Chap. ir. A NTIENT METAPHYSICS. 31 



who has made a colledion of voyages in the South Seas, one of 

 which gives an account of an ifland, where the people, though they 

 be fo far advanced in the arts of life, as to have the ufe of fpeech, 

 yet walk fometimes upon all four. This, I think, fhews very clear- 

 ly, that originally they walked upon all four, as well as the Ourang 

 Outang; and that they have not been very long from that primaeval 

 ftatCj any more than the Ourang Outang. Thefe examples, I think, 

 prove very clearly what I have laid down in the preceding chapter, 

 that man, in the firft ftage of his natural life, was a quadruped ; fo 

 that it was very natural he fhould retain that way of walking, in 

 the firft ftages of his civilized life. 



This account I have given of the Ourang Outang, agrees perfed- 

 ly with the defcription which Horace gives us of man, in the firft 

 ftage of his exiftence on this earth. I quoted it above, p. 27. ; but 

 I Will give it here entire. 



Cum prorepferunt primls animalia terris, 

 Mutum ac turpe pecus, glandem atquc cubilia propter, 

 Unguibus et pugnis, dein fuftibus, atque ita porro 

 Pugnabant armis, quae poft fabricaverat ufus : 

 Donee verba, quibus voces fenfufque notarent, 

 Nominaque invenere: Dehinc abflftere bello. 



&.C. 



This account of man, in his firft ftate, applies fo exadlly to the 

 Ourang Outang, that it may be faid to be a defcription of him ; for 

 man is laid firft to creep, that is, to go upon all four, and then he 

 is very properly denominated muium ac turpe pecus. After that, he is 

 ere<3:ed, and gets the ufe of an artificial weapon? fuch as the Ourang 

 Outang ufes. Next, he invents rude and barbarous cries, which Mr 

 Begg calls chattering guttural founds, quibus voces fenfufque nota- 

 rent^ that is. by which men communicated their fenfations, appe- 

 tites, and defires to one another. And, laft of all, they formed ideas, 



and 



