HISTORY OF VERMONT. 22S 



manners, were greatly disagreeable to men, ac- 

 customed only to the business of hunting and 

 fighting. Men thus satisfied with their own 

 condition, and averse to that of others, could 

 not be brought, but with great difficult}^ to ad- 

 mit the improvements of the civilized life ; or 

 to give up that independence, which they es- 

 teemed the highest distinction, and the greatest 

 ^lory of man. 



The appetite for the hunter's state, is one of 

 the most general and powerful, that prevails in 

 any period of society. Men never quit this 

 state, untii it becomes inadequate to their sub^ 

 sistence and support. It is in hunting and in 

 fishing, not in agriculture and the arts, that the 

 indolent and wealthy in the most polished na- 

 tions, find their favourite amustment and exer- 

 cise. The children of the white people, wheri 

 carried among the savages in early life, have of- 

 ten contracted such an attachment to that state, 

 that they could not be persuaded to return, and 

 reside among their friends. But nothing can 

 reconcile the children of the Indians, to the cus- 

 toms, manners, and methods of living among 

 the Europeans : However caressed and indulg- 

 ed, they droop and languish, until they return 

 to the freedom and wildness of the forest. 



Nor Avas there any thing in the savage state, 

 that could refine or improve itself. While the 

 game continued, the same method of living 

 would have remained : And this would natural- 

 ly have continued all the disadvantages, and 

 habits of the savage state. The same method 

 of support, would have perpetuated the same 

 manners, maxims, and customs. Nothing 



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