Amazonian Indians. 465 



And then, too, in some strange way, with no apparent rea- 

 son, the Indian seems to melt away just because his rival 

 appears ; a blank, saddened stare steals over him like a 

 shadow — a sign that his hour has come, and he is blighted 

 and withered like a leaf. He simply fulfills the inexora- 

 ble law of suppression which hangs over every insufficient 

 I'ace. 



The Indian is not a tropical animal. The Negro and 

 Caucasian are far more at home on the equator. The In- 

 dian is very susceptible to changes of climate or altitude. 

 He is very liable to sickness in going from the main river 

 to the higher regions on the tributaries, or vice ve?'sd. 

 Even a change of clothing he is not able to bear ; feathers 

 and bark are better for him than coats and calico.* Old 

 age and gray hairs are rare. 



Mr. Bates says that fecundity among these wild tribes is 

 of low degree, and this accords with Mr. Darwin's gen- 

 eralization. f But a recent and keen observer. Dr. Gait, 

 thinks:}; that it is perfectly well established that there is 

 no more fertile race than the pure-blooded Indians of the 

 Maranon ; that, in fact, it is excessively so. Four or five 

 is the usual number of children in a family. It is, how- 

 ever, very noticeable that crossing with the white impairs 

 this fertility, aside from the accidental causes of decrease; 

 and absence of progeny is more conspicuous in proportion 

 to the purity of type on both sides. 



Another clear fact is the rapid loss of resemblance of 

 the offspring to the Indian parent, the white element 



* This is because an injudicious use of clothing by those naturally unac- 

 customed to it increases the changes of temperature, by which they suffer. 

 Most of the tribes distant from the towns and main river are in the sans- 

 culottic state. 



t Darwin's Descent of Man, vol. i. , p. 128. 



t As expressed in a letter to the author. According to M. ITombron, the 

 union of white and Indian is more prolific than of Negro and Indian, or even 

 Negro and white. 



2G 



