the Red Sea at the Straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb, ascended the Nile, or crossed that river to
the west."[50]

Taking the whole southern portion of Asia westward to Arabia, this
conjecture--which likewise was a conclusion drawn, after patient
research, by the late Sir T. Stanford Raffles--accounts, more
satisfactorily than any other, for the Oriental habits, ideas,
traditions, and words which can be traced among several of the present
African tribes and in the South-Sea Islands. Traces of this black race
are still found along the Himalaya range from the Indus to Indo-China,
and the Malay peninsula, and in a mixed form all through the southern
states to Ceylon.[51]

But it is unnecessary to multiply evidence in proof of the antiquity
of the Negro. His presence in this world was coetaneous with the other
families of mankind: here he has toiled with a varied fortune; and
here under God--_his_ God--he will, in the process of time, work out
all the sublime problems connected with his future as a man and a
brother.

There are various opinions rife as to the cause of color and texture
of hair in the Negro. The generally accepted theory years ago was,
that the curse of Cain rested upon this race; while others saw in the
dark skin of the Negro the curse of Noah pronounced against Canaan.
These two explanations were comforting to that class who claimed that
they had a right to buy and sell the Negro; and of whom the Saviour
said, "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay
them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with
one of their fingers."[52] But science has, of later years, attempted
a solution of this problem. Peter Barrere, in his treatise on the
subject, takes the ground that the bile in the human system has much
to do with the color of the skin.[53] This theory, however, has drawn
the fire of a number of European scholars, who have combated it with
more zeal than skill. It is said that the spinal and brain matter are
of a dark, ashy color; and by careful examination it is proven that
the blood of Ethiopians is black. These facts would seem to clothe
this theory with at least a shadow of plausibility. But the opinion of
Aristotle, Strabo, Alexander, and Blumenbach is, that the climate,
temperature, and mode of life, have more to do with giving color than
any thing else. This is certainly true among animals and plants. There
are many instances on record where dogs and wolves,