tober, when the dry season returns with the opposite monsoon.*

In Abyssinia, the rainy season begins about the first of May, and continues till the beginning of September. According to the opinion of Bruce, the tropical rains extend over a zone of the African continent, including sixteen degrees on each side of the equator. This determination was probably, in part at least, conjectural; the northern limit, however, agrees very nearly with the recent observations of Denham and Clapperton. The periodical rains in Dar-Fur, are stated by Brown, as continuing from June to September, which nearly agrees with the experience of Mungo Park, in his last and fatal visit to the Gambia and Niger.

At Kouka, in Bornou, the rainy season continued in 1823, from the beginning of August to the former part of October. In the vicinity of the Red Sea, the mountains of Taranta, form the boundary between the opposite seasons. On the eastern side, towards the Red Sea, the rainy season continues from October to April; but on the western or Abyssinian side, the rains are prevalent from May to October. These changes correspond to the periods of the monsoons in the contiguous seas. The north-eastern monsoon brings on the rains, which fall on the east of the mountains; while the winds from the south west deposit their vapours among the elevated lands of Abyssinia and along the western side of the Tarantan mountains.

In some parts of the West Indies two rainy seasons are experienced in the year.

The vernal rains generally set in about the middle of May. These, compared with the autumnal rains, may be said to be gentle showers. They come from the south and commonly fall every day about noon, and break up with thunder storms; creating a rapid and luxuriant vegetation. After these rains have continued about a fortnight, the weather becomes dry, settled, and salutary; and the tropi

• Payne.

+ Bruce.

Vol. 4, page 363.

Denham's Journal.

Edinburgh Enc. Art. Abyssinia. VOL. I.-7

cal summer reigns in full glory. This state of the weather commonly continues from the beginning of June until the middle of August, when the diurnal breeze, which had tempered the ardour of the climate, during several hours of the day, begins to intermit, and the air becomes sultry and suffocating. In the latter part of this month and most of September, we look about in vain for coolness and comfort. Large towering clouds are now seen in the morning, in the quarters of the south and south east-the tops of the mountains at the same time appear clear of clouds, and appear much nearer to the spectator than usual. The waters, however, with which the atmosphere is loaded, seldom fall with great and general force, until the beginning of October. It is then that the heavens pour down cataracts. An European who has not visited this climate, can form no just conception of the quantity of water which deluges the earth at this season; by an exact account which was kept of the perpendicular height of the water which fell in one year at Barbadoes, (and that no ways remarkable) it appeared to have been equal to sixty-seven inches.* These periodical rains are not restricted here as in Africa, to a belt extending but sixteen degrees beyond the equator, but are found in the neighbourhood of the tropic of Cancer, if not beyond it.

In the tropical regions of the American continent, phenomena, nearly similar are observed, though often modified by local causes. At Cumana, it very seldom rains, while at Cumanacoa, at the distance of only twentyone nautical miles, there are seven months of the year which are denominated wintry. Light showers are frequent there during the months of April, May, and June. A season of dry weather then succeeds, which continues from the summer solstice to the end of August. Then come the real winter rains, which cease only in the month of November, during which time the water descends in torrents. The sun passes the zenith of that place on the 16th of April and 27th of Edwards' Hist. of West Indies, Vol. I. page

7, &c.

Angust, and therefore that passage is nearly synchronous with the beginning of the mainy season.*

