22 HISTORY OF 



DISPOSITIONS. 



Lavater himself would undoubtedly have 

 been at a loss to assign, any general national 

 character in a case like the present, for the 

 dispositions of 'these people are paradoxi- 

 cal ; they are brutal and generous, selfish and 

 liberal, revengful and forgiving, jealous and 

 unsuspecting, courageous and cowardly, open 

 and cunning; with all these powerful opposi- 

 tions it is hard to give any general idea of. na- 

 tional character, at least any of a favourable 

 kind. Their partiality to revenge by murder, 

 must ever be detestable to refined nations, as 

 well as the cruel manner in which men behave 

 to the women; yet they have constancy to en- 

 dure pain, and courage to fight either singly or 

 in the field. There is little reason to . suspect 

 they were honest before we came among them, 

 or if they were, they (like too many others, 

 when opportunity offers) soon became, expert 

 theives. 



No strangers to falsehood and its effects on 

 the minds of others, they endeavour to impress 

 all they say as truth, by earnestly wishing us to 

 believe that all we hear from others is false. 

 They are not insusceptible of friendship or of 

 sorrow, but neither is lasting ; even the love of 

 themselves extends no further than the present 

 instant, they know not of to-morrow. They 

 eat and sleep, they awake and seek food, though 

 it is. not uncommon to mafce the female sit in 



