LOUISIANA. 3S3 



crew, in order to get rid of them, were obliged to 

 deliver a woman to them. 



Father Laffiteau^s refledlion will appear vei7 

 juft to you. " The defcription of thefe ifland- 

 " ers," fays he, " perfedly fits to the Caraihes^ 

 " who were matters of the Antilles, commonly 

 " called the Caribee iflands, out of moft of 

 ." which they have been expelled by the Euro- 

 *' peans in thefe latter times. The complexion 

 " of thefe people is very red, and it is naturally 

 " fo ; it being lefs the cffed of the climate, 

 " than of the imagination of the mothers, who, 

 " finding the red colour beautiful, tranfmit it 

 ** to their children '* ; their flelh is Ifkewife arti- 

 " ficiafiy red, for they paint themfelves every 

 *' day with rocou^ which ferves inftead of vernii- 

 " lion to them, and appear as red as blood by 

 " it. As to what concerns the imagination of 

 ** the failors, who thought they beheld fatyrs, 

 " it only was the efFecl of fear, that made them 



'' take 



* Every one will not agree with the Jefuit upon the ef- 

 fect of the mother's imagination on their children : the dif- 

 ferent colours of men from the feveral parts of the world, offer 

 many more difEcuIties. All that has been written on the 

 fubjefl has not explained this phenomenon ; men who were 

 originally white, mufl have become black, red, and brown, 

 (bronzed), by the union of feveral caufes. 



