[**As they often eat to satiety, even to produce sickness, may not this be
the effect of an overloaded stomach: the nightmare?]
Their manner of interring the dead has been amply described. It is certain
that instead of burying they sometimes burn the corpse; but the cause
of distinction we know not. A dead body, covered by a canoe, at whose side
a sword and shield were placed in state, was once discovered. All that
we could learn about this important personage was that he was a 'Gweeagal'
(one of the tribe of Gweea) and a celebrated warrior.
To appreciate their general powers of mind is difficult. Ignorance,
prejudice, the force of habit, continually interfere to prevent dispassionate
judgment. I have heard men so unreasonable as to exclaim at the stupidity
of these people for not comprehending what a small share of reflection
would have taught them they ought not to have expected. And others again
I have heard so sanguine in their admiration as to extol for proofs
of elevated genius what the commonest abilities were capable of executing.
If they be considered as a nation whose general advancement and acquisitions
are to be weighed, they certainly rank very low, even in the scale of savages.
They may perhaps dispute the right of precedence with the Hottentots
or the shivering tribes who inhabit the shores of Magellan.
