Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/163

 THE NEGRO RACE AND EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION 147

yellow of the Tuareg, the copper tint of the Somali or the Fulbe, the chocolate of the Mombuttu, and the ebony of the Jolof, the color gradations are imperceptible ; and no conception is more utterly mistaken than that which would people all of central Africa with a black-skinned race.

The physiological aspects of race-mixture have lately attracted much attention. Mr. James Bryce, in his recent lecture on " The Relations of the Advanced and Backward Races," carefully reviews the experience of mankind in this matter, and adds his support to the current assumption that mixed breeds are morally and physically weak when the parents belong to widely disparate races and civilizations. However, it would seem that this assump- tion is true only in cases where the two societies to which the parents respectively belong maintain a repugnant attitude to each other, so that the mestizos form an outcast class and suffer a total loss of morale. Where friendly relations exist, the mixed races produced by Europeans and negroes exhibit some very fine qualities. The rich yet delicate beauty of the mulatto women in Martinique, their sweetness of temper and kindness of heart, so excited the admiration of visitors that they all, lay and clerical, French and British, join in the chorus of admiration and declare the women of Martinique the most charming in the world. Intellectually, the mulatto race has produced a number of remark- able men, and the liberality of mind among the leaders of this class in Martinique is certainly most noteworthy. Still it is generally true that the men of a mixed race will exhibit fewer pleasing qualities of character than the women : they must make themselves useful often by activities not conducive to sweetness of temper or honesty of mind ; while the women naturally develop more gentle and attractive characteristics.

The question of race-mixture between Europeans and negroes is, however, at present of little practical importance. In the regions where large numbers of Europeans and negroes live side by side the social laws more and more stringently forbid a mixture of the two elements; moreover, the number of Europeans who settle in central Africa will probably always be exceedingly small. But there is another racial element which will in the future have