On the American races in general, Humboldt refers to the beautiful work of Samuel George Morton, Craniæ Americanæ, 1839, p. 62-86; and an account of the skulls brought by Pentland from the Highlands of Titicaca, in the 'Dublin Journal of Medical and Chemical Science,' vol. v., p. 475, 1834; also, Alcide d'Orbigny, L'Homme Américain considéré sous ses Rapports Physiol. et Mor., p. 221, 1839; and, further, the work, so full of delicate ethnographical observations, of Prinz Maximilian of Wied, Reise in das Innere von Nordamerika, 1839.
[208] "With regard to their origin, I have no doubt, independent of theological considerations, but that it is the same with ours. The resemblance of the North American savages to the Oriental Tartars renders it probable that they originally sprang from the same stock."—Buffon, Eng. trans., vol. iii., p. 193.
[209] "The Ethiopians," sings the old tragedian, Theodectes of Phaselis, "are dyed by the near sun-god in his course with a dark and sooty luster; the sun's heat crisps and dries up their hair." The expeditions of Alexander, which were so influential in exciting ideas of the physical cosmography, first fanned the dispute on the uncertain influence of climate upon races of men. Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. i., p. 386. Volney, p. 506, and Oldmixon, vol. i., p. 286, assert that the savages are born white, and in their infancy continue so. An intelligent Indian said to Volney, "Why should there be any difference of color between us and them? (some Spaniards who had been bronzed in America). In them, as in us, it is the work of the father of colors, the sun, that burns us. You whites yourselves compare the skin of your faces with that of your bodies." This brought to my remembrance that, on my return from Turkey, when I quitted the turban, half my forehead above the eyebrows was almost like bronze, while the other half next the hair was as white as paper. If, as natural philosophy demonstrates, there be no color but what originates from light, it is evident that the different complexions of people are owing entirely to the various modifications of this fluid with other elements that act on our skin, and even compose its substance. Sooner or later it will be proved that the blackness of the African has no other source.—P. 408.
"Vespuce décrit les indigènes du Nouveau Continent dans sa première lettre comme des hommes à face large et à physionomie tartare, dont la couleur rougeâtre n'étoit due qu'à l'habitude de ne pas être vêtus. Il revient à cette même opinion en examinant les Brésiliens." (Canovai, p. 87, 90.) "Leur teint, dit il, est rougeâtre, ce qui vient de leur nudité absolue et de l'ardeur du soleil auquel ils sont constamment exposés. Cette erreur a été partagée par un des voyageurs modernes les plus spirituels, mais des plus systématiques, par Volney." (Essai Politique sur la Mexique.) Humboldt's Géog. du Nouv. Continent, vol. v., p. 25.
[210] On the influence of humidity much stress has been 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.
[211] See Appendix, No. XLI. (vol. II.)
[212] Mr. Jarrold asserts that the negro becomes the most perfect specimen of the human species, in consequence of his possessing the coarsest and most impassive integument.—Anthropologia.
[213] See Appendix, No. XLII. (vol. II.)
[214] "It is intellectual culture which contributes most to diversify the features. Barbarous nations have rather a physiognomy of tribe or horde than one peculiar to such or such an individual. The savage and civilized man are like those animals of the same species, several of which rove in the forest, while others connected with us share in the benefits and evils that accompany civilization. The varieties of form and color are frequent only in domestic animals. How great is the difference with respect to mobility of feature and variety of physiognomy between dogs again become savage in the New World, and those whose slightest caprices are indulged in the houses of the opulent. Both in men and animals the emotions of the soul are reflected in the features; and the features acquire the habit of mobility in proportion as the emotions of the mind are more frequent, more varied, and more durable. In every condition of man, it is not the energy or the transient burst of the passions which give expression to the features; it is rather that sensibility of the soul which brings us continually into contact with the external world, multiplies our sufferings and our pleasures, and reacts at once on the physiognomy, the manners, and the language. If the variety and mobility of the features embellish the domain of animated nature, we must admit also that both increase by civilization without being produced by it alone. In the great family of nations, no other race unites these advantages to a higher degree than that of Caucasus or the European. It must be admitted that this insensibility of the features is not peculiar to every race of men of a very dark complexion: it is much less apparent in the African than in the natives of America."—Humboldt's Personal Narrative, vol. iii., p. 230.
[215] Tacitus, in his speculations on the peopling of Britain, distinguishes very beautifully between what may belong to the ultimate influences of the country, and what may pertain to an old, unalterable type in the immigrated race. "Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerunt, indigenæ an advecti, ut inter barbaros, parum compertum. Habitus corporis varii, atque ex eo argumenta; namque rutilæ Caledoniam habitantium comæ, magni artus Germanicam originem adseverant. Silurum colorati vultus et torti plerumque crines, et posita contra Hispania, Iberos veteres trajecisse, easque sedes occupâsse fidem faciunt: proximi Gallis et similes sunt, seu durante originis vi; seu, procurrentibus in divisa terris, positio cœli corporibus habitum dedit."—Agricola, cap. ii.