V\\ 
 
Ax\ 
 
 m^^^'w 
 
 ON THE 
 
 CAUSES OF THE VARIETY 
 
 OF 
 
 COMPLEXIOJV JJYD FIGURE 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HUMAN SPECIES. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 
 
 Animadversions on certain Remarks made on the first edition 
 
 of this Essay, by Mr. Charles White, in a series of 
 
 Discourses delivered before the Literary and 
 
 * Philosophical Society of Manchester 
 
 in England. 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 Strictures on Lord Kaims' Discourse on the Original 
 Diversity of Mankind. 
 
 AND 
 
 AN APPENDIX. 
 
 ■ ♦♦» — 
 
 BY SAMUEL STANHOPE SMITH, D.D. L.L.D. 
 
 President of the College of New-Jersey ; and Member of the 
 American Philosophical Society. 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION.... ENLARGED AND IMPROVED. 
 
 NE W'BRUNS WICK ; 
 
 PUBLISHED BY J. SIMPSON AND CO. 
 
 AND WILLIAMS AND WHITING, NEW-YORK, 
 
 L. DEARE, PRINTER, 
 
 1810. 
 

 l)istrict of New-Jcisoy, ss. 
 
 Be it remkmberkd, that on the twenty-sixth day of November, 
 in the thirty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, 
 JosiAH Simpson and Churchill Houston of the said district, have 
 deposited in this office the title of a book, the ri^ht whereof they claim as 
 proprietors, in the words following, to wit, "An Essay on the Causes of 
 the Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Spcrics. To which 
 arc added, Animadversions on certain remarks made on the first edition of 
 this Essay, by Mr. Charles White, in a series of Discourses delivered be- 
 fore the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester in England. 
 Also, Strictures on Lord Kaims' Discourse on the Original Diversity of 
 Mankind. And an Appendix. By Samuel Stanhope Smith, D.D. L.L.D. 
 President of the College of New-.Iersey ; and Member of the American 
 Philosophical Society. The second edition — Enlarged and improved." 
 In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United Stales, entitled, 
 an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, 
 charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of surh copies, during the 
 times therein mentioned ; and also to the act, entitled, an act, supple- 
 mentary to an act, entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by 
 securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprie- 
 tors of such copies during the times therein mentioned, and extending the 
 benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical 
 and other prints. ROBERT BOGGS, 
 
 Clerk of the District of New-Jer?ey. 
 
DEHICATIOM. 
 
 To the American Philosophical Society held in Phila- 
 delphia^ for promoting Useful Knowledge, 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Jl HE substance of the following Essay was, in consequence 
 of a duty devolved by you upon the Author, pronounced in 
 the form of an oration, before your very respectable body, on 
 the 27th of February, in the year 1737. As you were pleased 
 to express your satisfaction with it, and it has been received 
 with a considerable portion of public favour both in America 
 and Europe, I have been encouraged, in the midst of my 
 other numerous and indispensable avocations, to turn my at- 
 tention lately to enlarge and improve it. It comes, therefore, 
 in its new form, to pay its homage to you to whom it owes its 
 existence ; and, if it should again be found worthy of your 
 approbation, to solicit your patronage. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, with the profoundest respect for you 
 individually, and as a society devoted to promote the interests 
 of Philosophical Science in this new world, 
 Your most obedient, 
 
 and most humble servant, 
 
 SAMUEL STANHOPE SMITH. 
 
 iviJ-:080il 
 
ADVERTISE3IENT. 
 
 Althouph the following essay may seem, at first view, to 
 propose nothing to itself but to amuse the public with a phi- 
 losophical speculation ; yet as its object is to establish the 
 unity of the human species, by tracing its varieties to their 
 natural causes, it has an obvious and intimate relation with 
 religion, by bringing in science to conlirm the verity of the 
 Mosaic history. It has lately become a kind of cant with 
 certain superficial smatterers in physical science to speak of 
 revealed religion, and of the spirit of piety as being hostile to 
 profound researches into nature, lest they should be found to 
 contradict the dogmas of revelation. We see these men, like- 
 wise, with equal ignorance and vanity, contemptuously insi- 
 nuate that the friends of piety are always ready to rest their 
 opinions, not on well ascertained facts, but on the supposed 
 authority of Heaven, to save them the pains, and the hazard 
 of inquiries so dangerous to contented superstition. These 
 self-dubbed naturalists, vain of their own taint shadow of 
 knowledge, because they know so little, seem to have forgot- 
 ten the existence of such men as Newton, or Boyle, Bacon or 
 IMede, and a thousand others, equally distinguished for the 
 depth of their inquiries into the mysteries of nature, and for 
 their sublime and fervent piety towards its Author. Genuine 
 philosophy has ever been found the friend of true religion. 
 They are only spurious pretences to science which h^ye wan- 
 tonly arrayed themselves against the holy scriptures. In a 
 question ot that nature which is discussed in the following es- 
 say, 1 would be far from introducing the authority of religion 
 to silence inquiry, and equally far would I be from making it 
 a substitute for proof. I appeal to the evidence of facts, and 
 to conclusions resulting from these facts which I trust every 
 genuine disciple of nature will acknowledge to be legitimately 
 drawn from her own fountain. 
 
 If any person should inquire why a writer who has so many 
 other duties to fulfil more immediately relative to the sacred 
 functions of his profession, should devote so much time to 
 studies which seem to be only remotely connected with the 
 offices of piety peculiarly belonging to a Christian minister; I 
 
hope it will be a satisfactory answer, that infidelity, driven 
 from all her moral grounds of objection against the Gospel, 
 faas lately bent her principal force to oppose the system of 
 nature to that of revelation. From Natural Science, which 
 has been cultivated with more than common ardour and suc- 
 cess in the present age, she now forms her chief attacks against 
 the doctrines, and the history of religion. And on this quarter 
 she has pressed them with the greatest zeal. While others, 
 therefore, are successfully defending the interior fortresses of 
 religion, and extending her practical sway over the hearts of 
 men, 1 thought that I might render a valuable service to the 
 cause, by co-operating, in some degree, with those who are 
 defending her outworks, and carrying their attacks into the 
 enemy's camp. I have taken one point of defence, which 
 was thought to be peculiarly vulnerable. And though certain 
 artists may feel indignant, that a writer, whose pursuits are 
 naturally supposed to be so widely diflferent from theirs, 
 should invade them in their own department, yet 1 hope the 
 issue of the conflict will show that religion has been able to 
 repel one more assault, if she should not in this instance 
 obtain a decided victory. 
 
 This essay was first published in the year 1787. And 
 although various writers had, at different times, treated on 
 the same subject, it was esteemed by many ingenious and 
 learned men not to be a superfluous addition to the disquisi- 
 tions which had already appeared.— Jerome JBerioit Feijoo, 
 a Spanish Benedictine, of whom the editors of the Theatro 
 Critico^, as well as ^he authors of the Modern Universal 
 History!* have pronounced the highest eulogies, as'not being 
 inferior to Cervantes in genius, and in the useful labour of 
 destroying the prejudices of his countrymen, had entered on 
 the question to considerable extent, and made many valuable 
 and scientific observations on the influence of climate. He 
 has not, however, carried his principles on that subject so far 
 as is done in the essay ; many important considerations he 
 has omitted ; and the effects resulting from the state of society 
 he has scarcely touched. 
 
 Dr. Blumenbach, one of the most celebrated naturalists, 
 anatomists, and physicians of Germany, published in the 
 year 1795, at Gottingen, the third edition, the only one 
 which I have seen, of his famous treatise, De generis humani 
 varietate nativa. Of this work I could consequently make no 
 use in my first edition. 1 believe it had not then come to the 
 public eye. But I am happy to find that the ideas of thi^ 
 
 * Published in Vols. 14. Ann. 1742. Berioit Feijoo died in 176.'5. 
 t Vol.9, p. 611. 
 
learned writer on the subject of climate, and, particularly, on 
 the effect of the bilious secretion on the colour of the skin, have 
 so nearly corresponded with those which 1 had previously 
 adopted. And I have not thought it improper, in the present 
 ^ition, to avail myself of several elucidatio?is of my subject 
 from this valuable treatise. But. I have to observe that he, 
 like Feijoo, has almost wholly omitted the second topic which 
 1 have endeavoured to illustrate, the influence of the state of 
 society in multiplying the varieties of mankind, which in this 
 essay occupies so prominent a place. 
 
 A short treatise also of the celebrated Camper's upon this 
 subject was published at Utrecht by his son in 1791. But it 
 is formed on a plan, not contradictory indeed to that which I 
 have adopted, but so different from it in its object, and the 
 mode of conducting it, that, if it had been published much 
 earlier, 1 could have derived little aid ffom it. After a few 
 general remarks at the beginning, the remainder of his in- 
 gcniou-? dissertation, which, however, is combatted, in some 
 of its most important principles, by Blumenbach, is calculated 
 rather for painters than for the great body of even sensible, 
 and well informed readers. 
 
 To the former edition 1 annexed some strictures on Lord 
 Kaims' dissertation on the original diversity of mankind, Be- 
 f ides these, which I have thought proper to retain in the pre- 
 sent, 1 have added some animadversions on certain remarks 
 made on that edition, and on the general subject, by Mr. 
 Charles White, in a series of discourses delivered by him be- 
 fore the literary and philosophical society of Manchester in 
 England ; and published in London* in quarto in 1799. 
 
 The whole I now commit to the judgment and candour of 
 the literary and philosophic world. 
 
 S. S. SMITH. 
 
,SSAY, 
 
 ON THE VARIETY OF COMPLEXION, FIGURE, is'c. 
 IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. 
 
 1 HE unity of the human race, notwithstanding the 
 diversity of colour, and form under which it appears 
 in different portions of the globe, is a doctrine, in- 
 dependently of the authority of divine revelation, 
 much more consistent with the principles of sound 
 philosophy, than any of those numerous hypotheses 
 which have referred its varieties to a radical and ori- 
 ginal diversity of species, adapted by the Creator, or 
 by the necessary laws of the material world, to the 
 respective climates which they were destined to in- 
 habit. As there are several species of animals which 
 seem to be confined by the physical laws of their 
 constitution to a limited range of climate, and which 
 either cannot exist, or do not attain the perfection of 
 their nature, in regions either much farther to the 
 
 B 
 
North or to the South than those in which the Crea- 
 tor has planted them, superficial observers have been 
 ready to conclude, from analogy, that different spe- 
 cies of the human kind must have been originally 
 circumscribed, by the forming hand of nature, within 
 certain climatical limits, in which she has placed 
 them, whence have sprung those varieties in exter- 
 nal aspect, and in mental endowments, which distin- 
 guish the respective tribes of men from one another. 
 But in contradiction to this principle, experience de- 
 monstrates that man is not exclusively confined in 
 his range to any definite lines upon the earth. Al- 
 though the fineness of texture, and delicacy of or- 
 ganization of the human constitution, renders it ex- 
 tremely susceptible of the impressions of climate, as 
 well as of all other causes which act upon the animal 
 frame, its peculiar flexibility, at the same time, ena- 
 bles it to adapt itself with wonderful facility, and with- 
 out materially injuring the organs of life, to ever}- 
 degree of temperature from the extreme heats of the 
 torrid, to the perpetual rigors of the frozen zone. 
 We see commerce and war, ambition and avarice, 
 transfer the same people to every clime upon the 
 globe ; and the American and European sailor re^ 
 side equally at the pole, and under the equator. 
 
11 
 
 While the spirit of fanaticism carries the sun-burnt 
 Saracen to the North, the love of war, and of plunder- 
 transplants the Tartar from the snows of Scythia to 
 the burning plains of India. — Why then should we, 
 without necessity, assume the hypothesis that origi- 
 nally there existed different species of the human 
 kind ? And not only without necessity, but contrary 
 to die principles of true philosophy, since all its vari- 
 eties may be accounted for, which I hope to demon- 
 strate in the course of this essay, by the known ope- 
 ration of natural causes. 
 
 Different species must be subject to different laws 
 both in the physical and moral constitution of their 
 nature. The whole philosophy of man, therefore, is 
 confounded by that hypothesis which divides the kind 
 into various species^, radically different from one ano- 
 ther. The laws of morals designed to regulate the 
 mutual intercourse of mankind, we derive from ex- 
 amining our own nature, or collecting the com- 
 mon sentiments of men in society, united together 
 by a common system of feelings and ideas. But 
 how shall we apply rules, derived from these sour- 
 ces, to different nations, and to different individuals 
 whose moral principles, resulting, in like manner, 
 from the constitution of their natures, respective . 
 
12 
 
 ly, majr be as various as their several aspects. Can 
 tliey, indeed, be universally applied to fix an inva- 
 riable moral code even for the same nation in differ- 
 ent ages, after conquest, or commerce may have pro- 
 duced among them the most complicated mixture of 
 species? Varieties may be created in the same species 
 either in the animal or vegetable kingdom, by vary- 
 ing their culture, and, sometimes, by transferring 
 them to a different soil, or climate ; but to all these 
 varieties, where there is no radical diversity of kind^ 
 the same general laws will still apply. To man, in 
 like manner, may be applied the same general prin- 
 ciples of moral and physical action, if it be ascer- 
 tained that all their differences indicate only one ori- 
 ginal species. But, destroy this unity, and no certain 
 and universal principles of human nature remain. 
 We have no general and infallible standard by which 
 to judge of the moral ideas and habits of different 
 nations, or even of different men. — ^Besides, if human 
 nature actually embraces different species of men, by 
 what criterion shall we distinguish them ? What is 
 their number ? Where do they now exist pure and 
 unmixed ? — 
 
 Pliilosophers have never been able to give to thej 
 questions such precise and definite solutions as are 
 
13 
 
 sufficient to satisfy an inquisitive and discriminating 
 mind. That criterion of identity of species first sug- 
 gested by the English naturalist, Ray, and after- 
 wards more largely insisted on by Buffon, has been, 
 since his age, most generally received ; that is, the 
 power of procreating an offspring, that shall be itself 
 endued with similar prolific powers. The horse and 
 the ass can produce a mule ; but the mule being 
 barren, shews that the sire and dam are of different 
 species. It is acknowledged, however, that experi- 
 ments on the procreative virtue of animals, never 
 have been, and probably never will be made, in suf- 
 ficient number, or with sufficient accuracy, to estab- 
 lish the criterion of Ray and Buffon as a certain 
 and universal fact. If it were entitled to the rank 
 of an incontrovertible principle in natural science, 
 there could no longer be any doubt concerning the 
 unity of the human species under all the various 
 forms and appearances in which it has existed in the 
 different regions of the globe. 
 
 Dr. Blumenbach observes that *' animals ought to 
 be ranked in the same species when their general 
 form and properties resemble one another, and the 
 differences which subsist among them may be deriv- 
 ed from some degenerating cause." According to 
 
14 
 
 this principle, if it be admitted, those only are to be 
 esteemed of different species whose distinctive pro- 
 perties are so essential to each respectively, and so 
 inherent in them, that they cannot be changed, or 
 their dift'erences accounted for, by the known opera- 
 tion of any physical, or moral causes. If this, then, 
 be received as the acknowledged criterion of diver- 
 sity of species, I doubt not being able to demon- 
 strate, in the progress of this essay, that all the vari- 
 eties of men may have sprung from the same origi- 
 nal stock. To whichever criterion, therefore, we 
 appeal, the same conclusion will result.* 
 
 * It is amusing to see the critical reviewers in England, in 
 tlieir remarks on the first edition of this essay, attach so much 
 importance, as they do, to a frivolous and dubious disquisition 
 respecting tlic proper criterion of a distinct species, which 
 could lead to no other result, by their own confession, than this, 
 that no accurate criterion has ever been discovered by philoso- 
 phers. If that be so, surely a discussion of the question, mere- 
 ly as an exhibition of learning in Natural Science, could have 
 been of little importance towards an elucidation of the subject. 
 — " So loose and inconclusive is his reasoning, say they, tliat 
 he has never enquired what really constitutes a differeft't specie?. 
 In botaiiy, it is preserving the general and essential characters 
 in changes of situation, and losing, in time, the accidental dif- 
 ferences which climate and culture have produced. In animals, 
 where the distinction ought to have begun, it has been neglect- 
 ed, [viz. by Natuixdists]. If tlie production of a fertile off- 
 
15 
 
 The hypothesis that the human kind is divided in- 
 to various species, radically different from one anp- 
 ther, is commonly connected in the systems of phi- 
 losophers with another opinion, which, however gen- 
 eral the assent be which it has obtained, is equally 
 contrary to true philosophy, and to the sacred history; 
 I mean the primitive and absolute savagism of all the 
 
 spring be the criterion of the sameness of the species, men ai"e» 
 undoubtedly, of the same species. But this distinction is found 
 to be fallacious, particularly in domestic animals. And, if care- 
 fully examined, we shall find that, in zoology, tlie species arc 
 not, in reality, ascertained with accuracy. We must, then, at 
 last, refer to the botanical distinction."— -Now what elucidation 
 could my subject have received from such learned remarks, 
 which leave the question in the same uncertainty in which they 
 found it ? " In zoology, they say, no criterioiT has been ascer- 
 tained with accuracy ;'*— tlierefore they will apply to animals 
 that which botanists have fixed for plants. — Be it so. It differs 
 not much from that which Dr. Blumenbach proposes botli for 
 plants and animals. And, agreeably to this criterion, it is tlie 
 whole object of the essay to deduce the varieties of men, or to 
 account for them, from what the Doctor calls degenerating cau- 
 ses ;— or, to shew, according to the botanical standard of the 
 Reviewers, that men in all climates, " preserve the general and 
 essential characters of the race, and will lose, in time, the acci- 
 dental differences which climate, and culture^ or the habits of 
 livings and various states of society^ have produced in them." 
 With what success this has been done I cheerfully leave to the 
 philosophic reader to determine. 
 
16 
 
 tribes of men. A few observations on this opinion 
 calculated to demonstrate its utter improbability, if 
 not its obvious falsehood, will not, I presume, be 
 deemed impertinent to the object of the following 
 essay ; which is to confirm the doctrine of the unity 
 of the human race, by pointing out the causes of its 
 variety. As this argument, however, rests on an en- 
 tirely different kind of proof, and is only incidentally 
 related to my principal design, I shall present it to 
 the reader with the greatest brevity. And I trust it 
 will not be found to be an argument so trite, or so 
 unimportant, as to render it, on either account, un- 
 worthy his serious attention. 
 
 The original, and absolute savagism of mankind, 
 then, is a principle which appears to me to be con- 
 tradicted equally by sound reason, and by the most 
 authentic documents which remain to us of ancient 
 history.* All the earliest monuments of nations, as 
 far as we can trace them, fix their origin about the 
 middle regions of Asia, and present man to us in a 
 
 * The argument from history will be found handsomely illus- 
 trated by Mr. David Doig of Sterling in Scotland, in three let- 
 ters addressed to Lord Kuims, aiid published in one siiiuii duo- 
 decimo volume. 
 
17 
 
 state already civilized. From this centre we perceive 
 the radiations of the race gradually shooting them- 
 selves towards every quarter of the globe. Savage 
 life seems to have arisen only from idle, or restless 
 spirits, who, shunning the fatigues of labor, or spurn- 
 ing the restraints and subordinations of civil society, 
 sought, at once, liberty, and the pleasures of the 
 chace, in wild, uncultivated regions remote from 
 their original habitations. Here, forgetting the arts 
 of civilized Ufe, they, with their posterity, degene- 
 rated, in a course of time, into all the ignorance and 
 rudeness of savagism, and furnished ample materials 
 to the imagination of the poets for the pictures they 
 have presented to us of the abject condition of the 
 primitive men. But let us consult reason, as well as 
 history, for the truth, or probability of their pictures. 
 Hardly is it possible that man, placed on the sur- 
 face of the new world, in the midst of its forests and 
 marshes, capable of reason, indeed, but without having 
 formed principles to direct its exercise, should have 
 been able to preserve his existence, unless he had re- 
 ceived from his Creator, along with his being, some 
 instructions concerning the use and employment of 
 his faculties, for procuring his subsistence, and in- 
 
18 
 
 venting the most necessary arts of life. Nature has 
 furnished the inferior animals with many and power- 
 ful instincts to direct them in the choice of their food, 
 and with natural instruments peculiarly adapted to 
 enable them, either by climbing the forest tree for its 
 fruits, or by digging in the earth for nutricious roots, 
 to obtain it. In sufficient quantities for the sustenance of 
 life. Butman, destitute ofthe nice and accurate instincts 
 of other animals, as well as of the effectual means 
 which they possess of procuring their provision, must 
 have been the most forlorn of all creatures, although 
 destined to be lord of the creation ; unless we can 
 suppose kim, like the primitive man of the sacred 
 scriptures, to have been placed in a rich garden 
 which offered him, at hand, its abundant and spon- 
 taneous fruits. Cast out, an orphan of nature, naked 
 and helpless, into the savage forest, he must have 
 perished before he could have learned how to supply 
 his most immediate and urgent wants. Suppose him 
 to have been created, or to have started into being, 
 we know not how, in the full strength of his bodily 
 powers, how long must it have been before he could 
 have known the proper use of his limbs, or how to 
 apply them to climb the tree, and run out upon its 
 limbs to gather its fruit, or to grope in the earth for 
 
19 
 
 roots, to the choice of which he could not be led bv 
 his smell, and for the collection of which the human 
 hand, especially in its soft, and original state, is most 
 imperfectly adapted. Very inadequate must have 
 been the supply obtained by these means, if a supply 
 could have been obtained at all, for wants the most 
 pressing and importunate in our nature, and for appe- 
 tites the calls of which, in such a state, wherein its 
 supplies must always be both scanty, and difficult to 
 be procured, could never be intermitted. We are 
 prone to judge of the mental powers of such a being, 
 in the first moments of his existence, by the faculties 
 which we perceive in ourselves, or observe among 
 savages with whom we are acquainted, whose minds 
 have been, in a degree, improved and strengthened 
 by experience. The American savage, for example, 
 lias be^n taught from his infancy the necessary arts 
 for supplying his wants. But the primitive man, if 
 we suppose him to have received no communication 
 of knowledge from his Creator, and to have been 
 abandoned merely to his own powers, without the 
 least aid from experience, or instruction, would have 
 been nothing but a large infant. Reason, the su- 
 preme prerogative of our nature, and its chief dis- 
 tinction from that of the inferior animals, could have 
 
20 
 
 availed him little in that emergency. It would have 
 required, in order to its exercise, a knowledge of 
 principles, and of the nature of the objects around 
 him, which could have been the result only of time, 
 and a certain degree of experience. In the mean 
 time, that recent mass of organized matter, called a 
 man, would probably have perished.* 
 
 * If it be asked how tliose few wild men, who, at different 
 times, have been found in tlie forests of Europe have preserved 
 themselves, if, as has been conjectured, they were exposed in 
 infancy ? — I believe rather that they have been lost in the forests 
 after the period of infancy and childhood, and when they had al- 
 ready acquired some knowledge of the manner of gathering cer- 
 tain fruits, and, perhaps, of taking by art the smaller species of 
 game. The youtli who, not long since, was found in a wood in 
 France, appeared, by a scar which he had upon his person, to 
 have been one of those victims who escaped from the knife of 
 the fanatical revolutionists, while probably his parents were 
 murdered, or were obliged to leave him in their flight. How- 
 ever this may be, he, and all the others who have been foui^d in 
 similar situations, have been so affected, probably with terror 
 when they found themselves abandoned, that they seem to have 
 been bereft of a great portion of the native powers of intellect, 
 and rendered incapable of the ordinary exercises of reason. 
 They resembled brutes more than men. Attentive only to the 
 calls of hunger, and the objects with which they were accustom- 
 ed to satisfy that appetite, they seemed to be capable of no other 
 ideas. They could not be made to understand the advantages, 
 nor relish the habits of civilized life. And whenever tliey could 
 escape from their keepers, were ready, like the wildest animals,. 
 
21 
 
 But, if we believe that, in this deplorable condi- 
 tion, he could have found means to sustain life, man, 
 originally a savage, and a savage in the most abject 
 state in which it is possible for human nature to ex- 
 ist, must have remained a savage for ever. Urged 
 by the most pressing wants of nature, for which all 
 his exertions, undirected by skill, and unassisted by 
 the natural arms which other creatures possess, could 
 have furnished but a scanty supply, and which, there- 
 fore would have never ceased one moment to harass 
 him, he would not have enjoyed leisure to invent 
 any of those arts which enter into the first elements 
 of civilized life. An importunate appetite, with bru- 
 tal impulse, would have so continually precij^itated 
 him from object to object in order to gratify its crav- 
 ings, that he could have redeemed no portion of his 
 time for contemplating the powers of nature, or for 
 combining his observations in such a manner as to 
 apply those powers in ingenious inventions, for an- 
 
 lo dart into tlie forests again. These miserable beings, and nol 
 a modem savage who has derived a few arts from his ancestors, 
 and they, at some remote period, from a more civilized people, 
 are the proper types of the primitive man thrown like a helpless 
 and abandoixd infaiit from the hand of his Creator, upon th6 
 wild and desolate surface of the new world. 
 
22 
 
 ticipating his wants, or for facilitating their supply. 
 If he could indulge a nfioment's repose from the impor. 
 tuniiy of hunger, it would be to resign the next mo- 
 ment to absolute inaction, like a satiated beast in his 
 den. The character of a savage is infinitely impro- 
 vident. Nothing he abhors so much as labor, when 
 he is not under the immediate impulse of some im- 
 perious appetite, or passion. The American savage, 
 who possesses many advantages above the primitive 
 man whom we ai*e contemplating, as soon as he is 
 released from the fatigues of the chace, generally 
 gives himself up to listless and gloomy indolence. 
 And, though he has derived from his ancestors, who 
 probably emigrated from different regions in the old 
 world, the rudiments of the arts of hunting and fish- 
 ing, which might have been expected to lay a foun- 
 dation for a further progress in improving the com- 
 forts of his condition ; yet with these rude and scanty 
 arts the indolent genius of savagism has been con- 
 tented; and, during three centuries since America 
 was first discovered by Europeans, he has not been 
 known to advance a single step in the amelioration 
 of his state. Even in those situations in which he 
 has had the most favourable opportunities to observe 
 the benefits resulting from agriculture and the me- 
 
23 
 
 chanic arts, in augmenting the conveniences and 
 comforts of li\ ing, he has never profited by the ex- 
 ample. He regards the labors of the field, and the 
 work-shop, as an intolerable servitude to men who 
 have it in their power to enjoy the range of the for- 
 est; and, after the sports of the chace, to recline 
 themselves in indolent repose. To a few of the abo- 
 riginal tribes who would permit it, the government 
 of the United States, with a laudable concern for the 
 interests of humanity, has endeavoured to extend a 
 benevolent patronage, with a view to raise them, if 
 possible, above their present rude and savage condi- 
 tion. But it has found the greatest difficulty in in- 
 troducing among them only two or three of the simp- 
 lest arts of civilized society. And only two or three 
 of those tribes have hitherto been induced to admit 
 the smallest change in their habits of life. The love 
 of complete personal independence, and the abhor- 
 rence of every species of restraint so natural to the 
 savage, would for ever prevent him, when left to his 
 own native impulses, and not encouraged, assisted, 
 and directed, and, in some measure, controled, by 
 extraneous and superior power, from making even 
 die first advance in the career of civilization. But 
 if any philosopher pretends that, in the natural pro- 
 
24 
 
 gress of things, a savage tribe, cut ofFfrom all com- 
 munication with more polished nations, will, by the 
 efforts of their own genius, invent, and gradually per- 
 fect the arts of civilized life, let him point out thc^ 
 instance. Following the lights of history, we fre- 
 quently see rude and barbarous people prompted and 
 assisted in their progress to refinement by the exam- 
 ple and influence of nations who have advanced far 
 before them in this career. The Greeks were polish- 
 ed by the Asiatics, and Egyptians ; the Italians by 
 the Greeks, and by colonies from the Lesser Asia ; 
 and Italy extended her arts to Germany and Gaul. 
 But history presents to us no tribe originally and per- 
 fectly savage who has voluntarily sought from abroad, 
 and introduced among themselves the manners, and 
 the arts of any civilized nation ; much less has in- 
 vented those arts, and cultivated those manners, from 
 the operation of any causes arising solely within 
 themselves, or any tendencies in human nature© 
 \vhile existing in such a state of society, towards fur- 
 ther improvement. The unsuccessful efforts of the 
 United States to introduce among the tribes of sava- 
 ges, who skirt along our western frontiers, only a 
 few of our arts, most obviously tending to their own 
 ad\'antage, demonstrate that the genius of savagism 
 
25 
 
 is obstinately opposed to the labours, the restraints, 
 and industrious habits required in civilized society. 
 Hardly has any individual savage ever been induced 
 to adopt our manners. Such, on the other hand, is 
 the chann of their wandering and independent state, 
 the pleasure of alternately pursuing their game, and 
 reposing in indolence, that many of the citizens of 
 the United States are found voluntarily to renounce 
 all the conveniences of civilization to mingle 
 with the savages in the wilderness, giving the pre- 
 ference to their idle and vagrant habits of life. — Two 
 striking and practical examples which demonstrate, 
 on one hand, with what facility civiUzed, man sinks 
 into the savage, especially in those circumsUuices 
 which so frequently offered themselves to restless 
 and idle spirits in the early periods of the world ; and 
 on the other hand, what difficulties, almost insur- 
 mountable, the savage state opposes to the ascent of 
 human nature, in the contrary progression towards 
 the cultivation of the arts of civilized life. 
 
 If such is the genius and character of savagism, 
 as it appears in the aboriginal tribes of America, how 
 much farther removed from the first elements of 
 
 D 
 
26 
 
 civilization must have been those primitive species 
 of men, contemplated by this hypothesis; 
 
 Qui prorepserunt primis aiiimalia terris, 
 
 Mutum et turpe pecus, glandcm atque cubilia propter 
 
 Unguibus et pugnis, pugnantia ? — i* 
 
 HoR. Sat. lib. 1. Sat. iii. lib. 98. 
 
 Compared with such beings the American indian 
 may be considered as an artist, and a sage. Com- 
 pared with their hands, the only instruments afforded 
 them by nature to dig into the earth for a miserable 
 subsistence, the bow and the hook may be regarded 
 as high and noble inventions. By such men, impel- 
 led by incessant and importunate wants; urged by 
 the perpetual clamors of appetite ; having their men- 
 tal powers almost annihilated by the rudeness and 
 miseries of their state, in which they could enjoy no 
 leisure for meditation, no composure for reflection, 
 no comparison of sentiment with others ; and bru- 
 talized in all their faculties, their habits, and their 
 tastes, it would have been impossible that one prin- 
 ciple of science should have been discovered, or one 
 liberal art ever have been invented. The existence of 
 
 * « Who crept foinli like beasts from the fresh earth, a mute 
 aiid filthy herd, fighting with fists and nails, for their acorns and 
 their dens." 
 
27 
 civilized society in the world is a proof that man was 
 never in such an abject state. Infinitely more wretched 
 than those animals which provide by instinct for their 
 subsistence, and accommodation, and are furnished 
 with natural arms for the purpose, adapted to their 
 respective states, a thousand ages would not have 
 been sufficient to raise them to the art of the beaver* 
 Besides, uncivilized man is a lazy, improvident, 
 and filthy animal. If he has food for the present 
 day, nothing is able to rouse him to industry. Con- 
 tented, and even pleased with filth, because in that 
 state he feels himself more perfectly at ease, for even 
 the attentions of cleanliness are a constraint to a sav- 
 age, he feels no motive to desire any accommodation 
 beyond what he is compelled by necessity to seek. 
 Men with such dispositions will be for ever stationary 
 in whatever condition they may happen to be placed. 
 Ages will elapse, as we have already seen in the 
 North- American savages, and to them we may add 
 all the independent tribes of the southern continent, 
 \vithout making a single effort to ameliorate their con- 
 dition.* Nothingbut the controlling influence of some 
 
 * The population of Mexico and Pern, as -vvill hereafter be 
 ^wn, has every appearance of having been ovii^inally derived 
 
28 
 
 civilized power could ever induce a savage to wield 
 a spade, or guide a plough. And all the ages of 
 time would not be sufficient to teach him to separate 
 from the ore, and to prepare, the metal of which 
 those instruments are made.*' 
 
 from nations who had antecedently made some progress to- 
 wards civilization. 
 
 * There can hardly exist a doubt in the minds of those whg 
 have had an opportunity of intimately observing tlie manners, 
 and disposition of savages, but that it is absolutely impossible 
 that they should ever discover and separate the iron from its 
 ore, and render it malleable and fit for use. This requires a 
 trainand a kind of observation and reflection to which the savage 
 is utterly incompetent. To say, as has been said, that an acci- 
 dental fire in the woods in Mount Ida, or any otlier mountain, 
 or that the eruption of a volcano, might throw out the metal in 
 the form of cast iron, indicates as little reflection, and know- 
 ledge of the subject as savages tliemsclves possess. Volcanos, 
 which cast up lava, and fragments of stone in great abundance, 
 have never been known to throw out smelted iron. And the 
 fires which at any time arc kindled in forests, an event which 
 frequently happens in those of America, where mines of iron 
 abound, never have a heat strong enough, or sufliciently con- 
 centrated to smelt the softest metals. — Indeed, if an indian had 
 found a piece of cast-iron he would have known as little what to 
 do with it as with tlic ore. The process for rendering it mal- 
 lca1)!e could never have entered his thoughts. And no acciden- 
 tal efi'ect of the small fires kept in his hut, or wigwam, could 
 possibly hate disclosed it to him. — Ever since the Europeans 
 arrived on the American continent, the natives have been ac. 
 
29 
 
 A just philosophy, therefore, grounded on fact 
 and experience, will lead us to the conclusion which 
 the sacred scriptures propose as an elementary prin- 
 ciple of our belief; that man, originally formed by a 
 wise and beneficent Creator, was instructed by him 
 in the duties, and the most necessary arts of life. 
 Thus were laid, in the very commencement of the 
 race, the foundations of domestic, social, and civil 
 order. From the primitive man, thus instructed, 
 have descended the various tribes of men upon 
 the earth ; and from him have been derived to liis 
 posterity, both the elements of religion which we 
 perceive diffused through the original traditions of all 
 nations, and the principles of the useful arts which 
 we find cultivated among them from the earliest 
 dawn of history. 
 
 quainted with iron, and have seen various instruments formed 
 of that metal : yet even that knowledge, and the advantuges 
 which they have seen derived from the use of iron, have not in 
 three centuries tumed their attention to discover and euipioy 
 it for themselves. And for how many centuries before, had 
 they trodden over the richest hills of the ore without ever hav- 
 ing framed an idea of the treasures which nature had deposited 
 beneath their feet ? If such has been the case with the Ameri- 
 can savage, what prospect for the invention of arts could be en- 
 tertained from those human brutes with which the philosophy of 
 ome men would commence the population of the world? 
 
30 
 
 But, among the most absurd of all opinions are 
 two, directly contrary in their principles, yet origin- 
 ating from the same desire to account for all things 
 without acknowledging any immediate act of crea- 
 tion by the Almighty. One ascribes an eternal suc- 
 cession to the human race upon this globe ; th* 
 other pretends to account for the original existence 
 of man by an equivocal generation resulting from the 
 united action of moisture and heat on the primitive 
 mass of the world, not yet perfectly redeemed from 
 chaos, nor drained of its waters. On this supposi- 
 tion, indeed, if it had any support in the order of 
 nature, these philosophers might find, in the slime 
 of the recent earth, as many species of men, as there 
 are of insects generated, according to their philoso- 
 phy, from the same cause, in a stagnant morass. 
 But, can the patrons of this extraordinary system 
 explain the reason why nature has never made but 
 one such eftbrt ? Why have we never, since that 
 first generative act, found, in the most extensive 
 morasses, even in the torrid zone, one newly formed 
 man ; nor even one limb, or outline of a man, just 
 shooting from the moistened, and heated earth, like 
 crystals in a chemical process ? Have not moisture 
 and heat, and all the other elements of nature, the 
 
31 
 
 same properties still which they possessed in the be- 
 ginning ? But if these wretched philosophers only- 
 wish to avoid the immediate agency of God in the 
 creation of this world, and of man; if, for this pur- 
 pose, they will strike off the mass of this globe from 
 the body of the sun by the impulse of a comet; yet, 
 in their retrogression through the vast series of natu- 
 ral causes, is there not some point at which they 
 must ultimately stop, and confess a creating power 
 which has given its original movement and direction 
 to the system of the universe ?*" If so, why not stop 
 with religion at the beginning of this world, where 
 we may behold man coming from the hand of his 
 Creator, not like a casual clod of the valley, nor 
 thrown from him like a wretched and abandoned or- 
 phan, but so instructed and assisted by Him who 
 deigned to form him, and endow him with reason, 
 that he should be worthy to be the parent of his nu- 
 merous posterity, and lord of the new creation ? 
 True religion, and true philosophy must ultimately 
 
 * Unless they avow the principle of a gloomy and deplorable 
 atheism, and lose themselves, like many of the ancient philoso- 
 phers, in an infinite chaos of atomical actions, which have no 
 other cause for their existence, or their motions, but the ne- 
 cessary nature of matter. 
 
32 
 
 arrive at the same principle. There is the highest 
 reason to believe that the primitive man received 
 from his Creator, along with his existence, such a 
 knowledge of the qualities, powers, and uses of the 
 various objects around him, together with such mo- 
 ral and religious principles, as would lay in his fam- 
 ily, and among his immediate descendants, the true 
 foundations of civilized society. Hence the primi- 
 tive nations are, at their first appearance, in history, 
 already civilized. Savagism was an after growth, 
 which took its origin from idle, or disorderly 
 men who, abhorring the constraints of society, 
 sought, in the bosom of boundless forests, that free- 
 dom from control, and from labor, which was con- 
 genial with their wandering disposition. By rapidly 
 extending themselves over the uncultivated regions 
 of Euro])e, and the North of Asia, they there prepar- 
 ed the elements of future nations. Thus mankind, 
 either in a civilized, or savage state, became diffused 
 in time over the surface of the whole globe. In 
 every position suiFering the influences of the climate, 
 of the sterility or richness of the soil, of the eleva- 
 tion or depression of the face of their country, of the 
 vicinity of seas or desarts, of their insular, or conti- 
 nental situation : or the modifications of all these, 
 
3S 
 
 resulting from their occupations, and their habits of 
 living. Hence they now present to the eye an almost 
 infinite variety in their complexion, their form and 
 features, and their whole personal aspect. 
 
 If we compare together only those varieties of 
 human nature by which the several sections of man- 
 kind differ most widely from one another, the dif- 
 ference is so great that, on the first view, it might 
 very naturally lead to the conclusion that they must 
 belong to distinct species. But, when we come to 
 examine more particularly the intermediate grades 
 which connect the extremes, and observe by what 
 minute differences they approach, or recede from, 
 one another; and when we observe further, that each 
 of these minute gradations can be traced to obvious 
 and natural causes, forming so many links, as it 
 were, in the great chain connecting the extremes, 
 we are ready to call in question our first impressions, 
 and perceive the necessity of subjecting them to a 
 new and more rigorous examination. 
 
 I have already remarked, that it is contrary to the 
 laws of true philosophy to resort to the hypothesis of 
 different original species of men in order to explain 
 varieties which can otherwise be accounted for from 
 
34 
 
 the known operation of natural causes, Philosophy 
 delights in tracing the most diversified results 
 through various combinations, to the simplest ele- 
 ments. And, if we can find, in the laws of nature, 
 j[X)vvers sufficient to impress on the ground of the 
 same original constitution of man all the varieties of 
 complexion and form which have distinguished the 
 race in different climes, and states of society, it is an 
 homage which we owe to philosophy, as well as to 
 religion, to refer all the different nations of the earth 
 to the same original stock. It is a debt which we 
 owe to humanity to recognize our brethren in every 
 class of men into which society is divided, and under 
 every shade of complexion which diversifies their 
 various tribes from the equator to the poles. 
 
 I shall endeavour, in the following essay, to fulfil 
 these obligations to science, and to charity. But, in 
 the course of this disquisition, if some of the facts 
 from which important conclusions are drawn, seem, 
 at first view, to those who have not been accustomed 
 to observe nature in her nicest operations, to be too 
 minute to bear the consequences which are charged 
 upon them, I trust that a closer attention to the very 
 fine and almost insensible effects of many physical 
 causes, which, in the end produce the greatest re- 
 
35 
 
 suits, will convince the judicious inquirer that greater 
 stress may not have been laid upon them than they are 
 able to bear; so far at least as to prevent a hasty rejec- 
 tion of the principles, and to procure for them a fair, 
 candid, and patient investigation.^ 
 
 Of the chief causes of the varieties of the human 
 species I shall treat under the heads 
 
 Of Climate. — Of the State of Society, — and, Of 
 the Manner of Living. — 
 
 OF CLIMATE. 
 
 In tracing the various climates of the globe, ad- 
 vancing from the arctic circle to the equator, we 
 find them marked with considerable regularity by 
 the colour of the inhabitants. In the European con- 
 tinent, we meet, in the highest temperate latitudes, 
 with a ruddy, and sanguine complexion, which is 
 
 * It will be of importance to bear in mind throughout this 
 essay, that the causes affecting the physical or moral constitu- 
 tion of man, and ultimately producing great distinctions be- 
 tween nations, seldom attain their full operation till after a long 
 series of time. By almost imperceptible touches they produce 
 their effects, till entering deeply, at length, into the habits und 
 whole structure of our nature, they are transmitted from pa- 
 rents to their offspring. Even several generations may pass 
 away before the ultimate results of the influences ti her of the 
 climate, of the state of society, or of the manner of living, are 
 perceived. 
 
36 
 
 commonly conjoined with different shades of redness 
 in the hair.* We soon descend to a clearer mixture 
 of red in white. And afterwards succeed the brown, 
 the swarthy, and, passing over into Africa, the 
 
 * Black hair united with a very dark complexion is frequent 
 in the high latitudes of the temperate zone, which may indicate 
 the affinity of tliose people witli tlie inhabitants of the frigid 
 zone, or rather the correspondence of the influences of these 
 neighbouring climates. Near the boundaiy line, the climates 
 may frequently interchange their effects ; or the different races 
 may be often intermingled. There seems to be even some 
 affinity between the secretions, or colouring matters, which 
 give the red or black complexion to the hair ; smce it is ob- 
 served, in red haired families, if one person accidentally differs 
 from the law of tlie house, it is most commonly to the opposite 
 colour of black ; and the reverse of this often takes place in 
 families, and even in nations distinguished by the darker shades 
 of complexion and hair. 
 
 Blumenbach remarks that, as to the various colour of the 
 human hair, there seems to be considerable affinity between 
 the red and the black. He adds, that very frequently persons 
 marked by the redness of the hair are found among the darkest 
 complexioned nations, (p. 169.) He quotes, as his authorities, 
 Charlevoix, in his history of New France, who speaks of the 
 fact as existing among the Esquimaux, — Lopez, who observed 
 it. among the inhabitants of Congo, — Sonnerat, among those of 
 New-Guinea, — and Marion, and Wallis, in the islands of the 
 great South-Sea. And the Doctor was in possession of red 
 coloured hair cut from the head of a mulatto. 
 
 I have myself seen a young man, about seventeen years of 
 age, of a fair and ruddy complexion interspersed with freckles, 
 such as are common to that kind of skin, and having a reddish 
 
37 
 
 tawny, increasing by darker and darker shades as 
 we approach the hottest temperature of the torrid 
 zone. In the Assiatic continent we pass at once from 
 the fair to the olive, and thence by various grada- 
 tions in the darkness of the hue to the black colour 
 which prevails in the southern provinces of the penin* 
 sulas of Arabia and India. The same distance from 
 the sun, however, does not, in every region, indicate 
 the same temperature of climate. Besides the lati- 
 tude, many secondary causes must be taken into 
 consideration to determine the character of the cli- 
 mate. Elevated and mountainous countries, in pro- 
 portion to their altitude above the level of the sea, 
 ascend towards that region of the atmosphere in 
 which we find the dominion of perpetual cold. High 
 mountains likewise arresting the clouds in their 
 course, compel them to pour their frequent rains, 
 as well as spread their cool shades over the vallics 
 which lie between them. Deep bays and arms of 
 
 wool tipped with a dirty white, who was born in South-Carolina 
 of parents both of whom were perfectly black and of the African 
 race. He was of a stout and vigorous constitution, and discov- 
 ered no symptom of weakness, except in his eyes, the iris of 
 which had a tincture of red, and they appeared to be more af- 
 fected with a strong light than is common in white men. 
 
38 
 
 the sea running far within the land, temper both the 
 heat and the cold of the climate. And islands com- 
 monly enjoy a milder temperature than continents 
 placed at the same distance from the sun. Vicinity 
 to the ocean produces opposite eiFects in high north- 
 ern latitudes, and in the latitudes nearer the equator ; 
 for this great body of water being of a more equal 
 temperature than the land, in one case corrects the 
 cold, in the other moderates the heat. Extensive 
 ranges of lofty mountains, such as the Appenines in 
 Italy, the Alps in Switzerland, and Taurus, Cauca- 
 sus, and Imaus in Asia, by interrupting the current 
 of cold winds on the one side, and, on the other, of 
 the warm airs from the South, create, in the coun- 
 tries which lie below them towards the equator, a 
 temperature much warmer, and in those above them 
 towards the North, much colder, than would be in- 
 dicatcd by the difference of latitude. The frigid 
 zone in Asia, if I may give tliis denomination to the 
 entire region of prevailing cold in that quarter of the 
 globe, is much wider than in Europe. Asia, in- 
 deed, can hardly be said to know a temperate zone. 
 From the northern ocean to the Caucasian or Uralian 
 chains of hills, it may be regarded, says Montesquieu, 
 as a flat mountain, or, as he should rather have said, 
 
39 
 
 the declivity of a mountain, gradually descending 
 towards the north through a space of two thousand 
 miles.* Thence to the ocean which washes Arabia, 
 Persia and India, it is generally a low country, de- 
 clining to the south, destitute of seas to temper the 
 warmth of the atmosphere, and protected by im- 
 mense ranges of hills from the cold winds which 
 blow from the North- The Asiatic continent, there- 
 fore, below the fortieth degree of latitude, is subject- 
 ed to a much greater heat than is experienced in the 
 same parallels in Europe ; but between that degree 
 and the arctic circle the dominion of cold is propor- 
 tionably increased. The nature of the soil, likewise, 
 
 * Some of the longest rivers on the globe, tlie Oby, the Yeni- 
 sea, and the Lena, rising from ranges of mountains near the lati- 
 tudes of the Caspian sea, take their direction towards the North, 
 and empty tlieir waters into the ocean witliin the arctic circle. 
 On the opposite side of this elevated region tlie rivers bend their 
 course towards the South. So that the continent of Asia, in 
 this part, presents the figure of the roof of a house, offering 
 its southern side more pei'pcndicuiarly to the rays of the sun, 
 while the northern side, declining from them, disperses them 
 over a larger surface. At tlie same time, the level face of 
 the country exposing it more to the unbroken sweep of the 
 polar winds, tlie union of botli these causes renders the North 
 of Asia much colder than the correspondent latitudes in Eu* 
 rope, while the southern declivity of that continent is propor- 
 Monably wanner. 
 
40 
 
 and the state of cultivation in difFefent countries cre- 
 ate some variation in the temperature of the climate. 
 Sand is susceptible of a much higher degree of heat 
 from the rays of the sun, and retains it longer 
 than clay or loam ; and an uncultivated region, shad- 
 ed widi forests, and filled with undrained marshes, 
 is more frigid in northern, and more temperate in 
 southern latitudes than countries laid open to the 
 full action of the solar influence.* In winter the 
 moisture of the atmosphere is congealed into more 
 abundant snows, and in summer descends in more 
 frequent and copious showers of rain. When the 
 North of Europe lay almost buried in its native for- 
 
 * Notwithstanding this general fact, it is equally true that, 
 in a new country, like tliat of the United States, when only a 
 few plantations are opened here and there in the midst of the 
 woods, the inhabitants are subjected to a more oppressive heat 
 in the summer season than they will be when the countiy shall 
 be entirely disforested. When a small plantation is opened in 
 a forest, the surrounding woods obstruct those breezes which 
 would refresh the inhabitants, while they are exposed to the di- 
 rect and scorching rays of the sun. To this we may add, that 
 the moist vapor, with which the atmospliere is generally filled 
 in a region that is not yet cleared and drained, settling down 
 more copiously on the few spots which are opened, where there 
 is not vegetation sufficient, as in the woods, to absorb it, ren- 
 ders the heat more oppressive, and at the same time the atmos- 
 phere more unwholesome. 
 
41 
 
 ests, and was inhabited only by various tribes of 
 barbarians and savages, there are se\'eral facts re- 
 corded in history which demonstrate that cold pre- 
 vailed in a much higher degree than at present. In 
 the age of Horace hail and snow were frequent phe- 
 nomena at Rome ; and the light wines of Italy were 
 sometimes frozen in their cellars. And Trajan, in 
 his Dacian wars, is said to have transported his ar- 
 mies across the Danube on the ice. But since those 
 bajbarous regions, from the Adriatic to the White 
 Sea, have been civilized, and those extensive for- 
 ests have been cleared away, and the earth subject- 
 ed to tillage, hail or snow are rarely seen at Rome, 
 and their wines, at present, never suffer from con- 
 gelation. 
 
 From the preceding observations this conclusion 
 results ; that there is a general ratio of temperature 
 prevailing over the whole globe according to the de- 
 gree of latitude from the equator, which forms what 
 is usually denominated climate.^ And a general re- 
 
 * Besides the effects resulting from temperature, or the di- 
 rect action of the sun's rays, when we consider the various ele- 
 ments, or gases, which enter into the constitution of our atmos- 
 phere, and the different proportions of these principles which 
 f xist in the various regions of the globe, according to their 
 
 F. 
 
42 
 
 semblance may be traced in the complexion of na« 
 tions inhabiting the same latitudes. Both these effects, 
 however, are greatly modified, in different countries, 
 by various combinations of the causes already men- 
 tioned. And the latter, in particular, together with 
 the whole human appearance, is still more diversifi- 
 ed by the state of society in which different tribes of 
 the human race exist, and their manner of living ; 
 
 proximity to the course of the sun, or according to their soils, 
 their waters, their minerals, their volcanos, and a thousand 
 otlier causes which affect tliis aerial ocean, it is not surprizing 
 that animal bodies, constantly exposed to their action, and suf- 
 fering their influences, either by absorption, at the surface of 
 the skin, or by respiration, by which their qualities are im- 
 parted to the mass of the blood through the lungs, or the sto- 
 mach, should be sensible of material changes in many respects 
 from the variations of this atmospheric constitution. These 
 variations will be greatly increased, and diversified in their in- 
 fluence on the human body by the different proportions of light, 
 of heat, of the electric fluid, and of many other operative and 
 powerful principles constantly mingling themselves with tlie 
 mass of the air. Although this general proposition will be 
 easily admitted to be true, yet the respective effects on the 
 human constitution of these fine and active principles every 
 where blended with the atmosphere, so easily elude our obser- 
 vation, and are so difficult to be separately ascertained, and dis- 
 ciiminated from one another, that the present state of physical 
 science forbids us to hope for much satisfaction from any at- 
 tempt minutely to investigate them. 
 
43 
 
 the influence of which causes shall, hereafter, be 
 more minutely examined. 
 
 Let us, in the first place, pass under review the 
 general eiFects of climate upon the colour of the hu- 
 man skin : after which we shall take notice of the 
 principal apparent deviations from the common law 
 exhibited in various portions of the earth. 
 
 The power of climate to change the complexion 
 is demonstrated by facts which constantly occur to 
 our observation. In the summer season we perceive 
 that the intensity of the sun's rays in our climate 
 tends to darken the colour of the skin, especially in 
 the labouring poor who are more constantly than 
 others, exposed to their action. In the winter, on 
 the other hand, the cold and keen winds which then 
 prevail contribute to chafe the countenance, and to 
 excite in it a sanguine and ruddy complexion. In 
 the temperate zone, the causes of these alternate and 
 opposite effects serve, in a degree, to correct one 
 another. But in proportion as heat or cold predomi- 
 nates in any climate, it tends to impress a permanent 
 and characteristic complexion. The degree in 
 which the one or the other prevails over its opposite 
 may be considered as a constant and uniform cause 
 to the action of which the constitution is exposed: 
 
44 
 
 Heat and cold affect the nervous system by tension 
 or relaxation, by dilatation or contraction, and in this 
 way, produce an alteration in the state of the solids. 
 Hence also the fluids are affected ; the quantity of the 
 perspiration is augmented or diminished ; and the 
 proportions of the various secretions changed. But 
 the human skin is susceptible of still greater and 
 more sensible changes, by the opposite actions of 
 tlie intense rays of the sun, or of the principle of cold 
 upon its delicate texture. Even minute differences 
 in the power of the cause often become perceptible 
 in the variety of the effect. The justness of this re- 
 mark will be rendered more obvious by a familiar 
 example which is constantly exposed to our obber- 
 vation. A cold and piercing air chafes the counte- 
 nance, and increases the ruddiness of the complexion. 
 A warm and moist atmosphere, on tlie other hand, 
 tends to relax the constitution, and comjnonly pro- 
 duces, in valetudinarians especially, some tincture 
 of a bilious hue. These eff*ects, in countries where 
 heat and cold succeed each other in nearly equal pro- 
 portions, are transient and interchangeable. But 
 where the climate, in any given proportion, repeats 
 the one, or the other, of these impressions, there, in 
 the same degree, is formed a correspondent and 
 
45 
 
 habitual colour of the skin. If I have applied this 
 term to the colour of tlie skin, as well as to the fea- 
 tures and form of the countenance and person, it is 
 because I believe that the greater part of the varieties 
 in the appearance of the human species may justly be 
 denominated habits of the body. Like other habits, 
 they are created, not by great and sudden impres- 
 sions of their causes, but by continual, and almost 
 imperceptible touches. Of habits, both of mind, 
 and of body, nations are susceptible as well as indi- 
 ^ iduals. Long in growing to maturity, national fea- 
 tures, like national manners, become fixed only after 
 succession of several generations. At last, how- 
 ex er, they become fixed. And if we can ascertain 
 any effect produced by a given state of climate, of 
 society, or of the habits of living, it requires only 
 to be repeated during a sufficient length of time, to 
 give it a permanent character, and so to incorporate 
 it into the constitution, as to render it an hereditary 
 property of the race. The sanguine, or the fair com- 
 pkxion will, for this reason, be perpetual in the 
 higher latitudes of the temperate zone, and we shall 
 generally find different shades of the dark colours, 
 gradually increasing, till we arrive at the perfectly 
 i:)lack, as we descend to the equator. 
 
45 
 
 If those philosophers, who maintain that the vari- 
 eties in complexion, and other constitutional proper- 
 ties of different tribes of mankind, are infallible indi- 
 cations of diversity of species, have embraced this 
 hypothesis from an apprehension that it is most con- 
 sistent with the benignity and wisdom of the Crea> 
 tor to form different races of human beings, fitted by 
 some peculiar adaptation of their physical organs to 
 the respective climates they were severally destined 
 to inhabit ; one would think that sound reason 
 should induce us, from these premises, to infer a 
 contrary conclusion ; that he has formed the human 
 constitution with such flexibility in its organization, 
 that it is capable of accommodating itself to every 
 situation on the globe, to which business or neces- 
 sity may call men, or a liberal curiosity and the de- 
 sire of improvement may invite them. This pliancy 
 of nature in man, above that of most other animals, 
 is favorable to the intercourse of the most distant 
 nations, and greatiy facilitates the cultivation of sci- 
 ence. To what ample sources of information have 
 not navigation and commerce opened an access? 
 How imperfect must the philosophy of human nature 
 itself have remained if we had been precluded from 
 contemplating it under every climate, and form of 
 
47 
 
 society, and in every progressive stage of its im- 
 provement from absolute savagism, to the highest 
 point of civilization and refinement ? And according 
 to this wise and benignant intention of providence, 
 do we not see mankind continually changing their 
 habitations ? Do not we find them under every zone 
 from the equator, to the pole, not only able to en- 
 dure all these different degrees of temperature with- 
 out injury, but so assimilated by time to the charac- 
 ter of each new climate, that hardly can we pro- 
 nounce with certainty, who have been descended 
 from the aboriginals of the country, and who from 
 families who have migrated thither only a few gene.' 
 rations past? 
 
 Why should it be thought necessary then that the 
 Creator should have formed different species of men 
 to inhabit the frozen regions of Lapland, and the 
 torrid climes of Africa, when it is confessed by one 
 of the greatest champions of this doctrine, that a 
 colony of Hungarians, who are among the handsom- 
 est and best proportioned people of Europe, have, 
 by migrating to Lapland, some ages ago, become 
 absolutely assimilated to the natives of the country 
 in every attribute of that diminutive and deformed 
 
48 
 
 race,* or were really the original stock from which 
 the present inhabitants are derived ? And the same 
 author asserts that a colony of Portuguese, estab- 
 lished in Congo, not yet three centuries since, have 
 so degenerated in complexion, in the figure of their 
 persons, and their habits of living, as to be no 
 longer distinguishable from the neighbouring tribes 
 of Hottentots, who are among the filthiest, the most 
 deformed and savage of mankind. These examples 
 ought surely to have convinced the learned advocate 
 of this hypothesis how unnecessary it is to the ex- 
 planation of the different appearances which human 
 nature puts on in the different climates and regions of 
 the globe, having before his view such proofs of the 
 facility with which the constitution of man moulds 
 itself to the impressions of each, and assumes the 
 habits of every state of society. 
 
 Before proceeding to treat directly of the causes 
 of the various degrees of dark complexion observa- 
 ble in the different tribes of the human species, it 
 will not be improper to propose two or three prelim- 
 inary remarks on the structure of the skin, the seat 
 of colour. This fine integument, although extreme- 
 
 * Lord Kaims in his sketches of the history of man 
 
49 
 
 ly delicate, and susceptible of the lightest impres- 
 sions from many causes both external and internal, 
 is, however, in its organic texture, among the least 
 mutable parts of the human body. Hence any co- 
 lour introduced into its substance is not easily erad- 
 icated. Figures stained in it with paints inserted 
 by punctures become indelible. For the same rea- 
 son, freckles, though consisting only of partial stains 
 impressed on the surface of a fair skin by a slight 
 exposure to the sun and air, cannot be removed but 
 with great difficulty ;* and in persons of a certain 
 ruddiness of complexion, such as is found com- 
 monly united with hair of a dark red, or deep orange 
 colour, can never be entirely effaced. f 
 
 * White may be regarded as the colourless state of skin, and 
 all the shades of the dark colours as different stains inserted 
 into its substance. 
 
 t It has been remarked, and not without reason, that a dark 
 colour of tlie skin may be considered as a universal freckle. 
 And, certainly, if the same kind of secretion mingling with the 
 perspirable matter issuing from the pores of the skin, which is 
 fixed by the action of the sun or air, on certain points in 
 freckles, should be equably diffused over the whole surface of 
 the body, or throughout the whole substance of the skin, and 
 We can discern no reason why it may not, every point would 
 consequently be stained with the same colour. 
 
 r 
 
so 
 
 We see, even in our own climate, that the solar 
 rays are able to penetrate the entire substance of the 
 skin ; and, when it is first exposed to them without 
 covering, they dissolve its texture, by inflaming and 
 raising it into blisters. This action tends not only 
 to change its colour, but to incrassate its substance 
 till it becomes thick enough to resist any further al- 
 teration from their influence;* when it assumes a 
 hue, more or less deep, according to the power and 
 continuance of the cause. The complexion of the 
 African zone, therefore, in the greater portion of 
 which the inhabitants are both savage in their man- 
 ners, and almost universally destitute of clothing, 
 will naturally be as much deeper as the ardor of the 
 sun, t in those parched regions is both more con- 
 
 * The stimulus of the sun's rays, exciting a greater flux of 
 humours to the skin, tends to incrassate its substance. Hence 
 tlie skin on the hands and face of labourers, and sea-faring men, 
 is thicker than that on other parts of the body. And all people 
 of colour have this integument thicker than persons of a fair 
 complexion. Blum. p. 110. 
 
 t Pliny seems inclined to ascribe the colour of the Africans 
 entirely to the excessive ardor of the sun in that climate. He 
 says, lib. 2. cap. 78. " Etliiopas vicini Sideris vapore torreri, 
 adustisque similes gigni, barba, & capillo vibrato, non est 
 dubium.*' And Ovid in the second book of the Metamorphos- 
 
51 
 
 stant, and more intense than in the temperate lati- 
 tudes, or even in other districts of the torrid zone. 
 
 The dark colours of the tropical nations, ho^vever, 
 ore not to be ascribed solely to the action of the sun's 
 rays upon the skin. Extreme heat, especially when 
 united with putrid animal, or vegetable exhalations, 
 which in all torrid climates are found copiously to 
 impregnate the atmosphere, tends greatly to aug- 
 ment the secretion of bile in the human system,* 
 which, being diffused over the whole surface of the 
 body, imparts to the complexion a dull yellow tinge, 
 tliat soon assumes a very dark hue, by bemg expos- 
 ed to the sun, and by immediate contact with the 
 
 s, relating tlie feble of Phaeton attributes the effect to the 
 chariot of the sun. In which, says Feijoo, although the sub- 
 staiice of the narration is fabulous, he alludes to the opinion 
 which was then generally adopted ; that the proximity of the 
 sun w^as the cause of the colour of the Ethiopians — 
 Sanguine tunc credunt in corpora summa 
 Vocato, Ethiopum populos nigrum traxisse colorem. 
 
 * Dr. M<Clurg in his treatise on the bile, asserts that tliis 
 secretion is always increased in proportion to the degree of 
 heat which prevails in any climate. We ought, however, to 
 take into our consideration also other causes of an increased 
 secretion of bile, as putrid miasmata in the atmosphere, meagre, 
 or scanty food, excessive hardships, and whatever corrupts, or 
 impoverishes the blood.. 
 
52 
 
 external air.* Different sliades of tlie dark colours, 
 therefore, till we arrive at the deepest black, will be 
 found in the human complexion, in proportion to 
 the predominancy of bile in the constitution, as well 
 as of heat in the climate. 
 
