Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

I I MIGRATION OF MAN. 641 habits, more or less obliged to think and act for himself ; so will his external appearance vary for better or worse, and be- come, in a great degree, the index of his mental quality. This power of mind over matter exists in each individual, who besides may receive from his parents, outward peculiari- ties, and general inclinations, but in a modified degree : since the child partakes of the nature of both father and mother, (perhaps even, slightly, of that of a foster mother, if one is employed). That such hereditary peculiarities are not to be quickly or easily altered, every one will admit ; but that they may be gradually changed, and in a few generations alto- gether obliterated, by pains being taken with successive chil- dren, many facts have been published which seem to prove incontrovertibly. This ought to give great encouragement to the exertions of parents in educating their children,* since exterior expression, if not feature, as well as the infinitely more important result, actual character, may depend so much upon training the mind aright. Supposing this to be the case, it is not surprising to find savages so very different from civilized men in outward feature, as well as in mind ; or to see them, where civilization has not been known, precisely in the same condition now, as that in which we learn they were several centuries ago. Some years since I read a long article in the " Dictionnaire Classique"" under the head of " Homme,'" which described a great many distinct races of men — at least thirteen : and at the same time I saw a map which professed to show the geogra- phical distribution of those several distinct races. Almost the first spot which my eye rested on was Tierra del Fuego, coloured black, to indicate that its inhabitants were black and upon reference to the " Dictionnaire Classique " I found * Not in overburthening their tender minds with the contents of books, or over exciting them with a whirl of ideas calculated to rouse even the listless spoiled child of fortune from his apathetic indifference — but in a wholesome mixture of general education, bodily as well as mental, adapted to their years, and calculated to prepare them, in their respec- tive stations, for doing their duty happily to their Maker, and to their fellow-men. VOL. II. 2 T