211 



was almost blind. The effect that the leaves had when 

 eaten by a ship's crew that arrived at Jamestown, are 

 well known.* 



(4.) p. 67. Mons. BufFon has indeed given an afflict- 

 ing picture of hiunan nature in his descrijjtion of the 

 man of America. But sure I am there never was a 

 picture more unlike the original. He grants indeed 

 that his stature is the sanje as that of the man of Eu- 

 rope. He might have admitted, that the Iroquois were 

 larger, and the Lenopi, or Dela\^ares, taller than people 

 in Europe generally are. But he says their organs of 

 generation are smaller and weaker than those of Euro- 

 peajis. Is this a fact.'' I believe not; at lea^ it is an 

 observation I never heard before. — ' Ttiey have no 

 beard.' Had he known the pai?is and trouble it costs 

 the tnen to pluck out l)y the roots the hair that grows 

 on their faces, he would have seen that nature had not 

 been deficient in that respect. Every nation has its 

 customs. J have seen an Indian beau, with a looking- 

 glass in his hand, examining his face for hours together, 

 and plucking out by the roots every hair he coukl iWs- 

 cover, with a kind of tweezer ma.de of a piece of fine 

 brass wire, that had been twisted round a stick, and 

 which he used with great dexterity. — 'They have no 

 ardour for their females.' it is true they do not in- 

 dulge those excesses, nor discover that fondness which 

 is customary in Europe ; but this is not owing to a de- 

 fect in nature but to manners. Their soul is wholly 

 bent upon war. This is what procures them glory 

 among the men, and makes them the admiration of the 

 women. To this they are educated from their earliest 

 youth. When they pursue game with ardour, when 

 they bear the fatigues of the chase, when, they sustaiia 

 and sutler patiently hunger and cold; it is not so mtich 

 for the s;ike of the game they pursue, as to convince 

 their parents and the council of the nation that they are 

 fit to be enrolled in the number of the warriors. The 



* An instance of temporal}'- imbecility produced by them is 

 mentioned, Beverl. H. of V'jrg. b. 2, c. 4. 



