m a n n e r s by thefe charafteriftics was a more difficult, talk,: becaufe the features
were'fo. final!, that the'diftindtion was;, as: it. were entirely, loft.
T h e charadteriftics. o f the,South-Sea nations, are, upon the whole,
■ very different from ours,, and may therefore eafily be traced:; > how-
.ev.er, the difference, between them arid all the nations, which are
juft emerging from' barbarifm, is not fo very confiderable, nor is,it
poffible to, point out fuch features -as, would at once, diftinguifh the
inhabitants of each particular , ifland,. from thofe o f the others in
its neighbourhood;, efpeeialjy as our flay, among them was fo fhort,
and their language fo little underftood by u;s: we'fhall neverthe-
lefs endeavour to give feme, faint outlines., of. their matw-
ncrs. .
T h e general:.external appearance o f thefe riations;-'.is;, no doubt,
very ftrongly contrafted to ours,-and we have already mentioned
fomething upon that fubjedt.in the fedtion, treating o f the colour-,
fize, habit o f body,. & c . &,c.,of thefe nations, which renders it un-
necefiary to repeat the fame argument again..'
D ress j charadteri^es people moft remarkably,,: nor is this
uniform in the . South-Sea-Iflands. The; inhabitants, o f Tierra del
Fuego, we found deftitute o f fuch.parts-;t>f-drefs, which modefty
would employ, and neceffity enjoin; in the Weftern iflands o f the
Pacific Ocean, where, the climate makes, drefs not .abfolutely ne-
i ceffary,,
W5
H U M A N S P E C I E S ,
ceffary, the nations covered only thofe parts o f their body, * which,
by an almoft general agreement,; every nation on earth wilhes to
fereen ; but though their males, were, to all appearance, equally
anxious in thisrelpedt with their females, this pait of their dreft
ferved only td make that more conspicuous; which it intended to
hide; and this device feems to be invented- with as little delicacy
and1 judgment as the fanidus 'Which a few centuries‘ago
made part o f a man's drefs in Europe whether the care o f preventing
thefe parts from being wounded or hurt by branches o f
trees, briars, and infedts, or real principles o f propriety and modefty
had firft induced t-hemTofffe-fd ftrarige" a1 method for covering-their
genitals, I cannot decide; however, among thefe fame nations we
•obferved, that only the age o f maturity inipired them with thefe
ideas o f decency 'and modefty ; ‘fdr their little1 boyfc v?erb ftar'k-
nakedyarid li-ttle’ giils, -below’ the age!o f eight‘ydars,’' had rio Other
-cover than'a wifp of ftraw before, and another behind, fixed to a
firing’ ’tied round the waift. But though all thefe nations had no
.other parts of drefs] to fat-isfy neceffity- m a cold climate,- or mo-
■ defty in a ’ warmer; they found it heverthelefs’neceffary to ufe various
ornaments: in Tierra del-Fuego, they painted-their feces red,
E e e '2 s'.od.r,'..' Imp :c -Jpfih
i* :‘$t b therefore j remarkable, that dri the engravM Sgftre oFa: MaMkolefc, which is found
in C-apt. Cook’s Narrative of the voyage, a drapery has been fpread over the body of the
Jig'ufrc, in daredt oppofition to the univerfal cuftom of that country, *’’
m a n n e r s