42 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



however, again perfectly black. 1 The dark colour of the Ainos 

 on the .Kurile Islands, is in remarkable contrast to the climate 

 they inhabit. 



From these and similar facts, it may be inferred that the 

 colour of the skin is not so much owing to climate as to descent. 

 Humboldt, 2 who found no difference in Peru among the in- 

 habitants of the Cordilleras and those of the hot plains, ascribes 

 to it, like Ulloa, great durability among the Americans, and con- 

 siders the influence of climate in this respect, as trifling. This 

 is also the case with regard to the colour and the quality of 

 the hair ; and, although less constantly, as regards the iris, be- 

 tween which the parallelism is unmistakable, inasmuch as the 

 dark tint of the skin is accompanied not merely with a dark 

 iris and dark hair, but also with a proportionate tendency in 

 the latter to curl, which circumstance had already been pointed 

 out by Blumenbach. The white race alone contains peoples of 

 florid complexion, light hair and iris, and in this lies a prool 

 for the greater influence of descent over climate. 3 



One of the most interesting examples of this kind is exhibited 

 by the Berbers in North Africa blue eyes, fair skin, and red 

 beard, are very common among some Kabyles ; 4 high stature, 

 white skin, and light hair, are especially found among the 

 Chaouias in Auras. 5 These characters, by which they were often 

 considered as the descendants of the Vandals, are possessed 

 by them chiefly in the mountainous parts; it therefore again 

 becomes doubtful, what in this case belongs to climate and 

 what to the purity of blood. Several instances in favour of the 

 theory that the colour of the skin is more determined by 

 descent than by climate, may be found in Humboldt. 6 The 



1 Livingstone, " Missionsreise u. Forschungen," 1858. 



2 " R. in die Aequinoctialg. ed. Hauff," ii, p. 55. 



3 The author of an interesting article on " Human Hair in Morgen-Blatt, 

 1855, No. 14, says, " The dark colour of the hair of the Irish and Celts must 

 long ago have vanished, in consequence of intermixture with the neigh- 

 bouring fair-haired tribes, or the dark -coloured Celts must have become fair, 

 since they inhabit parts of Europe which contain the light-haired nations, 

 namely, those north of 48 latitude. 



4 Prevost, " Nouv. Ann. des Voy.," i, 126, 1848. 



s Guyon, ib., ii, p. 390, 1848; compare also M. Wagner, "Reisen in Algier," 

 ii, p. 56, 1841. 

 6 " Neu Spanien," i, p. 117. 



