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Show 518 TilE MONOGENISTS A~n physiology; precisely as in like manner, similar causes pro1luced the same effects at the Canary Islcs.355 From Cuba356 to the Island of St. Vincent tho transition is uatural. Um·o we should still behold the aboriginal Caribs, buL for their expulsion "en masse," in 1796, at a cost of one million sterling, by English settlers, to the island of Roatan.357 Already, from 1675, tho shipwreck of a Guinea slaver ncar t. Vincent had infused so much exotic negro blood into the native stock as to have divided the latter into black and yellow Caribs. Transplanted again, by Spaniards, to tho main-land of TJ onduras, these mulatto-Caribs found themselves in tho midst of another population of half-broods; viz.: the Sambos of the Musquito shore, formed there, since tho 17th century, between fllll'vivors from tho wreck of another African slaver and the native Indian tribes, amid whom, also, European buccaneers had not failed to bequeath many val'iotics of white blood. This iniiltt·ation of the osscntially-domosticable qualities of negro races into tho less tameable Indian (altl10ngh tho Central American approach tho Toltecan rather than tho Barba1·ous 358 tribes in social tendencies), has not boon without its good oflccts in producing a laborious population of mahogany cutters: whereas, in tho everglades of Florida, crosses between run-away negrcsses and the truly-barbarous Indian exhibit but incarnate devils for fcroci ty and hostility to civilization. Recent events on tho Panama isthmus 359 confirm the dol torious oousoquonccs of such intermixtures, }!l'ognosticatcd five years ago by Berthold Seeman. 360 "Morton informs us, besides," wrote Dr. Gosse, alludinO' to a characteristic African propensity fo1· aping dominant rnccs 36~" that the shipwrecked negroes at t.Vincent ( Orrania Americana: p. 240) had at first deformed their heads, 1n imitation of tho Caribs, their masters; but, so soon as emancipated, they continued it in aign of liberty. This wafl already tho opinion of Leblond (Voyage aux Antilles, 1767-1802, 865 UF.nTnO~J~1', "011anclie1," Mtmoire1 de la Socidtt Eth11ologique, Paris, 8vo, 1841 ; rnrt I, PP· 1.30-40, 1843; IT, pp. 83-111. l'heso intermixtures are unnoticed by PRIOHAnn, Nat. llut. of Afrm, 1855; I, pp. 272-4; or in II, pp. 500, UBS-640. 3110 Ouo cu.nuot, of c.ourso, within 200 pu.ges, discuss all tho collateral questions bou.ring upon tho tmn~plantallon of rnccs from lands where they wore indigenous to countries whore they aro not; but, for an exposition of tho present ruined state of tho omnnoipatod Antilles, consult, above nil, "Our Wost-Jncliu.n Colonies:" Jamaica, by JI. B. EvANS, M. R. c. s., Jato Su~~~eon aupcrintonc.lcnt of immigrnnta, Lucca, Jamaica; London, 8vo, 1855. 3118 SQUIEtt, Note1 ~n Cmtral America, Now York, 8vo, 1855; pp. 208,212-17. M 9 MOR1'0N, Phy~tcal Type of tile American Indians ;-Typu of J,fmlkind, pp. 27S-80. w~:RMU1'U, "A propos c.lu massacre de Pnnl\mi!.;" Tile America11 Paris II No 70. 7 June, 1856. ' ' ' ' ' 860 Voyage of Jl. ,lf. S. llerald, 1845-51, London, 8vo, 1853; I, p. 802. aat Dfformatioul artijicielle1 rin CrOne, p. 126. TIIE POLYGENISTS. 519 p. 154): 'They felt,' says be, 'that this ino!faccablo mark would forever distinguish them fi·om tho African race, who were being sold as slaves in islands inhabited by tho whites.' " Heureux le pe1tple dont l' histoire est ennuyeuse, might not, perhaps, be applied by Montcsquieu to tho wretched peoples referred to; but fear lost its point should be directed to the above cxeorpta comp '11-i roo to :finish with a clew to tho philosopl1y of those compli cated nmalgarorLtions. It is from tho pen of one who, as regards An1 r·ican archreology in general, and Central American ethnology in parlieulal', has no rival amidst his many admiring fr·icnds at the JH'OS nl hout·.:1ru "Anthropological science has dctcr·mi nod tho cxistcuco of two laws, of vital importance in their application to men aud nations. "Jli1·st. That in all cases whore a free amalgamation takes place between two difrcl'cnt stocks, unrestrained uy what is sometimes called prejudice, but which is, in fact, a natmal instinct, the result is the final absolute absorption of one into the other. This absorption is more r<Lpid as tho races or fhmilios thus brought in. contact appl' ximate in. tyf o, and in proportion as one or tho other prepondcr·ato i11 numbers; that is to say, Natmo perpetuaL s no human hybrids, as, for instance, a porman nt race of mulattoes. "Second. That all violations of tho natural distinctions of raco, or of those instincts which wore designed to perpetuate tho sup rior races in their purity, invariably entail tho most deplorable rcfwlts, affecting tho bodies, intellects, and moral porcc1 tiona of tho natiom; who arc thus blind to tho wise designs of Nature, and unmindful of her l!tws. In other words, the ofl'spring of such combi11ations or amalgamations arc not only O'Onerally deficient in physical constitution, in intellect, and in moral restraint, but to a degree which often contL"asts unfavoeably with any of tho OL"iO'iual stocks. "ln. no respect al'o those dcficioncios more obvious tban in matters affecting government. We need only point to tho anarchical states of Spanish Arncrica to verify the truth of tlw propositions laid down. In Contl'al and South America, and Mexico, we find a people not only dcmomlizcd from tho unrestrained asso ia tion of difforc1~t racos, but also tho superior stocks becoming gmdually absot'bcclloto the lower, and thci t' institLltions disappearing under tho rolati vo barbarism of which tlte latter arc the exponents." 862 SQun:tt, op. cit., pp. 64-8. Seo, fot· tho so.me argument. thu.t tho present fall of tho Spanigh mcc iu America is to be ohi()fly ascribed to their proclivity (ns a dark type) to nmalgamnte with any rnoo still darkor-D'HAf,LOY (Racu Uumoine1, pp. 41-6) .. "W.e moot indeed," well says DAVIS, "with confusion of blooc.l on a gront sonic, but look m vum for a now rn.cc. Nn.turo n.sscrts her dominion on all hu.nda in a c.lctcrioro.lion and dograd1\fion, tho fatal and dopopulnting consoquonces of which it is appalling to contemplate." (Crania Bri-tannica, p. 7, note.) |