 On the immediate causes of colour in the human 
 species I shall state a few obvious facts. We may 
 not be perfectly acquainted with the internal process 
 of nature in the production of those phenomena, yet 
 their existence may be sufficient to convince the 
 philosophic observer that climate is the principal 
 agent in creating that variety of complexion which 
 distinguishes mankind in the different regions of the 
 globe. 
 
 1 The rays of the sun, when suffered to act im- 
 mediately on the human skin, tend to produce a dark 
 colour, although there should be no uncommon re- 
 dundancy of bile in the constitution. 
 
 2. On the pther hand, redundancy of bile imparts 
 a dark hue to the complexionf in persons who have 
 
 * Take bile from any animal, and expose it but for a short 
 tirae to the influence of the sun and air, and it becomes black. 
 
 t There is a great agreement, and sympathy, says Blumen- 
 bach, between the liver, the laboratory of bile in the human 
 
53 
 
 not, in any uncommon degree, been exposed to the 
 direct action of the sun. Accordingly, we frequent- 
 ly see those who have been long affected in different 
 degrees by an excess of this secretion, contract a 
 hue resembling that of various dark coloured na- 
 tions.* 
 
 constitution, and the comvioii ijitegumenla of tiie body, or tlie 
 skin ; and botli are to be considered as being among the princi- 
 pal means provided by nature for purifying the mass of the 
 blood, 
 
 " Manifcstus officinae bilis cum integumentis communibus 
 " consensus. Utraque quippe organa, hefiar nempe et cutis^ 
 *' ad maxime principalia, et invicem consentientia sanguinea*. 
 " massae purgatoria referenda.'* De gen. hum. degen. See. 
 § 44. p. 126. 
 
 * Dr. Strack, in his observations concerning intermittent fe- 
 vers, speaking of jaundice arising from this cause, says, " I 
 have seen the skin, after such a jaundice, remain of an olive 
 colour, like that of the Asiatics, and even be impEWted to chil- 
 dren. One I have seen become nearly as black as an East- In- 
 dian: and another the whole skin of -whose body became as dark 
 as if he had been tlie offspring of an Indian father, and Euro- 
 pean mother, while the palms of the hands, and soles of the feet 
 remained white like those of the Indians.'* . Book iii. ch. 2. 
 I may add to these examples of Dr. Strack that of a gentle- 
 man of the town of Newark in the state of New -Jersey, whose 
 complexion has, for more than twenty years, been as dark as 
 that of an aboriginal American. This colour was induced at 
 first in consequence of disease ; but though he has, for a long 
 time, enjoyed his health, the colour still remains. « I would 
 
3. Where both causes co-operate, as is the case 
 in all fervid climates, the effect upon the complex- 
 ion of the inhabitants must be greater in proportion 
 to the influence of the respective causes. 
 
 4* The human skin has been discovered by anat- 
 omists to consist of three distinct lamellae or integu- 
 ments ; the external, or scarf-skin, w^hich is an ex- 
 tremely fine netting, and perfectly transparent in the 
 darkest coloured nations, — the interior, or true skin, 
 which, in people of all the different grades of colour, 
 is white, — ^and an intermediate membrane, which 
 
 ftot, says Dr, Blumenbach, urge too far the analogy of the 
 jaundice with tlie national colour of tlie skin, yet are there sev- 
 eral phenomena which merit attention on this subject, ?.nd, 
 among others, the following ; that, among nations of a dusky, 
 or black complexion, it is a frequent, not to say general thing, 
 to find persons, otlierwise in tlieir full healtli, who have the 
 white of the eye tinged with a certain yellowish appearance like 
 those who have been affected by bilious disorders. This is 
 very observable in the natives of India, of tropical Africa, and 
 America.'* For the fact he quotes De la I.oubere descript. du 
 royaume de Siam. T. 1. p. 81. and Rochcfort, hist, naturelle 
 dcs Antilles, p. 3 83. He adds, we frequently see in those who 
 have been affected with jaundice, according to the degree of the 
 disorder, the skin, in different persons, stained with various 
 shades greatly resembling the complexion of different nations 
 of colour, which stain often remains pennanent after the dis- 
 ease has been entirely removed. Blum, de gen. hum. degen 
 tn specie. §45. p. 131. 
 
MS 
 
 is cellular in its structure, somewhat like a honey* 
 comb. This membrane is the proper seat of colour, 
 being filled with a delicate mucous, or viscid liquor, 
 which easily receives the lively tinge of the blood 
 when strongly propelled, by any cause, to the sur- 
 face, or the duller stain of the bile when it enters 
 in any undue quantity into the circulation. The 
 smallest surchange of this secretion imparts to it a 
 yellow appearance ; which, by remaining long in 
 contact with the atmosphere assumes a darker hue,* 
 and if exposed, at the same time, to the immediate 
 influence of the sun, approaches, according to the 
 heat of the climate and the degree in which the bile 
 prevails, towards black. 
 
 5. The gall, or bile of any animal exposed to the 
 sun and air, in a short time becomes black : a phe- 
 nomenon which probably results from the great pro- 
 portion of carbon which enters into its composition,* 
 
 * Even the blackest negro, when first born, does not exhibit 
 his true complexion till after he has been some time exposed to 
 the contact of the external air. 
 
 * Carbon, in its purest state, is known to be clear and trans- 
 parent, as is seen in the diamond ; but in that mixed and im- 
 pure condition in which it exists inonost bodies, especially in 
 the bile, the contact of the atmosphere, or the action of heat. 
 
56 
 
 and the evaporation which takes place in the open air 
 of the hydrogen, or aqueous fluid with which it had 
 been combined and diluted. 
 
 6. When, from any cause therefore, the bilious 
 secretion has been increased beyond its natural pro- 
 portion, approaching the surface of the body in the 
 progress of the circulation, the carbonic matter of its 
 composition becomes there attached to the viscid 
 mucous in the cellular membrane of the skin, while 
 the more thin and volatile hydrogen with which it is 
 combined, having a stronger aflinity and attraction 
 with the oxygen of the atmosphere, and flying ofl^ 
 first, leaves it precipitated and entangled in those 
 cells where it stains and discolours the complexion.* 
 
 renders it black. Even the diamond, by tlie force of intense 
 heat, may be covered with a black crust. 
 
 * This is confirmed by an observation of Dr. Blumenbach in 
 his treatise de gen. hum. degen. in specie, §44. p. 124, &c. 
 The proximate cause, says he, of tlie dark colour in the ex- 
 ternal integuments of the skin is to be sought in the carbon 
 Avhich abounds in the human body, and abounds more in the oil 
 and bile than in any other animal substances. The latter com- 
 ing united witli the hydrogen, with which it is intimately com- 
 bined, to the surface of the body, the hydrogen there attaches 
 itself more quickly to the oxygen of the atmosphere, on ac- 
 count of their superior mutual attraction, and, flying off first, 
 
57 
 
 7. The bile itself is, perhaps, more liable thau 
 most other secretions in the human body, to become 
 incrassiited and mucous: at least it is always copious- 
 ly found in that state in the stomach and intestines of 
 those persons who have been long subject to bilious 
 disorders. 
 
 8. The vapours arising from stagnant waters with 
 which uncultivated regions abound, great fatigues 
 and hardships, po\ erty of diet, filthiness in the man- 
 ner of living, tend, likewise, to create a surcharge of 
 the bilious secretion. Hence, as well as from their 
 
 the carbon is precipitated in the rete malphighianum, or 
 second integument of the skin, and infects it with its dtirk 
 colour in proportion to the quantity which vurious causes have 
 thro\vTi into the circulation, the chief of which is climate. Cau- 
 sam equidem proximam adusti, aut fusci colons extcnioium 
 cutis integumentorum, in abundante carbonaceo corporis hu- 
 mani elemento quaerendam censeo, quod cum hydrogenio per 
 corium excernitur, oxygenii vero atmospherici accessu prae-s 
 cipitatum, Malpihiano muco infigitur. 
 
 Ingens climatum in hepatis actionem potentia, utpote quae 
 intra tropicos coeli ardore mirum quantum excitatur et iiuge- 
 tur. Hinc morbi biliosi intra tropicos multifarii et endemii.— 
 Blum, de generis hum. degen. in specie. § 44. p. 125, 126. 
 
 In section 45th, p. 1 30th, he says ; that the carbonic matter 
 belongs to the primary elements of the animal system, and that 
 it is the cause of a colour more or less dark has been rendered 
 evident by the late improvements in chemistry, particularly, 
 among^ the French. 
 
58 
 
 nakedness, and exposure to the unmitigated effect of 
 the solar and atmopheric influence, savages will al- 
 ways be discoloured even in temperate, or in cold 
 climates.* For, although cold, when assisted by 
 succulent nourishment, and by the comfortable lodg- 
 ing and clothing furnished by the arts of civliztd 
 life, propels the blood with force to the surface, and 
 tends, in a healthful state of the body, to render the 
 complexion clear, yet, when the system is relaxc d, or 
 receives a surcharge of bile from the causes mention- 
 ed above, and poor and shivering savages, under an 
 arctic sky, do not possess those conveniences which, 
 by cherishing the principle of life, assist the motion 
 of the blood to the extremities, the constitution is 
 overstrained, indirect debility ensues, and an increase 
 of the same discolouring secretion is produced. 
 
 * From the affinity of the bile, says the same eminent physi- 
 cian quoted in thelust note, with the fat or oil of the animal body, 
 noticed also by Fou re roy, (philosophic chemique, p. 111.) ap- 
 pears the reason of that waxen hue observable in dark colour- 
 ed nations, remarked by J. F. Mekel, histoire de Tacademie 
 des sciences de B^^rlin. 1753. p. 92. — Hence, unless I am de- 
 ceived, continues he, we derive the reason why nations who live 
 chiefly on a food consisting of animal oil, not only smell of the 
 oil, but contract a very dark complexion ; as the Greenlanders, 
 and the miserable inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, whose scanty 
 ftubsistence consists chiefly of the almost putrid fat of seals. 
 
59 
 
 The rigor of their climate, the hardships of their 
 state, the grossness and scantiness of their food, and 
 fihhiness of their whole manner of living, not only 
 tend to augment this secretion, but, by obstructing 
 the pores of the skin, hold it longer in nearly a stag- 
 nant state at the surface of the body, and in contact 
 with the external air, which occasions an increase of 
 the dark colour. Hence, perhaps, the deep Lappo- 
 nian complexion, which has been esteemed a pheno- 
 menon so difficult to be explained. 
 
 9 One other fact on this subject deserves to be re- 
 marked. Those who make great and sudden changes 
 in their residence from northern to southern cli- 
 mates, and, especially if they remove from high and 
 dry soils to moist and undrained regions, are usually 
 attacked by bilious disorders which leave the blood 
 impoverished, and shed a dark colour, tinged with a 
 yellow appearance over'the skin. These disorders 
 are evidently the effects of the climate, and are prob- 
 ably only the efforts of nature in removing that ten- 
 sion of the system which would render it under the 
 action of an ardent sun, liable to dangerous inflama- 
 tory fevers, and imparting to it that proportion of 
 
60 
 
 bile which is requisite to its safety, and its comfort- 
 abie subsistence in its new situation.* 
 
 In the preceding propositions 1 have endeavoured 
 to state some principles, supporting them on the au- 
 thority of unquestionable facts, by which to explaia 
 the proximate cause of colour, and its various shades 
 in the human species, but, whether the theory which 
 I have attempted to erect on the foundation of these 
 factb be satisfactorily supported or not, the general 
 principle, that climate possesses all the power to 
 change the complexion which 1 have ascribed to it, 
 
 * Bilious cKsorclcrs are known to relax the system, and there- 
 by to render it less liable to the inflamatory fevers to which a 
 tense and plethoric habit would be exposed under a hot sun. 
 The bile which tends easily to become mucous and incrassated, 
 contributes also, by increasing the thickness of the skin, which 
 thereby forms a kind of veil to the body, to resist tlie inflama- 
 tory Liction of the sun*s rays upon the constitution, and to ren- 
 der it more patient of extreme heat. For, it is observed by 
 Blutncnbuch, of the reticular membrane of the skin, that it is 
 always thicker in proportion to the darkness of the colouring 
 matter with which its cells are filled. Blum, de gen. Sec. p. 1 64. 
 
 But it should ever be remembered that the predominance of 
 bile in the habit, and the discolouration of the skin, although 
 they may be, and, in the first instance, usually are, the eftects 
 of disease, yet, becoming, in time, constitutional properties, 
 they remain after all symptoms of disease have passed away ; 
 and may even become necessary to a healthful state of tlie body, 
 
61 
 
 can be established, I apprehend, on the clear and 
 decisive evidence of other facts, although I should 
 have failed to point out the precise mode in which 
 climate acts, or accurately to have traced the chain 
 of its effects. — The principle results, then, from the 
 regularity of the complexional zones of the world.— 
 It results from obvious and undeniable events within 
 the memory of history. — And it results from facts 
 which come under our own immediate observation in 
 America. 
 
 Encircle the earth in every zone, and, making those 
 reasonable allowances which ought to be made, for 
 the influence of mountains, lakes, and seas, and those 
 other circumstances which are known to modify the 
 temperature of climate, each zone is seen to be 
 marked by its own distinctive, and characteristic 
 complexion. The black prevails under the equa- 
 tor ; — near the tropics we arrive at the dark cop- 
 per ; — and, on this side of the tropic of Cancer, to 
 the seventieth degree of northern latitude, we suc- 
 cessively trace the tawny, the olive,* the bro\vn, 
 
 * Some difference exists in the tints which mark the corres- 
 ponding latitudes in Asia and Europe, arising from the diver- 
 sity of the respective climates occasioned by the nature of the 
 soil, the form of the continents, and other causes affecting the 
 temperature of the atmosphere. 
 
the fair, the sanguine. In each of these grades we 
 discover several shades or tints ; till, beneath the arctic 
 circle, we return to the black. This general uniform- 
 ity in the effect, as we proceed towards the North, or 
 the South, affords a strong presumption, that the va- 
 rious shades of complexion which distinguish the 
 different latitudes are to be ascribed chiefly to the 
 influence of climate. The apparent deviations from 
 this law which are presented to our view in particular 
 regions of the globe, will, when we come, in the 
 progress of this discourse, to point out their causes, 
 serve only to confirm the general principle.* 
 
 * Various causes may contribute, in certain districts of the 
 globe, to alter the prevailing temperature of the atmosphere, 
 and consequently the shade of the complexion, which may be 
 said to form the general and characteristic temperature and 
 complexion of any particular latitude. Some of these have 
 been already suggested, and others will be more largely detail- 
 ed hereafter. In a philosophic enquiry into this subject it is 
 necessary continually to recollect that there are often various 
 climates, taking that temi to signify any particular degree of 
 heat, or of heat combined with moisture, under the same par- 
 allel of latitude. 
 
 When this obvious consideration is attended to, it is the 
 more surprizing that the critical reviewers in EngUind, in re- 
 marking on tlie first edition of this essay, should think to re- 
 fute the reasonings on the influence and eifects of climate by 
 drawing their parallel round the globe, and shewing the vari- 
 
63 
 
 The influence of climate on the human complex- 
 ion is demonstrated by well known and important 
 events within the memory of history. From the 
 Baltic to the Mediterranean the different latitudes of 
 Europe are marked by different shades of colour. 
 In tracing the origin of the fair German, the dark 
 coloured Frenchman, and the swarthy Spaniard, 
 and Sicilian, it has been proved tliat they are all de- 
 rived from the same primitive stock ; or, at least 
 from nearly resembling nations which may be com- 
 prehended under the general names of Huns and 
 Goths. The southern provinces of France, of Italy, 
 of Spain, and of other countries of Europe, are dis- 
 tinguished from the northern by a much deeper 
 shade of complexion.* And, if we extend our view 
 
 ous shades of colour found under this circle .This negligent 
 
 and injudious criticism is the less excusable because the fact 
 had been remarked and accounted for in the essay itself; and 
 to the candid, the attentive, and truly philosophic reader, I 
 trust it is sufficiently demonstrated to be the necessary result 
 of the principles laid down on the subject of climate. 
 
 * It has been remarked by travellers that in Spain the ladies 
 of the province of Biscay generally possess very fair complex- 
 ions. In Grenada, on the other hand, and the other southern 
 provinces, they are of a dark swarth, which is so general a 
 characteristic of the ladies there, that it is esteemed a beauty. 
 
beyond Europe to the great empires of the East, to 
 Arabia, to Persia, to India, and China, this obser- 
 vation is still more applicable to those countries 
 which embrace so much greater an extent of lati- 
 tude. The inhabitants of Pekin are fair while those 
 of Canton exhibit as deep a colour as the Mexicans*. 
 The Persians in the vicinity of the Caspian sea are 
 among tlie fairest people in the world, and their 
 neighbours, the Georgians and Circassians, are ac- 
 knowledged to be the most beautiful. But, this 
 delicate complexion gradually changes to a dark olive 
 as we approach the gulph of Ormus. The inhabit- 
 ants of the stony and desert Arabia are distinguished 
 by a light copper colour, while those of the southern 
 provinces of Mocha and Yemen are of as deep a hue 
 as those of middle India. The same gradation holds 
 in Egypt, from the Mediterranean sea to the foot of 
 the mountains of Abyssinia. The population of the 
 southern provinces of the peninsula of India are 
 black ; on the North, and just below the range of 
 the Caucasian mountains, the complexion changes 
 to a light chesnut, or yellow colour. And this gra- 
 
 and is even given to their pictures and statues of the Virgin 
 Mary. Blum. p. 135. 
 
65 
 
 dation is observed both on the Malabar, and the Co^ 
 romandel coast. ^ 
 
 In these extensive countries in which the surface 
 of the earth is more uniform than in Europe, and 
 not so much broken and intersected by mountains, 
 seas, and bays running far up into the land, the gra- 
 dation of colour holds a more regular progression ac- 
 cording to the latitude from the equator. Rut the 
 influence of climate on the complexion is better 
 illustrated by its effects on the Arabians and the Chi- 
 nese, than on most other nations, who have been the 
 subjects of frequent conquests, and great intermix- 
 tures with foreign tribes. These people have re- 
 mained, from a very remote antiquity, almost whol- 
 ly unmingled with foreign nations. The former, 
 especially, can be traced by a clear, and undisputed 
 genealogy to their origin in one family ; and they 
 have never been blended, either by conquest, or by 
 
 * The authors of the Universal History. Asiatic Re- 
 searches. Bruce's Travels. Accounts of Missionaries to 
 India from Britain, Holhiml, and Germany. A similar remark 
 is made with regard to the negrees on botli sides of the Senegal 
 river, by Barbot in Churchiirs collection of voyages. But the 
 varieties of Africa will be aftcrAvards more particularly noticed 
 and accounted foi-. 
 
66 
 
 commerce, with any other race. And yet we find 
 every gradation of discolouration among them from 
 the swarthy hue of the northern provinces to the 
 deep black suffused with a yellowish tinge,*" which 
 prevails in the southern angle of the Arabian 
 peninsula. 
 
 But no example can carry with it greater author- 
 ity on this subject than that of the Jews. Descend- 
 ed from one stock, prohibited by their most sa(5red 
 institutions from intermarr} ing with strangers, and 
 yet widely dispersed into every region on the 
 globe, this one people is marked with the peculiar 
 characteristics of every climate. In Britain and 
 Germany they are fair, brown in France and in Tur- 
 key, swarthy in Portugal and Spain, olive in Syria 
 and Chaldea, ta^vny or copper-coloured in Arabia 
 and Egypt, t 
 
 * It is the same colour which is seen in those blacks who» 
 in the United States, are denominated yellow negroes. 
 
 t Buffon's Nat. Hist. vol. III. — Mr. Buffon, in giving these 
 generul characteristics of complexion writes rather like an ora- 
 tor than ci philosopher, and, that he may not embarmss his 
 stile by too many distinctions, gives the colour of only a parti- 
 cular portion of each country. For example, he has in his 
 view chiefly the nortliern parts of Arabia, and of Egypt ; the 
 
67 
 
 Another example of the power of climate to 
 change the complexion, and even to introduce great 
 alterations into the whole constitution, is presented 
 to the'view of the philosophic observer in the native 
 population of the United States. Sprung, not long 
 since, from the British, the Irish, and the German 
 nations, who are the fairest people in Europe, tliey 
 have extended themselves over the American conti- 
 nent from the thirty-first to the forty-fifth degree of 
 northern latitude. And notwithstanding the recent 
 period at which the first European establishments 
 were made in America ; and the continual influx of 
 emigrants from the old continent, and their frequent 
 intermarriages with the native Anglo-Americans; 
 and, what is of not less consequence in this question, 
 notwithstanding ideas of personal beauty derived 
 from their ancestors which they sedulously cherish, 
 and which the arts of civilized life have enabled them 
 to preserve, as far as is possible, against the influence 
 
 North of Syria, and South of Chaldea ; with perhaps a similar 
 limitation in Turkey, and in France. A tribe of Jews, or Is- 
 raelites has lately been discovered m India, known by the He- 
 brew Pentateuch preserved among them from immemorial 
 time, to be of the stock of Israel, who huve become, by a resi- 
 ilence of ages in that climate, as black as tlie natives. 
 
68 
 
 of the climate ; yet have they undergone a visible 
 and important change. A certain paleness of coun- 
 tenance, and softness of feature in the native Ameri- 
 can strikes a British traveller as soon as he arrives 
 upon our shores. Many exceptions there are ; but, 
 in general, the American complexion does not exhi- 
 bit so clear a red and white as the British, or the 
 German. And there is a tinge of sallowness spread 
 over it which indicates the tendency of the climate 
 to generate bile. These effects are more obvious 
 in the southern than in the northern states. They 
 appear more strongly marked in the low lands near 
 the ocean, than as you approach the mountainous re- 
 gions to the North and West. And they are much 
 more deeply impressed in the poorer classes of the 
 people than in families of easy fortune who enjoy a 
 more various and nutricious diet, and possess the 
 means at once of improving their appearance, and 
 guarding against the unfavourable influences of the 
 climate. The people of New- Jersey, in the low and 
 level country between the sea, and tlie extensive 
 bay of the river Delaware, are generally darker in 
 their complexion, than in those counties where the 
 country rises into hills; and considerably darker than 
 the inhabitants of Pemisylvania, which is every where 
 
69 
 
 diversified with hills, and frequently rises into lofty 
 mountains. The depression of the land exposes it 
 to greater heat ; and the level surface of the country, 
 not yet subjected to a high degree of culture, leaves 
 it, in many places, covered with stagnant waters that 
 impregnate the atmosphere with unwholesome ex- 
 halations, which greatly augment the secretion of 
 bile. The increased heat of the sun in the low 
 lands of Maryland and Virginia, near the coasts of 
 the ocean, and of the ^vide bays which every where 
 indent them, gives a visible heightening to the dark- 
 ness of the complexion, especially in the poorest clas- 
 ses of the people who are most exposed to the force of 
 the climate. Descending still farther to the South, 
 along the sea coast of the Carolinas and Georgia, we 
 often meet among the overseers of their slaves, and 
 their laborious poor, with persons whose complexion 
 is but a few shades lighter than that of the aboriginal 
 Iroquois, or Cherokees. Compare these men with 
 their British ancestors, and the change which has al- 
 ready passed upon them, will afford the strongest 
 ground to conclude that, if they were thrown, like 
 our native indians, into a state of absolute savagism, 
 they would, in no great length of time, be perfectly 
 
70 
 
 marked with the same complexion.^ Not only is 
 their complexion thus changed, but a visible and 
 striking alteration seems to have been produced on 
 their whole constitution. So thin and meagre fre- 
 
 * Those rude woodmen, on the frontiers of tlie United 
 States, who live in the vicinity of the indian tribes, and who, 
 being frequently intermingled witli them, have adopted nearly 
 the same modes of living, contract, in time, a great resem- 
 blance to the savages, not only in their manners, but in their 
 colour and the expression of the countenance. Those especi- 
 ally who have incorporated themselves with any of their tribes, 
 conforming entirely to their customs, and habits of living, soon 
 acquire a surprizing similarity to them in their whole appear- 
 ance. Of this effect Mr. Adair in his history of the American 
 Indians, gives us a striking example m an Anglo-American 
 who had, in this manner, incorporated himself with the Shaw- 
 anoese nation. And I have had similar relations confinned to 
 me by persons who have had the best opportunities of making 
 observations on tliese adopted children of the savage tribes. 
 " At the Shawanoe main camp, says he, I saw a Pennsylvanian, 
 a white man by birth, and in profession a christian, who by the 
 inclemency of the sun, and his endeavours to improve the red 
 colour, was tarnished with as deep an indian hue as any of the 
 camp, although he had been in the woods only four years." 
 Adair Hist. Amcr. Ind. p. 3,4. — I follow this extract with the 
 remark of the mgenious and judicious Dr. Barton of Philadel- 
 phia : " If tliese remarkable changes are wrought on the system 
 in the term of a few years, we ought not to be surprized at 
 seeing even the most opposite tints and features produced from 
 the long and peiTnanent operation of physical, and of moral 
 i^auscs." But I will add that, probably, the Anglo-Americans 
 will ncvrr degenerate into a perfect resemblance of the abori- 
 
71 
 
 quently are they in their persons, that their limbs 
 sec m to have a disproportioned length to the body ; 
 and the figure of the skeleton appears often, very 
 distinctly, through the skin. If these men, unmixed 
 with others whose state in society enables them to 
 enjoy in greater abundance the conveniences and 
 comforts of living, and consequently the means of 
 preserving themselves from the deteriorating im- 
 pressions of the climate, had been found in a dis- 
 tant region where no memory of their origin remain- 
 ed, they would have furnished to the advocates of 
 different species belonging to the human kind, an 
 ej;ample as strong, and as much to the purpose of 
 their argument, as most of those on which they now 
 rely witli the greatest confidence. 
 
 In general, the habit of the Anglo-Americans is 
 more slender than that of the natives of Great-Bri- 
 
 ginal indians. The arts of civilization may be expected, in a 
 considerable degree, to correct the effects of the climate. Even 
 if tliey should now sink into a state of savagisni, perhaps the 
 resemblance miglit not, in every point, be complete ; be- 
 cause the one would receive the impressions of the climate on 
 the ground of features formed in Europe, and in a high state of 
 civilization ; the others have received them on the ground of 
 fea ures formed in a very different region of the globe, and in 
 a much ruder state of society. Such differences in the combi- 
 nations must necessarily vary somewhat the results. 
 
72 
 
 tain or Ireland, from whom the greater part of our 
 population is descended. But the extremely meagre 
 aspect of that class to which I refer, may arise from 
 their situation, which exposes them more to the un- 
 mitigated influences of a climate that is, at present, 
 very unhealthy from the intensity of its heat acting 
 on the great quantity of its stagnant waters and in- 
 fecting the atmosphere, during the hot season, with 
 putrid exhalations. And, I have before remarked, 
 that the changes created in the human constitution 
 by migrating from dry, to moist regions, and from 
 temperate to very warm latitudes, are, in the first 
 instance generally diseases. Hereafter, when the 
 constitution shall become more accommodated to 
 the climate, as it may, in time, adapt itself to any 
 situation on the globe, these people will present to 
 the eye a less haggard, and diseased appearance ; 
 but they will probably forever exhibit a very thin 
 and meagre habit of body, and a very swarthy hue. 
 
 Examples taken from the descendants of Europe- 
 ans in America are the stronger because the climate 
 has not yet had time to impress upon them its full 
 character. And the change which will ultimately 
 be produced in the American constitution has been 
 
73 
 
 retarded, not only by the arts of civilized society,^ 
 but by the continual intermixture of new colonies of 
 emigrants from Europe with the natives of the 
 country. 
 
 To those who have surveyed this subject in a 
 hasty and superficial manner, these changes may 
 appear to advance more slowly to their ultimate 
 point than is consistent with the principles hitherto 
 laid down. But it will be recollected that all national 
 changes, whether moral or physical, usually advance 
 by almost imperceptible gradations. f Many cen- 
 
 * In savage life men more easily receive the impressions of 
 the climate than in civilized society, because they are exposed 
 to its full force without any means of defence. Indeed, what- 
 ever ail they possess is usually employed, not in defending 
 themselves from its influences, but in heightening tlie dark 
 colour of the skin. But independently on the application of 
 any art, the same consequences would result, in a degree, from 
 the extreme neglect and filthiness of tlieir persons. 
 
 t It deserves to be remarked that the natives of tlie West- 
 India islands, even of those settled by the English and Danes, 
 and the fairest European nations, are already become very dark 
 in their complexion, and approaching to a copper hue, although 
 three centuries have not yet elapsed since those settlements 
 were first established. The descendants of the^ Spaniards in 
 South-America are become absolutely copper coloured. [See 
 Phil. Trans, of Roy. Soc. Lond. No. 476. Sect. 4.] The Per- 
 
 I 
 
74 
 
 turies elapsed before Europe was able to raise 
 herself to her present refinement, from the rudeness 
 of barbarian manners which overspread that portion 
 of the globe after the fall of the Roman empire* 
 Perhaps not less time may be required to pass 
 through all the changes which, from different cau^ 
 ses, may affect the countenance and corporal farm 
 and appearance of a whole people ; — to receive the 
 impressions of climate on successive generations till 
 it has attained its utmost operation ; — to combine 
 these with the effects \vhich rcsult from the state of 
 society ; to blend both with personal peculiarities ; 
 and, by the almost infinite unions of families, to 
 melt down the whole into those features, combined 
 
 tuguese of Mitomba, in Sierra Leona, on the coast of Africa^ 
 have, by intermariying with the natives, and adopting their 
 manners, become, in a few generations, so assimilated to them 
 in figure, and complexion, that hardly can they any longer be 
 distinguished. [Treatise on the trade of Great-Britain to Af- 
 lica, by an African Merchant.] And Lord Kaims affimis of 
 another Portuguese settlement on the coast of Congo, that the 
 descendants of those Europeans have become both in tlieir per- 
 sons and their manners, more like beasts than like men. [Pre- 
 lim. Disc, to the Sketches on Man.] These examples indicate, 
 with no small degree of evidence, how easily climate would 
 assimilate, in a great degree, any foreign people to the natives 
 of any countiy, in the course of time, if they would adopt the 
 same manners, and equally expose themselves to its influence. 
 
75 
 
 with that complexion, and peculiar expression, 
 which go to form what is called a national counte- 
 nance. It is even questionable whether any nation in 
 Europe, in consequence of the eternal migrations 
 ^nd conquests which have mingled and confounded 
 its inhabitants with the natives of other regions, 
 yet exhibits the entire effect of all these causes, so 
 far, at least, that they may not still be susceptible 
 of further change. China and Arabia are, perhaps, 
 the only civilized countries in the world in which 
 climate combined with manners, have attained their 
 utmost operation on the human constitution ; because 
 they are the only countries in which the inhabitants 
 have been able, during a long succession of ages, to 
 preserve themselves unmixed with any other people, 
 and to persevere in the same habits of life. Each par- 
 allel of latitude is, among them, distinctly marked 
 with its characteristic complexion. In no other 
 country is there such a regular gradation of colour as 
 is traced from the fair natives of Pekin^ to the in- 
 
 * The Tartars, who have more than once, within the mem- 
 ory of history, dethroned the reigning family at Pckin, and es- 
 tablished a new dynasty in the empire cf China, foiTn no pro- 
 per exception to this remark. The Tartars, though they 
 hanged the dynasty, made no alteration in the frame of the 
 
76 
 
 habitants of Canton, who are of a dark copper ; oi 
 from the dark oHve or swarthy colour of the Desen 
 Arabia, to the black of the province of Yemen. 
 
 From these obser\'ations it results, that the cau- 
 ses of colour and of other varieties in the human 
 species have not yet had their full operation on the 
 inhabitants of the United States. Such an operation, 
 however, they have had as affords a striking proof and 
 an interesting example of the powerful influence of 
 climate.* 
 
 govcmment ; and, being few in number, and chiefly of the 
 military order, have had no sensible effect on the character of 
 the population. They form a part of the soldiery of the em- 
 pire, or rather of the guards of the prince ; they have never be- 
 come cultivators of the soil. 
 
 * The reader will always bear in mind that in remarking on 
 the changes which have passed on the Anglo-Americans, I hav 
 in view chiefly the natives of the second and third generation 
 from their European ancestors, or even a more distant posteri- 
 ty if there be such. Although a few exceptions from each re- 
 mark may be pointed out, yet they will not be regarded as suf- 
 ficient to overthrow conclusions drawn from the great mass of 
 population. They will be rare among those who have had a 
 clear American descent by both parents through two or three 
 races. They will be much more rare in the low countries near 
 the sea, in tiie middle and southern states, where tlie climate 
 differs more from that of Europe, than in the northern 
 portion of the Union, or the western counties of the southern 
 
77 
 
 Before leaving the illustration of this article it may 
 contribute to confirm the doctrine of the power of cli- 
 mate to affect the human complexion, to point out, in 
 a few instances, its operation on the colour of the in- 
 ferior animals. Analogy often affords a solid ground 
 of reasoning. And, on this subject, we may strength- 
 en our conclusions by analogous facts which are 
 known to take place in different species of the animal 
 tribes. It has been remarked by several writers, that, 
 whether we ought to ascribe the effect to any peculiar 
 constitution of the atmosphere, or to the manner of 
 feeding, swine, in the province of Normandy in 
 France, are universally white ; in Suabia in Germa- 
 ny, on the other hand, they are every where black ; 
 while they are seen only of a chesnut brown in 
 Bavaria. Cattle of the beeve kind are in Hungary 
 of a whitish grey ; which is likewise the case in the 
 northern parts of Syria ; except, that the Syrian 
 cattle are whiter than the Hungarian. In the coun- 
 
 statcs, where the country rises into high hills, and is cUversiH- 
 cd with ranges of lofty mountains. Here the character of the 
 climate is less removed from that of Britidn, or of the middle 
 of Europe. And in the western parts of the middle and south- 
 em states the population is more mingled with recent emi- 
 grants from Ireland and Gcnnany. 
 
try of Angora in the centre of the Lesser Asia, the 
 goats are of a beautiful milk white colour, the hair 
 over the whole body being remarkably fine and dis- 
 posed in long spiral ringlets.^ It is now well 
 known to every voyager, that, in the climates in 
 which extreme cold prevails, foxes, bears, hares, 
 even falcons, crows, and several other birds and 
 beasts are generally found of a white colour. And 
 that this effect is to be ascribed to the prevailing 
 cold of the climate is rendered the more certain, 
 because, in those regions posited a little farther to 
 the South, in which the moderate warmth of 
 summer, during a few months replaces the ex- 
 cessive rigors of winter, these animals change the 
 colour of their feathers, and their furs in the respec- 
 tive seasons. On the other hand, Bcekman,! and 
 other navigators assert that on the coasts of Guinea, 
 and in various districts of the torrid zone of Africa, 
 many of their domestic animals, and particularly their 
 dogs, and common poultry, as well as the human 
 inhabitants, are uniformly black. 
 
 *^ This is the material of which our finest camlets are matks 
 > His voyage to and from Borneo, Loml. 1718. 
 
7^ 
 
 If, then, in animals acknowledged to be of the 
 same species, we perceive such differences of 
 colour, created by the climate, or region in which 
 they exist, why should we not equally admit 
 its power on the complexion of man? This 
 ground of leasoning is conformable to princi- 
 ples which have been universally received in the 
 philosophic world, on subjects of natural science, 
 since the age of Newton. Of natural effects of the 
 same kind, the same, or like causes, ought to be 
 assigned, as far as possible. — And more causes ought 
 not to be accumulated in explaining the phenomena 
 of nature than are sufficient to account for them, 
 and are supported by clear experiment, or by obvi- 
 ous analogy. 
 
 Hitherto the facts which have been adduced, and 
 the reasonings founded upon them, have tended 
 chiefly to explain the principle of colour and to ac- 
 count for the varieties of complexion, in differ- 
 ent portions of the human race ; and, in the first 
 place, to demonstrate the influence of climate on 
 these affections of the skin. I proceed now to illus- 
 trate its power in giving existence to other varieties, 
 which distinguish different nations. 
 
80 
 
 It would be difficult, as it is unnecessary, to enter 
 into a very particular description of every part of the 
 human body, or even every feature of the human 
 countenance, and to trace each change of which they 
 are susceptible to their respective causes. If we 
 are able satisfactorily to account for the principal 
 changes, a reasonable and candid enquirer after truth 
 ought to remain satisfied that all minuter ones are 
 within the power of the same or similar causes, with- 
 out having recourse to the superfluous, and, conse- 
 quently, unphilosophical doctrine of different origin- 
 al species of men. I shall, therefore, confine my 
 observations, principally, to those conspicuous vari- 
 eties which are seen in the hair, — ^the figure of the 
 head, — ^the proportions of different parts of the body, 
 — and in the features of the face. 
 
 The colour of the hair generally follows the law of 
 the complexion;* because, its roots, being planted in 
 
 * There arc instances in the southern states of America and 
 in the West-Indies of white children derived from black pa- 
 icnts of the darkest African hue. There are also instances of 
 pied negroes, whose skin is variegated with black and wliite 
 spots, sonic from their birth, and others who have changed 
 their colour at different ages. But wherever this colour has 
 affected the skin of the head beneath the hair, the colour of the 
 hAv has l)een changed with it. Dr. Blumenbach mentions a 
 
81 
 
 the skin, derive its nourishment, and its colour from 
 the same secretion which there contributes princi- 
 pally to form the tint of that various covering of the 
 body. Every gradation of shade in the skin is 
 usually accompanied with some correspondent shades 
 in the hair. The pale red, and sandy complexion, 
 on the other hand, or the sandy spotted with dark 
 orange freckles, is almost always connected with a 
 proportional redness of this excrescence. Between 
 these two points is found almost every other colour 
 of the hair arising from the mixture, in diiferent pro- 
 portions, of the principles which constitute the black 
 and red. White hair, except that which is occasion- 
 ed by disease, or age, is commonly united with the 
 palest skin. White appears to be the ground on 
 which the colouring substances of the red and black 
 are variously stained. These, which may be re- 
 black man whom he saw in London, [p. 150. § 48.] who after 
 the period of adolescence became pied. The white colour 
 affecting an angular spot in the fore part of his head, from the 
 crown to the forehead, the hair on that portion of the skin as- 
 sumed a yellowish colour. 
 
 Another example has been mentioned in a note at the 36th 
 page of this essay in a young negro of sandy complexion with 
 Ked wool . * 
 
 K 
 
 h\ 
 
82 
 
 gai tied as extremes, seem nearly to approach each 
 other ; and, by a very small alteration of the secre- 
 tions of the body, easily to pass into one another. *- 
 If, in a red or black hairtd family, a child happens 
 to deviate from the law of the house, it is commonly 
 to the opposite extreme. The Highlanders, who 
 inhabit the hills in the North of Scotland, are divid- 
 ed between these two colours. And a red beard 
 is not unfrequently joined with black hair. 
 
 On these facts it deserves to be remarked, that 
 those philosophers who deny the identity of the ori- 
 gin of different nations, because one is black, and 
 
 * J. R. Foster, in his remarks on the inhabitants of tlie 
 South-Sea islands observes that among the Otaheitans we 
 sometimes meet with red hair, though black is the habit of the 
 island. Other voyagers have made tlie same remark on the 
 people of Timor, the Papuans, and even on the inhabitants of 
 Congo in Africa. Mr. Bruce found several instances of red 
 or yellow hair among the GiUla tribes in Abyssinia ; and 
 Charlevoix informs us that such instances also exist among the 
 Esquimaux. The young man mentioned in the last note who 
 was of a fair and sandy complexion though bom of black pa- 
 rents, may be given as another example to the same purpose. 
 And, in general, we see tliat those persons botli in Europe and 
 America, who are distinguished by the redest complexion of 
 the hair, have also many, and very dark coloured freckles scat- 
 tered over the whole surface of tlie skin ; and cspccitdly in 'diosr 
 parts which arc most exposed to the sun and air. 
 
8S 
 
 another is red, might, on the same ground, deny 
 identity of origin to the children of the same family.* 
 From such examples, at least, we derive a practical 
 proof, that there is iit human nature a susceptibility 
 
 * The argument that difference of colour does not demon- 
 strate diversity of origin, is still more strongly established by 
 the fact mentioned in the lust note of pied negroes descending 
 from black parents, not unfrequently to be met with, and more 
 stronr ly still by such examples as that of Henry Moss, referred 
 to hi pages 92 and 93, who from a perfectly black man became, 
 entirely white, without any disease, or exhibiting the least 
 symptom of scrophulous or albino whiteness. These, and 
 similar facts, which we find recorded in various literary regis- 
 ters of tlie greatest credit, indicate that tlie black, or the white, 
 the brown or the fair complexion may depend, in a great de- 
 gree, on the peculiar action of the fine vessels in the skin 
 which are affected by various causes in different persons, or at 
 different times, by which, in one case, they may be more dis- 
 posed, than in another, to secrete, and, at its approach to tlie 
 oxygen of the atmosphere, to precipitate and deposit in the re- 
 ticular membrane, that carbonaceous substance which has be- 
 fore been shewn, m many instances, to mingle copiously in the 
 circulation, and, to form, at the surface, one of tlie chief cau- 
 ses of the various dark shades of the human complexion. This 
 peculiar action of the minute vessels of the skin may sometimes 
 be different in one part of the body from that of those in ano- 
 ther, and produce that pied appearance which is observed in 
 some negroes ; and which has been seen also in some persons 
 originally white. It may be very different in the same person 
 at different times according to the state of the body. The his- 
 tory of medicine furnishes a variety of instances, especially of 
 women during a state of pregnancy, who, in particular parts of 
 
84 
 
 of great varieties which may be incori>orated into 
 the constitutions of families, and of nations, without 
 impairing, any of the essential properties of the spe- 
 cies. And 1 may here be permitted to anticipate an 
 observation which, perhaps, would come with more 
 force after having considered other distinctive pro- 
 perties which discriminate the various tribes, or races 
 of men ; but which will be of use to be borne in mind 
 through every stiige of the following illustration. If 
 we have reason, from the varieties, in the midst of 
 resemblance, which are often seen to exist in the 
 same family, or the same tribe, and Which are not 
 less than those which discriminate the Danes, the 
 
 the body, and sometimes in tlie whole person, have become 
 much more dark in their complexion ; and of some who have, 
 in that state, become absolutely black ; but have returned, after 
 they were relieved of their infant load, to the original fainiess of 
 their skin. De nos jours une pariclle metamorphose s'est re- 
 nouvelle annullement dans la personne d'une dame de distinc- 
 tion d*un beau teint, et d*unc peau fort blanche. Des qu'elle 
 etoit enceinte, ellc commengoit a brunir, et vers la fin de sa 
 grossesse elle dcvenoit une veritable M-gi-essc, Apres ses 
 couches la couleur noire disparoisspit peu a peu, sa premiere 
 blancheur revenoit, et son fruit n*avoit aucune teinte de noir. — 
 
 Bomare, apud Blum. 156. Et le Cut loc. epd.^— Une pay- 
 
 sannc des environs de Paris, nourrice de son metier, a regu- 
 Ijerement le ventre tout noire a chaque grossesse, et cett^ 
 eouleur se dissipe p.U' 1 'accouchement. 
 
 V' 
 
85 
 
 French, the Turks, and even nations more remote 
 from one another, to conclude that all these people 
 have originally sprung from one stock, and belong 
 to the same species, have we not equal reason to 
 conclude that the nations beyond them to the North, 
 the East, and the South, and who do not differ from 
 tlie last by more conspicuous distinctions than the 
 last differ from the first, belong, likewise, to the 
 same species? By pursuing this progression wc 
 shall find but one species from the equator to the 
 poles.* 
 
 The hair, and that excrescence which is analogous 
 to it, called wool, is, in all animals, greatly affected 
 by the temperature of the climate. Widely different 
 is the coarse black shag of the American bear, from 
 the fine white fur of the same animal under the ex- 
 treme rigor of the climate of Greenland. The bea- 
 
 * Men frequently deceive themselves upon this subject by 
 bringing tog-ether at once the most distant extremes, without 
 patiently tracing the intermediate grades which, in every step 
 of the progression, touch upon one another. The extremes 
 surprize us by their dissimilarity : but, passing along the mi- 
 nute gradations which serve to reunite them, the mind per- 
 ceives in this wide difference merely the result of tlie actions of 
 the same physical laws in successive climates, or positions of 
 ^hc human race. 
 
t6 
 
 vcr, removed from the frozen regions of Upper Can-- 
 ada to the warm latitude of southern Louisiana, ex- 
 changes its delicate fur, for a much harsher substance 
 which preserves the body of the animal in a more 
 comfortable temperature. A similar change has 
 been observed to take place on the wool of sheep 
 removed from Europe, or the United States, to the 
 islands of the West- Indies. A sheep taken from 
 the rich pasture, and the cool but temperate climate 
 of England to the parched and arid coast of Africa, 
 soon exchanges its fine warm and involved fleece 
 for a coat of hair nearly as straight and coarse as 
 that of the camel, which fits the creature to bear the 
 ardors of a sun, that would be otherwise intolerable. 
 Yet, no philosopher imagines that these varieties arc 
 indicative of a difference of species : but all who are 
 acquainted with the powers of nature easily perceive 
 that the Creator has adapted the pliancy of his work 
 to meet the various situations in which he may have 
 destined it to exist. 
 
 The fineness and density of the hairy, or woolly 
 covering of most animals found in different regions, 
 is increased in proportion to the intensity and pre- 
 domhiancc of cold. Hence the excellence of Cana- 
 dian and Russian furs, and the fineness of the wool 
 
87 
 
 of the sheep of Thibet.* Cold, by contracting the 
 pores of the skin, renders the hair of a finer diame- 
 ter and texture; and, by the same cause, collecting 
 at the surface a greater quantity of the perspirable 
 matter, which, in warm climates, passes off by trans- 
 piration, it forms a more abundant nutriment of this 
 excrescence, and is there converted into a coat of 
 increased density, as well as fineness. 
 
 The colour of the hair we have likewise seen to 
 be, in many instances, affected by the temperature 
 of the climate. The bear becomes white beneath 
 the arctic circle. And black foxes are found only in 
 the coldest latitudes. And when we contemplate 
 the varieties of the human race, we frequently see 
 nations distinguished from one another by some pe- 
 culiar quality of this excrescence. The hair of the 
 Danes is generally red, of a lighter or deeper shade* 
 
 * Sheep with a fine wool are sometimes reared in the middle 
 latitudes of the temperate zone, but it is only in countries of a 
 rcry mountainous face which present a mild and cool region 
 on the sides and summits of their hills. And although Thibet, 
 which produces such fine wool, might be regarded, from its la- 
 litude, as belonging to the warmer regions of the temperate 
 zone, yet by the elevation of its surfucc consisting chiefly of 
 bleak n.ountains, whence issue rivers of vast extent, aixl of 
 rapid course, it suffers a rigor of climate equal to that which 
 prevails miiny degrees farther to the North. 
 
88 
 
 That of the French is commonly black. And the 
 most frequent colours among the English are fair, 
 and brown. Among the Highlanders of Scotland, 
 the predominant complexions are black and red. 
 Red hair is, likewise, frequendy seen in the cold and 
 elevated regions of the Alps, while black prevails in 
 the warm vallies at the foot of those mountains; 
 except along the northern frontier where it borders 
 the German empire. The aboriginals of America, 
 like all people of colour, have universally black hair, 
 which is straight and grows in a thick coat upon the 
 head. Black is that colour of the human hair which 
 is most frequent ; because those climates which arc 
 most favourable to due multiplication of the species, 
 tend also to create different shades of the dark com- 
 plexion. Nations which are not naturally distin- 
 guished by any peculiar colour of this excrescence, 
 but have it diversified by different tints and shades, 
 generally incline to the fair complexion. The great 
 variety in the hair which is seen in England may, 
 in some degree, be ascribed to the uncommon mix- 
 ture of nations which has taken place in that beau- 
 tiful and inviting island, either from early migrations 
 to it, or from the successive conquests to which it 
 lias been subject. 
 
B9 
 
 But that form of it which principally attracts our 
 attention, is the sparse, coarse, and involved sub- 
 stance like wool, which covers the head of the tro- 
 pical African. This peculiarity has been urged as a 
 decisive character of a distinct species with more as- 
 surance than became philosophers but tolerably ac- 
 quainted with the operations of nature. The sparse- 
 ness, and coarsness of the African hair, or wool, is 
 analogous to effects which we have already seen to be 
 produced by the temperature of arid climates upon 
 other animals. — Its involution may be occasioned, in 
 part, by the excessive heat of a vertical sun acting 
 upon sands which glow with an ardor unknown in 
 any other quarter of the globe.* But, probably, it is 
 occasioned chiefly by some peculiar quality of the 
 secretion by which it is nourished.! Tliat the curl, 
 
 * According to the testimony of Mr. Bruce, and other travel- 
 lers, in the sandy deserts of Africa the sands appear frequently 
 to bum, and to emit a blueish flame destructive to life, unless a 
 man, perceiving its approach, instantly falls upon his face and 
 scraping a deep hole in the sand breathes below the surface 
 while it is passing. 
 
 t It is manifest, says Blumcnbach, that there is a strong sym- 
 pathy between the liver, the laboratory of the bile, and the skinc 
 and, as the influence of climate upon the secreting powep of 
 the former is veiy great, it is proportionally great on the action 
 
 L 
 
m 
 
 or nap of the hair depends, in a great degree upon 
 this cause, is rendered the more probable by the ap- 
 pearance whicli it exhibits on the chin, over the arm 
 pits, and other parts of the human body. Whatever 
 be the nutriment of the hair, it would seem, by the 
 strong and offensive smell of the African negro, to 
 be combined in him with some gas, or fluid of a very 
 volatile and ardent nature.* The evaporation of 
 
 of the minute vessels of the latter by which that matter is sup- 
 plied to the reticular membrane which becomes there tlie nu- 
 triment of the htiir, and according to the qualities of this nutri- 
 ment will the hair be affected in its colour, and other properties. 
 
 * Certain volatile and saline secretions tend to curl and in- 
 voLve tlie hair. Viscid and glutinous matters would produce 
 a like effect. The strong smell of the negro, however, seems 
 to indicate the union of sulphur with hydrogen gas, or infia- 
 mable air, and perhaps with an unusual proportion of phos- 
 phorus. These secretions, or at least their quantity or pro- 
 portions may depend on some influence of the climate, or on the 
 diet or habits of living of the people, all of which affect, as 
 already suggested, the action of the minute vessels of the skin; 
 and, in some instances, perhaps, may depend on certain consti- 
 tutional pecuUarities of organization, as a very offensive odour is 
 found to issue from the pores of the skin of m*ny white persons. 
 Certain medicines of the fetid or sulphurous kinds are, in some 
 cases, yeiy sensibly perceived by the smell in the perspiration ef 
 persons who have been long accustomed to use them. And 
 some whole tribes of savages are distinguished by a peculiar 
 und very offensive fetor, as is perceived in the inliabitants of the 
 
91 
 
 such a gas reiKiering the surface dry, and disposed 
 to contract, while the center continues distended, 
 tends necessarily to produce an involutiion of the 
 hair. This conjecture receives some confirmation 
 from the fact that the negroes born in the United 
 States of America, and especially the domestic ser- 
 \ants, who are well fed and clothed, and who 
 are bred in the habits of all the neatness and clean- 
 liness which prevails in the mansions of their mas- 
 ters, are gradually losing the offensive odour that is 
 perceived in most of the natives of the African zone. 
 Their hair, or wool, at the same time, is becoming 
 less involved. And many of those of the third 
 race, or who are farther removed from their Afri- 
 can ancestors, and who are careful in dressing it, fre- 
 quently extend it in a braid or queue of several 
 inches in length.* 
 
 southern point of the American continent, arising from tlie fil- 
 thiness of their habits, the poverty, and wretchedness c\f their 
 food, consisting chiefly of the rancid oil of seals. 
 
 * It is not much to th« credit of the authors of the critical 
 review in England that this remark, in the first edition of this 
 essay, should have called forth their contemptuous smi]e. We 
 often see these men at one time receiving with childish creduli- 
 jijfcthe most ridiculous and extravagant talcs trjiflsmitted ])v tUo 
 
Another fact which has occurred to my own ob- 
 servation, and which I find likewise recorded in the 
 Medical Repository of New-York, and is mentioned 
 also by Dr. William Barton of Philadelphia, demon- 
 strates that the involution and woolly nature of the 
 hair of the African negro depends, in a great degree, 
 if not chiefly, on the quality of its nutriment in the 
 skin. Henry Moss, a negro in the state of Mary, 
 land, began, upwards of twenty years ago to under- 
 go a change in the colour of his skin, from a deep 
 black, to a clear and healthy white. The change com- 
 menced about the abdomen, and gradually extend- 
 ed over diiTerent parts of the body, till, at the end 
 of seven years, the period at which I saw him, the 
 white had already overspread the greater portion of 
 his skin. It had nothing of the appearance of a sick- 
 Iv or albino hue, as if it had been the effect of dis- 
 case. He was a vigorous and active man ; and had 
 never suftered anv disease either at the commence- 
 
 ignorant travellers who have visited diis country ; at another, 
 iT.jecting, with obstinate scepticism, the most certain facts. 
 But who can forbear smiling, when, instead of the^cause which 
 is here assigned for the involution of the hair of tlic tropical Af- 
 ricans, lht*y are pleased to ascribe it to the tortuosity of the 
 pores in a black skin, and the struggle of the hair to push its 
 way through them ? ' - 
 
93 
 
 ment, or during the progress of the change. The 
 white complexion did not advance by regularly- 
 spreading from a single center over the whole sur- 
 face. But soon after it made its first appearance on 
 the abdomen, it began to shew itself on various parts 
 of the body, nearly at the same time, whence it gra- 
 dually encroached in different directions on the ori- 
 ginal colour till, at lengthy the black was left only 
 here and there in spots of vario\is sizes, and shapes. 
 These spots were largest and most frequent, where 
 the body, from the nakedness of the parts or the rag- 
 gedness of his clothing, was most exposed to the 
 rays of the sun. This extraordinary change did not 
 proceed by gradually and equably diluting the in- 
 tensity of the shades of the black colour over the 
 whole person at once ; but the original black, reduc- 
 ed to spots, when I saw it, by the encroachments of 
 the white, resembled dark, clouds insensibly melting 
 away at their edges. The back of his hands, and his 
 fiicc, retained a larger proportion of the black than 
 other parts of his body; of these, however, the 
 greater portion was changed. And the white colour 
 had extended itself to a considerable distance under 
 the hair. Wherever this took place, the woolly 
 
substance entirely disappeared, and a fine, straight 
 hair, of silky softness succeeded in its room.* 
 
 From this history, the truth of which is wqW known 
 to great numbers of persons in the middle states of 
 America, thro' which Henry Moss has travelled, and 
 / particularly to several literary men of great respecta- 
 bility, who have carefully examined the fact, result 
 two or three inferences of no small importance in this 
 enquiry. In the first place, that secretion in the 
 skin which contributes chiefly to the formation of the 
 negro complexion, seems to be the chief cause also 
 of the curl, or woolly appearance of the hair: for, 
 wherever the white colour in this man extended 
 beneath the hair there the form of that excrescence 
 
 * The extraordinary nature of this phenomenon strongly 
 attracted the attention and benevolence of the public ; and the 
 man obtained, from the liberality of those who visited him, a 
 sum sufficient to purchase his freedom, with a surplus to be 
 applied afterwards to his own use. I examined him in company 
 with the Rev. Dr. Rodgers, and John R. B. Rodgers, M. D. 
 of New- York, gentlemen, than whom none are more capable 
 of observing and examining a fact of tliis nature with si sound 
 and accurate judgment. Shortly after tliis period Henry Moss 
 removed into the State of Virginia, since which time I have 
 rrot hud an opportunity of seeing him ; biit I have been inform- 
 ed by respectable autliority, that the whitening process was 
 soon afterwards completed, and that, in his appearance, he coulji 
 not be distinguished from a native Anglo- Amjej-icark 
 
95 
 
 was entirely changed.-^In the next place, althougK 
 there was evidently a strong and general tendency in 
 the constitution of this negro to a change of colour, 
 yet, this tendency was much longer resisted in those 
 parts of the body which were most exposed to the 
 immediate action of the sun's rays than in others.* 
 Whence I infer that where any dark colour has been 
 contracted by the human skin, the solar influence 
 alone, and the free contact of the external air, will b^ 
 sufficient to continue it a long time even in those 
 climates which are most favorable to the fair com- 
 plexion.f 
 
 Although the principal cause of the peculiar form 
 of the African hair, consists in those secretions which, 
 being deposited in the cells of the skin become the 
 nutriment of this excrescence, yet something may be 
 ascribed also to the excessive ardor of that region of 
 burning sand. Africa is the hottest country on the 
 
 * As he was a labouring man, wherever there were rents 
 in the thin*clothes which covered him there were generally 
 seen the largest spots of black. 
 
 t It is found by experience that different shades of the dark 
 complexion are easily impressed by different causes on a skin 
 originally fair, and when once impressed, the slightest influ- 
 ence of the same causes is sufScient to contUiue it. 
 
D6 
 
 globe. The ancients who frequented the Asiatic 
 zone without fear, esteemed the African an uninha- 
 bitable zone of fire. And modern travellers, who 
 have explored the interior of that continent with the 
 greatest intelligence and care, inform us that, although 
 along the margins of the rivers Gambia and Sene- 
 gal, and for some distance on each side, there are 
 shady forests and a fertile soil, yet almost the whole 
 region embraced between the tropics is a tract of 
 sand that often literally bums. This state, not of 
 the atmosphere only, but especially of the earth, in the 
 dust of which young savages, utterly neglectful of 
 decency of manners, often roll themselves, will have 
 its effect in increasing the close nap of the wool, for 
 the same reason that a hair held near a flame will coil 
 itself up, or the leaves of vegetables be rolled toge- 
 ther under the direct rays of an intense sun, when 
 the earth is at the same time parched with drought. 
 
 A part of the population of Borneo, and the whole 
 of that of New Holland, Mallicollo, and other islands, 
 have likewise a very crisped and curled substance 
 instead of straight and long hair, but in Africa alone 
 do we find that extremely short and close nap which 
 distinguishes the inhabitants of the western tropical 
 region of tliat continent. The hair as well as 
 
97 
 
 the whole constitution, suffers, in that region the efw 
 fects of an intense fire. 
 
 The rude habits of an uncukivated people con- 
 tribute to heighten the injurious effects of the cli- 
 mate. Being savages, they possess few arts to pro- 
 tect them from its intensity. Nor are they led by 
 any refinement in their tastes of living, or their ideas 
 of personal elegance to invent such arts, or to i'pply 
 them, if they were acquainted with them, to improve 
 tlieir appearance. The African climate preserving 
 the life of children without requiring those attentions 
 in the parent which are necessary in colder regions, 
 and under a more variable atmosphere, they are, per- 
 haps, among the most negligent people in the world 
 of their offspring.* The character of most nations 
 
 * If children, by their own instincts and natural powers, oj' 
 by the favourable temperature and spontaneous productions of 
 the climate, could as soon, and as easily provide for their safe- 
 ty and subsistence as some of the inferior animals, and were as 
 little dependent on the care of the parent, parental attentions 
 and filial duties would both equally cease, and with them all 
 the delicate ties of family affection. Civilized society could, 
 in that case, hardly ever have had an existence. The African 
 savages approach nearer to this state than imy other people on 
 the globe. This is, perhaps, the principal reason why men 
 have always existed as savages in the greater part of the Afri- 
 can continent. Another reason, however, of this unfortunate 
 
 M 
 
98 
 
 is chiefly formed by their situation, tlieir employ- 
 ments, and the wants either real, or factitious, 
 which press them. And it is observed of every sav- 
 age people that, unless roused by some violent pas- 
 sion, or urged by some immediate want, they are al- 
 ways indolent. The African savage therefore, is as 
 careless of his children as the American, compelled 
 by the severity of the climate, and the hardships of 
 his state, is attentive to their preservation and the 
 perfection of their form. They are suffered to lie in 
 the dust, or ashes of their huts, or to roll in the sand 
 before their doors beneath the ardent rays of a ver- 
 tical sun. The mother, if any other object calls her 
 attention, or requires her labor while nursing her in- 
 fant, lays it down on the first spot she finds, and sel- 
 dom gives herself the trouble of seeking for it even 
 the miserable shelter of a barren shrub which is al- 
 most the only shade that the interior country af- 
 fords.* This treatment will contribute at the same 
 
 state of human society in that region is, that there the ingenu- 
 ity of men is less called forth by the necessities of their situa- 
 tion ; and fewer relations are created fcy mutual dependence, 
 and the need of mutual assistance. 
 
 * I have been witness of this treatment of children by the 
 slaves in some purts of the southern states where they are suf- 
 
99 
 
 time to scorch the hair, and to add many shades to 
 the darkness of the complexion. And the influence 
 of this cause is verified from the following fact, that 
 the hair is seldom of a deep and shining black, but 
 rather of an adust colour, exhibiting at its extremi- 
 ties a brownish cast as if scorched by the fire. 
 
 ficiently numerous to retain many of their African customs, 
 and where the necessary hardships of their state render them 
 careless of the personal appearance of themselves, or their 
 children. I speak of the field-slaves, who living in little villa- 
 ges on their plantations, at a distance from the mansions of 
 their masters, are slow in adopting the manners, and ideas of 
 their superiors. There I have seen the mother of a child 
 withm less than six weeks after its birtli, take it with her to 
 tlie field, and lay it uncovered on the ground beneatli an ardent 
 sun, while she hoed her corn-row down and up. She would 
 then suckle it a few minutes, and return to her labor, leaving 
 the child in the same exposure, altliough she might have found 
 a convenient shade at the distance of a few yards. Shocked, 
 at first, witli the apparent barbarity of such negligence, I have 
 remonstrated agajnst it, but was always told that dry sand, and 
 heat were never found to hurt children. And indeed custom 
 will harden the human constitution to almost any suflTering. 
 ]3esides, it is well known that a black or a dark skin either from 
 its thickness, from some refrigerating quality in the substance 
 which contributes to its colour, or from the relaxation of the 
 constitution which often accompanies it, renders the body more 
 patient of heat, and less lial^le to inflamation, than one of fair and 
 florid complexion. For this reason, as well as from their 
 greater temperance, the French and Spaniards endure the heat 
 of a West-India sun better than the British or the Irish, and are 
 less subject, in that climate, to inflaniatory disorders. 
 
