IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. 247 



So far is this variety from being peculiar to the Negro, or 

 even to the torrid zone, that there is no race of men, nor any 

 part of the globe, in which it may not occur. Blumen- 

 BACH * has seen sixteen examples of it in various parts of 

 Germany ; and it has been also noticed in Denmark, Eng- 

 land t, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Italy J, the Grecian 

 Archipelago, and Hungary. 



It is probably more common in Africa than elsewhere : 

 Dr. Winterbottom mentions eleven instances among the 

 native tribes about Sierra Leone ; and Mr. Jefferson seven 

 among the Negro slaves of America. The African Albinos 

 do not present that entire absence of cohmring matter from 

 the eye, which we observe in the European instances. Mr. 

 Jefferson does not mention the colours of the eyes ; Ijut 

 Dr. Winterbottom describes them as light blue or brown. 

 They were as weak as the red eyes of our Albinos. 



Mr. BowDicH informed mc that the king of Ashantee 

 has collected nearly a hundred white Negroes. 



Humboldt § says that examples of this degeneration are 

 rare in the copper-coloured race. Yet they seem rather nu- 

 merous, by Wafer's description, in the isthmus of Darien. 

 In the gardens of a palace belonging to Montezuma, were 

 found, at the time of the Spanish conquest, among rare 

 birds, and other curiosities, " Albinesi d'ogni eta et d'ogni 

 sesso ||.'' 



Dubois states that they are not uncommon among the 

 Hindoos %, 



Cook met with them in several islands of the Pacific **. 



* De G. H. Var. Nat. p. 278. Medicinische Bibliothek. t. iii. p. 161 et seq. 



+ An English Albino is shortly mentioned by Mr. Hunter ; Obsv. on certain 

 Parts of the Animal Economy, p. 207. 



:}: Buzzi had the opportunity of dissecting one at Milan. I have not suc- 

 ceeded in procuring his Dlssertazione sopra una Vatnetd particolare cfUomini 

 bianchi Eliofobi^ 4 to. Milano, 1784. 



^ Personal Narrative^ iii. 288. 



II Carli, Lettre Americane ; t. i, let. 5. 



1 On the Character, Manners, 8^c. of the People of India; p. 199. 



** At Otaheite ; Hawkesworth's Collection, ii. 99, 188 : at the Society 

 Isles, and New Caledonia ; Voy. towards the S. Pole, ii. 1 14: at Ilapaee and 

 Annamooka (Friendly Isles); Voyage to the Pacific, I 381. 



