S2 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



lea-blfcult, (the driefl, I believe, of all vegetable food), and of a pint 

 and a half of ikimmed milk ; and this ferves him for 24 hours, in 

 place of water, bear, or wine, w^hich he never taftes *. — All this may 

 ferve to make us believe what is reported by travellers in the South 

 Sea, of certain people there, who will be at Sea for many days 'svith- 

 out frefh water ; for thefe people muft eat the filh, they catch, raw. 



And here, again, we may obferve the wonderful agreement of the 

 relations of modern travellers with antient authors ; fo great, that I 

 think, we muft either believe both, or fuppofe that both have con- 

 curred, at fuch a diftance of time, in telling the fame lie. If we 

 believe what Dampier, one of the moft accurate and moft credible 

 of our travellers, has told us of the manner of fifhing of the people 

 of New Holland, we muft alfo believe what Agatharchides and Dio- 

 dorus have told us of the manner of fifliing of the Fifh-eaters in A- 

 frica. — If we believe what w^e are told by the concurring teftimony 

 of fo many travellers, of the Oran Outan not having the ufe of 

 Speech, and what Dr Greenhill fays, of men whom he himfelf faw 

 in Africa, who could not articulate *, and what my friend from 

 Batavia faw^ likewife himfelf, while he was in that country f, we 

 muft alfo believe what thefe antient authors have affirmed of the Fifh- 

 eaters, in Africa, not having learned to articulate, and alfo what He- 

 rodotus has told us of Men in the fame country of Africa, who 

 are hunted like wild beafts, (as Dr Greenhill fays the mute Savages 

 about the mouth of the River Gaboon are at this day), and made an 

 inarticulate noife, like bats. — And, laftly, Whoever believes that 

 Mr Hearne could live without water or drink of any kind, upon 

 eating raw flefh, and that certain nations in the South Sea can live 

 at fea for many days, without the ufe of water, muft believe alfo 



that 



* See an account of this cafe in the Annual Regifter for 1772. I was alfo in- 

 formed of it by a learned phyfician in London, who faw him, and made particular 

 inquiry about his manner of living. 



f Origin and Progrefs of Language, Vol. i. p. 253. 



4 Pa^e 48. of this Volume, 



