ABSORPTION OF THE NEGRO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2231, 3 December 1896, Page 50

ABSORPTION OF THE NEGRO.

Certain theories regarding the weakness of mixed races and their infertility have long been unquestionlngly accepted, but evidence hitherto unobtainable is doing much to overthrow these theories. It Is settled beyond the Bhadow of a doubt that the half breed Indians, at least, are stronger and larger than their Indian and white parents Cthe wbitftjsarentfl are mainly French-Canadlaiiii.

a people short In stature) and more prolific than their Indian parents. We can bring forward no conclusive or reliable evidence for or against the degeneracy of the negro half-castes, but, for that matter, even the negro tribes which we regard as purely negro are mixed. Unless the Bushmen are the primitive negroes, a tribe purely negro oannot be found in Africa, Although all tribes have certain oommon traits derived from the common negro origin, all have individual characteristics derived from Egyptian, Persian, Berber, Arabic, Abyssinian, and Portuguese conquerors and traders. North of the Gulf of Guinea the Hamitio and Semitic admixture is very large, and is noticeable in a less degree throughout the continent; and the tribes that possess the largest admixture of Caucasian blood, such as the Gallas, Foolahs, and Eroos, are the strongest and most vigorous of all. The weakness and liability to disease said to be observed among mulattoes and other shades of coloured people in this country is not an inheritance from the ancestral races so muoh as it is from the ancestral individuals. It seems altogether improbable that merely a mixed ancestry should entail a liability to the class of diseases with which they are afflicted. This weakness and tendency to disease is undoubtedly au inheritance from a vice-weakened, disease-strioken white ancestor. The debauchee in bis last stages, poor and worn with vioe, suffering from loathsome diseases, is driven from the society of immoral whites to tbat of the easier-going negroes. 'It is a sad fact that the fathers of many half-caste children are mere boys, immature and unfitted to become the parents of robust offcpring. There is no evidenoe tbat halfcaste ohildren of healthy parents are other than Btrong and vigorous. The greatest difficulty attends the acquisition of evidenoe

on this point, for it is impossible to learn the ancestry of the children. The African negro has never passed beyond the rudiments of civilisation. It is true tbat, when discovered by modern civilisation, I he was one step beyond the American savage, j in that he emerged from the stone age and J worked in iron ; but it is probable that he j had been instructed by the Egyptians, Persian*, and other nations that hnnted gold and silver in Equatorial Africa. In tribal organisation he was inferior to the Indian, in religion immeasurably so. In countries like Haiti and Santo Domingo, where former slaves have beoome the rulers, the negroes ' have managed very badly, though it must be confessed that the whites of several other tropical republics have not done much better. It is unfortunately true tbat the Portuguese of Alemtejo, the province where negro blood is present in the population, are ignorant, unprogressive, and unprolific; but here again we are at fault as to what conclusion to ' draw, for the province is fever haunted and j desolate throughout most of its extent. Sicily i and the adjacent mainland are the least pro- j gressive parts of Italy, though their natural advantages are many. Assassination societies and brigands rule there, and education is at low ebb. The population was anciently Greek, with some admixture of Carthaginian, Latin, and Saracen. Whether an infusion of 1 negro blood is responsible for the degeneracy of the descendants of these noble races. . would be impossible to say, for all Italy is of low estate at present, and we cannot determine the degree of the negro infusion. We can say, however, tbat in the modern instances where we find a homogeneous AfroCaucasian population the people are inferior mentally • and not _ superior physically. Beasons • other than the presence of negro blood may fully account for this; yet it should be noticed that we have not found ; any mixed races rising superior to their un- i favourable environment, while many white j nations have attained the highest development in spite of discouraging conditions.

To the mental equipment of the new American nation the nearo,, can add little

except good humour and patience, and both of these good qualities are due to his poorly developed nervous system. Be not deceived by the stories of edncational progress among the negroes. One and all the leading men of the American negroes are of mixed blood. But as the constant education of a race improves its mental capacity, in time the negro mind will be brought up to the Caucasian standard. It is not to be done in a few generations, however. The task will be more difficult than most people imagine. The weight of the negro brain is muoh less than that of the average Caucasian brain, and the texture is inferior. The development of the negro's mind during childhood proceeds as rapidly as the development of the mind of the white child, and this has given rise to a mistaken estimate of the negro's capabilities; but the development ceases abruptly before manhood is reaohed. The sutures of the skull dose, brain-growth entirely ceases, and -the adult is often less qnick and intelligent than when a child. — New York Home Journal.