c a u s e s devoured by. the chiefs, but -muffi reft contented with the more
e t i e s ^ homely vegetable fare, and think themfelves fortunate, i f they
catch fome filh, or colledt.fome wretched final! Ihell filh, and even
blubbers.. In the Marquefas animal food is more . fcarce in proportion
; nor are the illands .upon the whole, overftocked with other
eatables : for which reafon we found, that though the natives were
not Email, very few however, i f any, .were fo tall and fo athletic
as on the Society Ifles, and above all, the difference between Arees
and Towtows was not . fo ftriking. In the Friendly Ifles, the
abundance o f vegetables, is great, becaufe private property has been
, th e caufe o f a higher degree o f cultivation; and animal food feems
likewife to be plentiful : here however, the difparity in the fize
o f Arees and Towtows is. not fo great as in the Society Ifles.
In New Zeeland, the inhabitants are in general well provided with
filh, and they are not without extenfive plantations o f roots in the
Northern ifle ; nor do they feem familhed or Hinted, as the greater
part are tall and ftrongly built. Th e ifles o f Tanna and New Caledonia
have plenty o f vegetable food, though little o f the animal
kind; nay, in New Caledonia, they had before our arrival, neither
dogs nor hogs; but the extenfive reefs furrounding their ifle,
affofd them great plenty o f filh : this circumftance no doubt,
contributed to the formation of their ftrong and tall bodies.
-Laftly, the Mallicolele feem to have plantations o f all kinds of
fruit
f r u i t i n g r e a t a b u n d a n c e , f o m e h o g s , f o w l s , a n d p l e n t y o f f i l h , c a u s e s
OF V A R I -
but they are the only nation who feemed not to be benefited by this j t i e s .
affluent and excellent food; nor could we aflign the reafons o f
their diminilhed fize. Th e inhabitants of the Weftern parts o f
Tierra del Fuego, have doubtlefs no other food than what the fea
affords them, which is very precarious in fo high a latitude,
efpecially in ftormy weather. O f vegetables, they have only a
few berries ; which feems to indicate, that from time to time they
are diftreffed, and their wretched appearance does not contradift i t ;
their diminutive fize, and fmall thin legs and thighs rather prove
that they are familhed and ftinted : nor can the half rotten pieces
o f raw feals-flelh and fat be very falubrious and nutritive ; which we
faw them devour with a voracity that did not indicate either the
abundance or the excellence of their provifions.
• Exercife in a moderate degree, is abfolutely neceffary to give the
various parts o f the human frame, ftrength and due confiftence.
Inactivity hinders the fecretion and circulation of the fluids, neceffary
for the increafe of the body, and therefore caufes in young
people a weakly conftitution, and flaccid limbs, without liability,
confiftence, or vigour. Violent labour is equally hurtful in regard
to the increafe of the body; for too long an exertion of mufcular
fibres "in young men caufes a rigidity, and entirely exhaufts the
vital powers. Let us only call an eye on the wretched objedts,
M m . who,