*773*
render individuals, and not whole nations, unhappy. Ab-
SEPTEMBER. folute want occafions the miferies of the lower clafs in fome
civilized Hates, and is the refult of the unbounded volup-
tuoufnefs of their fuperiors. At O-Taheitee there is not,
in general, that difparity between the higheft and the
meaneft man, which fubfifts in. England between a reputable
tradefman and a labourer. The affedlion of the Ta-
heitians for their chiefs, which they never failed to exprefs
upon all occafions, gave us great room to fuppofe that they
confider themfelves as one family, and refpedt their eldeft-
born in the perfons of their chiefs. Perhaps the origin of
their government was patriarchal, and the king might only
be dignified by virtue of being confidered as the father
of his people, till by degrees , the conftitution fettled into its .
prefent form. Still there remains much ancient fimplicity'
in that familiarity between the fovereign and the fubject.
The lowed man in the nation fpeaks as freely with his king
as with his equal, and has the pleafure of feeing him as
often as he likes. This intercourfe would become more
difficult as foon as defpotifm fhould begin to gain ground.
The king at times amufes himfelf with the occupations of
his fubjedts, and not yet depraved by the falfe notions of
an empty Hate, often paddles his own canoe, without thinking
fuch an employment derogatory to his dignity. How
long fuch an happy equality may laft, is uncertain ; fince
the indolence of the chiefs is already, notwithftanding the.
exuberant
exuberant fertility of the foil, a ftep towards its deftruc-
tion. Though cultivation is a labour fcarce felt at prefent
by the tqwtows, to whom it is allotted ; yet by infenfible
degrees it will fall heavier upon them, as the number of
chiefs muft naturally increafe in a much greater proportion;
than their own clafs, for this obvious reafon, becaufe
the chiefs are perfedtly unemployed. This addition of labour
will have a bad effedt on their bodies, they will grow
ill-ihaped, and their bones become marrowlefs ; then-
greater expofure to the adtion of a vertical fun, will blacken
their ikins, and they will dwindle away to dwarfs, by the
more frequent proftitution of their infant daughters, to the
voluptuous pleafures of the great. That pampered race,
on the contrary, will preferve all the advantages of an extraordinary
fize, of a fuperior elegance of form and features,
and of a purer colour, by indulging a voracious appetite,
and living in abfolute idlenefs. At laft the common
people will perceive thefe grievances, and the caufes
which produced them; and a proper fenfe of the general
rights of mankind awaking in them, will bring on a revolution.
This is the natural circle of human affairs ; at
prefent there is fortunately no room to fuppofe, that fuch a
ehange will take place for a long feriesof years to come ; but
how much the introdudlion of foreign luxuries may haften
that fatal period, cannot be too frequently repeated to Europeans.