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1770. March.

A plant, which with fuch advantage might be applied to fo many useful and important purpofes, would certainly be a great acquifition to England, where it would probably thrive with very little trouble, as it feems to be hardy, and to affect no particular foil; being found equally in hill and valley; in the drieft mould, and the deepest bogs: the bog, however, it feems rather to prefer, as near fuch places we obferved it to be larger than elfewhere,

I have already obferved, that we found great plenty of iron fand in Mercury Bay, and, therefore that iron ore is undoubtedly to be found at no, great distance. As to other metals we had fcarcely knowledge enough of the country for conjecture.

If the fettling of this country should ever be thought an object worthy, the attention of Great Britain, the best place for establishing a colony would be either on the banks of the Thames, or in the country bordering upon the Bay of Islands. In either place there would be the advantage of an excellent harbour; and, by means of the river, fettlements might be extended, and a communication established with the inland parts of the country: veffels, might be built of the fine timber which abounds in these parts, at very little trouble and expence, fit for such a navigation as would anfwer the purpose, I can not indeed exactly affign the depth of water

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which a veffel intended to navigate this river, even as far up as I went with the boat, fhould draw, because this depends upon the depth of water that is upon the bar, or flats, which lie before the narrow part of the river, for I had no opportunity to make myself acquainted with them; but I am of opinion, that a veffel which fhould draw not more than twelve feet would perfectly answer the purpose.

1770.

March.

When we first arrived upon the coaft of this People, country, we imagined it to be much better peopled than we afterwards found it, concluding that the inland parts were pópulous from the fmoke that we faw at a confiderable distance from the fhore; and perhaps that may really be the cafe with respect to the country behind Poverty Bay, and the Bay of Plenty, where the inhabitants appeared to be more numerous than in other places. But we had reason to believe, that, in general, no part of the country but the fea coaft is inhabited; and even there we found the people but thinly fcattered, all the western coaft from Cape Maria Van Diemen to Mount Egmont being totally defolate; fo that upon the whole the number of inhabitants bears no proportion to the extent of country.

VOL. III.

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1770.

March.

CHAP. IX.

A Defcription of the Inhabitants, their Ha bitations, Apparel, Ornaments, Food, Cookery, and Manner of Life.

TH

HE ftature of the men in general is equal to the largest of thofe 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 alfo exceedingly vigorous and active; and have an adroitnefs, and manual dexterity in an uncommon degree, which are discovered in whatever they do. I have feen the ftrokes 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 seemed 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 fe minine delicacy in their appearance, but their voice is remarkably foft; and by that, the drefs of both fexes being the fame, they are principally diftinguished: they have, however, like the women of other countries, more airy cheerfulness

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fulness, 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 faw many who appeared to be of a great age. The difpofitions both of the men and women seemed 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 first, seem strange, that where there is fo little to be got by victory, there should so often be war; and that every little district of a country inhabited by people fo mild and placid, fhould be at enmity with all the reft. But poffibly more is to be gained by victory among these people than at first pears, 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 those upon the coast, muft be frequently in danger of perifhing by famine. Their country produces neither fheep, nor goats, nor hogs, nor cattle; tame fowls they have

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1770.

March.

1770. March.

none, nor any art by which those that are wild can be caught in fufficient plenty to ferve as provifion. If there are any whofe fituation cuts them off from a supply of fish, the only fucces daneum of all other animal food, except dogs,

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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 these fail, the diftrefs 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. Thefe 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 thofe who are killed in battle; for the hunger of him who is preffed by famine to fight, will absorb every feeling, and every fentiment which would reftrain him from allaying it with the body of his adverfary. It may however be remarked, that, if this account of the origin of fo horrid a practice is true, the mifchief does by no means end with the neceflity that produced it: after the practice has been once begun on one fide by hunger, it will naturally be adopted on the other

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