that they were linked to their fellow-men in civilized life, by more of those sympathies and affections than are usually ascribed to them, is cheerfully admitted. Their wants, however, were few and easily supplied. In the early stages of society, the arts deemed necessary for comfort are so few, that each one is sufficiently master of them all, to gratify his limited desires. To form his bow and point his arrow-to rear his hut, and hollow his canoe, is about the extent of man's early acquisitions, and this he does without calling to his aid any hand but his own. His labor, however, progresses slowly-hence, "the work of an Indian" became, among the Spaniards, a phrase by which they described anything in the execution of which much time had been employed, and much labor thrown away.

The most simple operation was a work of great difficulty. To fell a tree with hatchets of stone, was the employment of a month. To form a canoe into shape and hollow it, was the work of years. Their operations in agriculture were equally defective. The clearing a small field for culture, required the efforts of a tribe; and the labor of its cultivation was left to the women.

Agriculture, when the strength of man is seconded by that of animals, and his power augmented by the use of instruments, is an undertaking of great labor among civilized nations.

It ought not then to excite surprise, that a people destitute of both, should have made but little progress either in agriculture or the arts.

In hunting and fishing, they excelled. . In the latter, it is said, they became so expert in South America "as to infect the water with the juice of certain plants, by which the fish became so intoxicated, that they floated on the surface, and were taken by hand."* A bold and dextrous hunter ranked next in fame to a distinguished warrior. No device which the ingenuity of man ever discovered, for ensnaring and destroying wild. beasts, escaped his attention. He discovered, as it were by instinct, the footsteps of animals, which escaped every eye but his own, and followed them with unerring certainty through pathless forests. When he attacked his game openly, his arrow seldom erred; and when he attempted to circumvent it by art, it was almost impossible to escape his toils. His skill has only been surpassed by "the hunters of Kentucky," who, it is said, are disgraced by drawing blood in the killing of game; perfection in the art among them consisting in shooting so near, as to stun and bring it to the earth without shedding its blood.

Among several tribes their young men were not permitted to marry, until they had given such evidence of their skill in hunting, as to remove all doubts of their ability to support a family. Nations more civilized than they, might perhaps, in this particular, profit by their example.

Having no legal tribunals to which parties could appeal for the redress of injuries, revenge was of course intrusted to private hands. In case

Robertson's History of America.

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violence had been committed, or blood had been shed, the community did not assume the province either of inflicting, or moderating the punishIt belonged to the family and friends of the person injured or slain, to avenge the wrong, or accept the reparation offered by the aggressor; and as it was deemed pusillanimous to suffer an offender with impunity to escape, resentment was implacable.

Having no ideas of separate property, avarice and many vices incident to man in a civilized state, were of course unknown. The relation between debtor and creditor being unacknowledged, and their chiefs exercising no criminal jurisdiction, the ties which bound the savage warrior and his clan together, were exceedingly feeble; and without the aid of superstition, by whose fatal influence the human mind is frequently depressed, and its native vigor subdued, would scarcely have existed. Their ideas of separate property were imperfect, and still the rudest tribes were acquainted with the rights of each to its own domains. These were entirely exclusive, and their hunting-grounds, like European parks and forests, were guarded with the utmost care. Their boundaries, however, were uncertain. This led to frequent disputes, which terminated in bloodshed. Hence most of the Indian wars, which for centuries previous to its discovery, converted the whole of this Western Continent into one great charnel-house, and wrapt its forests and prairies in gloom. A community limited in number, and constituting, as in case of an Indian tribe one family, is more sensible of injury than a community of larger dimensions; because the injury of one individual is an injury to the whole, and sentiments of vengeance, like the electric spark, are instantly diffused. As feeble societies enter the field in small parties only, each warrior is conscious of his own importance, and feels, that to his single arm is committed a considerable portion of the public vengeance. War was therefore prosecuted by them, with all the rancor of a private quarrel. One council-fire was sufficient for its discussion. Here all the warriors and sages assembled. Eloquence and superstition inflamed their minds. The orator awoke their martial ardor, and they were wrought up to a kind of religious desperation "by the visions of the prophet and the dreamer."

