Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836, Vol. 2 [of 3]

Chapter XXVII

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REMARKS ON THE EARLY MIGRATIONS OF THE HUMAN RACE.

Having ended my narrative of the Beagle’s voyage, I might lay down the pen: but there are some reflections, arising out of circumstances witnessed by myself, and enquiries since made respecting them, that I feel anxious to lay before those who take interest in such subjects; and who will detect fallacies which I, in a purblind search after truth, may have overlooked.

A few of these reflections bear on the origin and migration of the human race: and, deeply feeling the difficulty of the subject, as well as my comparative ignorance and inability, I would beg that my remarks may be viewed solely as those of a sailor who writes for the younger members of his profession--not as the scheme of a theorist.

Before mentioning the particular facts which have fallen under my own observation, and made most impression on me, in connexion with this subject, it may be well to defend myself from any imputation of indulging hastily formed or capricious ideas, by saying that from boyhood I have always taken interest in observing the various countenances, heads, shapes, sizes, colours, and other peculiarities of the human race; especially of those varieties in which education has not masked the mind, by teaching man to restrain or conceal his emotions. The result of this attention to outward tokens, occasionally retained more distinctly in my recollection by sketches, has been a conviction that external form, especially of the head and features, is exceedingly dependent upon mind; and that as the human being is more or less educated, accustomed to better or worse habits, more or less obliged to think and act for himself; so will his external appearance vary for better or worse, and become, in a great degree, the index of his mental quality. This power of mind over matter exists in each individual, who besides may receive from his parents, outward peculiarities, and general inclinations, but in a modified degree: since the child partakes of the nature of both father and mother, (perhaps even, slightly, of that of a foster mother, if one is employed). That such hereditary peculiarities are not to be quickly or easily altered, every one will admit; but that they may be gradually changed, and in a few generations altogether obliterated, by pains being taken with successive children, many facts have been published which seem to prove incontrovertibly. This ought to give great encouragement to the exertions of parents in educating their children,[1] since exterior expression, if not feature, as well as the infinitely more important result, actual character, may depend so much upon training the mind aright. Supposing this to be the case, it is not surprising to find savages so very different from civilized men in outward feature, as well as in mind; or to see them, where civilization has not been known, precisely in the same condition now, as that in which we learn they were several centuries ago.

Some years since I read a long article in the “Dictionnaire Classique” under the head of “Homme,” which described a great many distinct races of men--at least thirteen: and at the same time I saw a map which professed to show the geographical distribution of those several distinct races. Almost the first spot which my eye rested on was Tierra del Fuego, coloured black, to indicate that its inhabitants were black; and upon reference to the “Dictionnaire Classique” I found that the Fuegians were there described as being black, like the natives of Van Diemen’s Land. This mistake, so extraordinary considering the numerous voyagers who have seen the natives of Tierra del Fuego during the last three hundred years, stimulated me to inquire further into the data upon which that division of the human family into separate ‘races’ was founded. The more I have sought, the more evidence has appeared to demonstrate the erroneous nature of such a view; and the probability, nay certainty, that all men are of one blood.

In the course of years spent in various quarters of the world, I have had opportunities of leisurely considering people from all the principal countries. I have read much of what has been written, during late years, on the subject of their resemblance, or difference; and the conclusion to which I have been obliged to come is--that there is far less difference between most nations, or tribes (selecting any two for the comparison), than exists between two individuals who might be chosen out of either one of those nations or tribes; colour and hair alone excepted.

In the city of Lima there are now at least twenty-three distinct varieties of the human race, which are not only recognised and well known in that capital, but have been carefully enumerated and described by Stevenson, in the following table. All these varieties have arisen from the intermarriages of three, the Spaniard, the aboriginal Peruvian, and the negro: and among their descendants almost any coloured skin, or kind of hair, may be matched. It may be observed that although negro and white produce the zambo, which is a dark copper; and although it may be inferred from the table that zambo and some lighter variety would produce a lighter shade of copper-colour--there is still the long black hair, and scarcity of beard, observed in most American aborigines, to be accounted for. This peculiarity, however, may be derived from white and negro: and I think it would not be difficult to show that every variety of hair and colour might be produced from these two originals only.

CASTES arising from the mixture of European, Indian, and Negro.

