A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
35
hundred years) to their present hue, which we found darker than he describes it. But whether, according to his and the Abbé de Manet's
[1] opinion, this change of complexion was effected merely by the heat of the torrid zone, or whether they have acquired their sable colour by intermarriages with negroes from the adjacent coast of Africa, is a question which I do not venture to decide, though so able and judicious an investigator of nature as
Count Buffon, asserts, that "the colours of the human species depend principally on the climate." See
Histoire Naturelle, in 12mo, vol. VI. p. 260. At present there are very few white people among them, and I believe we did not see above five or six, including the governor, commandant, and company's agent. In some of the islands, even the governors and priests are taken from among the blacks. The better sort of them wear ragged European cloaths, which they have obtained by barter from ships that touched here, previous to the establishment of the monopolizing company. The rest content themselves with a few separate articles of dress, either a shirt, or a waistcoat, or a pair of breeches, or a hat; and seem to be well pleased with their own appearance. The women are ugly, and wear a long slip of striped cotton over the shoulders, hanging down to the knees before and behind; but children
- ↑ See his Nouvelle Histoire de l'Afrique Françoise, enrichie de Cartes, &c. a Paris, 1767, 12mo, vol. II, p. 224.
are