Though the passage of the sum through the zenith appears to be the period toward which he commencement of the rainy season on the American continent generally androximates, yet the continuance as well as the quantity of water discharged, is evidently influenced or the situation of the mountains and forests. In the interior of the forests, on the Upper Oronoco, and the Rio Negro, the water which falls in a year is estimated by Humboldt to amount to 90 or 100 inches, (96 or 106 English measure.) "When you have passert the latitude of 3° north, and approach the equator," says he, "you have seldom an opportunity of beholding the sun or stars. It rains almost the whole year, and the sky is constantly cloudy. As the breeze is not felt in this immense forest of Guayana, and the refluent po Jar currents do not reach it; the column of air that reposes on this wooded zone is not renewed by drier strata. Saturated with vapours, it condenses them into equatorial rains. The missionary assured us, that it often rained here four or five months withont cessation. I measured the water that fell on the 1st of May in the space of five hours, it was twenty-one lines, (1.86 in. Eng.) in height. The third of May I even collected fourteen lines, (1.25 in. Eng.) in three hours. These observations were made during an or dinary rain. It appears from observations which I made successively at the foot of Ghayaquil, on the shore of the South Sea, and in the town of Quito, at 1492 toises, (9540 feet Eng.) in height, that there falls ordinarily, two or three times less water on the back of the Andes, than at the level of the ocean. It rains oftener on the mountains, but there falls less water at once in a given time."

Along the southern and eastern shore of the Mediterranean, beyond the limits of the torrid zone, we find two periods of the year, conspicuously marked by the fall of rain. The early and the latter rains are frequently mentioned in scripture.

* Humboldt.

+ Vol. V. page 240.

These rains, though generally cobious while they continue, are mostly of short duration. In Palestine, the former or autumnal rains, begin to fail about the end of October; when the Inhabitants piough their ground and sow their wheat and barley. The latter or spring rains, usually begin in the former part of April, and continue until near the end of the month.* these rains are deemed essential to the support of vegetation, and their failure a certain preinde to famine, it is no wonder they are so ardentiv desired, and that a reference to them is so frequently found in the prophetic writings. The Hebrews were mostly agriculturists; extensive commerce was not compatible with their policy; and hence a failure of their usual harvest must have been to them an overwhelming calamity.

Prichard's Physical History of Man.

The first persons who began to reason concerning the difference in the colour and aspect of Europeans and Africans, or at least the oldest writers, whose remarks on this subject have reached our times, attributed the dark complexion of the latter people to the burning of their skins by the intense heat of the sun; and the texture of their hair, to the dissipation of moisture produced by the same cause. We find this opinion delivered in some verses of Theodectes, preserved by Strabo. The other ancient writers in general held the same notion, with little variation; among whom we reckon Herodotus, Posidonius and Strabo.

It was very natural for the Greeks, who were accustomed to consider themselves as the most ancient of mankind, and the immediate offspring of the gods, to take themselves as the model of the human species, and to proceed to account for the peculiarities of any foreign people, from any circumstances connected with their situation. They had no knowledge of any black races of men, except such

* Shaw's Travels. Horne's Study of the Scriptures.

as inhabited the hot countries of Ethiopia and India.

They entertained a very exaggerated idea of the solar heat in the torrid zone, and fancied it sufficient to burn up and destroy all animal and vegetable productions. Moreover they observed that the effect of fire is to incinerate and blacken whatever substances are touched by it. Hence, being much addicted to loose analogical reasonings on physical subjects, they were inclined to believe that the dark colour of the southern people is produced by the scorching effect of a hot climate.

But the moderns have, in general, adopted implicitly the sentiments of the ancients on this matter, and a writer of the last age, of justly acquired celebrity, has laboured to systematize the facts which he considered as leading to the opinion above mentioned, and to deduce a similar conclusion in a logical and inductive manner. After giving a general view of the condition of the human race, and of their aspect in different countries, as far as the hitherto inaccurate descriptions of travellers had enabled him to estimate them, he draws the general inference, that the heat of the climate is the chief cause of the black complexion in the human species. "When the heat is excessive," says he, "as in Senegal and Guinea, the men are perfectly black; when it is less violent the blackness is not so deep; where it becomes temperate, as in Barbary, Mogul, Arabia, &c. the men are only brown; and lastly, where it is altogether temperate, as in Europe and Asia, the men are white."

or

If this description were universally

even generally accurate, there would be no doubt that the Count de Buffon was right in his grand conclusion, although he might have erred in explaining the rationale of the effect. But, even in his time, some very wide deviations from this regular gradation were known, and several tribes, of very dark coloured people, had been found to be aboriginal possessors of cold countries, as the Greenlanders, Samoides, and Laplanders; the former of whom, as the Count tells us, "are,

Buffon's Hist. Nat. translated by Smellic.

some of them, as black as the Africans." This exception, however, he made to agree with his hypothesis, by assuming, that it is not the heat by itself, but the aridity of the air, which blackens the skin, and that the frozen atmosphere of Greenland is equally dry with the torrid air of Guinea. To explain the blackness of the negro, no unknown cause is assumed, although a more than adequate effort may be attributed to one that is known. The acquired hue is supposed to increase, in every generation, through a long course of time, till the shade of colour becomes such as we see it in the negro.