100 
 
 Having treated so largely of the form of this ex- 
 crescence in those regions where it deviates farthest 
 from the common law of the species, 1 proceed to 
 consider other varieties of the human person which 
 occur in diflPerent portions of the globe. 
 
 The whole Tartar race, except a few small tribes 
 who have probably migrated into that country from 
 other regions, are of lower stature than their southern 
 neighbours on the continent of Asia, or than the peo^ 
 pie of the temperate latitudes of Europe. Their 
 heads are large ; — their shoulders raised ; — and their 
 necks short ; — their eyes are small, and appear, by 
 the great projection of the eye-brows, to be sunk in 
 the head ; — the nose is short, and is not so promi- 
 nent as the same feature in the Europeans ; the cheek 
 is elevated ; the face, somewhat depressed in thq 
 middle, and spread out toward the sides ; — and the 
 whole appearance and expression of the counte- 
 nance is harsh and uncouth. All these deformities 
 are aggravated as we proceed towards the pole, in 
 the Laponian, Borandian, and Samoiede races, 
 which, as BvifFon justly remarks, are only Tartars 
 reduced to the last degree of degeneracy. A race 
 of men resembling the Laplanders in many of their 
 lineaments and qualities, is found in a similar cli- 
 
101 
 
 mate in America. The frozen countries round 
 Hudson's bay are as cold as Lapland or Kamt- 
 schatka. The few wretched natives who inhabit 
 these inhospitable regions do not exceed five feet in 
 height, — their heads are large,- — their eyes are small 
 and weak, — imd their hands and feet remarkably di- 
 minutive.* 
 
 These effects ar'? natural consequences of the ex- 
 treme cold of their climate, combined with the hard- 
 ships to which they are necessarily exposed in those 
 frozen and sterile regions, from the deficiency, and 
 poverty of their food, and their total want of every 
 art by which they might protect themselves from 
 the rigors of a polar winter. A moderate tempera- 
 ture of climate contributes to give tone and vigor to 
 the body, and to expand it to the largest volume. 
 
 * These wretched and feeble people, although they have a 
 great affmity in their appearance with the Laponians and the 
 Grcenlanders, are, however, still more degenerate, arising 
 perhaps from their more wretched means of subsistence. 
 Some savage tribes very similar in their appearance have been 
 discovered in the high northern latitudes on the western coast 
 of this continent, and in the islands lying in those seas which 
 divide the continents of America and Asia where they ap- 
 proach nearest to one another. They will probably be found 
 hereafter to extend entirely across the American continent in 
 those latitudes. 
 
102 
 
 Extreme cold produces a contrary effect ; and the ani- 
 mal system under the constriction of perpetual frost, 
 is irregularly checked in its growth. The intense 
 rigor of the climate, by overstraining the constitution 
 produces indirect debilitij, in those parts especially, 
 which, being farthest removed from the seat of 
 warmth, and source of circulation in the heart, are, 
 consequently, most affected by its influence. Hence 
 the hands, and lower limbs suffer the greatest con- 
 traction from the cold. The debility of these poor 
 savages is greatly increased, likewise, by the poverty 
 and scantiness of their diet, which occasions the 
 blood to circulate with a feeble and languid mo- 
 tion to the extremities. But, flowing with more 
 warmth, and acting with a stronger impulse in the 
 head and breast, these parts of the body are increas- 
 ed in size much beyond the proportions which they 
 usually bear in other nations to the hands, feet, and 
 lower limbs. In a similar maimer, though not in an 
 equal degree, the Tartar nations are affectofl by the 
 influence of their inhospitable sky. They are not in- 
 deed, sunk, in general, into such an abject state of 
 savagism. And the climate gradually relaxes its 
 rigor from the southern limits of the Samoiede and 
 Rorandian countries to Persia and Bulgaria. The 
 
103 
 
 Tartars are a taller, and a much stouter race than the 
 Laplanders, and the most northern tribes of Asiat- 
 ics, Some of the Tartar hordes, and particularly the 
 Tschutski inhabiting the north-eastern extremities 
 of the Asiatic continent, are said to be distinguished 
 from their neighbours by a nobler stature and finer 
 proportions of person. They enjoy, at the same 
 time, a more civilized state of society. And, is it 
 not probable that, in the perpetual migrations of that 
 roving people, some of the southern clans, possessing 
 more agreeable, or rather, less distorted, features and 
 persons, may have exchanged habitations with the 
 ruder barbarians of the North ; and have been ena- 
 bled, by their superior civilization, to defend them- 
 selves against the worst effects of that severe cli- 
 mate ?-^ 
 
 Other peculiarities in the appearance of the Tar- 
 tor race, as the elevation of tlieir shoulders, and the 
 
 * The principles stated abo^•e apply with little variation to 
 vill nations situated in very high northern latitudes, in propor- 
 tion to the degree of cold which prevails hi them combined with 
 the savage degeneracy of manners, existing among the people. 
 The cold in the high latitudes of Europe, it will be recollected, 
 is much less severe than in those of Asia ; and the state of 
 civilization to which tlic inhabitants have arrived, enables them 
 to defend themselves against its influence with much more 
 success thao is in the power of savages* 
 
104 
 
 shortness of theiV necks, are referable likewise to the 
 elFects of extreme cold. Severe frost, especially 
 where men are exposed to its action without ade- 
 quate defences, almost invokintarily prompts them 
 to raise their shoulders in order to protect the neck, 
 and cherish its warmth. And when this cause acts 
 with that constancy and uniformity which prevails 
 in the frigid zone of Asia, it naturally produces a 
 fixed habit of body. It resembles in its effects those 
 artificial constrictions which are sometimes applied 
 to the persons of children to alter the figure, attitude, 
 or movements of particular limbs. In like manner 
 those habits of the person which naturally result 
 from the general temperature of the atmosphere, be- 
 come fixed in time, and unchangeably incorporat- 
 ed with other peculiarities of the climate. Hence 
 the Tartar neck must ever be short, not only be- 
 cause it suffers a proportional contraction with other 
 parts of the system from the influence of cold, but, 
 because the head and shoulders being increased in 
 size, and the latter, particularly, being elevated 
 above their natural position, necessarily encroach 
 upon its length. And so much are they raised in 
 many instances as entirely to conceal the neck, and 
 
105 
 
 t.o give the head an appearance of resting upon them 
 for its support. 
 
 That these pecuHarities are purely the effect of 
 cUmatical influence-^ is confirmed by the change 
 which has passed upon the descendents of those 
 Chinese famiHes who have removed into that region 
 of Tartary, to the North of the great wall, which is 
 subject to the Chinese empire. In no very long pe- 
 
 * Climate, and even certain temporary constitutions of the 
 atmosphere, are known peculiarly to affect particular parts of 
 the human system. This is visible in many epidemic disor- 
 ders, as in quinzies, peripneumonics, catarrhs, and in those 
 diseases which are in a great measure confined to particular 
 districts of a country, as the goitiers among the Alps, and a 
 disease very similar in its appearance, which is frequently found 
 in the vicinity of Pittsburg in the state of Pennsylvania. If 
 temporary constitutions of the atmosphere are found to give 
 diseases a determination to certain parts of the system rather 
 than to others, should it be strange that the habitual state of a 
 climate, or of the atmosphere in particular countries, should 
 affect some parts of the body more than otlicrs, so as to in- 
 crease or diminish their size, or alter their figure ? Certaiu 
 medicines are likewise known to have a determination to one 
 part of the body rather than another. But in the atmos- 
 phere are found the elements of all medicinal agents, existing 
 in different proportions at various times. We might then, 
 from analogy, have recourse, if it were necessary, which it ivS 
 not, to some unknown atmospheric constitution to account for 
 certain peculiarities of the Tartar as well as of the negro phy- 
 siognomy. 
 
 5r 
 
106 
 
 riod of time, they have become perfectly assimilat- 
 ed in their figure and aspect, to the native Tartars. 
 The French missionaries in China, who, during a 
 certain period had perfect liberty, and enjoyed the 
 best advantages to examine the interior state of the 
 empire, assure us that they have been witnesses of 
 this remarkable effect of the climate even as low as 
 the forty-eighth degree of northern latitude.* 
 
 That coarse and deformed features, resembling 
 those of the Tartar race, naturally result from the 
 constant action of intense cold, will be obvious even 
 on a slight inspection of the countenance exposed to 
 a keen and frosty air. The aperture of the eye-lids 
 is contracted in order to protect that delicate organ 
 from the piercing influence of the wind ; the eye- 
 brows are drawn together and made to overhang 
 them ; the mouth is closed to prevent the air from 
 entering too copiously into the chest and stomach ; 
 the under jaw is closely pressed against the upper, 
 which tends to give an unnatural elevation to the 
 cheek ; the face, therefore, which is diminished in 
 its length, is, in the same proportion, spread out at 
 the sides ; and every feature, by the action of cold^ 
 
 * See Rccueil 24 des lettrcs edifiantes. 
 
107 
 
 becomes more harsh and distorted than it would be 
 in a mild temperature of the atmosphere. How 
 much must this effect be increased in the poorer 
 classes of society, whose laborious employments, 
 and want of the conveniences which wealth may pro- 
 cure, expose them to the utmost severity of the cli- 
 mate? And how much more still in the abject con- 
 dition of savage life ? ^ 
 The effect which I have just desciibed, is in our 
 climate, and in our state of society, necessarily tran- 
 sient, being effaced by the change of season, or by 
 the conveniences \vhich the arts liave furnished to 
 dissipate the cold, and restore the comfortable warmth 
 of the body. But, in the inhospitable climate of Si- 
 beria, or Kamtschatka, where there is little remission 
 of the intensity of the frost, it becomes a permanent 
 liabit of the countenance. The hardness and irre- 
 gularity of Tai'tar features will be increased also by 
 the rude manners of the people, which never induce 
 them to put any constraint on the most disagreea- 
 ble expression of their unpleasant sensations ; and 
 by their destitution of the chief arts and convenien- 
 ces of society which might mitigate to their feel- 
 ings the severity of the atmosphere. And this rig- 
 orous influence of the climate commencing its ac^ 
 
108 
 
 tion from the tcnderest period of inftmcy when the 
 features are most susceptible of impression, and be- 
 gin to assume a settled habit, and continuing, and 
 repeating it with little remission till they are fixed in 
 the ultimate point of deformity, they there constitute 
 the Tartar, Samoiede, or Esquimaux countenance. 
 
 The principal chracteristics of that countenance, 
 the causes of which may require further illustration, 
 are the depression of the middle of the face, and the 
 prominence of the forehead, in the northern Asi- 
 atic ; and, in those people who inhabit the extremities 
 of the North, both of Asia and of Europe, the gen- 
 eral weakness as well as smallness of the eyes. 
 
 The middle of the foce is that part which is most 
 exposed to the immediate action of the cold, and 
 consequently suffers most from its power of contrac- 
 tion, which tends to impede the growth of the parts. 
 And a circumstance, perhaps not unworthy of no- 
 tice, may deserve to be mentioned as contributing to 
 increase the eiFect. Every person in a cold atmos- 
 phere naturally draws his breath more tlirough the 
 nostrils'* than the mouth. This will, therefore, be 
 
 ^ A frosty air inhaled by the nostrils chills the body much 
 l^ss than taken in by the moutli. Nature therefore prompts 
 
109 
 
 ^ common habit of all people inhabiting very cold 
 regions. Thus the impulse of a chilling, and almost 
 congealing current of air directed against that fea- 
 ture, and the parts adjacent, must greatly tend to re- 
 strain the freedom of their expansion.* 
 
 On the same principles, the next peculiarity, or dis- 
 tinguishing characteristic of the Tartar physiognomy, 
 which is the prominence of the forehead, is easily 
 explained. The superior warmth and impulse of 
 the blood in the brain, which fills the upper part of 
 the head, will naturally increase its relative magni- 
 tude ; hence the forehead and the brows will be pro- 
 portionably projected over the contracted parts im- 
 mediately beneath them. 
 
 The eyes in those rigorous climates toward the 
 North of Tartar)^, and in Lapland, are singularly 
 aifected. The prominence of the eye -brows gives 
 them the appearance of being sunk in the head; 
 
 men almost involuntarily, in extreme cold, to keep the mouth 
 closed, and even to press the jaws strongly together. 
 
 * By directing a constant stream of air against the bulb of a 
 thermometer, touching it at the same time with any volatile 
 fluid that by its speedy evaporation, will be continually carry- 
 ing off some portion of the internal heat, the mercury, even 
 m warm weather, will suffer as great a contraction as it woulc^ 
 by many additional degrees of cold. 
 
110 
 
 which appearance is increased by tlie contraction of 
 their lids occasioned by extreme cold. And the in- 
 tensity of the frost, concurring with the glare of the- 
 snows which, throughout almost the whole year, 
 cover the surface of the earth, so overstrains these 
 tender organs, as to render them generally weak ; 
 and, among the most northern tribes, blindness, 
 even at a very early age, is a frequent disease. 
 
 In the temperate zone, on the other hand, and in 
 a latitude rather below than above the middle region 
 of temperature, the agreeable warmth of the atmos- 
 phere disposing the body to the most free and easy 
 expansion, will open the features into the most pleas- 
 ing and regulcU* proportions.* Here the large full 
 eye is that form of this feature to which the climate 
 naturally tends ; whence, in the strain of a Persian 
 poet, the eye of the antelope ascribed to his mistress ; 
 
 * In ihc coiilincnls of Asia and America, and the remark 
 niay be applied in some degree to Europe, tlie temperate cli- 
 mates aiid extreme coid border so near upon one another that 
 we pass alm.ost immediately from the mildness of the former to 
 ♦ lie rigor of the latter. Hence we lind the Laplander, the Sa- 
 moiede, tlie Mongou, and the tribes round Hudson's bay, in 
 the neighbourhood of the Swede, the Russian, and Canadian. 
 AVithout attention to this remark a hasty observer might sup- 
 pose that the sudden change of features m people almost in the 
 vicinity of one another, militates against tlie principles abovr 
 laid down with resi-ard to the effects of hpat and cold. 
 
and in that of a Greek, the venerable large eyed Jum 
 in describing the dignified aspect of a goddess,*^ 
 would convey an idea of female beauty or divine 
 majesty to their respective nations, which can hard* 
 ly be understood by an inhabitant of the North of 
 Europe or of Asia. This is perhaps the reason that 
 in Greece, in Georgia, between the Euxine and 
 Caspian seas, and other regions distinguished by the 
 peculiarly mild temperature of their climate, the 
 human person is so often seen to display that perfect 
 symetry of parts, and those beautiful proportions, 
 which most nearly correspond with the original idea 
 of the Creator, t 
 
 The African face, confining that designation of 
 countenance chiefly to the torrid zone of western 
 Africa, is distinguished by the depression of the 
 nostrils, and the thickness of the lips, accompanied 
 by a peculiar projection of the fore-teeth arising from 
 
 '* Bo-OPIS POT-XIA HE-RE. 
 
 t Chardin asserts that in Georgia he saw the most beautiful 
 people of all the East, and, perhaps, of the world. I have 
 never observed, says he, one homely countenance of eitlier sex 
 in that country. Nature has shed upon the greater portion of 
 their women graces, no where else to be seen — -Chardin's 
 Ti-avcls, vol. i. p. 112, 171.. 
 
112 
 
 their oblique insertion into their sockets. The fore- 
 head is narrow, and generally wrinkled ; while the 
 eyes, and brows suffer a remarkable contraction. 
 It is difficult, indeed, precisely to point 0ut those 
 physical influences on which these several effects re- 
 spectively depend. Something is probably to be 
 ascribed to climate, as almost all people within 
 the torrid zone have the mouth lai'ger, and the lips 
 more protuberant than the nations within the tempe- 
 rate latitudes. Somewhat also, is, perhaps, justly- 
 imputed to the state of society, and the habits of 
 living ; as it may be observed, I believe, of all the 
 savage tribes of men, where they are not emaciated 
 by want, and their features shrunk by the poverty of 
 their diet, that they are marked by a certain eleva- 
 tion of the cheek, and turgidity of the mouth.* 
 And as the distention of the features in one direction 
 naturally tends to produce a correspondent contrac- 
 tion in another, the protuberance of the mouth, and 
 turgidness of the lips, or any great prominence of 
 the cheek, or dilatation of the face, is commonly 
 conjoined with a proportional depression, shortening, 
 
 * Some account of this appearance will hereafter be attempt- 
 ed in treating of the effects resulting frgin different states of 
 society. 
 
113 
 
 ur linking of the nose. Seldom, therefore, does 
 this feature rise in tropical climes, or in savage life, 
 to the same elevation which it has in the civilized 
 nations of Europe. 
 
 Some travellers have endeavoured to persuade us 
 that the depression of the nose among the Africans, 
 is owing to an artificial operation practised upon their 
 children in infancy. And it is certain that, ever 
 since the days of Hippocrates, several barbarous 
 nations, in order to form their children according to 
 some fantastic model of beauty which they have 
 conceived, have endeavoured, by violent compres- 
 sions applied to the head, or to some particular parts 
 of the body, to change their natural figure. We arc 
 not, however, sufficiently acquainted with the inte- 
 rior of Africa, and the customs of the different tribes 
 inhabiting that continent, to enable us to pronounce 
 any decided opinion concerning the consequences of 
 this, or of other causes, dependent upon manners, 
 which have been assigned for these efiects by vari- 
 ous writers.* 
 
 • Marsden in his history of Sumatra, and J. R. Foster, in his 
 account of the Society Isles in the South Sea, and the authors on 
 whose testimony the report of Me lords of the committee of court- 
 
 o 
 
114 
 
 But, to whatever causes the appearance of these 
 features in the natives of Afiica ought to be ascrib- 
 ed, they seem to be in a great measure local i and 
 dependent, at the same time, in some degree, ou 
 
 c//,in 'England^ Jbr the consideratioji of the .slave trade^i^ found- 
 ed, assure us thu among all these tribes artificial piessurcs are 
 applied to certain features of tlieir children. The latter parti- 
 cularly afiinn that on the western coL-.st of Africa, the nose of 
 the new born infant is alw.iys flattened by violence. On the 
 other hand, B..rbot, in Churchill's collection of voyages, as- 
 cribes the effect, in part at least, to the custom of tiie poorer 
 women, carrying their young children on tlieir bucks while 
 travelling, or engaged in their daily labor, particularly tlie h.bor 
 in which they are occupied every morning of beating or pound- 
 ing tlieir millet. The children, he supposes, by striking the 
 mouth and nose continually against tiie shoulders of their 
 mothers, at length render the one more depressed, and the 
 other more turgid. In corroboration of tliis opinion, he affinns 
 tliat these fct^tures in the better classes of the natives, are by no 
 means so deformed as in the poorer and more laborious ranks. 
 Whatever justice there may be in these observations in the ex- 
 tent which Barbot has given to the power of so small a cause, 
 certain it is that the minutest causes by their constant action, 
 are often productive ultimately of very great and important con- 
 sequences. — Take for an example the ears of many boys, espe- 
 cially in the country, which being pressed forward by tlieir hats 
 in the day, and not restore, d by any bandage in the night, assume 
 at length an habitual position, resembling that of the ears of a 
 beast pricked forward, and listening to catch a distant sound. 
 From some similar causes, perhaps, have arisen those tales, 
 related by certain voyagers, of nations in the East who are said 
 to have moveable ears capable of being erected like those of a 
 horse, or a hare. 
 
115 
 
 the manner of living. For, it is an undoubted fact, 
 that the de seen dents of that race in the United 
 States, are gradually losing these peculiarities so 
 offensive to our eye. In those black slaves especi- 
 ally, who reside constantly in the mansions of their 
 masters, and who are treated with that lenity and 
 kindness which the greater portion of them who are 
 placed in that situation, experience in these states, 
 we often see the nose finely turned, and rising hand- 
 somely from the face ; and the lips, though gently 
 swelled, have lost that unsightly protuberance so 
 common among their ancestors in Africa. The Af- 
 rican feature, however, vanishes much more slowly 
 in those slaves who are subjected to the severer 
 labors of the field, and the coarser, and less nutri- 
 tious fare of the plantation quarters in the southern 
 states. A fact which seems strongly to indicate that 
 this variety of the human countenance does not de- 
 pend merely on the influence of the climate, but is 
 
 Camper indeed has produced some very plausible facts for 
 his opinion that the effects of violence upon the body, or of i.ny 
 customs which affect it only externally can never be transmit- 
 ted by birth. The contrary doctrine, however, huS been sup- 
 ported by the great nam.es of Hippocnib^s, Aristotle, Pliny, 
 and even by those greater naturalists Hallcr and Buffon. 
 
116 
 
 connected also, in some measure, with the manner 
 of living, and habits of the people. And this con- 
 clusion is corroborated by another fact existing 
 within the region of tropical Africa. Many indi- 
 viduals are seen among the most deformed of their 
 tribes, in whom these features are far from being 
 disagreeable. These probably belong to the better 
 classes of the people spoken of by Barbot. And 
 there are several nations in that zone, and even on 
 the western coast, in whom, what is peculiarly de- 
 nominated the African countenance, is hardly to be 
 distinguished.* 
 
 With regard to the contraction of the eyes, and 
 eye-brows, the ^vrinkled appearance of the forehead, 
 and the general expression of silliness, and uneasi- 
 ness so frequently exhibited in the features of the 
 aboriginal African, we may remark, that it is that 
 
 * Aikin says, " tlie people of Congo are represented as hav- 
 ing little of the negro feature, though perfectly black with 
 woolly hair." Geog. p. 299. edit. Phil, printed for F. Ni- 
 chols, 1806. In the same edit. p. 294, he says of the Kaf- 
 fers, or Kousis, " with this people European travellers have 
 become acquainted in their expeditions from the colony of the 
 Cape, and have found a remarkably strong and well made race, 
 brave, and not unacquainted with the arts of life, and much 
 superior iji appearance to the neighbouring African tribes/' 
 
117 
 
 figure and habit of countenance which is the natural 
 consequence of the intense ardor of the sun's rays 
 darted directly on the head.* 
 
 Akhough the Barbary states, bordering the south- 
 em shore of the Mediterranean, lie under a milder 
 
 * As the intensity of the sun's rays fallmg on the superior 
 parts of the head has a tendency to contract the forehead .ind 
 the eyes, will not this effect, in consequence of the natural re- 
 lations between different parts of the system, as already men- 
 tioned, contribute to the dilatation of tlie parts below, whence 
 may be occasioned, in a degree, the unsightly protrusion of 
 the mouth ?-— 
 
 In conformity with these observations, I find a reflection 
 made by Mr. Volney in his travels through Egypt : " The 
 countenance of the negroes, says he, represents precisely the 
 state of contraction which our faces assume when strongly af- 
 fected by heat; — The eye-brows are knit, the cheeks rise, the 
 eye-lids are drawn together, iuid the mouth pouts out. This 
 state of contraction to which the features are perpetually expos- 
 ed in the hot climates of the negroes is become the peculiar 
 characteristic of tlieir countepance." And coincident, in some 
 degree, with observations which I have before made on the 
 effects of climate on the Tartar countenance, he adds ;-—" Ex- 
 cessive cold, wind, and snow produce the same effect, and 
 thus we discover the same faces among the Tartars." Trans- 
 lation of Volney's Travels, Dublin edition, 1788, p. 49 
 
 The last loose expression of Mr. Volney might lead an incau- 
 tious reader into an error. The negro and tlie Tartar face are 
 not the same^ although both are distinguished by a depression 
 of the middle of the face, and protrusion of the parts about the 
 mouUi. 
 
118 
 
 sky than tropical Africa, yet posited so near that 
 torrid climate, we might still expect to find, though 
 considerably softened, many of its characteristic fca- 
 tures. Accordingly we learn from the Roman wri- 
 ters that the people of that region, at least as high 
 as the kingdoms of Numidia and Gaetulia, par- 
 took in some degree of the negro countenance. But 
 by repeated conquests, the aboriginal races have 
 been so wasted, or blended with strangers, that hard- 
 ly can the present population be said to bear any dis- 
 ' tinct and general characters of a national counte- 
 nance. Egypt is, likewise, occupied by a mixed race 
 drawn together from various northern climes, who 
 hardly exhibit any national characteristic of face. 
 But- the Copts, who are believed to be the descend- 
 ents of the ancient Egyptians, still present so much 
 of the negro visage, as strongly to indicate that their 
 remote ancestors were more nearly allied in their ap- 
 pearance to the nations beyond them to the South, 
 than the present inhabitants of Egypt. The prin- 
 cipal part of the present population being derived 
 from ancestors who, within recent periods of histo- 
 ry have migrated thither from different countries of 
 Europe and Asia, have been enabled, by the arts of 
 civilization, to preserve the lineaments of their Eu- 
 
119 
 
 ropean, or Asiatic original ; whereas the primitive 
 peopie would naturally be more deeply marked 
 witii the characters of a climate approaching, as does 
 that of Egypt, the tropical latitudes. And in proof 
 of tliis ojiinion it is ingeniously remarked by Mr. 
 Volney, that the face of the Sphinx, which exhibits 
 a strong expression of the negro countenance, and 
 was probably copied from the standard of face which 
 chiefly prevailed, and consequently was chiefly ad- 
 mired among those who sculptured it, is a stimding 
 monument of the ancient Egyptian visage, and of 
 its conformity, in many of its lineaments, with that 
 of tropical Africa, with which region they must have 
 had the most intimate relations. 
 
 The national or general countenances of many of 
 the tribes and great communities of mankind receive 
 their form and expression from the state of society, and 
 the peculiar habits and manners which either the phy- 
 sical circumstances of the country, or the moral and 
 political condition of the people have created among 
 them : the illustrati(m of which is reserved to another 
 branch of this essay. ^ It is generally acknowleged. 
 
 * As particular examples we may take at present, the fero- 
 cious aspect of some savage tribes who arc frcquciUly engaged 
 
120 
 
 indeed, that the soft, and mutable parts of the body 
 are liable to considerable changes from the tempera- 
 ture of the climate, or from the influence of society 
 and manners. But the bones which are hard and 
 solid, and little subject to change, it has been sup- 
 posed, cannot be affected in their figure by causes 
 so minute, and almost insensible in their operation. 
 Hence it has been inferred by some respectable 
 anatomists, that the form of the skeleton, and espe- 
 cially of the skull, contains more certain indications 
 of difference of species than the fleshy parts of the 
 system. When, therefore, in comparing the skulls 
 of an African, a Tartar, and a European, they find 
 very considerable varieties in the shape of this princi- 
 pal bone of the skeleton, they esteem it a fair ground 
 on which to conclude that these several races of men 
 belong to different species. 
 
 This argument appears to me to be the result of 
 a very negligent attention to the operations of na- 
 ture. The bones, although they are certainly the least 
 
 in cruel and bloody wars, or the mild and benignant physiog* 
 nomy of a Braminical Indian ; the sprightly visage of a French 
 comedian, or the demure and sad countenance often to be found 
 ill cloisters. 
 
1^1 
 
 inutable parts of the corporeal system ; yet are evi- 
 dently capable of increase, diminution, and change, 
 and, during the whole course of life, arc continually 
 acquiring or losing some portions of their substance. 
 Luxury, or simplicity in the habits of living possesses 
 no inconsiderable influence on the firmness of their 
 texture. An indolent and effeminate life, on the 
 one hand, or habitual occupation in vigorous and 
 athletic exercises on the other, affects both their 
 consistence and their form.* Certain employments, 
 or attitudes,! continued from early life, produce pe- 
 culiar effects on the figure of particular limbs. And, 
 in large manufactories in Europe it is well known 
 that the negligapce which necessarily takes place in 
 those institutions in the care of children, where they 
 
 * Nor ought the narration of the historian to be deemed a 
 iiction who informs us that the husbandmen, in turning up the 
 fields in after ages on which the battles of Alexander and Da- 
 rius were fought, could easily distinguish the skulls of the Per* 
 sians from those of the Greeks by their extreme fragility. 
 
 t Some artizans are said to be known by their gait, or 
 the figure, or attitude of particular limbs. And Mr. Forster 
 informs us that the inhabiUints of New-Zealand, almost uni- 
 versally have the joints of their knees much enlarged, from tho 
 general custom both in their boats, and on shore, of sitting oa 
 their hams. 
 
122 
 
 ijre left with little assistance, and care, to struggle 
 with all the difficulties of their first efforts to walk, 
 and are afterwards confined to sedentary occupa- 
 tions, in which nature is restrained from freely un- 
 folding her powers, it is a common thing to see the 
 different limbs of the body suffer a great variety of 
 distortions. And this is seen to take place without 
 any extreme violence ; but merely in consequence 
 of being frequently thrown into unfavorable posi- 
 tions, while the bones were yet in their softest state; 
 and by wanting that regular action which enables 
 every part of the system most freely to expand itself. 
 In infancy and youth, therefore, before the bones have 
 attained their firmest consistency, these solid sub- 
 stances are susceptible of considerable alterations in 
 their figure from the operation of very minute caus- 
 es, and especially from the various and powerful 
 action of climate. On the figure of the head, parti- 
 cularly, besides the climatical influences or the ex- 
 traneous accidents to which it may be exposed, 
 every action of every muscle affected in any way by 
 the thoughts and passions of the mind, is calculated to 
 make some impression. And although the separate 
 impressions may be insensible, yet the accumulated 
 result of an infinite number of the slightest touchcvS 
 
123 
 
 becomes very perceptible in a long course of time. 
 Nor is the softness of muscular action a sufficient 
 objection against the reality of this fact. What can 
 be softer in its action than a drop of water falling 
 from the height of a ft w inches? Yet, in time, it will 
 wear a cavity in the hardest marble. What can be 
 more tender than the young herb just sprouting from 
 the seed ? Yet, although the earth that covers it may 
 be pressed down, and beaten hard, we see it, by the 
 gentle impulses of its expanding fibres, and circulat- 
 ing juices, gradually swell, and, at length, break 
 through the incumbent crust. Shall we deny, then, 
 that the passions which often strongly agitate the 
 mind, nay, that each emotion, each thought, by af- 
 fecting the muscles which give expression to the 
 countenance, and varying their tension, and, consc 
 quently, their pressure on different parts of the bony 
 base of the head, may also affcfct its figure ? — From 
 these, and similar facts, some great physiologists 
 have imagined that the figure of the skull, with its 
 various protuberances and indentations, affords a cer- 
 tain criterion by which to judge of the intellectual 
 powers, and moral dispositions of men. 
 
 On this subject, we may, perhaps be justified in 
 affirming that the various strictures and relaxations 
 
124 
 
 of the muscles about the head produced by the inliii- 
 itely diversified actions of thought and passion will, 
 h\ time, leave certain impressions affecting the exte- 
 rior form of the skull. At the same time, the brain, 
 the immediate organ of all the emotions of the soul, 
 will, by its dilatations and contractions, contribute, 
 in some degree, to mould the interior cavity in which 
 it is embraced. On the other hand, the original 
 figure of this receptacle of the brain, in different 
 men, by giving it scope in some for a more ample 
 expansion, and a freerer action ; or, in others by 
 compressing it in some parts of its orb, and thereby 
 restricting the regularity, or freedom of its motions, 
 may affect the operations of the mind, and thus lay 
 a foundation in the organization or structure of the 
 head for the existence and display of particular in- 
 tellectual or moral excellencies, or defects. The 
 original figure of the* skull, therefore, may have an 
 influence, not inconsiderable, on the developement 
 and exercise of ceruiin passions and affections of the 
 mind, and on its peculiar powers of intellect or im- 
 agination ; and, on the contrary, the habitual exer- 
 tion of these powers, or indulgence of these pas- 
 sions, especially in the early periods of life, may re- 
 ciprocally affect the figure even of that solid cell in 
 
125 
 
 which the brain, the immediate organ of the mental 
 .actions, is contained. The physiognomonical sci- 
 ence, indeed, with which these remarks are connect- 
 ed, may, probably, never be susceptible of very 
 great accuracy, or extent, through our incapacity of 
 disentangling perfectly the infinitely complicated, or 
 of discriminatino- with nicetv the infinitelv fine linea- 
 ments, either in ^he form of the head, or the ex- 
 pression of the countenance, which indicate the cha- 
 racter of the mind. Perhaps its pretensions have in 
 some instances been already carried too far. Some 
 great outlines, however, there are which cannot 
 easily be mistaken, and which, to an attentive ob- 
 server of nature, may furnish general principles, that 
 may often be applied with considerable certainty in 
 judging of the qualities of the understanding and 
 the heart. 
 
 From the preceding observations, if they are 
 founded in nature and fact, we are fairly entitled to 
 infer, that some climates, and some states of soci- 
 ety, and modes of living, by varying, in a less or 
 greater degree, the form of the head, tliat organ 
 which, by its figure, necessarily affects the opera- 
 tions of thought, are more or less favorable than 
 others to certain exertions of the mental powers. And 
 
 ^ 
 
126 
 
 ^i^ may infer further, that after a people have long 
 cultivated science and the arts with success, or de- 
 voted themselves chiefly to certain occupations and 
 pursuits, a greater general aptitude for those pur- 
 suits, or those arts may become hereditary among 
 their descendents, till other causes arise to char.gc 
 tlieir manners. The argument, therefore, for diver- 
 sity of species in the human kind which some phi- 
 losophers fancy they have found in the varieties of 
 the skull in different nations, must be inconclusive, 
 since so many causes, both physical and moral are 
 found to operate material changes in the form of this 
 part of the human skeleton.* 
 
 * That the climate, together, probably, with other physical 
 •auscs, possesses some ii.fluence to create considerable altera- 
 tions in the figure of tlie skeleton, as well as in the general ex- 
 terior fonn of various animals, at least equal to the varietic 
 which appear in the skulls of different nations, is evident from 
 the v.'hole liistory of zoology. Buffon assures us thiit the 
 beautiful form of the Barbaiy race of horses soon disappears 
 when they are transferred to France. The head of that animal 
 reared in Naples assumes very much the configuration of that 
 of a ram ; and in Hungary the under jaw is seen to protrude 
 forwiird considerably beyond the upper. 
 
 The effect of the state in which animals are placed, and their 
 habits of living, is illustrated by a striking example in the skull 
 of the wild boar; especially in its superior size and hardness, 
 and the length and curvature of its tusks above those of l1^' 
 
127 
 
 But whatever differences anatomists hkve discov- 
 ered between the skull of a Laplander, and that of a 
 German or Hungarian, between that of a Portuguese, 
 and of a negro of Congo or Mitomba, of a Tartar 
 and an inhabitant of the Mogul empire, fact and ex- 
 perience have amply demonstrated the power of the 
 various causes which have been mentioned, to create 
 tliese distinctions. The Finnish and Lapland races 
 have been proved, by the affinity of their languages, 
 to that of the Hungarians, to have been originally 
 sprung from the same stock. The descendents of a 
 Portuguese colony not three centuries old on the 
 coast of Africa, are now no longer distinguishable 
 either in their appearance, or their manners from the 
 aboriginal inhabitants of the country. The Mogul 
 race is known to have been derived from Tartary ; 
 and the Mogul countenance is only the Tartar fea- 
 
 tommon swine ; all which must result entirely from their situ- 
 ation, and modes of life. In some counties in England the 
 horns of their bL.ck cattle are remarkiibly long, and embrace a 
 wide space within their curve ; in Icehijid these cattle are whol- 
 ly destitute of this excresceixe. Perhaps climate, and the 
 manner of liviir^^ both concur in the production of these oppo- 
 site effects.— Natural history furnishes innumerable examples 
 wliich demonstrate the influence of climate, aud other physical 
 causes, iii varying, in different ways, the figure of animals. 
 
128 
 
 tiire softened by the climate of India, and by more 
 mild and civilized manners. 
 
 But we must add to the effects of climate, and 
 other physical influences in diversifying the figure of 
 the head, the artificial means applied by several bar- 
 barian or savage nations, in order to attain some 
 fantastic idea of beauty. Certain tribes among the 
 American indians endeavour, by the use of particu- 
 lar kinds of ligature, or istruments of pressure, ap-^ 
 plied to the head of the new born infant, to change 
 its natural from, and to give it one which they es- 
 teem more beautiful, or more martial.-^ And simi- 
 lar customs exist, according to the narrations of voy- 
 agers most worthy of credit, in many of the islands of 
 
 * Two nations among the northern tribes, are, from the 
 shape which they give tlieir heads, in tlie manner related above, 
 distinguished by the denominations of the round-heads^ and the 
 Jfat-hcads. This is attested also by Charlevoix in his history 
 of Canada. Condamini, who spent a long time in South-Ame 
 rica, informs us, in a memoir addressed to the Academy oi 
 Sciences at Paris in 1 745, that the nation of the Omaguas have 
 the fantastic custom of pressing the heads of their children, as 
 80on as boi-n, betv/een two flat pieces of wood, in order to give 
 the face tlie appearance of the full moon. The existence of 
 similar customs in Lima, is further proved by a decree of the 
 Synod or Council of that province, forbidding tiie indians to 
 distort the heads of their children by putting a force upon na- 
 fiu'c. — At a Synod held in the city of Lima in the year 1585. 
 
 A 
 
129 
 
 the southern ocean. This practice was not unknown "^ 
 to several nations of antiquity both in Europe and 
 Asia. It is attributed by Hippocrates, to the Macro- 
 cephali ; a nation near the eastern end of the Euxinc 
 sea. They moulded the heads of their children, he 
 says, to the long figure, which their name imports, 
 because they esteemed it a mark of noble and gen- 
 erous birth, and sentiments. And he supposes it 
 was originally effected by certain bandages, or other 
 means of pressure, employed by midwives and nur- 
 ses in the earliest period of infancy. It is his opin- 
 ion, likewise, that the various forms of the head in 
 many different nations may be attributed originally to 
 similar arts ; because nature, says he, may, in time, 
 be made to assume the shape of art ; so that any obli- 
 quity of form artificially given to a particular member 
 of the body, and repeated through many genera- 
 tions, shall, at length, be incorporated into the con- 
 stitution of the race, and become hereditary.^ 
 Whatever estimate we may frame of this principle, 
 which certainly derives no inconsiderable weight 
 from the name of the great father of medical science, 
 
 * Hip. de acre, and locis, &c. Sect. 3: edit. Fresii, p. 289, 
 de Macrocephalis. 
 
130 
 
 as well as from the names of several distinguished 
 modern naturalists^ who have embraced it, we may 
 at least give him full credit for the existence of the 
 custom. And such customs, becoming general in a 
 
 * Scaliger says that the Genoese, deriving the custom from 
 tlieir ancestors the Moors, flatten tlie heads of their children 
 while asleep till now they are all born with both the hei;d and 
 the soul of Thcrsites. Comment, in Theophrast. liber 5. p. 
 287, de causis plantarum.— -In tliis remark, indeed, we see the 
 effect of the pique and resentment which Scaliger had conceiv- 
 ed against the people of Genoa, but we see also the opinion of 
 that great man, that certain habits of person, whether deform- 
 ities, or otherwise, may be so ingrivfted into the constiiutioi' by 
 long custom as at last to become hereditary, and characteristic 
 of a whole people. 
 
 Cardan speaks in the same way, lib. 5, cap. 43, de varietate, 
 Sec— The Chinese have, by artificial strictures compressing 
 the feet of their female children, rendered that deformity to a 
 considerable degree, hereditary.— t- 
 
 Certain it is that neat cattle, horses, and other domestic ani- 
 mals, turned into the woods in the West of Carolina, in Loui- 
 siana, and other uncultivated parts of America, where they find 
 but a scanty supply of food, and are liable to many accidents 
 from their feebleness at certain seasons of the year, and the 
 want of human care, not only become diminutive and deformed 
 tliemselves, but, although brought back from their wild and 
 savage state, and placed in the most favorable circumstances, 
 will propagate a diminutive and deformed offspring for several 
 generations. By proper attention, however, they are capable 
 of being gradually restored to the size and beauty of the origi- 
 nal F.uropean stocks from which they were derived ; except in 
 those places where a hot sun, and barren soil prevent the 
 
131 
 
 nation will necessarily produce a change in the a&-- 
 pect of the whole people. 
 
 It is necessary, in the next place, to take some 
 notice of the extravagant relations which have been 
 given to the world by certain travellers, of the pro- 
 digious expansion of the ear which they observed in 
 some barbio'ous nations of the East ; and of the no 
 less extraordinary tales concerning the long and pen- 
 dulous breasts of the African women in general, and 
 especially of those tribes which inliabit the southern 
 portion of that continent. Among the former they 
 pretend to have seen people with such large ears that 
 they could wrap themselves in their immense voU 
 
 growth of a luxuriant herbage. In such situations, the size of 
 the animal is necessarily contracted in proportion to the defect 
 of nutritious food, or the prevcJent excess either of heat, or 
 cold. — 
 
 Such examples as tlie preceding seem to confirati, in some 
 degree, the opinion of Hippocrates, Scaliger, and Cardan, which 
 has been just mentioned, and of other respectable writers, who 
 have embraced the same doctrine, — that any form of the body, 
 or of any of its parts, produced not only by climate or the means 
 or modes of living, l)ut by any habit, the result either of cli- 
 matical influence like the contracted eyes and forehead of the 
 negro, or of national custom, like the small feet of the females 
 in China, the long heads of the MucrocephcJi, or the flat heady 
 of some of our indian tribes, is conmiunicublc to ofispring by 
 natural inheritance. 
 
132 
 
 ume; and among the latter, women whose breasts 
 hung down like sacks below their knees, and, in some 
 instances, even to the ground. The extravagance 
 of these naiTations ought to be sufficient to destroy 
 their credit with all persons but tolerably acquainted 
 with the natural history of the globe. Some fami- 
 lies in every nation, and the inhabitants of particular 
 districts of different countries have ears extended 
 beyond the usual proportion which they bear to 
 other parts of the head. In Spain the Biscayans 
 are said to have them much larger than the people 
 of the other provinces of that kingdom. Some sav- 
 age tribes are known to stretch their ears by weights 
 appended to them ; which they esteem highly orna- 
 mentiil. And it is a common custom among our 
 American indians, from a like false taste of beauty, 
 to cut the rims of their ears, in a very artificial man- 
 ner, into narrow strips, round which they wrap 
 thin plates of shining metal, which weigh them down 
 to the shoulders. But, such sheets of ear as were 
 formerly spoken of by many travellers and even by 
 Pliny, have not been discovered by recent and more 
 accurate observers, and may safely be pronounced 
 to have no existence. 
 
 A like remark may be applied to those narrations, 
 the greater part of which one writer of travels has 
 
133 
 
 borrowed from another, which have been so long 
 vended byugnorance, or imposture, and received by 
 crcdulit}^, concerning the protracted and pendulous 
 breasts of the women of many uncultivated tribes, 
 especially of Africa. The whole origin of those tales 
 is probably to be found in the effect which poverty, 
 great hardships, and exhausting toils, naturally have 
 not only on savages but on poor women in the low- 
 est classes of civilized society, to render their breasts, 
 in time, flaccid and thin. This flaccidity, especially 
 in advanced life, and after they have been much 
 drawn by the suckling of children, does occasion 
 tlieir depending much lower than the breasts of wo- 
 men vvho have enjoyed plenty and ease. Ignorant 
 travellers, who have not been accustomed to the view 
 of naked savages, smitten with the love of astonish- 
 ing their countrymen with a marvellous tale, or infect- 
 ed with the prejudices of little minds, which delight 
 to depreciate and misrepresent whatever is seen in 
 foreign countries, have given these exaggerated pic- 
 tures of the length of the breasts of African fe- 
 males.* That climate, or other causes, in the benefi- 
 
 * Even Ireland not two centuries ago, when, however, it 
 was rarely visited by English travellers, and was regarded with 
 
134 
 
 pent arrangements of divine providence, may in- 
 crease the .size of these organs of the nourishment of 
 infants, especially in regions, or states of society in 
 which it would otherwise be peculiarly difficult to 
 
 eontemptuoiis pride by its more powerful and wealthy neigh- 
 bour, was sometimes subject to similar misi-epreseutations. 
 Lithgow, in his rare adventures and painful fie re grinationsy 
 says he saiv ivomen in the " Korth fiarts^^ of that ishaid, I pre- 
 sume with traveller's eyes, ivho could lay their breasts, or 
 •^ dugSy" as he calls them, over their shoulders, and suckle 
 their children behind their backs. He adds, that they were 
 more than half a yard in length, and disdainfully compares 
 them to the mon-^y-bags of an East-India merchant, wade of 
 vjell tanned leather. It is not wonderful then that more dis- 
 tant and savage countries should be more grossly misrepre- 
 sented. There are, indeed, very few travellers who visit re- 
 mote regions with a philosophic spirit, or even with the atten- 
 tion requisite for accurate observation. If they see a single 
 fact which strikes them with surprize, they are apt, from it, to 
 characterize a whole country ; and if they observe somewhat 
 extraordinary in the aspect or manners of a few individuals, or 
 certain vices or follies which are only different from the follies 
 and vices which are familiar to them in their own country, they 
 make them a foundation for abusive calumnies and exaggerated 
 and distorted pictures of a whole people. Indeed the ridicu- 
 lous mistakes, or wilful falsehoods, or the prejudiced colour- 
 ing given to almost all objects, which we find in the travels of 
 tlic greater part of Europeans who have visited America, are 
 sufficient to bring into doubt all extraordinary relations 
 brought to us by such men from distant portions of the globe, 
 or from any countries whose habits and manners differ from 
 those of tli€ ^yriter The observation iijadc above by Lithgow 
 
135 
 
 find a proper sustenance for them, is not improba- 
 ble. But a little excess above the ordinary scale of 
 nature, or a little deviation from its ordinary stand- 
 ard, in any feature, or limb, has often afforded oc- 
 cabion for the most hyperbolical relations in the ac- 
 counts which travellers have retailed of remote, or un- 
 explored regions. And that such has been the source 
 01 the extravagances which I have just mentioned, 
 in tilt* descriptions given by several voyagers, who 
 have just touched on the coast of Africa, of the pen- 
 dulous breasts* of women in some of the Hottentot 
 
 on the long and leathern duga of Irish women, renders it pro- 
 bable ilux he has seen a few of the laboring poor, discoloured 
 by exposure to the sun, and exhausted with toil, and the scan- 
 tiness of their provision, whose breasts, having, in conse- 
 quence, become flaccid, and somewhat pendulous, and pro- 
 tracted, have given occasion to all this misrepresentation, the 
 effect merely of foreign contempt, and false wit, 
 
 * Savage women, who generally carry their infants on their 
 backs in long and irksome marches, or during their work, do, 
 through necessity, or for convenience, often suckle them by 
 muking them reach over their shoulders ; and for this purpose 
 they endeavour to stretch tlicir breasts to meet the moutli of 
 the child. By the repetition of this practice, the breast may 
 sometimes be drawn into an unnatural length. Some examples 
 ©f this arc seen among the American Indians ; and doubtless 
 may be found among tlie African tribes. But indian women 
 who are not exposed to uncommon hardships, and negresscs in 
 
 
136 
 
 tribes, as well as of that natural veil of modesty* 
 which has been ascribed to them by others, there 
 hardly now remains a doubt. 
 
 The peculiar form of the legs in certain nations 
 may, from the manner in which they have been re- 
 marked on by several eminent anatomists, justly 
 claim a portion of our attention. — Among the Tar- 
 tar tribes some have these limbs remarkably short, 
 and widely bowed between the knees. On the other 
 hand, there are nations among the indians as much 
 distinguished by their length. These constitutional 
 peculiarities are with great probability ascribed to 
 some influence of the climate or of the habits of so- 
 ciety, or manner of living. This conjecture is cor- 
 
 the United States who are brought up in genteel families, aro 
 said to have breasts as well formed as the Anglo-Americans. 
 
 * Voltaire, who is equally a wretched philosopher and a 
 biilliant wit, is fond of magnifying this veil that he may find in 
 it one important character of a peculiar species. It is probably 
 no more than that lax and corrugated skin on the abdomen 
 which sometimes becomes pendulous in women who have borne 
 many children, and especially in those who have suffered great 
 hardships. Or it may be only a protraction of the labia, which 
 takes place, as we are informed by anatomists, in some women 
 of all nations ; and which, in particular instances, may be very 
 much increased by the filtliy habits of several of the Africwi 
 tribes. 
 
 t-: 
 
 f 
 
137 
 
 roborated by the known effect of climate and of the 
 manner of feeding on different species of quadru- 
 peds, and of fowls. Passing other instances, at pre- 
 sent, I will take an example only from the neat cattle 
 of Holland removed to the Cape of Good Hope. The 
 deep bodies and short legs of the herds which feed 
 in the rich meadows of Holland disappear entirely in 
 the meagre pastures of the Cape ; and, in a few de- 
 scents the whole race of the becve kind are deformed 
 with long legs, and comparatively narrow and lank 
 bodies. It is observed, likewise, of the catde in the 
 United States, and especially in those states which 
 lie southward from Pennsylvania, and in the districts 
 eastward between the Apalachian mountains and the 
 ocean that they are longer in the leg, and shallower 
 in the body, than the British stocks from which they 
 are derived. This effect, however, is, perhaps, less 
 to be imputed to climate, than to the scantiness and 
 poverty of their food in a country as yet imperfectly 
 cultivated, and to the negligence with which they 
 are guarded against the inclemency and changes of 
 the seasons. For we find that, in other parts of 
 America, in which the cattle are properly fed, and 
 sheltered during the winter, and, in summer, suffer- 
 
138 
 
 ed to run in rich pastures, they are often equal both 
 in form, and size, to the finest stocks in England.* 
 
 The curvature of the legs, so frequently observed 
 among the Tartar tribes, has, by Blumenbach after 
 Pallas, been reasonably ascribed, as its chief cause, 
 to the custom of placing their children on horseback 
 almost from their infancy, and the constant habit of 
 riding at that early age when their natural timidity 
 and inexperience prompt them to embrace the ani- 
 mal forcibly between the legs and knees. 
 
 But that deformity of the leg which has attracted 
 the. greatest attention of naturalists and is thought to 
 depart farthest from the beautiful proportions of the 
 human frame, is tlie curve projecting forwards which 
 is seen in most of the natives of the western coast of 
 Africa, especially among the lowest orders of the 
 
 * Of this Mr. Jefferson gives several examples in the sixtli 
 section of his Notes on Virginia. 
 
 An ox raised near New-Haven in Connecticut lately passed 
 throu-h Princeton on his way to Philadelphia of the following 
 dimensions and weight : — he was 1 6 hands high ; he was 1 8 
 feet in lengtli from the end of the tail to the nose ; 1 2 feet in 
 circmnfercnce round tlie body ; and his weight was 3400lbs. 
 
 Another ox has been exhibited in this town within a few days, | 
 raised in Morris county in New-Jersey, of the weight of 
 3500lbs. called by a piece of country wit, on account of his 
 size, the Morris county calf. He was six years old. 
 
139 
 
 people. For, savages, or barbarians as tliey are, 
 their society is distributed into different grades ; and 
 it is chiefly among the inferior, or servile classes that 
 we find those uncouth features, and deformed limbs, 
 which go to compose what we call the proper Afri- 
 can person, and countenance. But among their 
 princes and the superior ranks of their popula- 
 tion, the human form is often seen in a high degree 
 of beauty and perfection. I have limited my obser- 
 Tation likewise, to the western coast of Africa prin- 
 cipally ; because the same deformity does not exist 
 among the Abyssinians, or the Caffres on the east- 
 ern coast, who arc not depressed in such abject sav- 
 agism ; and is hardly perceived among tlie natives 
 of Aian, and Zanqut bar, who,^4hough nearly in the 
 same latitude, enjoy a milder climate. 
 
 This region of Africa anciently furnished slaves to 
 the Romans to be employed in the humblest offices, 
 who were conveyed to Rome through Mauritania, 
 and the territories of Carthage, and sometimes by 
 the way of Lybia and Egypt. The gibbous form 
 of their legs, with other African peculiarities, is 
 remarked by Petronius ; and it appears both from 
 him, and from Virgil that the same defects of person 
 must have existed in that climate from the remot- 
 
140 
 
 est periods of history.* But the climate is proba- 
 bly not alone to be charged as the cause of this de- 
 formity ; for the neighbouring regions of Numidia 
 and Mauritania have always nourished a straight and 
 well proportioned race of men. And, as I have just 
 remarked, even within that zone which exhibits, 
 among the poorest and most servile race, the great* 
 est deformities, you often meet, among their chiefs, 
 with men of handsome features, and regular propor- 
 tions. And Mr. Bruce informs us that, in the desert 
 of Senaar on the eastern side of Africa, under the 
 very tropic of Cancer, he saw, in the house of one 
 of their chiefs, a woman of the most beautiful form, 
 the most delicate skin, and the most lovely composi* 
 
 * Petronius, Satyricon, c. 102. Alramentomiitcinuscolo- 
 res a capiUis usque ad ungues. Ita tanquam scrvi jEthiopes 
 — age, numquid ct labira possumus tumore tetcrrimo implere ? 
 numquid k crin s calamistro invertcre ? numquid et fronte? 
 cicatricibus scindere ? numquid et crura in orbem pandere ? . 
 And Virgil in his Moretum, 1. 31—36 : 
 
 Interdum clamat Cybalen : erat unica custos, 
 Afra genus, tota patriam testante figura, 
 Tortd comam, labratumens, & fusca colorem j 
 Pectore lita, jacens mammis, compressior alvOj 
 Criiribus exilis, spatiosa prodga planta ; 
 Continuis rimis calcanea scissu rigebaiu> 
 
141 
 
 tion of features, he had ever beheld.* The cause 
 of the gibbous leg of the vulgar African, therefore, 
 we may find, not more in the climate than in some 
 peculiar customs in the treatment of their children. 
 The maimers of savages often result from the ne- 
 cessities of their situation. Among the North- Am- 
 erican indians tlie mother is always obliged to be- 
 stow the greatest assiduity in her attentions to her in- 
 fant in order to protect it from the injuries of seasons 
 which are extremely variable, and often rigorous ; 
 and to provide it with food by her own labor, in 
 the bosom of forests where little offers itself sponta- 
 neously to be gathered. At the same time, the hard- 
 ships of a wandering and hunting life prevent the 
 multiplication of children, so that, frequently, one is 
 three or four years old before she is burthened ^\'ith 
 the care of a second. The necessities, therefore, of 
 her state require, and the intervals between her chil- 
 dren afford her leisure for, the exercise of every ten- 
 
 * Before this rencontre he informs us he had always con- 
 nected the idea of perfect beauty with a fair conipk xiou ; but 
 when he beheld tliis Senaar lady, he speaks of himself as being 
 for some moments suspended in admiration : and he was at 
 once convinced that almost the all of beauty consists in ele- 
 gance of figure, in the fineness and polish of the skin, in grace 
 of movement, and the expression of the countenance. 
 
142 
 
 der and maternal care which her savage condition 
 ^ill admit. She consequently employs the utmost 
 pains not only in providing for the safety and sub- 
 sistence of her child during its infancy, but in form- 
 ing its person to activity, beauty, and vigor, that it 
 may hereafter be able to rely boldly on itself in hunt- 
 ing or in war, and in all the exigencies of its hazard- 
 ous state.* 
 
 The African mother, on the other hand, is not 
 under the same necessity to be perpetually solicit- 
 ous for the safety and subsistence of her infant ; nor 
 does she feel the same motives to exercise such 
 constant and minute attentions to preserve the erect- 
 ness and activity of its person. The warmth of the 
 climate, which is favorable to the multiplication of 
 children, releases the mother also from much anxiety 
 about their provision or their safety. It permits her, 
 while employed in any other care, to leave them ex- 
 posed naked to its influence without incurring those 
 
 * In her frequent, long, and pLiinful marches, in order to pre- 
 serve the limbs of her child perfectly straight, and to guard 
 them against every accidental distortion which might otherwise 
 r.fiect it, she extends it upon a thin hoard, or ])lank, with its 
 hack towards the plank ; and, that she may be able to preserve 
 it perfectly in its position, small hoops are bent over it insert- 
 ed at each end in the plank. In her marches she travels whh 
 
143 
 
 risks to which the delicate constitution of a child 
 would be liable under a cold, and variable sky. The 
 climate, almost spontaneously, or with very little 
 labor, offers them abundantly, those fruits and roots 
 w hich are proper for the nourishment and support of 
 their children. While occupied, therefore, in cul- 
 tivating the small spot of earth about her hut, or 
 in other domestic cares, she often leaves even her 
 youngest children for a long time together, wholly 
 to their own management. This is a spectacle 
 which is often seen also in the quarters of the African 
 slaves in the southern states of America, and in the 
 West-India islands. Childrjen thus left, while their 
 bones are yet in a soft, and almost gristly state, 
 will be liable to many accidents that may distort the 
 figure of their limbs, in their frequent struggles with 
 their natural imbecilities, in endeavouring to move 
 from place to place. In their first efforts, especially, 
 to creep upon their hands and feet, the weight of the 
 body, pressing upon the tender bones of the thighs 
 
 this board suspended at her back. And often, while occupi- 
 ed in her wigwam, she attaches the child to the same board, 
 supporting it against the wall of her hut, or against the stock 
 of a tree at her door, to save it from any untoward accident 
 while her attention is otherwise engaged. 
 
144 
 
 and legs in an oblique position, must tend to give 
 them that gibbous form which is thought to be pecu- 
 liar to the African race, but which is often seen 
 among the poorest classes in other countries. But I 
 must remark here, as 1 have already done concerning 
 other characteristics of this race, that, whether the 
 causes which have produced them be justly as- 
 signed, or not, certain it is, that, in the United 
 States, they are gradually throwing off this gibbous 
 deformity of the leg. Many of them, of the third or 
 fourth descent, who have bten trained in genteel 
 families, and have not been pressed by excessive 
 labors, are distinguished by straight and well turn- 
 ed limbs, and by those easy and graceful movements 
 which can never be exhibited where the person is 
 crooked or deformed. And this change is becom* 
 ing daily more conspicuous. On die other hand, 
 in those states in which an extensive slavery exists, 
 and great numbers are collected on the respective 
 plantations in small villages of huts at a distance 
 from their masters' mansions, these field slaves, liv- 
 ing chiefly by themselves, and being, in general, dir- 
 ty, ragged, and badly fed ; having, in consequence, 
 little concern about personal beauty ; and being 
 urged at the same time by constant labors, and 
 
145 
 
 obliged, therefore, to abandon their children very 
 much to themselves, even in their earliest infancy, the 
 peculiar deformities of the African race continue to 
 subsist much longer, and in a much greater degree, 
 among their descendents than among those slaves 
 who always serve near the persons of their masters^ 
 This fact, which is obvious to all Americans, 
 serves to confirm the opinion, tliat many of the 
 peculiarities of the African person, and especially, 
 the gibbous shape of the leg, are to be ascribed to 
 neglect, and the wretched habits of living of those 
 savages, not less, and perhaps more, than to any 
 direct influence of the climate on the constitution.^ 
 The size of the feet, in the next place, although 
 affected in some instances by climate, as has before 
 
 * It has been remarked by some respectable voyagers that a 
 small gibbousness of the leg, and probably arising from u sim- 
 ilar cause, is a pretty general characteristic of the aboriginal 
 inhabitants of the islands of tlie Caribean sea. 
 
 And in all tlie great manufactories of Europe, in which 
 young children are necessarily very much neglected, there 13 
 always a large proportion of crooked and deformed persons* 
 This is true also of many persons in all tlie classes of extreme 
 poverty in that country. On the other hand, in the United 
 States of America where extreme poverty at present hardly 
 any where exists, except in a few hospitals and alms-houses, 
 9, crooked limb, or a maimed person is rarely to be seeji, 
 
 S 
 
146 
 
 been rendered apparent, in the case of the Esquimaux, 
 and other tribes far removed towards the North pole ; 
 yet depends more on the artificial bandages by which 
 the}^ are confined, or the free expansion which is 
 permitted to them in different countries. The Chi- 
 nese repress the gro\nh of the feet of their women 
 by tight and painful ligatures. On the other hand, 
 we see that those persons in the United States who 
 pursue the labors of the field barefooted during the 
 whole summer season, have their feet spread out to 
 an extraordinary breadth, and proportioiiably extend- 
 ed in length.* From a like cause proceeds the 
 large size of this member which is common to al- 
 most the whole African race. The foot of the Af- 
 rican is never confined by a shoe, or any equivalent 
 ligature; it, therefore, receives the full expansion 
 which the whole weight of the body, continually 
 pressing upon it in that state, can give.f And the 
 
 ♦ J. R. Forster in his account of Capt. Cook's last voyage, 
 informs us that the natives of the Society Isles, tliough, other- 
 wise a handsome and well proportioned people, have universal- 
 ly large feet, for which he assigns as the cauae, tlie custom of 
 going barefooted. 
 
 I Virgil's « $patiQ»a prodiga planu,** 
 
147 
 
 hot sand in which the negro constantly treads great- 
 ly incrassates the skin, and opens it on the edges 
 round the sole of the foot in many small fissures,* 
 which give it the appearance of hard scales, f 
 
 It is hardly necessary to enter into any minute 
 enquiries respecting those great deviations from the 
 ordinary standard of the human stature which have 
 been reported to exist, particularly, hi two different 
 tribes of people, supposed to be the extremes of the 
 human race ; the one, a nation of dwarfs, said to in* 
 habit the mountains of Madagascar ; J the other, a 
 
 * « Continuis rirais calcanea scissa," of the same authoK 
 
 t Neither the expansion of the foot, nor the thickness of the 
 skin, in that race is greater, in proportion, tlian that which 
 takes place in the hand of a sal or, or a digger, which is enlarg- 
 ed and hardened by continual pressure on the ropes of his 
 vessel, or the handle of his instrument.— The conhnement of 
 the shoe is gradually producing its natural effect on the feet 
 ef the domestic slaves, their descendents, in the United States. 
 
 From a cause directly the reverse of tliat which creates the 
 enlargmentofthe digger's, or tlie sailor's land, the hand of the 
 American indian is small; for he never pei forms any labor with 
 it ; except drawing his bow, or throwing his tomahawk. 
 
