On the Phenomena of Hybridity in the Genus Homo

Such a grave fact could not be allowed to pass unchallenged. Professor Waitz, much embarrassed by it, could only oppose to it a passage extracted from a work published in 1845 by Lewis, On the Negroes in the West Indies. “Lewis,” says Waitz (Anthropologie der Naturvölker), “expressly denies the sterility of the Mulattoes of Jamaica in their marriages between themselves, and observes, that they are as prolific as the Blacks and Whites, but that they are for the most part flabby and weak, and their children have little vitality.”

Long said he knew of no instance where the children of Mulattoes arrived at maturity. To refute this assertion, known instances should have been cited. But Lewis neglects doing so.31 He says, on the contrary, that the children, from similar marriages, possess little vitality. Though this expression does not necessarily imply the impossibility of arriving at adult age, it tends at least to the conclusion that the children have little chance to reach it; and when we consider that the preceding passage was intended to refute Long’s assertions, it is surprising how little satisfies Professor Waitz. At any rate, it proves that he could find no other positive document in opposition to the fact mentioned by Long.

This is, perhaps, no reason for accepting without reserve the opinions of Dr. Nott. Before giving a definite judgment, we must wait for further numerous, authentic, and scientific observations. Nevertheless, it must be remarked, that the indefinite fecundity of Mulattoes had been admitted as an axiom, which it was thought there was no necessity of disproving. It was sufficient to say there are many Mulattoes, without investigating whether they maintain themselves, or by continuous intermixture with the parent stocks. The first who wished to inquire more closely has, by his observations, been led to results opposed to general opinion. To these observations, presenting apparently the guarantee of authenticity, positive observation should be opposed; and it is requisite that the latter should be specially collected in countries where the Germanic race has intermarried with the Negro race of Western Africa. The investigations which might be made in the French, Spanish, or Portuguese colonies would have no direct application.

The authors, moreover, we have cited, are far from being the only ones who have denied the fecundity of the Mulattoes in the West Indies. Van Amringe and Hamilton Smith assert, that without a reunion with the parent stocks the Mulattoes would soon become extinct. Day says that Mulattoes are rarely prolific between themselves; and Waitz, somewhat shaken by these testimonies, adds in a note, “The sterility of Mulattoes, when it is complete, may be compared with that fact recognised by Wirgman in plants, that the hybrids of intermediate types between the two parent stocks are sterile, whilst those resembling one or the other species are prolific.”32 From these facts and testimonies there seems to result – 1. That the Mulattoes of the Germanic and Ethiopian races possess little prolificacy: 2. That they are inferior in this respect to the Mulattoes born by the intercourse of Negro women and men belonging to the more or less dark complexioned Caucasian races.

Mulattoes of the latter kind exist in large numbers in the greater part of the Antilles, South America, Central America, Mexico, Mauritius, Bourbon, and Senegal. All these countries have been colonised by the French, Spaniards, or Portuguese. The Mulattoes born there are fecund in their intermixture with the parent stock, as the Mulattoes of Germanic origin; they are also prolific between themselves, at least in the first generation. Are they equally prolific in their direct alliances as in their mixed ones? Are their children arriving at maturity as the others? And finally, when these children intermarry, are they and their descendants prolific? These questions are yet unanswered. They can only be solved after a long series of observations collected by men of science; not by travellers who view the populations superficially, but by close observers, and principally by physicians resident in these localities. In the mean while, here is another passage from the work of Prof. Waitz, quoted by him from Seemann.33 “The Mulattoes of the Negroes and Whites at Panamá are prolific between themselves, but their children are brought up with difficulty; whilst the families of the pure races produce less children, which however arrive at maturity.” The Europeans of Panamá are of Spanish origin. The prolifickness of the Mulattoes of the first degree is clearly indicated in this passage, but doubts may be entertained as to the fecundity of their descendants. The intermixtures of Negroes and Europeans are not the only ones the results of which exhibit defects to the observers. “The Mulattoes,” says M. Boudin,34 “are very often inferior to the two parent stocks, both in vitality, intelligence, or morality. Thus the Mulattoes of Pondicherry, known by the name of Topas, exhibit a mortality not only more considerable than that of the Indians, but greater than the Europeans, though the latter are considerably shorter lived in India than in Europe. Positive documents on this point have been published in the Revue Coloniale. So much as to the vitality.

