AND COLOUR OF THE IRIS. 275 



we have a curious statement in the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions *, communicated by a celebrated Mohawk chief, 

 named Thayandaneega, but better known to the English 

 by the name of Captain Brandt, whose portrait is repre- 

 sented in the First Part of Blumenbach's Delineations. 



" The men of the Six Nations have all beards by nature, 

 as have likewise all other Indian nations of North America, 

 which I have seen. Some allow a part of the beard on the 

 chin and upper lip to grow ; and a few of the Mohawks 

 shave with razors like Europeans ; but the generality pluck 

 out the hairs of their beards by the roots, as soon as they 

 begin to appear ; and, as they continue this practice all their 

 lives, they appear to have no beard, or at most only a very 

 few straggling hairs, which they have neglected to pluck out. 

 I am however of opinion, that if the Indians were to shave, 

 they would never have beards altogether so thick as the Eu- 

 ropeans ; and there are some to be met with, who have ac- 

 tually very little beard." 



The beardlessness of the natives at Nootka Sound is as- 

 cribed by Cook f entirely to their practice of eradication 5 

 and the same opinion is expressed respecting the Chopun- 

 nish, a tribe on Lewis's River, which joins the Columbia, 

 by Captains Lewis and Clarke, who are of opinion that 

 several of them would have good beards, if they adopted the 

 practice of shaving J. 



Perouse § reports, that about one half of the adult Indi- 

 ans in New California had beards, which in some were am- 



* For the year 1786 ; art. II. communicated by Mr. M'Causland, an 

 army snrgeon, who had resided for ten years at Niagara, in the midst of the 

 Six Nations, and who confirmed the statement of the American chief. 



+ " Some have no beards at all ; and others only a thin one on the point of 

 the chin. This does not arise from an original deficiency of hair in those parts, 

 but from their plucking it out by the roots ; for those who do not destroy it, 

 have not only considerable beards on every part of the chin, but also whiskers, 

 or mustacliios running from the upper lip to the lower jaw obliquely down- 

 wards." Voyage to the Pacifc, v. ii. p. 302. PI. 38, Man of Nootka Sound : 

 PI. 46, Man of Prince William's Sound. 



I Travels to the Source of the Missouri, p. 556—7. 

 ^ Voyage, \. ii. p. 197-8. 



T 2 