Colours are classed according to appearances: a child receives more of the colour of the father than of the mother.[2]

That colour is not alone dependant upon, or caused by climate, however much it may be altered by exposure to sun and wind, or by seclusion, no person can doubt who has at all attended to the subject, and read the opinions of men who have made it their study: but that its various hues may be derived from intermarriage, without any change of climate, this table goes far to prove.[3]

Having seen how all the varieties of colour may be produced from white, red, and black, we pause, because at fault, and so we should remain, did we rely on our own unassisted reason. But, turning to the Bible, we find in the history of those by whom the earth was peopled, after the flood, a curse pronounced on Ham and his descendants; and it is curious that the name Ham should mean “heat--brown--scorched,” while that of Cush his son, means “black:” that Japheth should imply “handsome,” and that Shem, from whose line our Saviour was descended, should mean “name--renown--he who is put or placed.” I cannot myself read this explanation of Cush, and the denunciation “Cursed be Canaan--a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren,” without believing that Cush was a negro, and that from the intermarriages of his descendants with those of Shem and Japheth, came hosts of mulatto, copper, or dark-coloured men who peopled a great part of Asia, Polynesia, America, parts of Africa, and part of Australia. According to this view the black descendants of Cush overspread part of Africa, Australia, and Van Diemen’s Land, New Guinea, and portions of other islands: while white families, children of Japheth and Shem, spread over Asia Minor, the Caucasian district, great part of Northern Asia, and the whole of Europe.

We read, in another place, that Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, and sent them away eastward from Canaan, unto the east country: many years before this separation, Ishmael, the son of Hagar, an Egyptian slave belonging to Abraham, was established in the country next to the eastward of Canaan; and as his descendants were “not to be numbered for multitude,” it follows that those of some of the sons above mentioned must have migrated to a great distance.[4] It is likely that some of Abraham’s bond-women were either black or mulatto, being descendants of Ham; perhaps of Cush: and it is hardly possible that Hagar should not have been dark, even black, considering her parentage;[5] in which case Ishmael would have been copper-coloured, or mulatto,[6] and some, if not all of Abraham’s sons by concubines, would have been of those colours. If this be assuming too much, there can be no doubt that in the next generation Esau, or Edom, was a red man, and that his descendants, the numerous Edomites, or Idumeans, were also red: now as Esau married the daughter of Ishmael, we have, in this case, distinct evidence of the origin of a race of red, or copper-coloured men. Had the common colour of the human race been at that time red, Esau’s colour would not have been remarked: had it been black, Cush would have been no distinctive appellation. It must then have been originally fair, as no colours are mentioned in the Scripture, with reference to the human race, except fair, red, and black.

A rapid increase of flocks and herds, as well as population; a consequent diminution of vegetable food; jealousies and disputes between the children of bond-women and those of the free, and the comparative indifference of fathers to the offspring of their slaves, must have stimulated migration in every direction; and, when once begun, no doubt the love of novelty, and desire of finding countries still better than those yet explored, increased, and eventually perpetuated that passion for wandering which we see to this day in the Arab, the migratory Malay, the roving Tartar, and the ever-restless South American Indian.

Climate, habits, and food operate to cause a considerable change in the form and size, though their permanent effect on the colour of the human race is slight. The effect of climate, considered alone, may be seen in the descendants of English families settled in some parts of North America, in Australia, or Van Diemen’s Land; countries where neither habits nor food differ much from those of England. We see there that our sturdy thick-set labourer’s son becomes a tall lathy youth, though perhaps none of his family while in England exceeded the middle height: and not only does the form alter, but the gait and voice acquire peculiarities which mark the American born, the Australian, or the Tasmanian. Exposure to cold, wet, and wind, together with but little walking exercise, shortens the legs, and increases the stoutness of body, as may be seen in the Fuegian, the Esquimaux, and the Laplander,--in fishermen, sailors, coachmen, and others; but, activity on foot, warmth, and a fine climate, have contrary effects, which may be shown by the youth above mentioned, by the African Negro, by the Indian, by the South Sea Islander, and others. Habits require little notice, for we can hardly look around us without seeing many instances of faculties or forms altered in one way or other, by exercise or the want of it, or by certain customs: porters, smiths, dancers, grooms, jockeys, are remarkable instances. That food is a material agent in affecting the human form I think no one can doubt; and when all three combine to cause alterations, how considerable must be the change effected. That colour may be altered a little by seclusion and particular diet, or by exposure to wind and sun, need not be remarked, except for the purpose of adding that a change so caused is not permanent, or transmitted to children, like peculiarity of form. The Otaheitans used to shut themselves up for a month at a time, and eat only particular food, in order to become fairer; yet their descendants are as dark at this day as their fathers were when Wallis first discovered them in 1786.

