In the first place, Herodotus expressly states, that the proof of the Egyptian descent of the Colchi, drawn from the complexion and hair, amounted to nothing, because there were other nations in that part of Asia with similar complexions and hair. From another pas sage in this historian we may infer, that this observa tion is to be taken in rather a qualified sense ; by the expression a other nations," he evidently refers to the Eastern Ethiopians ; but these he describes as differing from the Western or Lybian Ethiopians : his words are, " the Eastern Ethiopians have straight hair, those of Ly bia have more crisped hair than that of all other men. (Lib. vii. § 70 ; and Lib. iii. §. 101.) It is however suf ficiently evident from this historian, that people of such a dark complexion as to be called Eastern Ethiopians, in habited that part of Asia, which was under the dominion of Darius the son of Hystaspes; and as there is no evi dence that they were colonists, we must suppose they were the original inhabitants. The fact, therefore, of the non-existence now of a race of similar complexion and hair to the Colchi, is no proof of the influence of climate; since it cannot be maintained that the temperate cli mate, of which the Eastern Ethiopians were natives, would destroy the dark complexion of the Colchi. The testimony of Herodotus, therefore, to the existence of the Eastern Ethiopians in that part of Asia, must be considered as affording an additional proof, that there is no essential connection between radical and perma nent darkness of complexion and extreme heat of cli mate ; and the disappearance, both of the Eastern Ethio pians and the Colchi, must be ascribed to some other cause than the operation of climate.
In the second place the Egyptian colony, from whom the Colchi were supposed to be descended, settled here in the time of Sesostris ; that is, according to the most moderate computation, 1400 years before Christ : but Herodotus travelled for the purpose of collecting ma terials for his history about 440 years before Christ ; so that the complexion of the Colchi had withstood the in fluence of the climate for nearly 1000 years ; and if it i withstood it so loin, and the Colchi at the end of that period still retained the crispature of their hair, as well as the blackness of the complexion, we certainly are justified in concluding, that the subsequent disappear ance of these characteristics was owing not to the cli mate, but to other causes ; but there are grounds for be lieving that the Egyptian characteristics of the Colchi continued unchanged long after the time of Herodotus.
Bochart, in his Sacred Geography, cites passages from St Jerome and Sophronius, in which Colchis is called the second Ethiopia ; and the last author, in his life of St Andrew, says that there were Ethiopians near the mouths of the .Apsarus, and on the banks of the Phasis ; that is, in the very country of the Colchi. (Bochart, Geog. Sac. lib. iv. cap. 31, p.286.) 2. The black complexion extends much farther to the north, on the west side of Africa, than on the cast : the inhabitants of Fezzan, in latitude 27° 48' arc black, whereas the Egyptians in the same latitude are brown or olive ; on the cast side of Africa, we must go to the latitude of 15° N. before we trace the line between the
Arabs and the blacks. The Abyssinians are of a dark olive colour, with long hair ; yet the adjoining people, and the people under the same latitude on the west side of Africa, are negrocs. This difference of complexion and hair in the Abyssinians has generally been ascribed to their living under a more temperate climate than the negroes, though the latitude is the same ; but their great resemblance to the Arabians, and the direct testi mony of historians, proves that they are descended from that people ; and, as Gibbon remarks, " tl c Arab cast of features and complexion which has continued 3400 years in the colony of Abyssinia, will justify the suspicion, that race as well as climate must have contributed to form the negroes of the adjacent and similar regions." (Gibbon, vii. 341.) If we trace the inhabitants of the east coast of Africa still farther to the south than Abys sinia, we shall detect, by their features and complexion, the Arabian conquerors ; while the races, which they expelled, may be equally clearly traced in the districts into which they were compelled to remove. The dif ference between the Hottentots and Caffres has been al ready noticed :—the latter undoubtedly were originally natives of the warmer parts of Africa ; and have been driven to the neighbourhood of the Cape by the pres sure of the Arabians and other more powerful people.. In the time of Vasco de Gama, about the end of the 15th century, the Canes were found in Terra de Na tal ; and before that period they seem to have inhabited the coasts of Africa still farther to the north. (Ancient Accounts of India and China by two Mahonnnedan Tra vellers, translated by Renaudot, p. 162-164.
3. Procopius mentions a race of people far within the desert of Lybia, not black skinned like the Moors, but of very fair bodies and yellow hair : these have gene rally been supposed to be descendants of the Vandals ; but had they been so, Procopius, who lived soon after the passage of the Vandals from Spain into Africa, would probably have mentioned their origin. What ever, however, was the origin, or the time of their set tlement, they were found by Dr Shaw, in the very spot where Procopius places them, on the mountains of Aurcss, with their yellow hair and their fair and ruddy complexion. (Procop. Bell. Vand. xi. c. 13. Shaw's Travels, p. 120.
4. Herodotus fixes the houndaries of the Lybians and Ethiopians near the Niger, about Cassona ; and nearly the same line may yet be drawn in this part of Africa, between the fairer and darker complexioned natives. The Arabians, tinder the name of Moors, entered this part of Africa about the seventh century ; and though in many places separated from the ncgroes, merely by the Senegal, and in other places inhabiting the I cry same regions, they are still distinct in complexion and fea tures.