In the most northerly regions of America, we find a species of Laplanders, similar to those of Europe, or to the Samoiedes of Asia. Though their numbers are few, they are spread over a large extent of country. Those who live round Davis’s Straits, are small, of an olive colour, and [166] have short thick limbs. They are excellent fishers, and eat their meat and fish raw. Their drink is pure water, or the blood of the sea-dog. They are robust, and long-lived.* These are exactly the figure, colour, and manners of the Laplanders: And, what is singular, as the Fins, who are adjacent to the European Laplanders, are white, beautiful, and pretty large and handsome; so, in the neighbourhood of the American Laplanders, we find a species of men, who are tall, handsome, pretty white, and possessed of very regular features.+ The savages along Hudson’s Bay, and to the north of Labrador, though they are small, ill made, and ugly, appear not to be of the same race with the former. Their visage is almost entirely covered with hair, like the savages of the lands of Jesso, to the north of Japan. In summer they dwell in tents made of the skins of the rein-deer; and, in winter, they live under ground, like the Laplanders and Samoiedes, where they lie promiscuously, and without ceremony. Though their food consists only of raw flesh and fish, they live very long.3 The savages of Newfoundland resemble those of Davis’s Straits. They are of small stature, have little or no beard, broad faces, large eyes, and generally flat noses. The traveller who gives the description, adds, that they [167] have a great similarity to the savages in the environs of Greenland.*
To the south of these savages, who are spread over the northern regions of America, we meet with a different and more numerous race, who occupy Canada, and the adjacent territories, as far as the Assiniboils. They are large, strong, well made, and all of them have black hair, black eyes, very white teeth, a swarthy colour, little beard, and hardly any hair on their bodies. They are indefatigable in travelling, and extremely nimble in the chace [sic]. With equal ease they can support hunger, and the greatest excess in eating. They are hardy, bold, grave, and moderate: In a word, they have so strong a resemblance, both in their external appearance, and in their manners and dispositions, to the oriental Tartars, that, if they were not separated by a vast sea, we would believe them to have sprung from the same nation. They also live under the same latitude; which is a farther proof of the influence of climate upon the figure and colour of the human species. To conclude, in the northern extremities of the New Continent, as well as in those of the old, we first find men similar to the Laplanders, and likewise a race of whites with fair hair, like the inhabitants of the north of Europe; then hairy men resembling the savages of Jeffo; and, lastly, the savages of Canada, who occupy the whole territory as far [168] as the Gulf of Mexico, and so strongly resemble the Tartars, that, if there were no embarrassment concerning the possibility of migration, we would conclude them to be the very same people. However, if we attend to the small number of men scattered over the immense territories of North America, and their universal want of civilization, we must admit that all these nations of savages have been peopled by the escape of individuals from some more numerous race. Though we should allow the number of natives to be now reduced to a twentieth part of what they were on the first discovery of America, still this country was even then so thinly inhabited, that it must be considered as a desart [sic], or a land so recently peopled, that the men had not time sufficient for an extensive multiplication. M. Fabry,* who penetrated farther into the interior parts of this country, to the northwest of the Missisippi [sic] than any other man had done, and where, of course, the savages could not have suffered any diminution by the inroads of the Europeans, assures us, that he often travelled in this region 200 leagues without seeing a human face, or any marks which indicated the adjacent country to be inhabited; and that, when he did meet with any Indian huts, they were always at least 100 leagues distant from each other, and seldom contained above 20 persons. Along the banks of rivers and lakes, it is true, the savages [169] are more numerous, and some of them are even troublesome to our colonists. But these nations seldom exceed three or four thousand persons, and are spread over a country often more extensive than the kingdom of France: so that I am persuaded there are more men in Paris than all the natives of North America, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northern Ocean, though this territory is much larger than Europe.
Population depends more on society than Nature. Men would not be comparatively so numerous as the savage animals, if they were not united, and derived not mutual aid and succour from society. In North America, the bisons* are perhaps more abundant than the men. But, though population be a result of society, it is the increased number of men which necessarily produces their unity. We may, therefore, presume, that the want of civilization in America is owing to the paucity of its inhabitants; for, though each nation had peculiar customs and manners, though some were more savage, cruel, and dastardly than others; yet they were all equally stupid, ignorant, and destitute of arts and of industry.
I have run, perhaps, into too great a detail concerning the manners of savage nations. Most authors have mistaken the particular actions of individuals, which often result from caprice or unknown circumstances, for the general and [170] established manners of a nation. Some people, they tell us, eat their enemies; others burn or maim them; some delight in war; others love peace. Some kill their parents after they arrive at a certain age; among others, the fathers and mothers eat their own children. These, and similar narrations, so much delighted in by travellers, are reducible to single facts, and import no more than that one individual savage eat his enemy, another burned or maimed him, and a third killed or eat his own child. All these examples may be found in every savage nation; for a people who live without the restraint of fixed laws, or of a regular government, can only be considered as a tumultuous assemblage of barbarous and independent individuals, who obey no laws but those of passion and caprice, and who, having no common interest, are incapable of pursuing any determined standard of manners, which supposes general views that have obtained the sanction both of time and a majority of numbers.
A nation, it may be said, is composed of men who are known to each other, who speak the same language, who unite, when necessary, under the same chief, who use the same arms, and who paint themselves with the same colours: to this we might subscribe, without difficulty, if these manners were constant and uniform; if the people did not often unite and separate without design; if their chief lost not all authority [171] by their caprice or his own; and if their language was not so simple as to be almost common to every tribe.
As they have but few ideas, their expressions are limited to the most common objects; and, though every mode of expression should differ from another; yet the smallness of their number necessarily renders them of easy acquisition. It is not, therefore, so difficult for a savage to learn the language of all other savages, as for a polished man to learn the language of another people equally advanced in civilization.
