―296―Art. XXVIII.
Transactions of the American Philo-
sophical Society, held at Philadel-
phia, for promoting useful Know-
ledge.
(Continued from p.217.)
Account of an Animal called the Big
naked Bear: By John Heckewel-
der.
THIS animal, hitherto a non-
descript, unless we suppose
it to be similar to that described by
Mr. Jefferson, is thus pourtrayed
by Mr. H. from intelligence col-
lected among the Indians.
“I have now to communicate
to you, what came to my know-
ledge respecting an animal, which
the Mohican Indians called Aham-
agachktiât Mecehqu´, and the De-
―297―
lawares, (if I recollect right) Am-
angachktîát. The Big Naked Bear.
Their reports run thus: That
among all animals that had been
formerly in this country, this was
the most ferocious. That it was
much larger than the largest of the
common bears, and remarkably
long-bodied: all over (except a
spot of hair on its back of a white
colour) naked. That it attacked
and devoured man and beast; and
that a man, or a common bear,
only served for one meal to one of
these animals. That with its teeth
it could crack the strongest bones.
That it could not see very well;
but in discovering its prey by scent,
it exceeded all other animals. That
it pursued its prey with unremitting
ravenousness, and that there was
no other way of escaping, but by
taking to a river, and either swim-
ming down the same, or saving
one's self by means of a canoe.
That its heart being remarkably
small, it could seldom be killed
with the arrow. That the surest
way of destroying him, was to
break his back-bone. That when
a party went out to destroy this
animal; they first took leave of
their friends and relations at home,
considering themselves as going on
an expedition, perhaps never to re-
turn again. That when out, they
sought for his track, carefully at-
tending to the course the wind
blew, and endeavouring to keep as
near as possible to a river. That
every man of the party knew at
what part of the body he was to
take his aim. That some were to
strike at the back-bone, some at
the head, and others at the heart.
That the last of these animals
known of, was on the east side
of the Mohicanni Sipu (Hudson's
River), where, after devouring se-
veral Indians that were tilling their
ground, a resolute party, well pro-
vided with bows and arrows, &c.
fell upon the following plan, in
which they also succeeded, viz.
knowing of a large high rock, per-
pendicular on all sides, and level
on the top, in the neighbourhood
of where the naked bear kept, they
made ladders, (Indian ladders), and
placing these at the rock, they recon-
noitred the ground around, and soon
finding a fresh track of the animal,
they hastily returned, getting on
the top of the rock, and drawing the
ladders up after them. They then
set up a cry similar to that of a
child, whereupon this animal made
its way thither, and attempted to
climb the rock, the Indians pour-
ing down their arrows in different
directions, all the while upon him.
The animal now grew very much
enraged, biting with its teeth against
the rock; and attempting to tear it
with its claws, until at length they
had conquered it.
“The history of this animal
used to be a subject of coversation
among the Indians, especially when
in the woods a hunting. I have
also heard them say to their chil-
dren when crying: “Hush! the
naked bear will hear you, be upon
you, and devour you.” From the
nature of their conversation on
this subject, I was led to believe
the story had foundation. Old In-
dians whom I questioned on this
matter, assured me it was fact, re-
lying on the authenticity of their
forefathers’ relations. Further re-
ports respecting this animal have,
in part, slipped my memory, where-
fore, I omit making any mention
of the same.
“The panther is not considered
by the Indians as such a ravenous
animal, as by the white people he
is reported to be. I know but of
one instance, where an Indian was
nigh being attacked by one of them,
but this was owing to the Indian's
approaching his den. The Indian
however found means of killing
him, and taking the young, which
he brought down to Philadelphia,
―298―
which was about the year 1770.
This animal, the Indians say, lives
chiefly on deer, which it either by
slyness catches itself, pursues after
they have been crippled by the
hunters, or takes from the wolves
after they have caught them.
“If, hereafter, I shall have an
opportunity of getting further in-
formation respecting the naked
bear, I will freely communicate
the same to you.”
