It may, however, be proper to premise one general remark : It would by no means follow, even if it could be proved that the complexion of the Caucasian, or fair skinned variety, had been permanently and radically chan ged by long exposure to a warm climate, that this change was the effect, solely, or principally, of climate ; inter marriage will produce the change to the greatest degree in which it is alleged to have been produced. Whereas, if cases can be brought forward, in which the primitive complexion of the variety has resisted the operation of change of climate for a great number of generations, it may fairly be inferred, that native differences of colour do not depend upon climate ; and that, as they are not changed by a change of climate, they were not originally occasioned by climate. The cases which have been al ready given, of people with radical varieties of com plexion and features existing together in the Philippine islands, in Madagascar, kc. ought, perhaps, to have been referred to that division of the subject which we are now about to discuss ; but as there is no historical evidence, (though there is strong presumptive proof,) that the peo ple of either of these varieties emigrated from a different climate to their present abode, it was thought more me thodical to consider their cases under the last head ; but however they are arranged, their bearing on the point at issue is equally direct and strong.
1. The case of the Colchi shall be first considered. Herodotus informs us, that, in his time, they were dis tinguished by the blackness of their complexion, and the crispature of their hair ; and that, from these cir cumstances, the Egyptians regarded them as the de scendants of part of the troops of Scsostris. This case is regarded by the advocates for the opinion that cli mate produces and changes complexion, as making very decidedly and strongly in their favour ; no such people arc now found in those regions, as Herodotus describes the Colchi to have been ; therefore, they argue, that the blackness of their complexion, and the crispature of their hair must have been destroyed by the influence of cli mate. The application of the general remark Nrith which we introduced this part of our subject, would be a sufficient answer to this argument since, during the course of '2000 years, intermarriages, and other causes by no means connected with climate, may fairly be sup posed to have produced those changes which are attri buted to climate. But the case of the Colchi, when pro perly considered, makes against, instead of for, the in fluence of climate : As, however, this view of the case cannot be put in its strongest light, unless we previously ascertain what were the complexion and features of the Egyptians (from whom the Colchi were supposed to be descended) in the time of Herodotus, a few observations must be premised on this point.
Volney maintains, that the primitive Egyptians were negroes. This opinion he draws from the present ap pearance of the Copts—from the features of the sphynx and from the appearance of the mummies. Browne decidedly controverts this opinion : The Copts, he says, have no resemblance of the Negro features or form : Their complexion is a dusky brown, like that of the Arabs. But the argument drawn from the Copts, is of little value on either side of the question ; for though they have intermixed less than most people with their conquerors, they cannot be regarded HS pure. The an cient mummies, paintings and statues, Browne adds, bear a strong resemblance to the modern Copts. This of their argument will be after wards considered : At present, we shall confine ourselves to this author's inter pretation of the passage of Herodotus respecting the Col :hi. The terms which the historian applies to the Weill, tsfAxvx:ots ear ferodolus Eliterj.e, § 104.) Browne contends, arc merely relative : " in the vernacu lar idioms of modern Europe, by the term, a black man, is daily designated one of visibly darker complexion than ourselves." It is presumed, that this observation is contradicted by every perSUll'S experience, and there lore need not detain us ; it is of more importance to seek for the real meaning of the terms used by Hero dotus. If they do not designate the black complexion
and crisped hair of the Negroes, it would he difficult to find terms in the Greek language to describe them. A few passages from other Greek authors will spew in what sense they are used : Strabo calls the Ethio pians Acaava; x,es ovAo7liza5 ; and Aristobulus, who is quoted by this author, speaking of the Indians, says, they are not co.s7eixac. Diodorus Siculus, describing the Ethiopians on the banks of the Nile, says they are kw,coac, snub-nosed, 76/5 at Terx,A,Aca7o ever ; and, not to multiply instances in so plain a case, Aristotle, in his Problems, expressly asks, how it happens, that men ,,o,07eszt5 are for the most part rip_aqteoi. (Strabo, lib. xv. p. 799. Basil, 1571. Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii. p. 103. Aristot. Problem. § 53. ques. 18.) We may therefore conclude, that the description given by He rodotus of the Colchi, designates men of black com plexions and crisp hair ; and that, in his time, the Egyptians were such.
The argument from the mummies, respecting the complexion and features of the primitive Egyptians, has been illustrated with great knowledge and acute ness by Professor Blumcnbach. From an examination and comparison of different mummies, and of the arti ficial monuments, found in Egypt, he infers, that there were three principal varieties in the national physiog nomy of the ancient Egyptians ; the Ethiopian cast ; the one approaching to the Ilindoo; and the mixed, partaking in a manner of both the former. (Obser vations on some Egyptian Mummies, Phil. Trans. for 1794.) The testimony of ancient historians, at least so far as regards the first two varieties, bears out the inference of 13Iumenbach. Besides the passage in He rodotus, we have the direct testimony of Diodorus Si culus, that the Ethiopians inhabited the islands in the Nile, and that they considered the Egyptians as one of their colonies. Subsequent historians represent the complexion of the Egyptians as less dark than it was in the time of Herodotus. Ammianus i\larcellinus thus describes them : " Homilies autem Egpytii plerique 8 ubfusci stint et atrati." (.1mmian. Marcell. lib. xxii. cap. 16.) From not adverting to the difference of the era of I lerodotus and this author, Browne considers this passage as in favour of his opinion, that the Greek his torian meant to describe the Colchi, as merely black and crisp haired in comparison with the Greeks ; but, in the course of eight centuries, which had elapsed be tween the two authors, the intermixture of Persians, Greeks, and Romans, must have reduced the blackness of the Egyptians, as much as the difference between the terms used by them designates. The term which Ammianus Marcellirms applies to the Egyptians in a subsequent passage, crubescunt," as it is applied to their moral character, and must therefore be taken in a figurative sense, is improperly considered by Browne as any proof of toe truth of his opinion. But even be fore the time of Animianus Marcellinus, the complexion of the Egyptians seems to have los: the darkly, ss of the Ethiopian, and to have approached to the second variety mentioned by Blumenbach, viz. that of the Ilindoo. Ar rian describes the natives of the south of India as similar to the Ethiopians in the blackness of their complexion and hair, but without their crispature and form of nose ; and he adds, the Indians who live nearer the north are liker the Egyptians.* We may therefore conclude, that, though subsequent ly to the time of Herodotus, the complexion of the Egyptians had become less dark, and their hair less crisp. Yet in his time they greatly resembled the ne groes in these respects ; and consequently that the Col chi whom he describes as resembling the Egyptians, and whom tradition represented as a colony from them, had black complexions and crisped hair. Let us now re vert to the bearing of this fact on the question respect ing the influence of climate.