[Footnote 60: History of Japan, vol. i. p. 93.]
[Footnote 61: That the Malayans have not only frequented Madagascar, but have also been the progenitors of some of the present race of inhabitants there, is confirmed to us by the testimony of Monsieur de Pagès, who visited that island so late as 1774. "Ils m'ont paru provenir des diverses races; leur couleur leur cheveux, et leur corps l'indiquent. Ceux que je n'ai pas cru originaires des anciens naturels du pays, sont petits et trapus; ils ont les cheveux presque unis, et sont olivátres comme les Malayes, avec qui ils ont, en général, une espece de resemblance."--Voyages des M. des Pagès, tom. ii. p. 90.--D.]
[Footnote 40: Archaeolog. vol. vi. p. 155. See also his History of Sumatra, p. 166, from which the following passage is transcribed:-- "Besides the Malaye, there are a variety of languages spoken in Sumatra, which, however, have not only a manifest affinity among themselves, but also to that general language which is found to prevail in, and to be indigenous to, all the islands of the eastern seas; from Madagascar to the remotest of Captain Cook's discoveries, comprehending a wider extent than the Roman or any other tongue has yet boasted. In different places, it has been more or less mixed and corrupted; but between the most dissimilar branches, an eminent sameness of many radical words is apparent; and in some very distant from each other, in point of situation: As, for instance, the Philippines and Madagascar, the deviation of the words is scarcely more than is observed in the dialects of neighbouring provinces of the same kingdom."--D.]
Our British discoverers have not only thrown a blaze of light on the migrations of the tribe which has so wonderfully spread itself throughout the islands in the eastern ocean, but they have also favoured us with much curious information concerning another of the families of the earth, whose lot has fallen in less hospitable climates. We speak of the Esquimaux, hitherto only found seated on the coasts of Labradore and Hudson's Bay, and who differ in several characteristic marks from the inland inhabitants of North America. That the Greenlanders and they agree in every circumstance of customs, and manners, and language, which are demonstrations of an original identity of nation, had been discovered about twenty years ago.[62] Mr Hearne, in 1771, traced this unhappy race farther back, toward that part of the globe from whence they had originally coasted along in their skin boats, having met with some of them at the mouth of the Copper-mine River, in the latitude of 72°, and near five hundred leagues farther west than Pickersgill's most westerly station in Davis's Strait. Their being the same tribe who now actually inhabit the islands and coasts on the west side of North America, opposite Kamtschatka, was a discovery, the completion of which was reserved for Captain Cook. The reader of the following work will find them at Norton Sound, and at Oonalashka and Prince William's Sound; that is, near 1500 leagues distant from their stations in Greenland and on the Labradore coast. And lest similitude of manners should be thought to deceive us, a table exhibiting proofs of affinity of language, which was drawn up by Captain Cook, and is inserted in this work, will remove every doubt from the mind of the most scrupulous enquirer after truth.[63]
[Footnote 62: See Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. i. p. 262; where we are told that the Moravian brethren, who, with the consent and furtherance of Sir Hugh Palliser, then governor of Newfoundland, visited the Esquimaux on the Labradore coast, found that their language, and that of the Greenlanders, do not differ so much as that of the High and Low Dutch.--D.]
[Footnote 63: The Greenlanders, as Crantz tells us, call themselves Karalit; a word not very unlike Kanagyst, the name assumed by the inhabitants of Kodiack, one of the Schumagin islands, as Staehlin informs us.--D.]
There are other doubts of a more important kind, which, it may be hoped, will now no longer perplex the ignorant, or furnish matter of cavil to the ill-intentioned. After the great discovery, or at least the full confirmation of the great discovery, of the vicinity of the two continents of Asia and America, we trust that we shall not, for the future, be ridiculed, for believing that the former could easily furnish its inhabitants to the latter. And thus, to all the various good purposes already enumerated, as answered by our late voyages, we may add this last, though not the least important, that they have done service to religion, by robbing infidelity of a favourite objection to the credibility of the Mosaic account of the peopling of the earth.[64]
[Footnote 64: A contempt of revelation is generally the result of ignorance, conceited of its possessing superior knowledge. Observe how the author of Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains, expresses himself on this very point. "Cette distance que Mr Antermony veut trouver si peu impotante, est à-peu-près de huit cent lieus Gauleises au travers d'un ocean perilleux, et impossible à franchir avec des canots aussi chetifs et aussi fragiles que le sont, au rapport d'Ysbrand Ides, les chaloupes des Tunguses," etc. etc. t. i. p. 156. Had this writer known that the two continents are not above thirteen leagues (instead of eight hundred) distant from each other, and that, even in that narrow space of sea, there are intervening islands, he would not have ventured to urge this argument in opposition to Mr Bell's notion of the quarter from which North America received its original inhabitants.--D.
No intelligent reader needs to be informed, that a much closer approach of the two continents of Asia and America than is here alleged to exist, would be inadequate to account for the peopling of the latter, throughout its immense extent and very important diversities of appearance. The opinion is more plausible, and gains ground in the world, that much of South America derived its original inhabitants from the opposite coast of Africa. It is enough to state this opinion, without occupying a moment's attention, in discussing the arguments which can be adduced in its support. The truth of Revelation, it may be remarked, is quite unaffected by the controversy, and, in fact, can receive neither injury nor advantage from any decision that is given to it. The real friends of that cause attach little importance to any weight of human argument in its favour, and rest entirely on divine evidence, for both the painful and the comfortable effects it produces on their consciences. Any other, they are sure, may indeed furnish matter for the display of ingenuity and learning, but will fall short of that conviction which secures self-denied obedience to its precepts.--E.]
