64 STUDIES OF NATURE 



whom they had recived with kindnefs. They con- 

 trad i(ft themfelves, at the fame time, by relating,- 

 that thefe very people ufed canoes, daubed over 

 with bitumen, which neceffarily fuppofes, in the 

 cafe of favages unacquainted with iron, that fire 

 had been employed in the hollowing of their ca- 

 noes, or, at leaft, in careening them. Finally, we 

 are told, that they fed on rice, the preparation 

 of which, however fimple, requires, of neceffity, 

 the application of fire. 



This Element is univerfally neceflary to human 

 exiftence, even in the hotted climates. By means 

 of fire alone, Man guards his habitation, by night, 

 from the ravenous beafts of prey ; drives away the 

 infeds which thirft for his blood ; clears the 

 ground of the trees and plants which cover it, and 

 whofe ftems and trunks would refift every fpecies 

 of cultivation, (hould he find means, any other 

 way, to bring them down. In a word, in every 

 country, with Fire he prepares his food, diffolves 

 metals, vitrifies rocks, hardens clay, foftens iron, 

 and gives, to all the produftions of the Earth, the 

 forms, and the combinations, which his neceflities 

 jequire. 



The benefits which he derives from the Air arc 

 no lefs extenfive. Few animals are, like him, ca- 

 pable of refpiiing, with equal eafe, at the level of 



the 



