[ * 4 ° ] 
That the Natives of Canada , altho’ but a cold and 
northern Dime, are of a fwarthy Colour, whilft 
others, in the fame Latitude in Europe , are white ; 
for the Cuftoms and Ways of Life of thefe laft feem 
very much to increafe, if not occafion, the White- 
nefs of their Colours j whereas the hard Lives, and 
favage Cuftoms, of thefe Canada Indians , efpecially 
their going ftark-naked all over (a), feem to have no 
Tendency to foften their Skins, or refine their Com- 
plexions i not to mention their Cuftom of intermix- 
ing with the captive Women of fouthern Nations. 
But as the Canada Indians are the moft northern, fo 
they are the paleft, of all Indians. 
Hence it will appear, that the Power of the Suns 
Heat in hot Countries, and its more immediate Ap- 
plication to the Body, or the Increafe of its Force, 
by the Nature of the Soil, or Ways of Life, is the 
remote Caufe of the Blacknefs, and the different De- 
grees of Blacknefs, of the Inhabitants of the Torrid 
Zone : Whereas the luxurious Cuftoms, and the effe- 
minate Lives, of the feveral Nations of white People, 
in the northern Climes, are the remote Caufes of their 
refpe&ive fair Complexions. E. T). 
Altho’ I have gone much further in this Epiftle, 
than I cxpe&ed or intended, or my Time would well 
permit, or the Nature of an Epiftle would well bear ; 
for which Reafon I have patted over what others may 
have imagined to be the Caufe of the Colour of 
Negroes, and have abridged every thing as much as 
I well could; yet I cannot but rake notice, that as 
the Knowledge of any Caufe is always conducive to 
invefticarc, 
(a) La Honcan. Voyage, vol I. lett. 16 . vol. II. cap. I. 
