ANIMALS. 401 



lips thick and tumid ; and their teeth of an ivory whiteness. 

 This their only beauty, however, is set off by the colour of their 

 skin ; the contrast between the black and white being the more 

 observable. It is false to say that their features are deformed 

 by art ; since, in the negro children born in European countries 

 the same deformities are seen to prevail; the same flatness in 

 tlie nose ; and the same prominence in the lips. They are in 

 general said to be well shaped ; but of such as I have seen, I 

 never found one that might be justly called so; their legs being 

 mostly ill formed, and commoidy bending outward on the shin- 

 bone. But it is not only in those parts of their bodies that are 

 obvious, that they are disproportioned ; those parts which among 

 us are usually concealed by dress, with them are large and lan- 

 guid. ' The women's breasts, after bearing one child, hang down 

 below the navel ; and it is customary with them to suckle the 

 child at their backs, by throwing the breasts over the shoulder. 

 As their persons are thus naturally deformed, at least to our 

 imaginations, their minds are equally incapable of strong exertions. 

 The climate seems to relax their mental powers still more than 

 those of the body ; they are, therefore, in general, found to be 

 stupid, indolent, and mischievous. The Arabians themselves, 

 many colonics of whom have migrated southward into t'je most 

 inland parts of Africa, seem to have degenerated from .heir an- 

 cestors ; forgetting their ancient learning, and losing their beauty, 

 they have become a race scarcely any way distinguishable from 

 the original natives. Nor does it seem to have fared otherwise 

 with the Portuguese, who, about two centuries ago, settled 

 along this coast. They also are become almost as black 

 as the negroes, and are said by some to be even more 

 barbarous. 



The inhabitants of America make a fifth race, as different 

 from all the rest in colour, as they are distinct in habitation. • 



1 Linnajus, in prima linea sua, foeminas Afriranas dcpinpt siout aliquid 

 deforme in parte genitali gestantes, quod sinum pudoris nuncupat. Attaim-n 

 nihil diirenint a nostratibus in liac parte nisi quod labia pudendse siiit aliquan- 

 tulum tuinidiora. In lidiniiiibus etiam penis est longior et multo laxior. 



* The American variety appears to form a link between the Caucasian and 

 Mongolian, but approximating more to the latter. The slviu is darii, with 

 more or less of a copper tint. The hair 13 straight and black, tlie beard 

 small, the forehead low, eyes dark and oblique, face broad and prominent, 

 and chocks rouudcd. The features in general, particularly the nose, aro 



2 L J 



