COLOUR OF ABORIGINAL’S SKIN
Unsuitable nomenclature—Aboriginal of Australia not
a “Nigger”—Colour normally chocolate-brown—Lighter
in infancy—Variations of shade due to several
causes—Colour-classification schemes obsolete—Pigmentation very
superficial in aboriginal’s skin—“White blackfellows”—Pigment
destroyed by disease and lesion—Actual colour—Its intensity
and distribution—Effect of environment on aboriginal’s skin
colour—Climatic influence.
The Australian aboriginal is popularly spoken of as a blackfellow; at
times one even hears him referred to as a nigger! Strictly speaking, the
former appellation is not in accordance with obvious fact, and the latter
in addition is scientifically grossly incorrect. The aboriginal is no
more black than the average modern European is white, and, apart from
his darker colour, he certainly has not many negroid features which we
do not also possess, at any rate more or less sporadically. Under normal
conditions, the colour of the Australian is a velvety chocolate-brown,
somewhat lighter or more coppery in the female than in the male. The skin
of a newly-born piccaninny is very much paler, with a distinct tint of
fleshy red about it, which many people maintain reminds one of the skin
of young murines, as it appears before it developes fur. For this reason,
too, the inexperienced observer often accuses an aboriginal mother of
infidelity; the colour of the infant’s skin, when compared with that of
its parent, indeed suggests a mixing of her blood with that of another
lighter coloured race. The child’s skin, however, soon darkens in colour;
and, within a few weeks, attains a shade not appreciably different from
that of the adults of its tribe.
Apparent gradations in colour are occasionally observed among different
members of one and the same tribe. As with ourselves, circulatory
disorders are not absent among the aborigines, and such materially affect
the quality of colour in the aboriginal’s skin. Simple anaemia, or even a
temporary blanching of the tissues, through nervousness or fright during
the time of an examination, will affect the appearance of the skin. In
the same way, full-bloodedness, or a passing flush, will deepen the
shade, the injection of blood into the underlying tissues being clearly
noticeable through the epidermis. Pathological conditions like jaundice
are also frequently developed in the aborigines, and impart to their skin
a sickly ashen hue; in this case the yellow colour of the conjunctiva
usually indicates the disorder. The likelihood of any such conditions
being present should be carefully investigated before applying the
standard colour tables of modern anthropologists.
The oldest systems of colour-classification divided the races of man into
five groups—the white, the yellow, the red, the brown, and the black.
But nowadays, even the layman knows that such hard and fast divisions
are impossible. We find that among individuals of one particular race,
whatever its so-called, and somewhat arbitrary, colour might be, there
exist noticeable variations in shade. Red Indians have yellow or brown
skins almost as frequently as a genuine red; the “white” races of Europe
often have so dark a “complexion” that they are in reality brown; and the
skin of a negro at times has a distinctly reddish or brownish hue.
Early anthropologists thought that the “dust or tawny” colour was due to
the accumulation of carbon in the external layers of the integument. But
since the introduction of the microscope, which made the study of thin
sections of human skin under great magnification possible, it was found
that the colour is due to living cells, which carry pigment in their
protoplasm, and are more or less migratory.
In the Australian aboriginal, these pigment-cells lie quite superficially
in the skin. Some years ago Professor Klaatsch, of Heidelberg University,
when in Australia, managed to obtain the corpse of an aboriginal, which
he consigned to a large tank holding an ordinary preserving fluid.
Hermetically sealing the lid of the tank, the Professor shipped the
specimen to Europe, where it was to be dissected. Some months later,
I joined him at Breslau University, and together we opened the tank.
Imagine our surprise when we beheld what one might describe as an
anthropological contradiction—a “white blackfellow!” It took us some
time to recognize in the form in front of us that of the aboriginal we
had seen in Australia. What had happened was that, during the continued
movement of the preserving solution during the transport, the superficial
layers of the skin had been removed, and, with them, the colour too. In
other parts, the skin had blistered and become detached, leaving more or
less adherent strips of epidermis in which the colouring matter could be
recognized.
I have seen a similar condition of things in corpses of aborigines, in
the remoter districts of the Australian bush, where the dead are placed
to rest on artificial platforms in the branches of trees. When, during
the processes of decomposition, the skin peels off, and is washed away by
the rain, the corpse assumes a pinkish white colour, resembling the body
of a white man, some time dead. No doubt it was on this account that,
in the early days of European settlement, it was a general belief among
the aborigines that the white man was one of their own dead warriors
returned to life in a different colour. We have a classical example in
the experience of the escaped convict, William Buckley, who lived for
thirty-two years among the natives of Victoria, the latter regarding him
as their dead chief returned to life transformed. It is quite possible
that this belief, which is so common among the tribes, originated from
the fact that the natives themselves had observed, as Professor Klaatsch
and I did, that the decomposing bodies of their dead might, under certain
conditions, become very much lighter in colour.
Throughout the Northern Kimberley district the natives maintain that a
dead tribesman will “jump up all-the-same whitefellow” in colour.
