224 



What must become of the black population at this rate, in a 

 few years ? What are the causes of this decay ? They do not 

 disregard the laws of social and physical well-being any more 

 than, if they do as much as, the whites. It seems to me one of 

 the necessary consequences of attempts to mix races ; the hybrids 

 cease to be prolific ; the race must die out as Mulatto ; it must 

 either keep black unmixed, or become extinct. Nobody doubts 

 that a mixed offspring may be produced by intermarriage of dif- 

 ferent races — the Griquas, the Papuas, the Cafusos of Brazil, so 

 elaborately enumerated by Prichard, sufficiently prove this. The 

 question is, whether they would be perpetuated if strictly confined 

 to intermarriages among themselves ; from the facts in the case 

 of Mulattoes, we say, unquestionably not. The same is true, 

 as far as has been observed, of the mixture of the white and red 

 races, in Mexico, Central and South America. The well-known 

 infrequency of mixed offspring between the European and Aus- 

 tralian races, led the colonial government to official inquiries, and 

 to the result, that in 31 districts, numbering 15,000 inhabitants, 

 the half-breeds did not exceed 200, though the connection of the 

 two races was very intimate. 



If any one wishes to be convinced of the inferiority and tend- 

 ency to disease in the Mulatto race, eVen with the assistance of 

 the pure blood of the black and white races, he need only witness 

 what 1 did recently, viz : the disembarkation, from a steamboat, 

 of a colored pic-nic party — of both sexes — of all ages, from 

 the infant in arms to the aged — and of all hues, from the dark- 

 est black to a color approaching white. There was no old 

 Mulatto^ though there were several old Negroes ; many fine 

 looking Mulattoes, of both sexes, evidently the first offspring 

 from the pure races ; then came the youths and children, and 

 here could be read the sad truth at a glance. The little blacks 

 were agile and healthy looking, the little Mulattoes, youths, and 

 young ladies, further removed from the pure stocks, were sickly, 

 feeble, thin, with frightful scars and skin-diseases, and scrofula 

 stamped on every feature and every visible part of the body. 

 Here was Hybridity of human races, under the most favorable 

 circumstances of worldly condition and social position ; and yet 

 it would have been difficult, and, I believe, impossible, to have 



