each other, or from the fairer races of other | islands. Of the inhabitants of Madagascar, little is known as yet with any certainty; but it appears that some of them approximate towards the Malayan type, others towards the Negro. The probability of an admixture of race is here obviously considerable. But besides the Malayan Polynesians, whose affinity to each other and to the Mongolian stock can scarcely be doubted, there are others whose settlement in particular islands seems to have been of much older date, and whose physical characters have a much nearer resemblance to those of the Negro. These tribes are described as ferocious and sullen, of savage and menacing aspect, averse to intercourse with strangers, exceeding in ugliness the most ill-favored brood of the African forests, and rivalling them in the sooty blackness of their complexion. Some of them have the woolly hair of the Negroes of Guinea; but others have long straight locks which may be compared to those of the Esquimaux or Algonquins; while many astonish the beholder with their broad, bushed-out, and frizzly periwigs, reaching to the circumference of three feet, by which they obtained from Dampier the epithet of "mop-headed Papuas.' The headquarters of these "Pelagian Negroes," as Dr. Prichard calls them, are the insulated countries which lie around Australia. In some of these they constitute the sole population; but wherever the Malayan races have established themselves, the blacker tribes have been either exterminated or driven into the mountain fastnesses of the interior. The relation of these people to the genuine Malayo-Polynesian race is difficult to determine, in consequence of our almost total ignorance of the language of the former. But there are many circumstances which lead to the belief of their common origin, and especially this-In several of the islands peopled by the Malayo-Polynesian stock, the complexion of the mass of the people, who are continually exposed to the influence of the sun and air, grows darker, the features ugly, and the hair somewhat crisp, with a decided approach towards the Pelagian Negro type. Yet among the very same people, the superior caste, who pass their days in ease, and are carefully sheltered from the tropical sun, have a fair complexion and an almost European cast of features. All intelligent persons who have long resided in the islands of the Pacific, under circumstances favorable to accurate investigation, appear to have come to the conclusion, that these dif ferences can only be accounted for by the diversified agency of climate and physical influences on the different branches of a race originally the same. If color be once adopted as a test of separate origin, we must suppose that tribes speaking the same language, having the same customs and traditions, and closely related in general conformation, sprang, nevertheless, from ancestors who had no relation to each other; and we must assign a distinct pair to almost every island or group of islands, and in some instances even two or more pairs to a single island. Lastly, in regard to the American nations, it is sufficient to remark that the appellation "red men" is by no means characteristic; for, not only are tribes elsewhere found, at least equally deserving of it, but it is not applicable to a large proportion of the population of the continent of America. Although some of the North American Indians are copper-colored, some are as fair as many Europeans; others are of a brown or yellow complexion, and others nearly, if not quite, as black as the Negroes of Africa. Here also, therefore, we should be forced into the supposition of a large number of primitive stocks in near vicinity to each other, were so much authority to be attributed to color as to allow it to conclusively establish the separate origins of any races of mankind. We have already adverted to examples in which there existed historical proof, or at least adequate presumption, of an actual change in the prevalent hue of a people, within a certain tract of time; we may adduce a few more instances by way of confirmation. The Barábra or Berberines of the higher parts of the Nile appear, from the most careful researches that have been made into their history, to be the descendants of the Nobatæ, who were brought fifteen centuries ago from an oasis in the western country, by Diocletian, to inhabit the valley of the Nile. The particular district, out of which they issued, appears to have been Kordofan; the present inhabitants of which, true Negroes, still preserve and speak the Barábra language. The Berberines live on the banks of the Nile; and wherever there is any soil they plant date trees, set up wheels for irrigation, and sow dhourra and leguminous plants. At Cairo, where many of them resort, they are prized for their honesty. Now, this advance in civilization has been accompanied by a considerable change in complexion: for their present physiognomy and hue of skin are very similar to those of the ancient Egyptians: their hair, too, is long and slightly crisp, without being woolly. This alteration cannot be set down to any intermixture with the Arabs or other inhabitants of the Nile valley, from whom the Berberines keep themselves distinct. In like manner the Funge, who made themselves masters of Sennaar about three centuries ago, although originally Negroes of the Shilúkh nation, no longer present the physiognomy or complexion of that race, but much more nearly approach the Berberines. There appears in both cases to be a special tendency towards a red complexion, and even red hair; and among the Funge the individuals thus distinguished are stated to form a separate caste, being known under the name of "Elmoval towards the nearest pole; and it has Akmar," or "the red people." In Northern India, again, there are tribes of mountaineers descended from families which migrated at remote periods from the plains of Hindostan to high tracts in the Himalaya, especially towards the sources of the sacred rivers. Many of these have so far departed from the ordinary Hindoo aspect as to have acquired a fair complexion, with blue eyes, and auburn