ANIMALS* 97 



two white Negroes, the issue of 'black parents, that 

 served to convince me of the truth of this theory. 

 I had before been taught to believe that the white- 

 ness of the Negro skin was a disease, a kind of 

 milky whiteness, that might be called rather a 

 leprous crust than a natural complexion. I was 

 taught to suppose, that the numberless white 

 Negroes found in various parts of Africa, the 

 white men that go by the name of Chacrelas in 

 the East Indies, and the white Americans, near 

 the Isthmus of Darien, in the West Indies, were 

 all so many diseased persons, and even more de- 

 formed than the blackest of the natives. But, 

 upon examining that Negro which was last shown 

 in London, I found the colour to be exactly like 

 that of an European ; the visage white and ruddy, 

 and the lips of the proper redness. However, 

 there were sufficient marks to convince me of its 

 descent. The hair was white and woolly, and 

 very unlike any thing I had seen before. The 

 iris of the eye was yellow, inclining to red ; the 

 nose was flat, exactly resembling that of a Negro ; 

 and the lips thick and prominent. No doubt, 

 therefore, remained of the child's having been 

 born of Negro parents ; and the person who show- 

 ed it had attestations to convince the most incre- 

 dulous. From this then we see that the variation 

 of the Negro colour is into whiteness, whereas the 

 white are never found to have a race of Negro 

 children. Upon the whole, therefore, all those 

 changes which the African, the Asiatic, or the 

 American undergoes, are but accidental deformi- 

 ties, which a kinder climate, better nourishment, 



VOL. II. G 



