tinguished which our guides averred were frequented by the natives, on the expertness and agility requifite for which purpose no comment is neceffary. "On the margin of the river we perceived, at intervals, fhingle in great heaps, borne down by the violence of the ftream. This fhingle confifted of a mixture of granite, porphyry, and other matter brought from the primitive mountains; fmaller and more rare in the vicinage of Hawkesbury, the ftones encrease in fize and frequency as the river is higher afcended: these laft circumstances engendered the hope that we fhould in little time approach the fite of their origin, and the prefumption was farther augmented by the proximity of the mountains. "Beyond the efcarpment I have noticed, the country again becomes visible, and farms and cultured lands border both fides of the river. At the extremity of these lands, on the left bank of the stream, is a fmall mount of flight elevation, termed Richmond Hill, where the country ceafes to be cleared, and where also the river is no longer navigable by boats of any great draught of water, on account of fand banks by which it is obftructed. M. Arndell, who had foreseen this obftacle, had directed our boatmen to procure for us at Richmond Hill a very small boat, capable of carrying us over these banks. "We now foon reached a fmall low iflet entirely compofed of fhingle, on which grow fome stunted trees. Here the right arm of the river Here the right arm of the river was nothing but a flender rill, and the left arm † alone was navigable: this arm however continued fo but for a fhort distance, being obftructed by beds of fhingle, on which we continually grounded. Moreover, the flope of this branch was fo confiderable here that, in order to overcome the strength of the current, the men were obliged to get into the water, and drag the fkiff along. "After contending for a long time with this last obstacle we refolved on landing, and got on fhore on the iflet noticed. The fhingle of which, as we have obferved, it is compofed, confifts of a variety of substances, but most especially of those which form primitive mountains; granite, porphyry, gneifs or micucious fchift conftitute the majo rity, confounded with bituminous fchift, freeftone, pudding-ftone, breccias, and other fubftance of secondary origin. From the primitive ftones adverted to being found no where but in the bed of the river, we must perforce conclude that the mountains whence they are brought are themselves of primitive nature: ftill, as yet, the English have. been unable to extend their researches beyond the banks of freeftone of which the foremost tiers of mountains are compofed, which banks alfo extend to the fea. "Thwarted by the different obftacles to our ulterior navigation, and destitute of the means neceffary for penetrating forefts through which no roads are cut, and which prefent no refources of any kind, my colleague and myself at length determined to return to Hawkesbury. The current of the river much facilitated our progrefs now, and foon did we pafs the fand banks and fhelves which retarded us on our advance to the mountains. We were moreover indebted in great measure for this facility to a circumstance the concurrence of which had not entered into our computation. The flowing in of the tide had raised the waters of the river about three decimeters † notwithstanding we were at a distance from the fea, computing the windings of the river, of more than one hundred miles. From this obfervation it refults: that the difference of level between the foot of the Blue Mountains and the fea fhore does not exceed from fix to nine decimeters §, feeing the rife of tide at Port Jackson is commonly not more than four to five feet." The river Grofe. + The Nepean. A foot English. $2 or 3 feet. After After this detail of his interefting excurfion, M. Bailly gives the refult of his researches into the mineral productions of the county of Cumberland as follows: "Independent of the quartzy freestone, of which the base of the country from the fea to the mountains is compofed, large spaces are found covered with fchift, but this is of pofterior formation to the freeftone, as is evident from its incumbency on that fubftance. "Both the freestone and schift are horizontally difpofed, or at least, in a direction very nearly parallel to the horizon; occafionally their thickness exceeds feveral yards, at other times but a few lines: commonly there is little adherence in the one ftratum to the other, and they are readily feparated. "In the freestone cavities more or lefs large are found as in geodes (lithotomi cavernofi), lined with a fpecies of oxidated hæmatites of iron, diffolved by water and afterwards depofited. "On the beds