have Feen, meaftmng fix feet, three inches and a half j but the women in general are
fmall compared with the men. [See pli Vi»} They mutt be very honeft amongft them-
ielves, as every hotrfe is without any fattening, Locks/bolts, and bars, are peculiar to
civilized countries, where their morail theorv is the heft, and their moral practices
too generally of the worft ; which might iridbce a celebrated writer to conclude,
fhoitgh erroneoufiy, that mankind; upon the.' whole, are neceflarily rendered worfe,
and lefs happy, hy civilization, and the cultivation of the arts and fciences. Nature’s
wants, it is true, are but few, and the uncivilized part of mankind, in
general, feem contented if they can acquire thofe few. Ambition, and the love
of luxurious banquets, and other fuperfluities^ are but little known in the barbarous
nations: they have, in general, lefs .anxious thought for (he morrow, than
civilized; and therefore feel more enjoyment while they partake of heaven’s
bounty in the prefent day. Unaccuftomed to indulgences in cloathin.g. and diet,
which Europeans have carried .to an extreme, they,are lefs fubje<ft to difeafes; are
more rohuftj feel left from the inclemencies of the feafons; and are, in conftitu-
tion, what the ancient Britons were'.before their civilization. Unhappily for us, the
athletic conftitution oF .our anceftors is not to be found amongft us, being enervated
by excefies of various kinds; while difeafes, the effedt. of intemperance and
debaucheries, .contaminate our blood, and render them .hereditary amongft our
offspring.
The natives huts are inclofed by a low fence made of reeds; and the ground
withjn them is very neatly bedded with a kind of ftraw, upon which they lay mats
to fleep on ; and, for a pillow, they have a four-legged ftpoly joined at the bottom,
which is made out of a folid piece of wood ; and the only.tools they have to work
with are made of ftones; or fhells, as they had no iron upon the ifland until the
Dolp.hin-.ar rived. [S.ee „pi. X Lit. -fig. 7,.:];
"Theft hu.ts are.built ata cpnfiderable diftance. from, each otherj-fo that the ifland
lpQk^Jpfel.QoetC9!nitiou,e4'-»vill^, .and .abounds with co,qoa*, bread-fruit, and apple-
tjrgesr;..the fruit of-which drops, as it were,,into their mouths ^.and may be the caufe
that they are an indolen t-.people: Were „they inclined to .induflry, provifions might
•* rlt fawi fameihdksiof' GQesarm t s ,wtoidi were;as heavy as.Ixould lift, .which furprifed .me .the more
as-thefftalks were very {lender.
be