184 



A HISTORY OF 



the climate. For, if we compare the heats of 

 Africa with those of America, we shall find 

 they bear no proportion to each other. In 

 America, all that part of the continent, which 

 lies under the line, is cool and pleasant, either 

 shaded by mountains, or refreshed by breezes 

 from the sea. But in Africa, the wide tract 

 of country that lies under the line is very ex- 

 tensive, and the soil sandy ; the reflection of 

 the sun, therefore, from so large a surface of 

 earth, is almost intolerable ; and it is not to 

 be wondered at, that the inhabitants should 

 bear, in their looks, the marks of the inhos- 

 pitable climate. In America, the country is 

 out thinly inhabited; and the more torrid tracts 

 are generally left desert by the inhabitants; for 

 which reason they are not so deeply tinged 

 by the beams of the sun. But in Africa the 

 whole face of the country is fully peopled ; 

 and the natives are obliged to endure their 

 situation, without a power of migration. It is 

 there, consequently, that they are in a man- 

 ner tied down to feel all the severity of the 

 heat ; and their complexions take the darkest 

 hue they are capable of receiving. We need 

 not, therefore, have recourse to any imagina- 

 ry propagation, from persons accidentally 

 black, since the climate is a cause obvious and 

 sufficient to produce the effect. 



In fact, if we examine the complexion of dif- 

 ferent countries, we shall find them darken in 

 proportion to the heat of their climate ; and 

 the shades gradually to deepen as they ap- 

 proach the line. Some nations, indeed, may 

 be found not so much tinged by the sun as 

 others, although they lie nearer the line. 

 But this ever proceeds from some accidental 

 causes ; either from the country lying higher, 

 and consequently being colder ; or from the 

 natives bathing oftener, and leading a more 

 civilized life. In general, it may be asserted, 

 that as we approach the line, we find the in- 

 habitants of each country grow browner, un- 

 til the colour deepens into perfect blackness. 

 Thus, taking our standard from the whitest 

 race of people, and beginning with our own 

 country, which, I believe, bids fairest for the 

 pre-eminence, we shall find the French, who 

 are more southern, a slight shade deeper than 

 we; going farther down, the Spaniards are 

 browner than the French; the inhabitants of 

 Fez darker than they ; and the natives of Ne- 



groland the darkest of all In what manner 

 the sun produces this effect, and how thesame 

 luminary which whitens wax and linen, should 

 darken the human complexion, is not easy to 

 conceive. Sir Thomas Brown first supposed, 

 that a mucous substance, which had some- 

 thing of a vitriolic quality, settled under the 

 reticular membrane, and grew darker with 

 heat. Others have supposed that the black- 

 ness lay in the epidermis, or scarf-skin, which 

 was burnt up like leather. But nothing has 

 been satisfactorily discovered upon the sub- 

 ject ; it is sufficient that we are assured of the 

 fact ; and that we have no doubt of the sun's 

 tinging the complexion in proportion to its 

 vicinity. 



But we are not to suppose that the sun is 

 the only cause of darkening the skin ; the 

 wind, extreme cold, hard labour, or coarse 

 and sparing nourishment, are all found to con- 

 tribute to this effect. We find the peasants 

 of every country, who are most exposed to the 

 weather, a shade darker than the higher ranks 

 of people. The savage inhabitants of all pla- 

 ces are exposed still more, and therefore con- 

 tract a still deeper hue ; and this will account 

 for the tawny colour of the North American 

 Indians. Although they live in a climate the 

 same, or even more northerly than ours, yet 

 they are found to be of complexions very dif- 

 ferent from those of Europe. But it must be 

 considered, that they live continually exposed 

 to the sun ; that they use many methods to 

 darken their skins by art, painting them with 

 red ochre, and anointing them with the fat of 

 bears. Had they taken, for a succession of 

 several generations, the same precautions to 

 brighten their colour that an European does, 

 it is very probable that they would in time 

 come to have similar complexions, and, per- 

 haps, dispute the prize of beauty. 



The extremity of coll is not less produc- 

 tive of a tawny complexion than that of heat. 

 The natives of the arctic circle, as was ob- 

 served, are all brown ; and those that lie 

 most to the north are almost entirely black. 

 In this manner both extremes are unfavoura- 

 ble to the human tbrm and colour, and the 

 same effects are produced under the poles 

 that are found at the line. 



With regard to the slature of different 

 countries, that seems chielly to result from the 



