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200
the civilized man. The solitude in which he lives
renders him dull, and gives him an appearance of
melancholy. He seldom speaks, or laughs. Soci-
ety rarely enlivens his features. When not engaged
in hunting or in war, having no object to rouse him,
he will often sit for hours in one posture, with his
eyes fixed to a single point, and his senses lost in
sombre, and unmeaning reverie. These solitary
feelings, and melancholy emotions, serve to cast over
his visage, which other causes render fixed, and un-
expressive, a sad and lugubrious air. The wild
scenes of nature around him impress some resem-
blance of themselves on his features;-and the pas-
sions of war and rage, which are almost the only ones
that occupy the mind of a savage, frequently mingle
with the whole an aspect of brutal ferocity.*

* The inhabitants of most of the small islands in the great
Southern and Pacific oceans form an exception to his general
character of the savage countenance. Prevented, by their iso-
lated state, from engaging in perpetual hostilities with neighbor-
ing and warlike tribes, like the continental savages, and several
of those of the larger islands, they are distinguished by an air of
mildness and complacency, which is much increased in conse-
quence of their easy and social manner of living. And this is
greatly promoted by the mildness of their climate, and the
abundance of simple and nutritious food spontaneously suppli-
ed by their soil.

201
Paucity of ideas, solitude, and melancholy contri-
bute likewise, in no small degree, to form the re-
maining features of a savage countenance,-a mouth
large, and somewhat protruded, a dilatation of the
face, and a general laxness and swell of its muscles.
The active exercise of thought, and the inter-
course of refined society, induce a tension, and ac-
tion in the muscles of the face which serve to give
it a greater elevation towards the middle. But the
vacant mind of the savage leaving these muscles lax
and unexerted, they swell into larger dimensions,
dilating themselves more towards the sides, than ris-
ing towards the center of the face. Hence, perhaps,
that plumpness of feature, and roundness of visage,
or departure from the oval figure, which we so often
find in young persons, and especially young women,
who have been bred in the retirement of the country.*
Grief peculiarly affects the lips by distending
them, and giving them a swoln appearance. Soli-
tude, gloom or melancholy, in proportion to the de-

* And may not the superior advances made in society, and
the arts, in Europe, with the superior vigor and energy of the
human character in that quarter of the world, be one reason of
the greater elevation of the European above that of the Asiatic
countenance?
A A