But it is, perhaps, of more importance to examine the nature of the individual savage, than to enlarge upon the manners and customs of these pretended nations. Of all animals, a savage man is the most singular, the least known, and the most difficult to describe. We are so ill qualified to distinguish the genuine gifts of Nature from what is acquired by education, art, and imitation, that it would not be surprising if we should totally mistake the real portrait of a savage, though the natural colouring and features of his character were faithfully represented to us.
An absolute savage, such as the boy brought up by the bear, described by Conor,* the young man found in the forest of Hanover, or the girl discovered in the woods of France, would be a curious object to a philosopher, by the contemplation of which he might estimate the force of natural [172] appetites. Here he would see the mind perfectly naked; he might distinguish all its movements; he might, perhaps, discover in it more sweetness and tranquility than in his own; he might, perhaps, clearly perceive, that virtue is more natural to the savage than to the civilized, and that vice derives its origin and support from society alone.
But to return to our subject: If North America affords only savages, Mexico and Peru present us with a polished people, governed by laws, and subject to regal establishments. They had industry, arts, and a species of religion. They dwelt in cities, where order and police were maintained by the authority of the sovereign. These people, who were very numerous, cannot be considered as new nations, or as originating from individuals who had escaped from Europe or Asia, from whom they are so remote. Besides, if the savages of North America, because they are situated under the same latitude, resemble the Tartars; the people of Mexico and Peru, though, like the Negroes, they live under the Torrid Zone, have no similarity to them. What then is the origin of these people, and what cause can be assigned for the difference of colour in the human species, since the influence of climate is insufficient, in this case, to solve the phaenomenon?
Before answering these questions, we must continue our description of the savages of South America. Those of Florida, of the Missisippi [sic], [173] and of the more southerly regions, though not absolutely brown, are more tawny than the Canadians. The oil and paint with which they rub their bodies, render their colour unnaturally olive. Coreal tells us, that the women of Florida are tall, strong, and like the men, of an olive colour; that they paint their arms, limbs, and body, with several colours, which remain for ever, because they are engrained in the skin by means of puncturing; that the olive colour of both sexes proceeds not so much from the heat of the climate, as from the oil with which they varnish their skin: He adds, that the women are extremely active; that, with an infant in their arms, they swim across large rivers; and that, with equal agility, they climb the highest trees.* All these qualities they possess in common with the Canadians and other savages of America. The author of the Natural and Moral History of the Antilles remarks, that the Apalachians, a people bordering on Florida, are tall, well-shaped, and of an olive colour; and that they all have long black hair: He adds, that the Caribbees, who inhabit the Antilles, have sprung from the savages of Florida; and that the time of their migration has been handed down by tradition.+
The natives of the Lucai islands are less tawny than those of St Domingo and Cuba. But so [174] few of either now remain, that the relations of the first voyagers to these countries can derive no support from them. These people, it has been alledged, were very numerous; that they were governed by a kind of chiefs called Caciques; and that they had priests and physicians. But all this is problematical, and, besides, has no connection with our history. The Caribbees, in general, says Father du Tertre, are tall, and have a pleasant aspect; they are strong, robust, active, and healthy; some of them have flat visages and depressed noses: But these features are not natural to them, but artificially induced by their parents, soon after birth. This capricious practice of altering the natural figure of the head is very general among savage nations. Most of the Caribbees have small black eyes, white teeth, and long, smooth, black hair. Their colour is tawny or olive; and this colour is natural to them, and not the effect of painting, as some authors have maintained; for the colour of such of their children as have been trained up among Europeans, and not allowed the use of paint, was precisely the same with that of their parents. All these savages, though they never think, have a pensive melancholy aspect. Though cruel to their enemies, they are naturally mild and compassionate. They marry indifferently, either their own mothers or strangers. Their cousins-german belong to them by law; and several of them have been known to possess, at the same time, two sisters, [175] or the mother and the daughter, and even their own daughter. Those who have several wives visit them alternately for a month, or a stated number of days, which extinguishes jealousy among the women. They easily pardon adultery in their wives; but the never forgive him who debauches them. They feed upon crabs, turtles, lizards, serpents, and fishes, which they season with pimento and the flour of manioc.* Being extremely indolent, and accustomed to the most unbounded independence, they detest servitude, and never can be trained to labour like the Negroes. To preserve their liberty, they exert every effort; and when they find it impracticable, they, rather than work, chuse to die of hunger, or of chagrin. The Arrouaguas, who are milder than the Caribbees, are sometimes employed; but it is only in fishing or hunting, exercises of which they are naturally fond, and to which they have been accustomed in their own country. If these savages are to be retained as slaves, they must be treated with as much gentleness as domestic servants, otherwise they will desert, or perish with melancholy. The Brasilian slaves have nearly the same disposition, though they seem to be less stupid, indolent, and melancholy than any other American savages. However, when treated with gentleness, they may be trained to any operation, except that of cultivating the ground [176] which they consider as the characteristic bade of slavery.
