WANT OF CAUTION AMONG UNEDUCATED MEN. 89 



the case of most people of the savage races, and also 

 of white men wholly destitute of anything like book- 

 learning, living upon the frontier, under conditions 

 such as we have described, may seem to supply 

 instances which are opposed to these views we believe 

 that they do so only in appearance. 



That many of the scouts and plainsmen of the Great 

 West (who are often wholly untaught except in the 

 crafts and experiences of the wilderness) furnish us with 

 remarkable instances of extraordinary and sleepless 

 vigilance and sagacity, of which many a veteran soldier 

 might take copy with advantage, we do not for a 

 moment deny ; we would merely point out, that if un- 

 taught in other respects, he is a man highly trained 

 by a lifelong education in this particular way. Some 

 of these men were models of unceasing watchfulness, 

 and keen observation of all the signs of the wilderness, 

 such as puts to shame the more highly educated in- 

 tellect of his literary companion ; but to our mind, this 

 does not affect the force of the several observations 

 which we have already ventured to make upon this 

 head. 



In continuation of the subject which we were dis- 

 cussing previous to this digression, namely the necessity 

 for unremitting vigilance on the part of travellers pass- 

 ing through a hostile country, the observations of Mr. 

 Cremony, who was Indian Interpreter to the U.S. 

 Government boundary exploring expedition in Texas, 

 under Mr. Bartlett, seem to us worthy of recording. 



" You must never (he says) permit zeal to outrun discre- 

 tion, a well-appointed party may travel from one year's end 

 to the other without ever seeing an Indian, or any trace of 

 his existence ; thus travellers become careless and fall an 



