HISTORY OF VERMONT. 165 



hunting. On this account, a large territory be- 

 came necessary for the support of a small num- 

 ber of people. Like the game on Avhich they 

 subsist, they must be dispersed over a large 

 tract of country, or they cannot procure food. 

 In this stage of society, the extent of it is de- 

 rived -from its situation. Its territory must be 

 , large, the number of people will be small, and 

 all hostile tribes must be kept at such a distance, 

 as not to encroach upon the territory or the 

 game. This was the state, in which the sava- 

 ges >vere found. Divided into a number of 

 tribes, small in the number of people, large in 

 the extent of territory, and generally unfriendly 

 and hostile to each other. 



Nature of their Civil Government. 

 From this state of society, arose a species and 

 form of government peculiar to the Indians. 

 The design and object of government among the 

 savages, was not the propert}-, security, or con- 

 duct of the individual ; but the property and 

 safety of the tribe. The idea of property is 

 suggested by nature ; and was clear, distinct, 

 and just, in the mind of the rudest India^i. The 

 rfish in the river, and the Sdame in the forest, 

 were not the product of his care or labour ; ancj 

 he had no idea that they belonged to him, more 

 than to any other individual. But vv^hen they 

 v/ere acquired by his personal exertion, no oth- 

 er savage doubted but that they v/ere become 

 his particular and exclusive property. The 

 river, or the forest, from which they were ta- 

 ken, were not personal but public property : 

 they belonged to the tribe. No individual 

 claimed a right to them, in preference to, or 

 VOL. r. W 



