210 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



activity and spirit manifested by him on various occasions in his 

 successful exertions for the internal security of the Colony. — 

 January 1st, 1809. ' ' 



I do not believe that there is a single Indian 

 in ci-devant Dutch Guiana who can read or write, 

 nor am I aware that any white man has reduced 

 their language to the rules of grammar; some 

 may have made a short manuscript vocabulary 

 of the few necessary words, but that is all. Here 

 and there a white man, and some few people of 

 colour, talk the language well. The temper of 

 the Indian of Guiana is mild and gentle, and he 

 is very fond of his children. 

 f Some ignorant travellers and colonists call 

 these Indians a lazy race. Man in general will 

 not be active without an object. Now when the 

 Indian has caught plenty of fish, and killed game 

 enough to last him for a week, what need has he to 

 range the forest? He has no idea of making 

 pleasure-grounds. Money is of no use to him, 

 for in these wilds there are no markets for him 

 to frequent, nor milliners' shops for his wife and 

 daughters; he has no taxes to pay, no highways 

 to keep up, no poor to maintain, nor army nor 

 navy to supply ; he lies in his hammock both night 

 and day (for he has no chair or bed, neither does 

 he want them), and in it he forms his bow, and 

 makes his arrows, and repairs his fishing tackle. 

 But as soon as he has consumed his provisions, 

 he then rouses himself, and, like the lion, scours 

 the forest in quest of food. He plunges into the 

 river after the deer and tapir, and swims across 

 it; passes through swamps and quagmires, and 

 never fails to obtain a sufficient supply of 



