Post #59369 by Jungle Trader on Mon, Nov 10, 2003 9:03 PM

Here's a passage in Chapter 5 "Botany Bay" "In The Pure State of Nature"
Just 2 years after Cook's departure from Botany Bay, a French ship arrived in Tasmania under the command of a Rousseau-loving captain named Marion du Fresne. He ordered his sailors to strip before wading ashore so they could climb from the sea as "natural men" to greet their brothers, the naked Aborigines. Marion du Fresne even hoped that the two parties might compare notes on life in the state of nature.
Instead, this nudist confab collapsed in confusion and conflict. The French quickly opened fire, killing and wounding several Aborigines. The quixotic Marion du Fresne sailed on to meet the noble Maori of New Zealand, who killed and ate him, (smack, lick) prompting a retaliatory massacre by the French. "They treated us," a French lieutenant wrote of the Maori, "with every show of friendship for thirty-three days, with the intention of eating us on the thirty-fourth."

Lovely Maori.

[ Edited by: jungletrader on 2003-11-10 21:04 ]