says Cook, 'that the people of this country, of all ranks, men and
women, are the arrantest thieves upon the face of the earth; but,' he
adds, 'we must not hastily conclude that theft is a testimony of the
same depravity in them that it is in us, in the instances in which our
people were sufferers by their dishonesty; for their temptation was
such, as to surmount what would be considered as a proof of uncommon
integrity among those who have more knowledge, better principles, and
stronger motives to resist the temptations of illicit advantage; an
Indian among penny knives and beads, and even nails and broken glass, is
in the same state of mind with the meanest servant in Europe among
unlocked coffers of jewels and gold.' Captain Wallis has illustrated the
truth of this position by an experiment he made on some persons, whose
dress and behaviour indicated that they were of a superior cast. 'To
discover what present,' he says, 'would most gratify them, I laid down
before them a Johannes, a guinea, a crown piece, a Spanish dollar, a few
shillings, some new halfpence, and two large nails, making signs that
they should take what they liked best. The nails were first seized with
great eagerness, and then a few of the halfpence, but the silver and
gold lay neglected.' Here then it might with truth be said was
discovered


The goldless age, where gold disturbs no dreams.

But their thirst after iron was irresistible; Wallis's ship was stripped
of all the nails in her by the seamen to purchase the good graces of
the women, who assembled in crowds on the shore. The men even drew out
of different parts of the ship those nails that fastened the cleats to
her side. This commerce established with the women rendered the men, as
might readily be expected, less obedient to command, and made it