Natives

“ The natives are remarkable for nothing but sturdy limbs, an inordinate appetite for brown bread and onions, and an incessant habit of reckoning up real or imaginary gains. If you see two Fellahín coming along the road you may venture anything that their conversation will be of piastres, and that the first word you hear will be a numeral. ”

“ As I rode, day after day, over the barren hills, my thoughts were on the alterations of the circumstances of the natives since the coming of the English. The lands near the sea are conveniently situated for fishing; the lands near the rivers are in many places fertile and not mountainous. Those natives have, in some places, for trifling considerations, sold their inheritance so favourably situated; and in other places, have been driven back by superior force. ”

“ The natives cannot see them. The boyl-yas do not bite, they feed stealthily; they do not eat the bones, but consume the flesh. Just give me what you intend to give, and I'll walk off.
The boyl-yas sit at the graves of natives in great numbers. If natives are ill, the boyl-yas charm, charm, charm, charm, and charm, and by and by the natives recover. ”

“ The simple natives are at first appalled at the sight of the noisy clamoring crowd, whose inquisitive glances and prying questions wound their honest pride and open nature, and they shrink from being made spectacles for the curious ”

“ The natives were friendly and endeavored, by every kindness in their power, to make our situation as pleasant and comfortable as possible, furnishing us of their provisions in abundance, with which, and our ship provisions, we lived well. The natives generally spent their evenings with us and seemed to enjoy our company very much. ”

“ There are particular tribes of Natives, who have been miners from generation to generation, and who lead a roving life, migrating, with their wives and children, from one district to another, as they are attracted by the fame of superior riches. ”

“ The natives were certainly the most singular-looking beings we had ever beheld. They are about medium size, copper-colored, and wear no clothing except a small piece of tappa—a native cloth pounded out from bark—around their loins. ”

“ The natives usually pray to the spirits of their departed chiefs, whom they implore to grant them success in fishing, rich harvests in bread-fruit and yams, the arrival of numerous foreign ships with beautiful articles for barter, and a variety of similar matters. The priests of their idols profess to be able to read the future, and the natives place the most implicit confidence in these predictions. ”

“ The Natives were not used to clothes, and houses, and regular hours, and church, and school, and Sunday-school, and work, and the other misplaced persecutions of civilization, and they pined for their lost home and their wild free life. ”

“ The natives are described as fine-looking, the handsomest people seen in the voyage, of taller stature than Europeans, of light color, sharp faces, with long black hair and black eyes, but with a mild expression. The visits of their kings to the strange vessel are described, and the eagerness of these rulers to know the use of everything they saw is mentioned. The women are spoken of as modest in their behavior, and as jealously guarded by their husbands. ”

“ The following may be given as prominent characteristics of the natives.—They are in general, well made and handsome—very indolent and superstitious. They are morose, treacherous, ferociously passionate, and unfriendly to all other natives. When they are not fishing, or otherwise employed, they are generally travelling about, and visiting each other. ”

“ When the natives meet with a Frenchman whom they know, they shake hands with him, incline their head a little, and say in their own language, "Are you there, my friend?" If he has no serious affair to propose to them, or if they themselves have nothing of consequence to say, they pursue their journey. ”

“ All the natives have beautiful hands and feet, and they show particularly well in these high-born little children. He would not eat anything in our house, and at the college servants of his own sect always come and feed him. ”

“ The recurrence of the same word with the same signification; to be traced, in many instances, round the entire continent, but undergoing, of course, in so vast an extent of country, various modifications.
“3d. The same names of natives occurring frequently at totally opposite portions of the continent. Now, in all parts of it which are known to Europeans, it is ascertained that the natives name their children from any remarkable circumstance which may occur soon after their birth; such being the case, an accordance of the names of natives is a proof of a similarity of dialect. ”

“ We were now at a great loss; the natives were civil enough to us, and came often to discourse with us; one time they brought one whom they showed respect to as a king with them, and they set up a long pole between them and us, with a great tassel of hair hanging, not on the top, but something above the middle of it, adorned with little chains, shells, bits of brass, and the like; and this, we understood afterwards, was a token of amity and friendship; and they brought down to us victuals in abundance, cattle, fowls, herbs, and roots ”

“ After our return the natives came and spent the evening with us, sung a song or two and evidently employed all their arts and powers of pleasing to reconcile us to our condition, and in return only wanted their curiosity gratified by watching our movements and examining our clothes and other things which we had brought on shore. When the natives left us we laid down on the mats and slept at intervals until daylight, when we mustered all hands to go off to the ship for clothing, provisions, etc., but we found that some of the natives were ahead of us. ”

“ In nearly every instance not only is the belief extant among natives that their race was born there, but that, be the birthplace island or continent, it came into existence by some form of special creation as an abiding-place for a chosen people. ”

“ Further emphasis is laid on the good treatment of the natives, "who, as we are informed, are men of keen intellect, of much worth, and as white as ourselves." "In whatever port, island, or land" they shall make explorations, they are to gather information "of the customs, conditions, mode of life, and trade of their inhabitants; their religion and cult, what beings they adore, and their sacrifices and manner of worship. ”

“ The natives are shy with strangers, and particularly the females; they are however very ingenuous, which to some people appears indecent; and well it may, since cunning and craftiness are too often the handmaids of a high degree of civilization. ”

“ Natives make no preparation for a journey, they have no impedimenta of travel, and lightly clad, and lightly weighted, they are ready at any moment to start, and a long or short stay is all the same to them. ”