 \ This story which was entirely discredited in Europe by 
 Flacourt, was revived after the middle of the last century by 
 Commcrson the botanist, who saw a pigmy girl in the service 
 Ai the master of the ship in which he emburked from Madagas* 
 
148 
 
 gis^antic people pretended to be spread over the 
 southern parts of the country of Patagonia, a region 
 which has received its denomination from them, and 
 extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific seas, along 
 the straits of Magellhaens. But since the facts have 
 been more accurately examined, the pigmies of 
 Madagascar have been found to exist only in fiction, 
 in mistake, or in great exaggeration, by which a 
 few examples of the defects, or abortive births, of na- 
 ture have bet-n presented to us as a distinct race. 
 On the other hand, the Patagonian giants have 
 dwindled down to a race of men the average of 
 whose stature is somewhat above that of the savage 
 nations in their neighborhood.* This is equally 
 
 car. But the Baron de Clugny, who sailed in the same vessel, 
 declares that she was evidently a diseased, and almost a mons- 
 trous offspring. She was of a chalky colour, with a breast very 
 much depressed, and long a'mis. Her voice was stridulous, her 
 hcc.d extended to a disproportioned length, and her whole ap- 
 pearcnce hidicative ; < compleat stupidity. 
 
 * The average stature of the T^atagonians has been deter- 
 mined to be about six feet, or but little more. And in the 
 United States are many examples of men from six to seven feet 
 In height ; and several instances are known of men, who consid? 
 crab}y exceed seven ieet. Besides the general reasons wliicli 
 contribute to mugn iv the appi-arance of savage men in a new,, 
 and uncultivated country, one cause which helped to increas*^ 
 
149 
 
 true of various other tribes of the American Indians ; 
 and particularly of the Osages, a tribe situated on the 
 5outh of the Missouri river, the greater part of whom 
 are men of tall stature, and of robust, and athletic 
 figure. The same was remarked by Tacitus con- 
 cerning the ancient Germans compared with the in- 
 habitants of the Roman provinces. But in all this, 
 we see nothing more than the known effects of cli- 
 mate, of food, of culture, or of other natural causes, 
 operating on animal bodies : in one region they are 
 more slender, in another they are more gross ; here 
 they are seen of lower stature, and there of taller and 
 more noble port. 
 
 II. Having, thus far, endeavoured to point out the 
 power of CLIMATE in the production of many of the 
 varieties which distinguish different portions of the 
 
 the wonderful narrations of navigators conceding the size of 
 the Patagonians was the discovery of graves among them of am 
 extraordinary length, which, Mr. Brown, in his travels, as- 
 sures us, arose, in some instances, if it was not a general cus- 
 tom of the country, from burying women at the feet of men ; 
 probably wives at the feet of their husbands, and dressing up 
 both graves with the appearance of one. Mr. Wood informed 
 him of a grave twelve feet in length which upon examiuatioa 
 was found to contain two skeletons, of a male and female, de- 
 posited in thiR manner. 
 
IS9 
 
 human species, I proceed to illustrate the influence 
 of the 
 
 STATE OF SOCIETY, AND THE HABITS OF 
 LIVING, 
 in creating other varieties, or in ag,^ravating or cor- 
 recting those which are occasioned by climate. 
 
 I join these two causes together in treating of 
 them, because their effects are frequently so blend- 
 ed, that it is difficult, in many cases, precisely to 
 discriminate them, and to assign each to its proper 
 head. 
 
 In the first place, climate exerts its full influence, 
 and produces its most deteriorating effects in a sav- 
 age state of society. 
 
 And, in the next place, the peculiar character, 
 and habits of society in which men are educated, 
 and the modes of living to which they are either ad- 
 dicted from choice, or compelled from necessity, 
 tend to create many differences in their complexion, 
 their figure, the form and expression of their coun- 
 tenance, and in their whole aspect. 
 
 In the first place, then, climi^te produces its most 
 deteriorating effects in a savage state of society ; and, 
 oji the other hand, these effects are, in some degree, 
 corrected by the arts and conveniences of civilization. 
 
151 
 
 A naked savage, seldom enjoying the protectioij 
 even of a miserable hut, and often compelled to lodge 
 on the bare earth under the open sky, imbibes the in- 
 fluence of the sun, and atmosphere, at every pore of 
 his body. The American Indian inhabits an unculti- 
 vated forest, abounding with stagnant waters, and 
 covered with a luxuriant growth of vegetables which 
 fall down and corrupt on the spot where they had 
 grown. He generally pitches his wigwam on the 
 side of a river that he may enjoy the convenience of 
 fishing as well as of hunting. The vapor of rivers, 
 therefore, which are often greatly obstructed in their 
 course by the trees fallen, and the leaves collected in 
 their channels, the exhalations of marshes, and the 
 noxious gases evolved from decaying vegetables, im- 
 pregnate the whole atmosphere, and give a deep bil- 
 ious tinge to the complexion of the savage.* And 
 
 • The forests in uncultivated countries naturally absorb a 
 great portion of the noxious miasmata with which the atmos- 
 phere is filled. They do not, however, absorb the whole. 
 Nothing but a skilful agriculture can perfectly purify the air 
 from the insalubrious exhalations created by the causes already 
 mentioned. All uncultivated countries, therefore, tend to pro- 
 duce u bilious haliit, and a dark complexion in the savages who, 
 Tange them. It may seem an objection ij gainst this observation 
 that, in America we often perceive bilious disorders increaafc 
 
152 
 
 the sun, acting immediately upon the skin in this- 
 state, necessarily impressed on it a very dark hue. 
 
 The darkness of the complexion is still further in- 
 creased by the custom which prevails among them 
 of painting their bodies : a custom to which these 
 savages are often obliged to have recourse in order 
 to protect themselves from the injurious effects of 
 the moist earth, which frequently is their only bed 
 
 in consequence of extending the plantations. When a few 
 acres only are cleared of their timber and wild vegctubles, while 
 the marshes around them are not dnjned, the trees and plants 
 which formerly absorbed the greater portion of the putrid mias- 
 mata, being taken away from the surface of the plaiitation, tliese 
 unhealthful vapors consequently fall more copiously on the 
 inhabitants. Besides, the heat of the sun is, in that case, very 
 much augmented. For, wliile the plantation is scorched by its 
 almost perpendicular rays, the surrounding woods obstruct 
 the free, and refreshing currents of the winds. So that, fre* 
 quently, excessive heat combined witli the unhealthiul mois- 
 ture of the atmosphere will produce, for a time, aii increase of 
 those distressing disorders, till the country is laid entirely 
 open to the powerful action of the sun, and the free course of 
 tlie wind. In clearing a new countiy of its forests, and prepar- 
 ing it foi- cultivation, a la^ge grove of trees should be left round 
 
 the habitation of each planter or funner These would detain, 
 
 and, by their foliage, absorb in a gi^at measure Uie hurtful 
 vapors which would otherwise fall upon it ; at the same time, 
 the fresh and refrigerating perspiration of so many trees would- 
 contribute to tlie salubrity of tlie air around, and witliiii his 
 dwelling. 
 
153 
 
 during the night; and of an atmosphere, filled with 
 noxious vapors, to the influence of which tliey are 
 exposed without covering. Painting taken up at 
 first through necessity, is afterwards employed as 
 an ornament ; and an indian is seldom seen without 
 having his skin anointed with some composition 
 that injures the fineness of its texture, and impairs 
 the clearness of its natural colour. If this is the ef- 
 fect of the finest paints and washes which are used 
 for the same purpose in polished society, much 
 more will it be the consequence of those coarse and 
 filthy ungents employed by savages. For if colour- 
 ed marks or figures inserted by punctures into the 
 skin, are known to be indelible, it is reasonable to 
 believe that the particles of paints, insinuated into 
 its texture by forcible and frequent friction will pro- 
 duce a deep and permanent discolouration.* 
 
 To this may be added the frequent fumigations 
 by which they are obliged to guard against the an- 
 noyance of innumerable insects which swarm in un- 
 
 * These paints consist of substances unfit to be taken up by 
 the absorbent vessels of the skin and received into the circula- 
 tion : they are lodged, therefore, by the force of friction, just 
 beneath the scarf which, being little subject to change, the 
 discolouration is retained with great tenacity. 
 
 T 
 
154 
 
 drained and uncultivated countries, and the smoke 
 with which their huts, small and unskilfully built, 
 are constantly filled. Smoke discolours every 
 object long exposed to its action, by insinuating 
 itself into the pores and adhering strongly to the 
 surface. Hence it contributes somewhat to heighten 
 the effect of so many other discolouring causes on 
 the complexion of the American savage. 
 
 Lastly, the hai'dships of their condition, which 
 tend to weaken and exhaust the principle of life ; — 
 their scanty, and meagre food, which wants that suc- 
 culence and nourishment which give freshness to the 
 complexion, and vigor to the constitution ; the un- 
 certainty of their provision, being sometimes left to 
 languish with want, and on other occasions furnished 
 with a superfluity, which tempts them to overstrain 
 themselves by a surfeit ; — and finally, their entire in- 
 attention to the cleanliness of their persons, and their 
 huts, all have their influence to heighten the disagree- 
 able duskiness of their colour, and to render the fea- 
 tures coarse and deformed. Of the power of these 
 causes in savage life we may frame some conjecture 
 from observing their effects on the poorest classes in 
 society, who are usually as much distinguished by 
 their meagre habit, their uncouth features and their 
 
155 
 
 dingy and squalid aspect, as by die meanness of 
 their garb. Nakedness, exposure to the weather, 
 negligence of appearance, want of cleanliness, bad 
 lodging, and poor diet, are always seen to impair the 
 beauty of the human form, and the clearness of the 
 skin. Hence it results, that savages never can be 
 perfectly fair. But when savage habits concur with 
 the influence of an ardent sun, or an unwholesome 
 atmosphere, the complexion of the people will par- 
 take of a tinge more or less dark in proportion to 
 the predominance of one, or of both of these caused. 
 Their features will be more coarse and hard, and 
 their persons less robust and athletic than those of 
 men in civilized society who enjoy its advantages 
 with temperance.* 
 
 * A few examples, perhaps, may occur among savages of 
 strong and muscular bodies, or of regular and agreeable fea- 
 tures ; as in civilized society we meet with some rare instances 
 of extraordinary beauty. Yet it is certain that the counte- 
 nance of savage life is commonly much more uncouth and 
 coarse, more unmeaning and wild, as will aftcinvards more dis- 
 tinctly appear when I come to point out its causes, thun the 
 countenance fonued in polislicd society. And the person is 
 generally more slender, and rather fitted for the activity of the 
 cliace, than for great exertions of strengtli. An Ameiican In- 
 dian is commonly swift, but seldom athletic. And it has been 
 remarked in the many expeditions which have been undertaken 
 against the savages by the people of these States, that iji^ 
 
^56 
 
 As a state of savagism increases the injurious in- 
 fluence of climates which are unfriendly to the 
 complexion or fine proportions of the human consti- 
 tution ; civilization, on the other hand, by its innu- 
 merable arts and conveniences, contributes to correct 
 that hurtful influence. The comfortable protection 
 of clothing and lodging, — the plenty and nutritious 
 
 strength of an Anglo- American, in single combat, is usually 
 superior to that of an indian of the same size. The muscles, 
 likewise, on which the fine proportions of the person so much 
 ifepend, are generally smaller and more lax in them than 
 among a civilized people who are not corrupted by lux- 
 ury, or debilitated by sedentary occupations. Their limbs, 
 therefore, though straight, are less beautifully turned.— -A de- 
 f^eption often passes upon the senses in judging of the beauty 
 of savages ; and it is often very injudiciously exaggerated in 
 description. We do not expect beauty in savage life. When, 
 therefore, we happen to perceive it, the contrast which it pre- 
 sents to us with the usual condition of men in that state affects 
 the mind with a degree of surprize that very much promotes 
 the deception. And the exalted descriptions of savage beauty 
 which we sometimes read are tr\ie only by comparison with 
 savages. There is a difference, in tliis respect, between man, 
 and the inferior animals which were formed to run wild in 
 the forest. They are always most beautiful when they en- 
 joy their native liberty. They decay and droop when attempt- 
 ed to be confined and domesticated. But man, being designed 
 for society, and civilization, attains, in that slate, the greatest 
 beauty of the human form, as well as the highest perfection o+ 
 ];us whole nature, 
 
157 
 
 qualities of food, and the skilful means of preparing it 
 for use, and rendering it more healthful^ — ^a country- 
 freed from noxious effluvia, and subjected to culti* 
 vation, — the constant study of elegance, with im- 
 proved ideas of a standard of beauty for the human 
 form, — and the continual effort made to approxi- 
 mate this standard, in ourselves, or to form our chil- 
 dren to it by a proper culture, give an immense ad- 
 vantage, in this respect, to cultivated society over 
 savage life. 
 
 2. I come now to observe, what is of much more 
 importance on this part of the subject, that all the 
 features of the human countenance are modijied, and 
 its whole expression, in a great measure, formed by 
 the state of society in which men exist. 
 
 Every idea, and every emotion which is excited 
 in the mind, affects, in some degree, the features of 
 the countenance, the index of our feelings, and con- 
 tributes to form its infinitely various lineaments. 
 Paucity of ideas, and of objects to call forth the ex- 
 ercise of the understanding or the passions, marks 
 the countenance with a vacant and unmeaning as-, 
 pect. Agreeable and cultivated scenes enliven and 
 animate the features, and tend to render them regu- 
 lar and soft. Wild and solitary forests impress on 
 
158 
 
 the countenance some image of their own rudeness. 
 Considerable varieties arc created even by diet, and 
 the different modes of preparing it for use. A diet 
 composed chiefly of raw and uncooked meats is 
 generally accompanied with ferocity of aspect. And 
 among the various methods of preparing food in 
 civilized nations, some are undoubtedly more 
 favorable to health and vigor, and consequently 
 to personal beauty, than others. Hard fare, and 
 exposure to the injuries of the weather render the 
 features of savages, and the poorer classes of society, 
 coarse and uncouth. The infinitely diversified at- 
 tentions of men in polished society give great flexi- 
 bility and variety to the expression of the counte- 
 nance. The defect of interesting emotions, or of the 
 habits of attention, and thought, leave its muscles 
 lax and unexerted ; whence they assume a swoln 
 appearance, and distend themselves to a grosser 
 size.* A general and national standard of beauty, 
 likewise, which is usually aimed at in civilized soci- 
 ety, and which, in some respects, is various in dif. 
 ferent countries, has its effect in forming the fea-, 
 
 * Several of these reflections shall be illustrated more m 
 detail hereafter. 
 
159 
 
 tures and fashioning the person. Every passion^ 
 every emotion, every thought which passes through 
 the mind has its peculiar expression. Each single 
 touch, if I may speak so, may be so fine as to be im-» 
 perceptible ; but frequent repetition will at length, 
 trace on the countenance very distinct lineaments. 
 And these minute causes may again vary their 
 effects according to their respective degrees of 
 strength, according to their combination with other 
 principles, aixl according to the constitutional pecu' 
 liarities of individuals, or of nations, that form the 
 ground on which the different impressions are re- 
 ceived. And, inasmuch as the advances made in 
 the arts, the prevalent ideas, pursuits, and moral 
 habits of men in different countries, and under dif- 
 ferent forms of government, are infinitely various, 
 they open a boundless field for variety in the human 
 countenance. It is impossible to enumerate all 
 these mkfute varieties.^" They are not the same in 
 
 * From various combinations of the causes that have been 
 suggested, and others of a similar nature, we often see differ- 
 ent characters of countenance, and habits of body, and even dif- 
 ferent habitual attitudes, and modes of moving the person, not 
 only in different nations, but in different cities, and districts be- 
 Itnging to the same country. Libavius, a German author, re- 
 
160 
 
 any two nations, nor in the same nation in any two 
 ages. It would be unnecessary to enumerate them, 
 as my object is, not to enable my readers to be- 
 come physiognomists, but to suggest a proper mode 
 
 marked above two centuries ago, this variety in his own nation* 
 " There is one countenance, says he, belongs to the Thurin- 
 gians, anotlier to the Saxons, and a different one to the 
 Swedes. Indeed each village almost has something, in this 
 respect, peculiar to itself, so tliat a person who woulci accurate- 
 ly attend to tliis subject might nearly proi. ounce on the coun- 
 try of a man from his physiognomy." — Yet besides these 
 smaller local differences, there is commonly a general cast of 
 countenance, arising from the influence of government, reli- 
 gion, civil occuputions, and other causes, which belongs te 
 each nation, and serves to distinguish it from otliers. 
 
 In conformity with tlie observation of Libavius, and with 
 what I have said above. Camper remarks that it is easy to dis- 
 tinguish at the first view, Jews from Christians, Spaniards 
 from Frenchmen, or Germans, and tliese again from English- 
 men. We can distmguish, says he, tlie inhabitants of the 
 South of France from those of tlie North, except where they 
 have been blended by marriage. The cities of Holland, where 
 so many people have been mingled together, no longer present 
 to us distinct features of a national countenance. The inhabit- 
 ants of the islands only still possess their primitive features en- 
 tire. In Friesland, for example, tlie inhabitants of Hindelo- 
 pen, Molkwerum, and Koudum, still exhibit their thhi f;.ce| 
 and their length of jaw; while those of Biidt, by their short 
 face all crowded together, differ entirely from their nearest 
 neighbors, who inliabit, however, the most ancient portion 
 of the country. 
 
 Each people then forms to itself some distinguishing national 
 
161 
 
 of reasoning on eacli new difFerence among man- 
 kind as it occurs to our observation. 
 
 For this purpose, I shall endeavour, in the first 
 place, to evince by several facts and illustrations, 
 that the state of society in which men live has a 
 powerful influence in varying the character of the 
 countenance, and even in changing the habit, and 
 appearance of the whole person. 
 
 And, in the next place, to shew that some of the 
 most distinguishing features of the savage, and 
 particularly of the American savage, with whom we 
 are best acquainted, naturally result from the rude 
 condition in which he exists. 
 
 The influence of the state of society, and of the 
 modes of life which prevail among different nations. 
 
 traits, till at length the mixture of different nations coming in 
 among tlieni effaces this characteristic distinction. Wars, mi- 
 grations, commercial intercourse, have so confounded nations, 
 anciently posited at the greatest distances from one another, 
 that we can no longer perceive that primitive and specific im- 
 pression which originally distinguished them. As most neigh- 
 boring countries, however, form in time pretty intimate con- 
 nections, they become gradually so blended, that now we do 
 not often perceive very striking and characteristic differences 
 of national countenance but among people whose actual, or pre- 
 sent positions are removed from one another at very consider*- 
 3'.U; intervals. Chap. i. p. 13, 14. 
 
162 
 
 or tribes of men, to produce some variety or change 
 in the complexion, and even in the form and pro- 
 portions of the person, may receive illustration from 
 the variety of aspect exhibited by the higher and 
 lower classes into which the people of almost all na- 
 tions are divided ; and who may be regarded, in some 
 degree, as men in different states of society. 
 
 The poor and laboring part of the community in 
 every country, are usually more dark in their com- 
 plexion, more hard in their features, and more coarse 
 and ill formed in their limbs, than persons of better 
 rank, who enjoy greater ease, and more liberal 
 means of subsistence. They want the delicate tints 
 of colour, the pleasing regularity of features, and the 
 elegant and fine proportions of the person so fre- 
 quently seen in the higher classes. Many particu- 
 lai* exceptions undoubtedly there are. Luxury may 
 disfigure the one, — a fortunate coincidence of cir- 
 cumstances may give a happy assemblage of fea- 
 tures to the other.* But these exceptions will not 
 
 ♦ It should be kept in mind through tlie whole of the follow^ 
 ing illustrations, that, when mention is made of the supdor 
 beauty of persons in the liigher classes of society, the remark 
 is general. It is not intended to deny that there exist many 
 exceptions both of deformity among; the great, and of beauty 
 
163 
 
 invalidate the general observation. The distinctions 
 which subsist between the several classes of society- 
 become more considerable by time, after families 
 have held, for ages, nearly the same stations. But 
 they are more conspicuous in those countries in 
 which the laws or customs of the nation have made 
 the most complete and permanent discrimination of 
 ranks. In Scotland, for example, how wide is the 
 difference between the chiefs of the Highland clans, 
 and the tenants and laborers of the land ! A simi- 
 lar distinction takes place between the nobility and 
 peasantry of France, of Spain, of Italy, of Germany, 
 and especially of Poland, because there the vassalage 
 of the peasantry is more oppressive than in any 
 other country in Europe. The noble, or military 
 class in India has been pronounced by some travel- 
 lers to be composed of a different race of men from 
 the populace who are their traders, and artizans; be- 
 cause, the former, elevated by their rank above 
 
 them, and devoted only to martial studies and at- 
 chievements, are distinguished by that manly beau- 
 
 among the poor. And the general remark is intended to be 
 applied only to those who enjoy their foilune with temperance; 
 because luxury and intemperauce tend equally with extreme 
 poverty and hardships to disfigure the person. 
 
164 
 
 ty so frequently found united with the profession of 
 arms ; tlie latter, poor and laborious, exposed to in- 
 numerable hardships and privations, and left, by their 
 laws and their religion, without the hope of improv- 
 ing their condition, or the spirit to attempt it, have 
 become timid and servile in the expression of their 
 countenance, diminutive, and often deformed in their 
 persons, and marked by a deeper shade than their 
 superiors in their complexion. In France, says 
 Buftbn, you may distinguish by their appearance, 
 not only the nobility from the peasantry, but the su-. 
 peri or orders of nobility from the inferior, these from 
 the citizens, and the citizens from the peasants. 
 You may even distinguish the peasants of one part 
 of the country from those of another, according to 
 the fertility of the soil, or the nature of its product. 
 — And 1 have been assured by a most judicious and 
 accurate observer of men and manners, a native of 
 Scotland,* that there is a sensible and striking dif- 
 ference between the people in the eastern, and those 
 in the western counties of that kingdom. The far- 
 mers who cultivate the fertile lands of the Lothians 
 
 * The late Rcy. Dr. Witherspopn, President of the College 
 <?f New-Jcrsev. 
 
165 
 
 have generally a fairer complexion, and a better 
 figure, than those who live in the West, and draw a 
 more coarse and scanty subsistence from a thin and 
 ungrateful soil.* 
 
 * It is well known to those who have been accustomed 
 earefully to observe human nature, tliut course and meagre 
 food is commonly unfavorable both to softness and regularity 
 of features, and to the fuimcss of the complexion. Every 
 change of diet, as I have before remarked, and every variety 
 m the manner of cooking and preparing it for use, is accom* 
 panied with some altercation in the system. I have several 
 times witnessed, in my own family, and in those of my friends, 
 the most pleasing changes take place in poor children taken in 
 to service for a term of years, who, in a short period have ex- 
 changed their sallow skin, and emaciated appe^raiice, tlie ef- 
 fect of want and hardship, for a healthful countenarxe, and 
 clear complexion. 
 
 Difference of food, and treatment equally affects the inferior 
 animals. The flesh of many species of game differs both in 
 colour and in flavor according to the nature of the grounds on 
 which they have fed. The flesh of hares, it is remarked by 
 BufTon, that liave fed on high lands is much fairer than of these 
 which have fed in vidlics, and in damp places. And every 
 keeper of cattle knows how much the fineness and flavor of the 
 ^eat depends upon the manner of feeding. According to the 
 nature of the food, and the care and treatment bestowed upon 
 them, all domestic animals are infinitely varied in size and shape. 
 The Spaniards infomi us tliat the swine in Cuba grow to nearly 
 double the size of their parent stock in Europe. And accord^ 
 ing to the testimony of Clavigero, black cattle arrive at a 
 much greater volume of body in the rich forests, and the tem- 
 perate climate of Paraguay, than the cattle of Spain, from which- 
 
166 
 
 That respectable naturalist Forster, who accom- 
 panied Capt. Cook in his last voyage, in remarking 
 on the inhabitants of the islands of the Great South 
 Sea, observes, with regard to those of the Society* 
 
 they have originally sprung. On tlic other hand, the cattle, in 
 many parts of tlie United States, arid in Canada, being negli- 
 gently housed, and fed, during our rigorous winters, and often 
 left, through the rest of the year, to gather a scanty subsist- 
 ence from the pasturage found in our woods, have greatly 
 degenerated from their parent stocks. They are often seen 
 to be diminutive through defect of nourishment, and de- 
 formed through weakness, winch exposes them to many ac- 
 cidents, and distorts tlieir limbs, by their inability, especiully 
 in the spring season, to bear fii-mly their own weight. Some 
 such facts occurring to the observation of Europeans who had 
 visited this country, gave occasion to the Abbe Raynal to pro- 
 nounce the American climate unfavorable to the growtli and 
 vigor of animal bodies. That rapid philosopher saw the effects, 
 and had not patience to enquire into the proper cause of them ; 
 and with characteristic boldness, a boldness, indeed, which we 
 sec too often imitated by European travellers and philosophers, 
 pronounced his decision. 
 
 Miuiy animals, by the manner in which they are fed and 
 trained may be brought to change, and apparently to lose, the 
 characteristic properties of their nature. Forster remarks of 
 the dogs of Otaheitce, which are kept, along with their hogs, 
 and poultry, merely for food, and which are nourished chiefly 
 on fruits and roots, the island furnishing little or no game, have 
 become most inactive and lazy animals. Their heads grow 
 larger th.'n is common to the species ; and, in their extreme 
 sluggishness, they are hardly ever heard to bark ; but utter tlieif 
 li^nguid and unci\sy fcclhigs only in a kind of howling. 
 
i6T 
 
 Isles, that the Towtows, or common class of the peo- 
 ple, who are the laborers, and, consequently, much 
 exposed to the mfluence of the sun in fulfilling their 
 tasks, and who, besides, are nourished with a less 
 succulent and abundant provision of food, than the 
 Arces, or dominant class, are also inferior in their 
 stature, not so handsomely formed in their persons, 
 and considerably darker hi their complexion. As 
 is natural, however, from their habit of carrying 
 heavy burdens, they are, in general, more firmly knit 
 in their joints, and stout in their limbs. 
 
 If, in England, as is said, there exists not so great 
 a diiference in personal appearance between the high- 
 er, and the lower classes of society as in other coun- 
 tries of Europe, it is to be ascribed to the liberty en- 
 joyed under the British constitution, and tothe more 
 general diffusion of wealth among the people, which 
 lessens, in some measure, the distance between the 
 ranks of their nobles, and their commons. Science, 
 and military talents open the way to the highest dis- 
 tinctions in that nation. The peculiar institutions, 
 genius, and pursuits of the people favor, in an un- 
 usual degree, the acquisition of wealth by the lowest 
 orders of citizens. And these not being prohibited 
 by the laws, or customs of the nation from aspiring 
 
168 
 
 to matrimonial connexions with the highest ranks, 
 the difFcrent classes are frequently seen to be vari- 
 ously blended together. Often you find in citizens 
 the beautiful .figure and complexion of the noblest 
 blood ; and in noble houses the coarse features form- 
 ed in lower life. 
 
 In America we have not the distinction of patri- 
 cian and plebeian ranks. And the frequency of 
 migration, in a new and extensive country, has not 
 suffered any peculiar habits of life or local manners, 
 deeply to impress a distinctive character on the peo- 
 ple of any state. Great equality of condition in the 
 citizens of the United States, similarity of occupa- 
 tions, and nearly the same degree of cultivation, and 
 social improvement pervading the whole, have pro- 
 duced such uniformity of character, that, as yet, they 
 are not strongly marked by such differences in the 
 expression of the countenance, the composition of 
 their features, or generally in their personal proper- 
 ties, as, in otlier countries, mark the grades bc^ 
 tween the superior and inferior orders of the people. 
 And yet there are beginning to be formed certain 
 habits of countenance, the result chiefly of manners, 
 which already serve, to a certain degree, to distin- 
 guish the natives of some of the states from those of 
 
169 
 
 others.^ Hereafter, doubtless, they will advance 
 into more considerable, and characteristic distinc- 
 tions. 
 
 If the white population of America affords us less 
 conspicuous instances, than many other nations, of 
 that variety of countenance, and of personal beauty 
 or defect arising from diversity of rank, and refine- 
 ment in society, the blacks in the southern sk-tcs 
 afford one that is highly worthy the attention of phi- 
 losophers. 
 
 The field slaves are, in comparison with the do- 
 mestics, badly fed, clothed, and lodged. They live 
 together in small collections of huts on the plantations 
 on which they labor, remote from the society and ex- 
 ample of their superiors. Confined, in this manner, 
 to associate only with themselves, they retain many 
 customs of their African ancestors. And pressed 
 with labor, and dejected by servitude, and the hu- 
 
 * In some of the New England states, for example, we re- 
 mark, in the body of the people, a certain composed and seri- 
 ous gravity in the expression of the countenance, the result of 
 the sobriety of their domestic education, and of their moral and 
 religious, their industrious and economical habits, which 
 pretty obviously distinguishes them from the natives of most 
 of the states in the southern portion of tjie Union, 
 
 W 
 
17X) 
 
 iniliating circumstances in which they find them- 
 selves, they have Httle ambition to improve their per- 
 sonal appearance ; and their oppressed condition con- 
 tributes to continue, in a considerable degree, the 
 deformities of their original climate. The domestic 
 servants, on the other hand, who remain near the 
 persons, and are employed within the families of 
 their masters, are treated with great lenity, their ser- 
 vice is light, they are fed and clothed like their supe- 
 riors ; insensibly, they receive the same ideas of ele- 
 gance and beauty, and discover a great facility in 
 adopting their manners. This class of slaves, there- 
 fore, has advanced far before the others in acquiring 
 the regular and agreeable features, and the expres- 
 sive countenance, which can be formed only in the 
 midst of civilized society. The former are, gene- 
 rally, ill shaped. They preserve, in a great degree, 
 the African lips, nose, and hair. Their genius is 
 dull, and the expression of their countenance sleepy 
 and stupid. The latter frequently exhibit very 
 straight and well proportioned limbs. Their hair 
 is often extended to three and four inches, and, 
 sometimes, to a greater length. The size and form 
 of the mouth is, in many instances, not unhand- 
 some, and sometimes even beautiful ; the composi- 
 
171 
 
 lion oF their features is regular,*- their capacity good, 
 and their look animated. 
 
 Another example of the pouter of society in form- 
 ing the countenance is well known to all those who 
 are acquainted with the savage tribes spread along 
 the frontiers of these states. Among them you fre- 
 
 * The features of the negroes in America, especially of 
 those who reside immcdiutely in the fumiiies of their musters, 
 Iiave undergone a great change, while the complexion is not 
 yet sensibly altered. The form and expression of tlie counte- 
 nance, and composition of the features being principally affect- 
 ed by the state of society, are constantly receiving some mod- 
 ification from that cause, to improve the negro visage. But 
 the rays of the sun which require, in our climate, the greatest 
 care to prevent theiTi from darkening tlie fairest skin, may be 
 sufficient, m the exposed condition of the slave, to prevent a 
 skin already black from becoming fair. The countenance of 
 the domestic slaves of the third and fourth race, and, in many 
 instances, even of the second, affords a striking exami:)le of 
 the influence of the state of society upon the features. And 
 there is reason to believe that, if these people were perfectly 
 free, and were admitted to all the civil privileges of their 
 masters, they would, in a short period, have few of the dis- 
 tinctive traces of their African ancestors remdning, except 
 their complexion. In the state of New-Jersey, where the 
 hardships of slavery are scarcely felt, we see great numbers of 
 negroes who have the nose as much raised from the face, the 
 forehead as well arched, and the teeth as perpendicularly set in 
 their sockets, as the whites. Some ncgroc. I see daily in 
 Princeton and its vicinity who have the nose tunit d with ;i 
 haijclsome aquiline curve. 
 
172 
 
 quently meet with persons who have been taken 
 captive in infancy from Anglo-American families, 
 and grown up in the habits of savage life. These 
 descendents of the fairest Europeans universally con- 
 tract buch a resemblance of the natives, in their 
 c^nnuenance, and even in their complexion, as not 
 to be easily distinguished from them ; and afford a 
 striking proof that the differences in physiognomy, 
 between the Anglo-American, and the indian de- 
 pend principally on the state of society,^ 
 
 * The resemblance between these captives and the native 
 savages is so strong as sensibly to strike every observer. Be- 
 ing tiiken in infancy, before the ideas and habits of civilized so- 
 ciety could have made iiny deep impressions upon them, and 
 spending tliat tender and forming age in the solitude and rude- 
 ness of Savage life, they grow up with the same apathy of coun- 
 tenance, the same lugubrious wildness, the same swelling of 
 the fealures'and muscles of the face, the same form and atti- 
 tude of the limbs, and the same characteristic gait, which is i> 
 great elevation of the feet, with the toe somewhat turned ht.. 
 Exposed without covering, to tlie constant action of the sun, 
 and of the weather, amidst all the hardships of the savage state, 
 th-ir colour tciids to a coppeiy brown. — This example affords 
 another proof of the greater ease with which a dark colour may 
 be stained on a skin originally fidr, than effaced from it. The 
 causes of colour are active in their operation, aiid, entering in- 
 to the substance of the skhi, soon make a durable impression. 
 White is the original ground on which this operation is rcceiv- 
 '^rV And the wiiitcness of the skin is to be preserved only by 
 
173 
 
 The College of New- Jersey, a few years ago, fur- 
 nished a counterpart to this example. A young in- 
 dian, about the age of fifteen, who had been brought 
 from his nation five or six years before, was study- 
 ing the latin and greek languages in the institution. 
 
 carefully protecting it from the action of these causes. Protec- 
 tion has merely a negative mfluence : applied, therefore, to a 
 skin already discoloured, it will be slow in producing any 
 change towards white as long as the smallest degree oi fiositivc 
 agency is suffered from the original causes of discolouration. 
 And, as the skin retains witli great constancy impressions once 
 received into its substance, all the dark shades of the complex- 
 ion will be very long retained. That period of time, therefore, 
 which would be sufficient, in a savage state, to change a fair 
 complexion, to the darkest hue which the climate can impress, 
 would hardly remove one shade from a black colour. Unless, 
 II, the climate be such as to operate very great changes on 
 tne internal constitution of the body, and to alter the whole 
 «tate of the secretions, as well as to defend it from the fervid 
 action of tlie sun, the negro colour may, by the exposure and 
 hardships of a poor and servile condition, be rendered per- 
 petual. 
 
 In what page of the essay has a certain annotator in the edi- 
 tion of Rccs' Cyclopsedia published by Bradford &c Co. in Plii- 
 ladclphia, found it asserted, that the negro complexion has 
 hitherto become sensibly lighter in America ? If he has any 
 candor, and possesses, in any degree, the information which 
 ought to distinguish a man who presumes to be an annotator 
 on that work, he will be ashamed of the indiscretion and incor- 
 rectness, to give them the softest names they will bear, of 
 x«omc of his remarks under tlie title. Complexion. 
 
174 
 
 And iVoin carefully observing him durinj^ the greatci^ 
 portion of that time I received the most perfect 
 conviction that, if the Anglo-American, and the In- 
 dian were placed from infancy in the same state of 
 society, in this climate which is common to them 
 both, the principal differences which now subsist 
 between the two races, would, in a great measure, be 
 removed when they should arrive at the period of 
 puberty. This young savage had been too far 
 advanced in the habits of his people, before he was in- 
 troduced into civil society, to render the experiment 
 compleat : for, all impressions received in the ten- 
 der and pliant state of the human constitution before 
 the age of seven years, or, at the utmost, of nine or 
 ten, are usually more deep and permanent than those 
 made in any future, and equal period of life. A 
 perceptible difference still existed, at the time of his 
 return to his tribe, between him and his fellow. stu- 
 dents, in the largeness of the mouth and thickness of 
 die lips, in the elevation of the cheek bone, in die 
 darkness of the complexion, and the contour of th 
 face. These differences had sensibly diminished 
 from the period of his coming to the college : and 
 they appeared to be diminishing the faster in pro- 
 portion as he lost that vacancy, and lugubrious wild 
 
175 
 
 ness of countenance peculiar to the savage state, 
 and began to acquire the agreeable expression of 
 civil life. The expression of the eye, and the soft- 
 ening of the features in consequence of new ideas 
 and emotion^, which had taken birth since he cam© 
 into society, removed the chief distinction, except 
 that of the complexion, which had been visible origin- 
 ally between him and his companions. Less differ- 
 ence existed at length between his features and 
 those of his fellow students than we often see be- 
 tween persons of the same nation.^- After careful 
 and minute attention, and comparing each feature 
 with the con*espondent feature in many of his com- 
 panions, the difference was very small, and some- 
 times hardly perceptible ; and yet there was an ob* 
 
 * The complexion of this young lad was not of so dark a cop- 
 per us that of his native stock, which could be easily discerned by 
 the stain of blushing in his cheek which is never perceived in, 
 those dark coloured tribes. The difference of these effects,r 
 however, in them and in him, I ascribe rather to the pains used 
 by those savages to increase the darkness of their natural hue 
 by filthy paints, and other means, thaji to any influence in the 
 change of his manner of living to remove any of the naturat 
 shades of the Indian colour. But he added nothing to them,- 
 while the savages, by their exposure to the injuries of the 
 weather, and the hardships of tlieir state, with other cause* 
 which have been mentioned, are continually increasing them. 
 
176 
 
 vious difference in the whole countenance, created 
 I believe principally by the impression which the 
 complexion, in combination with the other varieties 
 made upon the eye. A few comparisons conduct- 
 ed in this way would result, I am persuaded, in the 
 conviction that the varieties among mankind arc 
 much less considerable than, on a slight inspection 
 they appear to be. Each single trait or limb, when 
 examined apart, exhibits no difference from the com- 
 mon properties of the species which may not easily 
 be accounted for. Particular varieties are small. 
 It is the result of the whole, taken in at one impres^ 
 sion, which appears difficult to be explained. The 
 combined effect of many minute particulars appears 
 great, and, at the first view, unaccountable. And wc 
 have not patience, or skill, it may be, to divide this 
 sum into its least portions, and to perceive, in that 
 state, how easy it is of solution. 
 
 Under the head of the state of society are com- 
 prehended diet, clothing, lodging, manners, govern- 
 ment, arts, religion, agricultural improvements, 
 commercial pursuits, habits of thinking, and ideas 
 of all kinds naturally arising out of this state, infin- 
 ite in number and variety. If each of these causes 
 be admitted to possess, as undoubtedly they do, a 
 
17? 
 
 small influence in forming the character of the coun^ 
 tenance, the different combinations and results of the 
 whole must necessarily seem great, and, united with 
 the effects of climate, which have been already in 
 some degree explained will afford sufficient princi- 
 ples on which to account for all the varieties that ex- 
 ist among mankind. 
 
 Another cause of the varieties arising out of the 
 state of society will be found in the power which 
 men possess over themselves, of producing consid- 
 erable changes in their figure and appearance accord- 
 ing to any standard of beauty which they may have 
 framed. Each nation diflfers from others as mucli 
 in its ideas of beauty as in personal appearance. A 
 Laplander prefers the flat, round faces of his dark 
 skinned country women to the fairest beauties of 
 England. Whatever be the standard which any* 
 people have formed to themselves, there is a general 
 effort to attain it; and it is every where pursued' 
 with more or less ardor and success in proportion' 
 to the advantages which men possess in society, 
 and to the estimation in which beauty is held. 
 
 To this object tend the infinite pains taken in so- 
 ciety to compose the features, and to fonn the atti- 
 
178 
 
 tudes of children. This is the end of a large portioia 
 of the arts of polished Hfe. How many drugs arc 
 sold, and how many applications are made for the 
 improvement of beauty ? How many artists of dif- 
 ferent kinds live upon this idea of beauty ? If chil- 
 dren learn to dance it is chiefly in order to improve 
 and to display their beauty. If they acquire skill in 
 the use of the sword, it is more for the purpose of 
 improving" personal beauty than for defence. If this 
 general effort for appearance sometimes leads the 
 decrepid and deformed into absurdity, and produces 
 fantastic characters among the young, it has, how- 
 ever, a great and national eftect in forming the counte- 
 nance, not less tlian the attitudes and movements of 
 the person* 
 
 Of its effect in creating distinctions among nations 
 in which different ideas of personal beauty prevail, 
 and different means are employed to reach them, we 
 may frame some conception from the differences 
 that take place in the same nation, in which similar 
 ideas exist,, and similar means are used to form the 
 person, only in various degrees. What a difference 
 between the soft and elegant tints of complexion 
 generally seen in women who move in the higher cir- 
 cles of society, and the coarse ruddiness of the vul 
 
179 
 
 gar ! — between the uncouth features, and unpliant 
 limbs of an unpolished rustic, and the complacency 
 of countenance, the graceful figure, and easy air and 
 movement of persons in cultivated life! — between 
 the shaped and meaning face of a well bred lady, 
 and the soft and plump simplicity of a countr}' girl ! 
 — We now easily account for these varieties which 
 have becon e familiar to the eye, because we see the 
 operation of their causes. But if we should find an 
 entire nation distinguished by a composition of feat- 
 ures resembling the one, and another by the contrarjc, 
 they would have as fair a title to be ranked under dif- 
 ferent species by certain philosopliers as the Ger- 
 man, and the Tartar. •The general countenance of 
 Europe was, probably, more various several centu- 
 ries ago than at present. The differences, which 
 arise out of the state of society as their principal 
 cause are, insensibly wearing away in proportion as, 
 in the progress of refinement, the manners and ideas 
 of the European nations are gradually appioximatii.g 
 one standard. But the effect of a conmion standard 
 of beauty, and the means employed by our own 
 countr) men to form tlieir persons after this ideal 
 model are, through the influence of custom, and 
 general example, often iitde obiicrved. The mciins 
 
180 
 
 used by other nations, who aim at a different idea^ 
 attracting more notice by their novelty, will, there- 
 fore, furnish us with more striking examples. Many 
 of the nations beyond the Indus, as well as the 
 Tartars, from whom they have derived their ori- 
 gin,* universally admire small eyes, and large ears. 
 They are at great pains, therefore, to compress their 
 eye-lids at the corners, and stretch their ears by 
 "W eights appended to them, or by drawing them fre- 
 quently with the hand, and by cutting their rims„ 
 so that they may hang down to their shoulders, 
 which they consider among the highest ornaments 
 of their persons. — For a like reason, they extirpate 
 the hair from their bodies ; ^d, on the face, they 
 leave only a few tufts here and there, which they 
 
 * It is probable that the countries of India and Cliina, con- 
 sidering the pleasantness of those inviting climates, were ori- 
 gindly inhabited before the regions of Tartary. But, the fi-e- 
 (juent conquests to wJiich they have since been subject, parti- 
 cularly, the northeni parts of India, from Tartarian tribes, have 
 changed the hcbits, ideas, and persons of the people even more, 
 perh-.ps, tlian Europe was changed by the barbarians who over* 
 ran it in the fiftli ai'.d sixth centuries. The present populatioa 
 of Northern India is, in effect, Tartarian, only changed to softer 
 features, and Ixjtter proportioned persons, by a milder climate, 
 asid a moie iDiproved state of society. 
 
181 
 
 shave. *- The Tartars often extract the whole hair of 
 |he head, except a long and thick tuft on the crown 
 which they braid and adorn in different forms. — Sim- 
 ilar ideas of beauty with regard to the eyes, the ears, 
 and the hair, and similar custorffs among the abori- 
 ginal tribes of the greater portion of North- America 
 are no inconsiderable proofs that this division of the 
 continent has been peopled from the north-eastern 
 regions of Asia.f In Greece, Arabia, and other 
 
 * The inhabitants of New Zealand, according to Mr. Fors-. 
 ter, although they do not extii p^ite tlieir beards witii tweezerS) 
 yet cut their faces, and mark them with such scars, through a 
 preposterous idea of beauty, or manliness, as destroy a great 
 part of the hair. 
 
 t The celebrated Dr. Robertson, in his history of America, 
 deceived by tiie misinformation of hasty, or ignorant observers, 
 has ventured to assert that the natives of America have no half 
 on the face, or the body ; and, like many other philobophers, has 
 set himself to account for a fact which does not exist. They do 
 not differ in this respect from the rest of the human race. Dr. 
 Blumenbach, through a similar error in his iiiformation, sup- 
 poses that tlieir hair is very thin, and in small quantity. On tlie 
 other hand, the hair of our natiye indians, where it is not care- 
 fully extirpated by art, is both thick and long. But careless 
 travellers seeing their smooth faces, and bald heads enquired 
 no farther into the cause, but represented the fact as proceeding 
 from a natural debility of constitution and consequent deli- 
 faency of this excrescence. 
 
 ^imiUrity of customs, of Gomplcxion, and countenance be- 
 
182 
 
 parts of the East, large eyes are esteemed beautiful ; 
 and in these countries they take extiiordinary pains 
 to increase their aperture. In many parts of Ii.dia 
 they flatten the foreheads of their children in infancy 
 by the application of broad plates of lead. In China 
 they compress the feet of Rmaie infants by tight 
 bandages. Among many of the baiburous tribes of 
 
 tvveen the North -American indiars, and north-eastern Asiatics^ 
 gives strong indications of a coinnion origin. The Souih- 
 American continent, particularly on the western side, gives no 
 less striking proofs of its having been peopled from the islands 
 cf the Great South Sea ; as they were peopled originally from 
 the South of Asia. The inhabitants of the southern portion of 
 tlie Farther India are evidently of Malayan origin. Ar.d the 
 same people you truce from that cor.tinent through a succession 
 of islands ti 1 you approach the western side of America ; 
 whence a population of the same, or very similar character ap- 
 pears to huve spread from Peru and Chiii along the Oronoco, 
 and the difl'crcnt tributary streams of the Maragnon. And 
 here accordingly you meet with various tribes of indians of 
 handsomer form and features than those of North -America, 
 and not unlike, in their appearance, many of the islanders of 
 the South Sea. — Remotely, however, these people have all, 
 probc.bly> the s«me origin. The Malays are of Tartar race, 
 jn^.provcd by the mild climate of Southem Asia. These, pass- 
 ing through tlie equally mild climates of the Pacific ocean ap- 
 pear to have reached America in that direction; while North- 
 America h«s received her population from Tartary through the 
 rougher climates of Siberia. — OU.cr parts of this continent may 
 have received many accidental emigrants ciist upon its shores^ ^ 
 in a long succession of ages, from different portions of the Old 
 
I83r 
 
 Afnca, and in the northern regions of Asia they en* 
 dfavour to assist the influence of the climate by 
 using violence to flatten the nose of eveiy infant in 
 order to mould it after their capricious idea of beau« 
 ty. The American indians study to render the na^ 
 turai darkness of their complexion deeper by dis- 
 colouring paints and unguents : and all savages es^ 
 teem certain k inds of deformity to be perfections ; 
 and strive to increase the admiration of their persons 
 b}" heightening the wildness of their features. 
 
 1 might proceed, in this manner, through every 
 country on the globe, pointing out the many arts 
 which are practised to reach some favorite idea of 
 the hum in form. Arts which insensibly, in a long 
 course of time, produce great and striking consequen- 
 ces,* and which, although commonly supposed to 
 
 World. The nations from which they parted may have beca 
 civilized ; but arrivhjg in a new world, without skill to return, 
 or to hold any intercourse with their ancestral seats, and press- 
 ed by their immediate wants, and the difficulties of procuring 
 subsistence in an uncultivated wilderness, from any source ex- 
 Ct pt from hunting, they would soon lose the knowledge of all 
 other arts, and their posterity would necessarily becomes 
 savciges. 
 
 * National ideas of beauty may often have their source in 
 the tendencies of the cliiiiatOj and tlie natural influences of so- 
 
184 
 
 affect only the person who uses them, are not m ith» 
 out their influence on posterity. — The process of na- 
 ture in this, is as little known, as in all her other 
 works : but the fact cannot have escaped the obser- 
 vation of those who have paid a careful attention to 
 her operations. Every considerable change of co- 
 lour, feature, or figure which has grown into a habit 
 of the body, or indicates any important alteration in 
 the general action of the system, is liable to be trans- 
 mitted, along with other constitutional properties, to 
 offspring. The coarse features of laboring people, 
 created by great hardships, and exposure to the in* 
 juries of the weather, we often see imparted. The 
 broad feet of the rustic, spread out by often tread- 
 ing the soil barefooted ; and the large hand and arm, 
 formed by constant labor, are often discernible in 
 children. The increase, diminution or change of 
 any other limbs, or features, resulting from arts, or 
 national habits which aim at forming the person 
 after any peculiar ideal model may, in like manner, 
 
 ciety ; and often in some unaccountable caprice : but, whether 
 derived from the one source, or the other, they will ever havr 
 a powerful effect in forming the attitudes, the dr, the compo- 
 sition of the features, and the whole aspect of the person. 
 
185 
 
 became hereditary.* The inferior animals afford 
 many examples to prove the existence of this natu« 
 ral law. The figure, the colour, and itiany other 
 properties of the breed of horses are easily changed, 
 by those who have skill in raising them, according to 
 almost any reigning taste. And they are equally 
 susceptible of deterioration by neglect, or by im- 
 proper treatment. Out of the same original stock, 
 the Germans, who are settled in Pcnnsyivunia, rais6 
 large heavy horses for the draught ; the Irish in the 
 same state, by a different mode of treatment, raise such 
 only as arc much smaller, and lighter in their form* 
 By competent skill, and the application of proper 
 pains, or, on the other hand, by neglect, or ignorance, 
 the races of all our domestic animals may be almost 
 infinitely varied. Human nature being much more 
 pliant than that of most other animals, and being af- 
 fected by a much greater number of minute causes, 
 according to the state of society in which men arc 
 placed, is susceptible, also of a much greater variety 
 of changes from their operation. And among these 
 
 * Is this more difficult to be conceived, or less worthy of 
 credit than that constitutional tendency to certcJn discubea 
 which, it is now acknowledged by all pbysiciiuis, may be ren- 
 dered hereditary ? 
 
 r 
 
18^ 
 
 causes, that which I have mentioned of an imaginary 
 standard of the human form, or of the perfection of 
 social manners, is not the least influential. It is for 
 this reason, perhaps, that in different districts of the 
 United States, in which emigrants from Holland, or 
 Germany, or France, have fixed their residence, in 
 such numbers as, hitherto, to have been able, in a 
 great measure, to preserve their original habits, and 
 manners, and, consequently, their peculiar ideas of 
 personal beauty, grace, or propriety of conduct, they 
 retain also a strong resemblance of the primitive 
 stocks from which they are descended. Whereas 
 those who have not limited their intercourse to the 
 circle of their own countrymen, but have mingled 
 freely with the Anglo-Americans, and have adopted 
 their manners, and habits of thinking, have contract- 
 ed such similitude to them in their persons, and fea- 
 tures that it is now not easy to distinguish from one 
 another, people whose ancestors were discriminated 
 by most obvious national characteristics. 
 
 When once any general and standard idea of the 
 beauty of the human person is established in any na- 
 tion, connexions in marriage will be greatly influenc* 
 ed bv it. And these will contribute, in no incon- 
 siderable degree, to perpetuate, or to modify the na- 
 
187 
 
 tional countenance.* If men, in the union of the 
 sexes, were as much under control as some of the 
 inferior animals, their persons might be moulded, in 
 the course of a few generations, to almost any stand- 
 ard, making due allowance for the influence of cli- 
 mate, and the necessary operation of other causes 
 which may be connected with it. But left as these 
 connexions commonly are, to the momentary pas- 
 sions, the tasteless caprice, or the gross interests of 
 individuals, they aie more anomalous in their effects- 
 There is, however, a common idea which men in- 
 sensibly to themselves, and almost without design 
 *pursue. And, in general, they pursue it with more 
 or less success in proportion to the rank and taste of 
 the different classes in society, where accident does 
 not, as too often happens, throw beauty into the 
 arms of deformity, or where, in others, they are 
 governed in forming this connexion by interest ever 
 
 * Perhaps the power of imagination in pregnant women, 
 which must be always strongly affected by tlic national charac- 
 ter of countenance, may deserve some consideration on this 
 subject. Formerly, the imagination of women was supposed 
 by naturalists to possess a degree of influence in this case which 
 was not justified by the facts relied on to support it. But I am 
 inclined to believe that, at present, opinions have been carrie4 
 t^ an extreme oa the other hand> 
 
188 
 
 void of taste. The superior ranks, Mdth few excep- 
 tions, will generally excel, in the beauty of their form 
 and complexion, not only because they enjoy, in a 
 higher degree, other advantages which have been al- 
 ready pointed out as contributing to this end, but 
 because they have it more in their power to form 
 connexions in marriage among the most beautiful of 
 the stx. The Persian nobility, who are of Tartarian 
 origin, have, in consequence of their removal into a 
 more favorable climate, and their having adopted 
 the manners of a civilized people, acquired juster 
 ideas of the perfection of the human form than they 
 possessed in their primitive seats. Hence, being 
 led to seek the most beautiful women in marriage, 
 they have exchanged the harsh features, and dispro- 
 portioned figures of their Tartar ancestors, for a stat- 
 ure tall, and elegant, and a form and expression oi 
 countenance noble and commanding. The Turkish 
 families of fortune have, in like manner, improved 
 the ph\ sical character of their race. And if we may 
 ascribe any truth to the portraits drawn by the Ro- 
 man .historians of the ancestors of the present nations 
 of Europe, we must acknowledge that the refinement 
 pf manners, and the improvements in the state of so- 
 cietv, which have been introduced in modern times 
 
189 
 
 among their descendents, have contributed also to 
 produce a proportional improvement in their fea- 
 tures, and their persons. Nothing can exceed the 
 pictures of barbarism and deformit} given us by these 
 writers, of the ancient German and Gothic nations ; 
 whereas no nations, perhaps, have ever sur]iassed the 
 posterity of these rude people in personal beauty. 
 Such examples tend to shew how much national 
 varieties may depend on the state of taste re- 
 sulting from the condition of society, and the 
 progress, or decline of civilization and the arts. 
 They shew, likewise, how much the human race 
 might be improved in personal, as it is acknowledged 
 it may be in mental qualities, by proper cultivation. 
 Of all people the ancient Greeks appear to have 
 best understood how much it is in the power of 
 manners to improve the beauty of the human per- 
 son, and to increase the vigor of the human constitu- 
 tion. To these ends were directed many of their 
 customs, a large portion of their legislative wisdom, 
 and even of the philosophy of their schools, and the 
 whole system of their athletic exercises. And it has 
 been conjectured, not improbably, that the fine liv- 
 ing models exhibited in that country to statuaries 
 ^d painters became a primary cause of the high 
 
190 
 
 perfection to which the arts of sculpture and paint- 
 ing arrived in Greece. Hitherto among almost all 
 people, not only matrimonial connexions, but all 
 means of improving the human form, have been 
 abandoned, in a great measure, to accident, and the 
 caprice of individuals. Persons of elevated and 
 noble rank have usually had it more in their power 
 than others to select the beauty of nations in mar- 
 riage ; and thus, while, without system or design, 
 they gratified only their own taste, they have gcner- 
 ally distinguished their order as much by elegant 
 proportions of person, by fine features, and a noble 
 expression of countenance, as by their prerogatives in 
 society. And the tales of romance which ascribe 
 superlative beauty to their princesses ; and the fic- 
 tions of poets, which distinguish their kings and 
 princes by the dignity and manly beauty of their 
 persons, are not to be imputed solely to venality, 
 and a base disposition to flatter the great, but have 
 a real foundation in nature.* And the usual strain 
 
 * The justness of these observations will be less perceived 
 in the United States in which so great an equality prevail© 
 among the citizens, and the poorest enjoy comparative ease and 
 plenty, than in Europe where so wide a distinction exists be» 
 tvreen llie highest and tlie lowest grades of society — They arc 
 
1^1 
 
 of figurative language, which, in order to be just> 
 must be borrowed from nature, strongly supports 
 this remark : a princely person, and a noble thought^ 
 are ordinary figures of speech. 
 
 Mental capacity, which is as various as the human 
 physiognomy, is equally susceptible of improve- 
 ment, or deterioration, from the state of society, and 
 
 corroborated, however, by relations fonnerly referred to Ih 
 Capt. Cook's observations on the inhabitants of most of the 
 islands which he visited in the South Sea. In remarking on 
 those of the island of Owyhee, he says, " The same superior- 
 ity which is observable in the Erees (or nobles) tlirough all the 
 other islands is found also here. Those whom wc saw, are, 
 without exception, perfectly well fonned ; whereas, the lower 
 sort, beside^ their general inferiority, are subject to all the 
 variety of make and figure that is seen in the pofiulacc of other 
 countries." Cook's od voyage, book 3d, chap. 6th. These 
 arc the remarks of a plain, but most judicious man, who had 
 no theory to support, and was not biased by the opinions of any 
 political party. 
 
 Such is tlie deference pjdd to beauty, and the sentiment cf 
 superiority with which it inspires the beholder, tliat, to this 
 quality, probably, docs the body of princes and nobles collec- 
 tively taken, in any country, owe gi-eat part of their influence 
 over the populace. Riches and magnificence in dress and equi- 
 page produce much of their effect in procuring respect, by 
 giving an artificial beauty to the person. How often does his- 
 tory remark that young princes have attached their subjectsit 
 and generals their armies by cxtraordinaiy beauty of person ? 
 Aiid young and beautiful queens have ever been followed iM\^ 
 wnred with uncommon entliusiasm. 
 
192 
 
 the manners and pursuits, which maj'^ form the cha- 
 racter of any people. The body and mind have 
 such reciprocal influence upon each other, that we 
 often see certain peculiar powers or tendencies of 
 the rational faculty intimately connected with c r ain 
 corporeal forms. And whenever the moral, not less 
 than the physical causes, under the influt nee of which 
 any people exist, have produced any visible eflfcct on 
 the form and expression of the countenance, they 
 will also be found proportionally to affect the opera- 
 tions of the mind. The Boeotian countenance was as 
 dull and phlegmatic as the genius of the people : 
 and though Bceotia and Attica were in the vicinity 
 of each other, and inhabited originally by the same 
 race, the distinction between Boeotian and Attic wit 
 is not to be ascribed solely to national prejudice, 
 but had a real foundation in the different characters of 
 the two people. And the proper source of a distinc- 
 tion so striking and important is to be sought rather 
 in the state of society and manners in those repub- 
 lics, than in the Boeotian air to which it has been 
 sarcastically attributed by ancient writers. By the 
 alteration of a few political and civil institutions, 
 Thebes might have become Athens, and Athens 
 Thebes. Different epochs in society unfold differ- 
 
193 
 
 ent powers of the human mind. Poetry, eloquence, 
 and philosophy seldom arrive at their highest per- 
 fection together ; not because the mind of man does 
 not at all times possess the same endowments from 
 nature, but because, in the progress of society, new 
 objects arise, and new combinations of ideas are 
 formed which call into exercise different faculties of 
 the soul. If as just and true a picture of the per- 
 sonal as of the mental qualities of men at these dif- 
 ferent epochs, could be preserved to posterity we 
 should, probably, find as great variety in the one as 
 in the other.* The coarsest features, and the 
 harshest expression of countenance, will commonly 
 be found in the rudest states of society. And the 
 mental capacities of men in that condition will e\'er 
 be proportionally weaker than those of nations who 
 have made any considerable progress in the arts of 
 civilization.! They become feeble through want 
 
 * Of this, the example, which I have before produced of the 
 ancient Germans, and the present nations of Europe, affords a 
 striking proof, 
 
 t The exaggerated representations which we sometimes re- 
 ceive of the superior ingenuity of men m savage life, are usu- 
 ally the result of inconsidc ration. Savages are the subjects of 
 «ulogy for the same reason that we admire a monkey,— tliat is, a 
 
 2 
 
194 
 
 of objects to employ them, and through defect of 
 motives to cull forth their exercise. The rudeness 
 of their manners is calculated to quench the first 
 sparks of taste which might be struck out by the 
 grandeur of the objects, and the wild beauty of the 
 scenes which surround them ; and even the gross- 
 ness and filthiness of the food of most savage tribes, 
 and their ignorance of the arts of preparing it so as to 
 render it most nutritious and salutary to the human 
 constitution, tend to blunt their genius. And the 
 Hottentots, the Laplanders, and the people of Tierra 
 del Fuego are the most stupid of mankind for this, 
 among other reasons which have formerly been sug- 
 gested, that they approach, in these respects, the 
 nearest of any people to the brute creation.* 
 
 certain resemblance of the actions of men in civilized society 
 which was not expected from the rudeness of their condition* 
 Tiiere are doubtless degrees of genius among savages as well 
 as among civilized nations : but the comparison should be 
 made of Scivuges among themselves, and not of the genius of a 
 savage, witli that of a polished, people. 
 
 * The descendents of the African race in America are, be^ 
 yond all doubt, more ingenious, lUid c:pc,ble of acquiring any 
 new art, than those who have grown up to maturity in the sava* 
 gism of Africa. Whether they Avill ever become as suscepti- 
 ble of improvement as the wliite races, which has been sti'enit- 
 
195 
 
 The effects of savage life upon the human counte* 
 nance are, in many respects, so peculiar as to merit 
 a more minute illustration. Civilization creates 
 someaffi-iity in the countenances of all polished na- 
 tions. In proportion to their improvement in the 
 arts, and to the progress of science among them there 
 is a characteristic and common expression, which re-- 
 suits from the similarity of the operations of the 
 mind, and of the subjects about which these opera- 
 tions areemp'oyed. But savages in every region arc 
 usually distinguished by a countenance so dull and 
 stupid, when not excited into ferocity by hostile and 
 revengeful passions, as to induce many writers to rcr 
 gard them as an inferior grade in the descent from 
 the human to the brute creation. Civilized nations 
 inhabiting chiefly the temperate latitudes, and sava- 
 ges, except in America, only the extremes of heat 
 and cold, these differences in point of climate, com- 
 bined with those arising out of their state of society, 
 have produced varieties of aspect so great as to ap- 
 pear unaccountable to those who have only superfi- 
 
 ously denied by several writers, and, in particular, by Mr, Jef- 
 ferson in our own country, will be u subject ot" conbiueruticxi 
 -l^ereitfter- 
 
196 
 
 cially attended to this subject. It is not unworthy of 
 being remarked, however, that the real sum of these 
 varieties, when examined separately, is not so great 
 as the apparent, when taken in at one view. In the 
 latter case, the eye, contemplating at a single glance, 
 not only the variety presented in each feature, but 
 the relations of that feature to every other, and to the 
 whole ; and each new relation producing some mod- 
 ification in the appearance of the countenance, the 
 entire sum of these combinations surprizes us by its 
 magnitude. — For example, even a small change in 
 the eye, will produce a striking alteration in the ap. 
 pearance of the whole countenance ; because it pre- 
 sents to us, not singly the difference which exists in 
 that feature alone, but all the differences arising froni 
 the several combinations of thj^t feature with every 
 other feature in the face. In like manner, a change 
 in the complexion presents, not its own difference 
 alone, but a much greater effect, the result of a simi- 
 lar combination. If both the eyes and the complex,- 
 ion be changed in the same person, each variety 
 affecting the whole system of the features, the 
 union of the two results will be productive of a 
 third incomparably greater than either. If, in the 
 same way, wc proceed to the lips, the npse, the 
 
1^7 
 
 checks, and to every single feature in the visage, 
 each pjoduces a multiplied effect, by its separate re* 
 lations to the whole, and the entire result, like the 
 product of a geometrical series, is so much beyond 
 our first expectation that it confounds common ob- 
 servers, in their attempts to explain the cause, and 
 will sometimes embarrass the most discerning phi- 
 losophers tin they turn their attention, in this man- 
 ner, to divide, and combine efiects. 
 
