Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 57.djvu/45

Rh as indicating a tendency to albinism, or that change of pigment such as now and then gives silver foxes or white blackbirds. All things considered, it seems more likely that we have in these red negroes the remnant of a people once distinctly separated from the other black Africans. In favor of this view is the fact that the members of the group are very evenly distributed, as they would be if they were a distinct race, and not as we should expect to find them if they were the result of albinism or of a mixture of white blood. The number of this variety of folk is small; it probably does not exceed one per cent of the population.

When the observer has made the divisions above noted he has set apart a little more than one half of the blacks he has tried to classify. Among the remainder he will have remarked other but indistinct types in a way that appears to indicate that several other fairly characterized groups might by close scrutiny be established. The greater part of this remainder, however, evidently consists of mixed people, who have come from a mingling of the original diverse stocks.

Imperfectly founded and inadequate as are the results of my rough inspection of the Southern negroes, they fairly serve to show some facts of importance to those who would helpfully foresee the future of the black people in this country. We may first remark that, notwithstanding the many distinct racial qualities and diversity which, to my eye, far exceed what we may observe among the whites of the United States, they are, with the exception of the mulattoes, in excellent physical condition. They are of curiously even, serviceable size, dwarfs and giants being very rare—much rarer than among the whites. The percentage of deformed persons is, so far as the eye can determine it, very low. I am fairly well acquainted with the peasant class in most of the European states, and I know of no region where the average condition of the folk appears to be so good as it is among the Southern blacks. In fact, this state is doubtless due to the rigid selection which was had when the Africans were chosen for export; in part to the care of their bodies during the time when they were slaves. The result is a distinctly chosen people, well fitted to carry the burdens of this world.

The variety of physical quality which appears to exist among the negroes is important, for the reason that it appears to be associated with mental differences even as great, thus affording a basis for the differentiation of the people as regards occupations and consequent station in life. It is even more difficult to get at the mental peculiarities of the several groups of black folk than it is