of fchift and freeftone repofes the vegetable earth, of little depth near the fea, but increafing in depth in proportion to the distance from its fhores, and on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, acquiring very confiderable thickness. Vegetable earth does not appear to be the exclufive depofit made on the beds of freeftone; for there are alfo found on them feams of ferruginous clay, exceedingly compact, and ferving to make excellent bricks. "In other parts, and efpecially the vicinage of Sydney Town on the road to Paramatta, other feams are found of a whitish clay, mixed with quartz, mica, and a ferruginous matter, apparently carbonated iron. This remarkable combination which has been compared to, and does not ill refemble granite in a decompofed ftate, was described fome years back in the Philofophical Tranfactions of the Royal Society of London, under the name of Sydneyte, or Sydneya, and was noticed as a new fubftance, although it contains no new element. This clay, or rather this mixture, is fuccessfully employed in the manufacture of divers kinds of pottery, for which purpose feveral kilns have been erected at the village of Brick Field. I have feen of their production fome fpecimens, equally remarkable for the fineness of the paste of which they were made, and for their whiteness. "Throughout the whole extent of country occupied by the English, and in its neighbourhood, Port Stephen, for example, the river Hunter, Port Hacking, Bateman Bay, &c. not the leaft veftige of any calcareous ftone, has hitherto been found; and, in every part, the inhabitants are fain to ufe for making lime the fhells of oysters and other fish, of which confiderable quantities are found at Botany Bay. In vain has government proffered handsome rewards for the discovery of any ftratum of limeftone; all fearch after this article has hitherto proved fruitlefs, nor is there room for fuppofing that any will hereafter be found*. "On the road from Hawkesbury to Tongabée, at nearly an equal distance from the two towns, we obferved oxidated hæmatites of iron, in chambers. This fubftance was diffused in large quantities, and in maffes of confiderable volume, over the furface of the foil; we conjectured it could not have been brought from any great distance, and that it had been collected at this fpot by fome particular accident, the nature of which it would be difficult to fathom, as there is no mine yet worked in the country. This matter appeared to us fufceptible of yielding excellent iron; and in a country where * Wilfon, who in the beginning of February 1798 accompanied three convicts on an attempt to pass the western mountains, by order of the governor, at a diftance of between feventy and eighty miles nearly fouth west of Paramatta, discovered both limestone and coal. TR. wood wood is fo extremely abundant, the discovery of a mine of this defcription could not fail of becoming on many accounts very valuable. "This iron excepted, no metallic fubftance has hitherto been discovered *; and among the pebbles depofited by the river, nothing which I faw juftifies the prefumption of the existence of any vein in the interior of thefe mountains. "Of all the mineral productions of the English colony the most abundant and useful is coal. At Port Hacking and Port Stephen immenfe beds of it are found, almost at the furface, and floping in almost every direction. This coal is of excellent quality, its only fault being in its too greatly abounding in bitumen: it is ufed at Sydney Town for domestic purposes; and cargoes of it, freighted for Bengal and the Cape of Good Hope, have gone to very profitable markets. "Independent of coal, which I fufpect exifts under the foil of Paramatta, my colleague, M. Dupuch, and myself, discovered at the foot of the mountains large maffes of bituminous fchiftus, which burns with a very lively flame, exhales a decidedly bituminous smell, and yields a thick fmoke. The pieces of this fchift lofe nothing of their pristine figure by combuftion; fire only renders them more brittle, and deprives them of their colour. In a country deftitute of coal, and in which wood fhould be scarce, this schiftus would be a valuable acquifition. "To the mineral fubftances I have previously noticed muft be added fal gemma (rock falt), of which I understand very confiderable quantities have been found in different parts of the colony; I myself faw a fpecimen of this article in poffeffion of the governor, more than a foot in diameter. "After having terminated our mineralogical observations at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and in the vicinage of Hawkesbury, we refumed the road to Paramatta, which we entered the next day. During the short stay we made