I will now endeavour to point out those lines of communication across the oceans which appear to me, as a seaman, the most likely to have been followed by the earliest wanderers. Of overland routes I say nothing, because where land extends, in the vicinity of water, there is no obstacle sufficient to prevent the migration of animals, as well as men; neither need I notice intervals of sea which can easily be crossed.

Wandering eastward, from Asia Minor, roving tribes may have begun to people Eastern Asia and the Indian Archipelago, while other parties were exploring Africa; and while the sons of Japhet were advancing northward, and towards the west. A slight acquaintance with ancient history informs us at how early a period extensive commerce was carried on by ships,--to Britain in the west, and to the Indian Archipelago in the east; before which time it is obvious that those extreme regions must have been tolerably well peopled: but it is not possible that they could have been so without the employment of ships, boats, canoes, or rafts. The earliest explorers of unknown lands must have been naturally enterprising, and habitually disposed to wander. Children brought up under such instructors as their migratory parents, always eager to seek for new countries, would increase their roving inclinations; and as long as another region could be found, doubtless they would try to explore it, partly from a ruling passion and habit, partly for the sake of procuring food with greater ease, and partly in consequence of feuds among themselves, which, in such a state of society, must end in the defeat and expulsion, if not subjugation or destruction of the weaker party. Add to these motives, those which I mentioned in a previous page, consequent upon intermarriage between various castes or colours, the desire of independence, or the love of wealth,[7] and more than enough reasons appear to account for the early dispersion of the human race, provided they possessed the means of migration.

That in the early ages large trees were more abundant near the water side in many countries than they now are, appears indisputable; but even as we see them in many uncivilized though inhabited countries, how numerous are huge trunks, out of which canoes might be formed, with fire, with stones, and with shells. Considering the abundance of trees once standing in places, perhaps easy of access, whence the hand of man may have long since cleared them away, and the quantity of animal,[8] as well as vegetable food which may have abounded where then there had been no arch-destroyer,--how easy, comparatively speaking, may it have been, in those early ages, to fell, hollow out, and launch great trunks of trees, which, secured two and two, and covered over, would form excellent vessels. Like the double canoes of modern Polynesians, they might have carried a platform, above the reach of common waves, on which families and their provisions could voyage in security. Neither refined art nor any tool would have been required in the construction: with fire to hollow and to divide, stones, shells, and bones would have sufficed for so simple a work, and thus enabled the least informed savages to make sea-worthy and even burthensome vessels.

Unlike some modern canoes, however, these primitive vessels would have been capable of sailing only before the wind, or nearly so, and would therefore have been almost at the disposal of every breeze, when once at sea. Hence, in attempting to follow their course, we must attentively consider prevailing winds, and by no means omit to regard currents, of which the first sailors could have known nothing, and which must have caused the mis-direction, if not loss, of many early adventurers.

In alluding to easily constructed rafts, and double canoes, I do not for an instant dream of excluding better vessels, which no doubt, were soon constructed after men began to roam by sea;[9] but I wish to show, so far as I am able, how readily means of transport were accessible to the first wanderers.

I must pause for a moment to explain why I consider these explorers as savages, although they were spoken of before as descendants of Abraham and his countrymen, who were civilized. Let us suppose, for illustration, that a party of men and women left Asia Minor in a civilized state. Before they had wandered far, no writing materials or clothes would have remained (had they even possessed them), and their children would have been taught only to provide for daily wants, food, and perhaps some substitute for clothes, such as skins. Their grand-children would have been in a still worse condition as to information or traces of civilization, and each succeeding generation would have fallen lower in the scale, until they became savages in the fullest sense of the word; from which degraded condition they would not rise a step by their own exertions; so long as they received no assistance, no glimmerings of intelligence, from others who had branched off from the main trunk at a much later period, and had means of preserving more knowledge. The degree of degradation would depend upon climate, disposition, description and quantity of food, recollection of origin and traditions, keeping up old observances, and intercourse with other families, tribes, or nations, among whom more traces of their common origin and descent might have been preserved. Were a dozen men and women now cast away upon unknown land--supposing that not one of the party could read or write--that there was no substance with which they could clothe themselves except the skins of animals--that the climate was variable--that they had neither tools nor arms--that the extent of habitable land admitted of their wandering--that it had no other human inhabitants, and that it should be visited by none for the space of some hundred years after the arrival of this party,--in what state would their descendants be found by the next adventurers who might land on the shores of that country?

