Page:A pilgrimage to my motherland.djvu/55

46 velvet, silk or some other expensive material is substituted. Instead of the shocoto, men and boys are sometimes seen with garments made exactly like the kilts of the Scotch Highlanders; the cloth too is worn in much the same way as the Highlander's plaid. The attire of the women is even more simple, consisting of one or two cloths passed round the body. They wear besides a sort of turban, and in a few instances, another cloth over the breast and shoulders. The costume of some Africans costs as much as that of many of the most extravagant dandies of civilized countries.

We met several of those individuals who though entirely of Negro parentage, are white, from the absence of pigmentum or coloring matter from the skin, hair and eyes; both in features and texture of hair, however, they still resemble the Negro. But little is known of this phenomenon, notwithstanding the fact that it is common to all races of men, and even to inferior animals, white horses, birds, mice, etc., being often seen. A fact which we observed, is perhaps not yet known, namely, that between the albino proper, and those in whom there is a normal development of pigmentum, there are individuals possessing more or less color, so that if a series were formed embracing both extremes, the difference between any consecutive two would be hardly perceptible. The