MAN. 



its substance a black pigment; while the 

 cuticle and cutis deviate but little from 

 the colour which they have in fair per- 

 sons. 



The different varieties of mankind ex- 

 hibit ever)' possible shade, between the 

 snowy whiteness of the European female 

 and the jet black of the Negro. Although 

 none of these gradations obtain so univer- 

 sally, as to be found in all the individuals 

 of any particular nation, nor are so pecu- 

 liar to one race, as not to occur occa- 

 sionally in other widely different ones, 

 the national varieties of colour may be 

 referred on the whole, with sufficient ac- 

 curacy, to the five following principal 

 classes. 



1. White, to which redness of the 

 cheeks is almost wholly confined, being 

 observed at least very rarely, if at all, in 

 the other varieties. This obtains in most 

 of the European nations, in the western 

 Asiatics, as the Turks, Georgians, Circas- 

 sians, Mingrelians, Armenians, Persians, 

 &c. and in the inhabitants of the northern 

 parts of Africa. 



3. Yellow, or olive (a middle tint be- 

 tween that of wheat and boiled quince, 

 or dried lemon peel), which characterises 

 the Mongolian tribes, usually called, to- 

 gether with the inhabitants of great part 

 of Asia, Tartars. 



3. Red, or copper colour (bronze, Fr. 

 an obscure orange, or rusty iron colour, 

 not unlike the bark of the cinnamon tree) 

 almost confined to the Americans. 



4. Tawny, or brown (basane, Fr. a mid- 

 dle tint between that of fresh mahogany 

 and cloves or chesnuts) which belongs to 

 the Malays, and the inhabitants of the 

 South Sea islands. 



5. Black, in various shades from the 

 sooty colour, or tawny -black, to that of 

 pitch, or jet-black. This is well known 

 to prevail very extensively on the conti- 

 nent of Africa : it is found also in other 

 very different and distant varieties of the 

 human race, mingled with the national 

 colour, as in the natives of Brazil, Cali- 

 fornia, India, and some South Sea islands, 

 as New Holland and New Guinea. In 

 describing these five varieties, we fix on 

 the most strongly marked tints, between 

 which there is every conceivable inter- 

 mediate shade of colour. The opposite 

 extremes run into each other by the 

 nicest and most delicate gradations, in 

 every other particular in which the hu- 

 man species differs. This forms no slight 

 objection to the hypothesis of different 

 species. For, on that supposition, we 

 cannot define the number of species, nor 

 can we point out the boundaries which 



divide them ; whereas in animals, which, 

 most resemble each other, the different 

 species are preserved pure and unmixed. 

 Neither does the colour, which we de- 

 scribe in general terms as belonging to 

 any particular race, prevail so universally 

 in all the individuals of that race as to 

 constitute an invariable character, as we 

 should expect, if it arose from such an 

 uniform cause as an original specific dif- 

 ference : its varieties, on the contrary, 

 point out the action of accidental circum 

 stances. Thus, although the red colour 

 is very general on the American conti- 

 nent, travellers have observed fair tribes 

 in several parts; as Bouguer in Peru, 

 Cook at Nootka Sound, and Weld near 

 the United States. The natives of New 

 Zealand vary from a deepish black to an 

 olive, or yellowish tinge ; in the Friendly 

 Islands they are of a complexion deeper 

 than the copper brown ; but several of 

 both sexes are of the olive colour, and 

 some of the women are much fairer. 



Climate has generally been regarded as 

 the cause of national colour, and much 

 has been ascribed to the light and heat of 

 the sun. According to the supporters of 

 this opinion, every parallel of latitude is 

 marked with a characteristic complexion. 

 Under the equator we observe the black 

 colour; under the tropics, the dark brown 

 and copper colours ; and/ from the tropic 

 of Cancer northwards, we discern the 

 alive changing through every interme- 

 diate shade to the fair and sanguine com- 

 plexion. It is further observed, that an 

 European, exposed to the sun and air, 

 will become brown in summer, and lose 

 this colour again during the winter's cold; 

 that the Asiatic and African women, con- 

 fined to the walls of their seraglios, are 

 as white as Europeans, while the colour 

 of those exposed to the rays of the sun is 

 dark, like that of the men ; that the skin 

 of the Moorish children, which is origi- 

 nally fair and delicate, changes in the 

 boys, who are exposed to the sun, to a 

 swarthy colour, while its fairness is pre- 

 served in girls, who keep more within 

 doors : that the South of Spain is distin- 

 guished by complexion from the north j 

 and that the inhabitants of the extensive 

 empire of China exhibit every variety of 

 complexion from the fair to the black, 

 according to the latitude of the country 

 which they inhabit. It appears also, that 

 although fair persons have their colour 

 considerably deepened by changing into 

 a hotter climate, yet that the black races 

 are very little affected by coming into 

 cold countries. We must remember too, 

 if Europeans seem to be less affected than 