India, China, Mexico, Peru, regions separated from the central seat of population, but advanced in civilization at the earliest period of their history with which we are acquainted, preserve traditional accounts of superior men who arrived there, and first began to improve the condition of their people, but we are not told whence those men came. No one, however, can read about those countries, as well as Tartary, Japan, and Polynesia, without being struck by the traces of Hebrew ceremonies and rites, by the evidences of the worship of Baal, or by remains of Arkite observances, scattered through the more populous, if not through all the nations upon earth.

That man could have been first created in an infant, or a savage state, appears to my apprehension impossible; (for a moment taking a view of the case, unaided by Scripture;) because--if an infant--who nursed, who fed, who protected him till able to subsist alone? and, if a savage, he would have been utterly helpless. Destitute of the instinct possessed by brutes,--with organs inexperienced (however perfect), and with a mind absolutely vacant; neither his eye, his ear, his hand, nor his foot would have been available, and after a few hours of apathetic existence he must have perished. The only idea I can reconcile to reason is that man was created perfect in body, perfect in mind, and knowing by inspiration enough for the part he had to perform;--such a being it would be worse than folly to call savage.

Have we a shadow of ground for thinking that wild animals or plants have improved since their creation? Can any reasonable man believe that the first of a race, species, or kind, was the most inferior? Then how for a moment could false philosophers, and those who have been led away by their writings, imagine that there were separate beginnings of savage races, at different times, and in different places? Yet I may answer this question myself; for until I had thought much on the subject, and had seen nearly every variety of the human race, I had no reason to give in opposition to doubts excited by such sceptical works, except a conviction that the Bible was true, that in all ages men had erred, and that sooner or later the truth of every statement contained in that record would be proved.

To return to the lines and means of communication:--

Following the various routes of population into the Indian Archipelago, to Japan, to Kamschatka, and to Australia, we are stopped by the vast Pacific--except at one point, Kamschatka, and there, by the Aleutian isles, is an easy road to America. Now it is not probable that intercourse should have been begun by water, between various points on those extensive shores, (reaching from 60°, N. lat., to 40°, S. lat.), without numerous accidents happening, such as vessels, boats, canoes, or rafts being carried out of sight of land by storms; when, ignorant how to steer as their crews must have been, they were driven before the wind till they reached some unknown land, or were engulfed in ocean.

Many such vessels, out of the numbers which must have been tempest-tost among currents and dangers of every kind incident to navigation, may have failed in finding land before their store of provision was consumed, and their crews reduced to the horrible necessity of feeding upon human flesh. When once the natural antipathy to cannibalism was overcome, recurrence to similar food would have been less revolting on other occasions; especially if, excited by rage or animosity, and deprived of animal food, men had accustomed themselves to anticipate satisfying their hunger by the flesh of a miserable slave, or even of a late friend whom accident had estranged and turned into a blood-thirsty enemy.

Looking over a modern chart of the Pacific we see a multitude of islands scattered, like stars over the sky, from the Indian archipelago to Salas y Gomez;[10] whence to Mas-a-fuera, on the South American coast, the distance is not fourteen hundred miles; and to the main land itself, about eighteen hundred. It is possible that other islands may have existed, but we now find a comparatively short distance between Easter Island and South America; besides favouring circumstances of wind and weather which lead me to believe that a line of population went in that direction. It is not impossible that vessels should have crossed from New Zealand to South America, running always before the fresh westerly winds so prevalent southward of 38°; neither is it at all unlikely, on the contrary it is highly probable, that Chinese or Japanese Junks were driven to the Sandwich Islands; perhaps across to the North American coast.

