Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/295

1770 carved planks of a workmanship superior to any other we saw on the land. For what purpose this was built or why deserted we could not find out.

Though these people when at home defend themselves so well from the inclemencies of the weather, yet when they are abroad upon their excursions, which they often make in search of fern roots, fish, etc., they seem totally indifferent to shelter. Sometimes they make a small shade to windward of them, but more often omit that precaution. During our stay at Opoorage, or Mercury Bay, a party of Indians were there, consisting of forty or fifty, who during all that time never erected the least covering, though it twice rained almost without ceasing for twenty-four hours together.

Their food, in the use of which they seem to be moderate, consists of dogs, birds (especially sea fowl, as penguins, albatrosses, etc.), fish, sweet potatoes, yams, cocos, some few wild plants, as sow-thistles and palm-cabbage, but above all, the root of a species of fern which seems to be to them what bread is to us. This fern is very common upon the hills, and very nearly resembles that which grows upon our hilly commons in England, and is called indifferently fern, bracken, or brakes. As for the flesh of man, although they certainly do eat it, I cannot in my own opinion debase human nature so much as to imagine that they relish it as a dainty, or even look upon it as common food. Thirst for revenge may drive men to great lengths when their passions are allowed to take their full swing, yet nature, through all the superior part of the creation, shows how much she recoils at the thought of any species preying upon itself. Dogs and cats show visible signs of disgust at the very sight of a dead carcass of their own species; even wolves or bears are said never to eat one another except in cases of absolute necessity. When the stings of hunger have overcome the precepts of nature, in which case the same has been done by the inhabitants of the most civilised nations. Among fish and insects, indeed, there are many instances which prove that