Savage women are always less than the men. The Caribbee females are fat, and tolerably handsome. Their hair and eyes are black; their visage is round, their mouth small, their teeth white; their air is more open, gay, and lively, than that of the men; and they are modest and reserved. They daub themselves with paint; but they do not use the black strokes upon the face and other parts of the body, as is customary with the men. They wear only a small apron, made of cotton, studded with beads, about eight or ten inches broad by five or six long. This stuff they purchase of the Europeans; and, besides the apron, they use collars of the same cloth round their necks, which hang down upon their bosoms. They likewise wear bracelets of this stuff on their wrists and arms, and ear-rings made of a blue stone or of strings of beads. The last ornament peculiar to the women is a kind of buskin of cotton studded with beads, which extends from the ankle to the calf of the leg. As soon as the girls arrive at the age of puberty, they are furnished with an apron and buskins, the latter of which are made so tight, that they cannot be removed; and, as they prevent the under part of the leg from thickening, the upper parts grow larger and stronger than they would naturally do.* [177]
The inhabitants of Mexico and Peru are so mixed, that it is difficult to find two faces of the same colour. In the town of Mexico, there are Europeans, Indians from north and south America, African Negroes, Mulattoes, and mongrels of every kind; so that we see men there of every shade between black and white.* The natives of the Isthmus of America are, as Wafer remarks, generally of a good stature and shape. They have elegant limbs, a full chest, and are extremely active and fleet in the chace. They women are little and squat; and though, when young, they are jolly and have brilliant eyes; yet they possess not equal vivacity with the men. Both men and women have round faces, short flat noses, large eyes, mostly of a gray colour, and full of fire, high fore-heads, white teeth, thin lips, mouths of a middle size, and, in general, a very regular set of features. They all have long, black, straight hair; and the men would have beards, if they did not pull out the hairs. Their colour is tawny; and their eye-brows are as black as jet.
But these are not the only natives of this Isthmus; for we find among them a species of [178] white men, whose colour resembles not that of the Europeans, but their whiteness is similar to that of milk, or to the hairs of a white horse. Their skin is covered with a kind of short white down, which is not so thick upon the cheeks and fore-head as to conceal the skin. Their eyebrows are perfectly white, as well as their hair, which is seven or eight inches long, and half crisped. These Indians are not so tall as the others; and, what is singular, their eye-lids are oblong, or rather in the form of a crescent, with the points turned down. Their eyes are so weak, that they can hardly see any object during the day; they cannot suffer the rays of the sun, and have no distinct vision but from the light of the moon. Their complexion is extremely delicate; they have an abhorrence at all hard labour; they sleep during the day, and never go abroad but in the night. When the moon shines, they run through the deepest shades of the forests with as much freedom and nimbleness as other men do in the clearest day. Upon the whole, these men are neither so robust nor vigorous as the other Indians: They form a peculiar and distinct race. But it sometimes happens, that a husband and wife, though both of a copper colour, produce one of these white children. Water, from whom I have transcribed these facts, tells us, that he has seen a child of this kind before it was a year old.* [179]
If this fact be true, the singular colour and constitution of these white Indians would be only a species of disease which they derive from their parents. But, if these white Indians are not produced by those of a copper colour, but form a distinct race, then they resemble the Chacrelas of Java, and the Bedas of Ceylon, which I have described above. If, however, these white people actually proceed from copper-coloured parents, we must allow that the Chacrelas and Bedas have also been produced by tawny progenitors, and that all the white men, whom we find at such great distances from each other, form not a particular race, but are only individuals who have accidentally degenerated from their original stock.
This last opinion, I acknowledge, seems to be the most probable; and, if voyagers had given us descriptions of the Bedas and Chacrelas equally exact with what Wafer has given of the Dariens, we should, perhaps, have been satisfied that they are not, any more than the latter, of European extraction. The production of whites by Negro parents, which sometimes happens, adds great force to this theory. In the history of the French Academy, we have descriptions two of these white Negroes. I have seen one of them myself, and I am assured, that they are very frequent among the Negroes of Africa.* What I have seen, independent of the relations [180] of voyagers, leaves me no room to doubt concerning the origin of these white Negroes: They are only Negroes who have degenerated from their race, and not a particular and permanent species of men: In a word, they are among the Negroes, what Wafer tells us the white Indians are among the yellow or copper-coloured Indians of Darian, and probably, what the Chacrelas and Bedas are among the brown Indians of the East. It is singular, that this variation of nature takes place only from black to white, and not from white to black. It is no less singular, that all the people in the East Indies, in Africa, and in America, where these white men appear, lie under the same latitude: The Isthmus of Darien, the Negro country, and the island of Ceylon, are under the same parallel. Whites [sic], then, appears to be the primitive colour of nature, which may be varied by climate, by food, and by manners, to yellow, brown, and black, and which, in certain circumstances, returns, but so greatly altered, that it has no resemblance to the original whiteness, because it has been adulterated by the causes which have already been assigned.
Upon the whole, the two extremes continually approach each other. Nature, in her most perfect exertions, made men white; and the same Nature, after suffering every possible change, still renders them white: But the natural or specific whiteness is very different from the indivi- [181] dual or accidental. Of this we have examples in vegetables, as well as in men and other animals. A white rose is very different, even in the quality of whiteness, from a red rose, which has been rendered white by the autumnal frosts.
A still farther proof that those white men are only degenerated individuals, may be drawn from their comparative weakness of constitution, and from the extreme feebleness of their eyes. This last fact will appear to be less singular, when we reflect, that, in Europe, very fair men have generally weak eyes; and I have frequently remarked that their organs of hearing are often dull. Nay, it is even alledged, that dogs of a perfect white colour, are deaf: Whether this be generally the case, I know not; but I have found it to be true in several instances.
