Chap. V. A N T I E N T M E T A P H Y S I C S. S5 



few examples have been found of men living in that ftate. But I think 

 ■we may guefs v/hat his chara<fter was, from what we know of him af- 

 ter he was ereded, but without the ufe of fpeech ; and alfo from what 

 we know of him in the firft ages of civility, after he had learned to 

 fpeak. And firft, there is the Orang Outang, who has not the ufe of 

 fpeech, but is of a charader mild and gentle, afFedionate too, and 

 capable of friendfhip and attachment to particular perfons, with the 

 fenfe alfo of what is decent and becoming, tie is fecial too, and 

 lives in herds ; fo that with regard ro hu^ charader, he is undoubt- 

 edly a man, and a much better man than many that are to be found 

 in civilized countries- And as to his capacity of intelled and fcience, 

 he has 1 think fhewn, by the arts, few as they are, which he has in- 

 vented, (fuch as that of arming himfelf with a weapon, and ereding 

 huts -to proted him from the weather), but wiiich are as many as 

 could well be expeded that he fhould have mvented in his ftate of 

 life, that he is not defedive in the capacity of intelled and fcience. 



As to nations in the firft ages of civility, we muft make a difiinc- 

 tion betwixt men living upon the natural fruits of the earth, and 

 thofe who fubfift by hunting and feed on flefh, which changes the 

 natural charader of man, and makes him not only more cruel and 

 ferocious, but alfo more cunning and deceitful than he would other- 

 wife be; for it is by cunning and furprife that he feizes his prey. 

 To difcover, therefore, what man by nature is in the firft age of ci- 

 vility, before he becomes a hunter, we muft go to the Pelew Iflands, 

 a difcovery lately made, which I think of great value. There we 

 find men, that are not only kind and hofpitable, but generous and 

 noble minded : So that when they go to war, they fcorn to make it 

 by ftratagem and furprife; but fairly tell their enemy when and 

 where they are to attack thera. 



There- 