Account of a remarkable instinct on
the Nine-Killer: By the same.
This bird, of the hawk kind,
(Lanius Excubitor) appears to be
accustomed to stick grasshoppers
upon thorns, in order to tempt
smaller birds to come within his
reach. The end, however, for which
insects are thus impaled by him,
is merely conjectural. Since small
birds are his prey, this design has
much probability.
Memoir on a new species of Siren:
By Mr. Beauvois.
This is a description of an ani-
mal, hitherto unknown, which Mr.
Beauvois found in C. W. Peale's
collection, taken from a bog near
the Jersey shore of the river Dela-
ware.
It is a kind of water-lizard, re-
sembling the lizard in shape, and
in the number and position of its
legs, but having the gills of fish,
and inhabiting the water. It is il-
lustrated by figures. Mr. B. deno-
minates it the Siren Operculata.
Reasons for ascribing the colour of
negroes to leprosy. By Dr. B. Rush.
This is a very curious specula-
tion. Its facts and reasonings de-
serve to be extracted. The sub-
stance of them is as follows:
“Many facts recorded by histo-
rians and physicians show the in-
fluence of unwholesome diet in
producing leprosy in the middle
and northern parts of Europe, in
the 13th and 14th centuries. The
same cause, combined with greater
heat, more savage manners, and
bilious fevers, probably produced
this disease among the natives of
Africa.
“I. The leprosy is sometimes
accompanied with a black colour
of the skin. There are (says Dr.
Theiry, a Spanish physician) above
twenty hospitals for lepers in As-
turia, and I have observed six spe-
cies of the disorder. One of them,
viz. the second, is called the black
albaras of the Arabians. The skin
becomes black, thick and greasy.
There are neither pustules, nor
turbercles, nor scales, nor any thing
uncommon on the skin. The body
is not at all emaciated. The breath-
ing is somewhat difficult, and the
countenance has some fierceness in
it. They exhale perpetually a dis-
agreeable smell, which I can com-
pare to nothing but the smell of a
mortified limb.* This smell con-
tinues with a slight modification in
the African to this day.
“2. The leprosy is said, in the
Old Testament, and by many an-
cient writers, to impart a preternatu-
ral whiteness to the skin. Persons
thus marked, have lately received
the name of albinos. Instances of
this disease are often met with
among the Alps, but travellers de-
scribe it as endemic in Java, Gui-
nea, and Panama, where it is trans-
mitted through many generations.
Hawkins, in his travels into Africa,
has described the persons afflicted
with this disease in the following
words. They go entirely naked;
their skin is white, but has not
the animated appearance of Euro-
peans. It has a deathlike whitish
cast, more the hue of sickness than
of health. Their hair is red, or
ash-coloured, yellowish wool, and
their eyes are white, in that part
* Observations de Physique et de Medecine faites en differens lieux de l'Espagnt.
Vol. ii. p. 130.
―299―
which in others is distinguished in-
to black, grey, and blue. They
are set deep in the head, and com-
monly squint; for as their skin is
deprived of the black mucous web,
characteristic of the Africans, so
their eyes are destitute of that
black matter resembling a pigment,
found in people of all countries,
and useful in preventing the eye
from being injured by exposure to
strong light. These people are
born of black parents; they have
all the features of other negroes.
The difference of colour cannot
arise from the intercourse of whites
and blacks, for the whites rarely
come among them, and the result
of this union is well known to be
the yellow colour, or mulatto.
The natives assert that they are
produced by women having inter-
course with the large baboon, our-
ang-outang, and that species in par-
ticular called the guaga mooroos.
No satisfactory solution of this
difficulty has yet been given. It
may perhaps be ascribed to disease,
and that of the leprous kind, more
than to any other cause that has
been yet assigned. Mr. Bernardin
concurs with Mr. Hawkins in as-
cribing this morbid whiteness in
the skins of the Africans, wholly
to the leprosy. However opposite
it be to their morbid blackness, it
is strictly in conformity to the ope-
rations of nature in other diseases.
