298 ENDOWMENTS OF THE SAVAGE. 



but what lie can easily attain, and fears no enemy but 

 such as he is accustomed to subdue : such a savage, 

 though his rational powers cannot be said to be un- 

 folded, — though he has not attained to the privileges, 

 or assumed the dignity, of which reasoning man is 

 capable, — is still a noble animal, in comparison with 

 the enslaved and unenlightened peasants, who groan, 

 in many parts of the world, under the iron hand of 

 oppression; without being visited by the light that 

 leads to heaven, or exalted by the arts that promote 

 our ease and comfort in the present life. The savage 

 is more quick of apprehension, more swift of foot, 

 more acute in all his senses, more dexterous, more 

 ingenious; in short, much better qualified to supply 

 his own wants, procure his own enjoyments, and 

 resist physical evils of every kind. 



Nor, in the blended proportion of physical and in- 

 tellectual powers, does man, in this enslaved and 

 uninstructed state, bear the same rank among his 

 fellow-men, as animals domesticated, yet not caress- 

 ed or cultivated, do among their fellow-animals. I 

 know only one instance in which an example may be 

 found of the wild instinct being little impaired, and 

 a kind of borrowed intelligence superadded. This is 

 the Highland cattle, whose wide, free range in the 

 mountains, is calculated to cherish their native in- 

 stinct ; and were it not for early domestic education. 



