“In searching for facts contrary to this opinion, it is requisite to discard the suspicion that the Mulatress has had intercourse with any other man than her Mulatto husband, and there would still remain the question, whether the son of a Mulatto, married to the daughter of two other Mulattoes, is capable of producing and forming a durable race.”
Such a grave fact could not be allowed to pass unchallenged. Professor Waitz, much embarrassed by it, could only oppose to it a passage extracted from a work published in 1845 by Lewis, On the Negroes in the West Indies. “Lewis,” says Waitz (Anthropologie der Naturvölker), “expressly denies the sterility of the Mulattoes of Jamaica in their marriages between themselves, and observes, that they are as prolific as the Blacks and Whites, but that they are for the most part flabby and weak, and their children have little vitality.”
Long said he knew of no instance where the children of Mulattoes arrived at maturity. To refute this assertion, known instances should have been cited. But Lewis neglects doing so.[31] He says, on the contrary, that the children, from similar marriages, possess little vitality. Though this expression does not necessarily imply the impossibility of arriving at adult age, it tends at least to the conclusion that the children have little chance to reach it; and when we consider that the preceding passage was intended to refute Long’s assertions, it is surprising how little satisfies Professor Waitz. At any rate, it proves that he could find no other positive document in opposition to the fact mentioned by Long.
This is, perhaps, no reason for accepting without reserve the opinions of Dr. Nott. Before giving a definite judgment, we must wait for further numerous, authentic, and scientific observations. Nevertheless, it must be remarked, that the indefinite fecundity of Mulattoes had been admitted as an axiom, which it was thought there was no necessity of disproving. It was sufficient to say there are many Mulattoes, without investigating whether they maintain themselves, or by continuous intermixture with the parent stocks. The first who wished to inquire more closely has, by his observations, been led to results opposed to general opinion. To these observations, presenting apparently the guarantee of authenticity, positive observation should be opposed; and it is requisite that the latter should be specially collected in countries where the Germanic race has intermarried with the Negro race of Western Africa. The investigations which might be made in the French, Spanish, or Portuguese colonies would have no direct application.
The authors, moreover, we have cited, are far from being the only ones who have denied the fecundity of the Mulattoes in the West Indies. Van Amringe and Hamilton Smith assert, that without a reunion with the parent stocks the Mulattoes would soon become extinct. Day says that Mulattoes are rarely prolific between themselves; and Waitz, somewhat shaken by these testimonies, adds in a note, “The sterility of Mulattoes, when it is complete, may be compared with that fact recognised by Wirgman in plants, that the hybrids of intermediate types between the two parent stocks are sterile, whilst those resembling one or the other species are prolific.”[32] From these facts and testimonies there seems to result—1. That the Mulattoes of the Germanic and Ethiopian races possess little prolificacy: 2. That they are inferior in this respect to the Mulattoes born by the intercourse of Negro women and men belonging to the more or less dark complexioned Caucasian races.
Mulattoes of the latter kind exist in large numbers in the greater part of the Antilles, South America, Central America, Mexico, Mauritius, Bourbon, and Senegal. All these countries have been colonised by the French, Spaniards, or Portuguese. The Mulattoes born there are fecund in their intermixture with the parent stock, as the Mulattoes of Germanic origin; they are also prolific between themselves, at least in the first generation. Are they equally prolific in their direct alliances as in their mixed ones? Are their children arriving at maturity as the others? And finally, when these children intermarry, are they and their descendants prolific? These questions are yet unanswered. They can only be solved after a long series of observations collected by men of science; not by travellers who view the populations superficially, but by close observers, and principally by physicians resident in these localities. In the mean while, here is another passage from the work of Prof. Waitz, quoted by him from Seemann.[33] “The Mulattoes of the Negroes and Whites at Panamá are prolific between themselves, but their children are brought up with difficulty; whilst the families of the pure races produce less children, which however arrive at maturity.” The Europeans of Panamá are of Spanish origin. The prolifickness of the Mulattoes of the first degree is clearly indicated in this passage, but doubts may be entertained as to the fecundity of their descendants. The intermixtures of Negroes and Europeans are not the only ones the results of which exhibit defects to the observers. “The Mulattoes,” says M. Boudin,[34] “are very often inferior to the two parent stocks, both in vitality, intelligence, or morality. Thus the Mulattoes of Pondicherry, known by the name of Topas, exhibit a mortality not only more considerable than that of the Indians, but greater than the Europeans, though the latter are considerably shorter lived in India than in Europe. Positive documents on this point have been published in the Revue Coloniale. So much as to the vitality.
“In Java, the Mulattoes of the Dutch and Malays are so little intelligent that they could never be employed as functionaries. All Dutch historians are agreed upon this point. This much for their intelligence.
Malay and mixed breeds
“The Mulattoes of Negroes and Indians, known by the name of Zambos in Peru and Nicaragua, form the worst class of citizens. They compose four-fifths of the prison population. This fact, already mentioned by Tschudi,[35] has recently been confirmed by Squier. So much as regards morality.
“There are, however, certain physical qualities which may be acquired by the intermixture of races. Such are pathological immunities. The Mulattoes of the West Indies are, like the Negroes, exempt from the yellow fever.”