ANIMALS. 91 



blackness than the climate ; and have endeavour- 

 ed to prove, that the blacks are a race of people 

 bred from one man, who was marked with acci- 

 dental blackness. This, however, is but mere un- 

 grounded conjecture ; and although the Ameri- 

 cans are not so dark as the Negroes, yet we must 

 still continue in the ancient opinion, that the 

 deepness of the colour proceeds from the exces- 

 sive heat 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 extensive, 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 inhabi- 

 tants should bear, in their looks, the marks of the 

 inhospitable climate. In America, the country is 

 but thinly inhabited, and the more torrid tracts 

 are generally left desert by the inhabitants ; for 

 which reasons 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 na- 

 tives are obliged to endure their situation, with- 

 out a power of migration. It is there, conse- 

 quently, that they are in a manner tied down to 

 feel all the severity of the heat ; and their com- 

 plexions take the darkest hue they are capable of 

 receiving. We need not therefore have recourse 

 to any imaginary propagation from persons acci- 