The same state of malignant fever
is often marked by opposite colours
in the stools, by an opposite tem-
perature of the skin, and by oppo-
site states of the alimentary canal.
The original connection of the
colour of the negroes with leprosy,
is likewise suggested by Bougain-
ville. He tells us that on an island
in the Pacific Ocean which he
visited, the inhabitants were com-
posed of negroes and mulattoes.
They had thick lips, woolly hair,
and were sometimes of a yellowish
colour. They were short, ugly,
ill proportioned, and most of them
infected with the leprosy, on which
account he called their habitation
the Isle of Lepers.
3. The leprosy sometimes ap-
pears with white and black spots
blended together in every part of
the body. A picture of a negro
man in Virginia, in whom this
mixture of white and black had
taken place, is to be found in Mr.
Peale's museum.
4. The leprosy induces a mor-
bid insensibility in the nerves. In
countries where the disease pre-
vails, it is common to say that a
person void of sensibility, has no
more feeling than a leper. This in-
sensibility peculiarly belongs to the
negroes. Dr. Moseley says, they
are void of sensibility to a surpriz-
ing degree. They sleep sound in
every disease, nor does any mental
disturbance ever keep them awake.
They bear surgical operations much
better than white people, and what
would occasion insupportable pain
to a white man, a negro would al-
most disregard. I have amputated
the legs of many negroes, who have
held the upper part of the limb
themselves.* This morbid insensi-
bility in the negroes is apparent in
the apathy with which they expose
themselves to great heat, with which
they handle coals of fire.
5. Lepers are remarkable for
venereal desires. This is universal
among negroes, which even slavery
in its worst state, does not always
subdue; for after whole days spent
in hard labour, in a hot sun in
the West-Indies, the men often
walk five or six miles to comply
with an assignation.
6. The big lip, and flat nose,
are symptoms of the leprosy. They
have more than once been seen in
the Pennsylvania hospital.
* Treatise upon Tropical Diseases, p. 475.
―300―7. The woolly head cannot be
accounted for from climate, diet,
state of society, or bilious diseases,
for all those combined have not
produced it in the natives of Asia
and America, in similar latitudes.
Here the similarity of leprosy, and
the peculiarities of the negro, ap-
pear to fail, but there is a fact
which will probably remove this
difficulty. The Trichoma, or Plica
Polonica of the Poles, is a symptom
of leprosy. Hence it should seem
that the leprosy had found its way
to the covering of the head, and I
see no difficulty in admitting that
it may well have produced wool
upon the head of a negro, as mat-
ted hair upon the head of the Pole.
But how shall we account for
the long duration of this colour of
the skin through so many genera-
tions?—I answer—I. That the le-
prosy is most durable in its descent
to posterity, of any disease we are
acquainted with. In Iceland, Van
Troil tells us, it often disappears
in the second and third, and ap-
pears in the fourth generation.*
2dly. No more happens here than
what happens to many nations who
are distinguished by peculiarity of
figure, in any part of the body.
Many of the highlanders of Scot-
land have the red hair, and the
high cheek bones, ascribed to their
ancestors by Tacitus. Even the
tumors in the throat in the Cretins
who inhabit the Alps, are transmit-
ted from father to son, through
many generations. Madness and
consumption are hereditary in many
families, and these occupy parts of
the body more liable to change
in successive generations than the
skin.
Should it be objected that the
leprosy is an infectious disorder,
but that no infectious quality exists
in the skin of the negro, it may be
remarked that the leprosy has near-
ly ceased to be infectious, especially
from contact, and that some in-
stances occur of an infectious quali-
ty in the skin of a negro. A white
woman in North-Carolina acquir-
ed not only a dark colour, but se-
veral features of a negro, by mar-
rying and living with a black man.
A similar instance of change in
colour and features of a woman in
Buck's county, Pennsylvania, has
been observed to arise from a similar
cause. In both cases, the women
bore children by their black hus-
bands.
