1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 219 



hood of the torrid and frigid zones ? Among the 

 rude inhabitants of a cold country, neither any oper- 

 ation of art, or occurrence of accident, could be sup- 

 posed so easily to produce fire by attrition, as in a 

 climate where every thing is hot, dry, and adust, 

 teeming with a latent fire which a slight degree of 

 motion was sufficient to call forth ; in a cold country, 

 therefore, it is natural to suppose that fire was pro- 

 duced by the accidental collision of two metallic 

 substances, and in a cold country, for that reason, 

 the same expedient was used to produce it by de- 

 sign : but in hot countries, where two combustible 

 substances easily kindle by attrition, it is probable 

 that the attrition of such substances first produced 

 fire, and here it was therefore natural for art to 

 adopt the same operation, with a view to produce 

 the same effect. It may indeed be true that fire is 

 now produced in many cold countries by attrition, 

 and in many hot by a stroke ; but perhaps upon 

 enquiry there may appear reason to conclude that 

 this has arisen from the communication of one coun- 

 try with another, and that with respect to the original 

 production of fire in hot and cold countries, the dis- 

 tinction is well founded. 



There may perhaps be some reason to suppose that 

 men became gradually acquainted with the nature 

 and effects of fire, by its permanent existence in a 

 volcano, there being remains of volcanoes, or ves- 

 tiges of their effects, in almost every part of the 

 world : by a volcano, however, no method of pro- 

 ducing fire, otherwise than by contact, could be 

 learnt ; the production and application of fire, there- 

 fore, still seem to afford abundant subject of specu- 

 lation to the curious. 



The weapons of these people are spears or lances, 

 and these are of different kinds : some that we saw 

 upon the southern part of the coast had four prongs, 

 pointed with bone, and barbed ; the points were also 

 smeared with a hard resin, which gave them a polish. 



