for them separately, and have frequently told us the fruits that would be in season, and the weather that would prevail, in each of them; and they have indeed a name for them collectively, though they use it only when they speak of the mysteries of their religion. Every day is subdivided into twelve parts, each of two hours, of which six belong to the day, and six to the night. At these divisions they guess pretty nearly by the height of the sun while he is above the horizon; but there are few of them that can guess at them, when he is below it, by the stars.' In numeration they proceed from one to ten, the number of fingers on both hands; and though they have for each number a different name, they generally take hold of their fingers one by one, shifting from one hand to the other, till they come to the number they want to express. And in other instances, we observed that, when they were conversing with each other, they joined signs to their words, which were so expressive that a stranger might easily apprehend their meaning. In counting from ten they repeat the name of that number, and add the word more; ten, and one more, is eleven; ten, and two more, twelve; and so of the rest, as we say one-and-twenty, two-and-twenty. When they come to ten and ten more, they have a new denomination, as we say a score; and by these scores they count till they get ten of them, when they have a denomination for two hundred ; and we never could discover that they had any denomination to express a greater number: Neither, indeed, do they seem 'It is distinctly proved by President Goguet, that the course of the moon, and her various appearances, served mankind in general, in the first ages, for the measurement of time. What is here said of the Otaheitans confirms his observations. We are told too, in another work, that the natives of the Pellew Islands reckon their time by months, and not by years; in which, however, we see they are inferior to the former as to extent of science. Now there are two sorts of lunar month, called in the language of astronomers, synodical and periodical; the first is the time from new moon to new moon, consisting of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 min. 3 seconds, which is the month most commonly used by the early observers; the second, consisting of 27 days, 7 hours, 43 min. 5 seconds, is that portion of time which the moon takes to finish her course round the earth. Neither of these multiplied by 13 will make up the solar year exactly. In what manner then the Otaheitans reckon, it is not easy to comprehend. The probability is, that they have no notion of the periodical month.-E. seem to want any; for ten of these amount to two thousand, a greater number than they can ever apply. In measuring distance they are much more deficient than in computing numbers, having but one term which answers to fathom; when they speak of distances from place to place, they express it, like the Asiatics, by the time that is required to pass it. Their language is soft and melodious; it abounds with vowels, and we easily learnt to pronounce it: But found it exceedingly difficult to teach them to pronounce a single word of ours; probably not only from its abounding in consonants, but from some peculiarity in its structure; for Spanish and Italian words, if ending in a vowel, they pronounced with great facility. Whether it is copious, we were not sufficiently acquainted with it to know; but it is certainly very imperfect, for it is almost totally without inflexion, both of nouns and verbs. Few of the nouns have more than one case, and few of the verbs more than one tense; yet we found no great difficulty in making ourselves mutually understood, however strange it may appear in speculation. They have, however, certain affixa, which, though but few in number, are very useful to them, and puzzled us extremely. One asks another, Harre hea?" Where are you going?" the other answers Ivahinera, "To my wives;" upon which the first repeating the answer interrogatively, "To your wives?" is answered, Ivahinereira; "Yes, I am going 2 The reader cannot but be pleased with what Goguet says on the prac tice of numbering with the fingers, so common in most nations, and adopted we see by the Otaheitans. "Nature has provided us with a kind of arithmetical instrument more generally used than is commonly ima gined; I mean our fingers. Every thing inclines us to think, that these were the first instruments used by men to assist them in the practice of numeration. We may observe in Homer, that Proteus counts his seacalves by fives and fives, that is, by his fingers. Several nations in America have no other instruments of calculation. It was probably the same in the primitive ages. It is another strong presumption of the truth of what I now advance, that all civilized nations count by tens, tens of tens, or hundreds, tens of hundreds, thousands, and so on; still from ten to ten. We can discover no reason why the number ten should be chosen rather than any other for the term of numeration, except this primitive practice of counting by the fingers." The whole of his observations on this subject are well worthy of minute consideration. On such elements, the provision of nature, are founded the most sublime and important sciences.-E. going to my wives." Here the suffixa era and eira save several words to both parties.3 Among people whose food is so simple, and who in general are seldomn drunk, it is scarcely necessary to say, that there are but few diseases; we saw no critical disease during our stay upon the island, and but few instances of sickness, which were accidental fits of the cholic. The natives, however, are afflicted with the erysipelas, and cutaneous eruptions of the scaly kind, very nearly approaching to a leprosy. Those in whom this distemper was far advanced, lived in a state of seclusion from all society, each in a small house built upon some unfrequented spot, where they were supplied with provisions: But whether they had any hope of relief, or languished out the remainder of their lives in solitude and despair, we could not learn. We observed also a few who had ulcers upon different parts of their bodies, some of which had a very virulent appearance; yet they seemed not much to be regarded by those who were afflicted with them, for they were left entirely without application even to keep off the flies.* Where 3 A table of some words of the language follows in the copy.-It is omitted here, because an opportunity will occur, to give one more full and correct; and it seemed injudicious to run the hazard of being charged with unnecessary repetition.