"Another circumstance, worthy of notice, is, that the parts which are not exposed to the sun, change more rapidly than those which are thus exposed."

"I dare not hazard any conjectures on the causes of these phenomena. The facts cannot be disputed; although the causes, and the modus operandi, may be unknown. Persons, who have daily intercourse with these Indians, suppose them to be leprous. The facts, however, shew that there is no foundation for this supposition. The skin is perfectly smooth, and fresh, without the least appearance of the white scales, and loathsomeness, which are consequent on leprosy. Besides, they are all sound, healthy, labouring men."

"So little attention has been paid to these extraordinary facts, that persons, who have been for years intimately acquainted with these Indians, have not taken pains to examine them."

From this account, the accuracy, as well as the truth of which may be relied on with perfect confidence, it is evident, that a change in several of the race of red men, by which in every instance they have become in some degree, and in one almost absolutely, white men, has actually taken place under the eye of indubitable testimony. This change has existed, also, without the least appearance of disease. All the subjects of it being, in the words of Mr. Hart, " sound, healthy, labouring men."

I have myself been an eye witness of the same great fact in a black man. Henry Moss, a native of Virginia, came in the year 1796 to New-Haven, and to my house. It had been previously declared in a Virginia newspaper, that he was born in that State; that he was originally black, woolly headed, of a sober, honest character, and was remarkably changed in his complexion; that the change began about four years before, and had gradually spread over the greatest part of his body. All this he confirmed to me in conversation. His understanding appeared not to be inferiour to that of white men, generally, when equally uneducated; and an unquestionable ingenuousness of character strongly recommended him to the esteem of a stranger.

According to his own account, he began to become white under, and around, the roots of his finger nails; and had always whitened more, and faster, where his skin was, than where it was not, covered. During the whole period he was in perfect health, and conscious of no peculiar sensation, except a small, and barely perceptible, degree of feeling in the places affected, more than in the other parts of his body. His whole appearance corresponded with his story. His face and hands were partially whitened, without any visible regularity in the process; and were so spotted with alternations of white and black, as to be hideous. His breast, arms, legs and thighs, were wholly white, and of a clear, fresh, and delicate complexion. The skin was not pale; nor the finer blood-vessels, at all concealed. Nor is a fresher colour often found in white people; nor more complete evidence of the total absence of disease.

Wherever the skin was become white, the hair, also, was totally changed; and was exactly that of fair white people; of a flaxen hue, and perfectly free from curling. On his head a spot, beginning at the crown, and extending towards the forehead, shaped somewhat like the bowl of a table spoon, but narrower and longer, had become white. Two or three smaller spots exhibited exactly the same changes. Around all these, limited by an exact line, the skin was black and the hair black and woolly; in other words, the hair of a black man. Both these appearances extended over the rest of the head.

The whitening process was still going on, and not less rapidly than at any preceding period. I saw him about four years afterwards and found him considerably advanced in this progress; and still a healthy, sound man.

From these accounts I derive the following observations.

1. The whitening process in all these instances began in small spots, and was gradually extended.

2. All the subjects were, from the beginning, healthy men.

3. They were not sensible of any material change of feeling in the parts affected.

4. They were occupied during the whole time, the journies of Henry Moss excepted, in their usual labours; and were without any change in their modes of living.

5. Disease had no influence towards the accomplishment of the change.

6. The change of the hair was intimately connected with the change of the skin; less strikingly in the red men, but with the fullest evidence in the black man.

This

7. Hence I argue, that the colour of the skin, and the texture and appearance of the hair, depend on a common cause. is, indeed, rationally conjectured from the appearance of moles on white persons. These, when black, are often covered with black curled hair, differing altogether from that, which is on other parts of the body.

