302 A V O Y A G E T O 



«778. liquely downward* Their eye-brows are alfo fcanty, and 



April. * •' ' ^ 



always narrow ; but the hair or the head is in great abun- 

 dance, very coarfe and (Irong ; and, without a fingle excep- 



* One of the mofl curious fingularities obfervable in the natural hiftory of the hu- 

 man /pecies, is the fuppo(ed dekil in the habit and temperature of the bodies of the 

 American Indians, exemplified in their having no beards, while -they are furnifhed with 

 a profufion of hair on their heads. M. de Paw, the ingenious author of Recherche/ 

 fur les jfmericains ; Dr. Robertfon, in his HiJ}ory of America; and, in general, the 

 ■writers for whofe authority we ought to have the higheft deference, adopt this as an 

 indifputabie matter of facS. iVIay we not be permitted to requeft thofe who efpoufe 

 .their fentiments, to reconfider the queftion, when we can produce Captain Cook's 

 evidence on the oppofite fide, at leaft fo far as relates to the American tribe, whom he 

 •had intercourfe with at Nootka ? Nor is Captain Cook fingular in his report. What 

 he faw on the fea coaft. Captain Carver alfo met with amongft the American Indians 

 far up in the country. His words are as follow: " From minute inqvirics, and a 

 *' curious infpe£lion, I am able to declare (however refpe£lable I may hold the autho- 

 •• rity of thefe Hiftorians in other points), that their afTertions are erroneous, and pro- 

 •' ceeding from a want of a thorough knowledge of ^he cu (loins of the Indians. After 

 *• the age of puberty, their bodies, in their natural ftate, are covered in the fame man- 

 *' ner as thofe of the Europeans. The men, indeed, eAcem a beard very unbecoming, 

 *' and take great pains to get rid of it ; nor is there any ever to be perceived on their 

 " faces, except when they grow old, and become inattentive to appearances. — The 

 *' NaudowefTes, and the remote nations, pluck them out with bent pieces of hard 

 ■" wood, formed into a kind of nippers ; whilft thofe who have communication 

 " with Europeans, procure from them wire, which they twift into a fcrew or worm ; 

 *' applying this to the part, they prefs the rings together, and with a fuddcn twitch 

 " draw out all the hairs that are inclofed in them." Carver's Travels, p. 224, 225. 

 The remark made by Mr. Marfden, who alfo quotes Carver, is worth attending fo, 

 that the vizor or mafic of Montezuma's armour, preferved at Bruffels, has remarkably 

 large whifkcrs ; and that thofe Americans could not have imitated this ornament, unlcfs 

 •nature had prefentcd them with the model. From Captain Cook's obfcrvation on the 

 Weft coaft of North America, combined with Carver's in the inland parts of that con- 

 tinent, and confirmed by the Mexican Vi/.or as above, tiierefoems abundant rcafon to 

 agree with Mr. Marfden, who thus modeftly exprefl'es himRlf : " Were it not for the 

 ■'*' numerous and very rcfpeflable authorities, from which we are afliired that the na- 

 " fives of America are naturally beardlefs, I (hould think that the common opinion 

 " on that fubjecSl had been haftily adopted ; and that their appearing thus at a mature 

 *' age, was only the confequence of an early praflice, fimilar to that obferved among 



■ " the Sumatrans. Even now, I mud confefs, that it would remove feme fmall degree 



■ " of doubt from my mind, could it be afccrtained that no fuch cuftom prevails." 

 jMarfden's Hijhry of Sumatra, p. 39, 40. 



tion. 



