VARIETIES OF MANKIND. 



1335 



strongly marked in the individuals whom they 

 have happened to see in the course of their 

 brief visits to different localities, can be relied 

 on as general expressions of the attributes of 

 particular races. So that if colour be once 

 adopted as a test of separate origin, we must 

 suppose that tribes speaking the same lan- 

 guage, having the same customs and tradi- 

 tions, and closely allied in general conforma- 

 tion, sprang nevertheless from ancestors who 

 had no relation to one another ; and a distinct 

 pair must be assigned to almost every island 

 or group of islands, and, in some instances, 

 even two or more pairs to a single island. 



Lastly, in regard to the American nations, 

 it is sufficient to remark, that the appel- 

 lation " red men," is by no means charac- 

 teristic of them as a whole ; for not only 

 are tribes elsewhere found at least equally 

 deserving of it, but it is not applicable to a 

 large proportion of the population of the 

 New Continent. For although some of the 

 North- American Indians are copper-coloured, 

 some are as fair as many Europeans ; others 

 are of a brown or yellow complexion ; and 

 others nearly, if not quite, as black as African 

 Negroes. Similar diversities exist among the 

 aborigines of South America. Here, also, 

 therefore, we should be forced into the sup- 

 position of a large number of primitive stocks 

 in near vicinity to each other, were so much 

 authority to be attributed to colour, as to 

 allow it to rank as a sufficiently distinctive 

 character for the specific discrimination of 

 any of the races of mankind. 



We have now to examine if the peculiari- 

 ties of colour seen among different races can 

 be attributed with any considerable degree of 

 probability to external agencies ; and the evi- 

 dence bearing on this question may be con- 

 sidered under two heads, namely (1.) the 

 constancy of the relation between the habitual 

 operation of particular climatic influences and 

 particular shades of complexion ; and (2.) 

 the historical evidence of an actual change of 

 complexion, in races or tribes that are known 

 to have migrated from one locality to an- 

 other of a different character, or to have 

 changed their mode of life. 



Now, the general relation between climate 

 and complexion is apparent on the most cur- 

 sory survey of the facts. It is only in the 

 intertropical regions, and in the countries 

 bordering on them, that we meet with the 

 greatest depth of colour in the skin ; and 

 all the nations inhabiting the level parts 

 of those regions exhibit a tendency towards 

 a very dark hue. On the other hand, the 

 colder temperate regions are the residence 

 of the fair races. And the intermediate coun- 

 tries exhibit the transition from one com- 

 plexion to the other, as we see on passing 

 from Central Africa, through Northern Africa 

 and Southern Europe, to Northern Eu- 

 rope. Now this, if we had no evidence 

 to the contrary, might fairly be held to 

 indicate that each race had been created 

 with especial reference to a particular cli- 

 mate ; the principal difficulty in the way of 



such a supposition, being the great number of 

 different races whose separatc'origins it wouH 

 be necessary to assume, if it be held that 

 each has uniformly exhibited the compk'xion 

 which it now possesses. But it is most re- 

 markable that elevation above the vsea-level is 

 found to have the same uniform relation to 

 the human complexion, that it has to vege- 

 tation. For as wefind the plants of temperate 

 or even arctic regions on the sides of inter- 

 tropical mountains, so do we notice that high 

 mountains and table-lands of great elevation 

 are almost uniformly inhabited by people of 

 lighter hue than those of the surrounding 

 country, however close may be their affinity ; 

 whilst low and level countries, especially 

 those which border on the sea, are as com- 

 monly tenanted by people of an unusually 

 dark colour. Thus the deepest hue among 

 the African races is to be found among the 

 negroes of the swampy plains of the Guinea 

 coast; yet there are several instances, in 

 which nations residing at no great distance 

 from these, but at a higher level, are compa- 

 ratively light, although their ancestry is un- 

 doubtedly the same. In Northern India, 

 again, the lightness of complexion among the 

 inhabitants of the mountains and table-lands 

 is almost exactly in accordance with the 

 elevation at which the tribe has been accus- 

 tomed to dwell ; and some of these present 

 complexions of almost European fairness. 

 On the other hand, among the tribes that 

 wander along the shores of the Icy Sea, their 

 proximity to the ocean, together with their 

 habitual exposure, seem to compensate in 

 some degree for their distance from the 

 equator; so that their hue is much swarthier 

 than that of the more civilised inhabitants of 

 Northern Europe. The influence of seclu- 

 sion from exposure, in lightening the hue of 

 the skin among the higher castes of various 

 tropical races, has been already remarked 

 upon ; and another indication of the import- 

 ance of this influence is derived from the 

 concurrent though independent observations 

 ofM. D'Orbigny and Sir R. Schomburgh upon 

 the people of the New World, both having 

 remarked that those tribes wh'ch live under 

 the damp shade of dense and lofty forests, 

 are much fairer than those which are freely 

 exposed to solar light and heat in dry and 

 open spaces. The influence of continued 

 exposure to the solar rays is often strongly 

 marked in individuals of the lighter races ; 

 those who are naturally of a "brunette" 

 complexion becoming swarthy, whilst in those 

 who are naturally fair or " blonde," there is a 

 tendency either to a general reddening or 

 " tanning" of the skin, or to the development 

 of " freckles," which are nothing else than 

 local collections of pigmentary matter, usually 

 of a reddish-yellow colour. In such cases, 

 the parts of the body which are habitually 

 kept covered retain their original fairness. 



Seeing, then, that continued exposure to 

 the solar rays has such a marked effect upon 

 the complexion of individuals who are sub- 

 jected to it, we should be led to expect, upon 