here, I went to vifit a tannery, which yet, indeed, was of no great confequence, but which will annually increase in proportion to the augmenting number of cattle. I faw here fome seal-skins, tanned into a leather applicable to many economical uses. "I must not conclude this narrative without noticing the liberal conduct of the governor of the colony and of Mr. Arndell. The boats, rowers, guide, and interpreter, all were provided for us by the English government; our chief even refused us the provisions neceffary for the excurfion." Not only is it in its mountains and rivers, its winds and ftorms, that New South Wales presents a series of grand phenomena; in its vegetables and animals nature in a fimilar manner has every where shown herfelf extraordinary; the history of its inhabitants likewise adduces many ftriking fingularities, nor must be omitted that afforded by the admirable system of colonization introduced by England on these distant shores. But the too great length of this chapter already forbids ulterior details: to another season must I delay the expofition of the valuable confequences to be expected from the laft-mentioned circumftance, and firft terminate what concerns our stay at Port Jackfon. I have already obferved that the Naturalifte, freighted with the collections and vali tudinarians of both fhips, was about to return with Captain Hamelin to France. In confequence of this determination Meffrs. Lefchenault, Faure, and Bailly, the only ones of my colleagues who remained belonging to that veffel, were turned over to the Geographe, which, on the other hand, loft M. Depuch, too much exhausted to be able Indices of copper and tin have however fince the period at which our author wrote, as is reported, been discovered. TR. VOL. XI. 6 D to to continue the voyage with us, together with Meffrs. Bougainville, the fon, Maurouard and Brue, midshipmen of the first clafs: thefe three gentlemen had the misfortune to incur the pointed hatred of our commander, and were condemned by him in confequence to this fpecies of tranfportation, as well as our fecond phyfician, M. Taillefer, the fame whose devotion to the relief of our fick has before been noticed *. These fad and last arrangements made, we fet fail on the 18th of November in the morning, after a ftay at New South Wales of one hundred and fifty-two days. Before, however, I resume the hiftory of our voyage, it seems to me the more requifite I should exhibit the result of my experiments on the phyfical ftrength of the favages of the county of Cumberland, as this object is connected with feveral matters already known to the reader. CHAP. XX.-Experiments on the phyfical Strength of the Savages of Diemen's Land, New Holland, and the Inhabitants of Timor; on that of the French, and English. THAT fingular æra is ftill fresh in the memory of all, in which individuals of celebrity, carried away by an ardent imagination, and foured by misfortunes infeparable from focial life, were feen to exclaim against that state, mifprize its advantages, and afcribe, on the contrary, to favages all the fources of happiness and every principle of virtue. Their fatal eloquence unfettled the public mind; for the first time, men of fense were heard to lament the progrefs of civilization, and figh for that wretched condition rendered illuftrious by the feductive title of a state of nature. Happily, modern voyages, by making us fucceffively acquainted with so many nations of favages, have enabled us to appreciate the value of these vain fophifms; in this inftance, our expedition will have rendered material fervice to found philofophy. Of all the advantages which the panegyrifts of the ftate of nature attributed to favages, that on which they most especially and moft generally infifted was fuperior ftrength. The confequence and companion of health, ftrength, indeed, if it were the exclufive appendage, or even if it were more peculiarly the endowment of the favage would certainly have given to him a title to preference, and have deprived the civilized condition of life of one of the most affured pledges of happiness. Hence have the detractors of the focial fyftem declaimed with all the powers of eloquence on the fuppofed degradation in this refpect of civilized man, and have endeavoured to eftablifh their opinion as a fundamental principle. Till now, indeed, means were wanting of fatisfactory contradiction by an exact comparison of the strength of different individuals and nations, and no direct experiments to this effect could confequently be made. M. Coulomb, in his memoir fubmitted to the Inftitute in the year 6, had only for object to determine the quantum of daily labour which Frenchmen could affect according to the different