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VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS,
SECT. II. — Experiments on the Savages of New Holland.
New Holland, from Wilfon’s Promontory in thefouth, to Cape York in the nortfo*appears to be inhabited by a fecond race of men, differing effentially from any hithertoknown. The ftature of thefe men is nearly the fame as that of the inhabitants of Die-men’s Land ; but, independent of other chara&eriltics, they differ from the race pre-cedingly defcribed, in the lighter colour of their fkin, in the nature of their hair, whichis fleek and long, and in the remarkable fhape of their head, which is fmaller, and, in-ftead of being longer from their chin to the fmciput, is in meafure compreffed at thecrown. The back of this people is likewife in general lefs broad : in other refpeftsthe fame difproportion exilts in them between the trunk and the members, the fameweaknefs and flender fhape of the latter, and, in many inftances, the fame tumefactionof the belly. For what regards the focial ffate, the inhabitants of New Holland arehitherto unacquainted with agriculture, or the ufe of metals; like the inhabitants ofDiemen’s Land, they go without raiment, and are deftitute of laws, worfhip, arts, orany affured means of fupport ; being obliged, like the Diemenefe, to depend on theforefls or the fea-fhore for their fuftenance. But among thefe already are the firft ele-ments of focial organization perceptible : the different hordes comprize a larger num-ber of members; they have chiefs; their dwellings, though built in a coarfe ftyle,i are more numerous and of fuperior ftru&ure j their arms are more varied and for-midable ; they are more venturefome on the water ; their mode of hunting is more re-gular ; and their wars more general; already they refpeft the rights of nations in fome.degree; and, finally, they have tamed the dog, and make him their companion inhunting and in war. But again, equally brutal with the people of Diemen’s Land,they are even more averfe from Grangers. Dampier, Cook, La Peroufe, and Flinders,at different places, and at different periods, have been obliged to repel their infults byfire-arms, and we ourfelves avoided having recourfe to this expedient only by taking toflight.
Seventeen favages of the fouthern continent made experiments of their flrength bythe 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 cha-ra&eriftic of weaknefs obferved among the Diemenefe was apparent here. One alonecaufed the needle to advance to 62°, and the mean flrength of the fourteen individualsfcarcely exceeded 51 0 . Some indeed were fo weak as fcarcely to be able to raife theneedle to 40°.
The flrength of their loins furnifhed, on experiment, the fame refults : if the young< Ooroo Mare be excepted, who caufed the needle to rife to 19% none were able to make
it advance fo far as 18 0 ; and fo much inferior was the renal flrength of the remainderas to give fcarcely 14.8° for a mean.
SECT. III. — Experiments on the flrength of the inhabitants of Timor .
In afcending from the Diemenefe to the people of New Holland, we reach the firftremoval from the pure favage ; in order to perfect the fcale of gradation from the flateof nature to the approximation towards focial order found in the inhabitants of Timorfeveral fleps are wanting : the fecond removal might be exhibited by the people of NewGuinea j a third by thofe of New Zealand j a fourth, according to the moll authenticaccounts, by the races inhabiting the great equatorial ocean j and the population of
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