PHYSICAL CHARACTERS IN MAN 65 



that there is no evidence that a tribe or clan of albi- 

 notics ever existed, but there are numerous records 

 indicating the existence of considerable numbers of 

 albino individuals. In connection with Dampier's 

 expedition to Darien in 1681, there is a long and 

 circumstantial account of the " white Indians," who 

 could see better by moonlight, etc. I'here is a 

 similar record for Brazil in 1775. Cortez, in connec- 

 tion with the Spanish conquest of Mexico, described 

 Montezuma's palace as containing an entourage of 

 albinos. In a similar w^ay, in the Middle Ages, fools 

 and dwarfs were considered a desirable accessor}- to 

 the retinue of kings and nobles. As late as 1841 

 Catlin described a " white Indian tribe " in Upper 

 Missouri containing many albinos. It appears that 

 albinism is now most frequent among the Indians of 

 Arizona and Mexico. Poole, in 1872, reported light- 

 haired and fair Indians from Queen Charlotte Islands 

 and British Columbia. Newspaper descriptions led 

 to a belief in a colony of albinos living in " the forest 

 country " back of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but 

 Pearson could get no definite confirmation that such 

 a group ever existed, although it may have had some 

 basis in fact. 



Albinism is known in most races and probably 

 occurs in all. Its frequency is unknown, but is esti- 

 mated at, perhaps, i in 5,000 or i in 30,000. In 

 Germany, out of nearly four million children dealt 

 with, about 400 had " w^hite hair." This would give 

 a frequency of i in 10,000. A similar proportion 

 was found in Norway. Of the 400 onl}' 32 had " red 

 eyes," and of these only 23 had also white hair: 

 hence only one complete albino in 200,000, but the true 

 prevalence may be greater. In Austria, from statis- 

 tics of insane albinotics, it was estimated that i in 

 400, or I in 2,000, of the population were albi- 

 notics. This very high estimate is probably due 



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