SUMATRA* 
from my mmd, could it be afcertained that no fuch cuftom prevails.* 
Their complexion is properly yellow, wanting the red tinge that con* 
ftitutes a tawny or copper color* They are in general lighter than the 
Mcftees, or half breed, of the reft of India ; thofe of tlie fuperior clafs, 
who arc not expofcd to the rays of the fun, and particularly their women 
■of rank, approaching to a great degree of faimefs. Did beauty confTll: 
in this one quality, fomc of them would furpafs our brunettes in Europe. 
The major part of the females are ugly, and many of them even to dif* 
guft, yet there are thofe among them, whofc appearance is flrikingly 
■beautiful ; whatever compofition of perfon, features and complexion^ 
that fentiment may be the refult of, 
■color^not The fairnefs of the Sumatrans, comparatively with other Indians, 
cUraate- iitiiatef) as rhey arp, under a porpciidic\*ieLr Aaji, where no feafon of the 
year affords an alternative of cold, is, I think, an irrefragable proof, that 
the diflfereiice ,of color in tlie various inhabitants of the earth, is not the 
iiu mediate efFe£t of climat'e. The children of Europeaiis born in this 
iOand, are as fair, and perhaps in general fairer, than thofe born in the 
country of their parents. 1 have obferved the fame of the fecond gene- 
ration, w here a mixture with the people of the country has been avoi- 
ded. On the other hand, the offspring and all the defcendants of the 
Guinea and other African ftaves, imported there, continue in the laft 
inftance as perfed:ly black as in the original ftock, I do not mean to 
•enter into the jnerits of the que ft ion which naturally connects with thefe 
obfcrv^ations ; but ihall onlv remark, rh^f fK« iWiis/^ and aduft counte- 
nances, fo commonly acquired by Europeans who have long refided in 
hot climates, are more afcribable to the effect of bilious diftempers, which 
almoft all are fubje6: to in a greater or lefs degree, than of their expofure 
to the iniuence of the weather, which few but feafaring people are 
* It h allov.'ed by travellers that d^e Patagonians have tufts of hair on the upper tip ind chin. 
Captain Carver ikys, that amoTig the tribes he vifited, the people made a regular praftice of eradi- 
caiing their beards wiih pincers. At Bruileb is preferved, along with a variety of ancient and 
r.urious fuits of armour, that of Monteiuma King of Mexico, of which the vizor, or malk for 
the face, has renaarkably targe whilkers j an ornament which thoft Americans could not have 
imkated; unlefs nature had prefcnted thtm with the modcL 
liable 
