ress, or weakened in
their degree, by a colder climate.

We come now to the second and opposite case; for a proof of which we
shall appeal to the words of Dr. Mitchell[090], in the Philosophical
Transactions. "The _Spaniards_ who have inhabited _America_
under the torrid zone for any time, are become as dark coloured as our
native _Indians_ of _Virginia_, of which, _I myself have
been a witness_; and were they not to intermarry with the
_Europeans_, but lead the same rude and barbarous lives with the
_Indians_, it is very probable that, in a succession of many
generations, they would become as dark in complexion."

To this instance we shall add one, which is mentioned by a late
writer[091], who describing the _African_ coast, and the
_European_ settlements there, has the following passage. "There are
several other small _Portuguese_ settlements, and one of some note
at _Mitomba_, a river in _Sierra Leon_. The people here
called _Portuguese_, are principally persons bred from a mixture of
the first _Portuguese discoverers_ with the natives, and now
become, in their _complexion_ and _woolly quality_ of their
hair, _perfect negroes_, retaining however a smattering of the
_Portuguese_ language."

These facts, with respect to the colonists of the _Europeans_, are
of the highest importance in the present case, and deserve a serious
attention. For when we know to a certainty from whom they are descended;
when we know that they were, at the time of their transplantation, of
the same colour as those from whom they severally sprung; and when, on
the other hand, we are credibly informed, that they have changed it for
the native colour of the place which they now inhabit; the evidence in
support of these facts is as great, as if a person, on the removal of
two or three families into another climate, had determined to ascertain
the circumstance; as if he had gone with them and watched their
children; as if he had communicated his observations at his death to a
successor; as if his successor had prosecuted the plan, and thus an
uninterrupted chain of evidence had been kept up from their first
removal to any determined period of succeeding time.

But though these facts seem sufficient of themselves to confirm our
opinion, they are not the only facts which can be adduced in its
support. It can be shewn, that the members of the _very same
family_, when divided from each other, and removed into different
countries, have not only ch