;;4 A V O Y A G E T O 



I77''- and perfection in mod of their work, that flicvvs they nci- 



Oaober. *^ ^ ' J 



ther want ingenuity nor perfeverance. 



I faw not a fire-place in any one of their houfes. They 

 are hghted, as well as heated, by lamps; which are fimplc, 

 and yet anfwer the purpofe very well. They are made of a 

 flat ftone, hollowed on one fide like a plate, and about the 

 fame fize, or rather larger, hi tlie hollow part they put the 

 oil, mixed with a little dry grafs, which ferves the purpofe 

 of a wick. Both men and women frequently warm their 

 bodies over one of thefe lamps, by placing it between tlieir 

 legs, under their garments, and fitting thus over it for a few 

 minutes. 



They produce fire both by collifion and by attrition ; the 

 former by llriking two flones one againfl another ; on one 

 of which a good deal of brimfione is firft rubbed. The latter 

 method is with two pieces of wood ; one of which is a flick 

 of about eighteen inches in length, and the other a fiat 

 piece. The pointed end of the ilick they prefs upon ihc 

 other, whirling it nimbly round as a drill ; thus produ- 

 cing fire in a few minutes. This method is common in 

 many parts of the world. It is pratflifed by the Kamt- 

 jchadales, by thefe people, by the Greenlanders, by the- 

 Brazilians, by the Otaheiteans, by the New Hollanders j 

 and probably by many other nations. Yet fome learned and- 

 ingenious men have founded an argument on this cudom to 

 prove, that this and that nation arc of the fame cxtra(.T;ion. 

 But accidental agreements, in a few particular inflances, 

 •will not authorife fuch a conclufion ; nor will a difagrce- 

 mcnr, cither in manners or cufloms, between two diirercnt 

 nations, of courfc, prove that tlicy arc of dillcrent extrac- 



7 lion.. 