Between the tropics in the Pacific an easterly trade wind is found during more than half the year; but it is not generally known (except by readers of voyages) that from November to March there is much west wind, rain, and occasional tempest, between the vicinity of the equator, and about fifteen degrees south. This westerly monsoon, for such in fact it is, sometimes is steadily regular, and at others interrupted by calms, storms,[11] or heavy rains. The eastern limit to which it usually reaches is about 110° W. long., but there is reason to suppose, that it extends at times, irregularly, to the Galapagos Islands, if not to the adjacent continent, when Guayaquil is suffering from heavy torrents of rain. While the sun is far south, this westerly monsoon extends to the tropic of Capricorn, between the meridians of 150° E. and 120° W. longitude. At other times of the year the tropical regions of the Pacific are refreshed by pleasant easterly winds, varying in moderate strength, and in their direction from the northward or southward of east.

Beyond the region of tropical or trade winds, an almost continual succession of westerly winds is found to prevail. In those middle latitudes easterly winds sometimes blow; but their amount is not more than one-fifth that of the west winds, throughout the year.

In the Southern Atlantic and Southern Indian ocean similar winds prevail, between the parallels of 30° and 60°. Instances in profusion may be found in narratives of voyages, where very small vessels, boats, or canoes, have made long passages across an open ocean, or have passed months in ignorance of their geographical situation, enduring the most dreadful privations. In the event of a float, whether raft, canoe, or rudely constructed vessel, being carried out of sight of land by current or wind, or by both, and taken into a steady trade, or lasting westerly wind, it would be impossible for her to struggle against it for many days; she must eventually run before it as the last expedient, with the hope, often forlorn, of falling in with some land to leeward.

When we reflect on the tedious coasting voyages undertaken formerly, even in historical times; and on the quantities of provision embarked for those long passages; may we not infer that the earliest explorers would take as much food with them as their rafts or vessels could carry; and therefore, that if driven out to sea, they were capable, in some instances at least, of holding out for a considerable length of time without having recourse to the last alternative.

If a vessel were drifted from Easter Island[12] by a north-west wind (occasional in July, August, or September,) she would be carried towards the coast of Chile; she might be drifted directly there, or she might be driven eastward for a time, and then, in consequence of wind changing, drifted towards the north; so that it would be uncertain whether Chile, Peru, the Galapagos Islands, Mexico, or the wide ocean would receive the lost wanderers. It is also possible that a vessel may have been driven to South America from the neighbourhood of New Zealand; but this does not appear nearly so probable as the former conjecture. That the Araucanians about Valdivia originally arrived in that country by water, from the west, is I think indicated by what is stated in page 400 of this volume.

But while man was thus spreading eastward across the Pacific, are we to suppose that no vessel was ever blown off the coast of Africa, or that of Spain, and drifted by easterly winds across the Atlantic? How easy is the voyage, before a steady trade wind, from the Canary or Cape Verde Islands to the West Indies or Brazil; from the west coast of Africa to the east coast of America. Tradition in Brazil says that such arrivals took place there, and certainly there is a resemblance in some points between the Patagonians and what history states of the Guanches.

Let us now turn to the Negro population, descendants of Cush. Spreading to the south and west, they may have overrun extensive regions in Africa, but by no means to the exclusion of the mixed varieties of men, who also explored and colonized that continent, chiefly towards the northern and central regions. From the coast opposite Madagascar a party of negroes might have embarked to cross the Mosambique Channel, or they might have been driven off by a storm while coasting along near Algoa Bay, in which cases the current, always setting south-westward along that coast, would have hurried them into the region of strong westerly winds, by which they must have been carried, if their vessel and provisions held out, to the coast of New Holland, or to Van Diemen’s Land. Now it is worth notice that the men of the south-western quarter of Australia are exceedingly like some of those who frequent the countries near Algoa Bay--and that the native dances and superstitions are very similar; while the aborigines of Van Diemen’s Land, though of like colour, are shorter, stouter, and have coarser features; differences which might be expected to result from living in a wetter, windier, and colder climate. That other negroes arrived on the northern shores of Australia, brought there as slaves by red men, or making their escape from Asiatic masters, is probable: and from one or other source, if not from each, the black men in Australia and Van Diemen’s Land may have been derived. That red men must have landed in Australia, we now know by the notices of late travellers, and their presence accounts for the colour observable in many of the so-called blacks, whose actual hue, when washed, is a deep brown--next to black, certainly, but with a perceptible red tinge. They are nearly the variety which would be produced by the intermarriage of a Negro and a Chino (see table, page 643,) called Zambo-chino in Lima: but there are gradations of colour, as might be expected, and varieties of hair; some being more or less woolly, others frizzled, almost like that of a mulatto.[13]

The occasional peculiarities of outward form, on which so much stress has been laid, to the prejudice of the Hottentots especially, are considered by able anatomists whom I have consulted to be of no more real consequence than that existing in a six-fingered family. On their authority it may be shown that such occasional deviations from ordinary conformation, which are sometimes continued in particular families, and therefore might be found in a whole tribe who were originally but one family, in no degree constitute distinct species. From them we learn also that all varieties of the human race are alike in their anatomical structure, and that intermarriage between any two varieties whatever is productive of a prolific offspring.

