sinians are the blackest people of Africa, excepting the negroes of the west coast.'

Parkins (Life in Abyssinia,) says of these people; — "In color, some of them are perfectly black, but the majority are brown, or a very light copper or nut color; but men and women are remarkably well formed, and in general handsome, often strikingly so. In features, as in form, the young Abyssinian women are perhaps the most beautiful of any on earth." "Again, the people of Ajan (continues the author first quoted) have hair, long and black, dark eyes, brown skin, and European features.

310. East Coast of Africa, south of the equator. The people are next to brutes, but they are whiter than the Arabians or Hindoos. The complexion here grows darker, in receding from the heat, but there is no resemblance to negroes. Those in the southern part of this region, are of the Caffre race, and of elegant symmetry, almost European features. West Coast. The people of Congo, although black, have no sign of negro features. Their faces resemble the Caucassian, hair of a reddish brown color. This is pretty nearly the character of the rest of those regions. They are in a low state of civilization. Hottentots are of a yellowish brown, and some tribes are of a red or copper color.

311. In the Pacific Islands, the black and brown are both found, many times, in the same localities, but quite separate. The brown race have long, black, shiny hair, eyes brilliant and full of fire, great mental energy, and determined character. Van Diemen's Land is inhabited by regular negroes; New Zealand, by Malays, tall, well formed, black eyes, and intelligent. Marquesas, finely formed, and active population. Sandwich Islands, complexion dark olive. That the Oceanic races have long lived together, as they are found, is a fact admitting not the slightest doubt." Of course, the same climate and mode of life, ought to have made them alike, if such a result could be expected from such a cause.

312. It may be remarked in general, that though negroes have been traced from the north of Asia to the south, and thence to Egypt, and other parts of Africa, they are everywhere the same. In Egypt the whites and blacks have always kept distinct. The children of Israel

in ancient times, after a sojourn in Egypt of two hundred years, went up out of that land every whit unchanged. So all over the world, the same Hebrew people, formerly and now, are easily distinguished. The Mamelukes in Egypt, after 260 years, were still very unlike the Egyptians. Tartars are the same in the north of Asia, and in the south. So the Arabs at home, and in the desert. The Moors, in the Barbary States, and the Moors in Spain, are the same, after a separation of a thousand years. The Normans and Saxons in England, not very unlike at first, retained their separate identity for a long time. So all European nations in America, are the same as they are at home.

313. In view of all these facts, what shall we say of the cause or causes that have produced the actual differences among men? Climate and mode of life will not suffice to answer this question; nor, on the other hand, need we suppose a different original parentage to each variety.

us.

SECTION V.-TRUE THEORY.

314. We propose a theory for removing the difficulties of this subject, that is perhaps new. It is so at least to But we hope it may receive a candid examination, and not be rejected till a better is found. It seems to us to offer the best, and indeed the only satisfactory solu tion, of the great question we have been discussing.

We know that children are not entirely like their parents, nor like each other, and are not expected to be. Some will possess a lighter, and some a darker complexion; some will have a higher forehead, and some a lower; some will be taller, and some not so tall. The color and texture of the hair will differ, as well as the skin. And if this be true now, as we know it is, the same thing may be presumed of the first families of the earth. This being admitted, it is not unreasonable to conclude, that the differences, at first slight, would be enlarged, and become more marked in different individuals and families. If a son, for instance, were darker than his father, there would be just as good reason why the grandson should be darker still, as there was that the

son should be. So we may go on, till we come to the darkest face to be found among men. The same may be concluded of any other peculiarity.

315. I know that what is here supposed would not be, without a special reason. If all colors and forms, slightly different, were kept continually mixed, the extremes would not be likely to be far separated. But such mixture has not been, and as men are, could not be expected. Sympathy, on the one hand, and prejudice on the other, would lead to classes or castes. "Birds of a feather will flock together;" and the principle has prevailed in the past, as far back as history goes, as much as it prevails in the present. And castes, once formed, to whatever peculiarity they might relate, would not be easily broken up. The tendency would be rather to raise the partition walls; and the peculiarity that first led to the separation, whatever it might be, would naturally become more and more prominent indefinitely. If it were color, the whitest would associate together, and so would the blackest; and the tendency would be to increase the whiteness on the one hand, and the blackness on the other. True, some would disregard existing prejudices; and this would throw in, between the extremes, shades of color that would lessen the contrast; as the same thing is done at the present day, still, the general tendency would not be broken up, as such instances would be, as they now are, rare exceptions to a general rule.

316. In our view, the main cause of existing varieties in the human race, is the influence of caste; though, of course, we must suppose, as before shown, an original tendency to produce slight differences. This, to us, appears to explain the whole thing. The animals are not like us, for the reason that they have no sympathy or prejudice, founded on such considerations. Our cattle associate together, irrespective of color, size, shape of the head, or length of the foot. Still, I can easily suppose, that, should they get a prejudice against each other, on account of color; the red for instance, declaring that they will not intermarry or associate with the brown, and should carry out this resolution for a few generations, each excluding at once, any and every unlucky

new-comer, that was not red enough or brown enough, to suit the popular taste; the result would at length be, that the offspring of the red, would be red, and that of the brown, would be brown; and the tendency would finally become so fixed and permanent, that variations from the common standard, would be exceedingly rare or disappear altogether.

317. This theory harmonizes perfectly with the facts that have already been adduced. How can two races exist together, in the same locality for ages, except on the principle here laid down? We know with certainty that if they should mingle together, their separate peculiarities would disappear. Such is the result, wherever such a cause exists to induce it, and to the extent to which it prevails; and where it prevails sufficiently, all distinction is ultimately lost, as is illustrated by our ancestors, the Normans and Saxons, and as is being illustrated continually before our eyes, by the intermingling, in our country, of the nations and races from the old world.

It is well for us, as Christian believers, to hesitate a long time, before we give up, as unreliable, the teachings of the Bible, or put on those teachings a forced construction, not demanded by existing facts. The unity of the race, we think, imposes upon us no necessity of doing either of these things.

CHAPTER IX.

THE DELUGE CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO THE FACTS OF GEOLOGY.

CONTENTS:- Moral Cause of the Deluge; Physical Cause of the Deluge; Possibility of the Deluge; Probability of the Deluge; Proofs of the Deluge; The Ark; Number of Animals in the Ark; Food during the Flood; Duration of the Flood; Mountains of Ararat.

318. The account of the deluge, as well as that of creation, will be sustained or set aside, in most minds, mainly, according as it may seem to agree or disagree with the facts of Geology. We believe that Geology, so far from setting aside the fact of a deluge, furnishes strong confirmation to that event; and this is one of the things we propose to show. There are several particulars connected with this event, that may be noticed separately, as the best mode of giving a complete view of the whole subject.

SECTION I.-MORAL CAUSE OF THE DEluge.

This is stated by the writer thus:

CHAP. VI.

5. T And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

11. The earth was also corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with violence.

12. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt: for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

13. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with vioence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

319. That outward physical events are at all occasioned by moral considerations, on the part of the Creator, seems to be no part of the prevailing philosophy of modern