NATURE ONLY PROVIDES FOR NATURAL PURPOSES. 211 



pepper to a Greenlander : it was thought not only 

 unnecessary, but would have been held as detrimental 

 to him ; for, going upon the principle that whatever 

 is contrary to nature must be injurious, the horse 

 being an herbaceous feeder, it was then thought that 

 the greater quantum of natural food that could be 

 got into the colt, so much the better for him. This 

 might be all very well if we were content with the 

 horse in his natural state. He was doubtless a fine 

 animal even in such a state ; and to render him so, 

 the ordinary feed of the plains was sufficient. The 

 wild flower is pretty, and to the eye of the savage 

 beautiful: for this Nature has supplied sufficient 

 nourishment : but the eye accustomed to prize pan- 

 sies, anemonies, and dahlias, becomes more fastidious, 

 and to rear these the hotbed must come into use : so 

 if we want a Plenipo, or a Harkaway, the oats and 

 (comparatively) the hotbed must be used too. I 

 may be told to look at the American Indian living in 

 a state of nature.in its simplest form, and to remark 

 his activity, strength, and hardihood. We will look 

 at the three attributes. That he is more active, 

 strong, and hardy than a journeyman tailor or an 

 effeminate man of fortune, is of course fact ; but this 

 does not arise from the absence of the soup and made- 

 dishes, but from the active life he leads. Feed him 

 on beef and mutton, and let him use the same exercise 

 in the same air, he would be just as active and much 

 stronger than he now is ; for it is a pretty well-known 

 fact that a hundred of our jolly tars are nearly as 

 active, and decidedly stronger, than an equal number 

 of the average race of savages, and almost, nay per- 

 haps quite, as hardy. Show me the savage equal in 

 bodily strength to the fighter entering the prize ring : 



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