8. From these facts I infer also, that the external appearances of the complexion, and hair, on the human body are not original, nor at all essential to the nature of the body. All these men continued in every other particular the same in body, and mind; while they were yet entirely changed in complexion to a considerable extent. I except Wampey, on whom the change, having very lately begun, had extended over a small spot only. Moss and Adams were almost entirely white, without an alteration in any other respect than that of the hair; and even without a new sensation, except the trifling one, mentioned concerning Moss. These appearances, therefore, were not essential, but incidental; not original, but superinduced upon the human constitution. In other words, men are not red, black, nor white, necessarily; but merely as incidental circumstances direct.

9. Hence I conclude, that the varieties, observed in the complexion, and hair of the human species, furnish no probable argument, that they sprang from different original stocks. The three great varieties are white, black, and red. On the two last classes these changes have here taken place; and on one of each they have been almost completed. A black man in one instance, and a red man in another, have become almost entirely white men ;

and without any such change in the internal parts of the constitution, as to occasion a single new sensation of any importance. Of white men, therefore, others may have become red, or black men, with changes equally unessential. That this has really taken place is fairly presumable from the facts, here recounted. The ordinary course of providence, operating agreeably to natural, and established, laws has wrought the change here. A similar course of Providence is therefore justly concluded to have wrought the change from white, to red, and to black; or what is perhaps more probable, from red to white on the one hand, and from red to black on the other. The change here, so far as it has existed, has been accomplished in a few years. How easily, as well as how imperceptibly may it have been accomplished during the lapse of ages. The Cushites on the mountains of Habesh have been black for thirty centuries. The Colchians, who were black in the time of Herodotus, are now as white, as the people of Europe. The Jews have every tint of complexion from that of Poland, Germany and Britain, to that of the black Jews in HindoosThe change of the blacks, whose ancestors were introduced into New-England, is already very great, as to their shape, features, hair, and complexion. Within the last thirty years I have not seen a single person, of African descent, who was not many shades whiter than the blacks, formerly imported directly from Guinea.

tan.

The account given above of Henry Moss was written soon after he was at my house. At that time he produced several certificates from respectable men in Virginia, and Maryland, fully attesting his integrity, and those parts of his history, which I have recited. I am, Sir, yours, &c.

LETTER IV.

Hamilton-Oneida Academy-Paris-Iron mine-The measures adopted for the support of religion in this State unhappy, and the laws imperfect-Rome-Battle between the English and Indians under Sir John Johnson and the American militia under Gen. Herkimer-Canal-Siege of Fort Stanwix.

Dear Sir,

WE returned to Paris before dinner; and spent the afternoon in visiting Hamilton Oneida Academy, and in an interesting conversation with several of the trustees concerning its present state, its prospects, and the means of increasing its usefulness and reputation. This Seminary is already of considerable importance; and contains fifty-two students, of both sexes, under the care of two instructors. The scheme of education, professedly pursued in it, includes the English, Latin, and Greek languages, and most of the liberal arts, and sciences. An academical building is erected for it, eighty-eight feet long, and forty-six feet wide, of three stories, on a noble healthy eminence, commanding a rich and extensive prospect. It is, however, but partially finished.*

The township of Paris lies immediately South of Whitestown. It contains four parishes, of which Clinton is the most considerable. This township is part of a tract, more than thirty miles square; the soil of which is probably not inferior to any other of the same extent in this State. It is of the same kind with that of Hartford, formerly mentioned, and of the best quality. All the vegetable productions of the climate flourish here. A farmer this year had two hundred bushels of peaches, which he sold for a dollar a bushel. Every other product thrives equally well, ex

*This Seminary was in the year 1811 converted into a college with funds amounting to $100,000 and the assurance of $50,000 more. Half of their present funds was derived from contributions raised by the gentlemen of the neighbouring County; the other half was given by the State. It is named Hamilton College after the late Secretary of the American Treasury. The Rev. Dr. Backus of Bethlem was chosen President, and has entered on the duties of his office. There are the best reasons for believing, that it will prove a source of extensive benefit to the Western country of New-York.