[Footnote 3:  One of the most curious singularities observable in the natural history of the human species, is the supposed defect in the habit and temperature of the bodies of the American Indians, exemplified in their having no beards, while they are furnished with a profusion of hair on their heads.  M. de Paw, the ingenious author of Recherches sur les Americains, Dr Robertson, in his History of America, and, in general, the writers for whose authority we ought to have the highest deference, adopt this as an indisputable matter of fact.  May we not be permitted to request those who espouse their sentiments, to reconsider the question, when we can produce Captain Cook’s evidence on the opposite side, at least so far as relates to the American tribe, whom he had intercourse with at Nootka?  Nor is Captain Cook singular in his report.  What he saw on the sea coast, Captain Carver also met with amongst the American Indians far up in the country.  His words are as follow:—­“From minute enquiries, and a curious inspection, I am able to declare (however respectable I may hold the authority of these historians in other points), that their assertions are erroneous, and proceeding from a want of a thorough knowledge of the customs of the Indians.  After the age of puberty, their bodies, in their natural state, are covered in the same manner as those of the Europeans.  The men, indeed, esteem a beard very unbecoming, and take great pains to get rid of it, nor is there any ever to be perceived on their faces, except when they grow old, and become inattentive to appearances.—­The Naudowesses, and the remote nations, pluck them out with bent pieces of hard wood, formed into a kind of nippers, whilst those who have communication with Europeans, procure from them wire, which they twist into a screw or worm; applying this to the part, they press the rings together, and with a sudden twitch, draw out all the hairs that are inclosed in them.”—­Carver’s Travels, p. 224, 225.  The remark made by Mr Marsden, who also quotes Carver, is worth attending to, that the visor or mask of Montezuma’s armour, preserved at Brussels, has remarkably large whiskers; and that those Americans could not have imitated this ornament, unless nature had presented them with the model.  From Captain Cook’s observation on the west coast of North America, combined with Carver’s in the inland parts of that continent, and confirmed by the Mexican vizor as above, there seems abundant reason to agree with Mr Marsden, who thus modestly expresses himself:  “Were it not for the numerous and very respectable authorities, from which we are assured that the natives of America are naturally beardless, I should think that the common opinion on that subject had been hastily adopted; and that their appearing thus at a mature age, was only the consequence of an early practice, similar to that observed among the Sumatrans.  Even now, I must confess, that it would remove some small degree of doubt from my mind, could it be ascertained that no such custom prevails.”—­Marsden’s History of Sumatra, p. 39, 40.—­D.]