112 IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA 



frost of mountains; the desolate shif tings of the 

 windrowed snows of prairies. Finally, he asks, 

 whence, in peculiar moods, comes that gigantic 

 phantom over the soul at the bare mention of a 

 White Sea, a White Squall, White Mountains, 

 etc., etc. 



He assumes all along that the cause of the feel- 

 ing, however it may differ in degree and other- 

 wise, according to the nature and magnitude of 

 the subject, is one and the same in all cases, that 

 the cause is in the whiteness, and not in the object 

 with which that quality is associated. 



The albino case need not detain us long; and 

 here Melville's seafaring experiences might have 

 suggested a better explanation. Sailors, I am con- 

 vinced from observation, are very primitive in 

 their impulses, and hate, and often unite in per- 

 secuting, a companion who, owing to failing 

 strength or some physical defect, is not able to 

 do his share of the work. Savages and semi-bar- 

 barous people often cherish a strong animosity 

 against a constantly ailing, crippled, or otherwise 

 defective member of the community : and albinism 

 is associated with weakness of vision, and other 

 defects, which might be a sufficient cause of the 

 aversion. Even among the highly civilized and 

 humane, the sight of sickness is probably always, 

 in some measure, repulsive and shocking, espe- 

 cially in cases in which the skin loses its natural 

 color, such as ana?mia, consumption, chlorosis, and 

 jaundice. This natural and universal cause of dis- 



