was quite carry'd away. Then I made those I meant to Deceive, Moisten some part of their Skin with their own Spittle, and slightly Rub the moistned parts with a little of this Prepar'd Silver, Whereupon they Admir'd to see, that a Snow-white Body laid upon the White Skin should presently produce a deep Blackness, as if the stains had been made with Ink, especially considering that this Blackness could not, like that produc'd by ordinary Ink, be readily Wash'd off, but requir'd many Hours, and part of it some dayes to its Obliteration. And with the same White Calx and a little Fair Water we likewise Stain'd the White Hafts of Knives, with a lasting Black in those parts where the Calx was Plentifully enough laid on, for where it was laid on but very Thinly, the Stain was not quite of so Deep a Colour.
EXPERIMENT XI
The Cause of the Blackness of those many Nations, which by one common Name we are wont to call Negroes, has been long since Disputed of by Learned Men, who possibly had not done amiss, if they had also taken into Consideration, why some whole races of other Animals besides Men, as
Foxes and Hares, are Distinguish'd by a Blackness not familiar to the Generality of Animals of the same Species; The General Opinion (to be mention'd a little lower) has been rejected even by some of the Antient Geographers, and among our Moderns Ortelius and divers other Learned Men have Question'd it. But this is no place to mention what thoughts I have had to and fro about these Matters: Only as I shall freely Acknowledge, that to me the inquiry seems more Abstruse than it does to many others, and that because consulting with Authors, and with Books of Voyages, and with Travellers, to satisfie my self in matters of Fact, I have met with some things among them, which seem not to agree very well with the Notions of the most Classick Authors concerning these things; for it being my Present Work to deliver rather matters Historical than Theorys, I shall Annex Some few of my Collections, instead of a Solemn Disputation. It is commonly presum'd that the Heat of the Climate wherein they live, is the reason, why so many Inhabitants of the Scorching Regions of Africa are Black; and there is this familiar Observation to Countenance this Conjecture, That we plainly see that Mowers, Reapers, and other Countrey-people,
who spend the most part of the Hot Summer dayes expos'd to the Sun, have the skin of their Hands and Faces, which are the parts immediately Expos'd to the Sun and Air, made of a Darker Colour than before, and consequently tending to Blackness; And Contrarywise we observe that the Danes and some other people that Inhabit Cold Climates, and even the English who feel not so Rigorous a Cold, have usually Whiter faces than the Spaniards, Portugalls and other European Inhabitants of Hotter Climates. But this Argument I take to be far more Specious than Convincing; for though the Heat of the Sun may Darken the Colour of the Skin, by that Operation, which we in English call Sun-burning, yet Experience doth not Evince, that I remember, That that Heat alone can produce a Discolouring that shall amount to a true Blackness, like that of Negroes, and we shall see by and by that even the Children of some Negroes not yet 10. dayes Old (perhaps not so much by three quarters of that time) will notwithstanding their Infancy be of the same Hue with their Parents. Besides, there is this strong Argument to be alleg'd against the Vulgar Opinion, that in divers places in Asia under the same Parallel, or even of the same
Degree of Latitude with the African Regions Inhabited by Blacks, the People are at most but Tawny;[10] And in Africa it self divers Nations in the Empire of Ethiopia are not Negroes, though Situated in the Torrid Zone, and as neer the Æquinoctial, as other Nations that are so (as the Black Inhabitants of Zeylan and Malabar are not in our Globes plac'd so near the Line as Amara the Famousest place in Ethiopia.) Moreover, (that which is of no small Moment in our present Disquisition) I find not by the best Navigators and Travellers to the West-Indies, whose Books or themselves I have consulted on this Subject, that excepting perhaps one place or two of small extent, there are any Blacks Originally Natives of any part of America (for the Blacks now there have been by the Europeans long Transplanted thither) though the New World contain in it so great a Variety of Climates, and particularly reach quite Cross the Torri'd Zone from one Tropick to another. And enough it be true that the Danes be a Whiter People than the Spaniards, yet that may proceed rather from other causes (not here to be enquired into) than from the Coldness of the Climate, since not onely the
