scarcely be distinguished from young people. A grey head is very seldom seen. The common colour of the Laplander's hair is red. Blindness, however, is a very common effect of old age among them. Their eyes become imperceptibly weakened by the glare of the snow, with which their country is continually covered, and by the constant smoke of the fires which they light in the middle of their huts, and towards the close of life they lose the power of sight." Peter Högström, a Swedish traveller and missionary in Lapland, whose description of that country is celebrated in Sweden, and has been translated partly in the 'Allgemeine Historie der Reisen,' compares the Lappes and the Finns in regard to their moral characters and dispositions. He says, "Some Laplanders maintain that their ancestors formerly had possession of all Sweden. M. Högström, however, is of the same opinion with Scheffer, that the Lappes and Finns were originally one nation. The Finns originally lived in the same manner as the Lappes, that is, they kept cattle, before they cultivated the soil. This is the case now. As soon as a Lapp becomes an agriculturist he is a Finn. He builds a house, speaks, dresses, and lives like a Finn, in the midst of his brothers and sisters, who live like Lappes." "It is then certain," says Peter Högström, "that the Lappes and Finns were originally one nation, which has been clearly and incontestably proved by Scheffer, principally from the agreement between the languages, that there can no longer be any doubt about it. I have in particular remarked that the Lappes who dwell furthest from Finnland, have a manner of speaking which coincides in some respects more nearly with the Finnish than those who dwell nearest to them." These observations and the preceding facts tending to identify the Lappes with the Finnish race, or to prove that they originated from the same stock, are rendered the more interesting by the consideration that the physical diversity frequently, but not universally, existing among them is very strongly marked. The Finns, as we learn from the description of their features and complexion above given, have the characteristics of the European, and many of them are handsome. according to our ideas of beauty. The Lappes, on the other hand, deviate from the usual characters of the European races, and approximate to the Mongolian. Blumenbach has described the skull of a Lapp, of which he has given a representation in his decades of crania. He says that two Lapponic skulls in his museum closely resemble each other, and at the saine time coincide in their configuration with all that the most accurate travellers have reported respecting the physical characters of the Lappes. The primary characters of these skulls are thus described: "The skull large in proportion to the stature of the body; the form and appearance altogether such as prevail in the Mongolian variety; the shape almost spherical or globose; the zygomatic bones extending outwards; the malar fossa, plane; the forehead broad; the chin rather prominent and acuminated."* It appears from the above evidence clear that the Lappes have the broad-faced or pyramidal form of skull which I have described in the first volume of these researches as proper to the Turanian nations, and that they have the other physical characters which are generally conjoined with that shape of the cranium, both as to the figure of limbs and stature and the prevailing complexion. We shall find in the sequel of this chapter that these are the characters of several other tribes of the same race, who exist under similar circumstances with the Lappes, as of the Vogouls, for example, in the Uralian mountains. But even among the Lappes there are varieties of conformation as well as of complexion. Remarkable differences of person exist among the Laplanders themselves. Von Buch says the Laplanders of Nordland have often fine figures. "The flat faces and fair hair supposed to be universal in Nordland are not seen here. On the contrary, I saw with astonishment several true Turkish physiognomies, with noses and bones extremely prominent, and black dazzling eyes, without any trace of the fair physiognomy of the Danes." Paragraph 2.-Description of the Finns and Esthians. characters of the people of Finnland. The learned ex-jesuit Dobrowsky, in his Litterärische Nachrichten von einer Reise nach Sweden und Russland,' has given a highly favourable picture of the moral character of the Finng. He represents them as remarkable for probity, kindness of disposition, and hospitality. He remarks that the difference between the countenances of the Finns and the Swedes is more easily observed than described. The eyes of the Finns are, as he thinks, somewhat more deeply set; their hair is mostly red: they seem too to be fond of the colour of red, at least when they go to church they adorn themselves with high pointed red caps. The Finns in Finnland are nearly equal in stature to the Swedes. Other tribes, who probably are more destitute, and in their external condition inferior, bear a nearer resemblance to the Lappes. They are of smaller stature and more like the Lappes. These remarks apply to the Esthonians near Dorpat whose skulls have been described by a celebrated anatomist. I shall cite this description from the work of Hueck on the skulls of the Esthonians at Dorpat, as this will supply in part the want of more detailed information concerning the physical characters of the Finnish tribes.