Race in Montaigne

What is the place of the Essais in the pre-history of modern “race” ? Some chapters have a significant place in the history of European encounters with ethnic otherness. However, Montaigne refers to indigenous peoples not as races but as peoples or nations. Like many of his contemporaries, he reserves the term « race » mainly for patrilinear European families, where it connotes blood-based heredity, legitimate procreation, and social distinction. But it can also be an elastic term.