SECT. I.] CLIMATE. 48 



Mexicans, for instance, are much darker than the aboriginals 

 of the hottest parts of South America ; and the Gruaicas 1 are 

 much lighter than the Indians by whom they are surrounded, 

 although they seem to share the same mode of life. Maehlen- 

 pfordt 2 observes with regard to the Mexican Indians, that they 

 are as brown in the cold mountainous regions as in the south 

 and hot valleys, and that the covered parts of the body are fre- 

 quently of a darker colour than the unprotected parts. The 

 only parts which are constantly of a lighter colour, are the 

 palms of the hand, and the soles of the feet. Desmoulins 3 sup- 

 ports his theory, that the pure races retain their peculiarities, 

 by the Kohillas, a colony of the Affghans north of the Granges, 

 who are said even now to possess the same physical characters 

 as the Icelanders white complexion, blue eyes, fair hair, 

 European physiognomy. His authority for this is Niquet, who 

 adds, that they see badly in bright day light, which creates the 

 suspicion that he speaks of Albinos. Moreover, the Affghans 

 exhibit all shades of colour; in the western table-land, they have 

 an European clear complexion ; in the east of the Indus, they 

 are darker, and even black. 4 The colour of the skin cannot in 

 some cases be satisfactorily explained either by reason of descent 

 or the influence of climate ; it must then be dependent on other 

 influences. The Portuguese Creoles, in Java, i. e., the cross- 

 breds of the Portuguese and natives, who have propagated on 

 the Island for centuries, are much darker in colour than the 

 Javanese themselves. 5 



Uncivilized nations preserve, at least under common condi- 

 tions, not only the type generally, but also the colour of their 

 skin and hair. This is specially shown by the Fulahs, who, 

 though of a different stock, have preserved their peculiarities 

 among the Negroes. Thus Burckhardt 6 was able to recognize 

 the descendants of the Bosnian soldiers, who, sent by Sultan 

 Selim (1420), settled in Nubia, and who by their brown colour 



1 Humboldt and Bonpland, Reise," iv, p. 495. 



2 " Schilderung der Rep. Mejieo," i, p. 204, 1844. 



3 " Hist. Nat. des Races Humaines," pp. 21, 162, 168. 

 * Pilchard, iv, p. 91. 



5 Pfyffer, " Skizzen v. d. Insel Java," p. 67, 1829. 



6 " Reisen in Nubien, p. 194, 1820. 



