VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS* gqg

od, That the inhabitants of New Holland, a degree removed from the former to-wards civilization, are much inferior in ftrength to thofe of Timor , though in a flightdegree ftronger than the Diemenefe.

3d, That the inhabitants of Timor , both in the hands and loins, are vaftly weakerthan either the Engliffi or French .

And from thefe conclufions may further be deduced :

That phyfical ftrength is not always the greater in proportion to the decreafe ofcivilization ; and that it is not a uniform and natural confequence of a favafe ftate.

Such are the deductions from the experiments I was enabled to make with the dyna-mometer during a long and tedious voyage : I did intend to continue them at the Capeof Good Hope upon the Hottentot race ; but the intereft of fcience impelled me tomake a facrifice at the Ifle of France of the inftrument to which I was indebted forthefe afcertainments. I delivered it, by direction of the governor of the colony, toM. Chapotin, chief phyfician, and may reafonably prefume that in his hands it willproduce new information. No country indeed is better adapted than the Mand ofFrance for obfervations of this defcription, where, on a limited fpace, the inhabitantsof 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 Caftre, the robuft inha-bitant of Mozambique, in fhort, all the black legions of Africa are here confoundedtogether; here too are feen the cruel Malay from the rocks of Macaffar, and thepeaceful inhabitants of the Sunda, and Molucca iflands ; the indolent, weak, and gentlerace which drink the waters of the Indus and the Ganges , are numerous there ; andfome of the individuals of the iflands of the great ocean begin to make their appear-ance : finally, thoufands of fhips annually touch here from all quarters of the globe.What valuable information, provided experiments with the dynamometer were care-fully made by an intelligent man, might there not therefore be obtained from fuch amultiplicity of nations, fo different one from the other! But, without anticipating theadvantages of a work of this kind conducted with propriety, I fhall make fome generalremarks on the preemptive caufes of the weakneis of the three nations of which Ihave fpoken.

SECT. VII.— On the prefumptive Caufes of the Wealcnefs of the Inhabitants of Diemen s

Land, New Holland , and Timor .

Having eftablifhed the faCt by direct experiments of the very remarkable weak-nefs 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 interefting, doubtlefs requires for its folution a greaternumber of data than I have collected ; ftill thefe appear to me fufceptible of throwingmuch light on the queftion.

Modern phyfiologifts agree that, everything in other refpeCts being the fame, bodilyftrength is bell created and maintained by abundant and healthy nourilhment, and byconftant and moderate exercife. A temperature of the atmofphere inclinable to coldis regarded as a third advantage, though of lefs general confequence, and lefs indif-penfable than the preceding. Regarding thefe as caufes, the reverfe of them muft beliable to produce oppofite effefts. Thefe elements admitted, the caufes of the weaknefsof the nations in queftion Ihould, in my efteem, appear equally fimple and efficient.To prove this it will be fiifficient I fnoulB in a fuccinCt manner recapitulate the phyficalftate of the country, on which by nature thefe different people are placed.

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