Like the natives of the Isthmus, the Indians of Peru are of a copper-colour, especially those who dwell in the plains, and along the sea-coast; for those who live in the elevated parts of the country, as between the two chains of the Cordeliers, are nearly as white as the Europeans. Some parts of Peru are a league higher than others, which, with regard to the temperature of the climate, produces a greater change than an hundred leagues of latitude. All the Indians in Guiana and along the river of the Amazons, are more or less of a reddish tawny colour. The difference of shades, says M. de la Condamine, is chiefly owing to the temperature of the air [182] which varies from the extreme heat of the Torrid Zone, to the great colds occasioned by the neighbourhood of the snow.* Some of these savages, as the Omaguas, flatten the visages of their children, by lacing their heads between two boards.+ Others pierce the nostrils, lips, or cheeks, in order to fix in them the bones of fishes, feathers, and other ornaments. Most of them pierce their ears, and use flowers and herbs in place of ear-rings.3 Concerning the Amazones, I shall be entirely silent. The reader may consult the writers upon this subject; and after perusing them, he will not discover evidence sufficient to prove the existence of this race of females.4
Some voyagers mention a nation in Guiana, of which the natives are blacker than any other Indians. The Arras, says Raleigh, are nearly as black as the Negroes, are extremely strong, and use poisoned arrows. This author speaks likewise of another nation of Indians, whose necks are so short, and shoulders so elevated, that their eyes seem to be upon their shoulders, and their mouths in their breast. This monstrous deformity cannot be natural: It is not improbable, that savages, who delight in disfigu- [183] ring Nature by flattening, rounding, or lengthening the heads of their children, should likewise conceive the fancy of sinking their heads between their shoulders. To give rise to such absurd caprices, nothing farther was necessary than the idea that deformity rendered them more terrible to their enemies. The Scythians, who were formerly as savage as the present American Indians, entertained the same notions, and practiced the same ridiculous arts, which unquestionably gave rise to what the antients have written concerning men without heads, men with dogs heads, &c.
The savages of Brasil are nearly of the same size with the Europeans; but they are stronger, more robust, and more nimble: Neither are they subject to so many diseases; and they live very long. Their hair, which is black, rarely grows hoary with age. Their colour is tawny, being a mixture of brown and red. They have large heads, broad shoulders, and long hair. They pull the hairs out of their beards, their eye-brows, and every other part of their bodies, which gives them an uncommon and fierce aspect. They pierce their under lip for the purpose of inserting a small bone polished like ivory, or a green stone. The mothers flatten the noses of their children immediately after birth. They all go absolutely naked, and paint their bodies with various colours.* Those of them who [184] lie on the sea-coasts are now a little civilized by the trade they carry on with the Portugueze; but most of those who inhabit the interior parts of the country are still absolute savages. It is not by force and by slavery that savages are civilized: The missionaries have polished more men in these savage nations than the arms of those princes who subdued them. It was in this manner that Paraguay was conquered. The natural ferocity and stubbornness of these savages were overcome by the gentleness, humanity, and venerable examples of the missionaries. They often spontaneously solicited to be instructed in that law which rendered men so perfect; and they frequently submitted to its precepts, and united with society. Nothing can reflect greater honour on religion than the civilizing of these nations of Barbarians, and laying the foundations of an empire, without employing any other arms but those of virtue and humanity.
The inhabitants of Paraguay are, in general, pretty tall, and well shaped: Their visage is long, and their skin of an olive colour.* They are sometimes affected with an extraordinary disease: It is a species of leprosy, which forms a crust over the whole body, resembling the [185] scales of fishes; but it neither occasions pain, nor does any injury to their constitution.*
Like the Peruvians, the Indians of Chili, according to Frezier, are of a tawny colour, resembling reddish copper. This colour is different from that of the Mulattoes, who, as they are produced by a white man and a Negro woman, or a white woman and a Negro man, are of a brown colour, or a mixture of black and white. The Indians of South America, on the contrary, are yellow, or rather reddish. The natives of Chili are of a good size; they have thick limbs, a large chest, a disagreeable visage, small eyes, long ears, and straight, bushy, black hair. They lengthen their ears, and pull out their beard with pinchers made of shells. Though the climate be cold, most of them go naked, excepting a skin thrown over their shoulders. At the extremity of Chili, and on the confines of Terra Magellanica, a gigantic race of men have, it is alledged, been lately discovered. Frezier informs us, on the authority of several Spaniards, who pretended to be eye-witnesses, that these men are nine or ten feet high. These giants, he remarks, are called Patagonians, and inhabit the eastern parts of the desert coast mentioned in antient voyages: The story of the Patagonians was afterwards regarded as perfectly fabulous; because the Indians discovered along the Straits of Magellan surpassed not the ordinary stature [186] of men. It is this circumstance, he continues, that might deceive Froger in his account of the voyage of M. de Gennes; for both species of men have been seen at the same time by the crew of one vessel. In 1709, the crew of the James of St Malo saw seven of these giants in Gregory Bay, and those of the St Peter of Marseilles saw six, whom they accosted, and offered them bread, wine, and brandy, which they refused, though they had presented the sailors with some arrows, and assisted them in bringing the ship’s boat ashore.* But, as M. Frezier does not alledge that he himself saw any of these savages, and as the relations which mention them are replete with exaggerations with regard to other subjects, the existence of a race of giants, especially so high as ten feet, must be still held as problematical: The body of such a man must be eight times the bulk of that of an ordinary person. The mean height of the human species is about five feet; and the extremes exceed not one foot above or below this standard. A man of six feet is very tall, and a man of four is very little. Giants and dwarfs who exceed these terms ought to be considered as accidental varieties, and not as distinct and permanent races.
Farther, if those Magellanic giants exist, their number must be very small; for the savages of the Straits and of the adjacent islands are of a middle stature. Their colour is olive; they have [187] a large chest, squat bodies, thick limbs, and black straight hair.* In a word, their stature exceeds not the common standard, and, both in colour and hair, they resemble the other Americans.
Thus, the whole continent of America contains but one race of men, who are all more or less tawny: And, if we except the northern regions, where we find men similar to the Laplanders, and likewise men with fair hair, like the inhabitants of the north of Europe, all the rest of this vast territory is peopled with inhabitants, among whom there is little or no diversity. In the Antient Continent, on the other hand, we have found a prodigious variety in different nations. This great uniformity among the natives of America seems to proceed from their living all in the same manner. All the Americans were, or still are savages: The Mexicans and Peruvians were so recently polished, that they ought not to be regarded as an exception. Whatever, therefore, was the origin of these savages, it seems to have been common to the whole. All the Americans have sprung from the same source, and have preserved, with little variation, the characters of their race; for they have all continued in a savage state, and have [188] followed nearly the same mode of life. Their climates are not so unequal, with regard to heat or cold, as those of the antient Continent, and their establishment in this country has been too recent to allow those causes which produce varieties sufficient time to operate, so as to render their effects conspicuous.
