p r o g r e s s which would, in time, become a great improvement to their me-
v a g e s , chanical employments ;■ but as thole tools which we procured for
them were by no means in fufficient number, that every man
might be provided with a compleat fet, the changes which they
have produced, are, as yet, very inconfiderable; nay, as thefe idles
'have no productions, which might tempt any European nation to
fet 'on foot a regular and condlant navigation to them ; it is probable,
that in a few years they will be entirely -negledted; i f therefore
the iron tools imported, had been fo numerous, that every man
could have had his dhare, the natives would have entirely laid afide
their own Hone hatchets, ftone duffels, and other implements,
and would, perhaps, by length o f time, have forgotten the manner
o f making them. This circumdtance, mull o f eourfe, have become
very diftreffing to them ; ufed to our tools, without poffelf-
ing the art o f making them, or the Hill greater art o f procuring
iron, from whence they might be manufactured, and having laid
afide and forgotten the method o f forming their fubllitutes o f
Hone, they would, inltead o f being improved, have been thrown
back feveral ages in their own improvements. We did mot communicate
intelledlual, moral, or focial improvements to the natives
o f the idles; nor could thefe be expedled from the crew o f a man
of war; thofe. who might be deemed capable o f enlarging their
minds with new ideas relative to fcience, arts and manufactures, o f
indlilling
indlilling the principles of true morality and. virtue into their
breafts; or o f communicating to them notions o f a well regulated
government, and diffufing throughout a numerous nation,
that fpir-it o f charity, attachment, and difinteredled love o f the community,
which ought to glow, in the breadt o f every reafonable
member of foc iety,. had neither time nor leifure for. fuch an undertaking
in the few days o f our abode among them, edpecially as
.none had a thorough knowledge o f the feveral languages, and as
•each had a different purfuit to attend, which had been dele,-
gated to him by his fuperiors, when this expedition was fet
on foot.
S E C T I O N V .
Food, and the Method of Procuring it, by Fifing, Fowling,
Hunting, and the wild fpontaneous Fruits.—-Savage or barbarous
State of a fmall Number of Men.— Origin'of Cdnnibalifm.—
Means'employed by Providence of improving Human Societies..
Sed primum pofiturn fit, nofriiet ipfos commendatos cfle nobis, primamque ex natura
hanc habere appetitionem,Iut confeiveip.us. n.ofn\et ipfos.
M . Tullius-Cicero dc F in . Bon. & M a i 4.,
T J A V I N G traced the general outline o f the real condition o f
the nations we faw in 'the c.o,urfe ,<?£ our 'voyage, and en-
deavoured to affign the true caufes o f the remarkable difference
R r 2, ■; •; . f , in
PROGRESS-
OF S A V
A G E S .
O R IG IN
O F SO C I E
T I E S . .