B-aKK AND FAIR TRIBES. 
465 
These phenomena are so much the more worthy of attention 
ns they are observed in that great branch of the American 
nations generally ranked in a class totally opposite to that 
circumpolar branch, viz ; the Tscbougaz-Esquimaux,* whose 
children are fair, and who acquire the Mongol or yellowish 
tint only from the influence of the air and the humidity 
In Guiana, th» hordes who live in the midst of the thickest 
forests are generally less tawny than those who inhabit 
the shores of the Orinoco, and are employed in fisbin<r. 
But this slight difference, which is alike found in Europe 
between the artisans of towns and the cultivators of the 
fields or the fishermen on the coasts, in no way explains 
the problem ol the Indios Mancds. They are surrounded by 
other Indians of the woods (Indios del monte), who are 
of a reddish-brown, although now exposed to the same 
physical influences. The causes of these phenomena are 
very ancient, and we may repeat with Tacitus, “ est durans 
origiuis vis.” 
The fair-complexioned tribes, which we had an opportu- 
nity of seeing at the mission of Esmeralda, inhabit part of a 
mountainous country lying between the sources of six tribu- 
taries of the Orinoco ; that is to say, between the Padamo, the 
Jao, the Yentuari, the Erevato, the Aruy, and the Para- 
guay.-)- The Spanish and Portuguese missionaries are 
accustomed to designate this country more particularly 
feeginning of the 16 th century, we see, that the discovery of America 
and of a new race of men, had singularly awakened the interest of 
travellers respecting the varieties of our species. Now, if a black 
race had been mingled with copper-coloured men, as in the South-sea 
Islands, the conquistadores would not have failed to speak of it in a 
precise manner. Besides, the religious traditions of the Americans relate 
the appearance, in the heroic times, of white and bearded men as priests 
and legislators; but none of these traditions make mention of a‘ black 
race. 
* The Chevalier Gieseke has recently confirmed all that Krantz re- 
lated of the colour of the skin of the Esquimaux. That race (even in 
the latitude of seventy-five and seventy-six degrees, where the climate is 
80 rigorous) is not in general so diminutive as it was long believed to be. 
Ross's Voyaye to the North. 
f They are six tributary streams on the right bank of the Orinoco; the 
first three run towards the south, or the Upper Orinoco ; the three others 
-owards the north, or the Lower Orinoco. 
v OL. II. 2 H 