“In Java, the Mulattoes of the Dutch and Malays are so little intelligent that they could never be employed as functionaries. All Dutch historians are agreed upon this point. This much for their intelligence.

Malay and mixed breeds

“The Mulattoes of Negroes and Indians, known by the name of Zambos in Peru and Nicaragua, form the worst class of citizens. They compose four-fifths of the prison population. This fact, already mentioned by Tschudi,35 has recently been confirmed by Squier. So much as regards morality.

“There are, however, certain physical qualities which may be acquired by the intermixture of races. Such are pathological immunities. The Mulattoes of the West Indies are, like the Negroes, exempt from the yellow fever.”

The fecundity of Mulattoes is not touched in this passage, not having been the subject of discussion. The question merely was whether the prevalent opinion, that intermixture of improved races physically, intellectually, and morally, was in accordance with well observed facts. Hence, M. Boudin confined his observations to the limited intelligence exhibited by the Mulattoes issued from the union of the Dutch of Java with the Malay women. But in his Treatise on Medical Geography,36 he expresses, with regard to the Mulattoes, an opinion that they are not productive beyond the third generation. This fact, announced by Dr. Yvan, which is confirmed by other testimonies, has not been contested. Waitz borrows from Graf Görtz some particulars which are not without interest.

“The Lipplappen,” he says (this is the name of the Mulattoes of Java), “do not breed beyond the third generation. Flabby and weakly, they become developed up to the fifteenth year, when the development is arrested. At the third generation, girls only are born, which are sterile.37 This phase of sterility is very curious, and deserves well the attention of physiologists.”

It is, however, necessary to inquire whether the sterility of the Lipplappen depends upon intermixture or upon other causes. The climate of the islands of the Sunda straits is very injurious to Europeans. The Dutch do not perpetuate their race at Batavia; and even without intermarrying with the natives they become sometimes sterile at the second generation.38 The sterility of the natives may, then, be attributed to the climate. These results, moreover prove, from a verbal communication of Dr. Yvan to M. de Quatrefages, that in other Dutch colonies of the Great Indian Archipelago, the Mulattoes are prolific.39 It is thus not demonstrated that the sterility of the Lipplappen is the result of their hybridity.

M. de Quatrefages, in order to explain the difference of results produced by the intermixture of the Dutch and the Malays at Java, and other Dutch colonies, supposes that this difference is due to the influence of mediums. This is possible; but there are other influences which must be taken into account, namely, the numerical proportion of either of the two races who intermarry. Where the Europeans are few in number, the Mulattoes of the first degree are also very few; those who intermarry between themselves are still less numerous, and the rest ally themselves with the parent stock, chiefly with the indigenous race, which is preponderating. Where, on the contrary, the European population is considerable, the Mulattoes of the first degree are sufficiently numerous to constitute a sort of intermediate caste, which, without altogether escaping a recrossing, contract nearly all their alliances with their equals.40 In the first case, most individuals of mixed blood approximate more to the indigenous race than to the foreign; that is to say, that the Mulattoes of the second, third degree, etc., are much more numerous than the Mulattoes of the first degree. But in proportion as a recrossing is effected, the influence of hybridity diminishes, and becomes effaced. In the second case, on the contrary, the greater part of the Mulattoes are of the first degree,41 and, much more than the rest, subject to the influence of hybridity; and if it be true that hybridity causes a diminution of fecundity, it is easily understood that the prolificness must vary according to the relative proportion of the two races. Now, Batavia is the great centre of the population of the India Archipelago; there the Europeans are most numerous; it is chiefly there that the Lipplappen form a distinct class, and it is precisely there that their defective prolificness is found. I do not pretend to say that this interpretation is perfectly correct; I merely advance it as an hypothesis to be verified. Here, however, we have a fact which may enhance its value. I borrow it from the work of Prof. Waitz. It is known that a large number of Chinese are found in the eastern and western isles of the Indian Archipelago. They are relatively less numerous in Java and Sumatra, where their commerce cannot sustain the competition with the Dutch. “The descendants of the Chinese and the Malay women in the eastern islands of the Indian Archipelago,” says Waitz, “soon become extinct; whilst at Java, where the pure Chinese are few in number. The Malay-Chinese Mulattoes amount to 200,000.”42

