Page:The History of the American Indians.djvu/16

 4 On the colour and temper of the Indians of America.

and his endeavours of improving the red colour, was tarnilhed with as deep an Indian hue, as any of the camp, though they had been in the woods; only the fpace of four years,

We may eafily conclude then, what a fixt change of colour, fuch a com- ftant method of life would produce : for the colour being once thoroughly eftablimed, nature would, as it were, forget herfelf, not to beget her owa likenefs. Befides, may we not fuppofe, that the imagination can imprefs ths animalcuke, in the time of copulation, by its ftrong fubtile power,, with at lead fuch an external fimilitude, as we fpeak of? The facred oracles, and chriftian regifters, as well as Indian traditions, fupport the fentimentj the colour of Jacob's cattle refembled that of the peeled rods he placed be fore them, in the time of conception. We have good authority of a Spanifk lady, who conceived, and was delivered of a negro child, by means of a black picture that hung on the wall, oppofite to the bed where me lay. There is a record among the Chikkafah Indians, that tells us of a white child with flaxen hair, born in their country, long before any white people appeared in that part of the world ; which they afcribed to the immediate power of the Deity impreffing her imagination in a dream. And the Philofophical Tranf- actions afiure us of two white children having been born of black parents. But waving all other arguments, the different method of living, connected with the difference of climates, and extraordinary anointings and paintings, will effect both outward and inward changes in the human race, all round the globe : or, a different colour may be conveyed to the fcetus by the parents, through the channel- of the fluids, without the leaft variation of the original ftamina. For, though the laws of nature cannot be traced far., where there are various circumftances, and combinations of things, yet net works are exquifitely ccnftant and regular, being thereto impelled by unerring divine Wifdom..

As the American Indians are of a reddifh or copper colour, fo in general they are ftrong, well proportioned in body and limbs, furprifingiy active and nimble, and hardy in their own way of living.

They are ingenious, witty, cunning, and deceitful ; very faithful indeed to their own tribes, but privately diflioneft, and mifchievous to the Europeans and chriftians. Their being honeft and harmlefs to each other, may be through fear of refentment and reprifal which is unavoidable in cafe of any injury.

7 They

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