 To treat this subject fully it would be necessarj^ 
 in the first place, to ascertain some general expression 
 of countenance which every where belongs to savage 
 life ; and then, as there are degrees of more or less 
 rudeness in the state of savagism, as well as of re- 
 finement in civilized society, it would be necessary 
 to distinguish the several modifications which each 
 degree makes in the general aspect ; and, in the last 
 place, to consider the varieties, almost innumerable, 
 Avhich arise from combining these general features 
 with the effects of climate and of other causes already 
 mentioned. 1 shall endeavour merely to draw the gen- 
 eral outlines of the human countenance as it is form- 
 ed by the wildness and solitude which commonly pre- 
 vails in the savage state. And, in this portrait I 
 -hall take my type chiefly from the Ameiican savage. 
 
198 
 
 His eye, in his ordinary state of tranquillity, is 
 Vacant and uncxpressivt — the whole composition of 
 his countenance, is fixed and stupid, widi little vari^ 
 ety of movement in the features — over this unmean- 
 ing ground is thrown an air of wildness and mtJan- 
 choly. — The face is somewhat dilated at the sides — > 
 its muscles are lax — ^thc mouth and lips large — ^and 
 the nose, in the same proportion, depressed. 
 
 In order to explain this picture, and to point out 
 the causes which concur to create it, let it be observ- 
 ed that the expression of the eye, and of the whole 
 countenance depends, almost entirely upon the objects 
 with which we are surrounded, the impressions which 
 they make upon the mind, and thcreflectionsandemo* 
 tions they excite. The natural scenery of a country, 
 the occupations, habits, religion, science, govern- 
 ment, manners, of a people, all have their separate 
 influences in forming the national character, and ex- 
 pression of face. The justness of this observation is 
 verified bv many facts which are daily presented to 
 us in societv. How often do we preceive a distinctive 
 character of countenance impressed upon certain re- 
 ligious sects by the peculiar habits and tenets of their 
 profession? Those who practice certain mechan- 
 iciil occupations, and the professors even of the more 
 
19^ 
 
 liberal arts, are often distinguishable by some pecu- 
 liarities of aspect, as well as of manners. Every" 
 thought that passes through the mind traces its cha- 
 nicter, in stronger, or weaker lines upon the visage ; 
 and total vacuity of thought leaves in it only the ex. 
 pression of stupidity. The infinite variety of ideas 
 and emotions created in civilized society, contribute 
 to give great vaiiety to the lines of the face ; at the 
 same time, each class of citizens is liable to be 
 marked by some distinctive expression resulting 
 from their habits and occupations ; while each indi- 
 vidual will be characterized by some singular, and 
 personal traits according to his genius, education 
 and pursuits. Between savage and civilized socie- 
 ty, therefore, there will be all the difference which 
 can arise from thinking, and want of thought. And 
 savages will have all that uniformity among them- 
 selves, in the same climate, and country, which nat- 
 urally arises from vacancy of mind, and the want, 
 esju-cially of all the delicate emotions, which are so 
 varied in society. A vacant eye, and unmeaning 
 countenance, approaching, in some regions, espe- 
 cially under the extremes of heat and cold, almost 
 to a look of idiotism, seem to reduce the savage, in 
 bis aspect, many degrees nearer to the brutes, than 
 
200 
 
 the civilized man. The solitude in which he lives 
 renders him dull, and gives him an appearance of 
 melancholy. He seldom speaks, or laughs. Soci* 
 €ty rarely enlivens his features. W hen not engaged 
 in hunthig or in war, having no object to rouse him, 
 he will often sit for hours in one posture, with his 
 eyes fixed to a single point, and his senses lost in 
 sombre, and unmeaning reverie. Tliese solitary 
 feelings, and melancholy emotions, serve to cast over 
 his visage, which other causes render fixed, and un^ 
 expressive, a sad and lugubrious air. The wild 
 scenes of nature around him impress some resem- 
 blance of themselves on his features ; — and the pas- 
 sions of war and rage, which are almost the only ones 
 that occupy the mind of a savage, frequently mingle 
 with the whole an aspect of brutal ferocity.* 
 
 * "The inhabitants of most of the small islands in the great 
 Southern and Pacific oceans form an exception to vh"s general 
 character of the savage countenance. Prevented, by their iso- 
 lated state, from engaging in perpetual hostilities with neighbor- 
 ing and warlike tribes, like the continental savages, and several 
 of those of the larger islands,thcy are distinguished by an air of 
 mildness and complacency, which is much increased in conse- 
 quence of their easy and social manner of living. And this is 
 greatly promoted by the mildness of their climate, and the 
 abundance of simple and nutritious food spontaneously suppli- 
 ed by their soil. 
 
201 
 
 Paucity of ideas, solitude, and melancholy contri- 
 bute likewise, in no small degree, to form the re- 
 maining features of a savage countenance, — ^a mouth 
 large, and somewhat protruded, a dilatation of the 
 face, and a general laxness and swell of its muscles. 
 
 The active exercise of thought, and the inter- 
 course of refined society, induce a tension, and ac- 
 tion in tlie muscles of the face which serve to give 
 it a greater elevation towards the middle. But the 
 vacant mind of the savage leaving these muscles lax 
 and unexcrted, they swell into larger dimensions, 
 dilating themselves more towards the sides, than ris- 
 ing towards the center of the face. Hence, perhaps, 
 that plumpness of feature, and roundness of visage, 
 or departure from the oval figure, which we so often 
 find in young persons, and especially young women, 
 \\ ho have been bred in the retirement of the country. ^^ 
 
 Grief peculiarly affects the lips by distending 
 them, and giving them a swoln appearance. Soli- 
 tude, gloom or melancholy, in proportion to the de- 
 
 * And may not the superior advances made in society, and 
 the arts, in Europe, with the superior vigor and energy of the 
 human character in that quarter of the world, be one reason of 
 the greater elevation of the European above that of the Asiatic 
 countenance ? 
 
 A J. 
 
202 
 
 grec in which they prevail are found to be attended 
 with a like t fflct. Where they naturally arise out of 
 the state of society, therefore, and when they operate 
 from infancy, and are seldom counteracted by the 
 more gay and vivid emotions created in polished 
 life, the effects will at length, become considerable. 
 The lips of a savage, will, from these causes, gene- 
 rally be large, and in a less or greater degre^ thick 
 and protruded. 
 
 The nose affects, and is affected by other features 
 of the face. The whole system of the features is 
 so connected, that, if one be remarkably enlarged, 
 it is commonly accompanied with a proportional 
 diminution of some other. A proininent nose is 
 generally joined with a thin visage. On the othex 
 hand, a broad face, thick lips, and elevated cheek 
 bones, are noMess commonly accompanied with a 
 certain depression of the feature of the nose. It 
 seems as if the extension of the nerves in one direc- 
 tion restrained their growth in another.* Savages, 
 
 * By a small experiment on ourselves, we may render this 
 cfP' ct obvious. By apiotiusion of the lips, or by drvwiig* 
 drwn the mouth at the corners, we shi..ll perceive a stricture 
 on the nose, that, in an age when all the features are peculiarly 
 soft and pliant, would sensibly tend to depress it. And, continu- 
 ed through the whole of life, would fix it inmiovabl)' in that habits 
 
203 
 
 therefore, have this feature commonly more fl:^t, and 
 sunk than civiiizcd nations. This, ho\\c,v.i\ i A 
 to be regarded as the entire cause of that extreme 
 £iitness which prevails on part of the coast of Africa, 
 and in Lapland. Climate, piobably, enters there 
 for part of the efilct; and is aided by an ab:-urd 
 sense of beauty which prompts the nativtb to de- 
 presailLby art.^ 
 
 The preceeding observations tend to account for 
 some of the most characteristic and distinguishing 
 features which prevail in savage life. To th<.-se I 
 might have added another general reason of the pccu^ 
 liar wildness and rudeness v\ hich marks them in that: 
 state of society. The feelings of savages, when they 
 deviate from the ir usual apath\ at home, are mostly 
 of the uneasy kind ; and to them they give an luu 
 constrained expression. Hence will naturally re. 
 suit a habit of the face extremely uncouth ; as we 
 see a similar negligence among the vulgar contribute 
 
 * Whether the flatness of the African nose be the effect of 
 climu.te, or of the manner of liviiij^, certain it is, thi^t . niong- the 
 posterity of the Africans in America, who are pia' ed in easy 
 and comfortable circumstances, we freoueiitly meet with thig 
 fdurc not or.ly raised like tliat ot tiie Ai.^io-Anitncttii, birt 
 beautiful jy turned. 
 
204 
 
 to heic^htcn that disgusting coarseness which so many 
 other causes concur to create. 
 
 1 have now britfly examined the effects of climate, 
 of various modes of living, and states of society 
 upon the complexion, and figure of the human spe- 
 cies. — And in this examination we have seen that 
 the pliant nature of man is susceptible of many 
 changes from the action of the minutest caus^lh and 
 the action of these causes habitually repeated through 
 a sufficient period of time, can create, at length, the 
 mo:^t conspicuous distinctions among people origin- 
 ally the same. The effect proceeds, increasing from 
 one generation to another, tiL it arrives at that point 
 where the constitution can yield no farther to the 
 power of the operating cause. Here it assumes a 
 permanent form, which constitutes the character of 
 the climate, or the nation. 
 
 It is frequently asked on this subject, why, unless 
 there be an original difference in the species of men, 
 are not the natives of all climates born, at least, with 
 the same figure and complexion ? To such enqui- 
 ries it is sufficient to answer, that it is for the same 
 reason, whatever that may be, that other rcsemblaur 
 ces of parents are communicated to children. Ex^ 
 perience demonstrates that figure, stature, complex- 
 
205 
 
 ion, features, diseases, and even poM^ers of die mind 
 may become hereditary. To those who find no dif- 
 ficuhy in acknowledging that these properties may be 
 communicated to offspring according to the estab- 
 lished laws of nature, the transmission of the climat- 
 ical or national differences among men, of w^hich we 
 have treated, can contain nothing which ought to 
 appear supernatural, or incredible. — if it be enquir- 
 ed, why, then, a sun burnt face, or a wounded 
 limb, is hot, by the same laws, if they exist, trans- 
 mitted to posterity ? we may justly reply, that these 
 are only partial accidents which produce no change 
 on the interior structure and temperament of the con- 
 stitution. It is the constitution which is conveyed 
 by birth. And when any change becomes incorpo- 
 rated, into the system, so as, in any considerable 
 degree, to affect its organization, or the state of its 
 secretions, it then becomes communicable to off- 
 spring along with all other constitutional properties? 
 
 I proceed, now, to consider the exceptions exist- 
 ing in different regions of the globe which seem to 
 stand in opposition to the principles maintained in 
 this essay. 
 
 I begin with recalling an observation which I have 
 fermcrly made, th^t these exceptions are neither s* 
 
206 
 
 liumerou«, nor so importiiiit as they have been re- 
 presented to be, by inaccurate travellers, and by 
 credulous philosophers. Even Buffon is not aho- 
 gcther free from the charge of credulity, who only 
 doubts concerning the relations of Siruys, and other 
 prodigy- mongers, who have HUed the histories of 
 their voyages with marvelous tales, the fruit of de- 
 liberate falsehood, or of ignorant surprize. Noth- 
 ing can appear more ridiculous and contemptible 
 tJian philosophers, like maids and nurses, retailing, 
 with solemn faces, the stories of monsters, and en- 
 deavouring to find some cause of their existence in 
 the mysterious operations of nature.* 
 
 * Buffon who describes the inhabitants of the Ladrone 
 islands as being, in general, of u stature superior to tht men of 
 other countries, tliinks it not improbable that giants may have 
 been seen there. Aiid Aie shit\c author admits the btory»of the 
 existence of a people in New Holland without teetli. 
 
 Lord Monbodo, in his trei.tise of the origin of languages, Sec. 
 whimsically enough, supposes that muikind originally had 
 tails; and th.athey lost this brutal excrescence only in conse- 
 quence of the progress of civilization. And he believes that 
 there are some nations who yet retain this mark of affinity with 
 the inferior tribes cf animals. Sir Walter Raleigh speaks of 
 a people in Guiana without necks, wliose eyes, or rather, whose 
 eye, for it is s..id that they have only one, is in tlic upper part of 
 the breast. Other writers have described certain hordes of 
 Tartars in a similar stile. The necks of these TartiU's ai'e 
 
 V 
 
207 
 
 In America, perhaps, we receive such tales with 
 more incredulity and contempt than the people of 
 most other nations ; because we see, in such a strong 
 light, the falsehood of similar wonders, said to exist 
 lu ffiis continent, which, a few years ago, were re- 
 ported, and believed, and made the subjects of many 
 philosophical disquisitions, in Europe. We hear 
 every day the absurd remarks and false reasonsings 
 of foreigners on almost every object which comes 
 under their observation in this new region. They 
 judge of things, of men, and of manners under the in- 
 fluence of habits and ideas, framed in a different cli- 
 mute, and a different state of society. They pro- 
 Ruunce concerning all things according to the ac- 
 companimeiits which similar facts ^^ould have in 
 their own countr) : without examining, like true 
 pliilo^ophcrs, the causes of the differences created in 
 the actions of men, and manners of nations, by divert 
 Vitv of situation. They infer general and erroneous 
 conclusions from single and mistaken facts, viewed 
 through that prejudice which previous habits always 
 forui in common minds.* — J\ote, see next page. 
 
 nutun.lly extremely short. And the spirit of travelling prod- 
 igy huii soaiutimes undertaken to annihilate them. 
 
208 
 
 Since America has become better known, we find 
 no canibals in Florida, — no men in Guiana who have 
 their heads sunk into their breasts,^ no martial Am- 
 azons. The giants of Patagonia have disappear- 
 
 * It requires a more minute and accurate attention, and a 
 greater portion of reflection, and the true spirit of philosophy 
 than is possessed, or exercised by ordinary ti\ivtlicrs to judt^e 
 with just discrimination of men and things in foreign countries* 
 Countries are described from a single spot, manners from a 
 single action, and men from the first man that is seen on a for- 
 «ign shore, and him, perhaps, only hidf seen and at a distance. 
 Hence America has been represented by different travellers as 
 the most fertile or the most barren region on the globe. Navi- 
 gators to Africa who have visited only the shores of tlie Gi.nibia 
 •r the Senegal speak of the spreading forests, and the luxuri- 
 ant herbage of that arid continent. Surprize occasioned by an 
 uncommon complexion, or composition of features, or a stat- 
 ure a little above or below the ordinary standard, has distorted, 
 and increased or diminished the size of the people of different 
 nations beyond all the proportions of nature. Such judgments 
 are similar to those which a Chinese sailor who had accfdent- 
 ally been tlirown on Cape May, or Cape Hatteras, would form 
 ©f tlie United States ; or would fonii of Great-Britain or oj^ 
 France who had seen only the suburbs of Dover, or of Calais. 
 Besides the limited sphere of observation of su(;Ji a traveller, he 
 would naturally see every thing with astonishment, or with dis- 
 gust, which would exaggerate or distort his representation. 
 He would see each action, that might occur to his observation, 
 by itself, without knowing its connexions ; or he would give it 
 in his imagination those connexions which it would have in his 
 own country. A similar error led Capt. Cook, in his first voy- 
 age to fonn an unfavorable opinion of the modesty and ^has* 
 
209 
 
 cd. And the same fate should have attended those of 
 the Ladrone islands to whom BufFon, after Gcmelli 
 Carreri has been pleased to give an imaginary; exis- 
 tence. Tavernier's tales of the smooth ancl hairless 
 
 tity of the women of Otaheite, which his after experience 
 taught him to correct. Many such false judgments are to bfc 
 found in almost every writer of voyages or travels. The Ame- 
 rican savages have often been represented by European writers 
 as frigid tovvaixls the sex because they seldom aviiil themselves 
 of the opportunities almost constantly offered by tlieir state of 
 society, to violate the chastity of their females. And, on the 
 other hand, they are sometimes represented as liceritious be- 
 cause they are seen to lie promiscuously in the same wigwam, 
 or round the same fire. — Both judgments are false ; and result 
 from prepossessions formed in society. Shnp.icity or rather 
 rudeness of manners, and the hardships of their state, more 
 than constitution, or than climate, create that appearance of 
 indifference, on the one hand, which is esteemed an evidence^ 
 of frigidity ; and give occasion, on the otlier, to that promiscu- 
 ous intercourse which is supposed to be united with criminal 
 indulgence. Luxury, restraints, and the manifold arts em- 
 ployed for the pui-pose, in polished society, contribute to in- 
 flame desire, which is allayed by the coarse manners, and the 
 hard fare of savage life, wherein no studied excitements are 
 employed to awaken the passions. And in the midst of this 
 apparently unrestrained freedom, infinitely fewer violations of 
 female honor and safety take place, than arc found under the 
 restraints and excitements of our civilized manners. On a 
 like foundation cowardice has been imputed to the aboriginal 
 natives of America, because they prosecute their wars by strat- 
 agem, — insensibility because they suffer torture with a patience 
 not to be parallelled in any other country,— and thievUhnesSj 
 
 3 B 
 
 "^^i-i-'W- 
 
210 
 
 bodies of the Mogul women may be ranked with 
 those which have so long, and so falsely attributed 
 this peculiarity to the natives of America. The 
 same judgment may we form of those histories 
 
 because a savage, having hardly any notion of property, ex- 
 cept in tliose tilings which he has in present occupation, takes, 
 without scruple, whut he wimts, and sees you do not need. 
 
 We see, in innumerulilc instances, in the narrations of tra- 
 vellers, the act of one man, tlie figure, or stature of the first 
 vagrant seen upon a distant shore, furnish out the character of 
 a whole nation. 
 
 The false and distorted representations of Europeans who 
 visit the United States are sufficient to make us distrust the 
 narrations of all foreigners who pretend to depict the state and 
 manners of new and distant countries. There is hardly a fact 
 which is not perverted by such men as Weld and Ashe, and the 
 inferences which they draw from what they observe are gene- 
 rally false. They travel without a spark of that philosophic 
 spirit which alone entitles a man to remark on foreign, and 
 especially on new countries. Ashe's distress on the Alleghany 
 mountains on account of wild beasts which never disttirb an 
 American : his terrors, his disgusts, and his wonderful de- 
 scriptions of thunder-stonns, fire-flics, aiid snakes are truly 
 laughable ; and almost his whole history equally contemptible 
 and fcdse. The same may be said of a great part of the travels 
 through this country which have been published. Voiney who 
 claims to stand in the first ranks of philosophy, writes with lit- 
 tle more accuracy or discrimination tlian these ignorant Eng- 
 lishmen. One of the customs, he says, of tlie citizens of Phi- 
 ladelphia is universally to indulge themselves in bed lor two 
 hours in the afternoon, during which time the streets arc abso- 
 lutely deserted. He may have been acquainted with one or 
 
211 
 
 which pretend to describe nations without natural 
 affection, — without any sentiments of religion, — 
 and without moral principle. In a word, the greater 
 part of those extraordinary deviations from the com- 
 mon laws of climate, and of society which formerly 
 obtained credit in Europe, aic found, by more accu- 
 
 iwo families in which the ladies gave themselves tliis indul- 
 gence. The rest of tfee story he must have dreamed. Becuuse 
 he hus seen in some houses in Virginia hot buttered rolls serv- 
 ed up at breukfiist, he says all the Americans eat hot paste per- 
 fectly soaked in grease. These are but small samples out of 
 many in which he, and a multitude of otlicrs, display their in- 
 veterate prejudice, tiieir inexcusable carelessness, or delibe- 
 rate falsehood. 
 
 By such writers, nations have been judged to be without any 
 sentiment of religion, because they have not seen temples, and 
 ceremonies. Others have been pronounced to be without natu- 
 ral r^ffection, because one man has been seen to do an act of 
 seeming oarbarity. — But the nation which appears to have de- 
 parted farthest from the ordinary laws of human aature, is that 
 of the Giagas, a people of Africa, mentioned by Lord Kaims 
 his laudable attempts to disprove the truth of the Mosaic 
 istory. This people, he thinks, must be of a distinct race 
 from tlie rest of mankind, because, unlike all otiiers, tliey kill 
 tlieir own children as soon as they are born, and supply their 
 places by youth stolen from the neighbouring tribes. One 
 would think that even his lordship's zeal for a good cause might 
 have suffered him to reflect, that they could not have continu- 
 ed a sei>arate race longer than till the stolen cliildren had grown 
 
 up to manhood An excellent specimen of the easy faith of 
 
 infidelity I — Sec Ld. Kaims' prelim, disc, to sketches of th€ 
 hist, of man. 
 
 # 
 
212 
 
 rate observation, to have no existence. If a fevr 
 marvelous narrations are still retailed by credulous 
 writers, a short time will explode them all, or shew 
 that the facts have been misunderstood ; and, that 
 when placed in a proper light, they are susceptible 
 of an easy explanation, on the known, and common 
 principles of nature. 
 
 Leaving such pretended facts, and the inferences 
 to which they have given birth, to deserved con- 
 tempt, 1 shall now state a few well ascertained phe- 
 nomena which appear to imply a deviation from the 
 laws of climate i\s they have been laid down in this 
 essay ; and, by the solution of them, endeavour to 
 confirm those laws. 
 
 In tiacing the same parallels round the globe we 
 do not discern in every region placed at equal dis- 
 tances from the sun the same features and complex^ 
 ion. In the various kingdoms, and districts of In- 
 dia, and along the northern coasts of Africa, nations 
 are mingled together who are distinguished from 
 one another by very conspicuous differences. The 
 torrid zone of Asia is not marked by suph a deep 
 colour, nor by such a woolly substance instead of 
 hair, as that of Africa. And the colour of tropics^ 
 America is, . in general, lighter than that of Asi,a, 
 
21^ 
 
 rhe tropical zone of Africa is not uniform. The 
 •©omplexion of the western coast is of a deeper black 
 than that of the eastern. It is deeper on the north- 
 ern side of the equator, nearly to the tropic, than in 
 the correspondent parallels on the south. The 
 Abyssinians, in the lightness of their complexion, 
 and the length of their hair, form an exception from 
 all the other inhabitants of that zone. And advanc- 
 ing beyond the tropic towards the South, we find 
 the Hottentots who seem to be a race by themselves ; 
 less black than the inhabitants of the torrid zone ; 
 but in their manners, the most beastly, and in their 
 persons and the faculties of their minds, approach- 
 ing the nearest to the brute creation of any of the hu- 
 man species. 
 
 For the explication of these varieties it is necessary 
 to observe that the same parallel of latitude does not 
 uniformly indicate the same degree of heat, or cold, 
 •ficinity to the sea, the course of winds, the altitude 
 of lands, and even the nature of the soil, create great 
 variety in the temperature of regions posited at the 
 same distance from the equator. The state of soci- 
 ety in which any people take possession of a new 
 country, has a powerful effect either in subjecting 
 them to considerable changes in their aspect, from 
 
214 
 
 the operation of the various causes whicli aficct the 
 human system, or in enabling them to preserve their 
 original features in opposition to their influences. 
 
 Every migration, however, will produce some 
 change, either more or less conspicuous, in their ap- 
 pearance. And the combined effects of many mi- 
 grations, such as have been made by the greater part 
 of the tribes of the human race, must have contribut- 
 ed greatly to diversify the aspect of mankind in dif- 
 ferent countries. A nation, for example, which mi- 
 grates to a different climate, will, in time, be impres- 
 sed with the characteristics of its new state. If this 
 nation should, in some centuries afterwards, return 
 to its original seats, it would not perfectly recover its 
 primitive features, and complexion ; but would re- 
 ceive the impressions of the first climate on the 
 ground of those formed in the second. In a new re- 
 moval, the combined effect of the two climates 
 would become the ground on which would be inJP 
 pressed the characters of the third. We perceive 
 here a new cause of endless variety in the human 
 countenance. 
 
 These principles will serve to explain the causes 
 of many of thc^ differences which exist among the 
 inhabitants of those countries which have been the 
 
215 
 
 subjects of most frequent conquests, or have most 
 frequently received foreign emigrants into their terri- 
 tories ; especially, if religion, manners, policy, or 
 other causes, prevent the old inhabitants from ming- 
 ling freely, and blending with the new. India, and 
 the northern regions of Africa have been oftener over- 
 run by foreign nations than any other countries on 
 the globe. And many nations who have not at- 
 tempted conquest, have established colonies among 
 them for the purposes of commerce, invited by the 
 fertility of the soil, or the riches and variety of its 
 productions. We accordingly see in these climates 
 a greater mixture of people than is any where else to 
 be found. These foreign intruders have, all been, 
 in a greater or less degree, civilized. They were 
 able, therefore, to preserve with some success, in 
 their new situations, the resemblance of their origi- 
 nal and distinctive properties. The Turks, the 
 Jf^rabs, and the Moors, in the North of Africa,— 
 the Copts, the Mamelukes, the Turks, and the 
 Greeks, in Egypt, will always be distinguishable 
 from one another in their figure, and complexion, as 
 long as their peculiar habits, manners, and religious, 
 or national prejudices are retained, and surround 
 them with those fences which prevent them from 
 
216 
 
 amalgamating, and assuming one national character. 
 And India, and the neighboring islands in the Indian 
 Ocean, will ever be filled with a various race of peo- 
 ple, while their delicious climate, and its rich pro- 
 ductions continue to invite both conquest and com- 
 merce. The climate will, doubtless, create a certain 
 change in the aspect of all foreign nations who re* 
 move thither ; but the difference in the degree of this 
 change according to their different habits, and im- 
 provements in the social arts ; and the various com«. 
 binations of the effects of the climate with the origi- 
 nal characters of the respective people, will al ways- 
 maintain among them important and conspicuous 
 distinctions. 
 
 Along the coasts of the great peninsula of the? 
 hither India arc scattered the remains of the colonies 
 of many nations who in different ages have held 
 commercial intercourse with those fertile regions. 
 There are found the ruins of ancient and magnificent 
 structures, which demonstrate that this rich, popu- 
 lous but unwarlike country, has, in former periods, 
 suffered the most cruel and desolating ravages by 
 hostile invaders, the remnants of whose armies have, 
 probably, long since been blended with the primitive 
 inhabitants, or formed separate tribes in the midst of 
 
217 
 
 of them; all which have contributed to muhiply 
 the differences of aspect presented to us among that 
 various people. The northern portion of the hither 
 India, and the farther India down to the southern 
 extremity of the peninsula of Malacca, have often 
 been the theatre of Tartar conquests. And in the 
 mass of their population, and particularly in the phy- 
 siognomy of the Malays, we evidently discern the 
 basis of the Tartar countenance now overlaid 
 with the softer feature of the lower Asia : as the 
 countenance of the North American aboriginals is no 
 less evidently the Tartar feature rendered more 
 coarse and harsh by passing thiough colder climates, 
 and by a more- savage state of society.* 
 
 * I had not long since a striking proof of the visible rescm - 
 blance between the figure, countenance, and whole appearance 
 cf the Malay, and the American indian. Mr. Van Polancn 
 late minister from the late republic of Holland to the United 
 tes, and aftenvards holding a high office at the Cape of 
 (i cod Hope, £md in tlie island of Java, on his return from tlie 
 East, fixed his residence in Princeton. He brought with him 
 two Malay servants. As they were one day standing in his 
 door, there happened to pass by two or three Indians belonging 
 to a small tribe which still holds some Lnds within the state of 
 New-Jersey. When they approached the door the attention of 
 each party was strongly arrested by the appearance of the 
 other. They contc.r.vi- u-A r,,^^>^ another with evident marks ®f 
 
 * C 
 
218 
 
 Another variety which seems to form an excep- 
 tion from the principles hitherto laid down, but 
 which, Avhen fairly examined, will be found to con- 
 firm them, is seen in the torrid zone of Asia which 
 is not marked by so deep a colour as that of Africa ; 
 and the inhabitants have universally long, straight 
 hair instead of wool. The African zone is, almost 
 throughout its whole extent, a field of burning sand, 
 which augments the heat of the sun to ai degree that 
 can hardly be conceived of by the inhabitants of the 
 temperate latitudes. The Asiatic zone, on the other 
 hand, consists chiefly of water, which, absorbing the 
 rays of the sun, and filling the atmosphere with a 
 refrigerating vapour, renders the winds that fan its 
 numerous islands, and narrow peninsulas compara- 
 ti^'ely temperate. The principal masses of its lands 
 lie nearer to the northern tropic, than to the equa- 
 tor. In the summer season the chief winds that blow 
 
 suq)rize. And, by their signs and gestures, discovered their 
 mutual astonishment at seeing such a likeness to tlieniselves. 
 —Every person, indeed, who sees these Malays, and is ac- 
 quainted with the countenance of our native Indians, is forcibl;^ 
 struck with the resembknce. — The chief difference between 
 tlicm is, that the features of the Muluys are more soft, the 
 cheek bone not quite so much raised, and the outline of the 
 face somewnat more circular.. 
 
219 
 
 reach them after having deposited their greatest 
 heats in those vast oceans which wash their shores on 
 every side. In the winter, on the other hand, they 
 return in their annual course, from continents which 
 the sun has long deserted.* 
 
 The next apparent exception from our principles 
 we discover in Africa itself. This continent, like 
 
 * The monsoons are found to blow over the whole Asiatic 
 zone, taking tlieir course in the two pe ricds of tlie year accord- 
 ing to the relative position to tlie sun of the great bodies of land 
 which influence their direction. 
 
 In the first edition of this essay, misled by the information of 
 some n!^igutors who had visited many of the larger islijids in 
 the Indian seas, I supposed there was a race of negroes inhab* 
 iting the interior of the island of Borneo, as well as of some 
 others of those vast insular countries, bearing a considerable 
 resemblance to the negroes of Africa. More accurate infort- 
 mation has convinced me that the natives, although black, have 
 more of the Indian than tlie African feature, and like the former 
 also, tlieir hair is lank and long. The middle regions of those 
 great islands, are very elevated and mountainous ; and are, 
 consequently, more temperate than the coasts, which are now 
 almost universally inhabited by descendents of the Malay tribes, 
 who, in some former period, have conquered the level country, 
 and driven the aboriginals, who appear to be of Indian descent, 
 mto the hills, where they have become savage. ^—That they 
 were not originally savage I conclude from those remains of 
 indian magnificence, and monuments of the Hindoo supersti- 
 tion, wliich are still discernible in several of the islands, in those 
 parts, from which the aboriginals, now the savage ijihubit^.nte 
 of the mountainous tracts, hatfe been expelled. 
 
220 
 
 Europe and Asia, contains many varieties created by 
 the same causes, vicinity to the sun, elevation of the 
 land, the nature of the soil, the temperature of 
 winds, the manners of the people and the mixture of 
 nations who, at different periods and in a state more 
 or less civilized, have established themselves within 
 it, either by conquest, or for the purposes of trade. 
 But the two principal varieties of complexion which 
 prevail from the nonhcrn tropic, or a little higher, to 
 the Cape of Good- Hope, are the negro, and the 
 Caffrc. The CafFre prevails chiefly towards the 
 southern angle of the peninsula, and along th^^south- 
 eastcrn side, distinguished, however, by several va- 
 rieties of shade, occasioned by the causes which 
 have been already suggested. The negro, which is 
 the blackest colour of the human skin, prevails over 
 the greatest portion of the region between the tro.- 
 pics, but becomes of a more jetty hue 'as we ap- 
 proach the western coast. The cause of the great 
 difference between the eastern and western sides of 
 Africa will be obvious to those who consider the 
 course of the tropical winds, and ihc extreme heat 
 they must collect from the immense tract of burn- 
 ing sands which they traverse in passing over that 
 continent, in those latitudes where it spreads itself 
 
221 
 
 out to the greatest bread ih. The winds under the 
 equator, following the course of the sun, reach the 
 easttrii coast after blowing over the Arabian and In- 
 c^ian seas; where the countries of Aian, Zanguebar 
 I nd Mononiotapa, receive their breezes greatly tem- 
 pered by that vast expanse of waters. But arriving 
 at Guinea, and the neighbouring regions after hav- 
 ing traversed three thousand miles of sand heated 
 by a vertical sun, they glow with an ardor unknown 
 in any other portion of the globe. And these coun- 
 tries, lying in that part of the zone where the con- 
 tinent is widest and consequently hottest, the natives 
 are distinguished by complexion of a deeper jet, and 
 by more deformed features than those on the south- 
 ern side of the equator, on the coasts of Congo, An- 
 gola, and Loango. The intense heat which, in this 
 region, produces such a prodigious change on the 
 human constitution, equally affects the w^hole race of 
 beasts, and of vegetables. All nature bears the 
 marks of a powerful fire. As soon as the traveller 
 leaves the borders of the few rivers ^vhich flow 
 through this tract, where he sees a luxuriant vege- 
 tation, the effect of moisture combined with heat, he 
 immediately enters on a parched and naked soil 
 vhich produces little else than a few scrubby bushes. 
 
222 
 
 and dr}' and husky plants. And the whole interior, 
 as far as it has been explored, is represented to be 
 a desert of burning sand which often rolls in waves 
 before the winds. ^ The negro therefore, is not 
 changed in a greater degree, from the CafFre, the 
 Moor, or the European, than the laws of climate, 
 and the influence of manners, as they have been 
 already illustrated, might lead us to expect. 
 
 In passing above the river Senegal we enter on a 
 lighter shade of the negro colour ; after which, as we 
 advance towards the North, and before we arrive at 
 the kingdom of Morocco, we find the darkest cop- 
 per of the Moorish complexion. But all this tract is 
 filled wuth various tribes of wandering Moors and 
 Arabs, and often with a mixed breed, the offspring 
 of unions formed between these, and the native 
 blacks, among whom -the negro complexion pre- 
 dominates ; but their features bear a greater resem- 
 blance to those of the Moors, and make some ap- 
 proach to the European face. When we leave the 
 torrid zone, proceeding to tlie South, we soon ar- 
 
 * Biiffon sp(aalfs of a nation in the center of Africa, tin 
 Zuinj^cs, who, the Arabian writers say, are often almost entire- 
 ly cut off by hot winds that rise out of the surrounding deserts, 
 And in the desert, the ancient vSyrtis, the traveller is frequent^ 
 buried beneath hills of sand raised by hot whirlwinds. 
 
223 
 
 rive among the Hottentots, and approach the Caffre 
 complexion which prevails near the Cape, and along 
 the south-eastern coast. The Hottentots, however, 
 are of a deeper hue than tlie Moors in the vicinity 
 of the northern tropic ; because the Moors, being 
 more civilized, have been better able to defend 
 themselves against tlie irq^ressions of the climate. 
 But the Hottentots, being the most savage of man.- 
 kind, suffer its influence in the extreme. Another 
 circumstance contributes to the difference of the 
 effect. The Moors in the vicinity of the tropic re- 
 ceive the influence of the climate on the basis of a 
 European, or Asiatic, feature and complexion ; the 
 Hottentot on a basis formed under the equator. 
 They endeavour, likewise, by every mean in their 
 power, to preserve that primitive countenance with 
 which they must, by habit and education, have as- 
 sociated the idea of beauty. For savage, and al- 
 most brutal as they are, they have, as well as the 
 most civilized people, their peculiar notions on this 
 subject. They flatten the nose of every child by 
 pressure ; and they endeavour to increase the black* 
 ness of their complexion by rubbing the skin with 
 the most filthy unguents, and exposing it, without 
 jiny protection, to the full force of a scorching sun. 
 
224 
 
 Thtir hair, at the same time, is injured by daubing 
 it, jconstantly, with the vilest compositions. Yet, 
 against all their efforts, the climate^ although it is 
 but a few degrees declined from the torrid zone, 
 visibly prevails. Their hair is thicker and longer 
 than that of the negroes, and their complexion, as 
 they approach the southern point of the peninsula, 
 becomes of the light cast of the Caffre.* 
 
 But the phenomenon which principally merits our 
 attention in the African zone is the Abyssinian per- 
 son and complexion. We find in this Alpine re- 
 gion, and between the ninth and fifteenth degrees 
 from the equator, a race of men resembling the 
 southern Arabians, only of a darker hue, as they lie 
 nearer to the sun, but extremely dissimilar from the 
 negroes on the West coast. Their hair is long and 
 straight, their features tolerably regular, and their 
 complexion a very dark olive, approaching to black, 
 — This deviation from the general law of that zone 
 is explained, according to the principles already 
 
 * Many peculiarities have been related of these people with 
 reg-ard to their figure and appearance, by careless voyagers, 
 wliich arc either wholly false, or very greatly exaggerated. If 
 we were to trust such narrations, we should suppose them to 
 be hardly distingui>sluible from certain classes of tlie brute 
 rreation. 
 
225 
 
 laid down, from their position on the continent, in 
 the vicinity of the great Indian or Arabian ocean, 
 and from the elevated and mountainous face of the 
 country, rising at a medium, at least, two miles 
 above the level of the sea, ^ and, at this great ele- 
 vation, covered with clouds, and drenched by al- 
 most incessant deluges of rain during one half of 
 the year.f — This altitude of the general face of the 
 country in Abyssinia raises it to a region of the at- 
 mosphere which is equivalent, in its temperature, to 
 several degi*ees of northern latitude. Thus, the 
 partial civilization of the people, the elevation of the 
 face of the country, the temperature of the tropical 
 winds coming from the Arabian ocean, and the can- 
 opy of clouds, and the incessant rains which prevail 
 during that season of the year in which the sun is 
 
 * Philosophers who have visited that country iiiforrn us that 
 the mercury in the barometer does not rise there, on an aver.'* 
 age, more than twenty inches, which corresponds to the alti- 
 tude of about two miles above the level of the sea. 
 
 t The periodical rains in Abyssinia arc now known to be tie 
 cause of the overflowing of the Nile. And as the extent of this 
 deluge demonstrates the prodigious quantities of rain which 
 fall in that mountainous region during five or six months in tl c 
 year, so tlie length of the river issuing from those mountaiius, 
 a-ffords a new proof of their great elevation. 
 
 D D 
 
226 
 
 vertical, afford an adequate cause of that deviation 
 which we find in tliis region from the ordinary com- 
 plexion and form of the human person, presented in 
 other parts of the African zone.* 
 
 * After these descriptions of the varieties of feature and 
 complexion which exist under the same latitude, and tlie rea- 
 sons, I trust satisfcictory to the philosophic reader, assigned 
 for them in the essay, it is surprizing to see tliese very varie- 
 ties enumerated, by the Critical Reviewers, as objections to 
 the principles of the essay, as if no explanation of them had been 
 given, or attempted.—" If we examine the globe, say they, we 
 shull find a very considerable diversity in countries where the 
 heat and dryness are nearly the same. Let us take the 20th de- 
 gree of latitude which is within tlie Tropic of Cancer, and pas- 
 ses directly through the kingdom of the negroes. It cuts Nu- 
 bia wh«re the inhabitants are not black.'* — I say the inhabitanta 
 of Nubia are not so black as those on the western coast between 
 the rivers Gambia and Senegal ; but when they say that they 
 are not black, or that Nubia is as hot as the West coast, 
 they have either been badly informed, or are greatly biased by 
 their system.— .They proceed, " it cuts Arabia almost in its 
 widest part ; but the Arabians are only swarthy, and when 
 transported to more temperate climes, are almost fair." — On 
 the other hand, the widest part of Arabia lies above the tropic, 
 and there alone we find the swarthy Arab to whom their re- 
 marks can apply. And though the southern Arab is not so 
 black as the negro, sirfficient reasons, I presume, hi*ve been 
 assigned in the essay, for this difference in the comparative 
 temperature of the Arabian peninsula. — " It divides, say they, 
 the Decan where those best defended from the heat are only 
 brown, and the poorer sort are of a darkish hue very diff*erent 
 from black." — How much the prepossession of system ha* 
 
227 
 
 It now remains only to account for that peculiar 
 variety of complexion and countenance exhibited by 
 the savage natives of America. Their complexion 
 is not so fair as that of Europe or of Middle Asia ; 
 nor so black as that of Africa. And there is a 
 greater uniformity of countenance throughout this 
 whole continent than is found in any other region of 
 the globe of equal extent. 
 
 That the natives of America arc not fair results as 
 SL natural consequence from the principles already 
 established in this essay. Savages will always be 
 discoloured, even in temperate climates, by different 
 shades of the tawny complexion. And if we do not 
 
 diluted their colours ! — But surely after this, they need not 
 complain, as they have done, of the inaccuracy of terms by 
 which the grades of complexion are distinguished in the essay. 
 —-They have, at lettst, implicitly acknowledged the great effect 
 upon the human skin which may result from the state of society 
 in which men are placed, combined with the influence of cli- 
 mate. But, if tliese gentlemen would pi.tiently advert to the 
 comparative mildness of the Indian zone, to the greict mixture 
 of northern nations, which time has brought togctiier, especi*" 
 ally in upper India, and ti^e vicinity of the twenticUi degree of 
 latitude to the temperate climates, they would fii.d little occa- 
 sion for their remarks. — They observe further, "that ilia 
 parallel passes over the kingdom of Mexico and the south- 
 western end of Cuba.*'— The insinuation in>plicd rather tban 
 expressed in this observution \till be answered immcOiuiely 
 when I come to speak ol the climate of tropical America, 
 
228- 
 
 find any tribes resembling some of the nations of 
 Africa in the deep jet of their colour, it proceeds 
 from the mild temperature of the tropical zone in 
 America. Mexico, which forms the northern por- 
 tion of that zone, consists chiefly of a narrow neck 
 of land dividing the Atlantic from the Pacific ocean, 
 and every where rising into high hills. As yoii 
 procet d to the South immediately below the isthmus 
 of Darien, Terra Firma, on one side, presents an 
 Alpine bed of lofty mountains. On the other side 
 runs the chain of the Andes, with its elevated sum- 
 mits covered with snow. On the West of these lies 
 tlie narrow empire of Peru, constantly refreshed by 
 temperate winds from the Pacific ocean, and over- 
 shadowed by a canopy of dense vapour which pre- 
 vents the rays of the sun penetrating with great force 
 to the earth. On the East is spread out the im-. 
 mensc country of Amazonia flooded during a great 
 portion of tlie year by the waters of the Maragnon, 
 and its tributary rivers, and covered with thick and 
 d;irk forests, beneath which grows a luxuriant tissue 
 of vines and weeds which can hardly be penetrated 
 by the traveller, and utterly excludes the sun. Here 
 are no arid deserts of sand ; and from such a rich 
 vegetable growth arises a refrigerating perspiration 
 
229 
 
 1^-hich, together with the vapour of so many streams, 
 united with the effluvia of the moist and shaded 
 earth that cannot be wholly absorbed even by the 
 thick vegetation on its surface, produces an uncom- 
 mon coolness in the atmosphere.* This moderate 
 temperature is increased by the East wind which 
 perpetually follows the course of the sun through the 
 equatorial regions. Having deposited in the Atlantic 
 ocean the excessive heats acquired in its passage 
 across the continent of Africa it regains a tempera- 
 ture comparatively mild before it arrives at the 
 American coast ; whence it continues its course over 
 thick forests and flooded lands, till it meets the cold 
 ranges of the Andes. The lofty and spreading for- 
 ests of tropical America are at once a proof of the 
 temperature of the atmosphere, and contribute to 
 
 * Dr. Robertson quotes two eminent naturalists, Piso and 
 MargraveY who had resided long in Brazil, who represent the 
 climate as being verij temjierate and mild comfiared with that of 
 Africa. The air^ they say, is not only cool^ but chilly through 
 the nighty insomuch that the natives kindle fires every even- 
 ing in their huts. This is confirmed by different writers con- 
 cerning various cpuntries within that vast region, viz. Neuhoff 
 concei-ning Brazil ; Gumilla concerning the countries on the 
 Oronoco ; Acugna concerning those along the Amazon ; and 
 Bict in his voyage de la France Equinox, gives a similar ac-^ 
 
 unt Qf Cayenne. — Hist, Amer.. Note 5th, vol. 2d. 
 
230 
 
 promote it. Extreme heat parches the unprotected 
 soil of Africa, and converts it into an arid sand. 
 The luxuriant vegetation which prevails in the tro- 
 pical latitudes of America is the fruit of a moist 
 earth, and a temperate sky. And the natives, in- 
 habiting perpetual shade, and respiring in the refrig- 
 erating and grateful effluvia of a fresh and rich 
 growth of vegetables, enjoy a moderate climate in the 
 midst of the torrid zone. 
 
 These facts tend to shew that, as far as heat is 
 concerned in the effect, the complexion of the Ame- 
 rican, must be much lighter than that of the Afri- 
 can, or even of the Asiatic zone : and the mildness 
 of temperature which prevails over such a vast ex- 
 tent of country contributes, in no inconsiderable 
 degree, to that uniformity of countenance which is 
 thought to be peculiar to the aboriginal tribes of 
 America, but which is the result chiefly of that uni- 
 form state of society in which they almost all exist. 
 Except the Peruvians, and Mexicans, and a few 
 smaller tribes in the southern continent, the whole 
 are sunk nearly to tlie same condition of savagism. 
 Destitute of tliat variety of ideas and emotions which 
 give variety of expression to the human counte- 
 nance, the same vacancy of aspect is spread over 
 
231 
 
 all ; and the same set and composition, nearly, \s 
 given to the features. When to this common re- 
 semblance, created by their state of society, and 
 similar habits of living, we add that the general com- 
 plexion of tropical America is but a few shades 
 darker than that which is the natural result of savage 
 life even in temperate climates, we probably per- 
 ceive the true causes of the apparent unifornnty of the 
 American countenance. There is, however, a visi- 
 ble increase of the dark hue as we proceed towards 
 the circle of the equator, which is also the widest 
 part of the southern continent. And here, there arc 
 many tribes of the natives stained with as deep a 
 colour as the inhabitants of the southern extremity 
 of the Indian peninsula. The Mexicans and Peru- 
 vians, and a few small nations in their vicinity, 
 among whom we discern the first imperfect elements 
 of civilized life, although preserving the general out- 
 line of the American countenance, have a softness 
 thrown over it which distinguishes it from that of the 
 northern savages. Their features are more regular, 
 and hiindsomely turned ; and they appear to bear a 
 nearer resemblance to the inhabitants of many of the 
 islands of the great South Sea, from whom, it is 
 probable, they derive their origin. The Malays^, 
 
232 
 
 who were originally Tartars, having, at some re- 
 mote period, taken possession of the farther India, 
 afterwards spread themselves over the greater part of 
 the islands of that vast ocean, conquering, and driv- 
 ing to the mountains in the interior of some, and in 
 others, reducing to slavery, or extirpating, the 
 primitive inhabitants. Not being addicted to com- 
 merce, these insular colonies, have not long main- 
 tained any intercourse with the parent country, 
 and have therefore retained the knowledge of only a 
 few of the arts with which their ancestors were ac- 
 quainted ^' But with these few they have probably 
 advanced from island to island till, at length, they 
 reached the western shore of the American conti- 
 
 * That either the ancestors of the present inhabitants of 
 many of those islands, or the nations whom they have extirpat- 
 ed, possessed the knowledge of arts which are now lost from 
 among them, is evident from the monuments of architecture 
 and sculpture which still remain. Several monuments of an- 
 cient art are found even in the small island of Easter which is so 
 deeply embosomed in the ocean, and approaches so near to the 
 American continent, which are beyond the skill or power of its 
 present inhabitants to effect. The resembkmce of the works 
 which are found in Java, and some neighboring islands, to those 
 of Elcphantaand Salsette, demonstrate tlie relation of those an- 
 cient people to the nation^ of India. While the religious wor- 
 ship of the Peruvians bears a strong testimony to their Asiktic 
 oriein. 
 
233 
 
 nent. Here they seem to have laid the foundations 
 of those empires which the Euro^^ans, on their 
 arrival in America, found as yet only in the first 
 stage of civilized society. Their earliest estab- 
 lishments were evidently made in Peru. After- 
 wards Mexico appears to have been founded about 
 three centuries before the discovery. From this 
 empire a few tribes probably found their way farther 
 up into the continent, to the North of the Mexican 
 gulph.^ But here they were met by ruder and fier- 
 cer tribes whose ancestors had come from Asia by a 
 different route. But whether leaving Asia, and en- 
 tering America by the North, or by the South, the 
 remote ancestry of both appear to have originated 
 nearly from the same regions. And in all the Ame- 
 rican indians we discover visible traits of the Tartar 
 countenance. 
 
 The last apparent exception to the general princi- 
 ples of the essay which 1 think it necessary to notice 
 is found in the islands of the Indian and P.icilic 
 oceans. In these seas people have been discovered 
 
 * Such were probably the Natchez, several of whose cus- 
 toms resembled those of the Peruvians. And generally, the 
 tribes in tliat vicinity between the Mississippi and Mexico 
 were of a milder character than the northern indians. 
 
 K F. 
 
234 
 
 in islands existing in the vicinity oi' one another, and 
 often in the same island, of various complexions. 
 The chief of them I shall present to the reader as they 
 have been described by some of the most accurate 
 observers, and eminent naturalists who accompanied 
 the celebrated Captain Cook. The inhabitants of 
 Otaheitee are divided into two classes. — The Tow- 
 foivs, or servile class, who are occupied in such la- 
 bors as the simple condition of the people requires : 
 and the Arecs, who may be regarded as the proprie- 
 tors of the soil, and who are exempted from every 
 laborious occupation ; spending their lives amidst 
 such pleasures aiul amusements as the climate per- 
 mits, and their uncultivated state of society affords. 
 The former, besides the burdensome tasks which 
 they are obliged daily to perform, are reduced to a 
 much more scanty provision of food than their mas- 
 ters, and are exposed, without clothing, to the full 
 impression of the sun. These, though not stain- 
 ed with the deep jet of the torrid regions of Africa, 
 are of a much blacker hue, than the superior class 
 of the Arces, who are exposed to no hardships, arc 
 always well clothed,* and enjoy not only a sufii- 
 
 * In a handsome and light cloth the peculiar fabric of tho^c 
 islands. 
 
:235 
 
 ^iency, but abundance of simple, indeed, but nutri- 
 tious food.* The Arees arc represented to be, in 
 general, a people of good stature, fine figure, pleas- 
 ing features, and proportions of person, and of a 
 complexion so light, in the women especially, as to 
 render the stain of blushing easily perceptible. f 
 
 Passing on to the north-east, about the region of 
 the tropic, we come to the Marquesas isles, in 
 which the women, who are clothed like the Otahei- 
 teans, exhibit the same general appearance ; but the 
 men, who universally go naked, are of a darker hue. 
 Their food is neither so nutritious, nor so abundant 
 as tliat of the inhabitants of Otaheitee : and a less 
 fertile soil has imposed upon them a general neces- 
 sity of labor. Hence, besides the greater discol- 
 ouration of their skin, they are seldom so corpulent 
 
 * Bread fruit, apples, cOcoa-nuts, yams, eddoes, and other 
 excellent fruits and roots which grow in great profusion al- 
 most without culture in their mild climate, and fertile soil. 
 Add to these, poultry, and hogs of a very sweet and succulent 
 flesh, and dogs which arc tlicrekept only for the purpose of food. 
 
 t The principal defects of their countenance are said to be a 
 little bluntness of the nose, a small protuberance of the lips, di- 
 latation of the middle of the face, and a gentle swell or plump- 
 ness of its features in general ; which, however, in this simph- 
 people, appears agreeable. 
 
236 
 as the Otalieitcaiis, though commonly of a more 
 muscular form. And these effects are supposed, by 
 the .naturalists uhom I have before mentioned, tobi 
 iucreased by the position of their habitations, which 
 are nevtr placed like those of the Otaheiteans, on 
 beautiful and fertile plains, but generally on the 
 iblopcs, and often on the summits of very high hills ; 
 so that whenever they move abroad, they are neces- 
 sarily in a state of strenuous exertion. 
 
 From the inhabitants of the Marquesas, the peo- 
 ple of the Friendly Isles, who, from choice, or from 
 necessitv, are addicted to the same habits of Indus- 
 try and exertion, do not differ much either in com- 
 plexion or in figure. 
 
 But far to the East, and nearly at an equal dis- 
 tance from the Society Isles, and the American con- 
 tiiient, we discover the small, and thinly inhabited 
 island of Easter. The natives of this remote and 
 solitary spot are subjected to greater hardships than 
 those of the islands which have just been mentioned ; 
 and living in a still ruder state of society, are repre- 
 sented as being more slender in their persons, and 
 more dark and coppery in their complexion, not 
 unlike the Peruvians of the neighboring continent. 
 Several relics of ancient art, liowever, bearing a 
 
237 
 
 striking resemblance to the remaining monuments 
 of ancient indian architecture and superstition, de- 
 monstrate that this island has once been possessed by 
 a people who had made greater advances in the pro- 
 g^ress towards civilization than the present inhabitants. 
 Within the same latitudes, and not remote from 
 the Society, and Friendly Isles lies the group of the 
 New Hebrides. Of these several are inhabited by 
 a people more savage than the former. Their inhab- 
 itants, especially those of Mallicollo, of New Cale- 
 donia and Tanna, are distinguished by a sooty com- 
 plexion. Their hair, though not so short, and 
 closely napped as that of the Africans, is frizzled 
 and woolly. And in their whole appearance, they 
 bear some analogy to the miserable inhabitants of 
 the neighboring region of New Holland ; except 
 that their slender persons are better turned, and 
 they possess much greater vivacity of disposition. 
 The natives of Papua, and New Guinea exhibit 
 nearly the same colour of the skin, and the same 
 form of the hair. But in all the large islands near 
 the Indian continent there are very distinctly marked 
 two races of men ; — one inhabiting the mountainous 
 countries every where occupying the interior of 
 those islands ; the other possessing the low and level 
 
238 
 
 lands near the sea coast. The former exhibit many 
 points of resemblance with the Hindoo tiibes : the 
 latter are evidently of Malayan original. 
 
 Thus I have presented to the reader the three 
 principal varieties of men which are found in the 
 Indian and Pacific oceans, — the blacks of New Hol- 
 land, New Guinea, the New Hebrides, and Papua; — 
 a people of dark olive colour, inhabiting the moun- 
 tainous interior of the large islands ; — and those who 
 possess the low and level countries in the same 
 islands, who also occupy tiie greater part of the 
 groupes of smaller islands scattered through those 
 seas, all of whom exhibit different shades of the 
 tawny complexion. — Of these, the first are probably 
 descendents of that original stock who w^ere formed 
 by the climate, while they were yet in their most 
 rude and savage condition. The second have all 
 the appearance of being the remnants of Hindoo co- 
 lonies who had established themselves in those isles 
 in some remote period when the Indian empire 
 was in a much more flourishing condition than at 
 present. But expelled at length from the sea coast 
 by Malayan conquerors, who form the third race, 
 they have retired to the mountains, and there 
 become savage. These conquerors, in a distant 
 
239 
 
 age, issuing from the North of Asia, having 
 subdued the farther India, at length spread them- 
 selves over almost all the islands in those extensive 
 seas.^ 
 
 If it be asked, why have not these several varieties 
 been long since melted down into one uniform coun- 
 tenance by the operation of the climate which is sup- 
 posed to possess such a powerful influence over the 
 human constitution ? — It is well understood by nat- 
 uralists tliat various races capable of propagating 
 their kind, may be formed out of the same original 
 stock of animals, or of plants, and that, by proper 
 culture and care, they may forever be preserved 
 
 * This is an inference justified not only by the general re- 
 seniblaTice of all these people to one another, but by the evi- 
 dent vestiges of the same language, which those, wh© are best, 
 acquainted with them, discern in the vocabularies of all those- 
 islands. 
 
 Traces of this language are perceived spys Reland, [dissert 
 tationes miscellanex, vol. iii.] not only in the tongues spoken 
 in these numerous isles, but in those used by the continental 
 nations inhabiting the middle of Asia, as the Persic, the Mala- 
 baric, and even the Braminic. And the common origin of so 
 many different dialects is most obvious in their vocabularies of 
 names which express the most common, familiar, and useful 
 objects, and such as must have been known, and even necesr 
 sary, equally to them, and to their ancestors, in every stage ot 
 their improveraen't. 
 
240 
 
 distinct. In forming the different races of men^ 
 other causes are combined not less powerful than 
 climate. Manners, education, habits of living, and 
 all those causes comprehended under the general 
 
 * Blumenbach attempts to throw the different races of men 
 into five principal divisions, viz. the Caucasia?! or handsomest 
 race, the primary seat of which was about the Euxine and Cas- 
 pian seas, and the countries somewhat to the Soutli, from 
 whom came the Europeans. Second, the Mongou^ or people 
 inhabiting the North-East of Asia, with their descendents to the 
 East, of that continent. Third, the Jfrican. Fourth, the 
 American. And fifth the Malayan^ occupying the Soulh-East 
 of Asia, and a great part of the isles in the Indian and great 
 South seas. 
 
 Leibnitz, ranks them under four orders : — the Laponian, 
 the Ethiopic ; the eastern Mongou, comprehending the peo- 
 ple of Asia ; and the western Mongou, embracing those of 
 Europe. 
 
 Linnseus likewise divides them into four : — the red Ameri- 
 can ; the white European ; the dark coloured Asiatic ; and the 
 black Ethiopian. 
 
 Buffon arranges them in six ; — the Laponian in tlic North of 
 Europe and Asia ; the Tartar in the Nortli-East of Asia ; the 
 southern Asiatic ; the European; the Ethiopian, and the Ame- 
 rican. 
 
 Various other divisions have been made by different wri- 
 ters ; as, the Abbe de la Croix; Kant; Dr. John Hunter; Zim- 
 merman, and others. — The conclusion to be drawn from all this 
 variety of opinions is, perhaps, that it is impossible to draw 
 the line precisely between the various races of men, or even 
 to enumerate them with certainty ; and that it is in itself a use- 
 less labor to attempt it. 
 
241 
 
 head o^the state of society, have a powerful operation 
 in preserving, and augmenting, or in guarding 
 against the impressions of climate, and in modifying 
 the whole appearance of the human person and 
 countenance. And after the characters of a race 
 have once been completely formed, and thoroughly- 
 incorporated into the system, they may, by the in- 
 fluence of the same moraj causes, and the application 
 of the same arts which contributed to create them, 
 be, in their principal features, perpetuated in the most 
 various climates. Nations, sprung from the same 
 original stock, may be traced, by many points of 
 resemblance, through diiFerent climates ; and dific r- 
 ent races may long preserve their peculiar, and most 
 discriminating properties in the same climate ; espe- 
 cially if, like the inhabitants of these islands, their 
 customs, their prejudices, or antipathies prevent them 
 from amalgamating, and confounding their stocks, — 
 Hence the resemblances and differences which exist 
 among the various people of the numerous islands 
 of the great South Sea, the Indian, and Pacific 
 oceans. And hence that mixture of races extend- 
 ed along the Senegal in Africa, and scattered 
 through the ^^Srmediate space between that river 
 and the Gambia, where we meet with negroes, 
 
 F V 
 
242 
 
 Moors, and Arabs, and often with a race mixed 
 and compounded of all the others.* 
 
 Having now concluded the investigation which I 
 proposed into the causes of the principal varieties 
 in complexion and figure which distinguish the dif- 
 ferent nations of men from one another, it gives me 
 pleasure to observe on this, as on many other sub- 
 
 * This region secins to form the general houndary between 
 the Moorish and Arab, or dusky and yellow population in the 
 northern portion of Africa, and the negro, or black population 
 in the center. It is a broad belt wliich borders the African 
 zone from the tweiftli or thirteenth degree of latitude to the 
 tropic, and extending from the Atlantic ocean, to the mountains 
 of Abyssinia — Mr. Park appears to regard the Foulah tribes, 
 who are lighter in their complexion than other negroes, with 
 softer and longer hair, as related by mixture to the Arabs, 
 whom they resemble in their attachment to a pastoral life. 
 Those wandering and predatoiy tribes which are called by tl»e 
 general denomination of Moors, who surround and penetrate 
 the great desert, and have dispersed themselves in various 
 hordes as far as the Niger, are, not improbably, the remains 
 of several civilized nations of antiquity, Cartliaginians, Phoe- 
 nicians, Romans who at different periods possessed the North 
 of Africa, blended with the Numidians and Mauri tanians, and 
 reduced almost to sava^ism by being scattered through the in- 
 hospitable deserts of that arid and ungenial country. 
 
 This is the circle which the Critical Reviewers have dexter- 
 ously selected for exan pies of diversity of complexion within 
 ihe tropical latitudes in order te impugn the principles of this 
 essay while they have not hud the candor to notice, as philoso- 
 phers, the solution which is given of this phenomenon. 
 