-E. + The affection of the skin, called leprosy in the text, is, in the missionary account, ascribed to the excessive use of the yava, the intoxicating beverage of the Otaheitans, and is there said to be regarded by many as a badge of nobility. This perhaps is something on the same principle as the gout is accounted among us, an evidence of a person's being rich; for it appears, that the common people in general are as unable to procure the yava in Otaheite, as they are on our side of the world to indulge in luxurious living. What excellency there is in the scabbed skins of the Otaheitan lepers, to entitle them to the estimation of nobility, or what advantage they find in this to compensate the sufferings of so grievous a malady, is difficult indeed to divine; but it may be very safely affirmed of those among us, who have prospered so well as to obtain the gout for a possession, that they really require all the comforts of riches, though tenfold more than imagined, to render the residue of life any way tolerable. Yet such is the inconsistency of human nature, and so formidable its weakness of resolution, when pernicious habits are once formed, that few persons, though even writhing at the bare remembrance of its horrors, and dreading its approach as the attack of Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, can Where intemperance produces no diseases, there will be no physicians by profession; yet where there is sufferance, there will always be attempts to relieve; and where the cause of the mischief and the remedy are alike unknown, these can be prevailed on to swear rebellion against it." For," says Dr Heberden, "this seems to be the favourite disease of the present age in England; wished for by those who have it not, and boasted of by those who fancy they have it, though very sincerely lamented by most who in reality suffer its tyranny. For, so much respect hath been shown to this distemper, that all the other evils, except pain, which the real of supposed gouty patient ever feels, are imputed most commonly not to his having too much of this disease, but to his wanting more; and the gout, far from being blamed as the cause, is looked up to as the expected deliverer from these evils." "The dread of being cured of the gout," he further remarks, "was and is still much greater than the dread of having it; and the world seems agreed patiently to submit to this tyrant, lest a worse should come in its room. It is not difficult to account for such absurdity, though it be quite impracticable to palliate it; and what is worse, from its being founded on something more congenial to human nature than even prejudice, it is almost impossible to remove it. A single quotation more from the same author, so much in repute among his professional brethren, will at once unravel the mystery, and show how rare a thing a cure is, where the means essential to it are necessarily dependent on the self-denial of the patient. "Strong wines, and in no small quantity, have the reputation of being highly beneficial to gouty persons; which notion they have very readily and generally received, not so much perhaps from a reasonable persuasion of its truth, as from a desire that it should be true, because they love wine. Let them consider, that a free use of vinous and spirituous liquors pecaliarly hurts the stomach and organs of digestion, and that the gout is bred and fostered by those who indulge themselves in drinking much wine; while the poorer part of mankind, who can get very little stronger than water to drink, have better appetites than wine drinkers, and better digestions, and are far less subject to arthritic complaints. The most perfect cures, of which I have been a witness, have been effected by a total abstinence from spirits, and wine, and flesh, which in two or three instances hath restored the helpless and miserable patients from a state worse than death, to active and comfortable life: But I have seen too few examples of the success of this method, to be confident or satisfied of its general utility." The language of the missionary account is very similar and equally encouraging. On the discontinuance of the practice of drinking the yava, the skin of the leprous persons soon becomes smooth and clear, and they grow fat, though few are found who deny themselves the use of it." If drugs could remove either of these calamities, it is certain there would be no difficulty in getting them to be swallowed; for most men, it seems, prefer any sorts of bitter and nauseating substances, though taken by the pound, and without intermission, to the salutary restraints on appetite and vicious propensities, which common sense as well as common experience so authoritatively enjoin. It is as unjust to censure physicians for failing to cure the gout, as it would be to censure a surgeon for the lameness or deformity of the leg of a man, who, while under treatment for a fracture, should make daily attempts to dance or ride on horseback.-E. these will naturally be directed by superstition: Thus it happens, that in this country, and in all others which are not further injured by luxury, or improved by knowledge, the management of the sick falls to the lot of the priest. The method of cure that is practised by the priests of Otaheite, consists chiefly of prayers and ceremonies. When he visits his patient he repeats certain sentences, which appear to be set forms contrived for the occasion, and at the same time plaits the leaves of the cocoa-nut into different figures very neatly; some of these he fastens to the fingers and toes of the sick, and often leaves behind him a few branches of the thespecia populnea, which they call E'midho: These ceremonies are repeated till the patient recovers or dies. If he recovers, they say the remedies cured him, if he dies, they say the disease was incurable, in which perhaps they do not much differ from the custom of other countries.' VOL. XIII. D If 5 Dr Hawkesworth, we see, is at loggerheads with both priests and physicians, and spares neither. Let the respective members of these bodies defend their crafts as they best can. Certainly they will have the bias of the multitude in their favour, and so need to care little about the insinuations and sarcasms of the few. If nine-tenths of mankind give them credit for their pretences, and of consequence yield to their influence, they may contentedly, without a grudge, see the remaining modicum persist in their obstinacy. The fact is, however, that the fears and hopes of mankind are almost always superior in efficacy to their reason, and according ly, in the two predicaments of bodily and spiritual health, are continually acting like tendrils which embrace with undistinguishing affection whatever comes in their way, as the ivy clings to the tree or wall that happens to be in its neighbourhood. Influence, once acquired by accident or artifice, is easily prolonged by him who knows the secret of its origin and existence and hence in all ages and countries of the world, the mysteries and mummeries of designing men, leagued to practise on the infatuated propensities and real weaknesses of their fellow creatures. It is not till many generations have passed, that the small sparks of reason, occasionally shooting off in various directions, have penetrated the gloomy atmosphere around them, and ascertained the universal and unqualified dependence of the whole human race on the same uncontroulable powers. In proportion as these rays of light have coalesced, the presumption of the learned brethren has decreased; and should this superlative discovery be ever consummated in the general conviction of society, then will their characters undergo a thorough revolution-they will be loved more and admired lessthey will be considered, not as the repositories of secrets to be dispensed with the cold hand of calculating avarice and hypocrisy, but as the liberally minded declarers of those generally beneficial truths which honest study has discovered, in their peculiar departments of science. Till then the world must submit to wonder and believe, and, above all things, to pay them fees. But, looking forward to this era of improvement, they may join with the poet in saying Yes! |