OUR CAMP. 329 



broken fences, the atmosphere redolent with noxious 

 stenches, and the earth encumbered with rotting car- 

 rion, and he can regret that all habitable portions of 

 this planet will some day be encumbered with popu- 

 lation, and subjected to the horror of such scenes. 

 If civilisation did what its advocates claim for it, my 

 regrets for the inroads of my race into new countries 

 might not be, but it only teaches us to restrain 

 ourselves while our safety depends on doing so. The 

 savage son of man is less a savage than his educated 

 brother, for when the fortunes of war have turned 

 in favour of the latter, and he can without fear of 

 punishment gratify his lusts and smothered, but not 

 destroyed, love of bloodshed, he does so to excess. 

 How comes it I possess so low an opinion of my own 

 race? It is formed upon experience, from my as- 

 sociation with comrades, my conflict with enemies, 

 and by studying myself. 



Our camp this evening was not as cheerful as 

 usual, or as its position and the beauty of the night 

 would be expected to produce. The vicinity of 

 strangers had caused results possibly very different 

 upon myself and companion, but the old man's 

 manner reverted to that of restraint, similar to what 

 had marked it in our earlier associations. Possibly 

 he possessed some extraordinary idea that it would 

 militate against him in the eyes of the world, if 

 supposed to be capable of unbending and becoming 

 the genuine, sincere, natural person which his true 

 self was. 



