perfection in most of their
work, that shews they neither want ingenuity nor perseverance.

I saw not a fire-place in any one of their houses; they are lighted as
well as heated, by lamps, which are simple, and yet answer the purpose
very well. They are made of a flat stone, hollowed on one side like a
plate, and about the same size, or rather larger. In the hollow part
they put the oil, mixed with a little dry grass, which serves the
purpose of a wick. Both men and women frequently warm their bodies
over one of these lamps, by placing it between their legs, under their
garments, and sitting thus over it for a few minutes.

They produce fire both by collision and by attrition; the former by
striking two stones one against another, on one of which a good deal
of brimstone is first rubbed. The latter method is with two pieces of
wood; one of which is a stick of about eighteen inches in length, and
the other a flat piece. The pointed end of the slick they press upon
the other, whirling it nimbly round as a drill; thus producing fire in
a few minutes. This method is common in many parts of the world. It is
practised by the Kamtschadales, by these people, by the Greenlanders,
by the Brazilians, by the Otaheiteans, by the New Hollanders, and
probably by many other nations. Yet some learned and ingenious men
have founded an argument on this custom to prove, that this and that
nation are of the same extraction. But accidental agreements, in a few
particular instances, will not authorise such a conclusion; nor will
a disagreement, either in manners or customs, between two different
nations, of course, prove that they are of different extraction. I
could support this opinion by many instances besides the one just
mentioned.[18]

[Footnote 18: We formerly hazarded some observations, on this subject,
which may properly claim regard, if the concurrent opinion of Cook
be any commendation. It is rare with him to venture on theoretic
conjectures; but his truly excellent remarks, so indicative of candid
and unbiassed enquiry, may justly serve as the basis of very extensive
reasoning. His professional career, in short, may be considered as
a course of experimental investigations, from which there results a
system of philosophy of no ordinary interest or importance. Can one
help regretting, that he did not live, like Newton, to deduce the
legitimate consequences of his own discoveries? But, alas! how rapidly
are we now approaching to