GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS OF KNOWLEDGE. 285 



Corresponding results, may be deduced : from the ignorance of 

 money, or of a medium of exchange; although property is acknow- 

 ledged, inherited, and guarded by regular laws, even to a division of 

 the soil. And again, from the absence of all kinds of 'grain;' not- 

 withstanding the advanced state of the art of cultivation. 



The strict adherence to truth among portions of the Polynesian 

 family, stands opposed to the treachery of the Feejeeans : and fur- 

 ther, it seems to result mainly from the simplicity of the Polynesian 

 character ; the contrary practice, being looked upon rather in the 

 light of an error of judgment. The pseudo-accomplishment, how- 

 ever, proved to be not unknown to the chiefs. Other traits in the 

 moral man, might be adduced; for the 'golden age,' in accordance 

 almost literally with the ideas of the ancient poets, still exists on some 

 of the secluded Polynesian isles. 



d. America. 



I hardly know whether to refer here to America; though in gene- 

 ral, the aboriginal Americans are to be regarded, as in a less advanced 

 state of society than the Polynesians. 



We note throughout Aboriginal America, the entire absence of 

 poetry and literature. Records, indeed, of a certain description, were 

 preserved by the Mexicans : but among the tribes of the United 

 States, the tradition of remarkable events, is said to disappear in 

 very few generations. We note also in extensive and varied dis- 

 tricts, a complete ignorance of agriculture; and where it is otherwise, 

 there is usually no division of the soil. A further difference from the 

 islanders, is found in the absence, in most instances, of hereditary 

 governments. 



The custom of scalping, so well known in North America, may be 

 noticed in this place, on account of its having been described by He- 

 rodotus;* while it is not, that I am aware of, in vogue among any 

 Asiatic tribe of the present day. 



* Herodotus, Melpomene, 64. 



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