CLIMATE AND COMPLEXION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE EPECTATOR."] Stn,—In my Spectator of December 20th, which has only just arrived, I read a note from Mr. Murphy stating, in answer to a letter from Mr. G. Darbishire, of Wyoming, West Virginia, that the cause of the long, black hair, dark complexion, &c., of the natives of the western slope of the Appalachians must be admixture of Indian blood. Mr. Murphy is, I think, entirely wrong. I have lived on this slope since 1872, and for ten years of that time have boarded with three families of particularly well-informed natives. Not only have I never heard anything of miscegenation ; but inquiries made on purpose have satisfied me that there never was any, except in a very few cases indeed, which are well known to everybody.
The fact is, that the relations between the settlers and Indians in this region were invariably hostile. One hears of no friendly contact whatever. This was a hunting and battle-ground.
On the other hand, I met in 1870 a Canadian gentleman, tall, muscular, swarthy, aquiline,—a man far more like the noble savage of the romances than any Indian now living. He told me that his family had lived in America for about two hundred years, and had never made any Indian marriage.oI
am, Sir, &c., R. K. CANTLEV.
Conley Bridge, West Vu., U.S., February 161h.
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