There have been many cases of illicit mating, of course, but the white man has steadily refused to legitimize these unions.

The South European, on the contrary, has mingled freely with the natives of the countries he has colonized and to some extent has been swallowed up by the darker mass.

Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, the Portuguese colonies in different parts of the world, are obvious examples.[1] [Footnote 1: How much of this difference in attitude is due to lack of pride in race integrity and how much to religion is a question.

The Roman Catholic Church, which is dominant in Southern Europe, does not encourage such inter-racial marriages, but, on the other hand, it does not forbid them or pronounce them unlawful.

Yet this cannot explain the whole difference.