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41 
fable to^ and of which the ioipreffion is feldom permanent. From this 
circiimftancc 1 have been led ro conje6:ure that the genera! difparity 
of Goitvplexions in different nations, might pojfibfy be owing to the more 
er iefs copious iecretion, or cedundance of that joice, rendering the Jkin 
more or lefs dark according to the qualities of the bile prevailing in 
the conflricutions of each. But I fear fuch an hypothefis would not ftand 
the teft of exj^riment, as it mnft follow, that upon diflred:ion^ the con- 
tents of a negroe's gall bladder, or at kail tlie extrav;i fated bile, fhould 
uttiformiy be found black, Perfons ikilled in anatomy will determine 
t^hether it is poffible that the qualities of any animal frcretion can fo far 
affc^ the fmme, as to render their confequences liable to be tranfmitted 
to pofterity in their full force. 
The fmall fize of the inhabitants, and efpecially of the women, may 
be in fomc meafure owing to tUc early communication between the 
fexes ; though, as the inblinations whieh lead to this intercoiirfe arc 
prompted here, by nature, fooncr than in cold climates, it is not unfair 
to fuppofe that being proportioned to the period of maturity, this is 
alfo fooner attained to, and conffequentiy that the earlier ccflTation of 
growth of thefe people, is agreeable to the laws of their conftitution, and 
not occafioned by a premature and irregular appetite. 
, The men of fuperior rank encourage the growth of their hand nails, 
particularly thofe of the fore and Urtle fingers, to an extraordinary 
length y ^f'^quently tinging them red, with the cxpreifed juice of a 
Ihrub called tenii as they do tne iiaiib uf lUeir feet airo, to which, being 
always uncovered, they pay as much attention as to their hands. The 
hands of the tiatives, and even of the half breed, are always cold to the 
touch ; vfhifeh I cannot account for otherwife than by a fuppofition, that 
from the lefs degree of elafticity in the folids, oceaiionH by the heat of 
the climdte, the internal a^iion of the body, by which the fluids are 
|tit in motion, is lefs vigorous, the circulation is proponionably lan- 
guid, and of courfe the diminiflied cffed: is mod perceptible in the ex- 
tremities, and a coldnefs there is the natural confcquencc*. 
M The 
