SECT. II.-Experiments on the Savages of New Holland. New Holland, from Wilfon's Promontory in the fouth, to Cape York in the north, appears to be inhabited by a fecond race of men, differing effentially from any hitherto known. The ftature of these men is nearly the fame as that of the inhabitants of Diemen's Land; but, independent of other characteristics, they differ from the race precedingly defcribed, in the lighter colour of their skin, in the nature of their hair, which is fleck and long, and in the remarkable fhape of their head, which is smaller, and, inftead of being longer from their chin to the finciput, is in measure compreffed at the crown. The back of this people is likewife in general lefs broad: in other refpects the fame difproportion exifts in them between the trunk and the members, the fame weaknefs and flender fhape of the latter, and, in many inftances, the fame tumefaction of the belly. For what regards the focial ftate, the inhabitants of New Holland are .hitherto unacquainted with agriculture, or the ufe of metals; like the inhabitants of Diemen's Land, they go without raiment, and are deftitute of laws, worship, arts, or any affured means of fupport; being obliged, like the Diemenefe, to depend on the forefts or the fea-fhore for their fuftenance. But among thefe already are the first elements of focial organization perceptible: the different hordes comprize a larger number of members; they have chiefs; their dwellings, though built in a coarse style, are more numerous and of fuperior structure; their arms are more varied and formidable; they are more venturefome on the water; their mode of hunting is more regular; and their wars more general; already they refpect the rights of nations in fome degree; and, finally, they have tamed the dog, and make him their companion in hunting and in war. But again, equally brutal with the people of Diemen's Land, they are even more averse from strangers. Dampier, Cook, La Perouse, and Flinders, at different places, and at different periods, have been obliged to repel their infults by fire-arms, and we ourselves avoided having recourfe to this expedient only by taking to flight. Seventeen favages of the fouthern continent made experiments of their ftrength by the dynanometer, among whom fourteen were between eighteen and forty years of age, and confequently of that period of life when man is ftrongeft. Still the fame characteristic of weakness obferved among the Diemenefe was apparent here. One alone caufed the needle to advance to 62°, and the mean ftrength of the fourteen individuals scarcely exceeded 51°. Some indeed were fo weak as fcarcely to be able to raise the needle to 40°. The strength of their loins furnished, on experiment, the fame refults: if the young Ooroo Maré be excepted, who caufed the needle to rife to 19°, none were able to make it advance fo far as 18°; and fo much inferior was the renal strength of the remainder as to give scarcely 14.8° for a mean. SECT. III. Experiments on the strength of the inhabitants of Timor. In afcending from the Diemenefe to the people of New Holland, we reach the first removal from the pure favage; in order to perfect the fcale of gradation from the state of nature to the approximation towards focial order found in the inhabitants of Timor feveral steps are wanting the fecond removal might be exhibited by the people of New Guinea; a third by thofe of New Zealand; a fourth, according to the most authentic accounts, by the races inhabiting the great equatorial ocean; and the population of Timor ΤΟ Timor and the Molucca iflands would constitute the fifth remove. Unfortunately three of the intermediate gradations have not yet been fufficiently examined to justify any pofitive affertion refpecting them, I fhall therefore limit my obfervations to an expofition of the result of my experiments on the Malays of Timor, and the neighbouring iflands Pooloo Rotti, Soombawa, Semawoo, Macaffar, Ende, and Solor. Of fimilar descent, inhabiting the same climate, fubject to the same laws and customs, and fubfifting on fimilar aliment, all of these may, I conceive, be claffed together without any fenfible error; and with these likewife fome Chinese, who for centuries established on these islands from father to fon, may be looked upon as indigenous. The Malays are not the aborigines of the iflands of the great archipelago of Afia. Brutal and fanguinary conquerors, they invaded them at a period of which history or even tradition preferves no recollection. Eftablished on the fhores of the fea, they are collected together in numerous and regular focieties, and inhabit towns or villages of great or small extent. Subject to Kings poffeffed of different extenfion of authority, and, by their commerce with Europeans, raised to a tolerable degree of civilization, they exercife different arts, addict themselves to agriculture, and the care of flocks, to fifhery, trade, and navigation, as fully as their natural apathy and defire of gain allow. Offspring of the ferocious warriors of Malacca, they preferve the language of their anceftors, their manners, cuftoms, laws, and religion, but, by long fubjection to the Portugueze and Dutch, they have happily lost a portion of their original ferocity. Fifty-fix individuals of this generation were fubjected to my experiments. In them was noticed; that between eighteen and thirty years of age ftrength encreases, so as at the latter nearly to double the degree exerted at the former period; that it augments but trivially from thirty to forty; and that it gradually diminishes from forty to fifty, and from fifty to fixty. Thefe experiments moreover gave for the mean degree of manual strength 58,7°; for that of the reins 16,2°. SECT. IV. Experiments on the strength of the French. With favages, or those but flightly civilized, fuch as those of which we have