Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
The inhabitants of the kingdom of Pegu and Aracan are more black, yet
bear a strong resemblance both to the Siamese and the Chinese. Those of
Aracan put great value upon a forehead large and flat, and to render
them so, they apply a plate of lead to the forehead of their children
the minute they are born. Their nostrils are large, their eyes are
small and lively, and their ears are of such length as to hang over
their shoulders. They feed without disgust on mice, rats, serpents,
and fish, however corrupted. Their women are tolerably fair, and their
ears are as long as those of the men. The people of Achen, who are
situated further north than those of Aracan, have also flat visages,
and an olive-coloured skin; they allow their boys to go quite naked,
and their girls have only a slight plate of silver to conceal what
Nature dictates.
None of these nations differ much from the Chinese, and all resemble
the Tartars in the smallness of their eyes, the largeness of their
visage, and the olive colour of their skin. In proceeding southward the
features begin to change more sensibly. The inhabitants of Malacca,
and of the island of Sumatra, are black, diminutive, lively, and well
proportioned. Though naked from the middle upward, a little kind of
scarf excepted, which they wear sometimes over the right and sometimes
over the left shoulder, their aspect is fierce. They are naturally
brave, and even formidable when they have swallowed a certain quantity
of opium, which intoxicates them with a kind of fury.
According to Dampier, the inhabitants of Sumatra and Malacca are of the
same race; they speak nearly the same language, and they have the same
bold and haughty disposition. They are of a middling stature, their
visage long, their eyes black, their noses of a moderate size, their
lips thin, and their teeth are blackened.
In the island of Pugniatan, or Pissagan, within 16 leagues of Sumatra,
the natives are tall, and of a yellow complexion, like the Brazilians;
their hair is long, and they go completely naked. Those of the Nicobar
islands, which lie northward of Sumatra, are of a tawny or yellowish
colour, and they also go naked. In speaking of these last islanders,
Dampier says, that they are tall and well proportioned; that their
visage is long, their hair black and straight, and their noses of a
moderate size; that the women have no eye-brows, which it is probable
they do not suffer to grow. In Sombreo, an island north of the Nicobar
islands, the inhabitants are very black, and they paint their faces
with green, yellow, and other colours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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