1770. March. CHA P. IX. A Defcription of the Inhabitants, their Habitations, Ap- TH HE ftature of the men in general is equal to the largest of those in Europe: they are ftout, well limbed, and flefhy; but not fat, like the lazy and luxurious inhabitants of the islands in the South Seas: they are also exceedingly vigorous and active; and have an adroitness, and manual dexterity in an uncommon degree, which are difcovered in whatever they do. I have seen the strokes of fifteen paddles on a fide in one of their canoes made with incredible quicknefs, and yet with fuch minute exactness of time, that all the rowers feemed to be actuated by one common foul. Their colour in general is brown; but in few deeper than that of a Spaniard, who has been exposed to the fun; in many not fo deep. The women have not a feminine delicacy in their appearance, but their voice is remarkably soft; and by that, the drefs of both fexes being the fame, they are principally distinguished: they have, however, like the women of other countries, more airy cheerfulness, and a greater flow of animal fpirits, than the other fex. Their hair, both of the head and beard, is black; and their teeth extremely regular, and as white as ivory: the features of both fexes are good; they feem to enjoy high health, and we saw many who appeared to be of a great age. The difpofitions both of the men and women feemed to be mild and gentle; they treat each other with the tendereft affection, but are implacable towards their enemies, to whom, as I have before obferved, they never give quarter. It may perhaps, at firft, feem strange, that where there is fo little to be got by victory, there should so often be war; and that every little diftrict of à country inhabited by people fo mild and placid, should be at enmity with all the reft. But poffibly more is to be gained by victory among these people than at first appears, and they may be prompted to mutual hoftilities by motives which no degree of friendship or affection is able to refift. It appears, by the account that has already been given of them, that their principal food is fish, which can only be procured upon the fea coaft; and there, in fufficient quantities, only at certain times: the tribes, therefore, who live inland, if any fuch there are, and even thofe upon the coaft, must be frequently in danger of perishing by famine. Their country produces neither sheep, nor goats, nor hogs, nor cattle; tame fowls they have none, nor any art by which thofe that are wild can be caught in fufficient plenty to ferve as provision. If there are any whose fituation cuts them off from a supply of fish, the only fuccedaneum of all other animal food, except dogs, they have nothing to fupport life, but the vegetables that have already been mentioned, of which the chief are fern root, yams, clams, and potatoes: when by any accident thefe fail, the distress must be dreadful; and even among the inhabitants of the coaft, many tribes must frequently be reduced to nearly the fame fituation, either by the failure of their plantations, or the deficiency of their dry ftock, during the season when but few fish are to be caught. These confiderations will enable us to account, not only for the perpetual danger in which the people who inhabit this country appear to live, by the care which they take to fortify every village, but for the horrid practice of eating those who are killed in battle; 1 2 1770. March. battle; for the hunger of him who is preffed by famine to fight, will abforb every feeling, and every fentiment which would restrain him from allaying it with the body of his adversary. It may however be remarked, that, if this account of the origin of fo horrid a practice is true, the mischief does by no means end with the neceffity that produced it: after the practice has been once begun on one fide by hunger, it will naturally be adopted on the other by revenge. Nor is this all, for though it may be pretended, by some who wish to appear fpeculative and philofophical, that whether the dead body of an enemy be eaten or buried, is in itself a matter perfectly indifferent; as it is, whether the breafts and thighs of a woman should be covered or naked; and that prejudice and habit only make us fhudder at the violation of custom in one inftance, and blush at it in the other: yet, leaving this as a point of doubtful difputation, to be difcuffed at leisure, it may safely be affirmed, that the practice of eating human flesh, whatever it may be in itself, is relatively, and in its confequences, moft pernicious; tending manifeftly to eradicate a principle which is the chief fecurity of human life, and more frequently restrains the hand of murder than the fenfe of duty, or even the fear of punishment. Among those who are accustomed to eat the dead, death must have loft much of its horror; and where there is little horror at the fight of death, there will not be much repugnance to kill. A fenfe of duty, and fear of punishment, may be more easily furmounted than the feelings of Nature, or those which have been engrafted upon Nature by early prejudice and uninterrupted custom. The horror of the murderer arifes lefs from the guilt of the fact, than its natural effect; and he who has familiarifed the effect, will confequently lose much of the horror. By our laws, and our re ligion, March. ligion, murder and theft incur the fame punishment, both 1770. in this world and the next; yet, of the multitude who would deliberately steal, there are but very few who would deliberately kill, even to procure much greater advantage. But there is the strongest reason to believe, that those who have been fo accustomed to prepare a human body for a meal, that they can with as little feeling cut up a dead man, as our cook-maids divide a dead rabbit for a fricaffee, would feel as little horror in committing a murder as in picking a pocket, and confequently would take away life with as little compunction as property; fo that men, under these circumftances, would be made murderers by the flight temptations that now make them thieves. If any man doubts whether this reasoning is conclufive, let him ask himself, whether in his own opinion he should not be fafer with a man in whom the horror of destroying life is ftrong, whether in confequence of natural instinct unsubdued, or of early prejudice, which has nearly an equal influence; than in the power of a man who under any temptation to murder him would be restrained only by confiderations of intereft; for to these all motives of mere duty may be reduced, as they must terminate either in hope of good, or fear of evil. The fituation and circumstances, however, of these poor people, as well as their temper, are favourable to those who shall settle as a colony among them. Their situation fets them in need of protection, and their temper renders it eafy to attach them by kindness; and whatever may be faid in favour of a savage life, among people who live in luxurious idlenefs upon the bounty of Nature, civilization would certainly be a bleffing to those whom her parfimony scarcely furnishes with the bread of life, and who are perpetually deftroying each other by violence, as the only alternative of perishing by hunger. 1770. March. But these people, from whatever cause, being inured to war, and by habit confidering every ftranger as an enemy, were always difpofed to attack us when they were not intimidated by our manifeft fuperiority. At first, they had no notion of any fuperiority but numbers; and when this was on their fide, they confidered all our expreffions of kindness as the artifices of fear and cunning, to circumvent them, and preserve ourselves: but when they were once convinced of our power, after having provoked us to the use of our fire-arms, though loaded only with small shot; and of our clemency, by our forbearing to make use of weapons fo dreadful except in our defence; they became at once friendly, and even affectionate, placing in us the most unbounded confidence, and doing every thing which could incite us to put equal confidence in them. It is also remarkable, that when an intercourfe was once established between us, they were very rarely detected in any act of dishonesty. Before, indeed, and while they confidered us as enemies, who came upon their coaft only to make an advantage of them, they did not fcruple by any means to make an advantage of us; and would, therefore, when they had received the price of any thing they had offered to fell, pack up both the purchafe and the purchase-money with all poffible composure, as fo much lawful plunder from people who had no view but to plunder them. I have observed that our friends in the South Seas had not even the idea of indecency, with respect to any object or any action; but this was by no means the cafe with the inhabitants of New Zealand, in whofe carriage and conversation there was as much modest reserve and decorum with respect to actions, which yet in their opinion were not criminal, as are to be found among the politeft people in Europe. The women were not impregnable; but the terms and manner of |