It Is Vain, In Fact, To Determine Almost Any
Thing Respecting Such A Creature As Man, But By Reasons Of An Eternal
Nature, And Referring To The Laws Of An Invisible World.
Every system
of an inferior kind, will be found inadequate in its application, and
unsatisfactory in its sanctions - calculated,
It may be, to amuse the
philosopher in his closet, and attract the admiration of young and
inexperienced minds, but too weak to sustain the shock of human
passions, and too circumscribed to reach the heights of human hopes
and fears. The condition of women improves, undoubtedly, as a people
advances towards civilization; but there is a period in the process,
at which voluptuousness, more cruel than indifference, and often
maddened by jealousy, subjects her to greater degradation than her
original insignificance, and destroys all hope of her amelioration in
the tyranny of her own licentiousness. It is only where the principle
alluded to, is publicly recognised in the civil institutions of a
country, and conscientiously reverenced by the piety of its citizens,
that she attains the true dignity of her destiny in an equal
subordination, and vindicates the benevolence of the Deity in her
creation, by the increase of happiness she confers on her consort.
This cannot be looked for in a state of nature. - E.
[2] "These slings consisted of a slender round cord, no thicker than a
packthread, which had a tassel at one end, and a loop at the other end
and in the middle. The stones which they used were oblong, and pointed
at each end, being made of a soft and unctuous soap-rock
(smectitis), which could easily be rubbed into that shape. These
exactly fitted the loop in the middle of the sling, and were kept in a
wallet or pocket of coarse cloth, strongly woven, of a kind of grass,
which was tied on about the middle. Their shape gives them a striking
resemblance to the glandes plumbeae of the Romans." - G.F.
[3] Unfortunately the severe effects of the noxious fish, so sparingly
partaken of, disabled the two Forsters from their favourite pursuits,
during the greater part of their residence at New Caledonia. The
result of their labours was, in consequence, very scanty, and,
according to the younger F.'s assertions, received little or no
encouragement from the friendly services of many of their fellow
voyagers. He has inveighed with no small asperity against the ignorant
selfishness and unprincipled hostility with which they had to contend.
These seem to have been of a flagrant appearance, and almost
systematic consistency. "If there had not been a few individuals,"
says he, "of a more liberal way of thinking, whose disinterested love
for the sciences comforted us from time to time, we should in all
probability have fallen victims to that malevolence, which even the
positive commands of Captain Cook were sometimes insufficient to keep
within bounds." However the reader may conjecture the existence of
certain personal causes which are here complained of, he cannot but
regret, that the interests of the expedition should in any manner have
suffered loss by the contention. But such things, he will say, are
incident to human nature, and have frequently taken place on even more
important occasions. This is very true, but gives no comfort. - E.
[4] Mr G.F. calls this deceptive amusement, "an innocent recreation,
which shewed them good-humoured, and not destitute of ingenuity!" He
agrees with Cook respecting the universal decency of these people,
which forms so striking a dissimilarity to the immodest conduct of the
other islanders met with in this voyage. The following remarks specify
other differences, and are worthy of being transcribed: - "It is easy
to be conceived, that the contrast between New Caledonia and the New
Hebrides, was very striking to us, who had so lately visited those
rich and fertile islands, where the vegetable kingdom glories in its
greatest perfection. The difference in the character of the people was
no less surprising. All the natives of the South-Sea islands,
excepting those only which Tasman found on Tonga-Tabboo and Annamocka,
(and those perhaps had been informed of what had passed between Le
Maire, and the natives of Horne, Cocos, and Traitor's island, some
years before,) made some attempt to drive away the strangers who came
to visit them. But the people of New Caledonia, at the first sight of
us, received us as friends; they ventured to come on board our ship,
without the least marks of fear or distrust, and suffered us to ramble
freely throughout their country as far as we pleased. As nature has
been so sparing here of her gifts, it is the more surprising that
instead of seeing the inhabitants savage, distrustful, and warlike, as
at Tanna, we should find them peaceable, well-disposed, and
unsuspicious. It is not less remarkable, that, in spite of the drought
which prevails in their country, and the scanty supply of vegetable
food, they should have attained to a greater size, and a more muscular
body. Perhaps, instead of placing the causes which effect disparity of
stature among various nations in the difference of food, this instance
ought to teach us to have retrospect likewise to the original races
from which those tribes are descended, that fell under our
examination. Let us, for instance, suppose, that the people of New
Caledonia are the offspring of a nation, who, by living in affluence
and in a genial climate, have not been stinted in their growth; the
colony which removed into the barren soil of New Caledonia, will
probably preserve the habit of body of their ancestors for many
generations. The people of Tanna may have undergone a contrary
revolution, and being descended of a slender and short race, like the
Mallicollese, the richness of their present country may not yet have
entirely taken effect. The inoffensive character of the people of New
Caledonia appears to great advantage in their conduct towards us. They
are the only people in the South Seas who have not had reason to
complain of our arrival among them.
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