Genesis, ch. iv. 15.
Genesis, ch. ix. 25, 26, 27.
Jeremiah says, ch. xiii. 23, "Can the Æthiopian change his colour, or the leopard his spots?" Now the word, which is here translated Æthiopian, is in the original Hebrew "the descendant of Cush," which shews that this colour was not confined to the descendants of Canaan, as the advocates for slavery assert.
It is very extraordinary that the advocates for slavery should consider those Africans, whom they call negroes, as the descendants of Canaan, when few historical facts can be so well ascertained, as that out of the descendants of the four sons of Ham, the descendants of Canaan were the only people, (if we except the Carthaginians, who were a colony of Canaan, and were afterwards ruined) who did not settle in that quarter of the globe. Africa was incontrovertibly peopled by the posterity of the three other sons. We cannot shew this in a clearer manner, than in the words of the learned Mr. Bryant, in his letter to Mr. Granville Sharp on this subject.
"We learn from scripture, that Ham had four sons, Chus, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan, Gen. x. 5, 6. Canaan occupied Palestine, and the country called by his name: Mizraim, Egypt: but Phut passed deep into Africa, and, I believe, most of the nations in that part of the world are descended from him; at least more than from any other person." Josephus says, "that Phut was the founder of the nations in Libya, and the people were from him called (phoutoi) Phuti." Antiq. L. 1. c. 7. "By Lybia he understands, as the Greeks did, Africa in general: for the particular country called Lybia Proper, was peopled by the Lubim, or Lehabim, one of the branches from Mizraim, (Labieim ex ou Libnes) Chron. Paschale, p. 29.
"The sons of Phut settled in Mauritania, where was a country called Phutia, and a river of the like denomination. Mauritaniæ Fluvius usque ad præsens Tempus Phut dicitur, omnisq; circa eum Regio Phutensis. Hieron. Tradit. Hebroeæ.-Amnem, quem vocant Fut." Pliny, L. 5. c. 1. Some of this family settled above Ægypt, near Æthiopia, and were styled Troglodytæ. (phoud ex ou troglodotai.) Syncellus, p. 47. Many of them passed inland, and peopled the Mediterranean country."
"In process of time the sons of Chus also, (after their expulsion from Egypt) made settlements upon the sea coast of Africa, and came into Mauritania. Hence we find traces of them also in the names of places, such as Churis, Chusares, upon the coast: and a river Chusa, and a city Cotta, together with a promontory, Cotis, in Mauritania, all denominated from Chus; who at different times, and by different people, was called Chus, Cuth, Cosh, and Cotis. The river Cusa is mentioned by Pliny, Lib. 5. c. 1. and by Ptolomy."
"Many ages after these settlements, there was another eruption of the Cushites into these parts, under the name of Saracens and Moors, who over-ran Africa, to the very extremity of Mount Atlas. They passed over and conquered Spain to the north, and they extended themselves southward, as I said in my treatise, to the rivers Senegal and Gambia, and as low as the Gold Coast. I mentioned this, because I do not think that they proceeded much farther: most of the nations to the south being, as I imagine, of the race of Phut. The very country upon the river Gambia on one side, is at this day called Phuta, of which Bluet, in his history of Juba Ben Solomon, gives an account."
When America was first discovered, it was thought by some, that the scripture account of the creation was false, and that there were different species of men, because they could never suppose that people, in so rude a state as the Americans, could have transported themselves to that continent from any parts of the known world. This opinion however was refuted by the celebrated Captain Cooke, who shewed that the traject between the continents of Asia and America, was as short as some, which people in as rude a state have been actually known to pass. This affords an excellent caution against an ill-judged and hasty censure of the divine writings, because every difficulty which may be started, cannot be instantly cleared up.
The divine writings, which assert that all men were derived from the same stock, shew also, in the same instance of Cush, (Footnote 075), that some of them had changed their original complexion.
The following are the grand colours discernible in mankind, between which there are many shades;
White } { Copper
} -Olive- {
Brown } { Black
See note, (Footnote 075). To this we may add, that the rest of the descendants of Ham, as far as they can be traced, are now also black, at well as many of the descendants of Shem.
Diseases have a great effect upon the mucosum corpus, but particularly the jaundice, which turns it yellow. Hence, being transmitted through the cuticle, the yellow appearance of the whole body. But this, even as a matter of ocular demonstration, is not confined solely to white people; negroes themselves, while affected with these or other disorders, changing their black colour for that which the disease has conveyed to the mucous substance.
The cutaneous pores are so excessively small, that one grain of sand, (according to Dr. Lewenhoeck's calculations) would cover many hundreds of them.