, this instance
ought to teach us to have retrospect likewise to the original races
from which those tribes are descended, that fell under our
examination. Let us, for instance, suppose, that the people of New
Caledonia are the offspring of a nation, who, by living in affluence
and in a genial climate, have not been stinted in their growth; the
colony which removed into the barren soil of New Caledonia, will
probably preserve the habit of body of their ancestors for many
generations. The people of Tanna may have undergone a contrary
revolution, and being descended of a slender and short race, like the
Mallicollese, the richness of their present country may not yet have
entirely taken effect. The inoffensive character of the people of New
Caledonia appears to great advantage in their conduct towards us. They
are the only people in the South Seas who have not had reason to
complain of our arrival among them. When we consider how easy it is to
provoke the mariner to sport with the lives of Indians, from the
numerous examples throughout this narrative, we must acknowledge that
it required an uncommon degree of good temper, not to draw upon
themselves a single act of brutality. Those philosophers who are of
opinion that the temper, the manners, and genius of a people, depend
entirely upon the climate, will be at a loss to account for the
peaceful character of the inhabitants of New Caledonia. If we admit
that they are only strangers to distrust, because they have little to
lose, we shall not solve the difficulty; since the people of New
Holland, under the influence of a similar climate and soil, and in a
more wretched situation than the inhabitants of New Caledonia, are
savage and unsociable. The different characters of nations seem
therefore to depend upon a multitude of different causes, which have
acted together during a series of many ages. The inhabitants of New
Caledonia do not owe their kind disposition to a total ignorance of
wars and disputes; the variety of their offensive weapons being alone
sufficient to put this matter out of doubt. By conversing with them we
learnt that they have enemies, and that the people of an island called
Mingha had a very different character from their own. Civilization is
much farther advanced in some respects among them, than with their
more opulent