34 



ALBINO. 



form of tlie features and in all other respects 

 the individuals in question exactly resemble 

 the negro race. Another striking peculiarity 

 of the Albino is the state of the eye, which is 

 of a delicate pink or rose colour ; it is likewise 

 so sensible to light as to be unable to bear the 

 ordinary light of the day, while in the evening, 

 or in a dark shade, its functions appear to be 

 sufficiently perfect. We learn from Wafer, 

 who accompanied Dampier in one of his voy- 

 ages, and who relates his adventures in crossing 

 the Isthmus of Darien, that Albinoes are not 

 unfrequently found among the inhabitants of 

 this district.* We are also informed by various 

 travellers and naturalists that they are often 

 met with in some of the oriental isles, more 

 especially in Java and Ceylon ;f in all these 

 cases exhibiting the peculiar appearance of the 

 skin, hair, and eyes, while, in other respects, 

 they conformed to the external and physical 

 characters of the people among whom they are 

 found. The same circumstance occurs in this 

 country and in the other parts of Europe, al- 

 though, if we are to place any confidence in 

 the accounts of travellers, the Albino is much 

 more frequently met with in tropical climates, 

 especially in the western parts of Africa, and 

 in Darien, than in the more northern regions.^ 



* Wafer's New Voyage, p. 134 . . 8 ; Buffon, Hist. 

 Nat. t. iii. p. 500; WoodVTrans. v. iii. p. 419, 10 ; 

 Pauw, Recherches sur les Americains, par. 4, 

 sect. 1. t. ii. p. 1 et seq. ; Raynal, Hist, des Indes, 

 t. iii. p. 288. The earliest account which we have 

 of the South American Albinoes is by Cortez, in 

 the narrative of his conquest of Mexico, which he 

 transmitted to Charles V. In describing the palace 

 of Montezuma, among other objects of rarity or 

 curiosity which were found in it, he says, " In hujus 

 palatii particula tenebat homines, pueros, fcemi- 

 nasque a nativitate candidos in facie, corpore, ca- 

 pillis, superciliis, et palpebris." De Insulis nuper 

 inventis narrat., p. 30 of " Nar. Sec. ;" see also 

 Clayton, in Manch. Mem. v. iii. p. 261 et seq. 



t Buffon, t. iii. p. 399 and 415 : Wood's Trans, 

 v. iii. p. 328, 9 and 344. We have not been able 

 to procure the " Voyages de Legat," which is re- 

 ferred to by Buffon and others, as containing the 

 original account of the Albinoes, or, as they have 

 been termed, Chacrelos, of Java. With respect to 

 the Bedas of Ceylon, as originally described by 

 Ribeyro, Hist, de Ceylon, ch. xxiv., and more 

 lately by Percival, Account of Ceylon, ch. 13, and 

 by Cordiner, Desc. of Ceylon, v. i. c. 4, it seems 

 evident that they are not to be considered as Albi- 

 noes. The only remark which Ribeyro makes on 

 their physical character is, " Us sont blancs comme 

 des Europeens, et il y a meme des roux parmi 

 eux," p. 178. Percival, who saw some of them, 

 states that their complexions are fairer and more 

 inclined to a copper colour, than those of the other 

 inhabitants ; while all that is said by these writers 

 respecting their habits and modes of life indicates 

 that they are a distinct race or tribe. The term 

 Beda, or Badah, appears to be a corruption of 

 Vaddah, or Veddah, which Knox informs us is the 

 name of the aborigines of the island ; Account of 

 Ceylon, p. 61 ; see also Brown, in Brewster's 

 Encyc. art. " Ceylon," p. 704 ; Cordiner and Per- 

 cival, ut supra. 