spoken, dynanometrical obfervations are more correctly obtained in a general point of view than can ever be the cafe among Europeans. Our numerous population, the diverfity of profeffions followed by the individuals of which it is compofed, our habits of life, aliment, &c. prevent any fair comparison; for in order to find the mean ftrength of a nation, of the French for example, fuch a multitude of experiments would be neceffary on fubjects taken from all claffes of fociety, as to render a juft conclufion next to impoffible. Not fo with hordes of favages, efpecially thofe of New Holland and Diemen's Land in these parts the population is fo thin that the most numerous tribes confift scarcely of fifty individuals; and here all difference of rank, exercise, and food is unknown with fimilar wants and fimilar refources all have the fame labours to follow, the fame privations to undergo, and indulge in the fame enjoyments. This uniformity, conftantly existing through every ftage of life, occafions a phyfical and moral fimilitude in thefe individuals of which no idea can be formed in focial life. Hence I do not hesitate, notwithstanding the small number of obfervations made by me on the inhabitants of Diemen's Land and New Holland, nay, even of Timor, to look upon the results as much more precife than a more numerous feries of experiments made on European nations could poffibly be. I am therefore far from difpofed to deduce any confequence, from the few dynanometrical experiments made on the English and French, decifive of the actual strength of these two people. I merely present them as affording affording fpecimens by which a better judgment may be formed of the weakness of the favage nations before noticed; which fpecimens alfo are the more adapted for this pur. pofe as the individuals on whom the experiments were made, were of fimilar ages, and of different profeffions; merchants, military men, judges, naturalifts, phyficians, failors, &c.; and as the experiments were made by them while under the influence of the fame climate. The manual ftrength of feventeen Frenchmen gave for a mean 69,22; that of the loins 22,1°. SECT. V. Experiments on the firength of the English. The mean refult from fourteen experiments made on Englifhmen, gave for the ftrength of the hands 71,4°; for that of the loins 23,8'. The flight difference between this refult and that of the experiments on the French, may poffibly have been occafioned by the latter having returned from a long fea voyage, while the English, who tried the dynanometer, were principally thofe refident on fhore: other little circumstances, local or individual, might likewife have been the caufe of the difference; whence, to draw any deduction as to the relative force from thefe experiments would be ridiculous. SECT. VI. -General refult of experiments on the strength of the favages of Diemen's Land and New Holland, of the inhabitants of Timor, the French and the English. Combining the refults of the series of experiments on the four different nations, it follows that the manual strength at a mean was in the following proportions expressed in kilogrammes and lbs. avoirdupois. Lbs. avoird, and Kilogrammes. The force of the loins in the undermentioned, expreffed in myriagrammes, and lbs. avoirdupois, were Of the people of Diemen's Land The French The English New Holland decimals. Myriagrammes. Lbs. avoird, and Hence there may be drawn as conclufions, ift, That the inhabitants of Diemen's Land, the moft perfect favages, and thofe who pre-eminently deserve the name of the children of nature, are of all the weakest. The only exception was the captain of a merchantman, of the name of Smith, whofe manual ftrength was exceeded by that of Michaux alone on the part of the French, the compreffion of the inftrument by Smith giving 79, by Michaux 82: but if Smith found a fuperior in manual ftrength, in ftrength of loins he furpaffed all, either French or English, the dynanometer giving for his draught standing on the foot of the inftrument, and pulling upward, 31 myriagrammes, while the moft powerful among the French, Lieut. L. Freycinet, could only draw the needle to 29,5. TR. 9 2d. That 2d, That the inhabitants of New Holland, a degree removed from the former towards civilization, are much inferior in ftrength to thofe of Timor, though in a flight degree ftronger than the Diemenese. 3d, That the inhabitants of Timor, both in the hands and loins, are vastly weaker than either the English or French. And from thefe conclufions may further be deduced : That phyfical ftrength is not always the greater in proportion to the decrease of civilization; and that it is not a uniform and natural confequence of a favage state. Such are the deductions from the experiments I was enabled to make with the dynamometer during a long and tedious voyage: I did intend to continue them at the Cape of Good Hope upon the Hottentot race; but the interest of science impelled me to make a facrifice at the Ifle of France of the inftrument to which I was indebted for thefe afcertainments. I delivered it, by direction of the governor of the colony, to M. Chapotin, chief phyfician, and may reasonably prefume that in his hands it will produce new information. No country indeed is better adapted than the Island of France for observations of this defcription, where, on a limited fpace, the inhabitants of all climates are collected: the negro from the banks of the Senegal and the Niger, the fierce Yolof, the proud Malyache, the warlike and coloffal Caffre, the robuft inhabitant of Mozambique, in fhort, all the black legions of Africa are here confounded together; here too are feen the cruel Malay from the rocks of Macaffar, and the peaceful inhabitants of the Sunda, and Molucca iflands; the indolent, weak, and gentle race which drink the waters of the Indus and the Ganges, are numerous there; and fome of the individuals of the islands of the great ocean begin to make their appearance: finally, thousands of ships annually touch here from all quarters of the globe. What valuable information, provided experiments with the dynamometer were carefully made by an intelligent man, might there not therefore be obtained from fuch a multiplicity of nations, fo different one from the other! But, without anticipating the advantages of a work of this kind conducted with propriety, I fhall make fome general remarks on the prefumptive caufes of the weaknefs of the three nations of which I have spoken. SECT. VII.