12 INTRODUCTION, 



life, produces virtues and vices peculiar to itself; for 

 patience and hospitality, indolence and rapacity, con- 

 tent and sincerity, are blended in America in the same 

 degree of proportion as in other uncivilized parts of 

 the globe. 



The sixth and last division of the Human Race is 

 comprised under the term of Europeans, a set of 

 people who possess those superior advantages which 

 religion and refinement naturally produce : In these 

 may be included the Georgians and Circassians ; the 

 Mingrihans, the natives of Asia Minor and the northern 

 parts of Africa, together with part of those countries 

 that lie north of the Caspian Sea. The inhabitants 

 of countries so remote from each other, of course 

 must vary in their manners and designs; but in 

 their form and persons there is a striking similitude, 

 and little variation in the colour of their skin : in that 

 respect the Europeans have an advantage which no 

 other part of the world enjoys ; for a fair complexion 

 (if I may so express it) seems a transparent covering 

 to the soul : impressions of joy vermilion the cheek, 

 whilst sympathy and sorrow turn it pale ; and the sen- 

 sations of the heart may be traced in the countenance, 

 without applying to the aid of speech. Though this /»er- 

 sonal superiority is allowed to be desirable, it is trifling 

 when compared with that of the mind ; there the Euro- 

 pean must feel his pre-eminence, and gratefully acknow- 

 ledge the blessings of his fate. 