Considerable stress has been laid on language as a means of tracing affinities or descents; but with great deference for the learned men who have devoted so much time to following its intricate traces, I would ask whether, when a language was not written, or in any manner fixed, it was not liable to vary continually as fresh separations of families into tribes occurred; and whether therefore it is possible to do more than classify unwritten languages, following some few traces of resemblance which may occasionally be marked, and detecting the root, though not the branch? In such an interesting pursuit, however, every sign, even the faintest, is valuable;--but only men of deep research and extensive learning can advantageously pursue this method of inquiry into the migrations and early history of our race.

I believe it will be found that the remarks I have ventured to make in the preceding pages, are by no means at variance with most of their deductions; and I much regret that our opportunities of collecting words, and modes of expression, were not such as to enable me to add many to their collections.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Not in overburthening their tender minds with the contents of books, or over exciting them with a whirl of ideas calculated to rouse even the listless spoiled child of fortune from his apathetic indifference--but in a wholesome mixture of general education, bodily as well as mental, adapted to their years, and calculated to prepare them, in their respective stations, for doing their duty happily to their Maker, and to their fellow-men.

[2] Stevenson’s South America, vol i. p. 286.

[3] It did not, however, satisfy me as to the production of a bright red copper colour; but of that I afterwards saw an excellent example at the Keeling Islands. See page 636.

[4] See Genesis, Chap. xiii. for evidence of the necessity there was to emigrate in those early times.

[5] Herodotus, lib. ii.

[6] The Arabs, next to the Jews the most marked people on earth, who have preserved their genealogies in an unbroken line, assert that they are descended from Ishmael; their colour is the same as that of the Malays, the Polynesian islanders, and the Americans.

[7] Real wealth--not money, its symbol and equivalent now.

[8] For proofs of the extraordinarily rapid manner in which animals multiply when comparatively unmolested by man, we need only turn to South America.

[9] The Piragua now used at Chilóe, and by the savages of the Chonos Archipelago, exactly resembles in every minute detail the Maseulah boat of Madras. Its ‘sacho,’ or wooden anchor with a stone in the middle, is precisely like that used in Chinese and Japanese Junks: but doubtless these coincidences may be accidental.

[10] Near Easter Island.

[11] During these storms, which begin very suddenly, not only vessels are driven out of their course, but birds, insects, and seeds are carried to great distances.

[12] At Easter Island in 1722, Roggewein found idolaters and fire-worshippers, and he says that one of the chief idols was called Dago. In 1774, people differently disposed, were found there by Cook; the idols still remained, but no traces were observed of fire-worship.

[13] Of the natives of Van Diemen’s Land Cook remarks that their hair differed in texture from that of the natives of New South Wales, being in Adventure Bay as woolly as that of any native of Guinea, while that of the aborigines of New South Wales was naturally long and black, though cropped short.--Cook’s Voyage, 1769-71.

Bligh says that the aborigines of Van Diemen’s Land are black, and that their hair, “which resembled the wool of the Caffres,” was separated into shreds, and powdered with red ochre. They were generally slender, tolerably well made, kept their shoulders back, and upon their prominent chests several had marks raised in the skin.--Bligh’s Voyage--Adventure Bay, 1788-1792.

Flinders saw only one native of this country, but his appearance much resembled that of the inhabitants of New South Wales. He had also marks raised upon the skin, and his face was blackened, and hair ruddled, as is sometimes practised by them. The hair was either cropped close, or naturally short, but it had not the appearance of being woolly.

In Marion’s voyage a skirmish with the natives of Van Diemen’s Land took place, after relating which, the writer says, “on entering among the trees they found a dying savage. This man was a little more than five feet seven inches in height, (French measure). His breast was marked like those of the Mosambique Caffres, and his skin appeared as black; but, on washing off the soot and dirt, his natural colour appeared to have a reddish tinge.”

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Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836, Vol. 2 [of 3]Chapter XXVII

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