PKOGRESS AMONG SAVAGES. 431 



north of Australia, McGillivray tells us that the rude bark 

 canoes which were formerly in general use have been quite 

 superseded by those dug out of the trunk of a tree ; again, 

 outriggers are said to have been recently adopted by the 

 Andaman Islanders ; and if certain races, as for instance some 

 of the American tribes, have fallen back, this has. I think, 

 been due less to any inherent tendency than to the injurious 

 effect of European influence. Moreover, if the Cape of Good 

 Hope, Australia, New Zealand, etc., had ever been inhabited 

 by a race of men more advanced than those whom we are in 

 the habit of regarding as the aborigines, some evidence of this 

 would surely have remained ; and this not being the case, 

 none of our travellers having observed any ruins or other 

 traces of a more advanced civilization, there does not appear 

 to be any sufficient reason for supposing that these miserable 

 beings are at all inferior to the ancestors from whom they are 

 descended. 



Tlie Hottentots. 



Speaking generally, we may say that the use of metal has 

 been long known throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa ; while 

 in America, in Australia, and in the Oceanic Islands, all 

 implements and weapons were, until within the last three 

 hundred years, made of wood, bone, stone, or other similar 

 materials. 



The semi -civilized nations of Central America formed, 

 indeed, a striking exception to the rule, since they were ac- 

 quainted with the use of bronze. The North American Indians 

 also had copper hatchets, but these were simply hammered 

 into shape, without the assistance of heat. Here, therefore, 

 we seem to get a glimpse of the manner in which our ances- 

 tors may have acquired the knowledge of metal. No doubt 

 the possession of iron generally marks a great advance in civi- 

 lization ; still the process is very gradual, and there are some 



