V 



15 



appear less insulated, and we shall ac- 

 knowledge, *in this great family of the hu- 

 man race, one single organic type, modified 

 by circumstances which perhaps will ever 

 remain unknown. 



Though the nations of the New Con- 

 tinent are connected by intimate ties, they 

 exhibit, in the mobility of their features, in 

 their complexions, tanned in a greater or 

 less degree, and in their stature, a differ- 

 ence as remarkable as the Arabians, the 

 Persians, and Sclavonians, who are all of 

 the Caucasian race. The hordes who 

 wander along the burning plains of the 

 equinoctial regions have, however, no 

 darker skins than the mountaineers of the 

 temperate zone ; whether it be that in the 

 human race, and in the greater part of 

 animals, there is a certain period of organic 

 life, beyond which the influence of climate 

 and food have no effect, or that the devia- 

 tion from the primitive type becomes ap- 

 parent only after a long series of ages. 

 Besides, every thing concurs to prove, that 



