tain quadrupeds,-rather a plausible argument in favor of the Darwinian theory. Again, the black skin of this race does not burn or blister even under a tropical sun. I have seen the black man of Louisiana throw off his shirt in our broiling summer's sun and with impunity labor for hours and days as a matter of choice, and the direct rays would have no more effect upon his back than a mosquito's proboscis on the impenetrable hide of an alligator; while the true Saxon under an hour's exposure would cringe like a beast under his burden, and would peel off like a snake when making his début on the return of spring.

The dark races, on principles of sound philosophy, were created to occupy the belt of the torrid and temperate zones, and wherever, by the fate of circumstance or the vi et armis of their warlike neighbors, they have violated this established principle of their nature and located in high northern latitudes, they become dwarfish in stature, and lose whatever of energy they may have formerly possessed, become less prolific and more assimilated to the indigenous surroundings. of that elevated and frozen region, as is thoroughly exemplified in the case of the Esquimaux and the inhabitants of Lapland, of whom, with the Finns and other kindred tribes of Siberia, I shall speak in due course of time. And, as regards the negro, the experienced observer readily knows that a very cold climate freezes him out, and that nowhere under the expanded canopy of heaven does he flourish to the same extent as he does within his native geographical sphere; and, as has been asserted by his defenders, that in every instance where he has been removed to a colder or more elevated re

gion, he becomes bleached and whitened by coming in contact with a fairer race of people.

Truly, we see that exemplified in our own America, where the African assumes a Caucasian physiognomy, which can be explained readily on the most rational grounds imaginable. Amalgamation comes to his relief, and the negro whitens in shades of color, and his hair straightens also, and changes in texture in the same proportion as you infuse into his veins more of the Turanian or Saxon blood. A cross among the domestic animals of a truly high-blooded character with one of a lower grade must enhance the worth of the inferior, and diminish the value of the superior in the same ratio.

CHAPTER VII.

THE MALAY.

'The ocean spreads

O'er coral rocks and amber beds,

Where sandal-groves and bowers of spice

Might be a Peri's Paradise,

But human blood-the smell of Death

Mingles its taint with every breath."-MOOre.

ZOOLOGICALLY and geographically speaking, the human family have been divided, by common consent, into five different races, from which hypothesis I am. not seriously disposed to appeal, and will therefore treat the subject with a view to the distinctions already made.

Pickering, however, advances the supposition that there are at least eleven distinct races of the human genus now extant, while Desmoulins asserts that there are fully sixteen; and Agassiz and Nott contend that there are an indefinite number of species, who were created originally in groups, some of whom are no doubt extinct, while others still occupy the land of their forefathers.

By the arrangement as first intimated, the next race in order after the African proper is the Malay, the next highest type. But before proceeding farther let me call your attention to the admitted fact that there are found more noticeable varieties and shades among the negro tribes than are comprised even among our own race, estimating from the lowest grade to the most exalted character.

The Malay tribes, generally speaking, occupy Malacca, Madagascar, and Oceanica. In fact, we may include the East Indian and Polynesian Archipelagoes; and, by the way, this division of mankind is more widely distributed on the globe possibly than any other race of whom it is our purpose to discourse, and their habits, manners, and social condition exhibit greater variety than all the other inferior races combined. The population of this area occupied by the Malay is computed at one hundred and twenty millions of souls.

The complexion of this race is a reddish brown, assuming the hue of burnished copper, and is not altogether uniform, but is darker than the Mongolian, but lighter than many of the mixed tribes of the African The hair is very straight, coarse, and black as jet, and hangs profusely abundant on the scalp. The

coast.

beard naturally is very thin, and the custom prevails. with them almost universally to pluck it out. The lips are thick and the nose flattened; the latter at maturity sometimes assumes an aquiline appearance. The head is retreating, with small facial angle, with brain-cavity larger than the negro, but far less than the IndoEuropean. Their features and complexion are modified more or less in different latitudes, as well as they present to us greater advancement or debasement in accordance with the adulteration of blood, whether obtained from a higher or lower type of the human family, which explains readily the distinction drawn by historians of their civilization or their barbarism.

They have a characteristic fondness for roving, which accounts for their distribution throughout the various islands of the sea, ranging from the coast of Africa east to the islands on the west of North America. They are a cowardly people, cunning, treacherous, and vindictive, and will nurse their smothered resentment and diabolic designs under every manifestation of good will and affection until the desired opportunity presents itself, and then pounce upon their victim like a wolf upon the

fold.

They have, by way of misnomer, been called civilized in part, but verily they are all barbarous; emphatically so, I imagine, as the incident is fresh now in the memory of not a few living that they devoured the first missionaries who ventured among them to convert them to the true religion, as also did the natives of the Sandwich Islands slay and eat the memorable Captain Cook while on one of his voyages circumnavigating the globe; while to this day they are universally noted for

their piratical proclivities, ignorance, and baseness of character; and, as before remarked, that destiny has fixed their habitation under the equatorial line, where their appetites are fed by the native fruits that ripen in every season, and where the labor of other nations fall into their hands, and is appropriated by that spirit of rapine and plunder which they have honestly inherited from their aboriginal progenitors. This race, though isolated in part, and separated from each other thousands of miles by oceans of water intervening, and severing entirely even the probability of any social or commercial intercourse having existed among them for the space of thousands of years; and yet, amidst this seclusion and fixed isolation, we trace an undeniable singularity and sameness of language, feature, manners, habits, and configuration of person, which fixes an identity that defies contradiction, and must bring stern conviction to the mind of every unbiased thinker.

As with all other distinct races, however, there are minor differences apparent in color, form, and general outline, which is superinduced by mixing with other races, either more enlightened or more savage than they, or possessing other shades of color derived from an intercourse with surrounding nations.* Yet their distinctness and identity of race cannot be mistaken,

*The Malay is so much adulterated with the Mongolian in some localities, and with the African in other places, that some ethnologists are disposed to regard them as distinct species; and truly there is an improvement for the better where the infusion is derived from the former, while an admixture of the latter only tends to deteriorate and debase the standard.