'In Australia there was more open ground, and in many parts the method
was to carry a load on the head. Thus, the native women were better of
figure, though quite unequal to their 116 THE ROMANCE OF A PRO-CONSUL.
lithe, graceful Kaffir sisters of South Africa. Here the country was free
and open, and the carrying of a weight on the head naturally followed.'
Second, the men of those races.
'The Australians,' Sir George went on, 'were hunters, and had to climb
trees in search of opossums. They drove holes into the trunks with their
stone axes, dug in their big toes, and ascended. Such efforts provided
them with long legs, while, again, they walked with turned-in toes. Why?
Having scrub to penetrate, they must cut roads through it--a tiresome
labour, not pursued more than was necessary. If they turned in their
toes, they could sidle along a mere bee-line of clearing.
'The Maoris were very short in the limbs, this arising from the amount of
time they spent in their canoes. Peculiarities of environment equally
distinguish the Kaffirs, who were the most agile of the three races. Set
against any of the others, all in the primitive state, the Kaffirs might
have prevailed, though who could say? Neither the Maoris, nor the
Australians, worked in iron weapons, while the Kaffirs did, and that
circumstance would have told, in the clash of prevailing or going down.
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