IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. 255 



peated intermixture. If the offspring of a white woman and 

 a black be matched with a black man, and this process be 

 repeated two or three times, the form of the original mother 

 is entirely lost, and that of the father substituted 5 or ^ vice 

 versa. In this manner the colour of the race may be com- 

 pletely changed in three or four generations ; while it never 

 has been changed by climate, even in the longest series of ages. 



The offspring of an European and Indian (American) is 

 named Mestizo * (mestee, Eng.). The hair is black and 

 straight ; tJie iris dark : the skin varies according to the 

 tint of the American parent. As the latter is by no means 

 so dark-coloured as the Negro, the Mestizo is much lighter 

 than the Mulatto. Many native Americans are nearly as fair 

 as Europeans ; hence Mestizos are often not distinguishable 

 by colour from Europeans. 



^* A Mestizo," says Humboldt f, " is in colour almost 

 a pure white, and his skin is of a particular transparency. 

 The small beard, and small hands and feet, and a certain 

 obliquity of the eyes, are more frequent indications of the 

 mixture of Indian blood, than the nature of the hair." 



They have often some parts of the body darker than 

 others ; and this is always the case with the organs of gene- 

 ration in both sexes. European fathers and Mestee mothers 

 produce Quarterons, Quatralvi, or Castlzos, corresponding to 

 Tercerons in the Negro breed, and not distinguishable from 

 Europeans J; Quarteron women with Europeans, Ochavons, 

 or Octavons ; and Europeans with female Octavons, Pu- 

 chuelos, which are not only not distinguishable in any 

 respect from native Europeans, but also enjoy full legal 

 rights and privileges in the Spanish colonies. 



* They also are sometimes called Mestindi, Metifi, Mamelucki. 



f Political Essay, v. i. p. 244. The testimony of Ulloa is to the same 

 effect. « The inhabitants (of Conception) consist of Spaniards, and of Mes- 

 tizos, who in colour are hardly distinguished from the former, both being 

 very fair, and some have even fresh complexions." — Voyage to South 

 America; ii. 237. 



if " If a Mestiza marry a white man, the second generation differs hardly 

 in any thing from the European race." Humboldt, loc. cit. 



