THE INTERMIXTURE OF RACES. 
BY GEORGE GIBBS. 
Tue subject of the intermixture of races, and its result as affecting the 
physical development of the ensuing progeny, is one of the most interesting 
in anthropology, especially in its bearing upon the question of the unity of the 
human family. Yet, so far as this continent is concerned, it has nowhere re- 
ceived the thorough, systematic, and conscientious investigation which it deserves. 
What observations have been made, are, so far as I have seen, confined to the 
union of whites and negroes. Even as to Mexico, where the mixed races form 
so large a part of the population, the inquiry seems to have been generally 
neglected. 
During a residence in Oregon, commencing in 1849, before the great influx 
of American emigrants, and when the proportion of half-breeds to the fur-traders 
and other early settlers was easily perceivable, my attention was drawn to the 
fact that, notwithstanding the long intercourse of these with native women, 
their offspring formed but a small element in the community. Being anxious 
to ascertain whether this was due to a taint common among the coast tribes and 
other causes of merely local influence, or whether it was of general extension 
through the northern and temperate parts of America, I subsequently addressed 
a letter to the Right Reverend Bishop Taché, of the Red River Settlement, the 
substance of which, and his reply, is given below. In the case of the white 
and black races, the weight of testimony is certainly unfavorable to the health 
and longevity of the offspring, and the impression has been general that this 
was also the case with Indian half-breeds, at least in the northern temperate 
climates. Any trustworthy observations on this question are, therefore, import- 
ant, and the testimony of that gentleman is beyond cavil. It is hoped that 
this communication may lead to investigation among the civilized tribes of the 
west, the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks. 
I should premise that syphilis has long prevailed in the coast region of Ore- 
gon, that is to say, in the country west of the Cascade range, it having been 
noticed by Lewis and Clarke as early as 1806. The erotic temperament of these 
tribes, common to all people whose food is chiefly fish, coupled with the absence 
of moral restraint, has tended to disseminate it widely, and thus been one 
cause of the dying out of the aborigines. Its effects, owing to climate, food, 
and general mode of life, are less fatal, it is true, in the first instance than 
among some other nations, but they show themselves in the prevalence of 
serofulous diseases, in the diminished number of children, and in their early 
death. 
This state of facts, however, applies less to the case of the half-breeds than 
to the unmixed Indians, for the reason that the selections of the whites were 
usually from the better class of females, and to a considerable extent from the 
interior tribes, where disease is far less common. The fathers themselves were 
of three races, Scotch, Canadian French, and Americans, all hardy and vigorous 
men; their families were, of course, better fed and cared for than those of the 
savages; the climate is proverbially healthy, and yet this mixed population bas 
not increased as might have been expected. 