243 
 
 jects which have been attempted to be formed into 
 objections against the sacred history, that the most 
 extensive and accurate researches into the actual 
 state, and the powers of nature, have ever served, 
 more and more to confirm the flicts vouched to us 
 by the authority of holy writ. A just philosophy 
 will always be found coincident with the true theol- 
 ogy. But I must repeat here an observation which 
 I made in the beginning of this essay, and which I 
 trust I am now entitled to make with more confi- 
 dence, that the denial of the unity of the human spe^ 
 cies tends to impair, if not entirely to destroy, the 
 foundations of duty and morals, and, in a word, of 
 the whole science of human nature. No general 
 principles of conduct, or religion, or even of civil 
 policy, could be derived from natures originally and 
 essentially different from one another, and, after- 
 wards, in the perpetual changes of the world, infin- 
 itely mixed and compounded. The principles and 
 rules which a philosopher might derive from the 
 study of his own nature, could not be applied with 
 certainty to regulate the conduct of other men, and 
 other nations, who might be of totally different spe- 
 cies ; or sprung from a very dissimilar composition 
 of species. The terms which one man would frame 
 
244 
 
 to express the ideas and emotions of his own mind 
 must convey to another a meaning as different as the 
 organization of their respective natures. But when 
 the whole human race is known to compose only- 
 one species, this confusion and uncertainty is remov- 
 ed, and the science of human nature, in all its rela- 
 tions, becomes susceptible of system. The principles 
 of morals rest on sure and immutable foundations. 
 —Its unity I have endeavoured to confirm by ex- 
 plaining the causes of its variety. Of these, the first 
 1 have shewn to be climate, by which is meant, not 
 so much the latitude of a country from the equator, 
 as the degree of heat or cold, which often depends 
 on a j>Teat variety of other circumstances. The next 
 is the state of society y which may augment or cor- 
 rect the influence of climate, and is itself a separate 
 and independent cause of many conspicuous dis- 
 tinctions among mankind. These causes may be in- 
 finitely varied in degree ; and their eifccts may like- 
 wise be diversified by various combinations. And, 
 in the continual migrations of mankind, these effects 
 may be still further modified, by changes which have 
 antecedently taken place in a prior climate, and a 
 prior state of society. Even where all external cir- 
 cumstances seem to be the same, there may be 
 
245 
 
 causes of difterence depending on many natural in- 
 fluences with which philosophy is not yet acquaint- 
 ed ; as there are varieties among the children of the 
 same family. Frequently we see, in the same coun- 
 try individuals resembling every nation on the 
 globe. Such varieties prove, at least, that the hu- 
 man constitution is susceptible of all the modifica- 
 tions which exist among mankind, without having 
 recourse, in order to account for them, to the un- 
 necessary, and therefore unphilosophical hypothesis 
 of there having existed from the beginning, different 
 original species of men. It is not more astonishing 
 in itself, or out of the order of nature, that nations 
 sprung from the same stock, than that individuals 
 should differ. In the one case we are assured of 
 the fact from observation ; in the other, we have 
 reason to conclude, independently on the sacred au- 
 thority of revelation, that from one pair have de- 
 scended all the families of the earth. 
 
s 
 
 ON- 
 CERTAIN STRICTURES MADE ON THE FIRST 
 EDITION OF THIS ESSAY, 
 
 BY MR. CHARLES WHITE, 
 
 In a series of Discourses delivered to the Literary and 
 Philosophical Society of Manchester in England, 
 
 Publishid in London^ in quarto, 
 in they tar 1799. 
 
REMARKS, 
 
 JWlR. Charles White having, in a series of dis- 
 courses delivered to the literary and philosophical 
 society of Manchester in England, made several 
 strictures on the first edition of this essay, and ap- 
 pealed to certain anatomical facts which he supposes 
 to stand in opposition to its principles, I have con- 
 ceived it to be a duty which I owe to myself, and a 
 respect due to the ingenuity of Mr. White, to point 
 out some mistakes in his facts, and some errors in 
 the conclusions which he has drawn from them. The 
 facts subjected to his own inspection were derived 
 principally from an examination of a single African 
 skeleton, though afterwards confirmed by other skel- 
 etons, and by some living subjects. And I readily 
 admit that the picture which he has presented to us 
 exhibits with sufficient accuracy a general image of 
 that miserable and degraded class of Africans who 
 are introduced as slaves into the islands of the 
 West-Indies, or the United States of America, most 
 
250 
 of whom had before been slaves, or were taken from 
 the poorest and most abject class of the population 
 in their own country.* If their characteristic physi* 
 ognomy may, in part, be ascribed to the influence of 
 the climate, much certainly ought to be imputed to 
 their miserable habits of living. For it is evident to 
 every eye capable of comparing an American, with 
 an African negro, that the change of climate, and of 
 their manner of subsistence, has already produced 
 in the posterity of the Africans, all the alteration in 
 their appearance which, in so short a period of time, 
 
 * We find from Mr. Park's examination of the region 
 lying between the Senegal, the Niger, and tlie Gambia, 
 tiiat more than three fourths of the African population 
 consist of the servile class, in a country in which the freest 
 appear to be in a condition sufficiently wretched. From this 
 servile class almost all the slaves imported into America arc 
 takeni Now and then, however, we find one who has been 
 decoyed, or borne off by force from among those who belong 
 to the. superior grades of their society. When this is the case, 
 he is commonly distinguished by a more erect person, and 
 more open countenance than his companions, with less of what 
 is called the African peculiarity of feature. A proof tliat the 
 most disgusting qualities of die African countenance result 
 from the abject state of poverty and subjection m which their 
 slaves, and the lowest classes of their population exist. Thi« 
 conclusion is confimied by tlic amelioration which their features 
 are undergoing in the United States, especially in the families 
 «f wealthy and humane masters. 
 
251 
 
 could justly be expected, allowing to the principles 
 maintained in the precceding essay their full and 
 necessar}'^ operation. I do not hesitate to apply this 
 remark to the American slaves, in general ; but it is 
 applicable especially to the domestic slaves of opu- 
 lent families in the southern states, and the free 
 blacKS who are found in considerble nunibjrs in the 
 northern portion of the Union. The most op- 
 pressed and destitute of these slaves, with very few 
 exceptions, are better fed, clothed, and lodged, than 
 their ancestors were in Africa,* But there is a visi- 
 
 * Very exaggerated descriptions are often given of the 
 severities practised, and the deprivations imposed, on the shives 
 in the southern states. I have visited all those states, and rcr 
 sided sevei^al years in Virginia without ever having been the 
 owner of a slave in any of thenij and it gives me pleusure to be 
 able to say that, except in a very few instances, I have general- 
 ly witnessed a humane treatment exercised tov/ards that de- 
 pendent and humiliated race of men. If it be asked, why, then, 
 are they not emancipated ? The answer to this question involves 
 political considerations which it docs not belong to me at pre- 
 sent to discuss. But 1 believe the public Bcifety necessarily pre- 
 vents a speedy accomplishment of an event so desirable to hu- 
 manity. 
 
 But in justice to the southern planters I must add that their 
 treatment of their slaves is not to be estimated by what too fre- 
 quently takes place in tlie British West-Indian colonies. Sev- 
 eral circumstances unnecessaiy, or improper to be mentioned 
 here, contribute to the severity of the slavery that exists in 
 those ishinds. 
 
252 
 
 ble difference, as I have formerly remarked, in the 
 appearance, as there is in the treatment of those do-' 
 mestics who are nourished in tlie families, and pursue 
 their light occupation almost constantly in the pre- 
 sence of their mistresses pr masters, and the slaves 
 who are sent to labor in the fields under the inspec- 
 tion of an overseer. The latter are obliged to be 
 subjected to a severer discipline, and to subsist on a 
 coarser and more scanty fare, and they are more 
 negligently attended during the period of infancy. 
 Gtnt-rally, however, even these enjoy considerable 
 privileges which the prudent and industrious among 
 them improve to the amelioration of their condition, 
 and to add, in no small degree, to the comfort of 
 their subsistence. Hence the American negro is 
 visibly losing the most uncouth peculiarities of the 
 African person, and physiognomy. 
 
 Having made these preliminary observations I pro» 
 ceed to enter into a more particular consideration of 
 those distinguishing properties which, according to 
 our author, discriminate the negro of Africa from 
 the fair native of Europe.* 
 
 * The following facts and reasonings may be applied also to 
 estimate at their just value those detached observations quoted 
 in Mr. White's appendix from professor Soemmering*s essay 
 on tlie comparutivc anutomy of the negro and European- 
 
253 
 
 '' The foot of the negro, says he, is much longer, 
 broader, and flatter than that of the European. The 
 OS calcis, instead of forming an arch with the tarsal 
 bones, makes with them nearly a straight horizontal 
 line." — Taking the second of these observations out 
 of the technical language in which it is expressed, 
 it is simply, that the heel extends much fiirther 
 back in the black than in the white man. — This is 
 surely a very equivocal criterion of a distinct spe- 
 cies. We see in our own climate, the laboring 
 poor who are occupied in the cultivation of the 
 ground, and who generally pass the summer season 
 without shoes, or with very loose ones, have their feet 
 much longer and broader than persons in the more 
 polislied circles of society, who have them always 
 confined by tight shoes. When the foot is left en- 
 tirely unconfined to bear the constant pressure of the 
 weight of the body, it will necessarily be much dilat- 
 ed and extended in every direction. On the con- 
 trary, many of those slaves who are raised in genteel 
 families, and kept near the persons of their masters 
 and mistresses, and dressed like their superiors, ex- 
 hibit comparatively little difference in this limb from 
 the Anglo-Americans. I have now before me a 
 young black woman, the property of a female rela- 
 
254 
 
 tion who lias a heel as well formed as that of the fair- 
 est lady. 
 
 The author proceeds to say, — " The skull is nar- 
 rower, both before and behind, in the negro ; and 
 the head is so placed upon the neck that the back 
 part of it makes a much more obtuse angle with the 
 spire, than in the white European." He adds — 
 ** The depth of the lower jaw, between the teeth and 
 the chin is less, that of the upper, between the nose 
 and the teeth greater ; the channel of sound in the ear 
 placed farther back ; the foreteeth are larger, and 
 not placed so perpendicularly in their sockets, pro- 
 jecting more at their points. The bones of the nose 
 are less projected ; the chin, instead of being pro- 
 jected, recedes ; the meatus aitditorius is wider, 
 and the bony sockets which contain the eyes more 
 capacious ; the bones of the leg and thigh more gib- 
 bous, and the fore arm longer than in the white 
 man." — Such is the picture which Mr. White has 
 drawn of the negro skeleton : and taking for the 
 original the greater part of those miserable people 
 who are brought as slaves from the continent of 
 Africa, the portrait is sufficiently accurate. But is 
 it more surprizing, or difficult to be accounted for, 
 that the form of the skeleton, than that the muscles, 
 
255 
 
 tlie complexion or the expression of the counte* 
 nance, should be affected, as I have already shewn 
 that they may, by the climate, the liabits of life, and 
 the state of society in which any people exist. But 
 I repeat, and I repeat it with the most perfect con- 
 fidence, because the fact is open to the observation of 
 every American, that, in the United States, the phy* 
 siognomy, and the whole figure and personal ap-^ 
 pearance of the African race is undergoing a favor-. 
 able change.* Among the males you frequently 
 
 * I have before assigned reasons why a change in the com- 
 plexion is less speedily to be expected in tlie blacks or any dis- 
 coloured people, than in their features, and persons. Some 
 annotator on the edition of Rees* Cyclopaedia now publishing in 
 Philadelphia by Bradford, and others, has been pleased to as- 
 sert tliat I have maintained that the black complexion of the 
 American negroes is growing sensibly lighter. Whatever 
 may be tlie fact, I have, certainly, made no such assertion ; 
 but on the other hand, have assigned reasons why no very sen- 
 sible effect of this kind should yet be expected. But, that 
 time will efface the black complexion in them I think very- 
 probable, as it has done in the colony which, according to the 
 testimony of Herodotus, was anciently transferred from Egypt 
 to Colchis. — It discovers no small impropriety, but ccrtainlj-* 
 not much philosophy, to pretend, in this manner, to remark 
 on a work which citlier the writer has not read, or has read but 
 very superficially. But one does not know which most to 
 wonder at, his petulance, oP his ignorance in the followiiig re- 
 mark. " The question respecting the mutability of the com 
 
256 
 
 meet with men of straight, active, and vigorous 
 persons, who present to you foreheads as open, full, 
 and finely arched as the whites. And among the 
 females it is not uncommon to meet with good fea- 
 tures, and a pleasing expression of countenance. 
 And if we consider beauty of form in the mixed 
 race as of any account in this question, there are 
 not perhaps in the world persons of finer figure and 
 proportions than are found among the mulattos of 
 St. Domingo or Jamaica. — The nose of the American 
 negro, though not yet so much raised as that of the 
 whites, is, in general, far from being so much de- 
 pressed as that of the natives of Africa. The teeth 
 of that race are almost universally beautiful ; and, in 
 
 plexion of man, is a philosophical one. And it is remarkable 
 that the doctrine of entire mutability on this subject," a strange 
 expression for a critical annotator, " is, and always has been 
 advocated, by men much more distinguished for their piety, 
 and christian zeal, than for their knowledge of nature.'* — What 
 then ! docs a little smattering of Cheinistry and Medicine, cre- 
 ate a philosopher ? Were Bacon and BufTon, and Biumen- 
 bach, and Camper, and a thousand others among the most 
 eminent naturalists, more distingmahcdf'jr tin ir clirisnan zeal^ 
 than for their knowledge of nature ? Or has the young man^ 
 in his zeal to throw out a malignant reflection against religion, 
 forgotten these r^c/ philosophers ?— -If he has a spark remain- 
 ing of that ingenuousness wiiich becomes a philosopher, or a 
 scholar, he will be ashamed of this -fiiSnotation. 
 
 
257 
 
 the cases which I have already indicated, and 
 which should be preserved in mind in all these re- 
 marks, where their servitude has been mild, through 
 several races, they are found not to project more at 
 the points than those of the handsomest Europeans. 
 In proportion as the feature of the nose rises, the 
 lips are becoming less protuberant. And the dis- 
 tance from the bottom of the nose to the aperture of 
 the lips, and thence to the middle of the chin, dif- 
 fers little, in many of them, from the proportions 
 that are seen among the whites.* How far the gib- 
 bousness of the legs and thighs, which is so com- 
 mon to the natives of Africa, is to be ascribed 
 to climate, I will not venture to pronounce : but I 
 am inclined rather to attribute it to neglect of their 
 children during the period of infancy, f The cli- 
 
 * See the proportions taken from young blacks, p. 26 1 — 263.. 
 
 t From the same cause many crooked and deformed perJ 
 sons are seen in most of thc'gveat manufacturmg towns in Eng/» 
 land ; and indeed wherever the necessities of the poor pres^ 
 upon them so constantly that tliey have not leisure to pay those 
 attentions to th r children which are requisite to improve the 
 beauty of their form, or even to preserve them fi om many 
 hurtiul accidents. From a directly opposite cause, the facility 
 with which the poor procure subsistence in the United States, 
 and the leisure which tlicfj^ consequently enjoy for all these do- 
 ll H 
 
258 
 
 *nate of Africa requires less attention to them for 
 their preservation and safety, than the more rigorous 
 climates of the North. And a savage and barbarous 
 people not feeling the same solicitude for personal 
 beauty which is felt in polished society, they per- 
 ceive few motives, derived from this source, to de- 
 part from the natural indolence of savagism in the 
 care of their children. These children, left during 
 a great portion of the day, on the ground at the 
 doors of their huts, to their own struggles and ef- 
 forts, at that period of life when they are first begin- 
 ning to move from place to place, will fn qucnt- 
 ly distort their limbs by accidents, or by wrong and 
 violent positions. But without taking these accidcn- 
 tal ills into the account, the common way of moving 
 at that age being on their hands and feet, much 
 stress is necessarily laid on the legs and thighs. 
 And this not being in a perpendicular direction, as 
 on the arms, but in an oblique and inclhiing position, 
 will naturally tend, at an age in which the bones are 
 in a soft, and almost cartilaginous state, to give a 
 
 mestic, and parental cares, a deformed child is rarely seen in our 
 countiy. — Indolence produces in Africa the same effect, which 
 the pressure of too much labor does in many paits of Europe. 
 — See this subject more particularly treated in tha esLay, y 
 139—144. 
 
259 
 
 gibbous form to these limbs. I am the more m^ 
 clined to ascribe the effect to this cause for a reason 
 that will be very obvious to a planter in the southern 
 states of America, who has daily opportunities of 
 observing the great difference in the figure of the 
 legs and thighs that subsists between his field, and 
 his domestic, slaves. Among the former, in whose 
 quarters the necessities of their state concur with 
 the mildness of the climate, and the natural indo- 
 lence of slavery, to produce great negligence, and 
 inattention in the nursing and management of their 
 children, the gibbous form of these members is 
 almost as common as among their African ances» 
 tors. Among the latter, on the other hand, who are 
 carefully nursed, you generally find much straighter 
 persons, and, frequently, persons which would be 
 esteemed handsome in any nation. In the northern 
 states, the gibbousness of the leg in the blacks is 
 disappearing more speedily. In Princeton, and its 
 vicinity I daily see persons of the African race 
 whose limbs are as handsomely formed as those of 
 the inferior and laboring classes, eidier of Euro- 
 peans, or Anglo-Americans. 
 
 To this gibbous deformity in the legs, is to be 
 ascribed also the n^t defect mentioned by Mr. 
 
260 
 
 White, the too great elevation of the calves, or, as 
 he more technically speaks, of the gastrocnemii mus- 
 cles. And we perceive, in this country, that the 
 one defect is diminished in proportion as the other is 
 corrected. — To the untoward structure of their limbs, 
 this author attributes a peculiar awkwardness in 
 their gait, which he reckons likewise among their 
 characteristic and specific distinctions. — ^I agree 
 with him that this awkwardness, and apparent labor 
 in walking, arises in part from their figure which is 
 imfavorable to ease and grace of movement. But 
 it is, perhaps not less to be imputed to their occupa- 
 tions, and to the total want of example, and of care 
 to form their habits in childhood. How com- 
 monly do we see the ploughman display the habits 
 of the ploughed field in his ordinary gait. Black 
 domestics among us, in general, walk with as much 
 propriety as our white servants, and black chamber 
 maids, in particular, imitate with great address, the 
 genteel air and manner of their mistresses. 
 
 Another criterion by which Mr. White would 
 mark the distinction of race between the African 
 and European consists in the length of the fore arm, 
 which is said to be greater in the former than in the 
 Jatter.-r^-He could not, perhap^^ have pitched upon 
 
261 
 
 a criterion more uncertain than the proportion which 
 this member bears to others in the corporeal system, 
 and to the heij^ht of the whole person. The admea- 
 surements which he acknowledges, and which were 
 made by himself, or his friends, differ so consider- 
 ably from one another in their proportions, as to be 
 sufficient, one would think, to have weakened his 
 confidence in -his own rule- Let us take the mea- 
 sures exhibited by him in his discourses, stating the 
 height of the person in one column, and the length 
 of the ulna in another. 
 
 Height of Length of 
 person. uhia. 
 
 Feet. Inches. Inchen.- 
 
 The first is of a female mea- 
 sured by Mr. White, 5 8 1-2 10 
 
 The second of a man by 
 Mr. Ward, 5 8 9 7-^? 
 
 The third a female by Mr, 
 Crozier, 5 3 1-8 10 
 
 The fourth a male by Mr. 
 Foxley, 5 1 3-4 10 
 
 The statue of the Venus de 
 Medicis, framed according to 
 the standard of perfect beauty 
 
 mceiyed by the aiicient art- 
 
362 
 
 Height of Length of 
 person. uhm. 
 
 Feet, Inches, Inches. 
 
 fets, gives the following pro- 
 portions, 5 9 3-4 
 
 An European woman mea- 
 sured by Mr. White, 5 8 3-4 
 
 Another European w^oman 
 hy Mr. White, 5 4 3-4 
 
 The following measures I 
 have taken of four young wo- 
 men in Princeton — viz. two 
 young ladies, 5 2 3-5 9 1-4 
 
 5 8 9 3-5 
 
 A young black woman in 
 my family, 4 9 1-4 9 1-10 
 
 Another young black wo- 
 »nan, 5 3 10 2-10 
 
 a proportion not very different 
 from that of the Venus de 
 Medicis. 
 
 This young woman was perfectly black and re- 
 moved by at least three, and probably four descents 
 from her African ancestors.* 
 
 * Other proportions of tlie same woman will shew a great 
 variution from INIr. White's picture of an African. Her foot 
 
265 
 
 The peculiar structure of the skull of an African, 
 as delineated by Mr. White, is not a more certain 
 criterion of diversity of species than those proper* 
 ties which have been already mentioned. Climate, 
 modes of living, national customs and ideas, and 
 the degree of civilization to which a people have ar* 
 
 gave 9.7 inches,— her nose from its rise to the end of the car* 
 tilage 1.8 inches, its ridge was a right line, arid its elevation at 
 the end of the cartilage l.l 1-2 inches. The distance from the 
 teiTninution of the nose to the division of the lips 1.7 inches, 
 thence to the middle of tlie chin 1.2 inches ; from the middle of 
 the chui to tlie meatus audilorius 6.5 inches, fi om the caiiil- 
 age which divides the nostrils to the same place 4.5 inches, 
 from the meatus of one ear to that of the otlier, round th© 
 most prominent partofthc occiput, removing the wool, 12 
 inches. A bbck imn belonging to one of my ncighbors- 
 f Mr. Craig] gives the following measures ; — his height 4 feet 
 9 inches, — the length of his foot 10 inchesj— .the length of 
 his nose from its rise to the end of the cartilage 19-10 inches,—. 
 its rid;^e is also a right line, its elevation 1 inch ; — ^from the 
 end of the nose to the division of the lips 1 inchy— thence to the- 
 middle of the chin 16-10 inchesy— from the middle of the chin 
 to the meatus auditorius 5 9-10 inches, — from the meatus of 
 one e^r to that of the other round the most prominent part of 
 the occiput 15 inches, — ^the length of the fore arm 9 9-10 in- 
 ches — The lips of the black girl were somewhat more protu- 
 berant than is usuil in white women of her size ; those of the 
 bluck man exhibited no difference in this respect from the gene- 
 ral tpp-iarance of tlie lips of white men. I see, however, as 
 Hiiich diversity in the features of our American negroes among^ 
 themsclvesi as in those of tlie wlnte.s. 
 
264 
 
 rived, all have an influence on the figure of thjs bony 
 substratum of the head, as well as on the features of 
 the countenance. Lavatcr says, he finds not a 
 greater difference between the skulls of a German 
 and an East- Indian, than between that of a German 
 and a Hollander. And he observes further, that 
 the skull of a Calmuc, or Nomade Tartar ap- 
 proaches very nearly that of an African. — Lavater, 
 indeed, without having accurately considered the 
 changes which time, which civilization, or removal 
 into different climates may produce in the same 
 race, has confidently asked; *' What care of educa- 
 tion can arch the skull of a negro, like that of a star 
 conversant astronomer ?'* It is not supposed that 
 education alone can effect it on a negro who has al- 
 ready received the basis of his constitution, in Africa. 
 But, that time, a more favorable climate, better diet, 
 and habits of society, may in a series of descents 
 accomplish such a change, in the West- India isl- 
 ands, and the American states, can be confirmed by 
 many examples. We often see among the children of 
 Africa both in insular and continental America, heads 
 as finely arched, and persons as handsomely formed, 
 as are ever seen among the descendents of Europe- 
 ans. And it was remarked of the army of Tous- 
 
S65 
 
 saint in St. Domingo that many of his officers were 
 not exceeded in elegance of form, and nobitnesb of 
 aspect, by any in the army of Rochumbeau, or Le 
 Clcrc* 
 
 Nearly connected with the preceeding is the next 
 characteristic distinction of the negro species which 
 our author assigns, founded in the supposed deficien- 
 cy of mental talent. For this fact, real, or pretended, 
 he quotes the authority of Mr. Jefferson, in his notes 
 on Virginia t "Comparing them [the negroes] 
 says he, by their faculties of memory, reason, and 
 imagination, it appears to me that in memory they are 
 equal to the whites, in reason much inferior, and that, 
 in imagination, they arc dull, tasteless, and anomalous. 
 It would be unfair, he adds, to follow them to Af- 
 rica for this investigation. We will considt r them 
 here on the same stage with the whites. But it will 
 be right to make great allowances for the difference of 
 condition, of education, of conversation, of die sphere 
 
 * The critical reviewers are pleased to insinuate that the 
 fine persons of many of the West-India blacks arise from 
 a mixture of white blood. There are undoubtedly, in the isl- 
 ands, mulattos and other mixtures of blood in different de- 
 grees. But the observation in the text is applicable to men 
 and women who have a clear, undoubted African descent. 
 
 t Page 332. 
 
 I I 
 
26d 
 
 in which they move. Yet, many of them have been 
 so situated that they might have availed themselves 
 of the conversation of their masters : many have been 
 brought up to the handicraft arts, and, from that 
 circumstance, have been always associated with the 
 whites. Some have been liberally educated ; and all 
 have lived in countries where the arts and sciences 
 have been cultivated to a considerable degree, and 
 have had before their eyes samples of the best 
 works from abroad. Never could I find that a 
 black had uttered a thought above the level of plain 
 narration. Misery, he continues, is often the pa- 
 rent of the most affecting touches in poetry — Among 
 the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no 
 poetry. He adds, love is the peculiar oestrum of 
 the poet. Their love is ardent, but it kindles the 
 senses only, not the imagination. Religion, indeed, 
 has produced a Phillis Wliately ; but it could not 
 produce a poet. Ignatius Sancho has approached 
 nearer to merit in composition ; yet his letters do 
 more honor to the heart, than to the head. He is 
 often happy in the turn of his compliments, and his 
 stile is easy and familiar. But his imagination is 
 wild and extravagant ; escapes incessantly from 
 every restraint of reason and taste^ and, in the 
 
267 
 
 ♦ourse of its vagaries leaves a tract of thought as iiii.' 
 coherent and eccentric as is the course of a meteor 
 through the sky." — After this, Mr. Jefferson con- 
 trasts the enslaved Africans in the United States, 
 with the Roman slaves, in order to shew the vast 
 inferiority of the former in all the exercises of the 
 mental powers. 
 
 These remarks upon the genius of the African 
 negro appear to me to have so little foundation in 
 true philosophy that few observations will be neces- 
 sary to refute them.^ 
 
 If the principle maintained by Lavater, and by 
 St, Gall, that the form of the skull is indicative of 
 the peculiar talents, and even of the inclinations and 
 dispositions of men, be founded in nature, will it 
 
 * Mr. Jefferson reasons much better when he undertakes 
 to defend the people of the United States, and the aboriginals 
 of the American continent, against the aspersions of Mr. Buf- 
 fon, and the Abbe Raynal, and generally, of the European 
 wiiters, who impute to them great debility both of mental, 
 and of bodily powers ; because men ranging the forest for 
 game, and pressed by incessant wants ; or, on tlie other hand, 
 occupied in perpetual laboi-s in clearing and bringing h.to a 
 state of cultivation the soil of a new world, have not produced 
 such poets as Homer or Pope, such philosophers its Aristo- 
 tle, or Locke, or such orators as Demosthenes or Chiithcn'..— - 
 See his answer to 6th query, towards the end, in his notes on 
 Vicg^nia. 
 
268 
 
 not result, as a necessary consequence, that if the ch- 
 mate, the mode of livhig, or the state of society, or 
 even accidental causes in early life, contribute to 
 vary the shape of that bony case which encompas- 
 ses the brain, thereby pressing upon it in some 
 points, and giving it scope in others ; in some of its 
 cells contracting this soft substance, and giving it a 
 freer expansion in others, these causes must, in the 
 same degree, assist, impede, or vary the operations 
 of the mind, and affect the character of the national 
 genius, or of the genius of a whole race of men 
 placed in a particular climate, or existing in a par- 
 ticular state of society.^ 
 
 That the causes which have been just suggested, 
 may have some effect in hebetating the mental facul- 
 ties of the wretched savages of Africa, I am not pre- 
 pared either to deny or affirm. 1 am inclined, how- 
 ever, to ascribe the apparent dullness of the negro 
 principally to the wretched state of his existence 
 first in his. original country, v/here he is at once a 
 poor and abject savage, and subjected to an atrocious 
 despotism ; and afterwards in those regions to 
 which he is transportecj to finish his days in slavery, 
 and toil. Genius, in order to its cultivation, and 
 
 ■♦ Seepages 95,96, also 153. — 156 of tbisessjiy, 
 
269 
 
 the advantageous display of its powers, requires free- 
 dom : it requires reward, the reward at least of 
 praise, to call it forth ; competition to awaken its 
 ardor ; and examples both to direct its operations, 
 and to prompt its emulation. The abject servitude 
 of the negro in America, condemned to the drudg- 
 ery of perpetual labor, cut off from every mean of 
 improvement,* conscious of his degraded state in the 
 
 * How few are the negroes in America who enjoy access to 
 the first elements of knowledge by being enabled eiUier to 
 read, or write. Mr. Jefferson says that many of them have 
 been placed in situations in which they might huve enjoyed the 
 society of tlieir masters. What society, alas, can subsist be- 
 tween a master, and a slave ; not a polite and learned slave of 
 Greece, such as was often seen at Rome, but a wretched and 
 ignorant African slave ? Besides, if they could enjoy an in- 
 tercourse much more free and intimate than is possible from 
 tlie nature of their respective situations, I ask, what would 
 tliere be in that society, when we consider the general charac- 
 ters, occupations, and conversations, of those masters, fa- 
 vorable to improvement in science, or the arts ; or calculat- 
 ed to draw forth, and cultivate any of the high powers of im- 
 agination taste, or genius ? The poems of Phiilis Whately, a 
 poor African slave, taught to read by the indulgent piety of 
 her master, are spoken of with infinite contempt. But 1 will 
 demand of Mr. Jefferson, or any other man who is ucqu^inted 
 witli American planters, how many of those misters ccuid 
 have written poems equal to those of Phiilis Whutciy ? Aid 
 with still greater reason might I ask the same question witli re- 
 gard to the letters of Ignatius Suncho. 
 
270 
 
 midst of freemen who regard him with contempt, 
 and in everj' word and look make him feel his inferi- 
 ority ; and hopeless of ever enjoying any great ame- 
 lioration of his condition, must condemn him, while 
 these circumstances remain, to perpetual sterility of 
 genius. It is unfair to compare the feeble efforts of 
 the mind which we sometimes behold under slavish 
 depression, with the noble ardor which is often 
 kindled even in the wild freedom of the American 
 forest. 
 
 The aboriginal natives of America often exhibit, 
 as Mr. Jefferson justly remarks, some of the finest 
 flights of imagination, and some of the boldest 
 strokes of orator3\ But we perceive these vigorous 
 efforts of the soul only while they enjoy their rude 
 independence, and are employed in their favorite 
 exercises of hunting, or of war, which give ardor 
 to their sentiments, and energy to their character. 
 Whereas, if you cut them off from employments 
 which, along with conscious freedom and indepen- 
 dence, often awaken the untutored savage to the 
 boldest enterprizes ; if, in this condition, you place 
 them in the midst of a civilized people with whom 
 they cannot amalgamate, and who only humble 
 them bv the contmual "s icw of their own inferiority. 
 
271 
 
 you, at once, annihilate among them all the noble 
 qualities ^hich you had admired in their savage 
 state ; and the negro becomes a respectable man 
 compared with the indian. Of the truth of tliis 
 remark we have striking examples in the remnants 
 of a small tribe in the state of New-Jersey, now 
 called the Brotherton indians, from the name of 
 their village ; in the remnants of the Pamunkey tribe 
 in Virginia, situated on the river Pamunky, on a 
 small reservation of land secured to them by the 
 government ; in the indians situated along the Mis- 
 sissippi in the vicinity of New- Orleans ; and many 
 companies of the same people who wander along 
 the banks of the St. Lawrence within the province 
 of Lower Canada. For wretchedness, laziness, and 
 the destitution of almost every manly quality, they 
 can hardly be exceeded by the most contemptible 
 tribes of men in any quarter of the globe. They 
 afford a proof of the deterioration of the mental fa- 
 culties which may be produced by certain states of 
 society, which ought to make a philosopher cautious 
 of proscribing any race of men from the class of hu- 
 man beings, merely because their unfortunate con- 
 dition has presented to them no incentives to awa» 
 ken genius, or afforded no opportunities to display it* 
 
272 
 
 powers. Judging by the criterion which Mr. White, 
 after Mr. Jefferson has endeavoured to establish, 
 might not the Abbe Raynal, and other European 
 writers who denounce the American climate as unfa- 
 vorable to the growth of animal bodies, and the 
 energies of the human intellect, justify their conclu- 
 sion, by the example of the Anglo-Americans? 
 Among these decendents of the ingenious Europe- 
 ans, since their settlement in America, have ap- 
 peared fewer exquisite productions in the arts, fewer 
 works of taste, erudition, or genius, than have 
 adorned the kingdoms of Europe, in the same pe-' 
 riod. But is this to be imputed to the climate ? and 
 not rather to the peculiar labors, imd occupations 
 required in a new world, to draw it forth from its 
 forests, and its marshes, which have diverted the 
 efforts of the people to other objects of more imme- 
 diate necessity ? But besides this primary cause of 
 deficiency in monuments of art, and works of 
 taste, we may reckon the sparseness of our popula- 
 tion which prevents that constant collision, and com- 
 parison of sentiment, which contributes to strike out 
 the fire of genius, and to correct its eccentricities 
 and errors ; the want of men of leisure, and of 
 wealth either to cultivate the arts, or to encourage 
 
273 
 
 and reward them* But because we have produced 
 no such poets as Pope, or Milton ; no such groupes 
 of wits as adorned London or Paris in the age of 
 Anne, and of Louis the fourteenth, has a philoso- 
 pher of Europe, in the pride of her present im- 
 provements in every department of literature, a 
 right to say, because one century has not yet produc- 
 ed the fruits of ten, that the American like what 
 was fabled of the Bcotian, air, has hebetated the 
 genius of this last and largest quarter of the globe ? 
 Whence arose the difference between the Athenian, 
 and the Beotian, or Spartan wit, but from tlieir 
 different states of society? And the Anglo, or 
 Gallo- American only affords another example of 
 this powerful influence in diversifying, in maturing, 
 or retarding the operations of the human mind. The 
 period has not yet arrived for displaying the full 
 powers of the American genius. But whoever will 
 regard with a truly philosophic eye the works which 
 it has accomplished, the almost new creation which 
 it has produced, within the last century, over the 
 face of an immense continent, will be disposed ra- 
 ther to respect its energy and enterprize than to dis- 
 parage it by an unfair comparison with the results 
 of the wealth and population of Europe, and die ac« 
 
274 
 
 cumulated improvements of so maiiy ages. Many 
 particular instances America can already exhibit of 
 scientific investigation, of political eloquence, of miU 
 itary skill and heroism, of invention, especially in 
 the mechanic arts, and of execution in the fine aits, 
 tvhich have not been exceeded in any country. 
 And circumstances afe now daily occurring to call 
 forth more and more the energies of the American 
 character, and to display the vividness and force of 
 the American genius, which will, in a short time 
 place us above the fear of the contempt, or even 
 the rivalship of any nation. And the reproaches of 
 deficiency of talent cast upon America by philosophers 
 who have had little opportunity, and perhaps less dis- 
 position to form an accurate judgment upon this 
 subject, will be doubly retorted upon Europe ; for 
 she will then be in the period of her decline, while 
 her young competitor will be advancing to the ma- 
 turity of her powers, and her glory. 
 
 In returning from this slight digression, may I 
 not be permitted to ask, if this criterion, which is 
 applied so unfavorably to the Africans, be just, are 
 the modem Greeks of the same race with those re- 
 publican heroes who expelled the Persians from 
 their country ; with those illustrious scholars among 
 
275 
 
 whom Socrates and Plato only shone in the first 
 rank ? Would it now be possible to restore among 
 these degraded subjects of Turkish despotism, the 
 genius of Demosthenes, of Xtnophon, or of Phidias ? 
 Or are the Copts, a people more dull and stupid than 
 the negroes of Angola, the descendents of those Egyp? 
 tians who were once the masters of the Greeks them- 
 selves ? Innumerable causes may, for a long time, 
 prevent the faculties of the human mind from arriv^- 
 ing at full maturity in particular nations, or may to- 
 tally restrain among them the growth, and develop, 
 ment of the powers of genius. Among these causes 
 slavery will readily be acknowledged to be the prin- 
 cipal. The force of this objection, which Mr. Jef- 
 ferson anticipated to his hypothesis, he endeavours 
 to obviate, by comparing the negroes with the 
 Greeks who were held in slavery at Rome. Bui has 
 this philosopher sufficiently adverted to the hifinite 
 difference that must subsist between enslaved sava- 
 ges, destitute of the first elements of liberal know- 
 ledge, and held in contempt by their oppressors, and 
 an ingenious and enlightened people, cultivated in 
 the schools of philosophy, and practised in all 
 the liberal arts, reduced to slavery by force of arms; 
 and, even in slavery, respected by their masters ? 
 
276 
 
 Epictetus was, indeed, a philosopher, Terence, and 
 Phcedrus were poets, and many of the most eminent 
 artists at Rome were slaves ; but they were philoso- 
 phers, and poets, and artists before they became 
 slaves ; or belonging to a people extolled, and rever- 
 ed for their ingenuity and heroism, they still possess- 
 ed a certain elevation of mind, which rendered them 
 capable of acquiring science, of cultivating the no- 
 bler powers of the soul, and displaying the beauties 
 of imagination, and taste, even in an enslaved cpn- 
 dition.* 
 
 * Two or three other remarks in Mr. Jefferson*s illustra-r 
 tions of the great defect of genius in the blacks may deserve 
 some notice. " Many of them, suys he, have been brought up 
 to the handicraft arts, and all have lived in countries where the 
 arts and sciences have been cultivated to a considerable degree, 
 and have had before their eyes samples of the best worksyrow 
 abroad.''^ — I have often seen these handicraft artists, their black- 
 smiths, coopers, house carpenters and otliers. But, except in a 
 few instances, their whole design in learning these arts was to do 
 the coarse work on their master's plantations, tlie competent skill 
 for which they acquired from artists who were nearly as coarse 
 workmen as themselves. And what is intended in this remark, 
 " that all of them have had before their eyes samples of the best 
 works fi'om abroad,*' I can hardly conceive. Does the writer 
 mean stctues, pictures, or household furniture ? I believe 
 few of them have seen the most exquisite productions in any of 
 these departments ; and those who have, I presume, have con- 
 templated them with the same eyes with which other coach- 
 men, hostlers, and footmen view them. And why are theses 
 
277 
 
 Having bestowed so much attention on this quail, 
 ty, which Mr. White, supported by the authority of 
 Mr. Jefferson, supposes to constitute an essential 
 distinction between the negro and the white man, 
 
 exquisite works of genius said to he from abroad ? If the in* 
 genious whites have never yet produced them at home^ why are 
 the poor negroes degraded from their rank in the scale of ration- 
 ality, because their enslaved genius has not towered above that 
 of their masters ? 
 
 « Misery, continues Mr. Jefferson, is often the parent of the 
 most affecting touches of poetry. Among the blacks is misery 
 enough, God knows, but no poetry.*'?— When misery falls on 
 such men as Dodd, or Young, who possess minds toned to the 
 finest sensibilities, and adorned with refined taste, and a culti- 
 vated imagination, their sorrows will often wake the most 
 affecting strains of the pensive muse : but when have we seen 
 the miseries of Newgate or the gallics produce a poet ? 
 
 " Love," he adds, " is the peculiar oestrum of the poet. 
 Their love is ardent, but it kindles the senses only, not the im- 
 agination." With what fine tints can imagination invest the 
 rags, the dirt, or the nakedness so often seen in a quarter of 
 negro labourers ? Besides, to awaken the exquisite sentiments 
 of a delicate love, and to surround it with all the enchantment 
 of the imagination, this passion requires to be placed under cer- 
 tain moral restraints which are seldom formed in the coarse 
 familiarity, and promiscuous intercourse permitted, and too 
 often encouraged among the American slaves. Yet have I, not 
 unfrequently, seen, among these slaves, the most delicate and 
 durable attachments take place between the sexes, where a 
 good moral education, united with the virtuous, and umiible 
 example of their masters and mistresses, have concurred to 
 cultivate the heart, and produce a certain reserve and refine* 
 ment in their manners. 
 
273 
 
 and I hope obviated the force of their remarks, 1 
 shall treat the other differences which he enumerates 
 with greater brevity. 
 
 The skin of the negroy he observes, is thicker than 
 that of the European, The fact is admitted ; and 
 the cause of it has been already assigned in the 
 essay. It is a natural consequence of the intense 
 action of the sun's ra}-s, which, by their constiint 
 stimulus, tend to incrassate its substance. The bil- 
 ious mucous, likewise, which is deposited in the 
 celular membrane of the skin, having parted, at the 
 surface, with the hydrogene, with which it was 
 diluted, as has before been shewn, becomes more 
 glutinous, by means of its coagulated carbonic in- 
 gredient, and thereby imparts a greater density to 
 this integument, than the common mucous which 
 fills the cells of the white skin. 
 
 If it be true, as Mr. White affirms, in which 
 opinion he is supported by other naturalists, that the 
 negro secretes less by the kidneys than the white 
 man, although it cannot be an adequate criterion of 
 
 Some praise Mr. Jefierson bestows on the letters of Ignatius 
 Sancho, though by no means so great as they deserve, con- 
 sidering his situation, and the means of cultivation which he en- 
 joyed. Few white men in similar circumstances could have 
 wiitten 5o well. 
 
27^ 
 
 a distinct species, it may account, in some measure, 
 for the greater quantity of bile thrown out to the 
 surface of the body, which becomes there the basis 
 of the dark hue. It may be the cause likewise of 
 that pungent and volatile gas, which, transpiring 
 copiousH' through the skin, is perceptible in the 
 strong and offensive odour, which distinguishes the 
 greater part of the African race, till corrected, as it is 
 in the United States, by a more favorable climate, or 
 by better habits of living. 
 
 Another distinctive quality of this race given hf 
 this author is, that the?/ are ??iore capable ofendwing 
 heat than the Europeans* 
 
 This tolerance of heat by the blacks is con* 
 firmed by experience ; and probably arises, in part, 
 from the superior thickness of the skin, which 
 forms a deeper veil to protect the vitals from the in- 
 tensity of the sun's rays. It may arise also, in part, 
 from the refrigerating nature of that mucous with 
 Ivhich the cells of the skin are filled; or the more 
 copious transpiration of the hydrogene principle in 
 which the bile is floated to the surface, and which, 
 in the whites, is secreted and carried off by the kid- 
 neys. An insensible evaporation, so abundant, will 
 necessarily reduce the temperature of the body. 
 
280 
 
 Besides, the constitution of the European being 
 more highly braced by his climate, his blood, 
 when exposed to an American or West- India sun, 
 is more easily inflamed, and excited to the heat 
 of fever. These causes, however, of the diminish- 
 ed sensation of heat in the negro, are not peculiar, 
 exclusively, to that race. Europeans, introduced 
 into a southern climate, if they do not fall victims 
 to the first attacks of fever, induced in consequence 
 of excessive heat acting on a system too highly 
 toned, commonly suffer from these fevers, which are 
 chiefly of the bilious kind, a considerable relaxation 
 of its tension, with a proportionable discolouration of 
 the skin. When the constitution has been, in this 
 manner broken down, and fitted to its new situation^ 
 it is always found to become more tolerant of heat ; 
 as it is also rendered more impatient of cold. 
 
 It is a fact, likewise, whether it arise from the 
 increased copiousness of insensible perspiration or 
 the reduced temperature of the system, or from any 
 other cause, that they, and their descendents, are 
 less liable than immediate emigrants from Europe 
 or the inhabitants of the northern states of America, 
 to certain epidemic, or contagious disorders which 
 belong to the climate, or have been introduced bj 
 
281 
 
 belong to the climate, or have been introduced by- 
 infection from abroad. From tlie yellow fever, 
 which prevailed in most of the sea ports of the Unit- 
 ed States during several seasons between the years 
 1790, and 1800, the negroes suffered less than the 
 Anglo-Americans. But tliis was equally true of 
 the French refugees from the island of St. Domingo 
 whom the calamities of their country, at that period, 
 had driven, in great numbers, to seek an asylum 
 on the continent.* 
 
 The negroes, says this writer again, m-e more 
 short-lived than the whites. From what data he 
 has drawn this conclusion 1 know not, except it 
 be from the excessive mortality in several of the 
 British West- India islands induced by the sever- 
 ity of their servitude : but as far as our expcr 
 rience on the continent can furnish an inference, 
 wherever the slaves are not exhausted by hard 
 treatment, and excessive labors, it is not true. It 
 is known in all the southern states, that the slaves, 
 
 * A species of the yellow fever may be said to be indigenous 
 in many of the West-India islands. It is less dangerous, how-, 
 ever, to natives whose constitution has been assimilated to the 
 dimate. But to strangers either from Europe, or tlic United 
 States of America, it is almost certainly fatal. 
 
 L L 
 
282 
 
 in that district between the sea and the south east. 
 crn range of the Apalachian mountains where they 
 have hitherto been most numerous, muUiply faster 
 than the whites. And certainly you see, in the 
 northern states, as many old men among them, in 
 proportion to their numbers, as among their mas-i 
 tcrs.* 
 
 This author is equally misinformed when he as- 
 serts that the mammae of negresses are longer than 
 those of white women* This is never seen except 
 in slaves who are old, and worn dowTi by continual 
 labor. And in them, they are not longer than 
 in white women who have been equally exhausted 
 by fatigue and want. Nor are the black women in 
 America, from whatever African nation they are 
 descended, known to possess that natural veil of 
 modesty, which, on the authority of travellers of 
 very dibious veracity, he has ventured to ascribe 
 to them. If ever their ancestors were distinguished 
 by those very striking peculiarities, certain it is 
 
 • There is a ne^ro man in the neighborhood of Princeton, 
 upwards of a hundred years of age, who is able to walk several 
 tn'ics every d^y ; and there are not a few of the same race k>e 
 twccn seventv and ninctv. 
 
283 
 
 that their posterity in America have entirely lost 
 them.* 
 
 Facility of parturition in black women is assigni. 
 ed as another criterion of a distinct species. This 
 must certainly have been a very inconsiderate sug^ 
 gestion coming from an author so well accjuainted 
 with the economy of the human body. Facility of 
 parturition is no otherwise peculiar to the negro 
 race, than as this operation of nature is ever easier 
 to the inliabitants of warm than of cold climates ; 
 and much easier to women who arc engaged in ac» 
 tive, and even laborious duties than to those who 
 indulge themselves in luxury and indolence, or who 
 are confined chiefly to sedentary occupations. No 
 women suffer greater hardships than those which 
 are frequently borne by the females, of the aboriginal 
 Americans ; and none pass through the labors of 
 parturition with less pain and inconvenience. Sel- 
 dom do they require any assistance. At the crit- 
 ical hour they retire apart from their neighbors and 
 friends : — they bear their infant, and do every thing 
 necessary in such an emergency with their own 
 hands. The women of the German emigrants who 
 
 * Sec p. 135, 1S6 of ^e essay. 
 
284 
 
 have settled in Pennsylvania, and the western por- 
 tions of Maryland and Virginia are known to be 
 equally remarkable for their laborious lives, and their 
 easy parturitions. In this principle likewise we find 
 an easy and natural solution of a fact in the sacred his- 
 tory, which has been little understood, and too often 
 regarded as miraculous. When Pharaoh reproached 
 the Egyptian midwives for not having put to death, 
 according to his order, the children of the Israelitish 
 women, they vindicated themselves, because the 
 women vf the Hebrews were not hke those of Egypt ; 
 For, said they, they are lively, and are delivered 
 ere the midwives come in unto them. 
 
 Another error still more strange in a philosopher 
 who should be accjuainted with human nature in 
 all its various situations, and particularly with its 
 advantages, or defects in the different states of 
 society in which it exists, is this author's regarding 
 as proofs of diversity of species, tenaciousness of 
 memory, or quickness in the senses of hearing see- 
 trig, and smelling^ which, he says, are greater in the 
 African than in the European. Strength of memojy, 
 or nicety of ptrcepiion in any of the senses, depends 
 principally on the situations in which men are plac- 
 ed, requiring, greater frequency in their exercise. 
 
2S^ 
 
 or more accurate and attentive observation of their 
 objc:ctb, and the notices they afford. Judging of 
 other savages by the aboriginals of this continent, 
 with whose manners we are more particularly ac- 
 quainted, we have ground to ascribe to men hi that 
 state of society, generally, retentive powers of mem- 
 ory ; for having no other means of recording events 
 of the utmost importance to them as individuals, or 
 as nations, they are obliged to rely solely on the ex- 
 tent and force of this faculty for the preservation of 
 their history, or for any knowledge of the traditionary 
 opinions and customs of their ancestors. And it is 
 surprizing with what accuracy an indian chief, tak- 
 ing a string of wampum in his hand, will detail 
 from it, by the force of memory alone, aided by a 
 few arbitrary marks worked up in its fabric, all the 
 articles of a long and intricate treaty entered into 
 w ith his nation, while he perhaps was only a youth ; 
 and even of many treaties, and other transactions, 
 which have taken place an age before he was born ; 
 which have been transmitted to him by the older 
 chiefs who preceeded him. 
 
 The wants, necessities, and dangers of savage life 
 contribute likewise to give an acuteness, and quick- 
 ness to many of the senses, particularly those of see- 
 
286 
 
 ing and hearing, which often astonish men who 
 have not been educated in the same hard school. 
 In pursuing their game, or perceiving the approach 
 of an enemy, they exhibit a nicety in these senses 
 of which there is no example in civilized life. As 
 the eye ranges through the forest, it catches a vari. 
 ation in the reflections of the light ; as the ear is turn- 
 ed on every side, it perceives a rustle in the leaves, a 
 whisper, a vibration in the air, occasioned by the 
 movement of an animal, which, by persons, not ac- 
 customed to such a vigilance of attention, would be 
 utterly unobserved. They will track their game, or 
 their enemy, through the forests where a European 
 could not perceive the trace of any foot. In a night 
 in which no star can be seen, they will pursue their 
 course through the woods with an exactness that 
 differs little from the accurate direction of the mari- 
 ner's compass.* 
 
 * When the leaves fall from the trees in autumn, they com- 
 monly descend m ith the back of the Icci' towards tlie eartli on 
 account of tlie specific gravity of the veins which run over it. 
 Any animal, therefore, passing through tlie woods, will neces- 
 sarily disturb, in its course, the regular order in which those 
 leaves lie, by turning many of them upside do\vn, which ena* 
 bles the savage hunter to follow its direction. Where tlie 
 leaves have lain long, and become in a groat measure combined 
 
287 
 
 Hence appeal's the entire inadequacy to the pur. 
 pose for which Mr. White adduces them, establish* 
 ing a criterion of a distinct species, of that large 
 enumeration of properties wherein he supposes the 
 African to differ from the European.* They are 
 either founded in error and misinformation, or are 
 easily explained by the known operation of the pow- 
 ers of nature. 
 
 Mr, White makes many ingenious observations 
 en the human hair;t but they will not be found to 
 contradict the principles, or reasoning of the essay. 
 I do not assume the aridity of the African climate a» 
 the sole, or even the principal cause of the woolly 
 appearance, and close nap of the hair of the natives. 
 The vvhole state of this excrescence depends much 
 
 with the s(h1, the surface, which has seldom been trodden by 
 the foot of man or beast is soft and spongy enough to receive 
 an impression which is quickly perceived by an eye accustom- 
 ed to search for it. In a dark night these savages, destitute of 
 every art for marking out the quarters of the heavens, direct 
 their course by feeling the bark of the trees which is always 
 roughest tovv^ards that quarter from which their severest colds, 
 tod most frequent stomas arise. 
 
 * Pages 84th and 85th of his work, 
 t Pages 87th — 98lh of bis discourscis. 
 
288 
 
 «iore on that peculiar secretion which is deposited in 
 the cellular niembrane of the skin, and there be- 
 comes its nutriment. A doctrine which receives 
 the sti'ongest confirmation from the case of Henry 
 Moss already stated in the essay. ^ Moss was 
 among the blackest of the^ negro slaves in the state 
 of Maryland ; — his wool was precisely of the same 
 appearance wliich characterizes the whole race ; — at 
 length, when he was about middle age, or some- 
 what above it, the black hue began to disappear and 
 his skin to assume the colour of a clear and healthful 
 white ; — and in proportion as the white colour ad- 
 vanced round his head, the woolly substance gave 
 place to straight and soft hair. 
 
 Finally, this writer conceives that the black col- 
 our of the African skin has not been satisfactorily 
 accounted for, and assigns for his opinion the fol- 
 lowing reason, which, for an ingenious naturalist, 
 appears somewhat extraordinary ; that the scarf, or 
 exterior integwnent of the skiriy is always found to 
 he colourless^ which, he imagines, should be the only 
 seat of the complexion if it is affected by the sun^lf 
 
 * Pages 92—95. 
 
 t Page 102d of Mr. White's discourses. How is it possi- 
 ble that this writer should overlqpk tlie influence of the sun in 
 
289 
 
 The scarf skin is known to anatomists to be en- 
 tirely transparent. The rays of light, therefore, being 
 easily transmitted through its substance, it can be 
 little, if at all, affected in its colour by them. The 
 proper seat of the complexion is in the rete mucosicm 
 between the scarf skin, and the cutis vera, where 
 the mucous which fills its cells, not being transpa- 
 rent, arrests the rays of the sun, and suffers some 
 change from them in its substance and colour in 
 proportion to their copiousness tnd strength. And 
 it should be remembered that this mucous basis is 
 itself changed in some of its most essential proper- 
 ties, by the influence of climate, of disease, and of 
 various other physical causes. For example, ex- 
 treme heat, or heat combined with the vapor of 
 stagnant waters, tends to increase the bilious secre- 
 tion, which, therefore, in hot, and especially in tro- 
 pical climates forms a large proportion of that mu- 
 cous deposit in the cellular membrane which, by its 
 various tinges, gives the peculiar stain to the com- 
 plexion. According to the analysis of Dr. Blumen- 
 
 discolouring the skin, notwithstanding the transparency of the 
 scarf, whenever he should see a Speuiiurd, or a Portuguese, or 
 ':ompare the hand of a sailor with his own ? 
 
 M M 
 
290 
 
 bach,* and other respectable chymists, bile contains 
 a greater quantity of carbon, or black colouring 
 matter, than any other secretion of the human body, 
 except oil. When, in the course of circulation, 
 therefore, it arrives at the surface of the body, dilut- 
 ed as it must be with a large proportion of hydro- 
 gene, the hydrogene, uniting more readily than the 
 carbon with the oxygene of the atmosphere, escapes 
 sooner by perspiration. The carbon consequently, 
 is deposited more copiously ; and, being deprived 
 of its dilutent principle, it settles in a more viscid, and 
 fixed state, in the rete mucosum, and there forms 
 the basis of the black complexion. 
 
 Having made these few observations on Mr. 
 White's chapter on the colour and complexion of 
 man, I shall, in other things, let the essay speak for 
 itself in those points in u hich that author questions 
 the solidity of its principles, only correcting one 
 error in his facts into which he has been misled by 
 some careless writer, or ignorant traveller. He as- 
 sertsf that " the aboriginal Americans, both in the 
 torrid, and temperate zones are of a uniform, red 
 
 * Page 5 2nd of the essay. 
 
 t Pag^e 106th of his discoui'ses. 
 
291 
 
 copper colour, except near the northern extremity of 
 the continent, where they are of a very deep brown 
 inclining to black, because they have probably trav- 
 elled thither from the northern parts of Europe."—- 
 It is true, on the contrary, that the natives of 
 some regions, of Brazil and Amazonia, are nearly 
 as black as those of tropical India. The extremes 
 of heat and cold are found, as I have before remark- 
 ed, to resemble one another in their effects upon the 
 colour of the human skin. And in the tropical and 
 arctic regions both of Asia, and America the com- 
 plexion is black, though of a lighter shade in the 
 latter continent than in the former. If we do not 
 find white men in the temperate latitudes of North- 
 America, I have, in the essay, assigned, at least, 
 probable reasons for this phenomenon ; existing, in 
 part, in the extreme savagism of the natives,* which 
 exposes them, without the smallest protection, to the 
 full influence of the sun and atmosphere, augmented 
 
 * If the ancient Gauls and Britons were comparatively a 
 fair people, it is to be reni>imbered that their state of society 
 was far advanced in improvement above that of the aboriginal 
 savages of America. Their origin likewise they derived, more 
 nearly or remotely from the fair inhabitants of Middle -Europe,, 
 iind tbe vicinity of the Euxine and Caspian seas. 
 
292 
 
 by their filth}^ customs ; and, in part, in their origin ; 
 having sprung from the dark coloured Tartar, in- 
 habiting the North-East of Asia. For the black, or 
 dusky complexion, once contracted by the ancestors^ 
 of a race, is continued in their offspring by a much 
 lower climatical influence, than was originally neces- 
 SLiry to create it. 
 
 I cannot conclude these remarks without taking 
 notice of some animadversions on this essay by Dr. 
 J. A. Smith, professor of Anatomy and Surgery in 
 the University of New- York, delivered in an intro- 
 ductory lecture to his class Nov. 1808, and publish- 
 ed in the New- York Medical, and Philosophical 
 Journal and Review, Feb. 1809. Some petulancies 
 ill the manner of introducing the name, and speak- 
 ing of the author of the essay, I pass over, because 
 a merited retort might lead to a degree of asperity 
 of language which I am not inclined to employ; 
 and still more, because 1 hope I may now appeal 
 to the essay itself as my best vindication. 
 
 In the very few quotations which he has made 
 from that work he has been neither liberal nor can- 
 did. *' Hear," says he, " the manner in which he,'* 
 speaking of the author of the essay, " explains the 
 action of the climate in producing this change of 
 
298 
 
 colour. He begins with the following position, 
 that" the skin, though delicate, and easily suscepti* 
 ble of impression from external causes, is, from its 
 structure, among the least mutable parts of the body. 
 After which he adds, "- We shall see the Doctor, 
 in a little time, comparing this skin to bone." 
 These two short passages are the whole of what he 
 has been pleased to select as a specimen of the rea- 
 soning of the essay on the power of climate in effect- 
 ing a change of colour in the human species. The 
 reader will judge how far this is any competent ex- 
 ample of the strain of that work. The Professor 
 thought he had found an anatomical mistake in the 
 account which the author of the essay has given of 
 the structure of the human skin ; and he wished to 
 enjoy a humble triumph over the imaginary error. 
 With what justice he indulges this triumph, for 
 which he misrepresents the fact,* I shall presently^ 
 shew. 
 
 • The great source of error,'* says he, " in the Doctor's 
 work is in the use of the word skin. By skin an anatomist 
 fneans the cutis -vera : but Dr. Smith uses it in three differ- 
 i:ni senses : 1st. to signify the rete mucosum ; 2ndly. the cutis 
 ■vera ; and lastly, both together.** I presume the intelligent 
 reader will find the skin used in the essay in one sense only, ex- 
 cept in a single passage, as the integument of the body, but 
 
294 
 
 These remarks of the Professor, even if they were 
 well founded, are of trifling importance, and can 
 little affect tlie result of our enquiry. The more 
 important principles of the essay, and the facts by 
 which they are supported he hardly notices. He 
 has collected, indeed, from Cuvier, Hunter, Cam- 
 per, Blumenbach, and others, but chiefly from 
 White a long list of varieties subsisting, or suppos- 
 ed to subsist between the different tribes of man- 
 kind, which he produces as unanswerable objections 
 against the general conclusions of the essay. Of 
 their unanswerable force however, the reader will 
 better judge after having examined the solutions 
 which are given of them in the work. 
 
 But it is somewhat amusing to see him after the 
 stile of presumption and aflPected science which he 
 assumes, and his pretences to mathematical preci- 
 sion and accuracy in measuring the lines, and capa- 
 cities of the heads of diflferent nations, making a pa- 
 
 composed of three different lamelU — the cutis vera, the rete 
 viucosujfjy und the scarf skin. In that passage the scarf skin 
 was compared to the bones, merely in its destitution of vessels, 
 and the little mutation to which each is subject. The fact of 
 its wanting vessels is asserted by Blumenbach, p. 117, and by 
 other anatomists. But as it is not necessary to the illustration 
 of the subject, it has been wbolly omitted in the present edition^. 
 
295 
 
 rade of quoting authors, as favoring his opinionSj 
 some at least of whom he cannot have read, or, 
 most certainly, has not understood. If this seem* 
 a harsh accusation against the learned Professor, I 
 have not made it without being able to give satis- 
 factory demonstration of its truth. — He professes, 
 to adopt the doctrine of Von Camper concerning the 
 facial angle, ^ by which angle he attempts to dis^ 
 criminate the heads of different nations, and seem* 
 willing also to measure their respective degrees of 
 beauty, or of intellect. This discovery, or fancy 
 of Von Camper*s he speaks of in such a stile of 
 
 * « This angle," Professor J. A. Smith informs us, « is 
 formed by the intersection of two lines at, or parallel to the 
 inferior purt of the nostril, one being drawn from the most 
 projectuig part of the forehead until it strikes tlie edge of the 
 incisor teeth of the upper jaw, the other from the inferior part 
 of the bony canal of the ear until it meets the other at the place 
 above mentioned." — The re .der may perhaps, understand the 
 construction of the angle from this description, but certidnly 
 ** the intersection of two \\xi^% parallel to the inferior part of tlie 
 nostril is an unusual language for an anatomical professor and 
 a mathematician to employ. He then proceeds to say that on^ 
 of these lines is to be drawn from the most projecting part of 
 tlie forehead till it strikes the edge of the incisor teeth. — He 
 should liave Suid, according to the autlior from whom he bor-» 
 rows ihe idea, the bottom of that channel (limbum alveolarem) 
 containing the sockets of those teeth. It is the first time, I be- 
 lieve, thiit ever this has been culled tlie edge of the incisors* 
 
296 
 
 eulogy as would lead us to believe that it is receiv- 
 ed by all the Anatomists of Europe as one of the 
 highest improvements in anatomical and physiog- 
 nomonical science.* Yet, after extolling this dis- 
 eovery in the highest terms, and quoting the name of 
 Blumcnbach with the same familiarity as that of Von 
 Camper, as if he were perfectly acquainted with the 
 writings of both these great anatomists, he seems 
 not in the least aware that the former has entirely re- 
 jected the principle on which this facial line is drawn. 
 Can it be because Blumenbach's work is written in 
 latin ! I will not presume such a disgraceful thing. 
 I will, therefore, proceed to exhibit my proof, with- 
 out doubting but that I shall be understood. *' At 
 
 • Unfortunately for the accuracy of his gGometrical language 
 he repeatedly speaks of the greater or less degree of obtuaenesa 
 in the facial angle, from that of 70° which is the measure of an 
 African face, to that of 80^ or 85 ^^ which is the measure of 
 the European. 
 
