48 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I 



different shades. 1 Though it may be that the Jews, banishec 

 by John II, 1492, from Portugal, may, as Sprengel 2 asserts. 

 have intermixed with the Negroes of St. Thomas, this must 

 not be considered as the sole cause of their altered complexion. 

 Though it appears that in the same people, if they live in 

 various degrees of latitude, the colour of the skin usually 

 increases in darkness on approaching the Equator, e.g., in the 

 Chinese, who from Pekin to Canton present all shades from 

 light to deep copper colour; the Arabs, from the Desert to 

 Jemen, from olive colour to black ; the Australians about 

 More ton Bay, coal black; but 10 south copper coloured: 3 

 still, we must not lose sight of the important exceptions, 

 lately also pointed out by Livingstone, to the assumption that 

 the blackness of the skin increases with heat and moisture. 

 An apparent exception is offered by the white race in South 

 America : the Europeans near to the Equator in the hot and 

 damp Guayaquil, have a fair complexion, clearer even than 

 that of the Spaniards in their native country, and blue eyes 

 and light hair are common among the women. This may 

 perhaps be explained by the ladies taking particular care of 

 their complexion. In the unhealthy spots of these parts, as 

 Panama, Portobello, Carthagena, the Spanish Creoles do not 

 present the fair hair and fresh colour so frequently seen in 

 Guayaquil. 5 It may also be observed, that the Spaniards in 

 Chili are white, and of a fresher colour than in their own 

 country, but the Portuguese in Brazil are of a lead colour or 

 yellow. 6 It is still more striking, that whilst in Carthagena 

 there may yet be seen fair or red-haired women, in Santa Fe, 

 which is much colder, only dark complexions with black hair 

 are found. 7 The same condition with regard to colour is 

 stated of the Indians of Peru, by Tschudi. 8 Zarate 9 also 



1 " Prichard," iv, p. 597. 



2 " Vom Ursprung des Negerhandels," p. 32, 1779. 



3 Dunmore Lang, " Cooksland in JST. E. Australia/' p. 380, 1847. 



4 Stevenson, ii, 108. Basil Hall, "Extracts of a Journal written in Chili, 

 Peru, and Mexico," 3rd, Edit., ii, p. 109, 1824. 



5 Ulloa, " Voy. de 1' Am. merid." 1, 145, Amst. 1752. 



6 Frezier, " Reise nach dcr Sudsee/' p. 88, 1718. 



7 Mollien, " Voy. dans la rep. de Colombia," ii, p. 132, 1824. 



8 "Peru Reiseskizzen," ii, p. 359, 1846. 



9 " Hist, de la Decouverte du Perou/' i, p. 41, 1724. 



