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Show Gl6 THE :MONOGENIS'l'S AND those more favorably known at March and Zhafiar as speakers of Eltlcili.319 "For tho facies, those Akhchlm differ much from tho Arab, wl10 dwells alon<Ysido of them; posF~ossing, on tho contrary, tho Atronrrost resemblance to tho Abyssinians and tho people of tbo Saml~1· [littoral Abyssinians on tho Rod Sea]; who, according toM. T~ofovre ( Voy. en Abys.~. ), 'present the greatest analogy with the Hindostanic race.'" Those Alcltdam arc pariahs, reputed "unclean" by tho Arab , who despise their four castes with inveteracy. The color of their skin is reddish, like the IIimyarites (from dltmar, rod), and their congeners tho llabesh; being entirely different to tho lighter compl xions of their lords, tho Semitic Arabs-although both typos have, from immemorial time, resided in the same climate. But, amid illustrations that spring up on every side to fortify my argument of aboriginal populations, I must reii,ain from further notice of more than one or two. M. D'Avozac, and other ethnologuos who have studied Guanche traditions and Portuguese accounts of tho conquest of tho Canary Isles, prove satisfactorily that, despite such furious massacres, the women were saved in largo numbers by tho invaders. Tho result was naturally au amalgamation, between the femal Guanches and tho Portuguese sctil rs, that still underli s the present population,350 - into which, importations from Africa have since copiously infiltrated Nigritian blood of many varieties. Now, the same combination of circumstances occurred in Cuba.~ 1 Discovered by Colnmbu , on the 18th October, 1492, this Island, nccordiJJg to his Jonmal, contained a somewhat civilized people, timid and simple, already possessors of tho dog,· who wore "11oither black nor brown, but of tho color of Canary-islanders, with women whiter still.'' They lived in great feftr of tho Caribs, from whom they differed in almost every characteristic; 352 and seem to have boon of the same family as tho Ygneri'8 of Haiti, and other isles of tho hO 'fltJpes of ft(anllind, pp. 4.8!)-92. Tho discoverer, my old friend nnd colleague in Egypt fo1· many yoars, M. Jlulgonco E'rcsncl, is now no more. Bagdad, last spring, was tho tomb of this enthusiastic oriontalist,-in Arabic studios never surpassed. 8150 Tho only specimen of this mixed stock that I have soon, was a so-oallod mulatto, exoccdingly robust ltnd intelligent, native of tho Cnnaric~, by nnmc Niwcisso; who, in 1861, flourished at Bangor, Maino; !lA my friMd A. P. Bradbury, Esq., of th11t ilk, may remember. No.rcisso's rod complexion and muscular vigor completely bore out tho southern specimens of Dr. Nott (Type& of Mankind, p. 874). 8111 llEnTUOLET, Essai ltistoriquc sur l'fle du Cuba, &c., ot "An~tlyAo de l'ouvrngc do Rnmon do Ia Sngr~t"-.Dullelin de la Socifl6 dt G'cograpt.ie, July 184.6; pp. 6, 12, 20-26. 1152 OossfJ, D~(ormalions artificiolles du CrOne, Paris, 8vo, 1866; pp. 102-5; citing DJol NA.VAllJo:TTil (Relations des quatrc Voyages enlreprisJlar Chri&loplte Colombe, Paris, 1S28), nnd FBRDJNAJSD DI;NIS (Rev11e de Pa1·is, LV. suppl601cnt). Fot· tho Cn.ribs, 800 D'OnnrONY, J)Jlomme Americain-Voy. duns l'Amudquo du Suu, Pr1ris, 4to, 1839. TliE POLYGEN1STS. 517 Antilles, whose traditions dated back to tho occupancy ofl!'lorida. At t. Domiugo, Columbus was pat'ticularly struck with the wbitone!:ifl or their skin, as well as with their culture and inoflcnsive habits (no weapons); circumstances which stron(rly contrast tl10m with tho rod.di!: ih-olive hue and ferocity of the continental Caribs. Their posse~;sion of the dog, too, before Spanish commullicaiions, is an inte1·csiing fact; but I do not know whether its species has boon eomparod with the enormous mastifrs (apparently) of tho Guan •l1os,353 whoso skeletons turn up, now and then, among rnummied human remains at the Canaries. This original population of Cuba, by some writers oxaggerato<l to a million, and more reasonably estimated by Fray Luis .Bertran at about 200,000, had boon reduced to 14,000 by A. D. 1517. Las Casas, Jose Maria de la ~rorro, and Valdes, show tl1at th ro wol'e still some extant in 1533; but Diego do Soto, in 1538, slaught red the remainder so effectually, that, about 1553, Oon1a1'a says thoro was no longer a native alive. Bcrtholot, liowovcr, cou!:iider::l snelL complete extinction over-sta.ted; because, while many of tl10 mal s were LranHportod to the South American continent, the worn n were reiaine(l by the Spaniards. Precisely the same de!:itruction of native Antillian liio,- in order to make way for a bastal'd race si nee bred between exotic Spaniards and imported nogroes-oceurred on olh l' islands. Thus, Prianlx observes, "Haiti, which, at its discovery, contained 1,000,000 inhabitants,-sixty years after, 15,000,-and in 1729, the aborigines were cxtinct." 351 A curious report to the Spanish court ( Om·tas de varones de Sevilla), made by Fray Diogo Sarmiento, Bishop of Cuba, 1550-1, proves tho fact whilst deprecating the reason.-"Tho Indians diminish and disappear without propagating themselves; becau e tho paniarclA and tho metis [already numerous in 58 yom·s] marry the Indian women; and that Indian male who, at this day, could procure one 80 years old, is even very lucky. I believe [continuos tho charitable Diocesan] that, in order to preserve and restore the population of this island, it would be well to bring over some Indian females f'r·om Florida, for the purpose of uniting them with the Indians of this country." Ncvortholoss there existed still, in J701, some descendants of the old stock at Jguani; and Bertholet, quoting Milne Ed.wa1·ds'H law that, after several generations, the old blood will occasiona11y "crop out," shows how this explains many ctlmic points of Cuban 853 D'Avf:1.AO. Isles de l'Afrique ;-USHER, Typlll of Afankind, p. 342 ;-PlllOIIARD, Nat.llist ., 181i6; r, p. 212. 864 Qumsliones ftfosaicm, p. 298, note, -citing P. MALlOA'r au P. DE LA NEOVILLlil, Lellre& Edifianles, vol. VII |