 If he had followed his guide Von Camper throughout, in his 
 diction, as well as the supposed result of his experiments, he 
 would have taught him greater precision, at least, in his cxprej;- 
 sion. " Pour pcu que Ton considere avec attention Tangle dans 
 Ics quartre tetes,'* says he, speaking of some skulls which 
 were before him, " on reconnoitra facilementqu'ils dcvienn6nt 
 plus considcradlf^^,** (not more obtuse) " a mesure qu'on eleve 
 davanti^ge la ligne faciale, d'ou il resultc que Id /ilus grand di- 
 mention*' (not the most obtuse) "aura lieu dans les Euro- 
 pcens.'*— Partie 1. §viii. 
 
297 
 
 enimvero," says Blumenbach, speaking of this ccle* 
 brated line/' si quid recte video, hasc regula non 
 uno vitio laborare mihi videtur. — l^. Enim, quod 
 equidem ex iis quae de varietatibus faciei gentiiitias 
 diximus (J56) per se patet, universahascce /?>ze«ya- 
 cialis ad summum non nisi in eas generis humani 
 varietates qiiadrat quse mandibularum directione ab 
 invicem variant, neutiquam vero in eas qucc con. 
 traria plane ratione facie potius in latera diducta in- 
 sigues sunt. 
 
 2. Saepissime diversissimarum gentium craniis 
 toto, quodaiunt, ccelo ab invicem discrepantibus,una 
 tamen eadcmquc lineae facialis directio esse solet ; 
 vice versa, pluribus unius cjusdemque gentis craniis, 
 quae in universum eodem habitu invicem conveni- 
 unt linea facialis valdopere diversa. Parum enim 
 ex sola directione faciei in craniis a latere visis judi* 
 care licet, nisi simul respectus habeatur latitudinis 
 corum. Ita v. c, dum haec scribo coram video cra- 
 niorum bigam iEthiopis scil. Congensis, et Sarma- 
 tae Lithuani ; utrisque linea facialis fere una eadem- 
 que ; habitus tamen maxime diversus si angustum 
 et qiiasi carinatum iEthiopis caput cum quadrate 
 magis Sarmatoe comparaveris. Contra vero alia bina 
 
Q9S 
 
 -^thiopum crania ad manus habeo, faciali linen mi- 
 rum quantum ab invicem abhorrentia, utroque vero, 
 si a facie spectetur, angusta et quasi compressa cal- 
 varia, fronte fornicata ilLthiopicam originem apertc 
 testante. 
 
 3. Denique vero Camperus ipse, in iconibus operi 
 suo subjunctis, lineissuis binis normalibus adeo ar- 
 bitrarie et inconstanter usus est, toties punctis con- 
 tactus variat, secundum quae lineas istas dirigit, et 
 a quibus omnis earum vis et fides pendet, ut seip- 
 sum in earum usu incertum et ambigue hesitantem 
 tacite profiteatur." Blum, de gen. hum. degen. in 
 specie. 5 59, 60. p. 200 — 203. 
 
 How could the Professor, in the face of this au- 
 thority, introduce to his class this all-important 
 facial line which is, in a great measure, to decide the 
 controversy concerning the original, or factitious 
 varieties of the different tribes of men, as if it were 
 an uncontroverted discovery of the great Camper^ 
 and yet, in the same page, I believe in the same 
 sentence, quote the na77ie of Blumenbach, without 
 ever informing them that this principle of Camper's 
 has not only been questioned, but utterly denied, 
 and shewn to be inapplicable to every purpose of 
 national discrimination, by that superior anatomist, 
 
299 
 
 if he had ever read, or understood the work to which 
 he has the confidence to refer ? 
 
 But a proof still more pointed to this purpose is 
 found in the fourteenth page of his introductory lec- 
 ture. Having quoted from the essay the following 
 sentences, — 1st. ** Anatomists inform us that, like 
 the bones, it," meaning the skin, " has few or no 
 vessels, and therefore, is not liable to those changes 
 of augmentation, or diminution, and continual altera- 
 tion of parts, to which the flesh, the blood, and the 
 whole vascular system is subject." 2nd. Anat- 
 omists know that people of colour have their skins 
 thicker than people of fair complexion, in proportion 
 to the darkness of the hue," — the Professcr pro- 
 ceeds ; "as the Doctor," meaning the author of the 
 essay, ** has not given us his authority for these two 
 opinions, and, as I never met with any thing like 
 them, I conclude he quotes from memory, and is 
 liable to be mistaken ; the former is certainly erro- 
 neous, and, 1 believe, the latter." 
 
 The former of these sentences contains the only 
 part of the essay in which the term skin is t mploy- 
 ed where only the scarf skin, or epidermis was in^ 
 tended. Confining the expression in this manner 
 the opinion is justified, as 1 have before said, by the 
 
S0(^ 
 
 best anatomists. It is positively asserted by Dr, 
 Blumenbach, M2. p. 117, of the work already 
 quoted. " Epidermis structura simplicissima, ner- 
 vis, vasisque plane destituta." And, with regard to 
 the opinion, or the fact stated in the second, hear the 
 same author, p. 11 8. *' Utrumque quoque hocce af- 
 fine stratum sedem colons integumentorum ita con- 
 stituit, ut in candidis hominibus, &:c. In fuscis 
 vero, aut alio colore infectis, princeps pigmentum 
 cutaneum reticulo Malpighiano inhaereat et quo^w^- 
 cius reticulum sit, eo crassius quoque, et propius ad 
 membranulae sui generis speciem accedens." Again, 
 p. 162, speaking of the smooth and silky, or shining 
 appearance of the skin in dark coloured nations, 
 particularly in the Caribaeans, Ethiopians, Otahei- 
 teans, and even the Turks, he says ; " In omnibus 
 sive a teneriore epidermidis, sive a crassiore muci 
 Malpighiani strato pendere, in aprico est." 
 
 What, now, are we to think of Dr. J. A. Smith's 
 acquaintance w^ith Blumenbach ? What are we tQ 
 think of his acquaintance with his own profession, 
 since he declares he has never met with these opin- 
 ions, nor with amj thing like them ?^ — Dr. J. A. 
 
 * He may find them in a great variety of authors which are 
 p ^le hands of every naturalist. 
 
Smith, likewise, in order to impugn the principles 
 of the essay on the subjects both of the cause, and 
 the seat of colour, is pleased to say ; "so far as I 
 know, the bile does not tinge the rete muscosum, 
 but remains in the cutis, and colours that in the 
 same manner that it does the opaque cornea of the 
 eye." Yet the same great anatomist, whom 1 have 
 already quoted so often, calls this fold of the skin, 
 ** sedein coloris,^^ And further adds, *' utrumque 
 stratum ita constituit natura, ut princeps pigmentum 
 cutaneum reticulo Malpighiano inhcereat."* 
 
 Let the reader now judge of the modesty of that 
 gentleman in the following sentence in which he evi* 
 dently alludes to the author of the essay. *' Men 
 who call themselves philosophers, or who wish 
 others to consider them as such, too often suppose 
 that this tide is acquired, not by a thorough acquaint- 
 ance with a few sciences, but by a superficial know- 
 ledge of the whole : hence they frequently incur the 
 ridicule of the world by writing on su Injects of which 
 they are ignorant." — I certainly owe Dr. James 
 Augustine Smith many thanks for this prudent ad- 
 monition, this gentle discipline, which, no doubt^ 
 
 * jEclit Gottingae apiid Vundcnhoek et Ruprecht^ ir95. 
 
502 
 
 his superior wisdom well entitles Mtn to give to me.-^ 
 But on whom now rests the ridicule ? Not for posbcss- 
 ingeven a supei-ficial knowledge of the whole circle 
 of sciences, for that I presume, after what we have 
 just seen, he does not ari'ogate to himself; but for 
 pretending to such an extensive acquaintance with 
 the writers on his own branch, as it is evident he 
 does not possess. 
 
 " That climate," he concedes, " does produce 
 great changes on all animals, no one will deny. 
 Thus, if } ou transport a sheep covered with wool 
 from England into Syria the wool will be changed 
 into long silky kind of hair, — but if y oil reconvey it 
 to England, it will recover its wool. Not so the 
 African; he approximates not the European by 
 changing his climate, as is fully evinced on this con- 
 tinent." — That the progeny of Africa, have not 
 changed their complexion, or have changed it but 
 little, is true ; and the hair, which is, in a great de- 
 gree, governed by the law of the complexion, has, 
 likewise, exhibited but small alteration. The causes 
 of these phenomena are assigned in the essay. But 
 it is no less true that, in their persons and features, 
 they have undergone, and arc daily undergoing a 
 very obvious revolution, by which they are ap- 
 
305 
 
 proaching more and more towards the European, of 
 Anglo-American standard. And if our Professor 
 has not perceived it, his observation must have been 
 very limited and negligent indeed. Even the cele- 
 b ated facial angle, of which he makes so high ac- 
 count in his system, has, in the blacks born in the 
 United States, become considerably less acute than 
 it is in the natives of Africa. On the subject of the 
 Af< ican person many remarks have been made, and 
 many facts adduced in the essay. I will here add 
 only one other fact respecting this angle. I have 
 measured it in several blacks in Princeton who had 
 every indication in their complexion and hair of a 
 pure African descent, and have found it with as 
 much accuracy, 1 presume, as it can be taken in 
 living subjects, from 73° to 78°. Their foreheads, 
 at the same time, are high, bold, and open.* 
 
 Near the conclusion of this introductory lecture 
 he takes his leave by saying ; " Were I to follow 
 Dr. Smith" (the author of the essay) ''through 
 his whole work, you might suppose I have some 
 enmity to that gentleman."" I think that not at all 
 
 * On the other hand, I have in my family an old black wor 
 man with a true African foicheud narrow and wrinkled, who 
 gives a fuciul angle of 7 1 <'. 
 
304 
 
 imj^robable ; nor is it very difficult to divine the 
 cause that has awakened his displeasure. He hop- 
 ed to find in the anatomy of man an in\ incible ob« 
 jection against the identity of the human species, 
 which might furnish arms to infidelity in her impo- 
 tent attacks against the truth of divine revelation, 
 and he seems to be provoked at any attempt to wrest 
 the weapons out of her hands. 
 
 I cannot close these observations without repro- 
 bating in the strongest manner, that disingenuous 
 mode of assailing the holy scriptures which has be- 
 come fashionable with a certain class of writers, 
 and which this gentleman affects to imitate. They 
 speak of them with oblique and ambiguous respect, 
 as if their authority ought, in all cases, to command 
 the belief of mankind, while, at the same time, it 
 is suggested that if we do believe them, it must be in 
 spite of nature, and of the most certain physical 
 facts. Thus do these authors study to undermine 
 revealed religion by hinting that its friends require 
 only implicit faith in opposition to all the truth of 
 science. This mode of attack I cannot regard as 
 either fair, or manly. Let natural science preserve 
 its proper place. We never wish to abridge its 
 lawful domain. But let it not officiously go out of 
 
305 
 
 its own sphere to assail religion by this species of 
 wily ambuscade. Let infidels appear in their true 
 form ; if they seek the combat, we only pray, like 
 Ajax, to see the enemy in open day. The more 
 profoundly natural science has been explored, the 
 more have those objections to the sacred writings 
 been dissipated which ignorance once thought she 
 had found in the system of nature. These puny 
 and half-learned sciolists, who affect to treat with 
 sarcastic leer the oracles of God, would do well to 
 remember, if they are susceptible of advice, or of 
 shame, with what modesty and humility of heart 
 those sublime and genuine sons of nature, from 
 Newton, down to Sir William Jones have thought 
 it their glory to submit their superior minds to that 
 wisdom which came down from Heaven. 
 
 Doubtless the Professor will be able, in the 
 course of his lectures, to point out many anatomical 
 as well as physiognomonical varieties, subsisting 
 between the different nations and tribes of men. 
 But if he can find in the climate, the modes of life, 
 and other secondary causes, a satisfactory account of 
 the change in the facial angle of a Swede, a Pole, or 
 Hungarian, and I might add other nations of Europe, 
 
 o a 
 
306 
 
 from that of their Asiatic ancestors, from whom it is 
 ascertained beyond reasonable doubt, that they have 
 derived their origin ; the same ingenuity, I presume, 
 will be competent to account for the remaining dif- 
 ferences which, for want of the like reflection, seem, 
 at present, to embarrass him. 
 
^v^p^p 
 
 STEICTUEES 
 
 ON 
 
 LORD KAIMS' DISCOURSE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Original Diversity of Mankind. 
 
STRICTURES, 
 
 jLoRD KAIMS, in a preliminary discourse to his 
 sketches of the history of man, has undertaken to 
 combat the principle of the unity of the human spe- 
 cies. As Mr. White has proposed to assemble 
 against it all the objections which can be derived 
 from the science of Anatomy, Lord Kaims has en^ 
 deavoured to collect, and present to us in one united 
 view, those which arise from the history of man, and 
 from such speculative principles, or such moral 
 causes, as are supposed chiefly to influence the state 
 and condition of human nature, as it relates to the 
 particular subject of his discourse. The reputation 
 of this writer stands so high in the literary world as 
 a philosopher, that it is justly to be presumed, he 
 has advanced whatever can be most plausibly urged 
 from these sources against the opinion which he op. 
 poses. If his objections, therefore, can be fairly set 
 aside, or successfully answered, the refutation of 
 such an antagonist will probiibl}' be regarded as 
 
310 
 
 bringing no inconsiderable addition of strength to 
 the preceeding argument. 
 
 I hope, then, to be able to shew that with regard 
 to many facts on which his lordship relies, in this 
 disquisition, he has been egregiously misinformed ; 
 and that almost the whole of his reasoning, even 
 where his facts have been better ascertained, is in- 
 conclusive, or concludes only against his own prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 His dissertation he commences with a speculative 
 argument drawn from his own ideas of propriety, 
 and the wisdom of providence. — "Certain it is," says 
 he, " that all men, more than all animals, are not 
 equally fitted for every climate. There were, there- 
 fore, created different kinds of men at first, accord- 
 ing to the nature of the climate in which they were to 
 live. And if we have any belief in providence, it 
 ought to be so : because men, in changing their cli- 
 mate, usually become sickly, and often degenerate." 
 
 The power of climate to affect the figure and 
 general appearance of the person, which his lord- 
 ship, in this paragraph acknowledges, when he in- 
 forms us that, in consequence of changing their hab- 
 itations mankind often degenerate, is the very prin- 
 ciple on which, united with the influence of diet 
 
311 
 
 and manners, I presume to account for the varieties 
 which distinguish the different nations of men from 
 one another. Are not the blacks of Guinea, the 
 dwarfs of Siberia, degenerate races compared with 
 the inhabitants of France, or England, of Turkey, or 
 Persia? If these people had attained, in their own 
 climate, the perfection of their nature, while civiliz- 
 ed Europeans had, by being transplanted thither, 
 degenerated far below them, or they had degenerat- 
 ed by being removed to Europe, the argument 
 would have had some force. But since these people 
 are found to improve in their appearance and form, 
 by being removed from their own climate, as has 
 before been shewn with regard to the Africans in 
 America ; and since the greatest degeneracy of the 
 European, on his removal to Africa, or Lapland, 
 consists only in a nearer resemblance to the natives 
 of those countries, the example concludes strongly 
 against his lordship's principle. 
 
 But '' men," he says, ** in changing their climate, 
 usually become sickly. "-^Tn many instances, they 
 do. But, is it a given principle that man is not 
 made for situations in which he is liable to encoun- 
 ter danger, or disease? He were then only an in- 
 truder upon this world. True, it is, that great and 
 
312 
 
 sudden changes of climate are hazardous ; but not 
 ttiore hazardous than equally great and sudden chan- 
 ges in our habits of living. This argument, there- 
 fore, proves only that such alterations ought always 
 to be made v^ith due precaution. And if this pru- 
 dential conduct be observed the human constitution 
 has been found capable of enduring the influence of 
 every climate. It becomes, in time, assimilated to 
 its situation. And in southern regions especially, 
 the bilious habit, and the dark complexion, vi^hich, 
 in many instances, were originally the effects of 
 disease, become, at length, necessary to the most 
 comfortable and healthful state of the body. — In 
 America we are liable to disease by removing in- 
 cautiously from a northern to a southern State and 
 even from one part to another of the same State : but 
 shall we conclude thence that we are not of one 
 species from New-Hampshire to Georgia ? Shall 
 we conclude that the top of every hill, and the bank 
 of every river are inhabited by different species, be- 
 cause the latter are less healthy than the former? 
 The constitution often becomes so attempered even 
 to an unhealthy region, that it feels augmented 
 symptoms of disorder on returning to the most salu- 
 brious air and water : but does this prove diat na- 
 
313 
 
 ture designed that such men should never remove, 
 when it might be in their power, to a situation in 
 v/hich they could drink clear water, or breathe a 
 pure atmosphere ? 
 
 His lordship's second argument is certainly an extra- 
 ordinary example of philosophic reasoning. — ^'Men, 
 says he, must have been originally of different 
 stocks, adapted to their respective climates^ because 
 an European degenerates both in vigor and colour 
 on being removed to South America, to Africa, or 
 to the East- Indies.'' — Would not true philosophy 
 have drawn from this fact a contrary conclusion? 
 Certainly, if an European had not changed his colour, 
 with various other properties of his constitution, as 
 he does, that is, if he had not degenerated to a 
 nearer resemblance to the natives of Africa, Amer- 
 ica, or the Indies, it would have been a much 
 stronger evidence of the original difference of the 
 respective races. 
 
 The degeneracy of the human constitution often 
 produced by change of climate, he confirms by the ex- 
 ample of a Portuguese colony on the coast of Congo, 
 who, in a course of time, have degenerated so much, 
 that they scarce retain the appearance of men." — A 
 
 fact more to the purpose of the preceeding essay 
 
 p p 
 
314 
 
 could not be adduced. Apply it to the case of the 
 n^-ighbouring tribes of negroes, and of Hottentots. 
 Although they are now so rude that scarcely do they 
 retain the appearance of men, does not his awn ex- 
 ample demonstrate that, in some remote period, 
 they may have descended from the same original 
 stock with these degenerated Portuguese ? 
 
 His lordship has been egregiously deceived with 
 regard to certain facts on which he professes to 
 ground his opinion that the climate of America is 
 not adapted to European constitutions. — *' Charles- 
 ton in Carolina, he asserts, is insufferably hot ; be- 
 cause it has no sea-breeze. Jamaica, he continues, 
 is a more temperate climate. But the inhabitants 
 of both die so fast, that, if continual recruits did not 
 arrive from Europe to supply the places of those 
 that perish, the countries would be soon depopulat- 
 ed." — All these assertions are equally and entirely 
 erroneous. And if a philosopher, and a lord of 
 sessions in Scotland, can betray so little acquaintance 
 with a country, which, from its long and intimate 
 connexion with Great- Britain, he might be expected 
 to understand better than any other, we may just- 
 ly presume that he is still less informed with regard 
 to the state of the Asiatic, and African nations ; and 
 
515 
 
 that the objections drawn from them by him, and 
 by inferior writers, against the doctrine of the unity 
 of the human race, are still more weak and un- 
 founded. 
 
 This distinguished author employs as another ar- 
 gument for an original diversity of species among 
 mankind, that common European error, that '* the 
 natives of America are destitute of hair on the chin, 
 and body." — That philosophers, like other men, 
 should sometimes be liable to be deceived by false 
 information is not suqorizing : but they are certainly 
 blameable, after having found, in so many examples, 
 the egregious mistakes of voyagers, and the utter 
 incapacity of many of them for accurate observation, 
 lightly to rest on such dubious tales, an argument 
 against the most sacred opinions of mankind. 
 
 His lordship says, in the next place, that ** the 
 northern nations, to protect them from the cold, 
 have more fat than the southern," whence he again 
 draws this erroneous inference, that *' these nations 
 are of different races, or species, adapted by nature 
 to their respective climates." Is it not evident that 
 this fact furnishes ground for a directly contrary 
 conclusion: that the human constitution hath b. en 
 endued by the Creator, with such pliancy as ena- 
 
516 
 
 bles it with flicility to assume those habits which 
 fit it to subsist in every region. His goodness ap- 
 pears in forming the world for man, and, therefore, 
 in not confining him, like the inferior animals, to a 
 bounded range, beyond which he cannot pass, 
 either for the acquisition of science, or the con- 
 venience of subsistence. And both his benefi-» 
 cence, and wisdom are seen in mingling in the hu- 
 man frame such principles as, under a prudent direc- 
 tion, always tend to counteract the hazards of a new 
 situation. Fat contributes to protect the vitals from 
 the dangerous effects of extreme cold. Whence 
 we see, in the wise arrangements of divine provi- 
 dence, that animals which are destined to run wild 
 in the forest, not only increase their coat of hair, or 
 fur, but augment their fat, at the approach of win^ 
 ter. But, this covering being too warm for south- 
 ern latitudes, provision has been happily made for 
 throwing it off, in those regions, by a more profuse 
 perspiration. The physical cause of this effect 
 ought to have been no secret to a philosopher who 
 treats of human nature. Not to mention other ef- 
 fects of the relaxing influence of heat, or the brac- 
 ing power of cold, on the human constitution, and 
 the nature, or the quantity of nourishment it can re- 
 
317 
 ceive and digest, in the one case, or in the other, it 
 is sufficient to observe, that the copious perspiration, 
 which takes phice in southern latitudes, carries off 
 the oily with the aqueous parts, and, in consequence, 
 tends to render the habit of body thin ; but a frigid 
 elimate, by closing the pores, and obstructing the 
 evaporation of the oils, while the aqueous fluid more 
 easily escapes, condenses them into a coat of fat, 
 which contributes to preserve the warmth of the ani- 
 mal system. Experience verifies this influence of 
 climate. The northern tribes which issued from 
 the forests of Germany, and overrun the southern 
 provinces of the Roman empire, no longer retain 
 their primitive grossness, and their vast size. The 
 human constitution, in Spain, and in other countries 
 to the South of Europe is slender in comparison 
 with the German of Tacitus. And Europeans, in 
 general, have become more slender by emigrating 
 to the southern provinces of America. Here is a 
 double experiment made, within the memory of his- 
 tory, on entire nations. The argument, therefore, 
 which this writer thought to derive from the fatness 
 of northern, or the leajiness of southern nations, is 
 utterly inconclusive for the purpose for which he 
 urges it, the proof of an original difference in the 
 species of men. 
 
318 
 
 His next fact is, that " the skin of the negro is 
 more cool than that of the white, and, therefore, 
 better adapted to their fervid climate. For a ther- 
 mometer, apphed to the body of an African, will 
 not indicate the same degree of heat as when appli- 
 ed to the body of an European." 
 
 This phenomenon is admitted, and, I presume, 
 sufficiently accounted for in the essay. It results 
 from the same causes v^ hich contribute to form the 
 colour. The observations, however, on the tem- 
 perature of the bodies of Europeans and Africans 
 have probably been taken in those latitudes in which 
 either heat or cold has been the predominant affec- 
 tion of the atmosphere. The increased temperature 
 of the whites will be chiefly visible where heat great- 
 ly prevails : because the European constitution, be- 
 ing more tensely braced than that of Africa, suffers , 
 under the fervors of a tropical sun, at least till it is 
 broken down, and assimilated to its new climate, 
 the additional heat of an habitual fever. When the 
 atmosphere is at the temperature of about seventy or 
 seventy-five degrees, and the subjects of the experi- 
 ment have been perfectly tranquil, 1 have not been 
 able to perceive, by the thermometer, any sensible 
 difference in the warmth of two persons, the one 
 
319 
 \vhite, and the other black. But, in order to render 
 such an experiment as accurate as possible, the 
 greatest care should be taken that the subjects of it 
 be of the same age, the same sex, the same degree 
 of natural vigor, activity, and health, and, as far as 
 can be judged, in every respect equal in their per- 
 sonal properties. 
 
 The reader, I doubt not, will readily excuse me 
 if I treat a few observations, which immediately fol- 
 low in this dissertation, a little more briefly. 
 
 " Is it possible, his lordship asks, to account for 
 the low stature, and little feet, and large head of the 
 Esquimaux ; or, for the low stature and ugly visage 
 of the Laplanders, by the action of cold ?" 
 
 I have endeavoured to account for them from the 
 nction of cold, in conjunction with the state of society, 
 
 ** But the difference of latitude between the Lap- 
 landers, and the Norwegians, or Fins is not suffi- 
 cient, in his opinion, to account for the difference 
 of features." 
 
 This phenomenon, I presume has been explained. 
 The temperate climates border upon eternal cold, 
 and civilized on savage society, in all those proportions 
 of the globe. And the influences of these two power- 
 
320 
 
 ful and opposite causes are fully adequate to ac- 
 count for the difference in the effects. 
 
 His lordship confesses that *' it has lately been dis- 
 covered, by the Pere Hel, an Hungarian, that the 
 Laplanders were originally Huns." 
 
 Pere Hel has, no doubt, given authentic evidence 
 of the fact, in the striking similarity which exists 
 between the elementary principles of the two langua- 
 ges, as appears by the conviction it has produced in 
 diis learned and ingenious writer. But how shall we 
 account for it, unless it be from the prepossessions 
 created by his theory, that it should not have occur- 
 ed to him, that, from the same Huns, are descend- 
 ed, likewise, some of the fairest, and most beauti- 
 ful nations of Europe ? 
 
 As an objection against the power of climate to 
 change the complexion, he says, " the Moguls, and 
 the southern Chinese are white.'* If he means that 
 they are not black, it is true. But if he means that 
 their complexion is, in any degree, to be compared to 
 the whiteness of the Europeans, he has been egre- 
 giously misinformed. That the Moguls are less 
 discoloured than some other nations in the same lati- 
 tudes, is to be ascribed to the state of civilization 
 
S2l 
 
 at which they had arrived previously to their taking 
 possession of their present seats. Migrating origin- 
 ally from a high temperate latitude, the arts of civ- 
 ilized life have enabled them to preserve their col- 
 our against the worst efiects of their present more 
 southern exposure. 
 
 He is not less misinformed when he says, that 
 Zaara is as hot as Guinea, and Abyssinia hotter than 
 Monomotapa : yet, he adds, the inhabitants of the 
 former are not so black as those of the latter." — 
 Zaara is not so hot as Guinea ; nor is Abyssinia 
 hotter than Monomotapa. But if the temperature 
 of these countries were equal, there are other causes 
 which produce a wide difference between the figure 
 and complexion of the nations which respectively 
 inhabit them. The Abyssinians, who derive their 
 origin from Arabia, are enabled, by their partial 
 civilization, to presei ve some resemblance to the 
 features of their ancestors. Their high and moun- 
 tainous elevation, raises them above the region of ex- 
 treme heat in the tropical latitudes of Africa. The 
 Monomotapans are evidently descended from the ne- 
 groes of the equator. And their savage habits have 
 continued among that portion of the people, who 
 
 9.a 
 
322 
 
 are not of CaflTre origin, the figure, and other pecu- 
 liarities of their ancestors, without great variation. 
 
 His lordship proceeds, ** there are many instan- 
 ces of races of people preserving their original col- 
 our in climates very different from their own.'' — 
 This can be true only of people who have made very- 
 considerable advances in the progress towards civili- 
 zation. The pretended fact, however, is utterly void 
 of foundation in the extent in which he affirms it. — 
 He very incautiously adds, " And there is not a sin- 
 gle instance to the contrary." — To his lordship, 
 surely, the Portuguese of Congo might have been 
 that instance. 
 
 Another argument for the original diversity of the 
 races of men, on which some reliance is placed in 
 this preliminary discourse, is founded on the variety 
 of disposition, spirit, and genius displayed by the 
 different nations of the world. But, on this part of 
 the subject, many of the author's remarks appear 
 so weak as to be utterly unworthy of his general 
 character as a philosopher, and a judicious writer. — 
 Among the oriental islands, " some there are, he 
 savs, whose inhabitants are hostile, others are hos- 
 pitable to strangers." — To this wc may justly an- 
 swer, that kindness, or aversion to strangers d^- 
 
32S 
 
 pends on so many contingent causes that a more 
 equivocal foundation can hardly be mentioned on 
 which to rest the argument for the existence of dif- 
 ferent species of men. Nations which have been 
 often exposed to hostile attacks, will become habit- 
 ually suspicious of foreigners, and prone to repel 
 them from their shores : those, on the other hand, 
 who have seldom seen the face of an enemy, will 
 be equally disposed to receive them with frankness 
 and hospitality. On the same ground might he have 
 demonstrated that Europe, in the tenth and in the 
 eighteenth century was inhabited by different species 
 of men, from the facility and security with which a 
 stranger might, in one of those periods, have passed 
 through all its kingdoms ; and the hazards to which, 
 in a similar tour, he would have been exposed in 
 the other. — His lordship goes on to confirm this 
 argument by examples of some nations " who are 
 full of courage and prompt to combat;" and of 
 others who hardly know the arts of war," or have 
 *' confidence to meet an enemy in the field." — 
 With equal reason might he conclude that the 
 Greeks are not of the same species now as when they 
 gave birth to such heroes as Miltiades, Agesilaus, 
 pr Alexander. That the Romans were not of the 
 
324 
 
 same species under Caesar, when they conquered, 
 as under Augustulus, when they lost a world. And 
 tliat, among the Jews, the Essenes, who were 
 peaceful hermits who fled from the sound of w^ar, 
 were not of the same species with the martial Pha- 
 ristes who resisted Titus. But the argument is too 
 absurd to merit even this answer. 
 
 He speaks in the next place, of " the cowardice 
 of the American indians," with whose character 
 and manners he is manifestly unacquainted, as form- 
 ing one feature of a distinct species. The proof of 
 their cowardice consists entirely in their mode of 
 fighting which is commonly from behind the shel- 
 ter of thickets, or of large trees, seldom exposing 
 themselves to an enemy in the open field. — An 
 Indian philosopher, who should have examined the 
 subject with no more attention than his lordship ap- 
 pears to have done, would probably retort the 
 charge of cowardice on the Europeans ; because 
 they do not suffer torture like the natives of Ame- 
 rica. Na ions have different ideas of courage and 
 of honor, and they exert these principles in dif- 
 ferent ways. The military education of an Indian 
 consists in learning to make war by stealth and to 
 endure pahi with fortitude. Tlic reasons of their 
 
325 
 
 conduct in both,* arise naturally out of their state 
 of society, the thinness of their population, and the 
 physical state of their country. No people have 
 superior courage. They differ from civilized na- 
 tions only in the manner of exercising it. 
 
 Another example of the difference of dispositions 
 in the various races of men, which, in his lordship's 
 opinion, contributes to establish his principle, he 
 supposes he has found in " the Giagas a nation of 
 Africa, who, says he, bury all their own children 
 as soon as born, and supply their places with others 
 stolen from the neighbouring tribes." I quote this 
 passage merely as one out of many examples of the 
 credulity of philosophers who declaim with vehe- 
 mence against the faith required by the gospel. 
 It might surely have occurred, even to his lord- 
 ship's zeal, that the race of the Giagas could not 
 have existed above one generation. Yet these stolen 
 children seem, by miracle, to be constantly trans- 
 formed, for his lordship's use, into Giagas. 
 
 An anecdote of a similar nature, he gives us from 
 the history of the Japanese. " The Japanese, says 
 he, differ essentially from the rest of mankind, be- 
 cause, when others would kill their enemies, they 
 
 * See Appendix. 
 
326 
 
 kill themselves through spite." — This is certainly a 
 very extraordinary distinction. And another not 
 less so is, that " they never supplicate the gods, like 
 other men, in distress." — The difference is, no 
 doubt, very wide between them, and those men who 
 never supplicate their Maker at any other time. 
 But one would think that a philosopher argued in 
 this weak manner with intention to expose to ridicule 
 a cause which he only fictitiously espoused. 
 
 His lordship indeed acknowledges that these ar- 
 guments are not altogether conclusive, and therefore, 
 proceeds to produce others which are to carry with 
 them, I presume, irresistible evidence. 1 shall quote 
 them at full length, that I may diminish nothing of 
 their force. 
 
 " But not to rest, says he, upon presumptive evi- 
 dence, few animals are more affected than men gen- 
 erally are, not only with change of seasons in the 
 same climate, but with change of weather in the same 
 season. Can such a being be fitted for all climates 
 equally ? Impossible. — Horses and horned cattle 
 skep on the bare ground, wet or dry, without harm; 
 and yetj were not made for every climate : can man 
 then be made for every climate, who is so much 
 more delicate that he cannot sleep on wet ground 
 without hazard of some mortal disease ?" — This is 
 
 \ 
 
327 
 the argument. But is it not refuted by the uniform 
 experience of the whole world ? The human con- 
 stitution is the most delicate of all animal systems : 
 but it is also the most pliant, and capable of accom- 
 modating itself to the greatest variety of situations. 
 The inferior animals have no defence against the 
 evils of a new climate but the force of nature. The 
 arts of human ingenuity furnish a protection to man 
 agaitist the dangers which surround him in every re- 
 gion. Accordingly, we see the same nation pass 
 into all the climates on the globe ; reside whole win- 
 ters at the pole ; plant colonies beneath the equator ; 
 pursue their commerce and establish their factories 
 in Africa, Asia, and America. They can live equal- 
 ly under a burning and a frozen sky, where many of 
 those hardy animals could not exist. It is true, such 
 great changes ought not in general to be suddenly 
 hazarded, nor without those precautions which ex- 
 perience has shewn to be useful for the preservation 
 of health. But, when they are prudently made, 
 habit soon accommodates the constitution to its new 
 position ; and the changes which the climate itself 
 introduces into the constitution enable it better to 
 resist any dangerous effect of the influences by which 
 they are produced. 
 
328 
 
 But, "men cannot sleep on the wet ground 
 without hozard of some mortal disease." — By men 
 I presume his lordship means Europeans, because 
 the savages of America, sleep on the naked earth 
 without hazard, in every char.ge of weather, or of 
 season. Whether he admits the American savage 
 into the rank of men or not, he concludes, from 
 this circumstance, that they are of a difFtreiit species 
 from the civilized and polished people of Europe. 
 If he had visited the forests of the new world, he 
 would have found in this, as well as in many other 
 instances, how little he was acquainted with human 
 nature beyond the sphere of his own country. He 
 would have seen this argument, on which he rests 
 with so much confidence, entirely overturned. He 
 would have seen Europeans, or the descendents of 
 Europeans, without any mixture of indian blood, 
 become, by hiibit, as capable as savages, of using 
 the naked earth for their bed, and of enduring all 
 the changes of an inclement sky. The Anglo-Ame- 
 ricans, on the frontiers of the United States, who 
 acquire their subsistence chiefly b)' hunting, enter, 
 with facility, into all the customs of the neighbour- 
 ing savages, and endure with equal hardiness the 
 want of every convenience of polished society. 
 
S29 
 
 And not only the hunters, who have long been ac- 
 customed to those habits of living, are able to lodge 
 without injury, on the damp earth, but the large 
 companies of men, women, and children, who are 
 continually removing from the interior parts of the 
 United States to the western countries for the sake 
 of occupying new lands, encamp every night in the 
 open air. They sleep on the bare ground with, per- 
 haps, only a few dried leaves beneath them ; and 
 frequently exposed to heavy showers of rain or 
 snow. Kindling a large fire in the center of their 
 encampment, they sleep round it, extending their 
 feet towards the pile. And, while the feet are kept 
 warm, as they have often informed me, they seldom 
 suffer any serious injury to their health from the 
 coldness of the earth or the vapors of the atmosphere. 
 **But, the argument which I chiefly rely on," con* 
 tinues his lordship, " is, that, were all men of one 
 species, there never could have existed, without a 
 miracle, different kinds, such as exist at present. 
 Giving allowance for every supposable variation of 
 climate, or of other causes, what can follow but 
 endless varieties among individuals, as among tulips 
 in a garden ? Instead of which we find men pf dif- 
 
330 
 
 icrent kwds ; the individuals of each kind remarka- 
 bly uniform, and differing no less remarkably from 
 the individuals of every other kind. Uniformity 
 without variation is the offspring of nature, never of 
 chance." 
 
 How often do philosophers mistake the eagerness 
 and persuasion of their own minds, resulting from 
 violent attachment to their theories, for the genuine 
 light of truth and reason ! — The first part of this 
 argument consists only of an ardent and zealous as- 
 sertion, which, as it rests on no proof, requires no 
 refutation. — The second part contains only a fine 
 similitude : but that similitude, as far as it has any 
 relation to the question, operates directly against his 
 principle. " Giving allowance for ever}^ supposable 
 variation of climate, or other causes, what can fol- 
 low, he asks, but endless varieties among individ- 
 uals, as among tulips in a garden ?" — I answer, that 
 such varieties among individuals are found in every 
 climate, in twtry region, in every family. But dif- 
 ferent climates, as far as they possess any power to 
 alter the hnman physiognomy, must necessarily cre- 
 ate varieties, not among ijidividuals, but kinds. For 
 the same climate, in similar circumstances, operat- 
 ing uniformiy, as far as it cxlends, mu^t occasion 
 
531 
 
 a certain uniformity in the kind^ and operating dif- 
 ferently from every other climate, must render that 
 kind different in its appearance from all others. — 
 " Uniformity, he continues, is the offspring of na- 
 ture, never of chance." Could his lordship mean to 
 insinuate, by this remark, that the operations of cli- 
 mate are the effect of chance, or that all the varieties 
 produced by it are not governed by uniform and 
 certain laws ? 
 
 He adds, " There is another argument that ap- 
 pears also to have weight ; — horses, with respect to 
 shape, size, and spirit, differ widely in different cli- 
 mates. But let a male and female, of whatever cli- 
 mate, be carried to a country where horses are in 
 perfection, their progeny will improve gradually, 
 and will acquire, in time, the perfection of their 
 kind. Is not this a proof that all horses are of one 
 kind?" 
 
 His lordship seems to reason only against himself. 
 Is it not equally true of the species of men, as of 
 that of horses, that it varies its appearanee, and 
 many of its properties, by every removal to a new 
 climate, and by every change which the state of 
 society undergoes ? The present nations of Eu- 
 rope are an example in the way of improvement ; the 
 
332 
 
 Europeans, whom he acknowledges to have degene- 
 rated by being removed to Africa, Asia, and South- 
 America, are an example in the contrary progres- 
 sion. Carry the natives of Africa, or America to 
 Europe, and mix the breed, as you do that of 
 horses, and they will, in a short time, lose their 
 dusky hue, and all the peculiar defects of their 
 fierure ; and will acquire, in the same number of de- 
 scents as horses, or any other animals, the high per- 
 fection of form which is seen in that polished country. 
 
 No, says his lordship, " a mulatto will be the re* 
 suit of the union of a white, with a black." — That 
 is true in the first descent, but not in the fourth or 
 fifth, in which, by a proper mixture of races, and by 
 the habits of civilized life, the dark tinge may be 
 entirely effaced. 
 
 There resided in the college of New- Jersey, in the 
 years seventeen hundred and eighty five, six and seven 
 a striking exemplification of the above remark, in 
 two young gentlemen of one of the most respectable 
 families of the state of Virginia. They were descend- 
 ed in the female line from the indian emperor Pow- 
 hatan, and were in the fourth descent from the prin- 
 cess P<3cahuntis, a high-spirited and generous woman. 
 Although all their ancestors in Virginia had retain^ 
 
333 
 
 ed some characteristics, more or less obvious, of 
 their maternal race, in these young gentlemen they 
 appeared to be entirely obliterated. The hair and 
 complexion, of one of them in particular, was very 
 fair, and the countenance, and form of the face, per- 
 fectly Anglo-American. He retained only the dark 
 and vivid eye which has distinguished the whole 
 family, and rendered some of them remarkably 
 beautiful. If his lordship's argument, then, have 
 ^my weight, as he supposes, it is only against his 
 own position. 
 
 But he still pertinaciously repeats the conclusion, 
 *' That mankind must have been originally created 
 of different species, and fitted for the different cli- 
 mates in which they were placed, whatever change 
 may have happened ia later times, by war, or by 
 commerce." 
 
 Let us ask, why fitted by a different organization^ 
 for the different climates in which they were placed? 
 Is it because they could not exist in other climates ? 
 or because they attain the greatest perfection of their 
 nature only in their own ? Both these reasons are 
 contradicted by experience. Let us renaember 
 " the changes which have been produced by war and 
 by commerce." Nations have been transplanted 
 
 1 
 
33 i 
 
 from their original soil to other climes ; and have 
 continued to exist, and to flourish. Foreigners from 
 the most distant regions, have become assimilated 
 to the natives. Instead of attaining, in their prim- 
 itive abodes, the highest perfection of their nature, 
 they have improved it by migrating to new habita- 
 tions. The Goths, the Tartars, the Africans, have 
 greatly ameliorated both their bodily, and mental 
 qualities by changing those skies for which it is 
 said, " they were peculiarly fitted by nature,'* 
 They must, therefore, have defeated, or improved 
 upon, the designs of the Creator, or, at least, have 
 shewn that the precautions, attributed to him by this 
 author, were superfluous. 
 
 Lord Kaims having endeavoured to demonstrate, 
 in the manner we have seen, the existence of origi- 
 nal varieties among mankind, proceeds in a similar 
 strain of reasoning ; — '* There is a remarkable fact 
 which confirms the foregoing conjectures ; as far 
 back as history goes the earth was inhabited by 
 savages, divided into small tribes, each tribe having 
 a language peculiar to itself. Is it not natural then, 
 to suppose tliat these original tribes, were different 
 races of men placed in proper climates, and left to 
 form their own language ? But this opinion we ore 
 
335 
 
 not permitted to adopt, being taught a different les- 
 son bv revelation. Though we cannot doubt of 
 the authority of Moses, }et his account of the crea- 
 tion is not a little puzzling. According to that ac- 
 count all men must have spoken the same language, 
 viz. that of dieir first parents. But what of all 
 seems the most contradictory to that account is the 
 savage state. Adam, as Moses informs us, was en- 
 dued by his Maker with an eminent degree of 
 knowledge, and he, certainly, must have been an ex- 
 cellent preceptor to his children, and their progeny 
 among whom he lived several generations. Whence 
 then the degeneracy of all men to the savage state ? 
 To account for that dismal catastrophe mankind 
 must have suffered some terrible convulsion. That 
 terrible convulsion is revealed to us in the history of 
 the tower of Babel. By confounding the language 
 of all men, ar.d scattering them abroad upon the 
 face of the earth, they were rendered savages. And 
 to harden them for their new habitations, it was 
 necessary that they should be divided into different 
 kinds, fitted for different climates. Without an 
 immediate change of bodily constitution, the build- 
 ers of Babel could not possibly have subsisted in 
 tlie burning region of Guinea, or in the frozen re- 
 
336 
 
 gion of Lapland. If the common language of men 
 had not been confounded upon their attempting the 
 tower of Babel, I affirm that there never could have 
 been but one language. Antiquaries constantly 
 suppose a migrating spirit in the original inhab- 
 itants of the earth, not only without evidence, but 
 contrary to all probability. Men never desert their 
 connexions, nor their country without necessity. 
 Fear of enemies, and of wild beasts, as well as the 
 attractions of society, are more than sufficient to re- 
 strain them from wandering ; not to mention that 
 savages are peculiarly fond of their natal soil." 
 
 When ignorance, or profligacy pretends to sneer 
 at revelation and at opinions held sacred by mankind, 
 it is too humble to provoke resentment. But when 
 a philosopher affects the dishonest task, he renders 
 himself equally the object of indignation and con- 
 tempt. Error and absurdity are at no time so des- 
 picable as when in a ridiculous confidence of 
 shrewdness, or affectation of wit, they assume airs of 
 superior sagacity, and contemptuous leer. To 
 point out all the instances of weakness and mistake 
 in this paragraph would exceed the bounds which I 
 have prescribed to myself in these strictures. One 
 important and obvious error 1 shall take notice o^ 
 
and then shew that the whole foundation of this rea^ 
 soning is false, and indicates even extreme ignorance 
 of human nature, as it exists in that state of society 
 of which he speaks. 
 
 " Without an immediate change of bodily consti- 
 tution, says he, the builders of Babel could not pos- 
 sibly have subsisted, in the burning region of Gui- 
 nea, or the frozen region of Lapland." — How, then, 
 do Europeans, at this day, subsist both in Guinea, 
 and Lapland, without undergoing this previous and 
 miraculous change of constitution ? Have not the 
 nations of Europe armies, or colonies, or travellers 
 in every region on the globe ? But if his lordship be- 
 lieved that the intensity of a frozen, or a torrid cli- 
 mate was sufficient to have destroyed the builders of 
 Babel, he should have no objection, surely after 
 such a declaration, to admit that men, from these 
 causes, may suffer great changes in their complexion, 
 and figure. Yet, his whole object is to combat this 
 principle. He allows the greater, he denies the 
 smaller effect. But errors or contradictions of this 
 kind, we often have occasion to see, that philoso- 
 phers, in their zeal against an obnoxious doctrine, 
 easily overlook. 
 
 s s 
 
338 
 
 I proposed, in the next place, to shew that the 
 whole foundation on which the reasoning in this par- 
 agraph rests is false, and betrays extreme ignorance 
 of human nature in that state of society of which the 
 author speaks. — It rests on two principles ; — 1st. 
 That the posterity of the original parent of the race, 
 or any part of them could never have become savage, 
 if he had possessed that wisdom and goodness as- 
 cribed to him by the sacred historian. And 2dly, 
 that, on this supposition, also, there never could have 
 existed a diversity of languages. — On the other 
 hand, hardly any conclusion in moral science can be 
 more certain tlian that the savage condition of a large 
 proportion of mankind must have been the natural 
 result of the state of the earth, as Moses represents 
 it immediately after the deluge. — And, that, out of 
 the dispersed state of its savage tribes, would neces- 
 sarily arise, in time, a great diversity in the langua- 
 ges of men. 
 
 I am not now going to explain the history of Ba- 
 bel ; nor to defend the miracles recorded in the sa- 
 cred scriptures. I take the matter on his lordship's 
 ground, who, no doubt, fervently disbelieves all 
 miraculous interposition in this or in any other case, 
 and shew that, in the nature of things^ many tribes 
 
S3^ 
 
 v\^ould become savage, and language would become 
 divided into different dialects. 
 
 According to the Mosaic history, on the basis of 
 which his lordship reasons, man descended, after the 
 deluge, into an immense wilderness, in which the 
 beasts would naturally multiply infinitely faster than 
 the human race. Agriculture would, probabl} , from 
 habit, and inclination, form the employment of 
 Noah, and his immediate descendents. And in this 
 occupation we find the first elements of civilized so- 
 ciety, which we can trace, without interruption, 
 from the countries in which they resided, and the 
 period in which they lived, down to the present 
 times. — But agriculture is too laborious an em- 
 ployment, and requires habits of life too regular to 
 be agreeable to all men. Surrounded by forests 
 filled with game, many would be inclined to aban- 
 don the toils of clearing and cultivating the ground, 
 to seek their provision, and their pleasure, in the 
 chace, which has ever been a favourite exercise of 
 mankind. Judging from what we observe among 
 the savages of this continent, and those Anglo- 
 Americans who reside in their vicinity, their mode 
 of procuring subsistence by hunting tends to dis- 
 perse them widely from one another, and to distri- 
 
310 
 
 bute them over immense tracts of countr}^ Hence 
 small independent tribes would in time spring up 
 here and there through a boundless wilderness ; they 
 would forget all arts but that of hunting, and their 
 mode of life would necessarily render them savage. 
 — His lordship supposes that there exists an invin^ 
 cible objection against the dispersion of the primitive 
 inhabitants of the world, and against the possibility 
 of their degenerating into savage manners, in the ex- 
 ample and advice of a venerable ancestor, and in the 
 social disposition of man. — The example and advice 
 pf such an ancestor would doubtless possess great 
 influence among that civilized people which would 
 naturally be formed around the place of his imme- 
 diate residence. But what power could they exert 
 over his remote descendents who should live in a 
 following age, or be ranging the forest at the dis- 
 tance of a thousand leagues ? — In answer to this 
 question he confidently pronounces, in contradiction 
 to all experience, that mankind would never have 
 separated from one another, and from the pleasures 
 of that social intercoiu'sc which they would have en-» 
 joyed with their flimilies and friends. Or if pleasure 
 could not bind them, he imagines that fear would 
 have restrained them. — *' Men, savs he, never de- 
 
541 
 
 sert their connexions, nor their country without ne- 
 cessity : fear of enemies, and of wild beasts, as well 
 as the attractions of society, are more tlian sufficient 
 to restrain them from wandering : not to mention 
 that savages are peculiarly fond of their natal soil." 
 
 No man could have spoken in this manner who 
 Iiad ever been acquainted with human nature in its 
 savage state. It is ridiculous to speak of the fear 
 of wild beasts to hunters whose diversion it is to 
 pursue and destroy them. And not much less absurd 
 is it to speak of the attractions of society, and of 
 exclusive attachments to a particular soil to men 
 whose habitation is a wilderness, — to whom migra- 
 tion is a habit, — to whom every spot of earth is 
 equal where they can find game, — ^and who feel the 
 charms of society infinitely less than the pleasures 
 of the chace. What are the attractions of society 
 to rude unpolished savages ? Destitute of the 
 delicacy and refinement of sentiment which civilized 
 manners create, and accustomed to the taciturnity in- 
 duced by solitude, they are little more than the 
 pleasure which dumb animals i^erceive at the ap- 
 proach of other animals of the same species. The 
 chace, which is productive of higher and stongcr 
 pmotions, easily breaks the feeble ties of such soci- 
 
342 
 
 ety ; and hunters, like beasts of prey, delight in 
 solitudes and deserts. — Men, in such a state, are 
 seen to migrate to the greatest distances for the most 
 trifling causes : sometimes from curiosity ; some* 
 times through mere caprice, and often for the con- 
 venience of hunting. 
 
 The influence upon the human mind, of a great 
 fextent of lands lying in common, and ready to be 
 occupied by the first comer, is very visible in the 
 effects produced by a similar situation on the inhab- 
 itants of many parts of the United States. Their 
 fathers came from Europe with all those fixed hab- 
 its, and those tendencies to local attachments which 
 can reasonably be imputed to any people. They 
 took possession of a boundless and unappropriated 
 forest, in which they might choose almost at plea- 
 Sure, where to reside : a circumstance which has pro- 
 duced a speedy, and astonishing effect upon the 
 manners of their descendents. The Anglo-Amer- 
 icans discover comparatively little attachment to a 
 natal soil. No hereditary possessions, no objects 
 of antiquity, seize the imagination, and identify 
 themselves with the endearing idea of family. The 
 people migrate from place to place, and often to 
 the greatest distances, without reluctance. They 
 
343 
 change their habitations, retire from the midst of 
 their friends, and abandon their natal ml, often for 
 apparently small conveniences. Near the sea coast, 
 indeed, and in our oldest towns, the long residence 
 of families is beginning to produce its natural effect 
 upon the mind, a greater attachment to ancestral 
 seats ; but passing westward, as the settlements be* 
 come more recent, these attachments are seen to be 
 more feeble, till, at last, as we approach the vicin- 
 ity of the indian tribes, they are next to nothing ; 
 and similarity of situation, begets a great approxi- 
 mation of manners between the posterity of Euro- 
 peans, and the aboriginal savages of the country. 
 If his lordship had seen America, he might have 
 seen men forever migrating from the midst of soci- 
 ety to uncultivated deserts ; and, as society gradual- 
 ly advances upon them from the sea- coast, he might 
 have seen them again retiring before it still farther 
 into the depths of the wilderness ; he might have 
 seen men decline the labours of agriculture as a toil, 
 and prefer the fatigues, with the precariousness of 
 hunting to all the advantages to be derived from the 
 arts ; he might have seen that mankind often find 
 eliarms in the indolence and independence of the 
 savage state, superior to the attractions of society^ 
 
344 
 
 which must be connected with the labors of industry, 
 and the sacrifices of subordination ; he might have 
 seen our native Indians, either singly, or in com- 
 panies, travel for many moons successively, to ex- 
 plore other forests, and to seek for other rivers ; he 
 might have seen whole tribes rise from their seats at 
 once, and, carrying with them the bones of their 
 fathers, seek new habitations at the distance of hun- 
 dreds of leagues. — But his lordship has seen none of 
 these things; and he speaks of the savage state 
 without understanding it, and of human nature in 
 the beginning of time, without knowing how it has 
 been affected, or what principles of action it has 
 displayed in similar situations in later periods. Like 
 many other philosophers, he judges and reasons 
 concerning man only from what he has seen ; and is 
 led to form wrong conclusions from his own prepos- 
 sessions. 
 
 According to his principles a state of savagisra 
 never could have existed on the supposition of vari- 
 ous original species of men, more than on that of 
 one. " Fear of wild beasts," and " the attractions 
 of society," would have held each race so closely 
 connected together as to have " prevented their dis- 
 persion." Every art of agriculture would have 
 
345 
 been tried before they would have extended their 
 habitations into the dangerous wilderness. A civ- 
 lized community would have risen round the dwell- 
 ing of the progenitor of each race. And when they 
 should have been compelled by necessity to enlarge 
 their limits, they would have extended them in com- 
 pany. The forests would have fallen before them 
 as they advanced ; and fear, and the social principle, 
 would have equally contributed to restrain them 
 from encountering the hazards, and risking the dis- 
 persions consequent upon indulging the spirit of 
 the chace. The world, instead of being filled with 
 numerous tribes of savages, would have every- 
 where presented to us civilized nations. His lord- 
 ship, on this subject, constantly reasons against him* 
 self. He intends to combat the doctrine of a single 
 species, from the existence of the savage state, 
 which yet is a necessary consequence of that doc- 
 trine, and would certainly be precluded on hi^ own 
 principles. 
 
 Finally, his lordship ** affirms," that if all men had 
 descended from one family *' there never could have 
 existed but one language, without the aid of a mira- 
 cle," which he only supposes in the case, with the in- 
 sidious view of exposing it to derision. This is an 
 
 T T 
 
546 
 
 assertion which rs certainly, not a Httle surprizing 
 in a great philosopher, who has undertaken to treat 
 of human nature, and to present to us a philosophic 
 history of man. — Similarity of language among all 
 nations, diversified only by the various grades of 
 improvement in science, and the arts, to which they 
 should respectively have attained, would have been 
 a natural consequence of the universal civilization of 
 mankind continued down from a wise and virtuous 
 father of the race, through all the branches of his 
 posterity. Diversity of languages is an equally ne- 
 cessary consequence of the savagism of a great 
 portion of the tribes of mankind, induced in the 
 manner that has been already explained, and natur. 
 ally arising out of the condition of the earth immedi- 
 ately after such a catastrophe as the universal del- 
 uge. — The reason of this will be obvious on a little 
 reflection. The savage has comparatively few 
 wants ; and his state furnishing but few objects for 
 the employment of language in his intercourse with 
 other savages, the compass of discourse between 
 them must be extremely limited. A savage is a 
 taciturn animal. The paucity of his ideas, and the 
 solitude in which he lives, incline him rarely to 
 speak : and when he does speak, he is obliged, foi* 
 
347 
 'want of a sufficient copiousness of terms, to express 
 himself chiefly in figures. This artifice the cfiect of 
 necessitv% abridges still more the sphere of language, 
 by making the same term stand for various ideas, 
 sensible, or mental, physical, or moral, according as 
 the speaker finds resemblances or analogies between 
 them. A swift man, is a deer^ — a man of address is 
 a fox, — ^a warrior of strengdi or courage is a hear-^-r^ 
 The union and harmony of peace is expressed b} a 
 ehain; and putting an end to the cruelties and distress 
 of war, by covering the tomahawk^ or washing tfie 
 bloody bed. In this rude condition of mankind, the 
 elements of speech must be extremely narrow. At 
 the same time, among diifcrent tribes it must be 
 very various. Each new region, each new climate 
 into which they may be dispersed, will present to 
 the senses many different objects, must create differ- 
 ent wants, which will consequently require new 
 terms by which to express them. Hence will result 
 a diversity in the first elements of speech between 
 various tribes. — If a few common terms should be 
 transmitted from the primitive stock relative to the 
 most familiar ideas, and objects of the first neces- 
 'lity, yet even these would undergo, in time, con- 
 siderable modifications arising from the usual 
 
348 
 
 causes which create a continual flux in all langua- 
 ges ; and many of them would be so changed from 
 their original forms as hardly to be recognized to 
 ha\ e been once the same, or sprung from the same 
 roots. Language would become as various as the 
 tribes of men. And as these tribes would advance 
 in the cultivation of the arts, their respective 
 languages would constantly exhibit still less resem- 
 blance to one another. They would commence the 
 vast career of improvement, as we have seen, with 
 few elements in common ; and even these few 
 would soon undergo material changes. And in the 
 infinite multitude of words which civilization, sci- 
 ence, and the arts add to language, no two nations, 
 perhaps, have ever agreed upon the same sounds to 
 represent the same ideas. — In the progress of time, 
 indeed, the superior refinement of one nation above 
 its neighbours may induce them to adopt many of its 
 terms along with its arts ; conquest may impose a 
 language ; extension of empire may contribute to 
 melt down difi'erent dialects into one mass ; but in- 
 dependent tribes naturally give rise to diversity of 
 tongues. 
 
 Hence, although the speech of men was origin- 
 ally one, yet, as they separated themselves from one 
 
349 
 
 another over the uncultivated face of the primitive 
 world, and gave existence to various savage tribes, 
 or tribes only in the first simple stages of society, 
 they laid the foundation, at the same time, of an equal 
 variety of dialects. — Every argument, therefore,, 
 employed by his lordship fails to support the super- 
 structure which he attempts to rest upon it, and 
 this last, which he deemed the strongest of all, in- 
 stantly falls to pieces under a fair and critical ex* 
 amination. 
 
 Such is the attack which this celebrated philo- 
 sopher has made on the doctrine of the identity of 
 the human species. In all the writings of this author 
 there is not another example of so much weak and 
 inconclusive reasoning. This ought in justice 
 to be imputed rather to the indefensible nature 
 of the cause which he has undertaken to maintain, 
 than to any defect of talents in the writer. For, to 
 him I may apply the lines which, on another occa- 
 sion, he applies to Dn Robertson ; 
 
 Si Pergama dextra 
 Dcfendi possent, ctitim hac defensa fuissent. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 OF THE NATURAL BRAVERY AND FORTITUDE 
 OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS— OR THE HIS- 
 TORY OF THEIR MANNERS AS IT RELATES 
 TO THEIR MILITARY EXPEDITIONS, AND 
 THEIR CONDUCT TO THOSE WHO ARE TA- 
 KEN CAPTIVE IN WAR. 
 
 The writers who subdivide the human race into 
 various species have sought support for this opinion, 
 among other arguments, from the great diversity of 
 moral and intellectual powers and qualities which 
 exist between various nations of the globe, and es* 
 pecially between the tribes of African and American 
 savages, and the civilized inhabitants of Europe, or 
 of Asia. Reasoning falaciously from false facts, they 
 have endeavoured to establish such extreme and 
 essential distinctions between them as can be the re,, 
 suit only of some original and radical difference of 
 nature. Mr. White has taken for his example the 
 negroes of Africa, and Lord Kaims the indian abo- 
 riginals of North- America. The former I have 
 already considered in my remarks on the discourses 
 
354 
 
 of that writer. On the latter, wliich have been so 
 often, and so egregiously misrepresented, I purpose 
 in this appendix, to make a few observations. 
 
 Lord Kaims appeals to the modes of warfare in 
 use among the American indians as indicating 
 a degree of pusillanimity beyond the ordinary stand- 
 ard of human nature, which, in his opinion, ought 
 to degrade them from the rank of men ; and to the 
 cruelty of the tortures inflicted on their prisoners, as 
 well as their apathy in suffering, as demonstrating 
 some principle in their constitutional .organization 
 which entirely discriminates them from the rest of 
 mankind, and may be justly admitted as a sufiicient 
 ground to arrange them as a distinct species. His 
 lordship appears to be very imperfectly informed in 
 the genuine history of these tribes, and to have be- 
 stowed little reflection on the powerful influence of 
 moral causes in forming the characters of nations. 
 Bodi these phenomena which have induced him, to- 
 gether with many other, European writers, to brand 
 the natives of the new world with cowardice, and 
 with almost incredible apathy of feeling, result from 
 their state of society, and the peculiar situation of 
 their small hordes, and from certain habits and opin- 
 ions existing among them which have originated, in a 
 
555 
 
 great measure, from the same causes. Some de- 
 tails in their history I shall now present to the rea- 
 der relative to their modes of warfare, with their 
 treatment of their captives, and the peculiar opinions, 
 and circumstances in their state, which influence 
 each, whence we may derive a philosophic solution 
 of those extraordinary traits in their manners, which 
 have given occasion to these unjust and odious im- 
 putations. 
 
 The aboriginal natives of North- America present 
 to the philosopher some new and curious views of 
 human nature which were wholly unknown to an- 
 tiquity, and which even now, notwithstanding the 
 extended improvements of modern times in geo- 
 graphical, and moral science, are not to be met with 
 in any other portion of the globe. In tracing the 
 origin of this people by the most probable conjec- 
 tures, it has been generally agreed, that they are de- 
 rived from the Tartar hordes dispersed alongthe north- 
 eastern coasts of Asia. Here a barbarous people, 
 impelled by accident, or attracted by the allurements 
 of the chace, passing the narrow seas which, in this 
 part, separate the two continents, soon forgot even 
 the imperfect arts of Siberia and Kamtschatka, ex- 
 cept those simple stratagems which were necessary 
 
3S6 
 
 to take their game in the forest, or to draw the fish 
 from the stream. In this rude condition they would 
 b€ abandoned entirely to the unassisted efforts of 
 nature, to be formed by the influences of a new cli- 
 mate, and by the wants, and the dangers of their 
 new situation. In the milder and more fertile re* 
 gions of the southern continent, which had derived 
 their population, tlirough several intermediate grades, 
 from the more cultivated nations in the South of 
 Asia, some advances towards improvement, and a 
 civilized state of society, had been made. But 
 these elementary operations in the arts had not yet 
 extended to the tribes which lay above the thirtietl> 
 degree of northern latitude when the first adventurer^ 
 from Europe reached the American shores. These 
 still remained in the rudest condition of human na^ 
 ture. They were universally savage ; but they were 
 savages of a temperate climate, and, therefore, not 
 so utterly degenerate as those which are found un. 
 der the latitudes of extreme heat, or extreme cold^ 
 The powers of life were not benumbed by the one, 
 nor enfeebled by the other. A warm sun, and a 
 luxuriant vegetation did not offer to the natural in- 
 dolence of a savage the means of subsistence without 
 the strenuous exertion of his own faculties ; nor did 
 
357 
 
 the rigors of a frozen sky render those exertions en- 
 tirely fruitless. The indian of North- America pre* 
 sents to us man completely savage, but obliged by 
 the nature of the forest which he inhabits, and the 
 variable temperature of the heaven under which he 
 lives, as well as by the enemies with which he i$ 
 surrounded, to employ both courage and address, 
 for his subsistence, and defence. He is of savages, 
 therefore, the most noble, in whom the unaided 
 powers of human nature appear with greater dignity 
 than among those rude tribes who either approach 
 nearer to the equator, or are farther removed to- 
 wards the poles. 
 