modes of applying their strength. Prevented by circumstances from profecuting them himfelf, this illuftrious naturalift was only enabled to point out to others the experiments which should be made on other people, and the various modifications which climate and the quality of the food were likely to occafion in their degrees of ftrength. We shall have occafion fhortly to demonftrate by our experiments how just his opinions were on this fubject. This portion of the hiftory of man, at the time of our It is pleafing for one to be enabled to add, that our three companions, as foon as they arrived in Europe, were promoted to lieutenancies; and that all have rendered themselves confpicuous in late engagements. As to M. Taillefer, His Excellancy Vice Admiral Decrès, minifter of the navy, by caufing him to be appointed by His Majefty the Emperor, furgeon-major of the battalion of marines of the Imperial guard, nobly rewarded his fervices. departure departure from Europe, was one which still further excited the interest and zeal of naturalists. Regnier, by the invention of the dynanometer *, had recently opened a wider field to refearches of this kind. Without being perfect, no doubt, without being capable of minutely afcertaining the precife degree of ftrength, this inftrument nevertheless prefents very close approximations, and at any rate, indicates the comparative force applied with more exactitude, as I have experienced in three years' practice, than could at first be expected. This inftrument I had the advantage of carrying firft abroad and of employing among the people of the fouthern hemifphere: I neglected nothing to profit by it as largely as poffible; and if from circumftances I have been prevented from giving to my experiments the latitude that could be wifhed, at least have I rendered valuable those which I made by their minute precision. SECT. I.-Experiments on the Savages of Diemen's Land. On Diemen's Land and the contiguous ifland Maria, exifts a race of men entirely differing from that by which the continent of New Holland is peopled. In ftature the individual of this race is fimilar to Europeans, but diffimilar in his extraordinary conformation. With a large head, efpecially remarkable by its length from the chin to the finciput, he has broad fhoulders, sturdy loins, and the thighs generally mufcular, but at the fame time almost every one has the extremities flender, long, and weak, with a big belly, falient and formed like a balloon. In other matters, these people are destitute of chiefs, properly speaking, of laws, of regular government, and of arts of any kind; and are without any notion of agriculture, or of animals domefticated for service; they wear no cloaths, have no fixed abode or shelter but what is afforded by wretched fcreens made of bark to defend them from the cold fouthern blafts; nor have they any other arms but the club and the fpear. Conftantly a wanderer amid the forefts or along the fhores of the fea, the inhabitants of thefe regions undoubtedly poffeffes every characteristic of uncivilized man, and pre-eminently merits the diftinction of the child of nature. Still, how widely does he differ, either regarded in a moral or physical point of view, from thofe delufive portraits of him, the offspring of fancy and enthufiafm, which fyftem-makers have drawn, and placed in competition with man in social life! With men fo brutal as we found thefe to be, our communications, if not rare, were difficult and accompanied by danger; and, as will have been feen, the chief of our interviews with them terminated, on their part, in hoftile aggreffions. If our general communications with them was fo fpare, our dynanometrical observations were still more fo. Hence, fpite of exertion, have I been enabled on thefe fhores to obtain but few data, and thofe incomplete, as I was unable to induce any of the inhabitants to try the ftrength of their loins. However, as all my experiments were made on individuals of the strongest conftitutions, and as their refults were clear and fimilar, we may fearlessly apply them generally to the individuals of this firft race: now thefe refults uniformly exhibit a want of ftrength truly extraordinary. For, though my experiments were repeated on the moft vigorous clafs of the population, that between eighteen and forty years of age, no Diemenefe was found capable of making the needle advance beyond 60°, and twelve obfervations on different individuals gave for a mean 50,6°. We fhall prefently fee the difference between this and the mean of experiments made on Europeans. *The description and use of this inftrument, illuftrated by a plate, may be seen in Vol. i. p. 399. of the Philofophical Magazine. TR. 6 D 2 SECT. |
