was not very agreeable to the latter, is certain; for an
elderly man, as soon as he observed it, ordered all the women and
children to retire, which they obeyed, though some of them shewed a
little reluctance.

[Footnote 132: Captain Cook's account of the natives of Van Diemen's
Land, in this chapter, no doubt proves that they differ, in many
respects, as he says, from the inhabitants of the more northerly parts
of the east coast of New Holland, whom he met with in his first voyage.
It seems very remarkable, however, that the only woman any of his people
came close to, in Botany Bay, should have her hair cropped short, while
the man who was with her, is said to have had the hair of his head
bushy, and his beard long and rough. Could the natives of Van Diemen's
Land be more accurately described, than by saying that the hair of the
men's heads is bushy, and their beards long and rough, and that the
women's hair is cropped short? So far north, therefore, as Botany Bay,
the natives of the east coast of New Holland seem to resemble those of
Van Diemen's Land, in this circumstance.--D.]

This conduct of Europeans amongst savages, to their women, is 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 allurement
of presents, nor the opportunity of privacy, will be likely to have the
desired effect. This observation, I am sure, will hold good, throughout
all the parts of the South Sea where I have been. Why then should men
act so absurd a part, as to risk their own safety, and that of all their
companions, in pursuit of a gratification which they have no probability
of obtaining?[133]

[Footnote 133: In uncivilized nations, the women are completely
subservient to the power and desires of the men, without seeming to
possess, or to be allowed, a will or thought of their own. Amongst them,
therefore, the primitive mode of temptation must be reversed, and the
husband is first to be gained over. When this is done, all that follows,
is understood and intended by him, as a sort of temporary barter; an