318 ALBINOES
They are called Kakrelaks as a term of reproach. This ' peculiarity does not prevent some of them from living to a great age. They cannot bear the light, neither can they
look fixedly at anything so long as the sun is up. During the day they close their eyelids, leaving only a slit to look
through; but as soon as night comes on they open wide their large pink eyes, and are able to go about quite easily, seeing as well as other people.
The question has been raised as to whether these degenerate individuals can produce children like themselves, and afflicted with nyctalopia. Such a child has never come under my observation; but I once baptized the child of
a female Kakrelak, who owed its birth to a rash European soldier, though this circumstance does not afford any proof on the subject 2.
These unfortunate wretches are denied decent burial after death, and are cast into ditches. This custom arises from a native superstition which does not allow any person who has died while suffering from a cutaneous disease to be buried. The Hindus believe that were this done a
to this affliction if it were not for their habit of anointing themselves frequently with oil or some other fatty substance. At the same time it should be observed that these human anomalies are to be met with all over the world. Thus you find the Bedas in Ceylon, wild creatures with white skins and red hair. There are Kakrelaks in all the American
Islands; then again there are the Dondos or albinoes of Southern Africa( Aethiopes albieantes). Lastly, these colourless people are particularly numerous in the Isthmus of Darien. Dubois.
1
The kakrelaks are horrible insects, disgustingly dirty, which give
forth a loathsome odour. They are of the same species as our bugs, but much larger. These unpleasant and destructive insects shun the
day and its light. They remain hidden in holes or crannies in walls, and come out at night to devour all the food they can find and to disturb
sleepers. Dubois.
3
This fact disposes at any rate of the opinion which some have held
that these people cannot bear children. It remains to be seen whether there would be any issue, supposing both parents were albinoes. The white Negroes of Africa are believed never to be able to produce children but the Kakrelaks in Asia are supposed to be prolific, and their progeny are said to be of the same colour as the rest of the nation. Anyhow, no one has been able to discover for certain if albinoes have been born from other than Negroes or dark-coloured parents; and we may conclude that these ill-favoured children are not a special variety of the human species, any more than are the Cretins in the Canton of Valais. Dubois.