1048 OF THE HUMAN FAMILY, AND THEIR MUTUAL RELATIONS. 



this, that the hue becomes gradually lighter in proportion as we proceed further 

 from the equator, until we meet with races of comparatively fair complexions 

 among the nations of Southern Africa. Even in the intertropical region, high 

 elevations of the surface have the same effect as we have seen them to produce 

 elsewhere, in lightening the complexion. Thus, the high parts of Senegambia, 

 where the temperature is moderate and even cool at times, are inhabited by 

 Fulahs of a light copper -color ; whilst the nations inhabiting the lower regions 

 around them are of true Negro blackness : and nearly on the same parallel, 

 but at the opposite side of Africa, are the high plains of Enarea and Kaffa, 

 where the inhabitants are said to be fairer than the natives of Southern Europe. 

 1056. The languages of the Negro nations, so far as they are known, seem 

 to belong to one group ; for although there is a considerable diversity in their 

 vocabularies (arising in great part from the want of written records which would 

 give fixity to their tongues), yet they seem to present the same grade of develop- 

 ment and the same grammatical forms; and various proofs of their affinity with 

 the Semitic languages have been developed, these being afforded by similarity 

 alike of roots and of grammatical construction. The Semitic affinity of the Negro 

 nations is further indicated in a very remarkable manner by the existence of a 

 variety of superstitions and usages among the Negroes of the Western coast, 

 closely resembling those which prevail also among the Nilotic races whose 

 Semitic relations are most clear, as well as among branches of the Semitic 

 stock itself; and thus we seem to have adequate proof of the absence 

 of any definite line of demarcation, in regard either to physiological or to lin- 

 guistic characters, between the Negro race and one of those which has always 

 been considered to rank as among the most elevated forms of the Caucasian 

 variety. Nor is there anything in the psychical character of the Negro which 

 gives us a right to separate him from other Races of Mankind. It is true that 

 those races which have the Negro character in an exaggerated degree are uni- 

 formly in the lowest stage of society, being either ferocious savages, or stupid, 

 sensual, and indolent; such are most of the tribes along the Slave Coast. But, 

 on the other hand, there are many Negro states, the inhabitants of which 

 have attained a considerable degree of improvement in their social condition; 

 such are the Ashanti, the Sulima, and the Dahomans of Western Africa, also 

 the Gruber of Central Sudan, among which a considerable degree of civilization 

 has long existed; the physical characters of all these nations deviate consider- 

 ably from the strongly marked or exaggerated type of the Negro ; and the 

 last are perhaps the finest race of genuine Negroes on the whole continent, and 

 present in their language the most distinct traces of original relationship to the 

 Syro- Arabian nations. The highest civilization, and the greatest improvement 

 in physical characters, are to be found in those African nations which have adopted 

 the Mohammedan religion ; this was introduced, three or four centuries since, 

 into the eastern portion of Central Africa; and it appears that the same people, 

 which were then existing in the savage condition still exhibited by the pagan 

 nations further south, have now adopted many of the arts and institutions of 

 civilized society, subjecting themselves to governments, practising agriculture, 

 and dwelling in towns of considerable extent, many of which contain 10,000 

 and some even 30,000 inhabitants; a circumstance which implies a consider- 

 able advancement in industry, and in the resources of subsistence. This 

 last fact affords most striking evidence of the improbability of the Negro 

 races; and, taken in connection with the many instances that have presented 

 themselves, of the advance of individuals, under favorable circumstances, to at 

 least the average degree of mental development among the European nations, it 

 affords clear proof that the line of demarcation, which has been supposed to 

 separate them intellectually and morally from the races that have attained the 

 greatest elevation, has no more real existence than that which has been sup- 



