Atlantis, the Antediluvian World

AFRICA, like Europe and America, evidences a commingling of different stocks: the blacks are not all black, nor all woolly-haired; the Africans pass through all shades, from that of a light Berber, no darker than the Spaniard, to the deep black of the Iolofs, between Senegal and Gambia.

The traces of red men or copper-colored races are found in many parts of the continent. Prichard divides the true negroes into four classes; his second class is thus described:

"2. Other tribes have forms and features like the European; their complexion is black, or a deep olive, or a copper color approaching to black, while their hair, though often crisp and frizzled, is not in the least woolly. Such are the Bishari and Danekil and Hazorta, and the darkest of the Abyssinians.

"The complexion and hair of the Abyssinians vary very much, their complexion ranging from almost white to dark brown or black, and their hair from straight to crisp, frizzled, and almost woolly." (Nott and Gliddon, Types of Mankind, p. 194)

"Some of the Nubians are copper-colored or black, with a tinge of red." (Ibid., p. 198)

Speaking of the Barbary States, these authors further say (Ibid., p. 204):

"On the northern coast of Africa, between the Mediterranean and the Great Desert, including Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Benzazi, there is a continuous system of highlands, which have been included under the general term Atlas -- anciently Atlantis, now the Barbary States. . . . Throughout Barbary we encounter a peculiar group of races, subdivided into many tribes of various shades, now spread over a vast area, but which formerly had its principal and perhaps aboriginal abode along the mountain slopes of Atlas. . . . The real name of the Berbers is Mazirgh, with the article prefixed or suffixed -- T-amazirgh or Amazirgh-T -- meaning free, dominant, or 'noble race.' . . . We have every reason to believe the Berbers existed in the remotest times, with all their essential moral and physical peculiarities. . . . They existed in the time of Menes in the same condition in which they were discovered by Phœnician navigators previously to the foundation of Carthage. They are an indomitable, nomadic people, who, since the introduction of camels, have penetrated in considerable numbers into the Desert, and even as far as Nigritia. . . . Some of these clans are white, others black, with woolly hair."

Speaking of the Barbary Moors, Prichard says:

"Their figure and stature are nearly the same as those of the southern Europeans, and their complexion, if darker, is only so in proportion to the higher temperature of the country. It displays great varieties."