Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 53 



that the Fifli-eaters of Agatharchides and Diodoriis may have fub- 

 fifted upon raw lifli without drink. In fliort, however extraordinary 

 thofe facfls may appear, if we difbelievc them, v/c mud reject all 

 human teftimony, both antient and modern, and rcfolve to beHcve 

 that men ]iave always been the fame in all ages and nations that v/e 

 fee them now in Europe. I will only further add, that the relations 

 of modern travellers fo explain and illiiftrate faOs of the hiftory of 

 Man, that his natural ftate cannot be pcrfcdly known, without Un- 

 dying diligently the relations of both. 



There may be fome of my readers, who, though perhaps they 

 may be convinced, from the many examples I have given, that 

 fingle folitary Savages *, having been, by fome accident, thrown 

 out of human fociety, may want the ufe of fpeech, yet cannot 

 be perfuaded, that men can live together in fociety, and carry on any 

 joint work, v/ithout a language of articulation. But, if they believe 

 the account I have given of the Oran Outans, who certainly live in 

 Society, and what I have related from antient authors, concerning the 

 Fifh-eaters, they muflbe convinced that a language of figns,geftures, 

 and inarticulate cries, is fufBcient for a Society of few wants, fuch as 

 the firft focieties of men undoubtedly were. But further, I would have 

 them confider whether they think that Beavers have more fagacity 

 than men. Of them I have faid a great deal in the Twelfth Chapter 

 of the Second Book of the Firft Volume of the Origin and Progrefs 

 of Language, and, I think, have clearly fhown that they are really 

 political Animals, and carry on a great deal of bufmefs in the bell 

 manner pofTible, without communication by fpeech. And I will here 

 add, what I have fmce learned from a French author, Monfieur le Pare 



o 



du Pratz, who has written a hiftory of Louifiana, which, I think, is 

 a work of great curiofity. He relates a remarkable ftory, concerning 

 the Beavers, of which he himfelf was an cye-witnefs, in a journey 

 that he made in Louifiana, from the country of the Natches to 



that 



* See Vol. i. of the Oiigln and Progrefs of Language, page 186. 