Each of these reasons merits a separate discussion. That the Americans are a new people, can admit of no doubt, when we consider the smallness of their number, their ignorance, and the little progress made by the most civilized of them in the arts of life: For, though the first relations of the discovery and conquest of America mention Mexico, Peru, St Domingo, &c. as countries full of people, and though we are told, that the Spaniards had every where to conquer numerous armies; yet it is easy to perceive that these facts are exaggerated; because, in the first place, few monuments remain of the pretended grandeur of these people; 2dly, Because their country, though now peopled with Europeans, who are unquestionably more industrious than the natives, is still wild, uncultivated, and covered with wood; and, besides, it is only a group of inaccessible and uninhabitable mountains, which, of course, leaves only small spots proper either for culture or habitation; 3dly, Because, even according to their own traditions, concerning the time when they first united into society, the Peruvians reckon only 12 [189] kings, the first of whom began to civilize them;* and thus it appears, that not above 300 years had elapsed since the Peruvians ceased to be absolutely savage; 4thly, Because, if these people had been numerous, the Europeans, even with the advantage of gun-powder, would never have been able to enslave them. The Negroes, notwithstanding all our attempts to conquer and reduce them to subjection, still preserve their independence, though the effects of gun-powder were equally unknown and equally formidable to them as to the Americans. The facility, therefore, with which America was conquered, appears to be a demonstration that this country was thinly and recently inhabited.
In the new Continent, the temperature of the different climates is more equal than in the Antient Continent. This effect is the production of several causes. The Torrid Zone is not so hot in America as in Africa. The territories of America comprehended under this Zone are Mexico, New Spain, Peru, the country of the Amazones, Brasil, and Guiana. The heat is never excessive in Mexico, in New Spain, or in Peru; because these countries are greatly elevated above the ordinary surface of the globe. The thermometer, during the hottest weather, never rises so high in Peru as in France. The air is cooled by the snows which cover the tops of the mountains; and this cause, which is a [190] consequence of the former, has great influence on the temperature of the climate. The natives also, instead of being black or very brown, are only tawny. The country of the Amazones is covered with lakes, marshes, rivers, and forests. There the air is extremely moist, and, of course, much cooler than if the land were dry. It is, besides, worthy of remark, that the east wind, which blows constantly between the Tropics, arrives not at Brasil, the Amazone country, or Guiana, till it has traversed a vast ocean, and acquired a considerable degree of cold. It is for this reason, as well as the quantity of water, forests, and almost perpetual rains, that these regions of America are much more temperate than they would otherwise be. But the east wind, in traversing the low lands of America, acquires a considerable degree of heat before it arrives at Peru. The air in Peru, therefore, would be much hotter than in Brasil or Guiana, if it was not cooled by the elevation of the country and snows. The east wind, however, still retains so much heat as to have an influence on the colour of the natives; for those who, by their situation, are much exposed to it, are more yellow than those who live in the valleys between the mountains, and are protected from the effects of this wind. Besides, this wind, after striking against the high mountains, is reflected upon the adjacent plains, and carries along with it that freshness which it acquires from [191] the snow which covers their summits; and the melting of the snow must, of itself, frequently produce cool winds. The united operation of these causes renders the Torrid Zone of America uncommonly temperate. It is not, therefore, surprising, that we find not, in this country, black, or even brown men, similar to the natives of Africa or Asia who live under the same parallels, where the circumstances to be afterwards mentioned are extremely different. Whether we suppose, then, the inhabitants of America to have been antiently or recently established in that country, we ought not to find black men there; because their Torrid Zone is a temperate climate.
The last reason I mentioned for the little variety among the Americans, was the uniformity in their mode of living. They were all savage or very recently civilized, and they all lived in the same manner. Supposing them to have been derived from a common origin, they were dispersed, without having their breed crossed. Each family gave rise to a nation, the inhabitants of which were not only similar to each other, but to all the neighbouring tribes. As both their food and their climates were nearly the same, they had no means either of improving or degenerating. They must, therefore, have always continued the same, whatever climate they chanced to occupy. [192]
With regard to their origin, I have no doubt, independent of theological considerations, but that it is the same with ours. The resemblance of the North American savages to the oriental Tartars, renders it probable, that they originally sprung from the same stock. The late discoveries by the Russians of several lands and islands beyond Kamtschatka, which extend nearly as far as the west part of the Continent of America, leave no room to question the possibility of a communication, provided these discoveries were well attested, and the lands lay contiguous. But, even supposing considerable intervals of sea, is it not extremely probable that some had crossed these intervals in quest of new countries, or that they were thrown upon the American coasts by tempests? There is, perhaps, a greater interval of sea between the Marianne islands and Japan, than between any of the lands from Kamtschatka to America; and yet the Marianne islands were peopled with inhabitants who must have come from the eastern continent. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that the first men who arrived at America, landed on the north-west of California; that the extreme cold of this climate obliged them to migrate to the more southern parts of their new habitation; that they first settled at Mexico and Peru, from whence they again spread over the southern and northern regions of that continent; for Mexico and Peru must be considered as the oldest and first inha- [193] bited territories of America, because they are the most elevated, and the only countries where men were found in the form of regular societies. We may also presume that the inhabitants of Davis’s Straits, and of the northern parts of Labrador, came originally from Greenland, which is only separated from America by this narrow strait; for, as I formerly remarked, the natives of Davis’s Straits, and those of Greenland, have a perfect resemblance to each other. As to the manner in which Greenland was peopled, it is probable that the Laplanders would migrate from Cape-north, which is only 150 leagues from Greenland. Farther, as the island of Iceland is almost contiguous to Greenland, and is not very remote from the most northerly of the Orcades, it is probable that it has long been inhabited and frequented by the people of Europe; and that colonies had even been established in Greenland by the Danes. That white men, with fair hair, should have been found in Greenland, is not, therefore, surprising, as they derived their origin immediately from the Danes; and there is reason to think, that the white men along Davis’s Straits proceeded from the European whites, who had been settled in Greenland, from which they might easily pass by traversing the narrow sea that forms this strait.
