The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-20

science" And above all he discovered the
famous gorilla, the nearest approach to the
human species of that quadruminous IA Je from
which some people think man has descended
or of which man is, more properly speaking
an improved variety. When Monsieur du
Chaillu returned TO New York in 1859, he had
so he informs us-no fewer than twenty
one gorilla skins and skeletons, besides Chin
panzees and collections of insects reptiles
and shells" All this, we admit, is very fair
amount of work TO get through in about half
an ordinary lifetime, and we have no desire
to detract in the slightest measure from the
merit of this intrepid African traveller. We
are not aware that his explorations have as yet
resulted in any good or any promise of good,
to the race; but we are not of those who would
measure the value of such enterprises as
that which has given fame to Monsieur du
Chaillu by their immediate usefulness; and
we do not doubt that his pioneer labors will in
future time Weld some substantial benefit to
the human family. But with all our admira-
ton of his intrepidity and endurance as a
traveller, we cannot be insensible to the fact
that he is in imminent danger of making him
self ridiculous, Not content with the renown
he has achieved as an explorer, he must needs
set himself up as a philosopher. Clearly,
nature has endowed him in liberal measure
with the faculty of observation; and in exer-
cising this gift freely he is on safe ground.
But when he mounts into the regions of gene
ralizaton-when, from the plain narration of
facts he ventures on the difficult task of
working up the facts in support of theory,
and that a theory which predicts the ex-
tinction of race now numbering hundreds
of millions of human beings-it becomes
at once evident that philosophy is not
his forte. What, for instance, can be more
untenable and absurd than the view as
to the future of the negro race which he
oravelv set forth at the conclusion of his lee
o4 dow
rate conviction After reviewing the condi-
ton of the negro in his savage state in his
native home, and contending that the African
has no "poWer of progression he proceeded
to say:--''Of all the uncivilized nations, the
negro has been found the most tractable and
docile and he has a number of good qualities
that compensate, in measure, for the bad
ones. We ought therefore, to be kind to him
and elevate him. That he will follow, in the
course of time, other lower races, and will
finally disappear, have very little doubt"
Now with all Difference to Monsieur du Chaillu's
superior knowledge of the negro, we make bold
to question the sOundness of this conclusion of
his. Granted that the negro has ''no power of
rogression"-granted that he has for years
remained in savage state-it does not follow
as a consequence that he must 'fnally disap-
pearl from the face of the earth. With GER
tain class of ethnologists this theory of the dis
appearance of the Glover races before the adj
vancing march of civilized man is quite favor
ite one; but there is nothing, we contend, in
either history, or nature, or Providence to
warrant the conclusion that such catastrophe
is inevitable Inferior races, we admit, are
disappearing in certain parts of the world,
where the superior races dispute with the abo-
rigines the possession of the land; but this re-
suit is brought about not through the operation
of any ordained law, but by the vices of
civilization imperfectly controlled by moral
and Christian influences. When Monsieur du
Chaillu speaks of the final disappearance of
the African race, he seems to forget, too, that
he is coolly settling the destiny, not of tribe,
but of the whole people of a large continent.
The negro race has an appointed location on
this planet, and an appointed work to do on
it; and it is impossible to dispose of them by
the fippant philosophy-philosoph so called
which is so fashionable nowadays in cer-
tain very enlightened quarters. The equa-
torial regions are his habitat. He is specially
fitted for laboring in the burning tropics; and
in places where even Chinese and Hill Coolies
sink under malarial Influences he retains his
health and strength unimpaired. Will Monsieur
du Chaillu tell us who is to take his place in the
lands of the sun when he shall have finally
Disappeared Or are immense tracts of them
to be given over to the wildness of nature? !?
But facts are decidedly against the theory in
question. 1t is notorious that in the British
West Indies, since emancipation, the black
population has increased very largely. The
blacks in Central and South America are also
ON the increase, and in our Southern States
there are no signs as yet, to say the least,
of the final disappearance. Let us give our
! explorer hint. Your philosophical traveller
| is, generally speaking, an unmitigated bore.
| People don't want generalizations from travel
lers they ask for facts only, preferring to
draw conclusions for themselves. Monsieur
du Chaillu is entnrtaining enough when he
tells us about his adventures with gorillas
and chimpanzees and cannibal Fetch wor-
shippers: he is simply intolerable when he
begins to Philosophize about the appointed fate
of the negro race,