CHARACTERS. 



775 



relished by him. Premature old age, 

 with all its infirmities, had n)ade ra- 

 pid advances upon him, and, for 

 three years before his death, he kept 

 the house, and was for a great part 

 of that time confined to his bed. If 

 1 mistake not, the last time he ven- 

 tured out to take a short walk, was 

 in the month of June, 1800. He 

 was then very corpulent, and disco- 

 vered extreme debility. 



After he had endured much bodily 

 pain, and in a great measure had be- 

 come insensible even to what he him- 

 self was suffering, Dr. Bcattie died, 

 at Aberdeen, upon the 18th day of 

 August, 1803. 



His person was about the middle 

 size, of a broad square make, which 

 seemed to indicate a more robust 

 constitution than he really had. I 

 have formerly mentioned that he 

 was, during the whole course of his 

 life, subject to attacks of head-ach, 

 which, upon many occasions, inter- 

 rupted his studies. His features were 

 exceedingly regular: his complexion 

 was somewhat dark : his eyes had 

 more expression than those of any 

 other person I remember to have 

 seen. 



It will be admitted, that if he was 

 not, at the the time of his death, the 

 first literary character in the united 

 kingdom, he was second or third in 

 the list. 



Descrip/ion of the Persons, Dreis, 

 Cuntoms, xVid Manners of the Tn- 

 hutiitants of the I.iland of Celebes, 

 uiith other Particulars, 



The men and women of the island 

 of Celcbi's are not tall, nor hand- 

 Bomc in their persons, but short and 

 thick set. They have a fiattish face, 



but not thick lips. Their colour is 

 of a yellowish copper or reddish co- 

 lour ; their manners are not grace-, 

 ful, and they arc revengeful and 

 jealous. 



The men arc very ingenious with 

 edged tools. They are wavriors, 

 attend to the field, and the building 

 of houses, canoes, and proas, ia 

 which they are very expert. 



The women are engaged in cook- 

 ing, pounding of rice and corn, 

 going to the gardens, and attending 

 to all domestic concerns. 



The children are kept under no 

 fear or order, and are punished from 

 the whim or caprice of their parents. 

 I have often seen a mother, when 

 displeased, throw stones and billets 

 of wood at her children. 



The men are capable of carrying 

 great burdens on their backs, en- 

 during great fatigues, and of fasting 

 a long time; and will, with ease, 

 travel forty or fifty miles a day. 

 They are long-lived, and live very 

 temperately. Intoxication is not 

 frequent among them, though they 

 are occasionally exhilarated byil rink- 

 ing toddy, which they collect from 

 the cocoa-nut tree in the following 

 manner : 



The branches on which the nuts 

 grow, when young, are taken and 

 tied together, and the nut is not suf- 

 fered to grow upon them ; the 

 sprouts are cut off at about one foot 

 from the end, and under these they 

 fix a bamboo, into which the toddy 

 runs. The bamboo is emptied night 

 and morning, and the branches ara 

 cut away about one-eiu,lith of an incli 

 at a time, which creating a frcsli 

 wound, the liquor runs again, and 

 is again caught in like manner. In 

 a dry season the roots of the tree' 

 are watered, to increase the toddy, 

 3 D 4 which 