Swedes and other Inhabitants of those Cold Countreys, are not usually so White as the Danes, nor Whiter than other Nations in proportion to their Vicinity to the Pole. [And since the Writing of the former part of this Essay, having an opportunity on a Solemn occasion to take Notice of the Numerous Train of Some Extraordinary Embassadours sent from the Russian Emperour to a great Monarch, observ'd, that (though it were then Winter) the Colour of their Hair and Skin was far less Whitish than the Danes who Inhabit a milder Region is wont to be, but rather for the most part of a Darkish Brown; And the Physician to the Embassadour with whom those Russes came, being ask'd by me whether in Muscovy it self the Generality of the People were more inclin'd to have Dark-colour'd Hair than Flaxen, he answer'd Affirmatively; but seem'd to suspect that the True and Antient Russians, a Sept of whom he told me he had met with in one of the Provinces of that vast Empire, were rather White like the Danes, than any thing near so Brown as the present Muscovites whom he guesses to be descended of the Tartars, and to have inherited their Colour from them.] But to Prosecute our former Discourse, I shall add for further Proof of the Conjecture I was
countenancing that good Authors inform us that there are Negroes in Africa not far from the Cape of good Hope, and consequently beyond the Southern Tropick, and without the Torrid Zone, much about the same Northern Latitude (or very little more) wherein there are divers American Nations that are not Negroes, and wherein the Inhabitants of Candia, some parts of Sicily, and even of Spain are not so much as Tawny-Mores. But (which is a fresh and strong Argument against the common Opinion,) I find by our recent Relations of Greenland (our Accounts whereof we owe to the Curiosity of that Royal Virtuoso the present King of Denmark,) that the Inhabitants are Olive-colour'd, or rather of a Darker Hiew. But if the Case were the same with Men, and those other kinds of Animals I formerly nam'd, I should offer something as a considerable proof, That, Cold may do much towards the making Men White or Black, and however I shall let down the Observation as I have met with it, as worthy to come into the History of Whiteness and Blackness, and it is, that in some parts of Russia and of Livonia it is affirm'd by Olaus Magnus and others, that Hares and Foxes (some add Partridges) which before were Black, or Red, or
Gray, do in the depth of Winter become White by reason of the great Cold; (for that it should be, as some conceive, by Looking upon the Snow, seems improbable upon divers accounts) And I remember that having purposely enquir'd of a Virtuoso who lately Travell'd through Livonia to Mosco concerning the Truth of this Tradition, he both told me, he believ'd it, and added, that he saw divers of those lately nam'd Animals either in Russia or Livonia, (for I do not very well remember whether of the two) which, though White when he saw them in Winter, they assur'd him had been Black, or of other Colours before the Winter began, and would be so again when it was over. But for further satisfaction, I also consulted one that had for some years been an Eminent Physician in Russia, who though he rejected some other Traditions that are generally enough believ'd concerning that Countrey, told me nevertheless, that he saw no cause to doubt of this Tradition of Olaus Magnus as to Foxes and Hares, not onely because 'tis the common and uncontroul'd Assertion of the Natives, but also because he himself in the Winter could never that he remember'd see Foxes and Hares of any other Colour than White; And I my self having seen a small White
Fox brought out of Russia into England towards the latter end of Winter, foretold those that shew'd him me, that he would change Colour in Summer, and accordingly coming to look upon him again in July, I found that the Back and Sides, together with the upper part of the Head and Tayl were already grown of a Dark Colour, the lower part of the Head and Belly containing as yet a Whiteness. Let me add, that were it not for some scruple I have, I should think more than what Olaus relates, confirm'd by the judicious Olearius, who was twice employ'd into those parts as a Publick Minister, who in his Account of Moscovy has this Passage: The Hares there are Gray; but in some Provinces they grow white in the Winter. And within some few Lines after: It is not very Difficult to find the Cause of this Change, which certainly proceeds only from the Outward Cold, since I know that even in Summer, Hares will change Colour, if they be kept a competent time in a Cellar; I say, were it not for Some Scruple, because I take notice, that in the same Page the Author Affirms, that the like change of Colour that happens to Hares in some Provinces of Muscovy, happens to them also in Livonia, and yet immediately subjoyns, that in Curland the Hares vary not their Colour in Winter,