September, who came to vifit them. But the people of New Caledonia
at the firft fight of us, received us as friends ; they ventured
to come on board our Chip, without the leafl marks of fear
or diftruft, and fuffered us to ramble freely throughout
their country as far as we pleafed.. They refembled moll
the people of Tanna in colour, and the woollinefs of their
hair but their ftature was fuperior, their limbs in general
more flout, their features more mild, open, and inoffenfive -r
and their cuftoms in many refpetfts very different. The
peculiar chara&er of their faces may be feen in the accurate
portraits which Mr. Hodges has drawn of each fex,
and which are engraved for captain Cook’s account of this
voyage. A juft idea of the country may likewife be formed,
by confulting the views which that ingenious artift has
copied from nature. There is, however, fome fimilarity
between their manufactures, and thofe of Tanna ; efpecially
in the fhape of their arms, in theufe of the rope or becket,
(fee p. 27,9.) to throw the fpear, in the nature of the ornaments
which they wear, and particularly in what I have
mentioned p. 277, and p. 383*.. The language, which on
thefe occafions is the fureft guide, is totally diffonant; their
dwellings are of a different conftruCtion, and their mode of
living feems to correfpond only in a- few inflances. The
* T h e ir arms, • their cap, their becket, and various other articles have been
accurately drawn and engraved, under my fathers infpedtion, for captain Cook’s,
account o f this voyage.
people
people of Tanna are rich, in comparifon with thofe of New sinwin,
Caledonia; their plantations furnifh them with abundance
of vegetables, and if thefe fhould fail, the woods on their
fea-fhore are full of coco-palms, which offer an ample ftore
of fruits. At New Caledonia, the plantations yield in moft
places a fcanty produce ; and the wild country, as far as
we had an opportunity of examining it, does not contain
a Angle article which could be deemed of great fervice. On
the other hand, the people of New Caledonia feem to be
great fifhermen, and the reefs round their ifland, give them
excellent opportunities for this purpofe, and are doubtlefs
at certain feafons, the refort of turtles. As hature has been
fo fparing here of her gifts, it is the moft furprifing, that
inftead of feeing the inhabitants favage, diftruftful, and
warlike as at Tanna, we fhould find them peaceable, well-
difpofed, and unfufpicious. It is not lefs remarkable, that
in fpite of the drought which prevails in their country, and
the fcanty fupply of vegetable food, they fhould have attained
to a greater fize, and a more mufcular body. Perhaps
inftead of placing the caufes which effeft difpanty of
ftature among various nations in the difference of food,
this inftance ought to teach us, to have fome retrofpeft like-
wife to the original races from which thofe tribes are def-
cended, that fell under our examination. Let us for inftance
fuppofe, that the people of New Caledonia are the offspring
of a nation, who by living in affluence, and in a gema
t i i 2 climate,