In Book IV, Chapter 7 of The Wealth of Nations, when Adam Smith discusses the return of Columbus, he makes this statement:
… all of which [some objects] were preceded by six or seven of the wretched natives, whose singular colour and appearance added greatly to the novelty of the show.
I understand that by "wretched", Smith meant "distressed, in poor condition". But what did he mean by referring to a person as being of a "singular colour"?
Best Answer
To give a sense of how the phrase "singular colour" was understood, in the eighteenth century before and after publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1776, I offer the following instances, located though a Google Books search.
Instances from before 1776
From Robert Drury, Madagascar: Or, Robert Drury's Journal, During Fifteen Years Captivity on That Island (1729):
The author was an Englishman and presumably would have stood out from the native people of Madagascar in eye color, hair color, and skin color.
The next several entries are from a single author, John Hill, who invariably uses "singular colour" as part of a longer phrase: "a very singular colour." From John Hill, A History of Fossils (1748):
From John Hill, An History of Animals (1752):
From John Hill, Eden: Or, a Compleat Body of Gardening (September 1757):
From The Adventurer, Number 80 (August 11, 1753):
This instance is interesting in that "singular" seems to carry a sense of monotonality that is absent (or less evident) in the other examples gathered here.
An instance from after 1776
From Thomas Pennant, History of Quadrupeds (1781):
Conclusions
In the examples cited above, the phrase "singular colour" (or "very singular colour") seems most often to indicate a meaning along the lines of "striking, unusual, or remarkable colour." The instance from The Adventurer differs from the others in using the phrase figuratively to suggest a narrative that has a strong element of sameness at the same time that it may also possess vividness and (as the author puts it) "glare."
Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) lists five definitions of singular:
I think it is very likely that Smith is referring to either definition 3 or definition 4 (in a nonpejorative sense) of singular in the phrase "singular colour and appearance." I am also fairly sure that the "colour" he has in mind is the natives' skin (and possibly eye and hair) color.