H U M A N
P E C I E S .
R E M A R K -S o n t h •©
C H A P . VI.
Remarks on the Human Species in tfie South-Sea IJles„
M i r a s x u i A iiQ tr i a l t i t uufSES 'sioSTTtiM, iN;gente s ' FLirexiis- ■*;MAiirs, •AxTiisiiyios*
. -M PSUS. PLUMBUM,. ET.OCEASI AMWTUM, IX GYR'OS SIDERUht-^ET 'RELINQJTUN/B.
SEIPSOS, NEC MIRANTUR. • ' ' - A ltv u jtin u s,
, The proper fudy o f mankind is MAN. _ ' ‘ ' Pope..
r J TH O U GH we have many' accounts o f diftant regions,, .it lias
been a general misfortune, that their authors were either -tod
ignorant to colled: any valuable:and nfoful obtervations, or delirous
o f making a fhew with ahaperficial knowledge, have given us
their opinions, -embellilhed with furmifes, and trite reflections,
borrowed from other writers.. I f they happened to be capable o f
collecting and communicating ufeftrl information, relative, to the
lludy o f nature, they have ufually: confined themfelves to the inanimate
bodies :o f the creation ; or have principally-confidered part o f
the brute organic ,; while Man,
“ A creature form’d o f earth - - -
“ Exalted from To bale original
“ With heav’nly fpoils, - • M i c t o n .
is entirely negleded and forgotten, among# other :lefs important
purfuits,
h u m a n S P E C I E S. 21
It mult likewife be acknowledged, that feveral learned and inge- human
", H j , 0 . t-if I ;i'lZofeiSSSitl.vtliIiiMii'<i i< 1V-J ‘ I SPECIES,
nious works on the human fpecies, have appeared in the prefent
age, written by philofophers, whole names alone. Ihould feem to be
a fufficient recommendation. I have, however, early oblerved,
that,.being milled by the vague reports o f unphilofophical travellers,
which they have fometimes wilfully changed and moulded, to-
tint their own opinions ; their fyftems, though ever fo ingenious,
are feldom agreeable to nature. It appears indeed, to be the .general
fault'of thefe writers, to lludy mankind only in their cabinets
or, at bed, to obfetve no other than highly civilized nations, wh o
have over-run all parts o f the world by the help o f navigation, and.
from commercial views ; and are more Or lefs degenerate and tainted
with vices.
As we met with many tribes In the -courfe o f our expedition,
who had never feen any European or other polifhed nation, I thought
it my duty to attend to this branch o f the great lludy o f nature, as.
much as my other occupations would permit. I colleded fails, and
now communicate them to the impartial and learned world, with a
few inferences, as, an imperfed effay.