Thus it is at Otaheite, where 5000 barbarians still prefer the destruction of their offspring to the moderate exertion necessary to provide them with food, in an island which previously supported more than twenty times that number, without vexing the earth with their instruments of tillage.

An investigation into the condition of the hunting tribes on the northern continent of America will give results not essentially different.

A very curious account of the state of some of these tribes is to be found in Hearne's Journey to the Copper-mine River, 4to, 1795. He appears to have been nearly the first European who visited them, and had therefore an opportunity of contemplating their moral and political condition in all its native deformity. The veracity of his account is, I believe, universally admitted. That of the main fact which he recorded, and of which he was the first discoverer, is fully established by the subsequent travels of Mackenzie, viz. the existence of a line of sea-coast to the north of North America, about the latitude of 73°. Nor is there any evidence, either internal or derived from subsequent experience, that throws reasonable doubt upon the faithfulness of the picture which he presents of savage manners. His journeys were performed on foot, in the years 1769-70-71-72, by a route leading from the western point of Hudson's Bay towards the north-west. A more striking proof of the general condition of the countries he traversed can scarcely be given than by recording the fact, that in a journey of some months he was precluded from any possibility of a change of apparel, even of linen, by the necessity under which he and his companions lay of reserving all their strength for

D

the conveyance of necessary food. In p. 33. he writes, "It will be only necessary to say that we have fasted many times two whole days and nights; twice upwards of three days, and once while at Shee-tan-nee near seven days, during which we tasted not a mouthful of any thing except a few cranberries, water, On those scraps of old leather, and burnt bones. pressing occasions I have frequently seen the Indians examine their wardrobe, which consisted chiefly of skin clothing, and consider what part could best be spared; sometimes a piece of an old half-rotten deerskin, and at others a pair of old shoes, were sacrificed to alleviate extreme hunger. The relation of such uncommon hardships may, perhaps, gain little credit in Europe; while those who are conversant with the History of Hudson's Bay and are thoroughly acquainted with the distress which the natives of the country about it frequently endure, may consider them as no more than the common occurrences of an Indian life, in which they are frequently driven to the necessity of eating one another." (This, be it observed, in a country whose population is very thinly scattered in proportion to its productive powers.)

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An Indian chief attributed the failure of Mr. Hearne's first journey to the circumstance of their not taking any women with them. "For," said he, "when all the men are heavy laden, they can neither hunt, nor travel to any considerable distance: and in case they meet with success in hunting who is to carry the produce? Women, added he, are made for labour one of them can carry or haul as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night: in fact, there is no such thing as travelling without

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their assistance. Though they do every thing, they are maintained at trifling expense, for as they always cook, the very licking of their fingers, in scarce times, is sufficient for their subsistence." (P. 55.) "Notwithstanding the northern Indians are at times so voracious, they bear hunger with an incredible degree of fortitude. I have more than once seen them at the end of three or four days fasting, as merry and jocose on the subject, as if they had voluntarily imposed it on themselves; they would ask each other" if they had now any inclination for an intrigue with a strange woman." (P. 70.) Finding great plenty of deer in the neighbourhood of our little encampment, it was agreed by all parties to remain a few days, in order to dry and pound some meat to make it lighter for carriage." (P. 73.) A woman and her two children joined us next morning, They were the first strangers we had met since we left the fort, though we had travelled several hundred miles." (P. 74.) "One of their dishes is made of the raw liver of a deer cut in small pieces, and mixed up with the contents of the stomach of the same animal, and the further digestion has proceeded, the better it is suited to their taste. They will eat venison, seals, and sea-horse paws, though they have been a whole year sewed in skin bags. Nay, I have even seen them eat whole hands full of maggots produced in meat by fly-blows, and it is their constant custom when their noses bleed by any accident to lick the blood into their mouths and swallow it. To such distresses are they frequently driven by hunger, that we are no longer surprised at finding they can relish any thing, but rather admire the wisdom and kindness of Providence in forming the palates and powers of all creatures in

a manner most adapted to the food, climate, and circumstances of their situation." (P. 160-61.) "Several of the Indians being very ill, the conjurers, who are always the doctors, and pretend to perform great cures, began to try their skill for their recovery. They use no medicine. Sucking the part affected, blowing and singing to it, haughing, spitting, and uttering a heap of unintelligible jargon, compose the whole process of the cure. "Besides the above, they have recourse in the illness of a friend to a very extraordinary piece of superstition, pretending to swallow hatchets, ice chisels, broad bayonets, knives, and the like, out of a superstitious notion that undertaking such desperate feats will have some influence in appeasing death, and procure a respite for their patient." (P. 190-91.) Other superstitions are detailed of a nature too indelicate for recital in this place. My object also is to direct the reader's attention principally to those circumstances in the habits of these savage tribes which are more immediately connected with the hardships endured from a scanty supply of food, and with the causes to which the scantiness of that supply may be attributed. I wish to enable him to form a fair judgment whether the pressure of po pulation against food in these regions be a dispensation of Providence from which they can only escape by a decrease in the number of the people; or a salutary consequence of vice from which a little industry would relieve them. "We came to a tent of northern Indians, from whom Matonabee, an Indian chief, purchased another wife; so that he had now no less than seven, most of whom would for size have made good grenadiers, He prided himself much upon the height and strength of his wives, and would

frequently say few women could carry or haul heavier loads; and though they had in general a very masculine appearance, yet he preferred them to those of a more delicate form and moderate stature. In a country like this, where a partner in excessive hard labour is the chief motive for the union, there seems to be great propriety in such a choice." "The wives are all kept at the greatest distance, and the rank they hold in the opinion of the men cannot be better explained, than by observing the method of treating or serving them at meals. When the men kill any large beast, the women are sent to bring it to the tent: when it is brought there, every operation it undergoes, such as splitting, drying, curing, &c. is performed by the women. When any thing is to be prepared for eating, the women cook it; and when it is done, the wives and daughters of the greatest captains in the country are never served till all the males, even those who are in the capacity of servants, have eaten what they think proper; and in times of scarcity it is frequently their lot to be left without a single morsel. It is, however, natural to think they help themselves in secret; but this must be done with great prudence, as in such times it frequently subjects them to a very severe beating." (P. 90-1.) This chief, Matonabee, hanged himself about thirteen years after this period, an accident that was attended with the most melancholy consequences; no less than six of his wives and four of his children having been starved to death the following winter for want of his support.

"One of the Indians' wives, who for some time past had been in a consumption, became so weak as to be incapable of travelling, among these people the