192 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, [aNNO I765. 



square not many months before; and had lived in Virginia several years in a con- 

 spicuous light; and was informed by the lady of the family of the 2 following 

 curious particulars: About 19 years previous in a small plantation near to that 

 of this family, which belonged to a widow, 2 of her slaves, both black, were 

 married; and the woman brought forth a white girl, which this lady saw very 

 often; and as the circumstances of this case were very particular, he makes 

 mention of them here, both for the entertainment of the Society, and to show 

 that this is exactly similar to the case of this boy. When the poor woman was 

 told the child was like the children of white people, she was in great dread of her 

 husband, declaring, at the same time, that she never had any thing to do with a 

 white man in her life; and therefore begged they would keep the place dark that 

 he might not see it. When he came to ask her how she did, he wanted to see 

 the child, and wondered why the room was shut up, as it was not usual; the 

 woman's fears increased when he had it brought into the light; but while he 

 looked at it he seemed highly pleased, returned the child, and behaved with ex- 

 traordinary tenderness. She imagined he dissembled his resentment till she should 

 be able to go about, and that then he would leave her; but in a few days he said 

 to her, " You are afraid of me, and therefore keep the room dark, because my 

 child is white; but I love it the better for that: for my own father was a white 

 man, though my grandfather and grandmother were as black as you and myself; 

 and although we came from a place where no white people ever were seen, yet 

 there was always a white child in every family that was related to us." 



The other account was, that Admiral Franklin had taken a Spanish ship in 

 war time, and brought her into Carolina; and, on searching, found a picture of 

 a boy who was as beautifully mottled all over with black and white spots as any 

 dog that ever was seen ; it is uncertain which was the ground, or which colour 

 the spots were of; but this lady says, that several copies of the picture were 

 taken in Carolina ; and that they said it was the portrait of a child born of negro 

 parents on the Spanish main ; the ship was bound to Old Spain ; and this lady 

 does not doubt but the admiral might still have the picture in his custody. If 

 these facts are ascertained by these 2 gentlemen, they will be worth recording 

 with the present subject, which Dr. P. would take the trouble of inquiring into 

 further. 



These deviations of colour are indeed very extraordinary among the African 

 negroes, but they are not peculiar to them ; some parts of America have also si- 

 milar variations from the common colour of the inhabitants; and as Dr. P. es- 

 teemed it a great happiness when he could contribute to the entertainment of the 

 R. s., he could not excuse himself from adding to the above, what Mr. Wafer's 

 Account of the Isthmus of America gives on the like objects in that country. 

 See p. 134 of his Description, &c. London, 1699; where, after having described 



