116 



HUNTING ADVENT! RES. 



ment to labor, which alone could improve their moral and physical 

 condition. Humboiut has beautifully described the state of primitive 

 rudeness in which many of the tribes of South America remain- 

 partly from their geographical position, and partly from the spon- 

 taneous bounty of their climate : 



When we attentively examine this wild part of America, we 

 appear to be carried back to the first ages, when the earth was 

 peopled step by step we seem to assist at the birth of human 

 societies. In the Old World, we behold the pastoral life prepare 

 a people of huntsmen for the agricultural life. In the New World, 

 we look in vain for these progressive developments of civilization 

 these moments of repose these resting-places in the life of a people. 

 The luxury of vegetation embarrasses the Indian in the chase. As 

 the rivers are like arms of the sea, the depth of the water for many 

 months prevents their fishing. Those species of ruminating animals 

 which constitute the riches of the people of the Old World, are 

 wanting in the New. The bison and the musk-ox have not yet 

 been reduced to the domestic state ; the enormous multiplication 

 of the llama and the guanaco has not produced in the natives the 

 habits of the past&ral life." 