* "The figure of the Esthonian," says Hueck, "like that of the other Finnish nations, is neither beautiful nor robust. Although here and there, where under indulgent lords, they obtain a more plentiful sustenance, they are seen of tall stature; yet in other places, ground down by slavery, and miserably and scantily fed, they fall short of the middle height." Baer and Seidlitz, in their inaugural essays, agree in the observation that the northern Esthonians are of greater stature than the natives of the country near Dorpat.+ The trunk of the body is larger in proportion to the lower extremities; the chest is narrow and flat, whence the pelvis appears of broader shape than usual, and this is most remarkable in females of small stature. The neck is thin, the head somewhat bowed forward. * De craniis Estonum commentatio anthropologica quâ viro illustrissimo J. T. Busgh doctoris dignitatem impetratam gratulatur Ordo Med. Univers. Dorpatens, interprete Dre. Hueck, 4to. Dorpati Livonorum, 1838. + C. Baer. diss. inaug. de morbis inter Esthonos endemicis. Dorpati, 1814. "Esthoni qui borealem Esthoniæ partem magnitudine vincunt eos qui ad Dorpatem habitant." (G. Seidlitz (diss. inaug.) consentit.) The hair long, lank, yellow: the forehead low, flat, but moderately broad. Thick eyebrows overshadow an eye deeply set, either of a greenish grey or for the most part blue. The nose generally straight, rarely flattened, and with small nostrils, seems ill-proportioned to the cheeks, which by reason of their leanness are more conspicuously projecting: the temples, covered with scanty hair, separate the cheeks from high, large, and flat ears. A short interval between the nose and mouth allows less space for the development of the upper than the lower lip. The lips are narrow, the teeth small and soon becoming worn down. A round somewhat prominent chin, covered by a late and not very thick beard. "The hair," as Baer observes, "is most frequently yellow, in infants often white: sometimes black hair is seen with a rather brown skin-atri capilli cum subfusca facie-the hair of girls is more yellow than that of men, and they are never found with black hair. The openings of the eyelids are very narrow. The features have an aspect of languor. The compound expression of the countenance sometimes indicates serenity, at others craftiness, moroseness, and stupidity." This is the aspect of the features in advanced age, when the countenance appears obscured by a burnt and dusky complexion: the younger Esthonians, especially girls, when not yet exposed to the severities of the climate and an abode in smoky cabins, and to the hard labours of a slavish life, have often a cheerful, healthy, and open countenance, and their features are much more handsome. The proportion of the limbs is by no means regular. The shoulders are narrow, arms long and hands broad, the legs short and thin, feet flat, pelvis broad. The muscular system, as well as the chest, is less developed than either in the Russians or Germans. The Esthonians are not very strong, nor are they quick and active: their gait is slow, and their gesture crooked and weak. Though mostly thin, yet they are prone to get fat if they have rest, and wholesome and plentiful diet. Their temperament is, as Baer declares, generally phlegmatic, inclined to the melancholic. A few are strictly melancholic, namely, those who have black hair and beards. With this bodily constitution is closely connected a melancholico phlegmatic temperament of mind, so that the Esthonian indulging his inclination, is slow, lazy, and indifferent. Yet a slight mental culture and suitable exercise develope and bring into play the good qualities of which he is susceptible. For although slow, he is found to be patient of labour and tenacious of his purpose; though incurious, yet he comprehends what is presented to his mind, and follows out with accuracy his lessons: hence he shows himself by no means rude or deficient in various arts. The mind of the Esthonian is particularly susceptible of religious impressions, of a sense of the just and honourable, and of feelings of tenderness; enrolled with their fellows in warfare they display the virtue and bravery of ancient times. The soundness of their intellects, and their faculty of learning enable them to comprehend the true principles of Christianity and of every kind of mental culture, and give reason to hope that the Esthonians may hereafter advance in civilisation. This description, which embraces the whole Esthonian nation, undergoes variations, when the produce of fishing, traffic, and various kinds of gain, brings some into a condition less subject to authority than others who are oppressed by poverty, care, or hard labour. It seems from this description that the Esthonians display in their bodies and minds the effects of long-continued degradation and the miseries of slavery. They appear to be physically very inferior to their kinsmen the Finns, who have always enjoyed comparatively freedom and prosperity. The following is a description of the skull of the Esthonians in its most general type. "In the Esthonian race the skull has an angular form, which however often passes into an oval figure. A wedgeshaped skull is more rare among them, and I have never observed the skull of an Esthonian of a round form." The skull at the first view, when compared with the facial part of the cranium, appears large, and surveyed from the upper or back part, square; for not only the latera parietalia are very prominent, but also the occiput in the region of the upper semicircular line is much expanded, both towards the back part and the sides. The sinciput is not much less |