APPENDIX. soi 



; 3. No part of the climate of America was fufficiently hot, to change it 

 into an iiU'. nftf black. It is only in the moft intenfe heat of the hotteft'^clU 

 matc, that the extiemf black of the negro is formed. The climate of A- 

 mcrica under the line falls far (hortofthis. "While the negro on the 

 coall of Afiica is fcorched v.'ith unremitting heat, the inhabitant of Peru 

 breathes an air equally mild and temperate, and is perpetually (haded un- 

 der a can )py of grey clouds, which intercept the fierce beams of the fan."* 

 The climace in every part of the torrid zone in America, is much more 

 mild and temperate than the fame latitude in Africa or Afia. In a coun- 

 try where the hotted ciimaie is fo moderate, it is not to be expefted that 

 the Indian color (hould be changed into extieme black. No part of tfie 

 climate was hot enough to produce this : And any fmall variation in the 

 Indian countenance, would not be readily or eafily difcemfd. 



4. The change of color moft naturally to be expcfted would be of the 

 contrary kind, not to black, but to white; at lealt to a lighter iTiade than 

 what took place under the equator. If there be any influence or tendency 

 in extieme coid to produce a fair and white complexion, this might 

 .have been expefted ; for there are no colder climates upon the face of the 

 eatth, thap thole of the northern parts of America. But v/hatevcr might 

 be the infiuence of the climate to produce fuch a complexion, the Iiidians 

 made ufe of feveral certain and conftant methods to prevent it. One, was 

 their conftant habit of living and wandering about in the woods, expofed 

 to the full foice of the winds and fun : Another, was their extreme and 

 perpetual filrh, and dirtinels : A third, was their habitual ufe of grcafe and 

 paint. It was their univerlal cullom to anoint and rub their bodies with 

 the jreafe and oil of the bear, beaver, mufkrat, and other animals ; and to 

 mix the gre^fe with diifercnc kinds of paints, and gums, This prafticc 

 was probably defigned to proteft the body againft the extreme variations 

 of heat, cold, and moiftute, to which they were conftantly expofed. Nor 

 could they have provided any better defence againft heat, cold, rain, and 

 inTe^ts, than thus to cover their bodies with a glutinous kind of varnifti* 

 And in doing this, they took a fure and a certain method, to fix and pre- 

 ferve their color from any approaches to a white, or to a fair complexion. 

 When extieme dirtinefs was added to the gteafe, oil, and paint, neither 

 climate or aiiv otiicr eaufe could produce a fair complexion, until thefc 

 were removed and difuled. Thus in the Iiidian cultoms, and method o£ 

 guardingthe body againft the effefts of climate, the Indian himfelf was ta- 

 king conilant care that nothing fhould change the, color of his fkin, or make 

 it more traniparrnt. 



' 5. Where thefc cuftoms have been difufed', the Indian color has bccr» 

 found to bl' changeable. It has never been decided whether the Indian 

 color isexaftly the fame in every part of America. No accurate compari- 

 fons have ever been made between the color of the Indians in the hotteft 

 parts under the equator, and triofe in the remote regions of Canada and 

 Hu'ifoa's bay. Their colors have iiever been compared Co any accurate 

 and known ftandard ; and fmall variations in a dark complexion, would 

 not be a matter of common oblervatio'n. But whether the Indian color be 

 the fame in tvery part of America, or not, it is certainly more changeable, 

 and not fo deeply fixed, as that of the negro. Many families of the Indian 

 tribes are to be found in fevsral of our towns. Some of thefe are at Cape 

 Cod, and Pviiodc llland : A confiderable number of them, are at Natic, 

 ^nd Stockbridge, in MafTachufetts. Their habits and manners of life aic 

 different from thofe of the Indians, who rcftdc ia the fotefti, T.hey live 



* Robertfon's Hift. America, I, 253, 



VOL. I, O 3 ' 