“ The Natives of this Country are a Strong, rawboned, well made, Active People, rather above than under the common size, especially the Men; they are of a very dark brown colour, with black hair, thin black beards, and white teeth, and such as do not disfigure their faces by tattowing, etc. ”

“ The fate of the unfortunate English ladies gave me so much uneasiness that I most earnestly requested the natives to tell me all they knew of the situation, whether they were alive or dead, and if living what part of the country they inhabited. ”

“ The natives being habituated to their own prudent custom, it is with the utmost difficulty they can keep from laughing, when they see several French men or French women together, and always several of them speaking at the same time. ”

“ Those who entered upon the continent at different points naturally drew widely contrasted inferences on the subject, according as they encountered what they call “swarms” of the natives, on island or mainland, or passed long reaches of territory wholly tenantless.
It is only within the last dozen years that rigid and rational tests have been applied to the statements and traditions which have found their admission into our histories, as to the probable numbers of the native race on this continent when it was opened to Europeans. ”

“ The natives are very careless while driving or walking, and you must keep a sharp lookout for the poles of palanquins or palkees. They are as cunning as they are careless, and we have heard some funny stories about their tricks. ”

“ Learn from the natives whether there are other islands or extensive lands near, if they are inhabited, of what colour are the natives, whether they eat human flesh, if they are friendly or carry on war. ”

“ There is also another large class of natives who live among us constantly: the youth who have been apprenticed to our families, have grown up in our midst, and who have been brought, more or less thoroughly, into civilized habits. ”

“ If the Natives would cultivate it; but they are not in the habit of cultivating any more than is absolutely necessary. Do you not think if the Progress of Civilization continues to increase, seeing the great Advantages the Europeans make by their Land; they would perhaps be induced to follow the Example of the Europeans? ”

“ There are natives of course and natives, just as there are Europeans and Europeans, but there are natives who have been gifted with the greatest daring, coolness, and the promptest presence of mind, and who are capable of much personal devotion to those who know how to treat them. ”

“ Where confirmed habits and immemorial custom is to be supplanted, it is certainly requisite to be well acquainted with the nature and character of the natives, which I have not here introduced in an exaggerated shape, but infinitely within the bounds of their savage ferocity. ”

“ The arrival of these natives will lead in every probability to the ultimate establishment of an amicable intercourse with the original possessors of the country, throughout the Colony, a result most sincerely to be desired. ”

“ The natives, whom we met here, were fine-looking men, enjoying contentment and happiness, within the precincts of their native woods.” They were very civil, and presented a burning stick to the strangers, at the moment when they saw that they wanted fire, in a manner expressive of welcome and of a wish to assist them. ”

“ But the natives shewed themselves extremely averse to any communication with us, and could not be allured to a conference by any means. At length a small number of them were induced to come near by presents of bells, small mirrors, glass beads, and similar toys, and a friendly intercourse was thus established. As night came on, we left them and returned to the ships. At dawn of the following day, we saw immense numbers of the natives on shore, men, women, and children:, and could observe that they had all their household stuff along with them, of which an account will be given hereafter. ”

“ The natives, although not tall, are stout and robust in their make, particularly those of the higher rank; their complexion is nut-brown, and they are extremely cleanly in their persons. They are distinguished by great ingenuity in all their arts and manufactures, as well as by a most persevering industry. ”

“ The natives make a very uncouth and savage appearance, [see pl. I.] having broad flat faces, small black eyes, low foreheads, and noses much like those of negroes, with wide nostrils, high cheeks, large mouths, and small teeth. ”

“ The natives are reckoned cruel, but ingenious; have faint notions of religion, and speak several different languages, though they cannot pronounce either of the three letters L, F, R. They are all naked, and neither sow nor reap, but live by hunting and by the fruits which the land produces of its own accord. ”

“ The natives have much to learn in adapting themselves to new and changing conditions, and will be well advised to let the current of their thoughts and their attitude be directed in that course which will win the respect of the European race. ”

“ For the last year there has been great progress among the natives. They are growing more earnest and are interested in the study of your beautiful language. Many Europeans see this with regretful eyes. ”

“ The natives make no mystery about them, and many were erected within the last few years, or are being erected now, and they are identical in form with those which are grey with years, and must have been set up in the long forgotten past. ”

“ My knowledge of the language being far and away superior to that of any other British officer for miles around, I am looked upon by the natives as a sort of high military authority in whom they may have the privilege and the pleasure of confiding all their troubles. ”

“ From their earliest years, the natives spend much of their spare time in the water, and constant practice renders them so dexterous, that they seem as much at their ease in that [146] element as on land; they often swim several miles off to ships, sometimes resting upon a plank shaped like an anchor stock, and paddling with their hands, but more frequently without any assistance whatever. ”

“ While we were at work there came nine or 10 of the natives to a small hill a little way from us, and stood there menacing and threatening of us, and making a great noise. At last one of them came towards us, and the rest followed at a distance. ”

“ The natives live commonly to a great age; which is not to be wondered at, when we consider the high situation of their country,—the exercise they pursue,—the richness of the soil that produces plenty for a needful support of life, without fatiguing, or over-heating the planters,—the advantages they receive from such excellent good water, as gushes out of every hill ”

“ The habits of the “natives” in New England alone might occupy an active mind indefinitely, offering as interesting problems as any to be solved by penetrating Central Asia or visiting the man-eating tribes of Australia. ”

“ In this connection it is singular, if not significant, that the natives when first discovered believed in a bearded white man whom they deified as the Fair God of whose existence they had obtained knowledge from some source and in whose honor they kept their sacred altar fires burning unquenched. ”