on a cray fish, holding in one times represented with golden chains flowing from his hand his caduceus, and in the other the claws of the mouth, with which he linked together the minds of fish. Then again he is described as a beardless young those that heard him. But notwithstanding all the dig-man, holding in one hand a purse, as the guardian deity nity to which he was elevated in the society of the gods, of merchants, with a cock on his wrist as an emblem of by being appointed their messenger and ambassador, he vigilance, and a scorpion, a goat, and a fly at his feet. was subjected to certain menial services, such as sweepAnd because cheating is so frequently the concomitant ing the room where they supped, making their beds, of traffic, he was called Dolius. He sometimes rests his and many other things of a similar nature; on which acfoot upon a tortoise. In Egypt, he was represented with count he was called Camillus or Casmillus, which sig- the head of a dog, whence he was frequently confounded nifies an inferior servant of gods. with Anubis, and received the sacrifice of a stork. Milk and honey were sacrificed to him as the god of eloquence, whose powers were sweet and persuasive; and on the same account were tongues sacrificed to him, as already mentioned. He is sometimes represented Mercury was the patron of travellers, and his statues without arms, because, according to some, the power of were frequently placed in roads, to point out to them speech can prevail over every thing, even without the assistance of arms. the way. He was likewise the patron of shepherds. His face was partly dark and partly He was the god of eloquence; whence the Greeks de-bright, to denote that he sometimes converses with the nominated him Hermes. He was also the god of sci-celestial, and sometimes with the infernal gods. ence and the arts. He is said to have been the inventor of contracts, weights, and measures. They say that Juno was Mercury's nurse, and that, on one occasion, taking his milk too greedily, it ran out of his mouth upon the firmament, and caused the white track denominated the galaxy, or milky way. One of his offices was, to attend on the dying, to release the soul from the body, and to conduct it to the infernal regions; and likewise, to place in new bodies the souls which had been the proper time in Elysium. Virgil has a very pleasing passage in relation to this, as follows: "Hermes obeys; with golden pinions binds And eyes, though closed in death, restores to light." When Mercury stole the cattle of Admetus, he was discovered in the theft by a herdsman named Battus. To induce Battus not to expose him, he gave him a cow. But to prove his fidelity, he afterwards presented himself in another form, and questioned him respecting the stolen cattle, offering as a reward a bullock and a cow, if he would discover to him where the thief had concealed them. This was too much for the integrity of Battus. Overcome by the present, he disclosed the secret; whereupon Mercury, enraged at his perfidy, threw off his disguise, and immediately turned Battus into a stone called Index. The statues which the an In the wars between the Giants and the Gods, Mercury bore a conspicious part. He delivered Mars from the confinement to which he was subjected by the Aloides. He purified the Danaides of the blood of their murdered husbands. He tied Ixion to his wheel in the infernal regions. He destroyed the hundred-eyed Argus. He sold Hercules to Omphale, Queen of Lydia. He conducted Priam to the tent of Achilles, to redeem the body of his son Hector. And he carried Bacchus to the nymphs of Nysa. Mercury had many surnames and epithets. Besides those already noticed, he was called Acacetos, from Acacus an Arcadian, Acacesius, Tricephalos, Triplex, Chthonius, Agonius, Arcas, &c. He had numerous children; Autolycus, by Chione; Myrtillus, by Cleobula; Libys, by Libya; Echion and Eurytus, by Antianira; Cephalus, by Creusa; Prylis, by Issa; and Priapus, He was also the father of Herma according to some. phroditus, by Venus; of Eudorus, by Polimela; and of Pan, by Dryope, or Penelope. The Hermes of Egypt was probably some philosopher tive talent. The Egyptians impute to Hermes the in who was distinguished by various knowledge and inven vention of commerce, of geometry, of astronomy, and of hieroglyphic characters. These heathen fables have all a mystical meaning. We intend, on closing our mythological department, to unravel the whole web in regular connexion, and show the reader what he has been perusing. THE plate above represents the five different classes of the human race, which we had barely room to mention in our last. We will now give a brief description of each class by itself. African. American Indian. The third class is the Malay or Tawny, comprehending the inhabitants of the peninsula