36 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book I. 



well obferved, our reafon would have availed us little in the inven- 

 tion and pradice of arts. 



Thus far, therefore, the Ourang Outang is advanced in the arts 

 of life ; but he ftill retains fo much of his primitive natural ftate, 

 that he fometimes goes on all four, as Mr Begg, in his letter, has^ 

 faid, and alfo the French gentleman, above quoted*. 



There Is another ufe of the body, which man has not from na- 

 ture, as many other animals have, but has learned by pradtice or 

 teaching, I mean fwimming : For of the Indians of North America, 

 who excel us fo much in bodily feats, none can fwim, except thofe 

 who live near the fea, or a great river, and have pradlifed if, as A- 

 dair and others, who have publifhed accounts of North America, tell 

 us ; and the wild girl, above mentioned, defcribed to me very parti- 

 cularly, the pains her mother took to teach her to fwim ; but with 

 that teaching and pradice, (he became quite amphibious, fuch as the 

 inhabitants of the Ladrone Iflands are, who fubfift, in a great meafure, 

 by the fi(h which they catch with their hands in the fea ; though I 

 am perfuaded, it was neceffity which firft drove man to feekfor food" 

 in an element not natural to him. 



There is a weekly publication in Spain, called Semanario Erudito^ 

 containing many curious fads. In a volume of it publifhed in 

 1788, there is a piece written by Don Mechior de Macanaz, a gen- 

 tleman of great learning, who was employed in many negociations, 

 in the reign of Philip V. The tranllation of it, for which I am 

 obliged to a very learned and worthy gentleman of my acquain- 

 tance, Dr Geddes, who refided for ten years in Spain, I have given 



in 



* P. 27. of this vohimc. See alfo vol. III. of this work, p. 349, and 361. 