or red hair. The most complete change, however, seems to have taken place in the Siah-Posh. They speak a dialect of the Sanskrit, (which is no longer the spoken language of any part of India,) and are acquainted with only the simplest form of Hindoo mythology;-they may be assumed, therefore, to have separated from the main stock at a very early period. According to the information obtained by Mountstuart Elphinstone, and Sir A. Burnes, the SiahPôsh are a people of exquisite beauty, with regular Grecian features, blue eyes, arched eye-brows, and fair complexion; they have no resemblance to the Afghan or Cashmirian people near whom they dwell. |ing to the various complexions of the human race must compel us to admit, to a very considerable extent, the influence of climate among the causes of these varieties. Thus it is only in the intertropical regions, and in the countries bordering upon them, that we meet with the greatest depth of color in the skin; and all the nations inhabiting those regions have an inclination to complete blackness, which may, however, be kept in check by other circumstances. The two other conditions which seem to have the greatest modifying influence, next to geographical position, are elevation above the sea-level, and the degree of humidity in the atmosphere. In botanical geography, elevation is considered an equivalent to re obviously the same effect on human complexion as on the growth of plants-the inhabitants of mountainous districts being almost always fairer than those of the plains at their base. On the influence of humidity much stress is laid by M. D'Orbigny and Sir R. Schomburgh, each of whom has made the remark, as the result of personal and independent observation on the inhabitants of the New World, that people who live under the damp shade of dense and lofty forests are comparatively fair; whilst those exposed to solar heat in dry and open spaces are of a much deeper hue. It must be admitted that the relation be tween climate and color is not perfectly uniform; but it is at least as uniform as the relation between color and race; that is, the difference of shade among different families of nations which have been exposed sufficiently long to the same climatic influences, is not greater than that which presents itself among individnals of the same nation. It would seem that, among the greater number of dark-skinned nations, there is a greater variety of complexion than is found in those of fairer hue. We have already noticed this, when speaking of the inhabitants of New Zealand: and the following quotation from Bishop Heber's journal shows the amount of variety existing among the Hindoos. He remarks, on landing, "The great difference in color betwixt different natives struck me much. Of the crowd by whom we were surrounded, some were as black as Negroes, others merely copper-colored, and others little darker than the Tunisines whom I have seen in Liverpool. Mr. Mill, the Principal of the Bishop's College, who came down to A general view of the phenomena belong-meet me, and who has seen more of India We have thus shown, that however easy it may be to select a certain number of individuals from the various races, and to set them up as typical forms, it is utterly futile to attempt to make any general classification of races according to such forms. There is no single distinctive character common to all those tribes, whose general agreement would nevertheless require their association in any such system of classification; and there is none so permanent as to be incapable of undergoing modification in course of time, either from inherent tendency to spontaneous variation, or from the influence of external conditions. than most men, tells me that he cannot account for this difference, which is general throughout the country, and everywhere striking. It is not merely the difference of exposure, since this variety is visible in the fishermen, who are naked all alike. Nor does it depend on caste, since very highcaste Brahmins are sometimes black, while Pariahs are comparatively fair. It seems, therefore, to be an accidental difference, like that of light and dark complexions in Europe; though, where so much of the body is exposed to light, it becomes more striking here than in our own country." We have seen that the Arab, living in the country of the Negro, becomes of Negro blackness; that the Negro, dwelling on the banks of the Nile, presents the dark red tinge of the ancient Egyptian; that the Jew, transplanted into the northern regions of Europe, has the original swarthy complexion of his race replaced by a fair and even a florid hue, whilst another offset of the same stock rivals in blackness the Hindoos among whom he dwells; that the Hindoo, when he migrates to the high lands of the Himalaya range, becomes, in process of time, as fair as the Europeans who have come thither from the far North; that the nations proved by affinities of language to be descendants of the great Arian stock, which has dispersed itself through every variety of climate, admit of every variety of color; and that equal and similar varieties abound among the members of other groups of nations, (e. g. the American and the Polynesian) whose geographical distribution and linguistic affinities afford a strong presumption of a common origin. We cannot conceive that any candid person can weigh this mass of evidence, without coming to the conclusion that the most extreme differences of complexion are unsafe indications of an original distinctness of race; and that these differences owe their origin far more to the prolonged influence of external physical conditions, than to any other assignable causes. And we thus arrive at the same result to which we were led by a comparison of the cranial conformation of the different races. The general propositions, then, which we feel entitled to deduce from these premises, are as follows:-First, that no such difference exists in the external aspect or internal structure of the different races of men as would justify the assertion of their distinct origin; and second, that although the comparison of the anatomical