J Vossius and Ludolph, ubi supra ; Argensola, 

 Conquist. de las Islas Malucas, lib. ii. p. 71, 

 speaks of Albinoes as not uncommon in these islands; 

 De la Croix, Relation de 1'Afrique, par. iii. liv. ii. 

 sect. ii. , 13, " Albinos, hommes blancs, ou 



We meet with a few scattered remarks in the 

 writings of the ancients, which render it evident 

 that this peculiar state of the human body had 

 fallen under their notice. We have the follow- 

 ing passage in Pliny : " Idem " (Isigonus 

 Wicseensis) " in Albania gigni quosdam glauca 

 oculorum acie, e pueritia statim canos, qui 

 noctu plus quam interdiu cernant."* The same 

 circumstance is referred to by Aulus Gellius : 

 " . . . . in ultima quadam terra, quae Albania 

 dicitur, gigni homines, qui in pueritia canescunt, 

 et plus cernunt oculis per noctem, quam 

 inter diem ;"f and by Solinus : he says that the 

 Albanians " albo crine nascuntur ;" " glauco 

 oculis inest pupula, ideo nocte plus quam die 

 cernunt."| Pliny, in speaking of the inhabi- 

 tants of a certain district in the interior of 

 Africa, names them Leucsethiopes ; and, as it 

 has been supposed that in this passage he 

 referred to the Albinoes, the term has been 

 applied to them by some eminent modern 

 naturalists; || but it appears more probable that 

 the Leucaethiopes were a tribe of negroes 

 whose complexion was rather less dark than that 



Mores blancs," informs us that they compose a 

 considerable body of attendants at the court of the 

 king of Loango ; the same statement is made by 

 Ludolf, ubi supra, and by the author of the Hist. 

 Gen. des Voyages, t. vi. p. 250 et seq.: Bowdich, 

 Mission to Ashantee, p. 292, observes, that the 

 king had at his court " nearly one hundred negroes 

 of different colours, through the shades of red 

 and copper to white ;" he adds that they were 

 " generally diseased and emaciated ;" some of 

 these were probably Albinoes. Cook, in his first 

 voyage, saw six Albinoes in the small population 

 of Otaheite, v. ii. p. 188 ; in his second voyage 

 he saw one in New Caledonia, v. ii. p. 113, 4; 

 and in his third voyage, he met with three in the 

 Friendly Isles, v. i. p. 381, 2. These, it may be 

 remarked, must have belonged to the Malayan 

 variety. See also Winterbottom, Account of Sierre 

 Leone, v. ii. p. 166 et seq. 

 Brewster's Encyclopaedia, art. 

 p. 41, 2; Bory St. Vincent, L'Homme, t. ii. 

 . " Hommes Monstreux," p. 143-7 ; also in Diet. 

 Class. d'Hist. Nat. art. " Homme/' p. 166 et 

 seq.; Renauldin, in Diet, des Scien. Med. art. 

 " Albino ;" Lawrence's Lect. p. 287 ; Is. St. Hi- 

 laire, Anom. de 1'Organization, t. i. par. ii. liv. iii. 

 ch. i. p. 296, 314, 5, and art. " Mammiferes," in 

 Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. p. 113. Some of the 

 earlier writers did not hesitate to affirm, that they 

 were confined to the offspring of negroes, Monge, 

 Journ. Phys. 1782, p. 401 et seq. Suppl. We 

 have no very distinct account of Albinoes among 

 the Chinese and Mongols, but they appear to be 

 as frequent among the Malays and native Americans 

 as among the ^Ethiopians. 



* Hist. Nat. lib. 7. cap. 2. See the note of 

 Cuvier, in his edition of 7th . . llth books of 

 Pliny, t. i. p. 18. 



t Noct. Attic, lib. 9. cap. 4. 



J Polyhistor, cap. 15. p. 25. See the remarks 

 of Saumaise, Exerc. Plin. p. 134, and of Pauw, 

 t. ii. note in p. 13. 



Lib. 5. cap. 8. We also find the same term in 

 Pomponius Mela, lib. 1. cap 4, and in Ptolemy, 

 Geog. lib. 4. cap. 6 ; but it is not accompanied by 

 any description of the people so designated. 



|| Among others by Blnmenbach, Gen. hum. 

 var. 78. See Is. St. Hilaire, p. 297, note. We 

 may remark that the term is objectionable, as indi- 

 cating that the Albino is confined to the 

 variety. 



Stevenson, in 

 Complexion," 



