Ahorigijial Race of America. 205 



I am informed by my friend Mr. Townsend, who passed 

 several months among the tribes of the Cokimbia river, that 

 the Indians there have ah-eady adopted from the Canadian 

 traders several French words, which they use with as much 

 freedom as if they belonged to their own vocabulary. 



It follows of course from the preceding remarks that we 

 consider the American race to present the two extremes of 

 intellectual character ; the one capable of a certain degree of 

 civihzation and refinement, independent of extraneous aids ; 

 the other exhibiting an abasement which puts all mental cul- 

 ture at defiance. The one composed, as it were, of a hand- 

 ful of people whose superiority and consequent acquisitions 

 have made them the prey of covetous destroyers ; the other 

 a vast multitude of savage tribes whose very barbarism is 

 working: their destruction from within and without. The 

 links that connect them partake of the fate of the extremes 

 themselves ; and extinction appears to be the unhappy, but 

 fast approaching doom of them all. 



4. Maritime Enterprise. — One of the most characteristic 

 traits of all civilized and many barbarous communities, is the 

 progress of maritime adventure. The Caucasian nations of 

 every age present a striking illustration of this fact : their 

 sails are spread on every ocean, and the fabled voyage of the 

 Argonauts is but a type of their achievements from remote 

 antiquity to the present time. Hence their undisputed do- 

 minion of the sea, and their successful colonization of every 

 quarter of the globe. The Mongolians and Malays, though 

 active and predatory, and proverbially aquatic in their habits, 

 are deficient in that mechanical invention which depends on 

 a knowledge of mathematical principles ; while they seem 

 also incapable of those mental combinations which are re- 

 quisite to a perfect acquaintance with naval tactics. The 

 Negro, whose observant and imitative powers enable him to 

 acquire with ease the details of seamansliip, readily becomes 

 a mariner, but rarely a commander ; and history is silent on 

 the nautical prowess of his race. Far behind all these is the 

 man of America. Savage or civilized, the sea for him has 



