£$4 Dr. Falconer on the Influence of the Scenery 
emotions of the mind, in thefe inftances, cor- 
refpond with the wikinefs and ferocity of the 
furrounding chaos of objeCts, and require in 
order to humanize them, a certain degree of ad- 
juftment, and even embellifhment, of external 
appearances. We might reafonably conclude 
from hence, that a people fofituated, would have 
their intellectual faculties confiderably contract¬ 
ed, or depreffed. The paucity of objeCts, and 
thofe of a difgufting, or terrible nature, would 
afford few motives for inquiry, and, of courfe, 
a narrow field for mental exertion. 
The ancient Germans,* to whom letters were 
unknown, and who feem to have pofTefled very 
little third after knowledge, dwelt in a region, 
dark with forefts, and foul with marfhes; and 
the defolate and uncultivated face of the country 
contributes, I doubt not, to encourage the igno¬ 
rance of the American Indians. We might, 
with dill greater probability imagine, that fuch 
a people would be particularly defective in all 
matters that regard tafte and fentiment. This, 
however, is not altogether the cafe* Their ideas 
are indeed melancholy, and their views of nature 
dark and gloomy; but, neverthelefs, often par- 
* Terra etfi aliquanto fpecie differt, eft in univerfum, 
aut fylvis horrida aut paludibus fa;da. 
Taciti Germania. 
Multis montibus afpera, et mana ex parte ftlvis ct 
paludibus invia. Pompon. Mela. 
take 
