manners are ° f opinion that feme.races o f men as well as the Ouran Outangç
COMPARED °
are, different from- us,, which however is ioadmiffible. i f we take
into confideration the exercife o f reafpn and common fenfe, the
formation o f idea?, the language o f the. heart, the refinement of
moral fentiment, with the. gifts, o f fpeech founded on the variety,
power and extent of voice and articulation,,, and even on the whole
flrudture and mechanifm o f our bodies., Th e other, propofition,
according to which men are o f different fpecies, is equally ground-,
lefs, becaufe the rnpfl different fpecies can procreate children,
and i f the different marriages with perfoffs of.one kind be continux
ed for a few. generations, the difference at.. laft entirely vanifhes.
T h e ohjedfion that th is . difference is fo great, that-it. remains
incomprehenfible.how it was.originally produced is examined, and
it is proved that it. intirely depends upon phyfical caufes; it. is
likewife fhewn.that the tranfition from .a fair to a dark complexion
is very foon brought about, but. the contrary requires a longer
time, and the interval o f more, generations, and even then is
fcarcely obferyable: fa that i f the fame. race , o f people fhould
pafs through a long and gradual circuit,| the one through. ho.t
countries, and the other .immediately by a fudden tranfition to the
fame climate ;. thofe who have palfed through the fervid climate
would preferve a darker, hue,, than thofe who at.once fhould pafs
to the fame without making; any flay in the intermediate climates ;
and
and both would afterwards in the new climate preferve in
feme meafure -the hue and complexion they brought from the
country .which .they left laft: upon thefe premifes we ventured to
fuppofe that the two races o f men in .the-South Sea arrived there
by different routs,, and were defended-'from two different fets .of
men. This furmife might be rendered more probable and-ripened
as at were into fadl; i f any record or hiflorical pro.of -could be
alledged in favour o f this opinion-: but how can we"expea to
find fuch hiflorical proofs, where no records are kept.? However
the five .nations o f the firft enumerated race feem to come from the
Northward and by .the Caroline-iflands, the Ladrones, the Manilla
and the ifland o f Borneo, to have defeended from the ' Malays
whereas on the contrary, the-'’ black -race o f men feems to have
fprung from the. people that originally inhabited the ' Moluccas;1 *
and on the approach o f the Malay tribes withdrew into the
interior parts o f their ifles and countries. The language^of thefe
two races in fome meafure proves the affertion, efpecially as it is ’
evident that the .five firfl branches fpeak only dialefts of one 'general
language, preferving feveral words of the Malay-language ; whereas -
the three tribes o f the latter race, have, not even a fimilarity ■ o f
fpeech among themfelves; and that none of thefe languages has the ■
leafl or moil diflant reference to any American language fpoken1 on ‘
the Weftern coafls of America. When we confider the difference
in
MANNERS
COMPARED
5