characters of races does not furnish any positive evidence of their descent from a common stock, it proves that, even if their stocks were originally distinct, there could have been no essential difference between them, the descendants of any one such stock, being able to assume the characters of another. These conclusions are fully borne out by the physiological comparisons instituted by Dr. Prichard, of which, however, we can only notice the leading features. He lays it down, in the first instance, as a general axiom, that the great laws of the vital functions, such as those governing the periods and duration of life, the economy of the sexes, and the phenomena of parturition and reproduction, are, with slight deviations resulting from external agencies, constant and uniform in each particular species; whilst there are usually decided differences in regard to the same peculiarities among races of animals, which, though nearly resembling each other, are yet specifically distinct. This axiom will be admitted, we believe, by all who are competent to form an opinion on the subject; and it is signally confirmed by the careful study of those races of domesticated animals, which are remarkable for the greatest amount of anatomical variation. Now, taking the average duration of life as the first point of comparison, we find that, whilst there is a marked difference in this respect between man and the highest apes the full term of existence of the Chimpanzee being stated by M. Lesson at not more than thirty years, and that of inferior species being less-there is absolutely no difference among the several races of mankind; the extreme age of the Negro and American races being at least as great as that of the European; with the same average duration of life under the same circumstances as regards climate, mode of life, &c. This is true also of the period at which the body attains its full development; of that at which the capability of reproduction is first manifested in the female, and of that at which it ceases. The slight differences. which are observable as to these particulars among the several races, are not greater than among individuals of the same race or nation under similar climatic influences. The term of gestation, which is one of the most definite of all the periodical phenomena of life, and which frequently differs widely in two species nearly allied to each other, is exactly the same in every one of the human races. Following the order we have indicated, we shall now pass to that department of our survey which embraces the Psychical characters of the different races of mankind :-in our apprehension, the most important part of the whole inquiry; but which no ethnologist till Dr. Prichard had thought worthy of a systematic investigation. The capaciousness of the skulls of the Negro and European has been measured and compared; but little account has been taken of the workings of the brains which they contained. The color of the skin, the flatness or projection of the nose, the lankness or crispness of the hair, the straightness or curvature of the limbs, have been scrutinized and contrasted; as if these alone constituted the proper description of man: though it is surely in the psychical character and its manifestations that the attributes of humanity peculiarly consist. This conclusion derives additional sup- | not, as is commonly supposed, descended port from the results attending the mixture from single wild stocks now for the most of races. Dr. Prichard has drawn particu- part lost sight of, but have had several lar attention to this point, and has placed original stocks, whose traces are still disthe question in a somewhat new aspect. coverable. Hence we feel that it would be He brings together a large number of facts unwise to lay much stress upon this particufrom the domains of zoology and botany, to lar argument; though whatever weight it prove the comparative, if not the absolute, possesses must go into the scale of original sterility of mules, or hybrids between parents unity. of different species; and the superior vigor and fecundity of hybrids whose parents are merely varieties of one species. According to De Candolle, no hybrids between plants of undoubtedly distinct species can continue the race by themselves for more than three or four generations; their capability of more permanent fecundity being dependent on the occasional crossing of the race with one of the parent stocks, towards which it gradually returns; so that the hybrid race becomes virtually extinct. It is questioned by Dr. Prichard whether hybrids between animals of undoubtedly distinct species are ever fertile with each other, although it is well known that they may become so with either of the parent stocks. On the other hand, it is universally admitted that an intermixture of mere varieties, as in the crossing of the breeds of domesticated animals, tends to the improvement of the race, and is favorable to its perpetuation. He considers that it may be possible in this manner to test the specific identity or difference of two races of plants or animals; any two races that will produce a progeny of equal fertility with themselves being of the same species, whilst those whose progeny falls off in vigor and fecundity are to be regarded as of different species. If this test could be implicitly relied on, the specific identity of all the human races must be at once admitted; since there is ample evidence to show that races of men descended from a mixed parentage are at least equal in vigor and fertility to their parent stocks, and frequently exceed them. But it is fair to say that naturalists are by no means universally agreed on the adoption of this test; there being many who maintain that the limits of hybridity are much wider than Dr. Prichard supposes; and that the fertility of the progeny depends rather upon the general similarity of the parents than upon their specific unity. Certain eminent zoologists are even disposed to believe that our domesticated quadrupeds are for the most part hybrid races between parents of different species. On this supposition, our breeds of