-On the prefumptive Caufes of the Weakness of the Inhabitants of Diemen's Land, New Holland, and Timor. Having established the fact by direct experiments of the very remarkable weaknefs of the people of Diemen's Land, New Holland, and Timor, the enquiry follows: is this weaknefs to be attributed to their mode of life and the abfence of civilization? This problem, as difficult as it is interesting, doubtless requires for its folution a greater number of data than I have collected; ftill these appear to me fufceptible of throwing much light on the question. Modern phyfiologifts agree that, every thing in other refpects being the fame, bodily ftrength is best created and maintained by abundant and healthy nourishment, and by constant and moderate exercise. A temperature of the atmosphere inclinable to cold is regarded as a third advantage, though of lefs general confequence, and lefs indif penfable than the preceding. Regarding thefe as caufes, the reverse of them must be liable to produce oppofite effects. Thefe elements admitted, the caufes of the weakness of the nations in queftion fhould, in my esteem, appear equally fimple and efficient. To prove this it will be sufficient I should in a fuccinct manner recapitulate the physical ftate of the country, on which by nature these different people are placed. 14. The ft. The Inhabitants of Timor. The large island Timor, too little known to Europeans, and especially to naturalists, is, in every respect, one of the most fertile the world can boaft. Without digreffing into a difplay of its vegetable and animal productions, it may be fufficient I fhould obferve that every kind of fruit peculiar to the climate of India is found here in profufion, without requiring of man any other labour than to gather it: rice is of fuperior quality; the most valuable roots, potatoes, ignames, manioc, and many others unknown to me, are in greateft plenty; in fine, the vegetable kingdom exhaufts here all its ftores. In the animal region nature is equally profufe. Round the cabin of the indolent Malay are conftantly feen immenfe fwarms of poultry, ducks, pigs, goats, fheep, buffaloes, horses, &c. All the neighbouring forests abound in flocks and herds of thefe animals, again become wild and wanderers. To thefe add numerous legions of monkies and enormous bats, the flesh of which is held a luxury by the Malays, and is truly tender and delicate; and it must be granted that here the inhabitants have nothing left to wifh for. I fay nothing of birds, however various their genera and fpecies, fince amid fuch profufion they are altogether difregarded. The rivers yield abundance of excellent fifh; but nothing can compare for fecundity with the fea-fhore of Timor, as all the naturalifts of Paris may conjecture from the prodigious quantity of cruftaceous and teftaceous animals, fish, mollufcæ, zoophytes, &c. which M. Lefueur and myself have tranfmitted. These are obtained at pleasure, and without the slightest labour; all that is required being to go down to the fea-fhore at low water and select with the hand any of thefe animals, found in fhoals in fmall hollows among the madrepores, where they have been left by the tide, the water filtering through the madrepores, and leaving the small pits dry. With refpect to aliment, therefore, no people was ever more amply supplied, nor more kindly dealt with by nature: excellence, abundance, and variety await merely felection; in point, therefore, of fufficiency of nutriment nothing is wanting for the production of ftrength in man. Unhappily this facility of fatisfying the wants of life, this fuperfluity afforded without either care or labour, have generated a univerfal apathy, an indifference, nay, an averfion for toil fo great among this people, that the very thought of it is fufficient to render them melancholy. Part of the day as well as the night, the inhabitant of Timor is feen feated on his heels, beneath the fhade of a tamarind or palm-tree, a bananin' or a mangle, inceffantly chewing his betel and drinking caloo; twice or thrice in the day he takes a flender meal; now diverts himself with a kind of guitar made of the bamboo and a leaf of the latanier; now weaves fome little mats or other trifling works of no exertion; and now again fpends hours in bathing, combing his hair, and rubbing himfelf with oil of cocoa, fleeping at intervals of both day and night. As for flaves, they are fo numerous in every houfe, fuch little work is exacted of them, and this is done with fuch deliberation, that they live a life as idle almost as their masters. From this picture of their habitude this people must be regarded as funk into a permanent ftate of inaction and reft. Does not a mode of living fuch as here defcribed appear fufficient to account for that weaknefs denoted by the dynanometer, and which indeed is not lefs evident from their conformation? In fact, without being fo weak in their limbs as the people of Diemen's Land and New Holland, the Malays of Timor in these parts are defective of ftrength and but little mufcular; in confequence they poffefs a roundness and grace much fuperior to what is obfervable in Europeans, and naked, as they commonly are, appear with fingular elegance. From |
