BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THOREA U. 23 



and genius few others possessed, none in a more large 

 and religious synthesis. For not a particle of respect 

 had he to the opinions of any man or body of men, 

 but homage solely to the truth itself ; and as he dis 

 covered everywhere among doctors some leaning of 

 courtesy, it discredited them. He grew to be revered 

 and admired by his townsmen, who had at first known 

 him only as an oddity. The farmers who employed 

 him as a surveyor soon discovered his rare accuracy 

 and skill, his knowledge of their lands, of trees, of 

 birds, of Indian remains and the like, which enabled 

 him to tell every farmer more than he knew before 

 of his own farm ; so that he began to feel a little as 

 if Mr. Thoreau had better rights in his land than he. 

 They felt, too, the superiority of character which ad 

 dressed all men with a native authority. 



Indian relics abound in Concord, arrow-heads, 

 stone chisels, pestles, and fragments of pottery ; and 

 on the river-bank, large heaps of clam-shells and ashes 

 mark spots which the savages frequented. These, 

 and every circumstance touching the Indian, were im 

 portant in his eyes. His visits to Maine were chiefly 

 for love of the Indian. He had the satisfaction of 

 seeing the manufacture of the bark-canoe, as well as 

 of trying his hand in its management on the rapids. 

 He was inquisitive about the making of the stone 

 arrow-head, and in his last days charged a youth set 

 ting out for the Eocky Mountains to find an Indian 

 who could tell him that : &quot; It was well worth a visit 

 to California to learn it.&quot; Occasionally, a small party 

 of Penobscot Indians would visit Concord, and pitch 

 their tents for a few weeks in summer on the river- 

 bank. He failed not to make acquaintance with the 

 best of them ; though he well knew that asking ques- 