The fact, which is the basis of this theory, is true: viz. that the skin of the fairest European is very much darkened by exposure to the air and sun. Our rustics, and especially our sea-faring people, acquire a hue very different from the delicate complexion of females who are constantly protected from the influence of the weather; and this effect is much greater in hotter countries. But the offspring of individuals so imbrowned, are born with the original colour, not the acquired hue, of their parents. At least, it is certain, that there is no perceptible difference, in the descendants of persons who have sustained the effect of exposure to a hot climate during several generations; and we very fairly infer, that the same observation would apply to any repeated succession.

Among the examples adduced in support of the theory of Buffon, that of the Jewish nation is one which has been much insisted upon. These people are descended from one stock, and are prevented, by their religious institutions, from intermarrying with other nations; yet it is said, that they have acquired the complexion prevalent in every country into which they have been dispersed, being "fair in Britain and Germany, brown in France and Turkey, swarthy in Portugal and in Spain, olive in Syria and in Chaldea, tawny or copper-coloured in Arabia and Egypt."*

This is an inaccurate statement of facts, for if the subject be examined,

Dr. S. S. Smith on the causes of the varieties in complexion, &c. of the human species.

it will be found that the Jews, where they have not mixed their stock by intermarriages with the indigenous people, have in no place varied considerably from their primitive complexion. It is not easy to ascertain precisely the physical characters of ancient nations, but from some passages in the scriptures, it would appear that the Jews in the time of their monarchs of the house of David, resembled the inhabitants of the South of Europe in their complexion.* They || had black bushy hair and a white skin, with some variety probably as we see in all races, and acquiring a darker hue in consequence of exposure to heat and air. And this is the natural complexion of the Arabs, whether in Syria or in the deserts of Arabia, and of the inhabitants of the northern coast of Africa. The natural or hereditary colour of any race of people is to be determined by the complexion of the women and children, who are not subject to be tanned or scorched by the sun. That the complexion of the nations above mentioned, is such as we have stated it to be, is declared by all travellers into the countries referred to.

Dr. Shaw and Mr. Bruce inform us, that the children born on the Barbary coast, are in their infancy very white, and that the girls remain so, but the boys, being early exposed to the sun, become brown. Bruce says, the women have a complexion so white, that it forms too strong a contrast with the red of their lips and cheeks. Buffon has given other authorities for the same fact, and I have frequently heard the account confirmed by judicious travellers, who have had much intercourse with the natives of the African coast.

Poiret tells us that the Moors are not naturally black, but that they are born white, and remain so all their lives, when their labours do not cause them to be exposed to the heat of the sun. In the cities, the women have a complexion, of so clear a white, that they would eclipse the greater number of our Europeans. But the Moorish women of the mountains, continu

* See Solomon's Song, chap. 5. v. 10, 11.

ally scorched by the sun, and almost always half naked, acquire from their infancy a brown cast.

La Boullaye informs us that the Arabian women of the desert are born fair, but that their complexions are spoiled by being continually exposed to the sun. Mr. Bruce gives the same account of the Southern Arabians. M. de la Roque, in his travels in Arabia, gives testimony to the same fact. "The Arabian princesses and ladies," says he, "whom I have seen through the corners of the tents, appeared to me very beautiful and well made. It may be judged by these, and by the accounts which I have received, that others are not less handsome. They are white, because they are protected from the sun. The women of the common people are extremely tawny." Volney informs "that the complexion of the Druzes in Syria, and of the people near Mount Lebanon, is not different from that of the French in the middle provinces. The women of Damascus and Tripoli," he adds, "are greatly celebrated on account of their fair complexions."

