courame'. 113 



led him to these scenes. He put a multitude of questions to her upon 

 her new situation, and her answers showed that she was more than 

 satisfied at having been restored to her primitive condition. He ask- 

 ed her, what had become of all those talents which had been culti- 

 vated with so much care during her residence at Cayenne ? He 

 wished to know, above all, what had become of a very valuable library 

 which Madame de St. Croix had given her to perfect her education ? 

 " Behold my books !" replied she, pointing to her children and the 

 new-born infant at her breast. " I am a wife and a mother. All my 

 learning has gone to make room for my affections. Of all that you 

 have taught me, I only preserve the fear of God, which has sustained 

 me in all my afflictions. I owe to him the prosperity of my family 

 and the continuance of the happiness which he has bestowed upon me 

 on earth. 



Courame and the Doctor then entered into a conversation, in 

 which they balanced the inconveniences of a social life against those 

 of a savage one. " Talk not to me of your science," said she, " it 

 only creates doubts. What makes the Norague happy ? his bow and 

 his freedom. My children know and love God ; but they do not 

 seek to penetrate the secrets of Providence. Their reason is never 

 harrassed ; they enjoy happiness here below without enquiring whence 

 it comes. We have prudence, the preserving genius of rational, 

 sensible beings, to guide us through life. That independence which 

 you seek for with so much ardour, we possess ; for, in the midst of 

 our woods and in the bosom of beneficent and hospitable Nature, there 

 is neither tyranny nor servitude. We do not value your sentiment 

 of fame, because we do not know it." 



During this conversation, the brave Almiki, her husband, who was 

 smoking odoriferous herbs, seemed enchanted with the good sense 

 and wisdom of his wife. Valayer, on his part, admired the choice of 

 Courame's expressions, which singularly contrasted with her wild 

 condition. He approved her resolutions and was moved by her sen- 

 timents, in which he so far acquiesced as to eventually sell those pos- 

 sessions which he had in Cayenne, and return to end his days in the 

 land of his birth. 



VOL. VIII, NO. XXIII. 10 