horses, oxen, sheep, dogs, cats, &c., are The tests by which we recognize the claims of the outcast and degraded of our own country to a common humanity, are surely the same by which we should estimate the true relation of the Negro, the Bushman, or the Australian savage, to the cultivated European. We must not judge of their capabilities solely by their manner of life, however wretched that may be; since this is often forced upon them by external circumstances. Nor have we any right to pronounce them incapable of entertaining any particular class of ideas, simply because we cannot find the traces of these in their existing forms of expression. It is only when such people have been attentively studied-not by a passing traveller, who, though he may pick up a little of their language, sees little of their inner life-but by a resident who has made it his business to become, as far as possible, one of themselves, and has succeeded in gaining acquaintance with habits which a jealous reserve would conceal, and ideas which the imperfections of language render most difficult of transmission-that we have any right to affirm what they are; and even this amount of information affords little means of judging what they may become. It will be only when the effect of education, intellectual, moral, and religious, has been fairly tested, that we shall be entitled to speak of any essential and constant difference between ourselves and the most degraded being clothed in the human form. It will only be when the influence of perfect equality in civilization and in social position has been ineffectually brought to bear on them for several consecutive generations, that we shall be entitled to say, of the Negro or any other race, that it is separated by an "impassable barrier" from those which arrogate to themselves an inalienable superiority in intellectual and moral endowments. All our present knowledge on this subject tends rather to show that no such barrier exists; and that there is a real community of psychical characters among all the races of men; the differences in the degree of their positive and relative development not being greater than those which exist in the history or in the varieties of our own race. And we may add, that, in almost every instance, the more we learn concerning any particular nation or tribe reputed to present the meanest possible aspect of humanity, the more we generally have to recede from the harshness of our first impressions. This has been found especially to be the case with regard to the aborigines of Australia. They were supposed to be at the bottom of the scale, not merely as regards their physical condition, but to be deficient in their intellectual and their moral feelings, and to want even the rudiments of any religious impression. More intimate acquaintance with them, however, has fully proved the fallacy of such statements. It is remarkable, too, that they possess many singular institutions, more resembling those of the North American Indians than of any other nation known to us. One great obstruction to the improvement of their social state is said to consist (as in a certain other country nearer home) in the great complexity of their landed tenure-the perverted ingenuity of which would do credit, it is said, to the genius of an astute lawyer. The examination of the psychical endowments of the several races of mankind is pursued by Dr. Prichard through a great variety of interesting and instructive details, into which, however, we have no longer room to enter. We must, therefore, content ourselves with laying before our readers a pretty full account of one of his most striking illustrations. The example which we select is that of the Bushmen of South Africa; a race which many ethnologists regard as the most degraded of the human species; and which some have thought so far below the level of the real Japetic man, as not even to be worth making slaves of! Their language has been said to consist only of a few guttural tones, and to be capable of expressing but few ideas; and they themselves to be all but incapable of reasoning. Without houses or even huts, they live in caves and holes, naked and half-starved savages; and wander through forests in small companies or separate families, hardly supporting a miserable existence on wild roots, the eggs of ants, lizards, snakes, and the most loathsome insects. They are horribly filthy in their personal habits, and their only enjoyment is smoking. They are said, indeed, to make no use of fire, except for the purpose of lighting their pipes; and they eat the most unclean food without even taking the trouble to wash it. We can scarcely feel surprised, then, that those writers who search for indications of approximation between mankind and the inferior animals, should have found in these wretched Bushmen a plain link of connection. There is ample evidence, however, that the Bushmen are a degraded caste of the Hottentot race. They agree with the Hottentots in all the peculiarities of physiognomy, cranial conformation, &c., by which the latter are characterized; and a careful comparison of the languages of the two races has shown that there is an essential affinity between them. Still more satisfactory proof of this is derived from historical testimony. The process of the conversion of Hottentots into Bushmen-the change of a mild, confiding, and unenterprising race of shepherds, wandering about in large societies with their flocks and herds, into fierce, suspicious, and vindictive savages, who issue from the fastnesses of their rocky deserts only to plunder and destroy-has been witnessed even within the present generation, as the result of the encroachments of the European colonists on the one side, and of the Kafirs on the other. Hence some persons have attributed the origin of the Bushman race entirely to the oppressions to which certain Hottentot tribes had been subjected at the hands of their more civilized neighbors; and have dated it, in fact, from the time of the first settlement of Europeans at the Cape of Good Hope. This appears, however, from the reports of Dr. Andrew Smith, who was |