It has been said continually that the Tartars have bowed legs, and monogenists have not failed to discover from this fact a new proof of the influences of their mode of life, so necessary in order to maintain their thesis. They discovered at first sight, in this _general_ infirmity, a consequence of the habit of riding on horseback, without considering that the Arabs rode on horseback quite as often, and that, nevertheless, their noble bearing and straightness of limb did not suffer from it in the slightest. In tracing the source of this error, we perceive that it is a singular exaggeration of the facts stated by Pallas, who lived for so long a time amongst the Tartars. He simply says, “The sole fault in conformation which is _rather frequent_ among them, is a bend in the arms and legs, resulting from a kind of spoon, or saddle, upon which they are always placed in their cradle, as if they were on horseback, and therefore, as soon as they learn to walk, they are obliged at every movement to accustom themselves to the position of riding.”[118] This is what Pallas says; but it is very clear that he is here speaking merely of exceptional cases, for he says higher up, “I do not remember to have ever seen a child who was a cripple. Their education, which is entirely left to nature, can only form bodies which are healthy and _without a blemish_.”[119] If occasionally the accounts of travellers have been exaggerated, it is not less the rule, that certain races show a conformation of the extremities very different to what it is among ourselves. Albrecht Durer has already made this remark. In the Negro, for instance, the length of the forearm is much greater than in the European. It is proportional to the height in these two races :: 107 : 100.[120] The thumb of the Negro’s hand is also generally much less opposed to the other fingers. In certain races of mankind, the hand itself is of an extraordinary small size. This is the case among the Bosjesmans, the Chinese, the Esquimaux,[121] and the Cingalese.[122] It was the same among the races who built the grand American temples, where we find upon the stones the imprint in red of their hands.[123] The same thing has been said about the ancient population of northern Europe, who were ignorant of the use of iron, and only used weapons made of bronze.[124] But the study of the magnificent collection of Scandinavian antiquities in the Berlin Museum, has not proved to ourselves that the hilts of _all_ these arms were as small as has been pretended.