of Malacca, Ceylon, the Asiatic Islands, New Zealand, and the extensive group of islands denominated Polynesia, with the exception of New Holland, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Van Dieman's Land. The complexion of this class is of a blackish brown, or mahogany colour, the hair black and curly, the upper part of the head narrowed, the forehead somewhat expanded, the nose thick, wide, and flattened, the upper jaw rather prominent. This class seems to be about midway between the European and the African classes. The first, or European class, is distinguished by elegance of form, and by capaciousness and prominence of forehead, indicating superiour intellectual capacity. The best symmetrical specimen of this class is to be found in the region of Asia Minor, bordering on Europe, including the Georgians, Circassians, Mingrelians, Armenians, Persians, and other nations that skirt the southern base of the Caucasian chain of mountains. On this account, the name of Caucasian has been given to The fourth is the African or negro class, denominated this class in general. The propriety of its application is likewise the Ethiopian, and the Black. This class overstill further manifest, from the consideration that this spreads western and Southern Africa, and is likewise region was the nursery which supplied colonies for the found on the coasts of Madagascar. It also occupies other parts of the globe now occupied by this class of New Holland, Van Dieman's Land, New Caledonia, and mankind. This portion of the human race includes all New Guinea. Its colour varies from deep tawny to the inhabitants of Europe, excepting the Laplanders and perfect jet. The hair is black, frizzled, and woolly, the Finns. It likewise includes the descendants of Euro-head narrow, the forehead arched and prominent, the peans in all parts of the world, together with the inha- face narrow, with the lower part projecting, the eyes likebitants of the western part of Asia, as far as the river wise projecting, the nose thick, large, and flattened, the Oby, the Caspian Sea, and the Ganges, and those of the lips, especially the upper one, very thick, the cheek bones northern parts of Africa, viz. the people of Barbary, prominent, the legs somewhat crooked. Egypt, and Abyssinia, and the Moors of northern Africa. The general colour of this class of men is fair, the cheeks red, the head globular, the face oval, with distinct features, the forehead rather flattened, the nose narrow, and inclined to the aquiline, the cheek bones unprominent, the mouth not large, the lips rather turned out, particularly the under one, the chin full and rounded, the eyes, though of various colours, yet for the most part blue, and the hair generally yellow, or brown and flowing. The complexion is fairer, and the eyes and hair lighter, in the more temperate climes, than towards the south. The second class is the Tartar or Mongul, denomina ted also the Asiatic and the Brown class. It includes all the Asiatic nations east of the Oby, Caspian, and Ganges, excepting Malacca; as also, the tribes which inhabit the frigid zones in both the eastern and western continents, viz. the Laplanders, Samoiedes, Ostiacs, Tunguses, Yakuts, Tschutskis, and Kamtschadales of Siberia, and the Esquimaux and Greenlanders. This class is distinguished by a yellowish brown, or olive complexion, with little or no red in the cheeks, straight, black hair, head almost square, face large and flat, small and flat nose, cheek bones wide, eyes small and black, and pointed chin. The fifth and last class is the American Indian, or Red-man, including all the aboriginal inhabitants of America, excepting the Esquimaux and Greenlanders. This class is of a copper colour, hair straight and black, very high cheek bones, eyes sunken, forehead short, broad countenance, nostrils expanded, and lips thick. This class forms the middle point between the European and the Mongul, as does the Malay between the European and African. Taking, therefore, a compendious view of mankind, we might, perhaps, reduce the classes that are very distinctly marked to three, instead of five: the European, the Tartar or Asiatic, and the African. It is observable, that, although these general distinc tions obtain, they will not apply in the case of all the individuals composing the classes. For example: among the white or European class, there are various shades of colour, from the lily almost to the olive. So among the black or African class, the several shades of difference between the blackest and the least black, are equally various, and the difference itself equally great; insomuch that if we consider the Asiatic class as forming the middle link between the most swarthy white and the lightest black, we have the chain completed, and but one race in all its complicated variety. |