Now since the natural complexions of all the nations above mentioned is white, it cannot be supposed that the Jews, who reside among them, have received an impression from the climate, of which the other inhabitants, of the same countries, are insusceptible, and that they are brown in some districts, and tawny or olive or coppercoloured in others. The complexion of the ancient Hebrew race was similar to that of the nations of Syria, Arabia, and Barbary; and the Jews who are scattered through these countries, are, equally with the other inhabitants, born white, and remain so until they sustain the influence of a hot climate, from which they acquire a deeper hue. In England, the Jews commonly retain their black hair, and the characters which are ascribed to the choleric and melancholic temperaments, so that they have, in general, a shade of complexion somewhat darker than that of the English people, who are, for the most part, of the sanguine constitution.

It is therefore evident that Dr. Smith's assertion concerning the Jews, affords no support to his hypothesis,

since it refers to the complexion acquired by external causes, and not to the natural or hereditary colour.

The most curious facts we have concerning the complexion of this nation, are those related of the Jews settled at Cochin, on the Malabar coast. Dr. Claudius Buchanan informs us that there are two sorts of them, the white or Jerusalem Jews, and the black Jews. The former have kept their race distinct. It appears by their records, which Dr. Buchanan considers as authentic, that they migrated to India soon after the destruction of their temple by Titus Vespasian, and that afterwards they obtained grants of territory and privileges, of which they have documents bearing date, A. M. 4250 or A. D. 490. They resemble the European Jews in complexion and features. But the Black Jews are a mixed race, and are looked upon as an inferior cast. Their ancestors having intermarried with the natives, they have acquired the Hindoo complexion and features. Hence it appears, that the instance of the Jews, might be almost sufficient to show, that the white complexion will be permanent during any length of time. For we find it subsisting perfect in the midst of the blacks of Malabar, though exposed to the darkening effect of an Indian climate, during almost the whole christian era.

That the race of Anglo-Americans has, in any part of their settlements, undergone, unequivocally, an approximation to the characters of the Indians, is contrary to the testimony which I have repeatedly received from unprejudiced and well informed natives of America, and from travellers in that country. Where such approximation has been imagined, the mistake has apparently arisen from want of discriminating between the native complexion of the people, and the hue acquired by exposure to the sun, by hard labour, and by the influence of local diseases. M. G. Heriot, a respectable writer, whose opinion on this subject is of weight, since he had no favourite opinion to support, expressly assures us that the Anglo-Americans have not made the least approach towards the complexion of the Indians. He is induced by this circum

stance, to infer, that the colour of the latter does not depend upon climate.

I have been assured by many natives of the West Indies, that there is no perceptible difference in colour, between the inhabitants of them and the English people, except what arises from exposure to a hotter sun. The women and children are equally fair with those born in Britain. Persons who are descended from ancestors of sanguine temperament, have still the blue eyes and light hair, which characterize that constitution, though their forefathers were among the earliest settlers in that country. West Indians who have resided some years in England, become as fair as any of the natives of our Island. Mr. White assures us, on good authority, that Spanish families, which have resided in South America, and have avoided intermarriages with the Indian or mixed race, remain as white as any Europeans.

From these facts, and many others which might be adduced, we may assert, in general terms, that the result of historical inquiry confirms the observation, that the colour acquired by the parent on exposure to heat, is not imparted to his offspring, and has consequently no share in producing natural varieties.

It is not my intention to assert that climates can only produce an effect on individuals, who removing from another situation, come to abide under their influence. It cannot be denied that they have some power also of exhibiting certain changes in the progeny. But I am disposed to believe that the most important diversities of mankind, the difference, for example, between the white European and the Negro, depend upon another principle; and that no change of climate, however great, or for whatever length of time its influence might be continued, could transform a race of the former people into one of the latter, or even make them approximate in any considerable degree. It is very improbable that climates can influence the human species, more than the inferior tribes of animals, which are placed by many circumstances so much more under its control: yet we no where find that the colours of