MANNE RS improvement and perfection o f their intellectual faculties, than o f
thofe o f the males. T h e various objects furrounding them make'
quicker and more vivid imprefiions on the fen&s of the females,
becaufe their nerves are finer and more irritable ; this makes them
more inclined to imitation, and more quick in ob&rving the properties
and relations, o f things ; their memory is more faithful' in
retaining them ; and their faculties thereby become more- capable o f
comparing them, and. of abdraCting general ideas from their perceptions.
T his facilitates to them the various operations o f their
toilfome, laborious life, and often leads them towards new improvements.
Ufed implicitly to fubmit to- the will o f their males,,
they have been early taught to. fuppüefc thé flights o f pafiion cooler
reflexion, gentlenefs, and every method for obtaining the approbation,
and for winning the good-will of others have taken their
place, and mud in time naturally contribute to. {often, that harihnefs
o f manners, which is become habitual in the barbarous races o f men ;
and all this may perhaps prepare them for the find, dawnings o f civilization.
T h e males in. barbarous nations look upon the women as
their property, and this went d> far, that in- New-Zéeland the fathers
and neared relations were ufed to fell the favours o f their females
to thofe of our {hip’s company, who were irrefidibly attracted
by their charms; and often were thefe victims o f brutality dragged
by the fathers into the dark recedes of the {hip, and there left to the
2 beadly
t
Beadly appetite o f theirparamônfs,who did not difdain them, though m a n n e r s
the poor victim dóód trembling before them, and was dilfolved in
a flood o f tears. Th e barbarian, knows hardly, any law;- the fuperi-
ority o f powèr décidés-every thing ;-, it. is therefore no wonder that
he (hould extend his tyrannical, fway Over the weaker fex; andheing
himfclf a-dranger to the moré tender feelings af love, -hé is o f courfe
equally ignorant, o f the. ideas o f modejly, bajhfulnefs, or delicacy ;
and i f he forbids to his wife thé connexions with others; and pu—
nifliës the tràrifgreflîon o f Eis commands on that head with great,
feverity;. it is- not from the above principles, but in. order to aflert
his right of property and dominion Over, her ; for he would freely admit
any dranger to his wife’s embraces,, i f the equivalentfor it were
to his liking, or. i f prompted, by fome other confideration, which,
could fatisfv his caprice or whim..
In O-Taheitee, the Society, the Friendly Iflés- and. the Marqueras,
the fair fex. is already, raifed to a greater equality with the men ;.
and if,, from no other reafon, from this alone we might be allowed
to pronounce, that thefe iflanders- have emerged from the date, o f
favages, and ought, to be ranked one remové above barbarians.. For
the more the women, are edeemed in a nation, and-enjoy an equality,
o f rights with the men, the more.it appears that.the-original harih-
nefs o f manners is.foftened, the more the people are capable o f tender
feelings,, mutual attachment, and fécial: virtues,, which natu-
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