The Esquimaux are another race which is very inferior; and in them nothing is developed, scarcely, save the mere animal nature; hence their stomachs have all the nervous power, almost, of their whole constitutions. They have virtually no mental life beyond that necessary for carrying on the affairs of daily life. One never hears of any mental achievement coming from an Esquimau; more than this, their animal nature is itself actually inferior in muscular power to that of those tribes and races of men whose general régime is comparatively free from fats and animal oils.
Throughout history the general run of the people—the natives—subsisted almost entirely upon a vegetarian diet; and any large quantity of meat was not consumed, for the reason that it could not be procured. The upper classes subsisted more or less upon meat—which might have accounted for their eventual degeneracy!—as the whole nation degenerated when meat-eating became general, as in Greece and Rome. But in the early stages of the history of these nations, and of others, meat was a luxury, to be eaten on holidays and fête days, rather than a steady article of diet; it could by no means be procured every day or every meal, as is now the case. The principal food of the natives of Egypt, India, Mexico, Chili, Brazil, Cyprus, Arabia, Bolivia, the Canary Islands, Italy, Ceylon, Japan, Sierra Leone, Greece, Malta, Turkey, China, Palestine, Algiers, the African Coast, Poland, Russia, Norway, Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland, Ireland, and, until recently, England—is some form of vegetarian food—bread, rice, fruits, cheese, and various grains. The details of these dietaries are to be found in Russell’s “Strength and Diet,” where a very full summary of all these dietaries are to be found. I refer my reader to that work for further information upon these lines. But one or two examples are needed to illustrate this. Thus we read:
“It is indeed surprising to see how simple and poor is the diet of the Egyptian peasantry, and how robust and healthy most of them are, and how severe is the labour they undergo. The boatmen of the Nile are mostly strong muscular men, rowing, poling and towing continually; but very cheerful and often the most so when most occupied, for they amuse themselves by singing.”
The staple food of India is, of course, rice, to which is added a poor grain called râgi, pulse, roots, fruits, and one or two other articles of diet. The men from the hilly district are described as tall—being from five feet ten inches, to six feet high. They used to carry the mail from Calcutta to Bombay by foot—but twenty-five days being allowed for this journey, an average of sixty-two miles a day.
Few people surpass the Arabs for longevity, agility, and power of endurance; yet they subsist largely upon dates, milk, and honey. The peasants of Italy are a splendid, hardy set, living almost entirely upon cakes and porridge of chestnut, bread, garlic, and a little wine. The Greek boatmen are exceedingly abstemious, their food consisting of a small quantity of black bread, made of unbolted rye or wheat meal, a bunch of grapes or raisins, figs, etc. They are extremely vigorous and active, as well as blithesome, jovial and full of hilarity. Sir William Fairbairn, in his “Report on Sanitary Conditions,” says:
“The boatmen and water carriers of Constantinople are decidedly, in my opinion, the finest men in Europe, as regards their physical development, and they are all water drinkers; they take a little sherbet at times. Their diet is chiefly bread, now and then a cucumber, with cherries, figs, dates, mulberries, or other fruits which are abundant there; now and then a little fish.”
In Dr Mackenzie Wallace’s “Russia,” we read:
“Eggs, black bread, milk and tea—these form my ordinary articles of diet during all my wanderings in northern Russia. Occasionally a potato could be had, and afforded the possibility of varying the bill of fare.... The people of Russia generally subsist on coarse black rye bread, and garlics. I have often hired men to labour for me in Russia, which they would do from sixteen to eighteen hours, for eight cents a day. They would come on board in the morning with a piece of their black bread weighing about a pound, and a bunch of garlics as big as one’s fist. This was all their nourishment for the day of sixteen or eighteen hours labour.”
The fare of the Swiss workmen is very frugal.
“They rarely taste flesh, their food being principally, bread, cheese, potatoes, vegetables and fruit, though in the towns the consumption of meat is somewhat greater. The middle classes fare pretty much as the working classes, all consuming large quantities of milk.”