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 observed it to be larger than elsewhere.

I have already observed, 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 knowlege enough of the country for conjecture.

If the settling 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 thefe parts, at very little trouble and expence, fit for fuch a navigation as would anfwer the purpose. I cannot indeed exactly affign the depth of water which a vessel 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 should draw not more than twelve feet would perfectly answer the purpose.

When we first arrived upon the coaft of this country, we imagined it to be much better peopled than we afterwards.

found

found it, concluding that the inland parts were populous from the fmoke that we faw at a confiderable distance from the shore; and perhaps that may really be the case 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 reafon to believe, that, in general, no part of the country but the fea coast is inhabited; and even there we found the people but thinly fcattered, all the western coast 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.

СНАР.

1770. March.

CHA P. IX.

A Description of the Inhabitants, their Habitations, Ap-
parel, 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 fleshy; 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 adroitness, and manual dexterity in an uncommon degree, which are discovered in whatever they do. I have feen 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 diftinguished: 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 faw 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

may

cach 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
ftrange, that where there is fo little to be got by victory, there
fhould fo often be war; and that every little district of a
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
be prompted to mutual hostilities 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 cer-
tain times: the tribes, therefore, who live inland, if any
fuch there are, and even those upon the coaft, must be fre-
quently 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 those that are
wild can be caught in sufficient plenty to ferve as provifion.
If there are any whose situation cuts them off from a fupply
of fifh, the only fuccedaneum of all other animal food, ex-
cept dogs, they have nothing to support 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 distress must be dreadful; and even among the inha-
bitants of the coast, many tribes must frequently be reduced
to nearly the fame fituation, either by the failure of their
plantations, or the deficiency of their dry stock, during the
feason when but few fish are to be caught. These confide-
rations 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

battles

1770.

March.

battle; for the hunger of him who is preffed by famine to
fight, will absorb every feeling, and every fentiment which
would restrain him from allaying it with the body of his ad-
verfary. 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 neceflity that produced it:
after the practice has been once begun on one fide by hun-
ger, it will naturally be adopted on the other by revenge.
Nor is this all, for though it may be pretended, by fome who
wish to appear fpeculative and philofophical, that whether
the dead body of an enemy be eaten or buried, is in itself a
a matter perfectly indifferent; as it is, whether the breasts
and thighs of a woman should be covered or naked; and
that prejudice and habit only make us fhudder at the viola-
tion of custom in one inftance, and blufh at it in the other:
yet, leaving this as a point of doubtful disputation, to be dif-
cuffed at leisure, it may fafely be affirmed, that the practice
of eating human flesh, whatever it may be in itself, is rela-
tively, and in its confequences, moft pernicious; tending
manifeftly to eradicate a principle which is the chief secu-
rity of human life, and more frequently restrains the hand
of murder than the sense of duty, or even the fear of pu-
nishment.

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 lofe much of the horror. By our laws, and our re

ligion,