I noticed
that all were female, and their abnormally large udders suggested that
they were domestic creatures kept for their milk. Not being able to
see a path through the field, I went straight forward, endeavouring to
trample the pasture as little as I could, but being surprised to
remark how very little the plants had been injured by the feet of the
animals. The leaves had been grazed, but the stems were seldom or
never broken. In fact, the animals seemed to have gathered their food
as man would do, with an intelligent or instinctive care not to injure
the plant so as to deprive it of the power of reproducing their
sustenance.
In another minute I discerned the object of my paramount interest, of
whose vicinity I had thus far seen nearly every imaginable evidence
except himself. It was undoubtedly a man, but a man very much smaller
than myself. His eyes were fixed upon the ground as if in reverie, and
he did not perceive me till I had come within fifty yards of him, so
that I had full time to remark the peculiarities of his form and
appearance. He was about four feet eight or nine inches in height,
with legs that seemed short in proportion to the length and girth of
the body, but only because, as was apparent on more careful scrutiny,
the chest was proportionately both longer and wider than in our race;
otherwise he greatly resembled the fairer families of the Aryan breed,
the Swede or German.
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