It is no objection to this theory,
that the negroes are as healthy and
long lived as the whites. Local
diseases of the skin seldom affect
the general health of the body, or
the duration of life. Dr. Theiry
remarks, that the itch, and even the
leprosy, did not impair longevity
in those who lived near the sea-
shore in the healthy climate of Ga-
licia.†
These facts lead to the following
reflections:
I. That all the claims of supe-
riority of the whites over the blacks,
on account of colour, are founded
in ignorance. If this colour be the
effect of disease, instead of provok-
ing oppression, it should entitle them
to a double portion of compassion.
2. Hence we may be taught
to encourage the prejudice against
such connections with them as tend
to infect posterity with their disor-
der. This may be done without
violence to humanity, or question-
ing the sameness of descent, or na-
tural equality of mankind.
3. Is the colour of negroes a dis-
ease? Then let science and hu-
manity endeavour to discover a
remedy. Nature has begun spon-
taneous cures of this disease in se-
veral black people in this country.
In a certain Henry Moss, the cure
was nearly complete. The change
* Letters on Iceland, p. 122.
† Vol. ii. p. 171.
―301―
from black to a natural white flesh-
colour began, about five years ago,
at his finger-ends, and has extend-
ed gradually over the greatest part
of his body. The wool which
formerly covered his head, has been
changed into hair. No change in
the diet, dress, or employments of
this man, had previously taken
place. But this does not preclude
artificial means of dislodging the
colour in negroes, any more than
the use of medicine is precluded
by spontaneous cures in other cases.
In Henry Moss, the colour was
first discharged from the skin in
places where there had been most
pressure from cloathing, and most
attrition from labour, as on the
trunk of his body, and on his
fingers. The destruction of the
black colour was probably occa-
sioned by the absorption of the
colouring matter of the rete muco-
sum, or, perhaps, of the rete mu-
cosum itself, for pressure and fric-
tion is well known to aid the ab-
sorbing action of the lymphatics in
every part of the body. Hence it
is that the palms of the hands of
negro women who spend their lives
at a washing-tub, are generally as
fair as the palms of the hands in
labouring white people.
Depletion, whether by bleeding,
purging, or abstinence, has been
often observed to lessen the black
colour in negroes. The effects of
these remedies in curing the com-
mon leprosy, may convince us that
they might be advantageously used
in that state of leprosy which is con-
ceived to exist in the skin of ne-
groes.
A similar change, though merely
temporary, has often been observed
in them from the influence of fear.
Dr. Beddoes tells us that he dis-
charged the colour in the black
wool of a negro, by infusing it in
the oxygenated muriatic acid; and
lessened it by the same means in the
hand of a negro man. The land-
cloud of Africa, called by the Por-
tuguese Ferrino, Mr. Hawkins tells
us, has some effect in changing the
black colour of the negro to a dusky
grey.* Its action is accompanied,
he says, with an itching and prick-
ling sensation upon every part of
the body, which increases with the
length of exposure so as to become
intolerable. It is, probably, air of
the carbonic kind, for it always
extinguishes fire.
A citizen of Philadelphia once
saw the skin of one side of the
cheek inclining to the chin, and of
part of the hand in a negro boy,
changed to white by the juice of
unripe peaches (of which he ate a
large quantity every year) falling,
and resting frequently upon those
parts of his body.
To encourage attempts to cure
this disease of the skin in negroes,
let us reflect that by succeeding, we
shall produce a large portion of
happiness in the world. We shall
destroy one of the arguments in
favour of enslaving the negroes, for
their colour has been supposed by
the ignorant to mark them as ob-
jects of divine judgment, and, by
the learned, to qualify them for
labour in hot and unwholesome
climates.
We shall add greatly to their hap-
piness, for, however contented they
appear with their colour, there are
many proofs of their preferring that
of the white people.
We shall establish the belief of
the whole human race being de-
scended from one pair, and thereby
not only add weight to the chris-
tian revelation, but remove a mate-
rial obstacle to the exercise of that
universal benevolence which is in-
culcated by it.”
* Page 120, 121.