 It is not my object, at present, to pourtray the 
 moral character of the American savage in all its re-, 
 lations ; I shall contemplate it singly in his military 
 operations and atchievements, as this is the principal 
 point of view in which it is immediately related to 
 my subject;* and is that, indeed, ia which the 
 
 * This appendix is extracted from a larger dissertation en-t 
 titled the history and philosophy of the manners of tlic Ameri- 
 can savage, which I have had it in contemplation to prepare as 
 an addition to my lectures on Moi*al Philosophy in the college 
 designed to exhibit the influcnse of various states of society on 
 the human character. 
 
358 
 
 peculiarities of this extraordinary race arc chiefly 
 displayed. Except hunting, which is the necessary 
 means of their subsistence, war forms their favourite 
 occupation, and to excel in it is their supreme ambi- 
 tion. In conducting it they exhibit the greatest 
 address and enterprize, perseverance and fortitude. 
 If the passions of such uncultivated minds are often 
 atrocious, they sometimes display such heroic, and 
 even sublime efforts of courage, and unconquerable 
 firmness of soul, as justly excite our wonder, and 
 command our admiration. 
 
 In treating . this subject I shall consider, the 
 causes, the conduct, and the consequences of their 
 wars. 
 
 Wars, among them, most frequently arise from 
 encroachments on their hunting grounds, or from 
 contests concerning their limits. Although the 
 idea of dividing land in private and individual pro- 
 perty has never occurred to a savage, and is, indeed, 
 resisted by all his habits, and his feelings of unrestrain- 
 ed liberty, yet their hunting grounds they regard as a 
 national domain in which every huntsman and war- 
 rior feels the deepest interest, as it is the great field 
 of his sports, and furnishes the only sources of his 
 subsistence. He is vigihnt, therefore, to observe 
 
359 
 
 every transgression of its limits, and prompt to repel^ 
 or to punish every invasion of the national rights. 
 But, as they have no arts by which these boundaries 
 can be fixed with precision, and they must neces- 
 sarily be left to be rudely marked by mountains and 
 rivers, and by certain lines which, at different 
 points, are indistinctly traced through the woods 
 to connect these, they are liable to be frequently 
 passed by foreign hunters who cannot be minute- 
 ly acquainted with their course. The uncertainty 
 of such lines, likewise, must often afford to neigh- 
 bouring tribes pretexts for mutual invasions, or 
 complaints. In the ardor of the chace, it is easy for 
 young and impatient hunters to overleap those ill de- 
 fined limits without any hostile design. But if they 
 should happen to be met in this act of aggression by 
 any of that nation who consider themselves possess- 
 ed of the right of property, the intruders usually pay 
 with their lives the forfeit of their rashness ; or if the 
 force on each side be nearly equal, their meeting 
 issues in mortal conflict. If the aggression is not 
 discovered and punished on the spot, as soon as it is 
 known to the chiefs of the injured nation, they send> 
 a herald with a demand of satisfaction, or they en- 
 eourage their young men to make reprisals on the 
 
560 
 
 offending tribe, which inevitably kindles the rage of 
 war for the diversion of hunting. 
 
 The wars of rude people often arise from the most 
 trivial causes ; and not unfrequently it happens that 
 parties of young hunters from different tribes meet- 
 ing in the forest, and roused by that spirit of rival- 
 ry, and that pride of national atcliievement so natu- 
 ral to man, enter into contests of emulation. Con- 
 tests, which, managed with their rough passions, 
 easily degenerate into broils, that terminate in blood-* 
 shed. And the first blood which is spilled too of- 
 ten becomes the signal of general war. In these 
 small tribes the persons who arc slain are more 
 nearly or remotely connected by the ties of blood 
 with every family in the nation. Each man feels 
 and resents the murder as a mortal injury aimed 
 Against himself: and the whole nation, with that 
 Spirit of clan which always pervades such narrow 
 communities, are ready to rush to its revenge. 
 Hostilities among savages are seldom waged through 
 motives of ambition, which hardly can have any 
 place in a state of society entirely destitute of wealth ; 
 or from tlie cool dictates of a calculating and fore- 
 seeing policy, which would invoh e ideas too com- 
 plex and refined for their uncultivated minds^ 
 
They are eemmonly the result of the sudden im- 
 pulses of passion. Rude hunters, and young and 
 mettlesome warriors, little acquainted with the re* 
 strains of government, and presumptuous from inex- 
 j>erience, impatient or incapable of the details of 
 tiegociation by which hostilities might be prevented, 
 and wrongs compensated or redressed, are ever 
 prompt to recur to force, and 6n the slightest pro- 
 vocation, make their appeal to arms. Their want of 
 subordination to any civil authority, for no control 
 which deserves that title is established among them, 
 and their lofty sense of personal independence, fre- 
 quently subject their national movements to violent 
 convulsions. They possess no regularly organized 
 bodies charged with the care of the common weal, 
 who can coolly deliberate on the public interests, and 
 l^reserve the nation from being committed, and its 
 peace embroiled by the rash actions of their young 
 warriors. Yet, when it is threatened with danger, 
 their old men, whom age and experience have cloth- 
 ed, even among savages, with a certain degree of 
 respect, convene and ofter their counsels. To ad- 
 vise is all that is in their power ; which, however, 
 is not without its influence when the general inflama* 
 tion is not already excited to too hig^h a pitch. 
 
 w w 
 
362 
 
 Having no laws to punish crimes among themselves^ 
 still less does there exist any public law to repress^ 
 or to punish aggressions meditated, or committed 
 against any foreign tribe. And when a young warrior, 
 stimulated by his native courage, or burning with 
 national emulation makes the first attack upon a 
 neighbouring tribe, he relies securely on the protec- 
 tion of his own people. Their love of war, and fe- 
 rocity of character, render them ever prompt to de- 
 fend the indiscretions of courage. The sympathies 
 of these savages are always in unison with violent 
 and daring actions. Hence the multiplication, and 
 the sanguinary complexion of their wars. 
 
 They do not, however, always precipitate them* 
 selves rashly, and without discernment, into every 
 new war. When hostilities are threatened by some 
 powerful tribe, the whole nation is assembled to de- 
 liberate on the expediency of taking up the toma- 
 hawk, and on the measures to be pursued in the pre- 
 sent crisis. Here their old men give their sage and 
 experienced advice, and their orators address them 
 with an eloquence always highly figurative, and often 
 noble and commanding. If the nation which is the 
 object of their councils is nearly equal in force with 
 themselves^ their own courage, and sense of national 
 
363 
 
 honor, and above all, the ardor of their youth, will 
 commonly determine their ultimate resolutions in 
 favor of war. And it is surprising with what saga- 
 city and judicious discernment, the reasons on either 
 side of the questions which are proposed to their 
 deliberation, will often be estimated, and balanc- 
 ed by these savage senators. But if it be obvious 
 that hostilities must be waged by them, at present, 
 with great national disadvantage, the cooler counsels 
 of age and experience will sometimes turn the scale 
 to the side o£ peace. If this be the result, they 
 hasten to send an embassy to the tribe with whom 
 they were likely to be embroiled, and by gifts and 
 concessions, endeavour to avert their fury. If 
 nothing less will appease the vengeance of their en- 
 emies for some favourite warriors slain, than the 
 blood of the murderers, this demand is followed by 
 an example of retaliative justice the most extraordi- 
 nary, perhaps, that the history of any people has re- 
 corded. They have no laws by which they can ar- 
 rest, confine, or put to death, any member of their 
 respective tribes. But the nation which is solicit- 
 ing peace under these disadvantages, resolves, by a 
 public decree, to abandon the victims which have 
 been demand^, to the revenge of the offeadr 
 
set 
 
 ed party. And what is not less singular than ihi* 
 public abandonment, is the calm resignation with 
 which those who are thus devoted await the execu- 
 tion prepared for them. Not an effort is made to 
 resist, or to escape it. The warriors oi the injurcdi 
 nation, deputed to inflict it, ^ppe^r, and, without ^, 
 murmur they offer their heads to the vengeful toma^- 
 hawk, now the minister of peace; and the harmony 
 of the two nations is cemented by the blood of the 
 murderers.* 
 
 If a determination for war is the result of the na- 
 tional council, the resolution is received with a uni- 
 versal shout. They raise the war song, — they min- 
 gle in the war dance, which is a horrible imitation 
 of all the most atrocious actions of their cruel war- 
 fare ; — they run to prepare their weapons ; — ^they 
 send to invite their allies ; — ^they paint their bodies, 
 and especially their faces, with a variety of coarse, 
 fantastic, colours and figures, which they suppose 
 
 ♦ This resignation appears to be the result of a noble sentV 
 ment of pcitriotism to save their countrymen from the calami- 
 ties which would otherwise fall upon them; or of a full convic- 
 tion th .t, when abandoned by their tribe, it is no longer possible 
 to escape the vengeance of their enemies : and, as they do not 
 fe%r deuth, they would not seem to wish to delay it. 
 
565 
 
 will be at once beautiful to their friends, and terri- 
 ble to their enemies ; — ^they equip themselves 
 for the expedition; — they chuse a chieftain to 
 conduct it. Frequently it happens that some not, 
 ed warrior, confiding in the reputation which his 
 past achievements have gained him, offers himself to 
 be a leader, and is received with enthusiasm. Whei> 
 the election is to be made out of the mass of warri- 
 ors, the choice is said to be, in many instances, de* 
 termined by the physiognomy of the chief. For, sav^ 
 ages not being accustomed to disguise their emotions, 
 and leaving their features to be formed or modified by 
 the natural and unconstrained sentiments and passions 
 of the mind, often exhibit in their countenance ^ 
 striking mirror of their character. His features 
 should be fierce, his eye bold, and penetrating, his 
 muscles strong, his limbs active, and his whole as* 
 pect and demeanor haughty and intrepid. A loud 
 and terrible voice is, likewise, a great recommend- 
 ation to a leader in their esteem as it was among the 
 ancient Germans. For, in battle, he must endeav- 
 our by his shouts to rouse the courage of his own] 
 troops, and to terrify those of his enemy. The voice 
 of the chief serves them, instead of trumpets, to 
 sound the charge ; and tnust often direct their 
 
366 
 
 movements during the conflict. But tlie chief title 
 to the public favor, in this moment of danger, is 
 founded in his past exploits, and his distinguished 
 exertions of intrepidity and skill in hunting or in war. 
 Those heroes whose achievements the nation has 
 often beheld and admired will commonly be follow- 
 ed by her warriors with the greatest confidence. 
 
 But as, in this state of society, no public obliga- 
 tion, more than private duty can be imposed by 
 any law of the community, the actions of every mem- 
 ber are unconstrained and voluntary, and depend in 
 this case on the sympathy of the individual with the 
 public spirit. The whole body of warriors therefore 
 are not expected to follow the national chieftain ; 
 and many partizan corps are formed under separate 
 leaders. A bold and intrepid chief presenting to 
 them some point of attack which he is ambitious to 
 assail, with the probable means of ensuring success, 
 offers himself to conduct the enterjorize ; and march- 
 ing forth from the midst of the assembly with a lofty 
 step, strikes his tomahawk into the body of a tree. 
 All those, who, admiring his courage, and confiding 
 in his talents, are inclined to follow him, advance in 
 the same manner and strike their hatchets under his 
 into the same tree. This is their enlistment. It is 
 
367 
 
 perfectly voluntarj% A spirit of enterpri2:e, and at- 
 tachment to their leader are their only motives, and 
 their only reward, besides glutting their vengeance, 
 the applauses of their countr) men. No legal penalty 
 could be inflicted on desertion. But after an indian 
 has once fixed his tomahawk in the tree, to retract 
 his engagement would brand him with indelible 
 contempt and shame. 
 
 Sometimes a single warrior, to prove his prowess 
 and address, or to satisfy his revenge for some friend 
 slain, will undertake an expedition alone ; and, after 
 marching over hundreds of leagues, and enduring 
 almost incredible hardships, and spending weeks and 
 months in this solitary warfare, he will return grati- 
 fied if he has taken only a single scalp ; which is in- 
 deed, a difficult achievement against an enemy at 
 once so brave, and so vigilant. But if he returns 
 without this proof of his success, his courage or his 
 dexterity is dishonored in the esteem of his nation* 
 And, with them, it is nearly an equal disgrace to be 
 deficient in stratagem as in bravery. If he brings 
 home several of these barbarous trophies, it fixes his 
 character as a brave and skilful warrior. 
 
 But, by following the principal chieftain, who 
 conducts the national force, we shall gain a more 
 
368 
 
 diStiTict view 6f the military geniirt of this extraor- 
 dinar}" people.— Assembling his little army, he ad* 
 dresses them in a rude eloquence that is not desti* 
 tute of energy and force. It glows with the warm* 
 est and the boldest figures, well calculated to in* 
 flame all their fierce and unrelenting pussions. He 
 reminds them of the injuries of thfir enemies— thd 
 broken chain of treaties — the bloody axe which ha« 
 severed it— the unwashed bed of their slaughtered 
 countr}^men— their bones whitening on the hills that 
 cart never be gathered to their country burying place 
 -»-the fires lighted up to torture their captive broth* 
 ers. And when he perceives their passions kindling, 
 when he hears their impatient shouts and sees theif 
 frantic gestures, he raises the song, and leads up the 
 dance of war. This is the horrid prelude to their 
 entering on their march. 
 
 One precaution in selecting their troops deserves 
 to be remarked, as it is an evidence at once of theif 
 prudence in forming their military plans, and their 
 resolute and determined spirit in executing them. 
 A young man is not permitted to take arms along 
 with the host, in any hazardous expedition, whd 
 has not given decisive proofs of his courage, and ad- 
 dress in hunting, and of his patience in enduring 
 
569 
 
 fatigue and pain, lest his weakness, or unskilfulness 
 should bring dishonor on his nation. 
 
 In their march they observe nothing like the disci- 
 pline that takes place in the armies of civilized na- 
 tions. The chief enjoys no authority but what his 
 reputation gives him. Confidence in his skill, and a 
 sense of common interest and danger are the sole 
 principles of union and order among them. He lays 
 before his warriors his general plan, and the regula- 
 tions he wishes to be observed in their advances to- 
 wards the enemy. The rest is left to each man's 
 judgment and discretion. 
 
 Their weapons, before the introduction of fire 
 arms by the Europeans, w^ere bows, arrows, 
 spears, and clubs. Their spears and arrows were 
 headed with the hardest bones taken from animals 
 which they had slain in hunting ; or with stones, of 
 a fine and hard grain, nicely ground to a point, by 
 a tedious and laborious friction. Their clubs were 
 formed out of a weighty species of wood, having a 
 large knob at the end most distant from the hand, 
 which, on one side, was fashioned to an edge re- 
 sembling that of an axe. With this, they could 
 cither knock down an enemy, or cleave his skull. 
 In place of these clubs, they would frequently em- 
 
370 
 
 ploy a hard kind of granite, moulded by extraordi-^ 
 nary pains into the figure of an axe, except that, in- 
 stead of the eye into which the handle is inserted, 
 they worked out a small groove or channel round the 
 upper part of the stone, about which they twisted a 
 witlie of some tough wood, whereby to connect it 
 with the handle. This was an important instrument 
 both in their domestic occupations, and in war; for, 
 with it they, occasionally, either cut their fuel, or 
 dispatched their enemy. But since their commerce, 
 first with the Europeans, and, more recently, with 
 the people of the United States, they have, in their 
 wars generally substituted the musquet, or the rifie- 
 barreled gun in the room of the spear and the bow. 
 And, in place of the club they employ the toma- 
 hawk, which is a small axe formed at the poll like 
 the head of a hammer. This they can throw to the 
 distance of several yards with surprizing dexterity; 
 and can cast it with such slight as, at pleasure, to 
 strike their object either with the poll, or with the 
 edge. In combat they use it either in hand, or at a 
 distance : and, in both ways, they render it a very 
 formidable weapon to an enemy. Besides these 
 arms, they usually carry a long knife, suspended 
 from the girdle, for the purpose of taking the scalps. 
 
371 
 which are their trophies of victory from the enemies 
 whom they may have slain in battle. 
 
 Thus accoutred, they take up their line of march, 
 which is always in single file. They proceed, one 
 follovving another, exactly in the same path ; and 
 each succeeding one preserves an interval of several 
 paces between him and the warrior immediately be- 
 fore him. And this order they observe till they 
 arrive so near their enemy that the continuance of it 
 would expose them to danger, or betray their move- 
 ments, when they separate, and direct their future 
 progress in the manner which will be afterwards 
 described. In their march they carry themselves in 
 the most erect posture, casting a vigilant eye 
 through the forest to discover any danger that may 
 be lurking in ambuscade near them. The necessity 
 of directing such constant vigilance to the objects 
 around them, prevents them from regarding the 
 small obstructions which must necessarily bt: in a 
 path that passes entirely through a wild woods. 
 Hence they contract a habit of raising their feet when 
 they walk much higher than is customary among 
 civilized nations. As they advance, they observe 
 the most profound silence, unless some danger is 
 suddenly discovered. When this happens it is ia- 
 
372 
 
 timated to the line by a peculiar kind of hoot, which 
 it is impossible to describe, but which issues from 
 tlie thorax by a sudden and violent compression of 
 the muscles about the breast, and impinges forcibly 
 upon the roof of the palate. The march is arrest- 
 ed. Every one looks out for the danger and puts 
 himself in a posture of defence. If an enemy ap- 
 pears, prepared to give them battle, and not too pow- 
 erful to be resisted, each one instantly betakes him^ 
 self to the protection of a tree, or other fixed ob- 
 ject, from behind which he can most securely annoy 
 the foe, or defend himself. The party which is most 
 powerful advances from tree to tree. The weaker 
 retreats by the same degrees ; endeavouring, how- 
 ever, at the same time to bear off with them as many 
 of their wounded, and even of their slain, as they 
 are able to carry with them. In this they discover 
 sentiments of sympathy and honor towards their 
 friends who have fallen, which would entitle them 
 to the highest praise in the most civilized nations, 
 The victors scalp the dead, and put to death the 
 wounded whom their friends have been obliged to 
 abandon, and who are not able to travel at the pace 
 with which they find it necessary to retreat. For 
 even the victors are obliged to retreat ; otherwise 
 
373 
 
 they would be exposed to be cut off by the whole 
 force of the hostile nation which would be roused 
 upon them in consequence of the alarm created by 
 the return of their vanquished warriors. But both 
 parties return only to prepare new expeditions. 
 
 If they meet with no such opposition in their route 
 they march in one body only to a certain distance. As 
 they have no means of laying up magazines, or trans- 
 porting provisions for large bodies of men, they are 
 obliged, before they enter on the territories of the 
 enemy, to separate into small parties, both for the 
 convenience of hunting, and for more effectually 
 concealing their designs. They usually part under 
 an agreement to meet at a preconcerted place in the 
 vicinity of the town, or collection of wigwams 
 which is the object of the expedition. This place 
 they approach by various routes, with the utmost 
 caution and secrecy ; for if only one man be discov- 
 ered the whole design is defeated. A small arm}'' 
 can effect nothing against a nation apprized of its dan- 
 ger, in which every man is a warrior, and every war- 
 rior lives with his arms in his hands. And it is im* 
 possible by any address to conceal themselves when 
 once the vigilance of their enemies is awakened. 
 They are obliged to flee with the utmost precipita* 
 
374 
 
 tion. To prevent a discovery so fatal to their de* 
 signs, they make their approaches, when they have 
 arrived near their object, only in the night. Dur* 
 ing the day they lie concealed in thickets, or be- 
 hind the bodies of decayed timber, and oren so cov- 
 ered with dry leaves that the place of their conceal- 
 ment differs nothing in its appearance from the or-, 
 dinary surface of the forest. If they have occasion 
 to make any movement in the day they will crawl, 
 and frequently to the distance of miles, on their bel- 
 lies, with the greatest perseverance and patience. 
 When arrived, at length, at their preconcerted 
 ground, here they arrange their ultimate plans for 
 making the assult. For whole days will they 
 sometimes lie concealed, with the most astonishing 
 tolerance of hunger waiting the most favourable 
 moment for the execution of their design. Of this 
 the leader gives notice by runners, or by signals 
 already agreed upon. It is commonly at night, 
 when the townsmen are buried in their profoundest 
 sleep ; unless, which sometimes is the case, they find 
 a village in the day dissolved in ease, or in pleasure, 
 and wholly off their guard. Then follows a horrid 
 scene of carnage and butchery, in which is display* 
 ed all the ferocity of savage passions in their most 
 
375 
 
 direful forms. All at once, they spring from thei!^ 
 coverts, and rush into the town which is defended 
 b}' no ramparts, and watched by no guards. Some, 
 bearing flaming brands in their hands, fire the 
 huts in various directions. O.hers burst open the 
 ill barred doors with hideous yells, and attack the 
 wretched inhabitants just waking from sleep and 
 confounded with these frightful and diabolical sounds. 
 At this moment little use is made of their fire arms. 
 They rely chiefly on the murderous tomahawk. 
 They sink it into the skulls of the defenceless, and 
 mangle the limbs of those who attempt to make any 
 resistance. Men, women, and children share the 
 same fate, and are slaughtered without distinction* 
 At length, some of the wretched victims, escaping 
 from their burning habitations, maintain a desperate' 
 co!iflict with the victors in the area before their doors. 
 Despair augments their force. With the fury of de- 
 mons they rush upon their conquerors. They con- 
 flict, — they mingle their tomahawks, with most 
 frightful yells and screeches : all is despair, and rage ; 
 and, the flaming town shedding a dismal light upon 
 this scene of darkness and horror, resembles what 
 our imaginations have pictured most dreadful in 
 
376 
 
 hell.* Tired at last with carnage, and meeting with 
 no more resistance, the conquerors condescend to 
 make prisoners of the few that remain. As soon as 
 their work of death is done, they hasten to return to 
 their own country. They delay no longer than till 
 the victorious chief cuts, or paints on the handle 
 of a tomahawk, which he leaves stuck in the body 
 of a tree, or on the tree itself, some rude emblems 
 of his success. An oval figure serves to represent 
 the leader, in which are stained such characteristic 
 marks as may indicate to his enemies who is the 
 hero who has taken such vengeance on them. Seme 
 symbols he adds expressive of the nation to which 
 he belongs. After these, very coarsely drawn fig- 
 ures of men, or simply erect lines, point out the 
 number of his warriors, and horizontal lines the 
 number of the slain. These, or similar symbols 
 kft upon the spot form the rude record of his glory. 
 Here we discern the origin of trophies erected on the 
 field of action. We perceive also, how naturally 
 mankind have recourse to hierogh phic images or 
 
 * This description is taken from an account of the sack of a 
 town of tlie Hurons. 
 
377 
 
 characters to express their thoughts before they are 
 acquainted with alphabetical writing. 
 
 This finished, they commence their retreat, which 
 is always executed with the greatest rapidity. For 
 they are sure of being immediately pursued with a 
 superior force by the enraged nation ; and they have 
 no means of securing themselves by fortifications, 
 or waiting for succours from their own tribe. And 
 it is the glory of the victor to retire with such speed 
 as to preserve his prisoners and to save his own men 
 from reprisals by the enemy. They hardly eat or 
 sleep till they have reached their own territories. 
 And even then, if they remit their pace while they 
 are yet near the frontier, they are liable to be over- 
 taken, and cut off by a foe burning with revenge. 
 During these movements their captives are guarded 
 with the utmost vigilance. And if any of them, either 
 through fatigue, or by their wounds, are rendered 
 unable to keep pace with them in the rapidity of 
 their course, they are, with unrelenting barbarity, in- 
 istantly dispatched. 
 
 When at last they have gained their own villages, 
 they are every where received with shouts of tri- 
 umph, with frantic dances, and the most flattering 
 testimonies of the applause of their countrymen. 
 
 y y 
 
378 
 
 Th e prisoners experience the most opposite 
 fates. Some, with strange contradiction to all the 
 ideas and customs of civilized nations, are adopted 
 into various families, and, from enemies, become, 
 at once, fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, and enter 
 into all the nearest relations of life. Others are re- 
 served for the utmost extremities of torture which 
 ingenuity can invent, and cruelty can inflict. A few 
 whom they despise too much either to adopt, or to 
 torment, are reduced to slavery to assist their women 
 in those labors of drudgery to which the sex is des- 
 tined by the customs of savage life. 
 
 But, before such distribution is made, they un- 
 dergo a severe and extraordinary kind of discipline 
 in every village through which they pass after they 
 enter into the territories of their conquerors, or of 
 their allies. Each village consists of a double line 
 of huts extended along a single street. At the end 
 of the street the prisoners are collected in order to 
 run a most teazing and distressing kind of gauntlet, 
 between two rovvs of young men who are ranged for 
 the purpose along either side, and are armed with 
 sticks, and stones, and hard balls composed of 
 gravel and clay. With these the unhappy runners 
 are bruised and beaten in a miserable manner. 
 
379 
 
 But, before these races are begun, which aftbrd a 
 barbarous sport to their youth, and even to their 
 ■children, who are permitted to mingle in the amuse- 
 ment, to accustom their minds betimes to acts of 
 ferocity, frequently it happens that women, or old 
 men who have lost their nearest relations by disease, 
 or by w^r, and who now feel the want of their 
 assistance in their domestic occupations, will select 
 a part of the prisoners whom they resolve to adopt 
 in the room of the deceased. This act, apparently 
 so contradictory to the natural ferocity of savage 
 passions, however surprising it may seem, appears 
 to be very sincerely entered into by both parties, and 
 immediately puts an end to all further injury towards 
 the captive. The adopted enemy is received as a 
 countryman and kinsman ; and they transfer to hin^ 
 all the rights, and good offices to which the dead 
 was entitled. The rest are obliged to course it 
 through their cruel gauntlet. If, in the progress of 
 the race, some bruised and beaten victim of their 
 sport, discouraged with the frequency and violence 
 of the blows which he receives, breaks through the 
 line of his persecutors, and endeavours to seek a 
 shelter in some cabin, the females of the family will 
 frequently interpose to skreen him from further suf- 
 
380 
 
 ferings. It depends on the accidental influence of 
 his protectors with those who enter their cabin, 
 whether their kindness is able to defend him, or he 
 is to be dragged forth with increased fury to run the 
 remainder of his course. If any woman adopts him 
 on the spot, which is not an unusual thing, this effec- 
 tually arrests all further persecution, and he is re- 
 ceived as a member of the family. The circum- 
 stance most astonishing in these adoptions, but 
 which is as well attested as any in their history, is 
 the mutual transfer which is made of duties and affec- 
 tions. The enemy is treated as a friend and he, on 
 his part, seldom fails to make a suitable return. 
 With a facility that surprizes us he enters into the 
 sentiments which belong to his new relations. He 
 m vcr attempts to return to his native country ; they 
 never distrust his fidelity. 
 
 Every prisoner who does not receive the privilege 
 of adoption, or who scorns it, as those commonly 
 do who value themselves upon being distinguished 
 warriors, is destined to suffer death in its most 
 frightful foims. Before his sentence, however, is 
 intimated to him, he is, by one of those strange 
 contradictiojis so often exhibited in the savage cha- 
 racter, treated with every appearance of kindness, 
 
381 
 
 and humanity. He receives the appellation of bro- 
 ther ; he is supplied with food, and lodged in the 
 same manner with themselves. What is not less 
 strange than their kindness is his indifference. He 
 eats, and drinks, and sleeps with the same tran- 
 quillity as if he were in the midst of his friends. 
 Always taciturn, indeed, according to the character 
 of a savage, but always composed. — At length a 
 warrior arrives who informs him that his fate is 
 decided, and his funeral pile is ready. He makes 
 no other reply, but a certain kind of guttural and 
 forcible sound, which, among them, signifies — 
 JFell! and marches with an elevated and sullen air 
 towards the place of his execution. Here he sees a 
 huge pile of wood to which fire is applied, and near 
 it a tree to which he is to be bound. No sooner 
 does he see the flame, and his enemies shouting and 
 dancing round it, than he raises his death song. 
 Sometimes he is bound close to the trunk of the 
 tree, — at other times the cord is so fastened as to 
 afford him a certain range, in which case he 
 courses round the circle prescribed to him chanting 
 his lugubrious notes during the whole of his torture, 
 or as long as his strength will enable him to utter a 
 voice. The fire is not intended to consume him 
 
382 
 
 speedily, but is only applied so as to aggravate his 
 torments, and, by their tediousness, to weaken, if 
 possible, the firmness of his mind. Sometimes the 
 signal for torture is given by an enraged woman 
 who has lost a husband, or a son in the late battle, 
 rushing upon him with a flaming brand, gashing him 
 with a scalping knife, or striking him with a club. 
 In an instant all follow the example, shouting, and 
 leaping round their victim like infernal furies. For 
 torture is the sport of savage minds, and in no 
 amusements do they feel their spirits more elated. 
 Some mangle his limbs, — others stick his body full 
 of splinters of some pitchy wood, which, lighted at 
 one end, and burning slowly to the other which is 
 inserted in his flesh, inflict a most exquisite pain. 
 Some amuse themselves by piercing beneath the nails 
 with these splinters, and setting them on fire ; while 
 others, more furious, endeavour to increase his an- 
 guish to the highest pitch of suffering by tearing 
 his sinews from his bones. Every one is eager to 
 bear a part in this scene of horror. The women, at 
 other times surpassing the men in facility of nature, 
 and kindness to the unfortunate, are often foremost 
 in these cruel and vengeful sports. And even the 
 children are here trained like hounds to the scent of 
 
383 
 
 human blood, and are taught to steel their hearts 
 against commiseration. 
 
 Such is the force of education, and of habit unit- 
 ed with the elevation of mind produced by martial 
 pride, that a distinguished warrior never shrinks 
 from the severity of these torments, or suffers him- 
 self to express the smallest complaint. On the 
 other hand, he glories in sustaining them with a 
 high, unbroken spirit, and making his enemies sensi- 
 ble of the impotence of their rage. He continues 
 his death song, and now and then interrupts it only 
 to insult them. He calls them women ; tells them 
 they are unacquainted with the arts of torture which 
 he has often practised on their friends, and boasts 
 that they are unable to subdue the firmness of a 
 warrior of his nation. He irritates them by recountr 
 ing the numbers of their countrymen he has slain ; 
 and, by every species of provocation, endeavours to 
 incite them to some rash effort of their fury which 
 will shorten his sufferings. It is only the fear of 
 abridging the period of their diabolical revenge 
 which imposes any restraint upon their rage. An 
 old Onondago chief, who was taken by the Hurons, 
 provoked in this manner, a young warrior to give 
 him three stabs witli a knife. " Thou shouldst- 
 
384 
 
 not," Siiid the old man to him calmly, " thou 
 shouldst not be too furious ; — thou wilt spoil thy re- 
 venge, and not have time to learn to die like a man." 
 Many such anecdotes are related of their last 
 moments. Sometimes savage ingenuity protracts 
 these scenes of torture during several days. But, 
 whether continued for a longer or a shorter period, 
 they are equally incapable of wearing out the pa- 
 tience, or subduing the haughty spirit of a noted 
 chief. He insults his persecutors — he sings his 
 mournful song, till nature being at length entirely 
 exhausted, he sinks down without a groan, appa- 
 rently more satisfied at having braved his enemies, 
 than afflicted at the loss of life. Their revenge and 
 hatred prompt them to make him express some com- 
 plaint, if possible, under the anguish of his suffer- 
 ings. He places his honor in being superior to 
 them. They strive to subdue his pride, he derives 
 a pleasure from making them feci his contempt. 
 Their vengeance would enjoy a triumph if they 
 could reduce a warrior of a rival nation to utter a 
 groan, he glories in shewing them that a warrior of 
 his nation can never be subdued by pain. — Some- 
 limes it happens that a prisoner of the lower class is 
 overcome by the extremity of his sufferings, and 
 
385 
 
 trembles at death surrounded by so many terrors* 
 This never raises the compassion, but always the 
 contempt of these hardy savages ; and some haughty 
 and furious chief dispatches him at a blow, as un- 
 worthy of being treated like a man. 
 
 From the preceeding details of the military cha- 
 racter and habits of the American savage several im- 
 portant enquiries arise the solution of which will tend 
 to throw light on the philosophy and human nature^ 
 and particularly to obviate those objections which 
 have been made by some respectable writers to the 
 identity of species in them, and in the polished Eu- 
 ropeans. — 1. To what principle are we to ascribe 
 that concealed mode of fighting, and those approaches 
 made by stealth to the object of their attack which, 
 from their opposition to the customs of all civilized 
 nations, and the manner in which true bravery is 
 expressed among them, has produced against the 
 American the charge of extreme and unmanly pusil- 
 lanimity ? Is this an indication of a total destitu- 
 tion of courage ? or is it only a different mode of 
 exerting a principle which conspicuously belongs to 
 human nature in every region of the globe ?— 2. How 
 
 z z 
 
286 
 
 shall we reconcile the facility with which adoption* 
 are often made and received among their prisoners 
 of war, with the ferocity of their passions, and the 
 exterminating spirit of their hostilities ? Are their 
 moral and domestic affections entirely diiferent from 
 those of all civilized people ? Or, are these ap- 
 parent contradictions in their character to be ex- 
 plained only on the supposition of a radical dif- 
 ference of nature ? — 3. In what way shall we ac- 
 count for that atrocious barbarity in torture which 
 seems to have not one sentiment of compassion ming- 
 led with it in the breasts of a people who, on other 
 occasions, are not devoid of the feelings of humani- 
 ty ? — 4. Finally, what name shall we give to that 
 astonishing tolerance of pain with which they en- 
 dure the most cruel tortures ? Is it magnanimity ? 
 Or is it defect of natural sensibility ? 
 
 The various and variable character of man will 
 ever be, in a great measure, formed by the situa- 
 tion and circumstances in which he is placed : and 
 the same original principles are capable of being 
 moulded, by these circumstances, into an infinite 
 diversity of forms. Apply this reflection to the 
 military habits of our American indians, and so far 
 will they be found from indicating that natural cow- 
 
387 
 
 ardicc and pusillanimity which has been erroneously 
 imputed to them, that they will appear to be the aU 
 most necessary result of the nature of their country, 
 of their political state, and their total want of im- 
 provement in the arts. — The defences and stratagems 
 of war in civilized nations are always relative to the 
 progress and improvement of society and the arts 
 among them, and to the nature and position of their 
 respective countries. The bravest armies cover 
 themselves by fortifications, and take advanta,a:e of 
 high grounds, of ravines, of villages, or thickets for 
 their defence ; a Roman fought from behind his 
 shield, and all employ numerous stratiigems in 
 war for the purpose of concealment, or deception. 
 Is it more dishonorable in a savage to employ, in 
 his marches and attacks, the cunning which nature 
 has given him, and, in battle, the simpk defences 
 which nature affords him ? Savages have not either 
 the means or the skill to construct fortifications, or 
 to establish magazines of provisions for the purposes 
 of conquests, or to facilitate the march of armies. In 
 a countr}% therefore, overgrown with forests they are 
 necessarily obliged to prosecute their wars in small 
 parties, both for the purpose of obtaining provision 
 on their route, and for more effectually concealing 
 
388 
 
 their numbers, and the object of their expedition. 
 Advancing in this manner into the territories of an 
 enemy, a mode of warfare which the nature of their 
 country, and their imperfect progress in society and 
 the arts, compels them to adopt, they are exposed 
 to certain destruction unless they can cover their 
 movements with perfect secrecy. Shall we then, 
 with so many European ^vriters, impeach their 
 courage because they conceal their motions with 
 such address and care, or because, when engaged 
 in action, they fight from behind trees, or other 
 objects of protection ? They gave a dreadful refu- 
 tation of this error when a few hundreds of these un- 
 tutored and despised savages entirely routed a British 
 army, conducted, in all the pride of military discip- 
 line, by one of the bravest of the Britsh generals.* 
 No, these are only the first rude arts of attack and 
 defence pointed out by nature to the uncultivated 
 genius of the savage. If these arts are carried to 
 greater perfection by the improvement of civilized 
 nations, the principle on which they are employed, 
 by the one and by the other is the same. It would 
 |iot be courage but madness in them to abandon their 
 
 * General Braddock 
 
389 
 
 natural defences, and with Quixotic errantry to 
 challenge their enemies to combat in the open plain, 
 where both must be uselessly destroyed for a point of 
 honor which a savage could never comprehend. 
 Considering the smallness of their population, and 
 the value of the life of each warrior to the nation, it 
 is as much the glory of a chief, by a skilful conduct, 
 to save his troops, as to conquer his enemies. 
 
 The next enquiry is, perhaps, more difficult to 
 be resolved, and seems to furnish a more striking 
 contradiction to the principles of human nature as 
 they appear among civilized nations. To what mo- 
 tive are we to ascribe the facility with which adop- 
 tions are made and accepted among these ferocious 
 people, immediately after being engaged in acts of 
 the most inveterate hostility ? How shall we reconcile 
 these eft'usions of kindness with the atrocity of their 
 other passions and the scenes of extreme barbarity 
 acted on the countrymen and fellow prisoners of 
 the adopted ? 
 
 Some writers have supposed that the necessity of 
 saving from utter extinction their small tribes wast- 
 ed by continual wars, has given rise, from political 
 motives to these adoptions, and that custom has 
 now confirmed the practice. But this is a plan of 
 
390 
 
 conduct much too cool and artificial for men in that 
 imperfect state of society. It is making savages, 
 ivho feel the ties of society verj^ feebly, and the imr 
 pulses of passion in their utmost force, act more as 
 citizens than as men. Besides, they are the womei^ 
 chiefly who enjoy the privilege of protecting prison- 
 ers by adoption ; and to ascribe to them such mo- 
 tives would be to make policy prevail over nature in 
 their hearts. We might rather arrange nature 
 agahist nature, and suppose that the softness of that 
 sex, more prone to compassion than men, only 
 yielded to the natural impulses of kindness in their 
 own breasts when they rescued an unhappy victim 
 from torture. But another fact equally characteristic 
 of the sex seems to stand in opposition to this. 
 Their weakness inclines them more to cruelty than 
 men, and even the sensibility of their hearts, an<} 
 the irritability of their feelings render them much 
 more bitter and atrocious in their revenge. For 
 this reason, the warriors frequently resign a pris- 
 oner, who has been destined to the flames, to some 
 woman who has lost a husband, or a son in the late 
 actions, that she may appease her grief by venting 
 upon him all the vengeance of her heart. She leads 
 the'wav, she sets the example, she incites the ac- 
 
391 
 
 tors in all the torments he is made to sufFer. Her 
 rage makes her ingenious in inventing new modes 
 of torture. 
 
 It is true that women, in different situations, are 
 Equally prone to kindness and to cruelty. And froni 
 the influence of these principles we derive in part at 
 least, the causes of two moral phenomena so con- 
 tradictory, and apparently so irreconcileable. Those 
 whose hearts are sore irom the recent loss of their 
 friends, irritated almost to madness, set no bounds 
 to their fury. Those, on the other hand, in whose 
 breasts the edge of grief has been blunted by time, 
 and the first transports of revenge have subsided, 
 regaining the softness natural to the sex, more easi- 
 ly admit the returning sentiments of humanity. 
 
 But there are other motives which govern them 
 in this extraordinary act. A woman who has lost a 
 husband, in that rude condition of society where no 
 artificial ties exist to attach her forever to his me- 
 mory, and no delicacies of sentiment and of manners, 
 created by the state of the public morals, check her 
 desires of a new connexion, finds, at length, the emo- 
 tions of grief subside, and give way to the demands 
 of nature. 
 
392 
 
 This transition is greatly aided by the peculiar!/ 
 hard condition of women, and of aged men in the 
 savage state, when bereft of their husbands, or their 
 sons, who might supply their most urgent wants by 
 furnishing them with game. They cannot, as in 
 civilized society, exchange the products of their in- 
 dustry for the means of subsistence. And the indo- 
 lence of the savage, hardly providing for himself,, 
 during a great portion of the year, the necessaries of 
 life, has no stores whence even charity could supply 
 the wants of others. Wretched, then, is the condi- 
 tion of those widowed females, or unfortunate old 
 men who have no vigorous and active huntsmen on 
 whom they can depend for a sustenance which can 
 be drawn only from the chace. To these hardships 
 we may add that their tribes, wasted by continual 
 wars, scarcely afford husbands to their young wo- 
 men ; their widows, therefore, and older women, 
 must often be left through necessity to seek a hus- 
 band or a son from among the number of captives 
 who have been taken in war. The inclination, like- 
 wise, to renew a connexion in which they have been 
 more happy, may frequently prompt their younger 
 widows, who, in that state of society, are little re- 
 
393 
 
 strained by sentiments of delicacy, to solicit an alii- 
 ance among the prisoners which they cannot find 
 among their own countrymen.* 
 
 On the other hand, aged women, or ag^d men, 
 who have lost a son that promised to be the stay of 
 their declining years, not only require one who will 
 supply them with provision, but one who will in- 
 corporate himself with their family by the closest 
 ties of relationship. Savages as they are, they have 
 the feelings of human nature. And as families, in 
 that state of society, are usually small and it fre- 
 quently happens that the loss of one son is the loss 
 of their all, they need an object to fill the vacancy 
 in their hearts, upon which their affections may, in 
 some degree, repose. It is especially necessary in 
 very advanced age, the imbecility of which require^ 
 more than ever such a consolation and support. 
 Not being able always to find it home amidst a 
 wasted population, they are willing to take it even 
 
 * Nor is this so indelicate and abhorrent from nature ia 
 these savages, as it is in some modem queens and princesses 
 to elevate common soldiers from their guards to be their para- 
 mours and ministers of state. The chief difference between 
 them is, that the latter, by their rank, have raised theiTiselves 
 above the laws of delicacy, the former have pever understood 
 ihem. 
 
394 
 
 from enemies whom the fortune of war has thrown 
 into a situation to become useful to them, and even, 
 as we shall presently see, to become friends. Such 
 unions are formed with much greater facihty be- 
 tweea different savage tribes than among nations 
 who have made greater advances in civilization. 
 Between the latter so many differences exist in char- 
 acter, in manners, and language, that they often 
 become fruitful sources of mutual prejudices, and 
 deep rooted antipathies. But among the neighbour- 
 ing tribes of American savages there exists such 
 similarity of habits, of aspect, of manners, and even 
 of language, as greatly facilitates the mutual transfer 
 of duties, first, and afterwards of affections. The 
 adopted are immediately acknowleged by the whole 
 nation as countrymen and brothers. For personal 
 independence among them is so complete, and indi- 
 vidual and national rights so equal and perfect, 
 that the community never thinks of questioning 
 what any member has done, but the act of one is 
 recognized by all. 
 
 Not less difficult to be understood by a civilized 
 
 people than the act of adoption is the acquiescence of 
 
 the prisoner. How does he reconcile himself to a 
 
 situation, and to connexions so novel ? Why does 
 
 # 
 
395 
 
 he never attempt to escape from the midst of stran- 
 gers, and return to his native tribe ? How can he 
 so easily relinquish old, and enter with cordiality into 
 new relations ? To explain this phenomenon so ex- 
 traordinary in itself, and so widely different from 
 what is ever seen to take place among people of cul- 
 tivated manners, it is necessary to recur to those 
 national habits and ideas which prevail among the 
 American savages, and have origin their chiefly in 
 their state of society, and the nature of the countn^^ 
 Possessing none of the agricultural or liberal arts, 
 and under the necessity, in consequence, of draw- 
 ing their subsistence chiefly from the forest ; ex- 
 posed, besides, to peq^etual hostilities, and liable, if 
 they should be taken captive, to suffer the most atro- 
 cious barbarities from the fierce passions of men 
 who have never been softened by culture,|the whole 
 education of our native indian consists in being 
 trained to hunt with dexteritv, — to make war with 
 courage and address ; — and to endure pain with un- 
 conquerable patience. The first point of honor in 
 an indian hero is to kill his enemy, but, if he is 
 taken prisoner, the next, and perhaps not less es- 
 teemed, is suffering the extremities of torture without 
 shrinking, or seeming to feel them. As this is so 
 
596 
 
 high a proof of genuine heroism, and so essentially 
 belongs to the honor of a warrior, a great chief is 
 always prepared to give that testimony of devotion 
 to his nation : he would refuse adoption as a dishon- 
 ourable condition. By a national sentiment, there^ 
 fcrc, or a kind of unwritten public law, all prison- 
 ers are held to be dead by these savages, because 
 they ought to die. Those who accept of life among 
 another tribe are hated and despised by their coun- 
 trymen. It is a violation of their allegiance, which 
 is a natural claim that every national community 
 seems to possess and assert over all its members. 
 They dishonour their tribes, and would most proba- 
 bly be put to death as enemies, if they should at- 
 tempt to return. The adopted, on the other hand, 
 are, on account of their utility, caressed and com- 
 forted by their recent connexions ; they receive the 
 murk of their new nation imprinted on their skin 
 which is a barrier of eternal separation from their 
 f)rmer friends.* Their inducements, therefore, 
 ^e nauch stronger to remain in the society of their 
 
 * Each nation has some peculiar symbolic character, as each 
 chief has some personal distinction impressed upon the person. 
 It is inserted by punctures, in the substance of the skin, and in- 
 dellibiy stained by the discolouring juice of certain vegetables 
 
397 
 
 ^reconciled conquerors, than to return to the con, 
 tempt and hatred of their alienated countrymen. 
 
 There are many circumstances besides whick 
 render the relinquishing of his native region a much 
 less sacrifice to the savage, than to the citizen. 
 The latter is attached to his country by property, 
 by artifical wants which render that property neces- 
 sary to his comfortable subsistence, by habits which 
 attach him to the manners and customs of his own 
 people, by fixed residence which connects his hap- 
 piness intimately with the scenes wherewith he has 
 been long conversant, and even the spot of earth 
 which has been identified in his imagination with 
 all his early pleasures, by a long dependence upon 
 parents, and by a thousand nameless ties and charms 
 of society. Whereas a savage can hardly be said 
 to have a country. Accustomed to roam over hun- 
 dreds of leagues in quest of prey, he is exclusively 
 connected with no region, he is attached to no spot. 
 Even whole tribes rising at once from their habitations 
 and carrying with them the bones of their fathers, 
 will often seek new forests, and new skies, for the 
 convenience of hunting. Every place is the country 
 of a savage where he can find game. His bow is 
 Jiis property. He has no wants which this cannot 
 
398 
 
 supply. Society can have few attractions to a savage 
 who is a solitary and silent being. His patriotism is 
 not that fine and complicated sentiment which makes 
 the name of country so dear to the citizen of a pol- 
 ished nation ; it resembles more the tie which binds 
 robbers together, and which is dissolved, when the 
 gang is broken. So many circumstances concur in 
 explaining the conduct of the adopted captive on the 
 ordinary principles of human nature ; so little rea- 
 son have we to recur continually, with certain philo- 
 sophers to specific differences in order to account for 
 varieties of character among diiferent nations which, 
 when fairly examined, are found to be the result 
 only of moral, or of physical causes. 
 
 The next enquiry was, to what principle arc 
 we to ascribe that atrocious barbarity in torture exer- 
 cised upon their prisoners, which seems to have not 
 one sentiment of humanity mingled with it in the 
 breast of a people who, on other occasions, are not 
 destitute of the emotions of kindness ? 
 
 We must look for the origin of this, as of most 
 of the other distinctive traits of their moral character, 
 in their rude and unformed state of society, which 
 tends to extinguish all the sympathies of human na- 
 ture, when their passions are inflamed by the rage 
 
399 
 
 of war. Refined and polished nations correct the ex- 
 treme violence of the passions by the improvements 
 of reason. The education of a savage is intended 
 not to correct, but to give full and unrestrained 
 scope to them. It is not surprizing then that their 
 vengeful passions, which are always among the 
 strongest impulses of uncultivated minds, should 
 be extreme in their eiTects. Feuds even among 
 themselves, are all mortal. They are not constrain- 
 ed to act with moderation through any apprehension 
 of the power or control of laws — their only law is 
 their own will ; and this is often dictated by their 
 revenge, and is always ready to be defended by 
 their courage. But against their public enemies, 
 rage, which is the predominant passion in the 
 breast of a savage, acts with ungovernable and ex* 
 terminating fury. In war their object is not con- 
 quest but destruction. And, as every warrior ex- 
 pects, if he should fall into the power of his en- 
 emies, to be put to death by the most cruel tor- 
 tures, he is prepared, by anticipation, to retaliate 
 this mortal injury upon his unfortunate captives. 
 Great and polished nations fight to augment their 
 power : they conquer, therefore, to preserve. Their 
 armies combat for glor}^, not for revenge : their opera- 
 
400 
 
 tions, consequently, guided by a cool policy, are 
 never actuated by those furious, and deadly passions 
 which inflame barbarian soldiers, and savage war- 
 riors. Bearing but a small proportion to the popula- 
 tion of the country, the nation is but little affected 
 by the individual fate of those who fall in battle. 
 And armies are so constituted, that the loss of thou- 
 sands of the common soldiery possesses but small in- 
 terest in the sympathies of that class of society which 
 chiefly influences the public measures, and gives the 
 tone to the public feeling. If a few of 'better rank 
 are slain in the field, their friends are consoled by 
 the glory of their fall. But, among the savages of 
 America, the same men who fight, decide the fate of 
 the prisoners, and they do it with the same passions 
 with which they fought. They have no reasons of 
 state, w^hich induce nations to make war without 
 passion. Their wars are the consequences of re- 
 cent injuries keenly felt. Their armies, although 
 small, bear a large proportion to their entire popula- 
 tion. Every warrior stands in some relation of 
 kindred to his whole tribe. And all who are slain 
 in battle are lamented as brothers. No artificial sen- 
 timents of glory serve to console the survivors : and 
 they study only to quench their griefs, and their re. 
 
401 
 
 yenge in the blood of their enemies. In the tortures 
 they are preparing for their miserat)lc victims, they 
 see only the gratification of their own vengeance, 
 and the torments which would have been destine^ 
 for themselves if the chance of battle had thrown 
 them into the hands of their prisoners. This re- 
 flection serves to inflame tlieir rage ; and their mu- 
 tual instigations when assembled round this horrid 
 sacrifice, to avenge their slaughtered brothers, and the 
 injuries meditated against themselvesexcite their pas- 
 sions to the wildest fury. They make a festival of 
 cruelty. In the midst of shouts and yells, and those 
 wild and frantic gestures by which they express, at 
 once, their exultation, and their rage, every emotion of 
 humanity and sympathy, if it should happen to rise 
 in their breasts, is effectually extinguished. There 
 is, indeed, a kind of wantonness in cruelty which 
 forms a part of the character of the American 
 4Bavage, that resembles the pleasure which chil- 
 dren are often seen to take in the writhings and 
 convulsions of the inferior animals subjected to 
 their persecutions and torments. A savage is, in 
 many respects, little more than a grown child. But 
 in the moment of victory and triumph, in their bar- 
 barous carousals, and the wild frolic of all their 
 
 3 fi 
 
402 
 
 spirits and their passions, they are still more crufcl 
 and unreflecting than on other occasions, and derivd 
 a more horrible diversion from the miseries of thei^ 
 captives. 
 
 But sympathy is a sentiment which is scarcely- 
 understood by hardy and savage warriors, who nei- 
 ther exercise nor claim it. Exposed to continual 
 hazards, and fatigues, and frequently, to the ex- 
 tremes of want and suffering, they are accustomed to 
 brave danger with firmness, and to endure pain 
 without complaining. Loosely connected in society, 
 every man depends upon himself in the most haz- 
 ardous or most unfortunate conjunctures of affairs. 
 Equal to his situation, by courage or by patience, 
 he makes no demand upon the pity of others, and 
 does not understand how they should have any claim 
 upon him. 
 
 The rudeness of his condition imparts the same 
 coarseness to his mind as to the fibres of his body. 
 The Goths estimated the injury done to a woman 
 in the most delicate situations by the largeness of 
 the wound. The savages of America, still more 
 rude, and conversing only with the wildest scenes 
 of nature, know nothing of those finer feelings of the 
 heart, and that soft interchange of affections which 
 
403 
 
 ^ve birth to the sentiments of compassion and 
 sympathy. Our law excludes butchers from giving 
 a verdict in cases of life and death, because, by see- 
 ing and inflicting death on other animals, they ar^ 
 supposed not to possess a sufficient value for the life 
 of man to render them mild and humane judges. 
 Much more will those eternal scenes of blood in 
 which the savage is engaged either in hunting or ii> 
 war, blunt all those finer sensibilities of the heart of 
 which unadulterated nature would otherwise be sus- 
 ceptible, and which might contribute, in some 
 measure, to restrain the ferocity of their yen- 
 geance. 
 
 Having laid open some of the principal causes of 
 that extreme barbarity with which the savages of 
 America treat their prisoners whom they hare 
 doomed to death, it is not less curious and impor- 
 tant to the philosophy of human nature to examine 
 into the principles of that astonishing patience which 
 they exhibit in the midst of the most excruciating 
 sufferings. Is it magnanimity ? Or is it want of 
 feeling ? Does it arise from the influence of cli- 
 mate ? Or is it the result of ideas created by their 
 itatc of society, and their habits of life f Or final* 
 ly, must we search for it, with Lord Kaims and 
 
404 
 
 other kindred philosophers, in some original and 
 specific difference of nature from other men ? 
 
 Writers of no inconsiderable eminence have as- 
 cribed the tolerance of pain by the American savage 
 to the humidity of the atmosphere in the new world, 
 recently redeemed, as they suppose, from the ocean, 
 and abounding in marshes. Hence they have gratu- 
 itously inferred that the sensibility of the natives of 
 tliis continent, both corporeal and mental, is impaired 
 by the influence of their climate. But, do we find 
 this reason verified by the experience of other por- 
 tions of the globe ? Arc the people who liappen to 
 be posited on the borders of lakes, or in the neigh- 
 bourhood of fens, less sensible to pain than others ? 
 Does a Hollander possess greater fortitude than a 
 German ? Or is his sensibility to suficring less 
 keen? If such effects are produced by a relaxed 
 fibre in the American savage, and it is found to di- 
 minish to such a degree, the irritability of the sys- 
 tem, should we not equally expect to find him pa^ 
 ticnt of affronts, languid^ in his resentments, tardy 
 in his revenge ? 
 
 The true explanation of this phenomenon we shall 
 probably discern, not in the physical constitution of 
 America, but among those moral causes which are 
 
405 
 
 so often overlooked in the philosophy of human na^, 
 ture. 
 
 No person who reflects deeply on the principles of 
 action in man but must easily be persuaded that ac- 
 tive courage in encountering, and intrepid firmness 
 in repelling danger, or that inflexible patience and 
 fortitude in bearing up under calamity and suffer- 
 ing, are more frequently the result of the sentiments 
 of the mind than of the physical force of the animal 
 constitution. And it depends on the education of 
 men, and the situations into which they are thrown, 
 whether one or other of these characters be chiefly 
 drawn forth, and called into action. It was not 
 physical temperament, but education which enabled 
 the youth of Sparta to endure the deprivations which 
 were required of them by the discipline of Lycurgus, 
 or suffer without complaining the lacerations with 
 which they were exercised at the shrine of Diana. 
 In that country, at present, where a sublime educa- 
 tion had once rendered children more than men, do 
 we not, by a change of manners, see men become 
 less than children? It is sentiment which creates 
 heroes in action or in suffering. Hatred and ven- 
 geance against his enemies, and the pride of defying 
 their rage, are sentiments inculcated into the heart 
 
406 
 
 of an American savage from his earliest years. 
 From his infancy he is taught that his own glory as 
 a waiTior, and a chief, and that of the tribe to which 
 he belongs are involved in the heroism with which 
 he combats, or, if he is vanquished in battle> in the 
 magnanimity with which he suffers. His whole 
 soul is occupied with these ideas, and these passions. 
 Without doubt their patience under tortures must 
 be greatly assisted by their habits of life, and the 
 constant hardships of their state. That the power 
 of enduring pain with firmness may be acquired by 
 the influence of education, and habit, we have a prac- 
 ticai demonstration in the manners of the Lacedemo- 
 nians. And the stoic school has afforded a high ex- 
 ample of the force of their philosophy in subduing^ 
 the fear, and even the sense of suffering. Although 
 the mind of the American indian is not cultivated 
 by any philosophic system, he derives the same firm- 
 ness and strength of character from his state. Inur- 
 ed from infancy to fatigues, to wants, to dangers, 
 and conversant only with ideas of active, or of suf- 
 fering heroism, he has learned more in the hard 
 school of necessity than, probably, he could ever 
 have acquired under the volunUiry discipline of 
 Zeno or Lycurgus^ 
 
407 
 
 The Spartan boy, who had tak^n a fox from a 
 ficighbouring inclosure, was enabled, by the force of 
 his discipline, to endure, without discovering his 
 pain, the animal gnawing into his vitals rather than 
 expose himself to the infamy of detection, and ex- 
 pired without a groan. And a savage warrior will 
 suffer his enemies to rend his sinews, to bum his 
 flesh, to rip off his nails, and to plunge the fiery 
 stake into his bowels, without giving them the sat- 
 isfaction of being able to extort from him a com- 
 plaint. He glories in conquering their perseverance 
 by his patience. But shall we, with the philosophers 
 whom I combat, look for the cause of this astonish^ 
 ing constancy in the humidity of the climate, or in 
 some specific organization of the corporeal system, 
 and not rather in the almost omnipotent force of 
 sentiment ? 
 
 It was a maxim with that philosophic and aus- 
 tere sect, who have just been mentioned, that 
 pain is no evil : and certain it is, that it derives its 
 chief power over man from the weakness of the 
 mind. An energetic -willy created by sublime sen- 
 timents, by strong passions, or even induced by th^ 
 habit of conflicting with dangers and sufferings, im* 
 parts to the soul a strength which suspends, in a 
 
408 
 
 great measure, the sensation of pain, and wholly 
 deprives it of those additional terrors with which a 
 timid imagination invests it. 
 
 Our savages understanding the hardships of their 
 own lot, and foreseeing the trials to which their for* 
 titude may probably be exposed by the chances of 
 war, make it a principal object of their early disci- 
 pline to inure their youth to fatigue, and sufferings, 
 and deprivations of every kind. Even their amuse- 
 ments partake of the same intention. Among all 
 nations, their customary diversions are relative to 
 their manners. In the warlike ages of Greece and 
 Rome the amusements of those martial people con* 
 sisted in leaping, running, wrestling, and throwing 
 the discus, or the spear, to fit them for the com- 
 bat. After the model of nature, likewise, the Ame- 
 rican Indians liave drawn dieir amusements from their 
 state, and make diversions themselves. prepare them 
 for suffering. Besides shooting the arrow, and 
 throwing tlie tomahawk to qualify them for the ac- 
 tive operations of hunting, and of war, their cliil- 
 dren frame diverting subjects of contest with one an- 
 other, in trying who shall endure the deepest punc* 
 tures, or the hardest blows without complaining ; or 
 who shall hold a burning brand in their hands with 
 
409 
 
 the most persevering steadiness, and for the longest 
 time. Sometimes they single out objects of their rude 
 wit upon whom to trj the force of their ridicule, who 
 are forever disgraced if they discover any temper or 
 impatience under all the jests and teazings of theircom- 
 panions. Thus do they prepare themselves, by conti- 
 nual exertions of patience, even in their sports, for that 
 last and great trial of it, when they shall be called to 
 endure the mostcruel tortures of enraged enemies, and 
 to suffer from them every species of insult and con- 
 tempt,often more difficult to be borne than tortures. 
 
 Their religious ideas contribute also, in some de- 
 gree, to sustain that amazing fortitude, and patience in 
 enduring torture which is one of the principal distinc- 
 tions of their race. It is not my intention to enter into 
 any extensive delineation of their system of supersti- 
 tion : but only t» suggest a single reflection as it is re- 
 lative to their extraordinary fortitude in death. Virtue 
 in their esteem, consists entirely in those elevated and 
 enterprising qualities which are associated with the 
 idea of heroism. An expiring warrior, therefore, is 
 never affected with those fears of futurity which, t© 
 the disciples of a purer religion, when they are not 
 assured of their own interest in its hopes, often render 
 the consequences of death more terrible to them than 
 the pains of dying. His heaven is accommodated to 
 the rudeness of his ideas. It lies in a mild, serene, 
 and bounteous sky far to the South, where he shall 
 for ever enjoy the pleasures of a successful chace. 
 Such sensible images are fitted to take the strongest 
 hold upon uncultivated minds. And Mahomet under- 
 stood human nature well when he proposed such re- 
 
 3 c 
 
410 
 
 wards to soldiers who were neither philosophers, nor 
 saints, but whom he intended to make the conquerors 
 of the world. I am aware that spiritual ideas are 
 more powerful than all others, when once they have 
 taken full possession of the soul. But the frailty of 
 human nature, or perhaps, its degeneracy, which is 
 only calling frailty by its cause, makes a sensible re- 
 h'gion, and a sensible heaven, the religion and heaven 
 of gross minds. And, when we see a whole nation 
 suffer with such surprising constancy we must seek 
 for the reasons of it in such principles as will apply 
 to the mass of mankind. — From the combination of so 
 many causes, the savage tribes of America afford the 
 most distinguished examples of a heroic patience in 
 torture that the history of nations has ever recorded. 
 Upon the whole, it results again from the preceding 
 details of the military history of the aboriginal tribes 
 of North America, and especially, of their uncommon 
 power of supporting pain, that their mental as well s 
 corporeal qualities may be all accounted for by natu- 
 ral causes, and on the common principles of human 
 nature ; and that it is superfluous and unphilosophical 
 to attempt to search for the diversity of their moral, 
 more than of their physical character from the more 
 cultivated Europeans, or the citizens of the United 
 States, in any specific difference of nature or organi- 
 zation. 
 
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