they shave themselves, of which we have seen examples in the missions of the
Capuchins of Caripe, where the Indian sextons wish to resemble the monks their
masters. But many individuals are horn entirely without heard, or have no hair
on their bodies. M. de Galeano, in his last expedition to the Straits of Magellan,
informs us that there are many old men among the Patagonians with beards,
though they are short and by no means bushy. On comparing this assertion with
the facts collected by Marchaud, Mears, and especially by Volney in the northern
temperate zone, we are tempted to believe that the Indians have more and more
beard in proportion to their distance from the equator.”* Mr. Schoolcraft
mentions beards as common among the Potowatomies, and alludes to a very old
man of that tribe “ whose long, descending gray heard would not disgrace a
Nazarite.”f
A copper-colored skin has been assumed by most writers as a characteristic
distinction of the Americans, who have hence been called the copper-colored race.
The investigations of Dr. M’Culloh satisfactorily prove that this designation is
wholly inapplicable to the Americans as a race, and that it is more characteristic
of some other and very remote nations.^ The error has obviously arisen from the
habitual use, among many tribes, of red paint to a brown skin, which occasions a
coppery hue. Humboldt declares that the denomination of copper-colored men
could never have originated in the equinoctial regions to designate the Americans:
and I can further testify that among the individuals of many different tribes that
have come under iny observation, I have never seen a copper-colored man. “We
consider, therefore,” says Dr. M’Culloh, “ that the color of the American Indians
injgeneral is brown, differing in intensity with various tribes, according to various
localities; hut that it is almost impossible to say what that brown color principally
resembles. The cinnamon is, in my apprehension, the nearest approach to it,
though still too inaccurate for general comparison.”^ I fully coincide in opinion
with Dr. M’Culloh; and believe, with him, that no epithet derivable from the
color of the skin, so correctly designates the Americans collectively as that of the
B row n Race. Although the Americans thus possess a pervading and characteristic
complexion, there are occasional and very remarkable deviations, including all the
tints from a decided white to an unequivocally black skin. This fact may he
sufficiently illustrated by the following examples. Among the fair tribes of the
Upper Orinoco, Humboldt makes especial mention of the Guahariboes, the
* Polit. Essay, B. II, chap. 6.
{ Researches, p. 16, &c.
t Trav. in Valley of the Miss. p. 317.
§ Ibid. p. 18.
Guanares, the Guayacas and the Maquiritares. “ The individuals of the fair tribes
whom we examined,” says that traveller, “ have the features, the stature, and the
smooth, straight, black hair which characterise other Indians. It would he impossible
to take them for a mixed race, like the descendants of natives and Europeans,
and they are neither feeble, nor albinoes.”* Among the Botocudys of Brazil, the
Prince de Wied saw some who were almost entirely white, with a tint of red
upon their cheeks, although the usual color is a reddish brown.f Molina states
that the Boroanes, who inhabit the Araucanian provinces of Chili, in the thirty-
ninth degree of south latitude, “are white, and as well featured as the northern
Europeans.’’t Bouguer found some Peruvian Indians at the base and on the west
side of the Cordilleras who were almost as white as Europeans. Bartram saw
among the Cherokees some young women, whom he describes as fair and
blooming; and among the nations of the island of St. Catharine, on the coast of
California, young persons of both sexes have a fine mixture of red and white in
their complexions.
That climate exerts a subordinate agency in producing these diversified hues,
must be inferred, I think, from the facts mentioned by Humboldt, that the tribes
which wander along the burning plains of the equinoctial region, have no darker
skins than the mountaineers of the temperate zone* Again, the Puelches and
other inhabitants of the Magellanic region, beyond the fifty-fifth degree of south
latitude, are absolutely darker than the Abipones, Macobios and Tobas, who are
many degrees nearer the equator. While the Botocudys are of a clear brown
color, and sometimes, nearly white, at no great distance from the tropic, and
moreover, while the Guyacas under the line are characterised, as we have seen, by
a fair complexion, the Charruas, who are almost black, inhabit the fiftieth degree
* It is well1 known, however, that Albinoes are not urifrequent among the American- Indians.
Those of . Darien'were minutely described, by Wafer about a hundred and fifty years ago. “ They
are quite White,’’ says he, “ but their whiteness is like that of a horse, quite different from the fair or
pale. European, as they have not the least tincture of a blush or sanguine complexion. * * * Their
eyebrows are milk-white, as is likewise the hair o f their heads, which is very fine, inclining to a
and growing to the length of six or eight inches. * * * They seldom go abroad in ttie day-time,
the sun being disagreeable to them, and causing their, eyes, which are weak and poring, to water,
especially if it shines towards them: yet they see very well by moonlight, from which we called thefn
moon-eyed.”—Wafer, in Drake’s Coll, o f Voy., Fol. p. 310.
t Voy. au Bresil, II, 2 12 .—1, 335.
{ History of Chili, I, p. 274.
18