LIFE AND CHARACTER 31 



him among "his own children or people, . . . adding, 'Our 

 whole country is before you, where you may range about at 

 pleasure, gather physic plants and flowers, and every other 

 production'" (pp. 237-38). 



The Indians also saw and admired the courage of the man. 

 He was not only a peculiar white stranger, who came among 

 them to gather flowers instead of coming to drive an advan- 

 tageous trading bargain, but a useful man. His knowledge of 

 medicine was at their disposal, and so was his courage. His 

 farcical description of the way he rids a terrorized village of a 

 rattlesnake, indirectly reveals his own fearlessness; and the 

 exploit earned for him the friendship of the Seminoles, who 

 henceforth classed him as " a worthy and brave warrior" (p. 

 263). 



The episode with the snake suggests a caution. A man char- 

 acterized by simplicity, modesty, and honesty, whose dominant 

 interest is the gathering of botanical specimens, is in danger of 

 giving a wrong impression. He may appear like the caricature 

 of a scientist created by Cooper in his Prairie. Bartram, however, 

 was a perfectly balanced and practical person. The Indians 

 treated him with kindness not because he never cheated them 

 and was harmless, but because he knew how to deal with them. 

 "The man presently offered us a fawn-skin of honey," he re- 

 ports an encounter with a party of Indians in the woods, "which 

 we gladly accepted, and at parting I presented him with some 

 fish hooks, sewing needles &c. For in my travels amongst the 

 Indians, I always furnished myself with such useful and accept- 

 able little articles of light carriage, for presents" (p. 244). 

 Nor was he so absorbed in his work that his courage might be 

 the result of foolhardy abstraction. When the danger was too 

 great he could change his mind about conducting his researches 

 in a particular territory. Thus he admits that when "it appeared 

 very plain" that he could not with safety range the Overhill 

 settlements until an Indian treaty was concluded, he suddenly 

 decided "to defer these researches at this time" (p. 366). 

 These little practical touches season Bartram's personality and 

 add to his appeal an element of confidence. One feels that he 

 was by temperament well-prepared for his chosen work. His 

 curiosity was supported by patience; his courage was tempered 



