OCR Text |
Show 204 ON THE SLAVERY AND COMMl!R CE lour of their parents is an event, which mull: be reafonably expeCted : for being born wh1te, and not having equally powerful caufes to aCt upon them in colder, as their parents had in the hotter climates which they left, it mull: neceflarily follow, that the fame effeCt cannot pollibly be produced. H ence alfo, if the hypothefis be admitted, may be deduced the reafon, why e\·en tho_fe children, who have been brought from the1r country at an early age into colder regions, have been * obferved to be of a lighter colour than thofe who have remained at home till they arrived at a flatc of manhood Fo~ having undergone fome of the change~ wluch we mentioned to have attended their countrymen from inf.~ncy to a certain age, and having been taken away befor~; the (e(l: could be completed, thefe farther changes wh_ich would ha~e taken place had they re~ mamed at home, feem either to have been checked in their progrefs, or weakened in their degree, by a colder climate. • This obfervation was communic<l.ted to us by the gentle . man ~n the me~ical line, to whom we returned au~; than~s for; certain anatom,1cal facts. We oF Tl!E HuMAI'I SPECIES. We come now to the feeond and oppo1ite cafe ; for a proof of which we {hall appeal to the words of Dr. Mitchell, in the Philofophieal Tranfattions.* "The Spaniards who " have inhabited A merica under the torrid zone for any time, are become as dark coloured as our native Indians of Virginia, of which, I myftlf have been a witnljS ; and were they not to intermarry with the Europeans, but lead the fame rude and barbarous lives with the I ndians, it is very " probable that, in a fuccellion of many generations, they would become as dark in complexion." . To this in(l:ance· we ihall add one, wh1ch is mentioned by a t late writer, who defcribing the African coafl:, and the European fettlements there, has the following paifage. There arc feveral other fmall Portugueft fettlements, and one of fome note at Mitomba, a river in Sierra Leon. The people here called Port ugueft, arc principally perfons bred from a mixture of the firft • Philof. Tranf. No. 476. feD:. 4· t Treatife upon the Trade from Great Britain to Africa, by an African merchant. " Port11- |