28 WILLIAM BARTRAM 



diligent Investigator, he came to conclusions oa many subjects, 

 but the statement of his conclusions is never dogmatic. His 

 knowledge of certain tribes of American Indians was so exten- 

 sive that he was invited to contribute a series of authoritative 

 answers to specific questions, even before his Travels appeared.^^ 

 Yet his remarks in the Travels on what the government's policy 

 towards the Indians ought to be are apologetic, for he is con- 

 vinced " that such important matters are far above my ability" 

 (p. xxxiv) . 



He was equally modest in the expression of his opinions on 

 other matters, where he might have every right to be oracular — 

 if such a right be yielded to any investigator. In geology, for 

 instance, his knowledge was of considerable reputation. Every- 

 where in his Travels and in his Diary are indications of his 

 extensive observations. Men of science with whom he corre- 

 sponded spoke with respect of his accomplishment in this field. 

 Professor Barton printed an article of his, " Conjectures relative 

 to the Scite of Bristol, in Penn." "° Yet he refused to insist 

 on his knowledge, and, in one case, having offered a plausible 

 solution for a particular soil's behavior, he modestly adds: 

 " however, of these causes and secret operations of nature I am 

 ignorant, and resume again my proper employment, that of 

 discovering and collecting data ..." {Travels, p. 23). 



The expression of his ornithological ideas is another illustra- 

 tion of his modesty. The Encyclopedia Americana classifies him 

 as a "botanist and ornithologist," and Johnson's Universal 

 Cyclopedia quotes the opinion of D. Cones that William 

 Bartram was " the starting point of a distinctly American school 

 of ornithology." Alexander Wilson sent him imitations of birds 

 " for your opinion and correction, which I value beyond those 

 of anybody else," "^ and wrote that he was satisfied " that none 



*" " Observations on the Creek and Cherokee Indians. William Bartram, 

 1789." Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, New York, 1853. 

 Ill, Part I, 1-81. Also, "' Answers to Queries about Indians by William Bar- 

 tram " in John Howard Payne's Commonplace Book (In MS. Division, Penn- 

 sylvania Historical Society). 



^"^ ?roj. Barton's Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal, I, Part II, 1805, 

 131-33. 



^'^^ Biographical Sketch of William Bartram with Portrait. American Philo- 

 sophical Society Pamphlet, v. 1166. 



