ANIMALS. 93 



But nothing has been satisfactorily discovered 

 upon the subject : it is sufficient that we are as- 

 sured of the fact ; and that we have no doubt of 

 the sun's tingeing 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, ex- 

 treme cold, hard labour, or coarse and sparing 

 nourishment, are all found to contribute 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 places are exposed still 

 more, and therefore contract 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 different 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 perhaps dispute the prize of beauty. 



The extremity of cold is not less productive of 

 a tawny complexion than that of heat. The na- 

 tives of the arctic circle, as was observed, are all 

 brown, and those that lie most to the north arc 

 almost entirely black. In this manner, both ex- 



