with a party of twenty, Cook was better pleased; and it was said of them, "Nor do they seem to be such miserable wretches as the Natives whom Dampier mentions to have seen on the western coast of New Holland."
Captain Cook's surgeon, Mr. Anderson, had several interviews with these people. From the account of his visit we read: "They had little of that fierce or wild appearance common to people in their situation; but, on the contrary, seemed mild and cheerful, without reserve or jealousy of strangers." He had no great belief in their mental superiority to other savages; for he says, "They have to appearance even less genius than the half-animated inhabitants of Terra del Fuego." Again, "Their not expressing that surprise which one might have expected from their seeing men so much unlike themselves, and things to which, we are well assured, they had been hitherto utter strangers; their indifference for our presents, and their general inattention, were sufficient proofs of their not possessing any acuteness of understanding."
Captain Cook thought it probable that the people belonged to the same family as those of Tanna and Manicola, whom he had recently visited, and that from New Holland eastward to Easter Island they might have a common root. He is constrained to admit that "the circumstances and progress of their separation are wrapped in the darkest veil of obscurity."
The navigator was struck with the superior virtue of the Tasmanian women over the more polished Polynesians. His remarks upon the conduct of Europeans toward savage women are worthy of citation here. He describes it as "highly blameable, as it creates a jealousy in their men, that may be attended with consequences fatal to the success of the common enterprise, and to the whole body of adventurers, without advancing the private purpose of the individual, or enabling him to gain the object of his wishes. I believe it has been generally found among uncivilized people, that where the women are easy of access, the men are the first to offer them to strangers; and that where this is not the case, neither the allurements of presents, nor the opportunity of privacy, will be likely to have the desired effect. This observation will, I am sure, hold good throughout all the parts of the South Seas where I have been. Why then should men act so absurd a part, as to risk their own safety, and