In going to war, they were never satisfied till they extirpated, in whole or in part, the objects of their vengeance. They sought not to conquer, but to destroy. Revenge was the first, and almost the only principle, which the savage instilled into the minds of his children. Under its baneful influence, he neither pitied nor forgave. When a chief wished to allure a band of warriors to his standard, his most persuasive topics were drawn from revenge, and at times it must be admitted, they were eloquent. Animated by such exhortations, the youth snatched their arms in a transport of fury-raised the war-whoop-mingled in the danceand burned with impatience to "attack the foe."

Sometimes, however, they were more deliberate, and then an Indian council was one of the most dignified bodies of men on earth.

The

elders assembled, and delivered their opinions in solemn speechesweighed, with extreme caution, the nature of the enterprise, and balanced its beneficial or injurious tendencies with great sagacity. Their priests and soothsayers, in such cases, were consulted, and sometimes the

women.

If war was declared, they prepared for it deliberately. A leader of renown stepped forth, and offered to conduct the expedition. None but a successful warrior or a skilful hunter, applied for a command, and none were constrained to follow him. The resolution of the community imposed no obligation upon any member to participate in the war. Each individual was master of his own conduct, and his engagement was entirely voluntary. They never took the field in numerous bodies, as it would require more efforts, and greater industry, than usually exists among savages, to provide for their subsistence. Their armies were, therefore, encumbered neither with baggage nor military stores. When at a distance from the enemy, they dispersed themselves through the woods, and lived upon its game; and as they approached the territories of a hostile tribe, they collected their troops and advanced with caution. Their most active hostilities were carried on by stratagem. To set on fire their enemies' huts at midnight, and to massacre men, women and children, as they fled naked and defenceless from the flames, constituted their pride and glory. No applause was attached to force. To surprise and to destroy, was the greatest merit of a commander, and the highest pride of his followers. They traced the footsteps of an enemy with wonderful accuracy through pathless forests-laid in ambush from day to day-and rushed upon their foes when the latter were most secure, and least prepared for resistance. They concealed their approach-crept frequently on their hands and feet through the woods, and to avoid detection, painted their skins of the color of withered leaves. With them it was considered folly to meet an enemy on his guard, or give him battle in open day. The most distinguished success was a disgrace, if purchased with considerable loss; and to fall in battle, instead of being glorious, as among civilized nations, subjected the memory of a warrior to the imputation of rashness. This has frequently been imputed to cowardice. When, however, we consider the fact, now conceded, that at times they made extraordinary efforts-defended themselves often with great resolution-attacked their enemies with daring courage, and rose superior to a sense of danger or fear of death, we are compelled to admit that their caution originated from other and different motives. The number in each tribe was so small, and the difficulty of raising new members so great, that the life of an individual was exceedingly precious, and the preservation of it, a consideration of importance in their policy.

Although they discovered great sagacity, as well in concealing their own motions as in discovering those of an enemy; when they entered the field in large parties, those precautions essential to their security, were seldom observed. Unaccustomed to subordination, unable or unwilling

to act in concert, such was their impatience under restraint, : their caprice and presumption, that they seldom conformed to the counsels or directions of their leaders; never stationed sentinels around their camp, and after marching hundreds of miles to surprise an enemy, were themselves often surprised and cut off in a profound sleep, as if they were not within the reach of danger.

When the battle had been fought, and a victory won, the warriors' return was preceded by messengers, to announce the result-and the prisoners began to feel the wretchedness of their condition. The first thing to be done was to decide the captives' fate; and a barbarous triumph accompanied or followed the decision. Savages, however, are neither singular nor alone in this respect. Such exhibitions were frequent in Ancient Rome. Prisoners were there sold in market, after being exhibited through the streets. The purchaser was vested with the issues of life and death. They were compelled to fight with wild beasts, to make sport for a Roman populace, and with each other as gladiators, for the amusement of Roman matrons. Well might an English monarch, thus exhibited as a spectacle, wonder, that a people possessing so much splendor at home, should envy him a humble cottage in Britain.

