A VOY AGE ROUND T H E WORLD.
^ 1 4
1773. the warmeft fentiments of foeial affection, and habituated
to fympathize with its fellow-creatures. He was fo deeply
affedted, that it was feveral hours before he could compofe
himfelf, and ever after, when he fpoke on this fubjedt, it
was not without emotion. Philofophers, who have only
contemplated mankind in their clofets,. have ftrenuoufly.
maintained, that all the aliénions of authors, ancient and
modern, of the exiftence of men-eaters are not to bej credited
; and there have not been wanting perfons amongft our-
felves who were fceptical enough to refufe belief to the concurrent
teftimonies in the hiftory of almoft all nations in
this particular. But captain Cook had already, in his.
former voyage, received ftrong proof that the proctice of
eating human flelh exifted in New Zeeland ; and as now
we have with our own eyes Icon thc inhabitants devouring,
human flelh, all controverfy on that point mull be at an end.
The opinions of authors on the origin of this cuflom are-
infinitely various, and have lately been colledted by the:
very learned canon P a u w , at Xanten, in his Recherches Philo-
fophiques.Jur les Américains, vol. I. p. 207. He feems to think,
that men were firll tempted to devour each other from reah
want of food and cruel, neceffity *. Many weighty objections,
however, may be made againft this hypothefis ;
amongft which the following is one of the greateft. Theie
* His fentiments are copied by Dr. Hawkefworth, who has difingenuouily
concealed their author. See his Compilation, volt III. p. 44-7'
are
A V O Y A G E ROUND THE WORLD. S i f
•are very few countries in the world fo miferably barren as
not to afford their inhabitants fufficient nourilhment, and
thofe, in particular, where anthropophagi Hill exift, do not
come under that defcription. The northern ille of New
Zeeland, on a coaft of near four hundred leagues, contains
fcarcely one hundred thoufand inhabitants, according to the
moll probable guefs which can be made ; a number incon-
liderable for that vail lpace of country, even allowing the
fettlements to be confined only to the fea-lhore. The great
abundance of filh, and the beginnings of agriculture in the
Bay of Plenty and other parts o f the Northern Ille, are more
than fufficient to maintain this number, becaufe they have
always had enough to fupply ftrangers with what was
deemed fuperfluous. It is true, before the dawn of the
arts among them, before the invention of nets, and before
the cultivation of potatoes, the means of fubfillence may
have been more difficult; but then the number of inhabitants
mult likewife have been infinitely fmaller. Single
inftances are not conclufive in this cafe, though they prove
how far the wants of the body may llimulate mankind to
extraordinary adtions. In 1772, during a famine which
happened throughout all Germany, a herdfman was taken
on the manor of Baron Boineburg, in Heflia, who had been
urged by hunger to kill and devour a boy, and afterwards
to make a pradlice of it for feveral months. From his oon-
feflion it appeared, that he looked upon the flelh of young
U u u 2 children