If the defective fecundity of the Lipplappen of Java is due to the deleterious influence of climate, it is very difficult to attribute the great prolificness of the Malay-Chinese to the benignity of the same climate. Moreover, the more eastern islands, where the latter Mulattoes do not thrive, are more unhealthy than Java. There seems, therefore to result, from the facts quoted by Waitz, that the Malay-Chinese thrive where the Chinese are few in number, and that they decay where the Chinese are numerous; that is to say, that the fecundity of the hybrid population augments in proportion as the conditions favourable to a return crossing with the Malay race are present. This amounts to the same thing, namely, that the Mulattoes of the second, third, and fourth degree are more prolific than those of the first, which certainly corresponds with the laws of hybridity among animals. These facts, however, require to be verified and completed before they can serve as a basis to arrive at a definite conclusion.43

These examples of the Mulattoes of Malasia, which we accept with reserve, tend to demonstrate that the results of intermixture do not exclusively depend on the degree of proximity of race; for there is certainly a less zoological distance between the Chinese and the Malays, and between the Malays and the Dutch, than between the African Negroes and the South Europeans. Yet the Mulattoes of the French, Portuguese, and Spanish colonies seem gifted with a much greater prolificacy than the Dutch or Chinese Mulattoes of Malasia. It is besides known that in Mexico and South America the union of the indigenous population between the Portuguese or the Spaniards has, in many localities, produced Mulattoes, the race of which seems to perpetuate itself.44

In investigating hybridity in animals, we have found that homœogenesis is not always exactly proportional to the degree of proximity of species; we would especially point out that the chabeins, or hybrids of the goat and the sheep, are superior to the mules of the ass and the mare, though there is a greater difference between goats and sheep than between the horse and the ass.45 It is not less true that in general, though with some exceptions, the results of intermixture are more defective in proportion as the species are more distant from each other. This leads us to study human hybridity in such regions where the most elevated races have come into contact with the most inferior races. What are the two races forming the extremes of the human species? Several English authors express the conviction that the Anglo-Saxon, or rather the Germanic race, to which they belong, is the first race of humanity. M. Alex. Harvey is even pleased to believe that Providence has created it to rule all the rest.46 Patriotism is a virtue which is entitled to our esteem. We shall, therefore, not attempt diminishing the satisfaction of our allies across the straits, and we shall, at any rate, acknowledge that the race which has produced a Leibnitz and a Newton is inferior to none.

Relative sterility of the interbreeds between the Europeans and the Australians or Tasmanians

At the extremity of the world, and nearly at the antipodes of Great Britain, the English have been for more than half a century in contact with the Melanesian races, and specially with the Australians and Tasmanians. The relative degree of inferiority between these latter races, which differ sensibly in their physical character, may be open to discussion.47 It is, however, generally admitted that they are inferior at least to all other races who have come in permanent contact with Europeans. The Hottentot race, which has long been considered to occupy the lowest degree, is evidently superior to them. The Hottentots, though refractory to education, have, at least, shown some degree of improvability, while the Australians seem absolutely incorrigible savages. The English have made the most persevering attempts to instruct them, but without any success. As they could not succeed with the adult population, they tried it with children of a tender age, and educated them with European children in orphan asylums; they have there learned to mumble some prayers, even to read and write; but, with approaching puberty, the young pupils succumbed to their savage instincts, and escaped into the woods to live again with their parents whom they had never known. At one time young Australians were transported to England, and confided to the Moravian brothers, who neglected no cares to improve them. “They have returned as brutish as they were before,” says M. Garnat; “a proprietor of a farm in the interior assured me, that he could never succeed to employ them in the most simple agricultural labour.”48