In deciding the fate of prisoners, the old men-the aged chiefs, and sometimes the women, had a voice. Some were destined to tortureothers to satiate the vengeance of their conquerors, and some to replace those who had fallen in battle. Those reserved for the milder fate, were taken to their cabins, received at the doors with cordiality by the women, and their sufferings ended. They were thenceforward adopted into the family-assumed its name; were enrolled among the tribe, sometimes became its chiefs, and were treated with all the tenderness due to a father, a brother, a husband, or friend.

So long as their fate was undetermined, the prisoners seemed unconcerned-ate, drank, and slept, as if no danger was impending. And when the fatal sentence was announced, they received it with unaltered looks, and prepared to suffer like men.

Their conquerors then assembled, as at a solemn festival, in order to put the endurance of the captive to its utmost proof. A scene followed, the bare description of which fills every heart with horror. The prisoner was bound to a stake every species of torture was applied that ingenuity could devise, and by avoiding the vital parts, this scene of anguish was frequently prolonged for several days. In spite, however, of all his sufferings, the victim chanted his own death-song-boasted of his exploits-insulted his tormentors for their want of skill in avenging their relations-warned them of the horrors that awaited his agonies-excited their ferocity by reproaches, and rising at last superior to the white man, in his contempt of death under its cruellest inflictions, amid the protracted agonies of fire," as the flames preyed on his vitals, and the flesh shrunk from the sinews," he repeated in emphatic tones his last song of triumph, breathing in every word the defiance of an unconquered heart, and died without a groan.

Appalling as is the scene, England, "the land of scholars, and the nurse of arms"-civilized Spain, and refined and accomplished France, long after Columbus landed on our shores, presented for contemplation scenes accompanied with greater horrors. England, France and Spain, it is said, too, were enlightened from on high. In the latter, public sacrifices, called the Auto de Fe, or Act of Faith, have been exhibited repeatedly upon a stage, erected in the public market-place of the capital; and kings, whose presence in other cases was a harbinger of mercy, have sometimes assisted, seated lower than the inquisitors, and viewed, with apparent transport, their subjects writhing in agony, and expiring by slow and lingering torments. A monarch of France, (Charles IX.) on St. Bartholomew's eve, in 1572, accompanied by his mother, viewed from a window the massacre of his most gallant nobles, and incited the fury of the Catholics, by firing himself upon the Protestants, and crying, "kill! kill!" and solemn thanks were afterward returned to the God of mercy, by the professed followers of a meek and lowly Jesus, to commemorate the sacrifice. In England, many a pious martyr has perished at the stake, without seeking by recantation to escape the flames. The offer of pardon did not induce a Hooper to waver in his faith; nor did the pains of a lingering death subdue his fortitude. He suffered by a slow and lingering fire, and died, says his biographer, "as quietly as a child in his bed." For him, the counsels of the Almighty had chosen a Saviour for him, the laws of nature had been suspended. The heavens had opened-the earth had quaked-the sun had veiled its face, and Christ, his Redeemer, had died and risen. For him, prophets and apostles had revealed the oracles and the will of God. Viewing himself as an object of favor, and denying all merit of his own, he prostrated himself in dust and ashes before his Maker. He cherished hope, professed faith, and as he walked the earth, his heart was in the skies.* Though spirits of darkness leagued together to tempt him from his allegiance-Angels hovered around his path, to comfort his soul and beckon him to glory. He died as he had lived, not like an Indian warrior, singing his own death-song, but like a saint in bliss, exclaiming amid the flames, as one arm dropped from his half-consumed body, and with the other, he beat his bosom, and bade his heart be still: "Oh, Death! where is thy sting? Oh, Grave! where is thy victory ?"

While the perpetrators of these horrid deeds assumed the character of Christians, and professed to be mild and merciful, "the wild man of the woods," at the sound of whose war-whoop the white man had frequently quailed; whose very name was a talisman, by which the mother on the Rhine and the Danube once stilled her babe; for acts less abhorrent to our nature, is branded "a savage." How truly says an eminent author,f "Are we the dupes of circumstances?" How different is virtue, clothed in purple, from virtue naked, destitute, and perishing obscurely in a wilderness!