NEW BOOKS. THE WHITE AND NEGRO RACES. 55 



be it said, how many luminaries of their age have referred to maternal super- 

 vision and teachings for the germ of all their usefulness, and their rich harvests 

 of renown in after life ! 



NEW BOOKS— OMOO, AND TRAVELS IN PERU. 



On intimating to my good friends, the liberal booksellers referred to, my 

 purpose to while away some Aveeks in the mountains of Virginia, they kmdly 

 stocked me with their recent publications for light reading, in which I shall 

 find some passages fitted for your journal. The first opened by chance was 

 Omoo, of which the contents are as light and worthless, but not so gay and 

 brilliant, as the very thistle's-down. Its more illustrious predecessor, Typee, 

 which I have not read, had won distinction for the author, evincing for him. 

 capacity to use, if not in some measure to supply, materials for a highly enter- 

 taining work ; but for Omoo, it would be easy to work out a better work from 

 the adventures before the mast of any whaler out of New-Bedford. — The next 

 I opened, published by Wiley & Putnam, was "Travels in Peru, by Doctor 

 J. J. Von Tschudi," who, says the Editor — with what entire accuracy this de- 

 ponent saith not — lays claim to no merit beyond the truthfulness of his nana.' 

 tive. His pictures of Nature, he adds truly, especially those relating to the 

 animal world, are frequently imbued with much of the charm of thought and 

 style which characterizes the writings of Buff'on. 



Though your readers might be amused, and in some respects instructed, by his 

 observations on the social condition and habits of the several communities he 

 visited, and yet more with his zoological sketches, to make my extracts accept- 

 able to yourself, they must, I am aware, be of a nature at least nearly akin to 

 the chief purposes of your journal. Some of those selected seem to possess the 

 more interest just now, as they relate to animals and vegetables the growth of 

 Peru, many of which may doubtless be acclimated with us, especially in the 

 Southern States, and for the introduction of which a favorable opportunity seems 

 to be presented in the mission of Mr. Williamson, with facilities offered, as 

 you inform us, by the Government. I would here refer to the Alpacca and other 

 Peruvian sheep, sketches and descriptions of which you gave us, together with, 

 names of the vegetables of South America, long since, in the American Farmer. 

 Doctor Tschudi speaks, as you will see by the accompanying extracts, of the 

 celebrated highways and works constructed for Irrigation, nobody knows how 

 long before the Conquest of Peru — of their riding and driving Horses, their equip- 

 ments and training — Mules — Plantations — Cotton — Sugar — Tobacco — the Olive, 

 and other oil-trees — various kinds of Grain — Maize — Quince — Potatoes, and other 

 tuberous roots — Plants used for seasoning — Clover — Fruits — Figs and Grapes — 

 the Chirimoya — the Palta — the Banana and other fruits, and others of more or 

 less value and promise, some of them unknown to our country.* But first, I 

 must give you the observations of this disciple of the German philosopher in 

 Metaphysics and Archaeology, on the 



COMPARATIVE NATURAL CAPACITIES OF THE WHITE AND THE NEGRO RACES. 



I leave you to judge how far the characteristics of the negro, designated by a 

 writer who may well be regarded as impartial, at least on this question, apply to 

 the same race in our country. To state facts is one thing, to propagate unestab- 

 lished doctrines is another ; and I believe it may be stated as a fact within our 

 own experience, that the most cleanly, industrious, honest and thrifty of Ameri- 

 can negroes, bond or free, are such as have been reared in slavery, and yet the 

 more so, in proportion as their duties may have placed them in nearer proximity 

 and personal relation to their owners ; but as to their capability for intellectual 

 development under more favorable circumstances, and their acquisitive power of 

 the arts of civilization, and the political virtue and forecast which form the secu- 

 rities for public happiness and respectability, let us wait in hopefulness the issue 

 of the Monrovian experiment, Avith materials smelted, and it must be admit- 

 ted, much refined, out of the rude African ore. We shall see to what destiny 



[•^ Not to break in too much on the personal narrative of our correspondent, we shall sep« 

 arate his extracts, and publish them separately from the context in which he would have 

 interwoven them. Ed. Farm, Lib.'\ 



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