Page:A pilgrimage to my motherland.djvu/56

Rh first digressions are characterized by a reddish tinge of hair, and complexion in harmony, but difficult to describe. These characteristics are observed still more prominent in other individuals, and thus on, till some are found with complexions as light as mulattoes, although not otherwise like them. From these the deviation still continues, till at length the perfect albino is found. Albinos, whether of the Indian, Negro or white race, are not uncommon in America, but they seldom attract attention, as without particular observation they seem like ordinary white men. For instance, one of the most prominent editors of a daily newspaper in New-York, is an albino. The term was first applied by the Portuguese towards these people. They can not well endure exposure to bright daylight, their eyes lacking the protection which is afforded to others by the color in the iris, etc.

Not long since, and even now, there are not a few who regard the African to be like the snake or alligator, a lazy creature, whose life is spent basking in the sunshine, and subsisting on roots and herbs or what-ever else of food within reach of his arm. A Negro friend of mine mentioned to no less a personage than a professor in a medical school in America, that he had read in the work of Denham and Clapperton, that women are commonly seen in Africa spinning by the