America is not less singular for the uniformity in the figure and colour of its inhabitants, than Africa is remarkable for the variety of men [194] it contains. This part of the world is very antient, and it abounds with people. The climate is extremely hot; and yet the temperature of the air differs widely in different nations. Their manners also are not less various, as appears from the description given above. All these causes have concurred in producing a greater variety of men in this quarter of the globe than in any other: For, in examining the differences of temperatures in the countries of Africa, we find, that, in Barbary and all the regions adjacent to the Mediterranean, the men are white, and only a little tawny: This whole tract of country is refreshed, on one hand, by the air of the Mediterranean sea, and by the snows on Mount Atlas, on the other: It is, besides, situated in the Temperature Zone, on this side of the Tropic. All the natives, likewise, from Egypt to the Canary islands, are only more or less tawny. Beyond the Tropic, and on the other side of Mount Atlas, the heat becomes much greater, and the inhabitants are very brown, but not entirely black. But, when we come to the 17th or 18th degree of north latitude, under which Senegal and Nubia are situated, the heat is excessive, and the natives are perfectly black. At Senegal, the liquor in the thermometer rises to 38 degrees, while it seldom rises to 30 in France, and never exceeds 25 in Peru, though it be situated under the Torrid Zone. In Nubia, we have no observations made with the thermometer: But all travellers [195] agree in declaring the heat to be excessive. The sandy desarts between Upper Egypt and Nubia heat the air to such a degree, that the north wind must be extremely scorching in that country. Besides, as the east wind, which generally blows between the Tropics, arrives not at Nubia till after it has traversed Arabia, it is not surprising to find the natives very black: It is still less surprising to see the inhabitants of Senegal perfectly black; for the east wind, before it reaches them, must blow over the whole of Africa in its greatest breadth, which renders the heat of the air almost insupportable. Taking, therefore, the whole of Africa situated between the Tropics, where the east wind blows most constantly, we may easily conceive why the western coasts of this part of the globe should, and actually do suffer a greater degree of heat than the eastern coasts; for this wind arrives at the eastern coasts with a freshness which it acquires by traversing a vast sea; but, on the other hand, before it arrives at the western coasts, it acquires a scorching heat by blowing across the interior regions of Africa. It is for this reason that the coasts of Senegal, Sierra-Leona, Guiney, and all the western parts of Africa situated under the Tropics, are the hottest climates on the globe. It is not near so hot on the eastern coasts, as at Mosambique, Mombaza, &c. I cannot, therefore, hesitate in ascribing to this reason the cause of our finding the true Negroes, or the blackest [196] men, on the western territories of Africa, and Caffres, or men of a less deep blackness, on the eastern coasts. The difference between these two kinds of blacks, which is very apparent, proceeds from the heat of the climate, which is not very hot in the eastern parts, but excessive on the western. Beyond the Tropic on the south, the heat considerably diminishes, both on account of the higher latitude, and because the point of Africa begins to turn narrow; and this point of land, being surrounded by the sea, receives fresher breezes than if it had been in the midst of a continent. The natives also of this country begin to whiten, and are naturally more white than black, as was formerly remarked. Nothing can prove more clearly that the climate is the principal cause of the varieties of mankind, than this colour of the Hottentots, whose blackness could not be diminished but by the temperature of the climate.
We will be the more confirmed in this opinion, if we examine the other people who live under the Tropics, to the east of Africa. The inhabitants of the Maldiva islands, of Ceylon, of the point of the Indian Peninsula, of Sumatra, of Malacca, of Borneo, of Celebes, of the Philippine islands, &c. are all very brown, without being absolutely black; because all these territories are either islands or peninsula’s. The sea, in these climates, has a great effect in tempering the air; and besides, the east and west winds, [197] which blow alternately in this part of the globe; pass over a vast extent of sea, before they arrive at this Archipelago. Thus all these islands are peopled with brown men, because the heat is not excessive. But, in New Guiney, we find blacks, who, from the descriptions of voyagers, appear to be real Negroes; because in this country, which extends so far to the east as to form a kind of continent, the wind which traverses it is much hotter than that which prevails in the Indian ocean. In New Holland, which is not so hot a climate, the natives are less black, and very similar to the Hottentots. Do not these Negroes and Hottentots, who live so remote from the other people distinguished by that appellation, prove that their colour depends on the heat of the climate? No communication can ever be supposed to have taken place between Africa and this southern continent; and yet we find there the same species of men, because the same circumstances concur in producing the same degree of heat. An example taken from the other animals, will still farther confirm what has been advanced. It has been remarked, that, in the province of Dauphiny, all the swine are black, but that, in Vivarais, on the other side of the Rhone, where it is colder than in Dauphiny, all these animals are white. It is not probable that the inhabitants of one of these two provinces would agree to raise only black swine, and the other only white swine. It appears to me that this [198] phaenomenon is owing to the different temperature of the climates, combined, perhaps, with the manner of feeding these animals.
The few blacks who are found in the Philippines, and some other islands of the Indian ocean, are probably derived from the Papous or Negroes of New Guiney, with which the Europeans have been acquainted only for these last 50 years. Dampier, in the 1700, discovered the most eastern part of this country, to which he gave the name of New Britain; but its extent is still unknown; we only know that these parts of it which have been discovered, seem to be thinly inhabited.
