HISTORY OF VEri?,IONT. 155 



like the fury and vengeance of a combinatioH 

 of apostate spirits. The prosjress of knowledge, 

 humanity, and refinement, will afford the only 

 effectual remedy for this evil. 



.Such were the regulations, customs, and 

 manners of the Indians, the original men of A- 

 merica. They have been viewed by philoso- 

 phers, in the most opposite and contrary lights. 

 Some have supposed that the Indians were in 

 the inflmcy of existence, that the whole conti- 

 ncnt of America was but lately raised out of the 

 sea, and that her inhabitants were in a state of 

 degradation, unuorthy to be compared with the 

 men of the more ancient and improved hemis- 

 phere.* ^ On the contrary, others have contend- 

 ed that in the rudest and most simple state, 

 man attains an independence, a dignity, and a 

 nobleness of mind, which is never found, but is 

 always lost, amidst the refinements of polished 

 societies : that the highest dignity and noble- 

 ness of man, is derived solely from nature, and 

 is always debased and corrupted by polish, re- 

 finement, and the arts, f To view this subject 

 m Its proper light, it will be necessary to com- 

 pare the savage with the civilized state, and to 

 mark the various Advantages and Disadvantages 

 of it. * 



The Savage State favourable to the 

 Health, Activity, and Vigour of the 

 Body. Among the advantages that were con- 

 nected with the savage state, it may justly be 

 esteemed one, and a matter of much importance, 

 that It was favourable to the vij^our. activitv, 



* Buffon, 

 X Rou»saa«. 