A singular case, illustrative of the shallowness of pigmentation in
the epithelium of an aboriginal’s skin, was reported from Canowie
Sheep Station by the late Rev. Tenison Woods. A native, suffering from
an obstinate skin disease, was “dipped,” like a sheep, in a solution
containing soft soap, tobacco, and arsenic, the last-named in the
proportion of one ounce to the gallon of water. The native became very
ill, lost his hair, and his finger and toe-nails. Eventually he became
better, but his skin peeled off. He was then described as “presenting the
appearance of a magpie during the time the process of decortication was
going on.” Finally his skin became “smooth and as glossy as marble.”
In pemphigoid skin-eruptions, when blister-like bullae develop over
different parts of the body, the lesions left in the skin for a while are
pinkish and unpigmented. Scars resulting from a cut or burn remain red
for a considerable time, but eventually turn the same uniform colour as
the rest of the skin.
Under normal conditions, one may often find patches of pigment on mucous
surfaces of the inner lips and mouth. The pathological condition known as
leucoderma is, on the other hand, rather frequently observed among the
different tribes of Australia. I have seen natives, both in the north
and south of this continent, whose skin over certain areas was devoid of
pigment; the hands and feet seem particularly prone to be thus affected.
So much for the seat of the pigmentation. If we now enquire into the
actual complexion, or colour-tint, of the aboriginal’s skin, the question
is not so easily satisfied as one might have thought. The colour is, of
course, brown—a soft, velvety brown, like chocolate. Scientists tell
us it is about the same as tint No. 3 of the colour scheme on Plate
III, Notes and Queries on Anthropology, London. But the matter is not
so simple as one might be led to believe. To begin with, we have not a
homogeneous colouration before us. If, for instance, we wanted to paint
a picture of an aboriginal, we would mix a fundamental chocolate-brown
to deck the surface with; to obtain the shade of the back we should
have to mix a blue or green with the brown; whereas the cheeks and chin
would require a yellow or red. The intensity of pigmentation varies to
a noticeable degree; it is deepest on the back and neck, and along the
folds of the skin. The soles and palms are always very much lighter in
colour than the rest of the body.
Environment plays an important role, because a native’s skin has the
remarkable power of what might be termed complimentary colour-adaptation,
as a result of which a hard and fast definition, or fixing, of the shade
is practically impossible. For this same reason it is conceivable why the
sombre hue of the hunter’s skin becomes neutralized by the sallowness
of the arid Central Australian scrub, as well as by the deeply-shaded
verdure of the tropical jungle. Upon a clear day, with an open, blue sky,
an aboriginal always appears dark or dingy, while on a dull and cloudy
day, his skin is more of a chocolate-brown; when he is swimming in the
open sea, his colour may even become coppery and seem not much darker
than that of a Javanese.
The adaptable tone-characteristics of their skin are well-known to the
natives themselves, not only while in the hunting field and on the
warpath, but also on the playground. At Opparinna, in the Musgrave
Ranges, children were seen indulging in a game resembling “hide and
seek,” and often, in an endeavour to avoid the keen eye of the “seeker,”
one would duck in amongst the boulders of granite and imitate the
rust-coloured contours of a boulder to perfection.
[Illustration: _PLATE VI_
1. Wongapitcha woman, wearing “_ungwaina_” (nose-stick), and fur-string
bandeau.
2. Wongapitcha woman, wearing bloodwood seed pendants called “_dindula_.”
Note “Semitic” nose.]
We know that the climate has an important bearing upon the subject of
pigmentation in all races. Most of us have had our faces, hands, and
other exposed parts of our body bronzed when holiday-making at the
seaside. If we come straight from indoor life in the city, we might,
in addition, find our skin develop a badly blistered condition known
as sunburn. Yet the bushman, the coach-driver, or the sailor, who, by
long exposure, has acquired a more or less permanent tan, can bask with
impunity in the severest rays of the sun.
Exactly the same processes take place in the coloured man’s skin. When
cruising about the north coast, I frequently had occasion to observe
that my Malay crew were more bronzed above than below the belt. This was
obviously caused through continued exposure to the tropical sun, since
during the heat of day they would work, or lie about on deck, wearing
nothing else than a serong hanging from their waist.
When aborigines are taken from their wild outdoor life, and kept
under European conditions, more or less confined, their skin becomes
unquestionably lighter; this is particularly noticed in their faces.
These phenomena indicate to us the method Nature adopts in protecting our
skin, and with it our system, against scorching rays of the sun; and we
also realize why it is that the coloured man can endure the disadvantages
of a tropical climate so much better than we.
The same phenomena might also be made responsible for the wonderful
absence of pigment in the skin of modern white peoples of European
origin. There is no doubt, the great Ice Age and the living in caves
and shelters (and huts) were the essential factors which ultimately
established the “white” skin in man. In this hypothesis, we naturally
assume that our Diluvial or earlier Tertiary ancestor had a moderately
dark-coloured skin, which protected him against the tropical sun, which
Geology has taught us, shone over Europe at the beginning or middle of
that great period.