Ɛpsilon

From J. F. Mackenzie   8 February 1872

32 London St., | Edinburgh,

8/ Feby/ ’72.—

Private.—

Dear Sir,

I hope you will kindly excuse my troubling you, but I was much interested in reading your “Descent of Man,” while in India,—& thought I might be of assistance.—

I am a Civil Engr. in the Indian Dept. Pub. Works, at present on sick leave, and should be most happy (on my return) to furnish you with any information which might be of use in your investigations.—1

There are one or two phenomena I observed in the Punjab, which struck me:—

1.— I noted as a singular fact that in families with an admixture of native blood, generally of the 3d. or 4th. degree, that while some of the family were as dark as many half-castes, those in which the admixture was not apparent had almost invariably reddish hair and light eyes.— This may (?) be accounted for on the ground that the hair of many dark races is an opaque red, so dark as to seem jet black.—2

2.— I noticed that the feet of most low-caste domestic servants were flat, fan-shaped (from the spreading of the toes); & that the “big toe” was shorter than the next, & semi-prehensile.—3 I have heard it asserted that such wd. (or ought to) be the classic form of foot, if not distorted by boots!—

3.— Just before reading your “Descent of Man” &c, I was engaged in the country of the so-called “Belooch” tribes of the Derajat,4 & noticed that many of the men had long ringlets of light-brown hair, while their beards seemed jet black.—5 I regret that I did not procure specimens, to test, as natives are very fond of staining their beards,—even of a blue, purple, or auburn tint.—

4.— Many persons (Europeans & others) have a partial continuation of the hair of the head in the shape of a hairy triangle stretching along part of the neck.— This seems to be similar to a rudimentary form of mane.—

5.— I had in my possession a Cabuli (Persian) cat, pure white with bushy tail, & eyes of different colours,—viz. one light blue & the other of a hazel tint.—6 Most cats of this species have both the eyes brown or hazel.—

Excuse my intruding, | Yours truly, | John F. Mackenzie.

CD annotations

7.1 4— … mane.— 7.3] double scored pencil
1
Mackenzie was a civil engineer in India from 1867 (India Office Records: Financial Department Records IOR/L/F/8/3/242, 26 July 1867).
2
CD discussed the formation of races of humans and the results of crossing in Descent 1: 240–8.
3
In Descent 1: 206, CD suggested that the early progenitors of humans had prehensile feet.
4
The Baloch tribes originated in Balochistan but many settled in Derajat (now in Pakistan) in the fifteenth century. The British took control of the area in 1849 (EB).
5
In Descent 2: 319, CD discussed the colour of the hair and beards of men, claiming that when colour differences were present the beard was invariably lighter. CD received letters from individuals in whom the opposite was the case (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter from Frank Chance, [before 25 April 1871], and letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, [before 25 April 1871]).
6
‘Cabul’ is an alternative spelling of Kabul, a province in Afghanistan. In Variation 2: 329, CD had discussed eye colour in white cats, noting a correlation between blue eyes and deafness.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8202,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8202