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CHAP. III. 



Of the Checks to Population in the loivest Stage of Human 



Society. 



The wretched inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego 

 have been placed, by the general consent of voy- 

 agers, at the bottom of the scale of human beings.* 

 Of their domestic habits and manners, however, 

 we have few accounts. Their barren country, 

 and the miserable state in which they live, have 

 prevented any intercourse with them that might 

 give such information ; but we cannot be at a loss 

 to conceive the checks to population among a 

 race of savages, whose very appearance indicates 

 them to be half starved, and who, shivering with 

 cold, and covered with filth and vermin, live in 

 one of the most inhospitable climates in the world, 

 without having sagacity enough to provide them- 

 selves with such conveniencies as might mitigate 

 its severities, and render life in some measure 



more comfortable.! 



Next to these, and almost as low in genius and 

 resources, have been placed the natives of Van 

 Diemen's land \% but some late accounts have re~ 



* Cook's First Voy. vol. ii. p. 59. 



f Cook's Second Voy. vol. ii. p. 187. 



+ Vancouver's Voy. vol. ii. b. iii. c. i. p. 13. 