What is known of the Tasmanians scarcely permits us to consider them superior to the Australians. It must, however, be admitted that those unfortunate islanders of Van Diemen’s Land have not been so much attended to as the Australians. The English, so humane and patient as regards the latter, have committed upon the Tasmanian race, and that in the nineteenth century, execrable atrocities a hundred times less excusable than the hitherto unrivalled crimes of which the Spaniards were guilty in the fifteenth century in the Antilles.

These atrocities have terminated in a regular extermination,49 caused, say the optimists, by the absolute unsociability of the Tasmanians.50 This is not, in our opinion, a mitigatory circumstance, but from all these facts there results evidently, that, of all human beings, the Tasmanians are, or rather were, with the Australians, nearest to the brutal condition.

The investigation of the results obtained from the intermixture of Anglo-Saxons with these inferior races, may give us an idea what the crossing between the two most disparate branches of the human family may produce.

M. Omalius d’Halloy, President of the Belgian Senate, a venerable scholar, as well known for his geological as for his anthropological works, thus concludes the seventh chapter of his Treatise on the Races of Man: “It is remarkable that, though a considerable number of Europeans now inhabit the same countries as the Andamenes, no mention is made of the existence of hybrids resulting front their union.”51 Under the name of Andamenes, d’Halloy comprises the Australians, Tasmanians, and all the blacks with woolly hair of Melanesia and Malasia.

It may, then, be inferred from this passage, either that the Europeans established in these countries have no connection with the native black women, which appears inadmissible, as we shall presently show, or that the intermixture between the two races is perfectly sterile. This latter assertion is, however, not altogether correct. True it is that the greater part of travellers make no mention whatever of hybrids of Melanesia; it is equally true that they are very rare, but still there exist some. Thus Quoy and Gaymard have seen one hybrid of an European and a Tasmanian woman.52 Mr. Gliddon, who unfortunately does not cite the source from which he has drawn his information, announces that until the year 1835, when the Tasmanians were exterminated, there were only known, in the whole of Tasmania, two adult Mulattoes.53 This indicates either that few were born, or that they died at an early age, for the colony, founded in 1803 by a population at first almost exclusively masculine, had, in a few years, considerably increased by the arrival of convicts and free settlers, nearly all males. Mr. Jacquinot, after having announced that there were no hybrids in Australia, adds, “In Hobart Town, and in all Tasmania, there are no hybrids either.”54 No other author has, to our knowledge, mentioned Tasmanian hybrids.

The intermixture of the English with the native women of Australia has not been more productive. “There are scarcely,” says Jacquinot, “any Mulattoes of Australians and English mentioned.” This absence of Mulattoes between two peoples living in contact on the same soil, proves incontestably the difference of species. It may also be noticed that if such cross-breeds really existed, they would be easily recognised.55 Mr. Lesson, who lived about two months in Sydney and its environs, and who made several excursions among the natives, mentions only one cross-breed, the offspring of a white man and the wife of a chief named Bongari.56 Cunningham, a great defender of the Australian race – which, by the way, has finished by killing, and it is even said eating him – has written two volumes on New South Wales, in which neither directly nor indirectly is there mention made of more than one single Mulatto, and it happens that this single Mulatto is precisely the same of whom Mr. Lesson speaks.57 No statistical writer, nor any historian, enumerates cross-breeds among the Australian population. No where, nevertheless, are the classes of society more numerous and more distinct. The officials, the colonists born in Europe, the colonists born in Australia, the convicts, the emancipated, the descendants of convicts, etc.; form as many classes envious of and despising each other, they dispute their respective privileges, and give each other more or less picturesque nick names. There are sterlings, currencies,58 the legitimate, the illegitimate,59 the pure Merinos, the convicts, the titled, the untitled, the canaries, the government men, the bushrangers, the emancipists,60 and some other classes of immigrants or convicts. In this rich vocabulary there is not a single word to designate the Mulattoes. Yet in all countries where races of different colours mix, the language of the locality contains always distinct denominations for Mulattoes of various shades. Nothing of the kind exists in Australia. There is even a class of white men, the legitimates, which have also the name of cross-breeds.61 This word everywhere else would designate Mulattoes, in Australia it means European convicts, it being thought impossible that the rare issue of an intermixture between the two races should ever become a part of the population.

