74 
OUR RACE AND ITS ORIGIN. 
Du Chaillu, speaking of the Hill natives, states, “ in color 
they are rather a yellowish black. Indeed, I have remarked, 
that in all parts of the Continent, from the bounds of the 
Sahara to the Apingi, the natives of mountainous regions in 
the interior are much lighter than the people of the sea 
board, the plains, or desert.” 
A great difference is also observed in the color of high 
chiefs and men of inferior caste ; those who have constantly 
kept their persons covered and not engaged in field labour, 
being much fairer than the others. In the Hew Zealand 
race there is an admixture of the negro, as the woolly or 
frizzly hair and facial angle clearly indicate, still, though 
several shades darker than others, they have evidently lost 
much of their original color. The Maori, both from 
language and tradition, evidently came from the Sandwich 
Islands, but he is now many shades lighter than their pre- 
sent inhabitants. 
The same may be said of the gipsies, so generally scattered 
over Europe. They were once without doubt nearly black, 
as it is now pretty well ascertained that they are of East 
Indian origin, and therefore must have become fairer by 
their long sojourn in colder climates. Bishop Heber, sail- 
ing up the Ganges, states that he reached one of their 
encampments, and some of them came out of their booths 
as he passed — “ a race that no man can mistake, meet them 
where he may ; though they are, as might be expected from 
their latitude and exposure to the climate, far blacker here 
than in England, or even than the usual race of Bengalese.” 
It appears highly probable that the gipsies were originally 
one of the Aboriginal races of India, which are much darker 
than the Hindu, and perfectly separated from them.* The 
same may be said of the Esquimaux, who most likely were 
once far darker than they are now. C{ Common experience 
proves that men who are kept in darkness for a large 
portion of their lives lose color, and exhibit an un- 
healthy pallor. Contrast the miner with the mountaineer ; 
the former seems to be blanched, as a plant raised in dark 
* Library of Useful Knowledge , vol. ii. , p. 149. 