Thus it appears, that the existence of Negroes is confined to those parts of the earth, where all the necessary circumstances concur in producing a constant and an excessive heat. This heat is so necessary, not only to the production, but even to the preservation of Negroes, that it has been remarked in our islands, where the heat, though great, is not comparable to that of Senegal, that the Negro infants are so liable to be affected by impressions from the air, that they are obliged to keep them, for the first nine days after birth, in close warm chambers. If these precautions be neglected, and the children exposed to the air immediately after birth, they are liable to be affected with a tetanus, or locked jaw, which proves fatal, because it deprives them of the power of taking nourishment. M. Littre, who [199] dissected a Negro in the year 1702, remarked, that the end of the glans, which was not covered with the prepuce, was black, and that the part of it which was covered was perfectly white.* This observation demonstrates, that the air is necessary to produce the blackness of Negroes. Their children are born white, or rather red, like those of other men. But, two or three days after birth, their colour changes to a yellowish tawny, which grows gradually darker till the 7th or 8th day, when they are totally black. It is well known, that all children, two or three days after birth, are affected with a kind of jaundice, which, among white people, soon passes off and leaves no impression: But in Negroes, on the contrary, it gives an indelible colour to the skin, which becomes always more and more black. M. Kolbe remarks, that he has seen Hottentot children, who were born as white as the Europeans, become olive in consequence of this jaundice which spreads over the skin three or four days after birth, and never goes off. This jaundice, and the impression of the air, however, are only the occasional, and not the primary causes of blackness; for it has been observed, that the children of Negroes, as soon as they come into the world, have black genitals, and a black spot at the root of their nails. The action of the air, and the jaundice, may, perhaps, help to expand this colour; but it is certain, that the [200] rudiments of blackness are communicated to them by their parents; that, in whatever part of the world a Negro is brought forth, he will be equally black as if he had been born in his own country; and that, if there is any difference in the first generation, it is so small as not to be perceptible. This fact, however, implies not that the colour will continue the same after many successive generations. On the contrary, there are many reasons for presuming, that, as this colour is originally the effect of a long continued heat, it will be gradually effaced by the temperature of a cold climate; and, consequently, that if a colony of Negroes were transplanted into a northern province, their descendants of the 8th, 10th, or 12th generation, would be much fairer, and perhaps as white as the natives of that climate.
Anatomists have inquired into the seat of this black colour. Some of them alledge, that it neither resides in the skin nor scarf-skin, but in the cellular membrane between them;* that this membrane, after long maceration in hot water, retains its original blackness; but that the skin and scarf-skin appear to be as white as those of other men. Dr Town, and some others, have maintained, that the blood of the Negroes is black, and that their blackness originates entirely from their blood.+ I am much inclined to [201] believe this fact; for I have observed, that, among us, the blood of those persons who have tawny, yellowish, or brown complexions, is blacker than those who are fairer. M. Barrere, who seems to have examined this subject most minutely,* tells us, and M. Winslow agrees with him,+ that the scarf-skin of Negroes is black; and, though its extreme thinness and transparency may make it appear white, that it is really as black as the blackest horn, when reduced to the same degree of thinness. They also assure us, that the skin of the Negroes is of a reddish brown colour, approaching black. This colour of the Negroes, according to Barrere, is produced by their bile, which he affirms, from several dissections he made in Cayenne, instead of yellow, to be as black as ink. The bile, when absorbed and dispersed through the b ody, tinges the skin of white people yellow; and, if it were black, it would probably produce a black colour. But, as soon as the effusion of the bile ceases, the skin resumes its natural whiteness. We must, therefore, suppose, that the bile of the Negroes is perpetually effused, or, as Barrere alledges, that it is so abundant as to be naturally secreted in the scarf-skin, and to tinge it of a black colour. Upon the whole, it is probable, that both the bile and blood of Negroes are browner than those of white people, as [202] their skin is likewise blacker. But one of these facts cannot be admitted to prove the cause of the other; for, if the blackness of the blood or bile be allowed to give the same colour to the skin, then, instead of demanding why the skin of Negroes is black, we ought to ask why their blood or their bile are of that colour? This species of false reasoning, in place of solving the question, renders it still more intricate. For my own part, it has always appeared to me, that the same cause which makes our complexions brown, after being exposed to the action of the air, and to the rays of the sun, which renders the Spaniards more brown than the French, and the Moors than the Spaniards, also renders the Negroes blacker than the Moors. Besides, I am not here inquiring how this cause acts; I only mean to ascertain that it does act, and that its effects are more perceptible in proportion to its strength and time of acting.
The heat of the climate is the chief cause of blackness among the human species. When this heat is excessive, as in Senegal and Guiney, the men are perfectly black; when it is a little less violent, the blackness is not so deep; when it becomes somewhat temperate, as in Barbary, Mogul, Arabia, &c. the men are only brown; and, lastly, when it is altogether temperate, as in Europe and Asia, the men are white. Some varieties, indeed, are produced by the mode of living. All the Tartars, for example, are taw- [203] ny, while the Europeans, who live under the same latitude, are white. This difference may safely be ascribed to the Tartars being always exposed to the air; to their having no cities or fixed habitations; to their sleeping constantly on the ground; and to the rough and savage manner of living. These circumstances are sufficient to render the Tartars more swarthy than the Europeans, who want nothing to make life easy and comfortable. Why are the Chinese fairer than the Tartars, though they resemble them in every feature? Because they are more polished; because they live in town, and practice every art to guard themselves against the injuries of the weather; while the Tartars are perpetually exposed to the action of the sun and air.