6. Hitherto we have considered our voyages as having benefited the discoverers. But it will be asked, Have they conveyed, or are they likely ever to convey, any benefit to the discovered? It would afford exquisite satisfaction to every benevolent mind, to be instructed in facts, which might enable us, without hesitation, to answer this question in the affirmative. And yet, perhaps, we may indulge the pleasing hope, that, even in this respect, our ships have not sailed in vain. Other discoveries of new countries have, in effect, been wars, or rather massacres; nations have been no sooner found out, than they have been extirpated; and the horrid cruelties of the conquerors of Mexico and Peru can never be remembered, without blushing for religion and human nature. But when the recesses of the globe are investigated, not to enlarge private dominion, but to promote general knowledge; when we visit new tribes of our fellow-creatures as friends; and wish only to learn that they exist, in order to bring them within the pale of the offices of humanity, and to relieve the wants of their imperfect state of society, by communicating to them our superior attainments; voyages of discovery planned with such benevolent views by George the Third, and executed by Cook, have not, we trust, totally failed in this respect. Our repeated visits, and long-continued intercourse with the natives of the Friendly, Society, and Sandwich Islands, cannot but have darted some rays of light on the infant minds of those poor people. The uncommon objects they have thus had opportunities of observing and admiring, will naturally tend to enlarge their stock of ideas, and to furnish new materials for the exercise of their reason. Comparing themselves with their visitors, they cannot but be struck with the deepest conviction of their own inferiority, and be impelled, by the strongest motives, to strive to emerge from it, and to rise nearer to a level with those children of the Sun, who deigned to look upon them, and left behind so many specimens of their generous and humane attention. The very introduction of our useful animals and vegetables, by adding fresh means of subsistence, will have added to their comforts of life, and immediate enjoyments; and if this be the only benefit they are ever to receive, who will pronounce that much has not been gained? But may we not carry our wishes and our hopes still farther? Great Britain itself, when, first visited by the Phoenicians, was inhabited by painted savages, not, perhaps, blessed with higher attainments than are possessed by the present natives of New Zealand; certainly less civilized than those of Tongataboo or Otaheite. Our having opened an intercourse with them, is the first step toward their improvement. Who knows, but that our late voyages may be the means appointed by Providence, of spreading, in due time, the blessings of civilization amongst the numerous tribes of the South Pacific Ocean; of abolishing their horrid repasts and their horrid rites; and of laying the foundation for future and more effectual plans, to prepare them for holding an honourable station amongst the nations of the earth? This, at least, is certain, that our having, as it were, brought them into existence by our extensive researches, will suggest to us fresh motives of devout gratitude to the Supreme Being, for having blessed us with advantages hitherto withheld from so great a proportion of the human race; and will operate powerfully to incite us to persevere in every feasible attempt, to be his instruments in rescuing millions of fellow-creatures from their present state of humiliation.[65]
[Footnote 65: It is painful to a liberal mind to question the basis of any hope, or to doubt the validity of any expectations, in behalf of our species. One would rather foster a mistaken benevolence, which, scorning selfish interests, embraced the future welfare of distant and unknown people, were it not that the indulgence of them might tend to prevent the very object which they regard from being attained. Does not the well-meaning editor anticipate too much from the diffusion of foreign knowledge among the tribes of whom he speaks? Is he not somewhat inattentive to the mass of inseparable evil which every such accession brings along with it? Does he not seem to confound together the acquisition of knowledge, and the ability to do what is requisite for human happiness? May we not perceive by the very items of his calculation, that he has neglected to consider that nice adjustment of the faculty and the means of enjoyment, which evinces the general care and universal affection of Providence? The consequence of such neglect or mistake, would be an injudicious and hasty effort to induce what we call civilization, on the too much commiserated objects of our philanthropy. Without disputing for a moment, that the intercourse with Europeans has proved beneficial to these people, though, as every intelligent reader knows well, a thousand arguments would be thrown away on an attempt to shew there was no occasion to do so, we may fairly enough affirm, that such zealous exertions as are here virtually recommended, are liable to the charge of being premature, and not altogether according to knowledge. We are too apt to imagine that barbarous people are easily made to believe their institutions and manners are erroneous, or impolitic; and that they will accordingly readily listen to the suggestions of those who, they acknowledge, are in many respects superior to themselves. But, in fact, the very reverse is the case, and it will ever be found that the simplest states of society are least sensible of inconveniences, and therefore most averse to innovation. Besides, it ought to be remembered, that, independent of any adventitious assistance, there is implanted in every such society, how contemptible soever it may seem to others, a certain principle of amelioration, which never fails, in due time, to yield its fruit, and which, there is some reason to apprehend, may receive detriment from obtrusive solicitude to hasten its product. Every boy has within him the seeds of manhood, which, at the period appointed by nature, germinate, blossom, and fructify; but anxiety to accelerate the process too often ruins the soil on which they grow, and mars the hopes of the cultivator, by unseasonable maturity and rapid decay. So is it with societies. The progress of human affairs on the large scale, is precisely similar to what we daily witness on the small. It has been described, with equal beauty and correctness, by the judicious Ferguson, in his Essays on the History of Civil Society. "What was in one generation," says he, "a propensity to herd with the species, becomes, in the ages which follow, a principle of natural union. What was originally an alliance for common defence, becomes a concerted plan of political force; the care of subsistence becomes an anxiety for accumulating wealth, and the foundation of commercial arts."--Who can say that the officiousness of friendship is not likely to disorder the series, and, though it escape the charge and the fate of presumption, is not deserving to be considered as unnecessary enthusiasm?--E.]