It is, however, not merely in New South Wales that we are struck with the paucity of cross-breeds between Europeans and Australians; Mr. McGillivray mentions a similar fact as regards the port of Essingen, an English colony of Northern Australia.62

We may, therefore, accept as an authenticated fact, that the cross-breeds between Europeans and native women are very rare in Australia, as they were in Tasmania when the Tasmanian race existed.

This fact is so much in opposition to the general opinion on the intermixture of human races, that before attributing it to physiological causes, we must inquire whether it is not owing to some other causes.

We might be tempted, for instance, to suppose, that there was no intermixture, and that the ugliness and dirty habits of the native women bridled the sexual desire of the Europeans. This has been advanced, not by travellers who have precisely asserted the contrary, but by honest and sensible reasoners, whose refined taste revolted at the aspect of the portraits and busts of the Australian women. It would be a serious fact that a whole race should have such an irresistible repugnance to another, for nature has only inspired with such a feeling of repulsion beings of different species, and man is certainly of all animals the least exclusive. Is there in our seaports a prostitute sufficiently ugly and old to frighten the sailor? Is it not known that the Hottentots, whose ugliness is proverbial, have intermixed with the Europeans of South Africa? We must then set aside such a supposition, which is not founded upon a correct knowledge of human nature. There are, moreover, some documents, which induce us to believe that the Europeans of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land have intermixed with the native women.

According to Malte-Brun the population of the colony of Sydney amounted in 1821 to 37,068 individuals, thus distributed.63

Thus there were among the free adults only twenty-seven women for a hundred men, that is to say, that seventy-three men in a hundred were absolutely prevented from marrying.

The relative proportion of convicts of the two sexes is not indicated in the above account, but it is known that originally the male convicts formed the great majority, and that there were ever afterwards far fewer women than men.

In 182564 the number of inhabitants amounted to nearly 50,000; but from this period the convicts were mostly sent to Van Diemen’s Land, and the white population of Australia diminished rapidly from not receiving regular reinforcements. In 1836 there were only 36,598 of all classes.

There were thus, among the convicts, only one woman to nine men, and among the free population one woman to two men.65

Hence may be explained the small increase of the population during the first periods of the colony and the considerable decrease which corresponds to the period from 1825 to 1830. In 1845, according to Henricq,66 New South Wales had, since its foundation, already received 90,000 convicts of both sexes, beyond an unknown but considerable number of voluntary emigrants, yet the whole population consisted only of 85,000 individuals. At the same period there were in the free class but three females to five males, and among the convicts one woman to twelve men. In the colony of Hobart Town, in Tasmania, the disproportion was somewhat less, for there were five free females to seven males, and one female convict to twelve men.

It is difficult to believe that the free men deprived of women were all gifted with the virtue of continency. But admitting this for a moment, we cannot entertain the same opinion with regard to the convicts, which are certainly not chosen from the most virtuous classes of Great Britain. It must be noticed that the female convicts are not public women in the colony. The government accords certain advantages to convicts who contract legitimate marriages; this is the first step towards their liberation, and when a vessel arrives with a cargo of females they are readily espoused by the convicts. Nine-tenths, therefore, of the latter are entirely deprived of white women. On the other hand they procure gins (the name of Australian females) with the greatest facility, and though it may not be known that many of them cohabit with the females, it may be easily divined and affirmed. “The women of the people of Port Jackson,” says Lesson, “look out for and excite the white men, and prostitute themselves for a glass of brandy.”67