752 COLOUR OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS. 



rous accurate observers, and that it is stated by 

 Humboldt himself, that on the north western coast 

 of America, around Cloak Bay, in lat. 54, the 

 natives have large eyes, European features, and 

 are not darker than the peasantry of Germany. 

 It is also stated by Say, Major Long, and other 

 travellers, that near the sources of the Mississippi, 

 the natives are much fairer than the more south- 

 ern tribes of North America ; and that many in- 

 dividuals have light flaxen or yellow hair. Mr. 

 Catlin further states, that among the Mandans 

 who resided in lat. 46 N. and had become so 

 far civilized as to have comfortable dwellings, with 

 the art of manufacturing vessels of pottery, there 

 were females almost white, with hazel, blue, and 

 grey eyes, regular features, and hair of every 

 colour, except red and auburn. (Manners, Cus- 

 toms, and Condition of the North American 

 Indians, vol. i. p. 94.) 



Should it still be urged, that the general com- 

 plexion of the native Americans is that of iron rust, 

 while that of the various tribes in northern Asia 

 and Europe is yellow or tawny, it may be an- 

 swered, that all barbarous nations are continually 

 exposed to the sun and air during summer, and 

 mostly confined in smoky dwellings amidst filth 

 during winter, while many of them employ red 

 paints. But it is obvious, that if the whitest 

 nations of Europe had been exposed in the same 

 manner for a sufficient length of time, their skin 



