372 



COMPLEXION. 



ties of climate. The most striking and decisive in- 

 -tancc of this is on the continent of America ; all 

 the inhabitants of which, with the exception of the 

 Ksquimaux, exhibit the copper-coloured skin, and 

 the long and straight black liair. New Holland is 

 an instance of a similar nature, though on a less ex- 

 tensive scale : over the whole of the island, even in 

 the very cold climate of the southern parts, the com- 

 plexion of its inhabitants is of a deep black, and 

 their hair is curled like that of negroes. 



4. Different complexions are found under the same 

 physical latitude, and among the same people. Il- 

 lustrations and proofs of this nave already been given. 

 The physical latitude in which the Norwegians, the 

 Icelanders, the Finns, and the Laplanders live, scarce- 

 ly differs ; and yet their complexions, and the colour 

 of their eyes and hair, are widely different. There 

 is a great diversity of colour and features among the 

 MorTachi, who inhabit Dalmatia. The inhabitants of 

 Kotar, and of the plains of Seigu, and Knin, have 

 fair blue eyes, broad face, and flat nose. Those of 

 Duare and Vergoraz, on the contrary, have dark-col- 

 oured hair; their face is long, their complexion 

 tawny, and their stature tall. Fortis's Travels in 

 Dalmatia (p. 51). M. Sanchez, who travelled 

 among the Tartars in the southern provinces of Rus- 

 sia, describes a nation, called the Kabendedski, as 

 having countenances as white and fresh as any in 

 Europe, with large black eyes. Smellie's Philoso- 

 phy of Natural History (ii.,p. 1G7). The inhabit- 

 ants in the neighbourhood of the cape of Good Hope 

 differ in their complexions much more than in the 

 nature of the climate under which they respectively 

 live. The Caffres are black ; the Bushwanas of a 

 bronze colour ; and the Hottentots a light brown, or 

 brownish-yellow. In the island of Madagascar there 

 are three races, distinctly marked. The first are 

 black, with frizzled hair, supposed to be the original 

 inhabitants of the island. The second race inhabit 

 the interior provinces : they are tawny, and have long 

 hair, like the Malays. The third race reside near 

 Fort Daupliris, and on the west coast : they are sup- 

 posed to be descended from some shipwrecked Arabs, 

 and retain a resemblance to that nation Sonnerat's 

 Voyages to the East Indies and China (translated 

 from the French, iii. p. 30). 



People with the negro complexion and features are 

 also found in the interior of the Philippine islands ; 

 and in Java, the Hindoo and Malay character maybe 

 clearly traced in the complexion and features of the 

 two classes of inhabitants which are found in that 

 island. In several of the Moluccas is a race of men 

 who are blacker than the rest, with woolly hair, in- 

 habiting the interior hilly parts of the country. The 

 shores of these islands are peopled by another nation, 

 whose individuals are swarthy, with curled long hair. 

 In the interior hilly parts of Formosa, the inhabitants 

 are brown, frizzle-haired, and broad-faced, while the 

 Chinese occupy the shores. 



Forster observes that there are two great varieties 

 of people in the South seas ; the one more fair, the 

 other blacker, with their hair just beginning to be 

 woolly and crisp. The first race inhabits Otaheite 

 and the Society isles, the Marquesas, the Friendly 

 isles, Easter island, and New Zealand; the second 

 race peoples New Caledonia, Tanna, and the New 

 Hebrides, especially Mallicolo. If we examine the 

 relative situation and latitudes of these islands on a 

 map, we shall be convinced, not only that darker 

 complexioned people are found where the climate is 

 comparatively colder, but that the same complexion 

 is found under very different latitudes. It is not 

 meant to be denied that a burning climate will render 

 the complexion very dark, and that a climate of less 

 extreme heat will bronze the complexion of the fair- 



est European ; but there are some material point?, 

 in which the dark complexion of the Caucasian, or 

 naturally fair-skinned variety of mankind, caused by 

 climate, differs from the dark complexion of all the 

 other varieties of the human race. 



1 . The offspring of the Caucasian variety is born 

 fair; the offspring of the other varieties is bom of 

 the respective complexion of their parents. Ulloii 

 informs us that the children born in Guayaquil (if 

 Spanish parents are very fair Ulloa (i., 171). The 

 same is the case in the West Indies. Long, in his 

 History of Jamaica, expressly affirms, " that the 

 children born in England have not, in general, love- 

 lier or more transparent skins than the offspring of 

 white parents in Jamaica." But it may be urged, 

 that this is not the case with respect to the other na- 

 tions of the Caucasian variety, who have been settleu 

 in warm climates from time immemorial, and that the 

 question ought to be decided by the Moors, Arabians, 

 &c. Their children, however, are also born fair- 

 complexioned, as fair as the children of Europeans, 

 who live under a cold climate. Russell informs us 

 that the inhabitants of the country round Aleppo are 

 naturally of a fair complexion, and tliat women of 

 condition, with proper care, preserve their fair com- 

 plexion to the last. Russell's Aleppo (i., 99). The 

 children of the Moors, according to Shaw, have the 

 finest complexions of any nation whatsoever; aud 

 the testimony of Poiret is directly to the same effect : 

 " The Moors are not naturally black, but are born 

 fair, and when not exposed to the heat of the sun, re- 

 main fair during their lives. Shaw (p. 304) ; and 

 Poiret's Voyage en Barbarie (i., 31). 



2. Individuals belonging to the Caucasian variety, 

 that inhabit warm countries, preserve their native 

 fairness of complexion if they are not exposed to the 

 influence of the climate ; while there is a uniform 

 black colour over all the parts of a negro's body. 

 The hue which Europeans assume is the same, though 

 the tinge may be lighter or darker, whether they 

 settle in Africa, the East Indies, or South America. 

 They do not become, like the natives of those coun- 

 tries, black, olive-coloured, or copper-coloured; 

 their complexion merely resembles that of a tanned 

 person in this country, only of a darker tinge. The 

 negroes that are settled in the West Indies, or Ame- 

 rica, do not assume the copper colour of the Indians, 

 even though a milder climate may have some effect 

 on the darkness of their complexions. The children 

 of Europeans, of negroes, and of Indians, are all 

 born, in America, of the same reddish hue ; but, in 

 a few days, those of the negro begin to assume the 

 black complexion of their parents, those of the In- 

 dian the copper complexion, while those of the 

 European either continue fair, if kept from the in- 

 fluence of the sun, or become tanned ; not black like 

 the negro, or copper-coloured like the Indian, if ex- 

 posed to its influence. Europeans who settle in 

 Canada, or in the northern parts of America, where 

 the climate resembles that of their native country, 

 do not assume the complexion of the Indians, but 

 continue fair like their ancestors. The same obser- 

 vation may be made respecting the Russians, who are 

 settled among the Mongolian variety, in those parts 

 of the Russian empire in Asia, the climate of which 

 resembles the middle or northern parts of European 

 Russia. Indeed, the wide extent of country over 

 which the Mongolian variety is spread, including the 

 extreme cold of Lapland, and the north of Asia, the 

 mild temperature of the middle parts of that conti- 

 nent, and the warmth of the southern parts of China, 

 is, in itself, a proof that dark complexion does not 

 arise either from the influence of heat or cold. 



Lastly, radical varieties of complexion are always 

 accompanied with radical varieties of features. We 



