THE WILD INDIAN TRIBES OF THE MADEIRA VALLEY. 
157 
village, in fact, thci’o should he a female teacher for the long-neglected 
squaws. A new generation would then arise, wliich, if not endowed 
with the energy and activity of the European poimlation, would at 
least become tolerable neighbours to it; and by amalgamation with 
which, in process of time, it might contribute to the formation of a 
stable race adapted to the climate. 
To many it may appear that such mixed races bear in themselves 
the germs of de.struetion, natime generally having a tendency to return 
to the pure types ; but closer observation of the present (so-called) white 
population of the northern provinces of Pernambuco, Ceara, Parahyba 
do ISTorte, Maranhao, and Para, wUl clearly show that so much of the 
Indian clement has survived there that more than one-third, or a fourth 
part, of the Avhole population must be ascribed to it. Even if it be 
more and more diminished by increasing immigration, and should it at 
last be discernible only by an experienced eye, yet thoi-e it is, and it 
has been the means of profit to the thinlj^-peoplod country ; and smcly 
no one will assert that the black-haired, dark-eyed mestizoes of these 
countries ai’o less fit to live and Avork under the gloAving rays of the 
tropical sun than the fair sons of the North. 
However, I am still far from joining in the unAA'airantable lamen- 
tations of novel-vuiters over the impending extinction of a mythical 
red race, far superior to the AA'hite in heroic vii’tues and noble qualities 
of heart. Such a red race exists only in their imaginations. The 
indolent, sensual, and sometimes treacherous race of real life will and 
must ghm way to the growing exigencies of over-peopled Europe. The 
titles of possession enjoyed by the antochthon, important as they may 
be in his ovni narrow and childish judgment, are abolished in the 
Coiu't of Appeal which takes cognisance of the wider needs of the 
world. And to ultra-sentimentalists of the novelist type I should like 
to put this query : “ Is not the prosperity of the family of some hard- 
working settler, trying with the sweat of his brow to create a new 
home for his chikh-en and his grand-children, of more importance than 
the comforts of a set of savages, AAnth which that prosperity might 
possibly interfere?” Moreover, by way of justifying this complete 
extrusion of an umvilling race, a really higher civilisation, in the form 
of agricidture and regular industry, should replace the hitherto pre- 
valent system of wild robbery ; the hidden treasures of the country 
shoidd be explored for the benefit of maukind at large, and the last 
L. 
