Chap. II. A N T I E N T METAPHYSICS. S3 



ill Lhc upcu ail ; chai nuihiiit^ Is muie uuiuiuiral to mail than ilie 

 life of a Bugg, that is, a life of clofenefs and warmth ; and that the 

 Savages of California were very much in the right when they could 

 not be perfuaded by the Jefaits, who went to that country to convert 

 them, to deep in their huts, but chofe rather to lie at the doors of 

 them, though, in every other refpcd:, they were very docile and 

 tradtable. 



The firft ftep out of the air, which, I think, Hamlet fays rightly, 

 is into the gra'ue^ (if not immediately, fooner, at leaft, than we 

 fliould otherwife go), is that w4iich the New Hollanders have made, — 

 into the hollows of trees. This fhows me that thofe people have not 

 only got fome ufe of language, but have begun to form fome opi- 

 nions concerning w^hat is good or ill in human life ; for inftind: 

 would not diredl them, any more than a horfe, to go into a hole, 

 but, on the contrary, to come out of it, if they happened to be in 

 it, as we fee a horfe does. 



The next ftep in this road was, to take to earth, as v/e fee a fox 

 does, or to go under ground, into caves and dens. This, it appears, 

 men have done in different parts of the world. The Cyclops, Homer 

 fays, lived in caves, as it is fuppofed, in Sicily. The Troglodytes in 

 Africa, lived in that way, of old, from whence they had their name; 

 and Mr Bruce fays, they ftill live in the fame manner. And, when 

 they came down the Nile, to inhabit thd Upper Egypt, he fays they 

 made artificial caves, or holes, in the hills there, to be feen at this day, 

 in which they lived. And, in fome parts of Europe, particularly near 

 Maftreicht, as I am informed, there arc fubterraneous caverns dug a 

 great way into hills, where it is fuppofed men lived of old. The 

 moft extraordinary works of this kind, I believe, in the world, are 

 to be feen in fome parts of India, particularly in an ifland near to 

 Bombay, where they have dug out of a bafalt rock, fo hard that 

 our tools can hardly make any impreffion upon it, not only fingle 



L 2 houfcs 