But, when the cold becomes extreme, it produces effects similar to those of violent heat. The Samoiedes, the Laplanders, and the natives of Greenland, are very tawny. We are even assured, that some of the Greenlanders are as black as the Africans. Here the two extremes approach each other: Great cold and great heat produce the same effect upon the skin, because each of these causes acts by a quality common to both; and this quality is the dryness of the air, which, perhaps, is equally great in extreme cold as in extreme heat. Both cold and heat dry the skin, and give it that tawny hue which we find among the Laplanders. Cold contracts all the productions of nature. The Laplanders, accordingly, who [204] are perpetually exposed to the rigours of frost, are the smallest of the human species. Nothing can afford a stronger example of the influence of climate than this race of Laplanders, who are situated, along the whole polar circle, in an extensive zone, the breadth of which is limited by nothing but the excessive coldness; for that race totally disappears, whenever the climate becomes a little temperate.
The most temperate climate lies between the 40th and 50th degree of latitude, and it produces the most handsome and beautiful men. It is from this climate that the ideas of the genuine colour of mankind, and of the various degrees of beauty, ought to be derived. The two extremes are equally remote from truth and from beauty. The civilized countries, situated under this Zone, are Georgia, Circassia, the Ukraine, Turkey in Europe, Hungary, the south of Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and the northern part of Spain. The natives of these territories are the most handsome and most beautiful people in the world.
The climate may be regarded as the chief cause of the different colours of men. But food, though it has less influence upon colour, greatly affects the form of our bodies. Coarse, unwholesome, and ill-prepared food, makes the human species degenerate. All those people who live miserably, are ugly and ill-made. Even in France, the country-people are not so beautiful [205] as those who live in towns; and I have often remarked, that, in those villages where the people are richer and better fed than in others, the men are likewise more handsome and have better countenances. The air and the soil have great influence upon the figure of men, beasts, and plants. In the same province, the inhabitants of the elevated and hilly parts, are more active, nimble, handsome, ingenious, and beautiful, than those who live in the plains, where the air is thick and less pure. In France, it is impossible to perpetuate the race of Spanish or Barbary horses: They degenerate even in the first generation, and, in the third or fourth, unless the breed be crossed by the importation of fresh stallions, they become altogether French horses. The effects of climate and of food upon animals are so well known, that we need hardly mention them: And, though their operation is slower and less apparent upon men; yet, from analogy, we ought to conclude, that their effects are not less certain, and that they manifest themselves in all the varieties we find among the human species.
Upon the whole, every circumstance concurs in proving, that mankind are not composed of species essentially different from each other; that, on the contrary, there was originally but one species, who, after multiplying and spreading over the whole surface of the earth, have undergone various changes by the influence of climate, food, mode of living, epidemic diseases, and the [206] mixture of dissimilar individuals; that, at first, these changes were not so conspicuous, and produced only individual varieties; that these varieties became afterwards specific, because they were rendered more general, more strongly marked, and more permanent, by the continual action of the same causes; that they are transmitted from generation to generation, as deformities or diseases pass from parents to children; and that, lastly, as they were originally produced by a train of external and accidental causes, and have only been perpetuated by time and the constant operation of these causes, it is probable that they will gradually disappear, or, at least, that they will differ from what they are at present, if the causes which produce them should cease, or if their operation should be varied by other circumstances and combinations. [207]
* Hist. Nat. des Isles, p. 189 [back to page 167].
+ Ibid.
3. Voyage de Rob. Lade, tom. 2. p. 309 [back to page 167].
* Recueil des Voyages au Nord. tom 3. p. 7 [back to page 168].
* Hist. Nat. gen. et. particul. Tom. 1. p. 340 [back to page 169].
* A species of wild ox [back to page 170].
* Evang. Med. p. 133 [back to page 172].
* See le Voy. de Coreal, tom 1. p. 36 [back to page 174].
+ Hist. Nat. des isles Antilles, p. 351 [back to page 174].
* Hist. gen. des Antilles, par du Tertre, tom, 2. p. 453, &c [back to page 176].
* Nouv. Voy. aux isles, tom. 2. p. 8 [back to page 177].
* Lettres Edifiantes, recueil 11. p.119 [back to page 178].
+ Voy. de Coreal, tom. 1. p. 116 [back to page 178].
* Dampier, tom. 4. p. 252 [back to page 179].
* Venus Physique [back to page 180].
* Voy. de la Condamine, p. 49 [back to page 183].
+ Ibid. p. 72 [back to page 183].
3. Ibid. p. 48. &c. [back to page 183].
4. Ibid. p. 101.; Raleigh; Coreal, tom. 2. p. 25.; La relation du P. d’Acuna, tom. 1. p. 237; Lettres edifiantes, recueil 10. p. 241.; Voy. de Mocquet, p. 101 &c. [back to page 183].
* See Voy. de Lery, p. 108.; Coreal, tom 1. p. 163; Mem. Pour server l’hist. des Indes, p. 287; l’hist des Indes par Maffee, p. 71. Pyrard, tom. 2. p. 337; Lettres edifiantes, recueil 15. p. 331 &c. [back to page 184, this note runs across pages 184 and 185, with the page break coming before “Mem” in the first line above].
* Coreal, tom. 1. p. 240. et 259; Lettres edifiantes, recueil 11. p. 391.; Recueil 12. p. 6 [back to page 185].
* Lettres edifiantes, recueil 25. p. 122 [back to page 186].
* Voy. de M. Frezier, p. 75 [back to page 187].
* Hist. des Incas, par Garcilasso, &c. [back to page 190].
* Hist. de l’acad. des sciences, annee 1702, p. 32 [back to page 200].
* Hist. de l’acad. des sciences, annee 1702, p. 32 [back to page 201].
+ See Dr Town’s letter to the Royal Society [back to page 201].
* Differt. Sur la couleur des Negres, par. M. Barrere [back to page 202].
+ Expos. Anatom. Du corps humain, par M. Winslow, p. 489 [back to page 202].