Nuhou, Volume I, Number 25, 20 May 1873 — "Uncivilized People." [ARTICLE]

Help Learn more about this Article Text

"Uncivilized People."

The New York Timcs in a rccent artiele eoneeming the exaggerateu Btatements of travelere in respeefc to rude and uncivilized people, thus Bpcakß of Oaplain Oook'e dcscriptions uf Poljne--Bians. " Capt. Oook wae one of the fir6t, m well ae moefc feucces6ful, among thosc who appearcd to dissipate the migfcs of prcjudice and ignorance whieh had eo long blinded men ? s minde, anu, in his artless narrativc, wae fchcJirst to awaken thc world to the cob*iderafcion that human pascdone and cupidity had morc to do witli fche lines of de-

uarcation betwccn races. and pcoples than God or ( naturc. ?Succeeding voyagers, naturaliBte, and | pliiiosapherB holped to hreak down the old~timc j barriors, though probably nofc until thcmillcuium . will thosc barricr6 be wliolly dcmoUshcd. *' ; It was not long beiore there were travelcvs> and explo.FCi*6 in almot?t every land eoncerning wlueh, lrom time immemorial, there 3iād been ialee of anthropoiogieal wonders and monstrosities that even made tbe wise ncrvous. And now, enthusia&tie, purified, educated for the acqui6ition. of truth, nor fearful to grapple with or greet it, tlic- world is all a foot. In thc and ofchcr Journak, we findsome eomiuents upon our deseription many years ago of the wild Kubue q£ Sumatra, and our vlndlcation of the eharacter of the Malay. 4t He earrled the Amerieau fiag for the firet time into tiie lntcrior ot* tlie grCat idand of Suinatra, to beeome a friend | of the nativee princee, to draw fbrth the kindly j eympathies of a reputcd ]>arbarous people; and | wandered and dwelt aloue in safety among the «o--j called treaeherouB .Malay6 ? and inspired re6peet | and friendship f«>r the Ameriean nation, And | the hope iB expre6scd, that Ameiieu will reeogi nize Malayßiati etatee, doteimined to assert their ; indepeiKlenee like Aehiu, inaenueh as a third mle I State (llolland) with a shipping tonnage noi I more fchan one-twentieth part of that of either i Great Britain or the Uuited IStates hu§ through the eonnivanee oi the intere{sted diploI maey of Europe to prevent these two great mari~ : time powcrs, from ha> mg that intereouf6c and ; Muenee in the vast Malay Arehipelago whieh | tlie iutereBts of thelr ]>Lōpk would warmnt, Our ! statesmanship should h »\e eought uitei\\>uree j wit!i slalayēia, as wel.l ith of Oeeauiea,