DARK AND FATE 1BIBES. 4G5 



These phenomena are so much the more worthy of attention 

 as they are observed in that great branch of the American 

 nations generally ranked in a class totally opposite to that 

 circumpolar branch, viz ; the Tschougaz-Esquimaux,* whose 

 children are fair, and who acquire the Mongol or yellowish 

 tint only from the influence of the air and the humidity. 

 In Guiana, the hordes who live in the midst of the thickest 

 forests are generally less tawny than those who inhabit 

 the shores of the Orinoco, and are employed in fishing. 

 But this slight difference, which is alike found in Europe 

 between the artisans of towns and the cultivators of the 

 fields or the fishermen on the coasts, in no way explains 

 the problem of the Indios blancos. They are surrounded by 

 other Indians of the woods (Indios del monte), who are 

 of a reddish-brown, although now exposed to the same 

 physical influences. The causes of these phenomena are 

 very ancient, and we may repeat with Tacitus, " est durans 

 originis vis." 



The fair-complexioned tribes, which we had an opportu- 

 nity of seeing at the mission of Esmeralda, inhabit part of a 

 mountainous country lying between the sources of six tribu- 

 taries of the Orinoco ; that is to say, between the Padamo, the 

 Jao, the Ventuari, the Erevato, the Aruy, and the Para- 

 guay, t The Spanish and Portuguese missionaries are 

 accustomed to designate this country more particularly 



beginning of the 16th century, we see, that the discovery of America, 

 and of a new race of men, had singularly awakened the interest of 

 travellers respecting the varieties of our species. Now, if a black 

 race had been mingled with copper-coloured men, as in the South-sea 

 Islands, the conguistadores would not have failed to speak of it in a 

 precise manner. Besides, the religious traditions of the Americans relate 

 the appearance, in the heroic times, of white and bearded men as priests 

 and legislators; but none of these traditions make mention of a black 

 race. 



* The Chevalier Gieseke has recently confirmed all that Krantz re- 

 lated of the colour of the skin of the Esquimaux. That race (even in 

 the latitude of seventy-five and seventy. six degrees, where the climate is 

 fo rigorous) is not in general so diminutive as it was long believed to be. 

 Ross's Voyage to the A'or/A. 



t They are six tributary streams on the right bank of the Orinoco ; the 

 first three run towards the south, or the Upper Orinoco ; the three othert 

 towards the north, or the Lower Orinoco. 



VOL. II. 2 H 



