*774-
S e ptember. climate, have not been {tinted in their growth ; the colony
which removed into the barren foil of New Caledonia, will
probably preferve the habit of body of their anceflors for
many generations. The people of Tanna may have undergone
a contrary revolution, and being defcended of a {lender
and fhort race, like the Mallicollefe, the riclinefs of their
prefent country may not yet entirely have taken effect.
Thefe hints are fubmitted to the learned, whofe province it
is to confirm or refute them; but on which fide foever the
truth may fall, I {hall reft equally contented, as I have
adopted no particular fyftem.
The inoffenfive charadter of the people of New Caledonia
appears to great advantage in their condudt towards us.
They are the only people in the South Seas who have not
had reafon to complain of our arrival among them. When
we confider how eafy it is to provoke the mariner to fport
with the lives of Indians, from the numerous examples
throughout this narrative, we muft acknowledge that it required
an uncommon degree of good temper, not to. draw
upon themfelves a fingle. a61 of brutality., Thofe philofc,-,
phers who are of opinion that the temper, the manners, and
genius of a people, depend entirely upon the climate, will
be at alofs to account for the peaceful charadter of the inhabitants
of New Caledonia. If we admit that they are
only ftrangers to. diftruft, becaufe they have little to lofe, we
{hall not folve the difficulty; fince the people of New Holland,
land, under the influence of a fimilar climate and foil, and SepTe^beji.
in a more wretched fituation than the inhabitants of New
Caledonia, are favage and unsociable. The different characters
of nations feem therefore to depend upon a multitude
of different caufes, which have afted together during a
feries of many ages. The inhabitants of New Caledonia do
not owe their kind difpofition to a total ignorance of wars
and difputes ; the variety of their offenfive weapons being
alone fufficient to put this matter out of doubt. By con-
verfing with them we learnt that they have enemies, and
that the people of an ifland called Mingha had a very different
charader from their own. I was once in a boat with captain
Cook and Mr. Wales, when one of the natives acquainted
us by very fignificant and intelligible geftures, that they
had enemies who feafted on human fleffi; and the behaviour
of the inhabitants of Balabeea, on feeing our people
eat fait beef, which they miftook for human fleffi, contributes
to prove that fuch a cuftom is not unknown to
them, and that they look upon it with horror and detefta-
tion. Civilization is therefore much farther advanced in
this refpea among them, than with their more opulent
neighbours. That higher degree of culture, where the un-
derftanding is fufficiently enlightened to remove the unjuft
contempt ffiewn to the fair fex, is however unknown to
them ; their temper is too grave to be captivated by female
blandiffiments, or to fet a proper value upon the refined enjoyments