THE HUMAN SPECIE?. 215 



an inquiry that can be followed out by certain geogra- 

 phical necessities, and by a right appreciation of many 

 ancient mythic tales, notwithstanding that historical 

 data are few and scanty.* 



* Our personal observations on the Negro races, it is 

 proper to mention, commenced in 1797, on the coast of 

 Africa. They were continued, on both portions of the 

 American Continent, and in the West Indies, to 1807; 

 during which period the slave trade remained in activity, 

 and new Negroes, as they were termed, coming from diffe- 

 rent nations, could be examined, and their characteristics 

 compared at most of the tropical sea ports. The distinctive 

 characters then possessed by them, are now confused or 

 obliterated, by commixture of the different races, by educa- 

 tion, and other changes of circumstances in the Western 

 Hemisphere, and are no longer accessible on the coast of 

 Africa. Hence, several remarks above made cannot now 

 be entirely verified in any quarter. From what is here 

 stated, it follows, that the observations, more or less care- 

 fully made, extended over hundreds, belonging to very dif- 

 ferent tribes of Western and Central Africa, exclusive of 

 North and South American, and West Indian colonial-born 

 Negroes. 



