36 WILLIAM BARTRAM 



And here are a few comparisons between Indian "savagery" 

 and white civilization: 



The Indians make war against, kill, and destroy their own species, 

 and their motives spring from the same erroneous source as they do in 

 all other nations of mankind; that is, the ambition of exhibiting to 

 their fellows a superior character of personal and national valour, and 

 thereby immortalizing themselves, by transmitting their names with 

 honour and lustre to posterity; or revenge of their enemy, for public 

 or personal insults ; or, lastly, to extend the borders and boundaries of 

 their territories. But I cannot find, upon the strictest inquiry, that their 

 bloody contests at this day are marked with deeper stains of inhumanity 

 or savage cruelty, than what may be observed amongst the most civilized 

 nations: they do indeed scalp their enemy, but they do not kill the 

 females or children of either sex (Travels, 213). 



They are given to adultery and fornication, but, I suppose, in no 

 greater excess than other nations of men (p. 213). 



One feels, however, that these views, expressed at infrequent 

 intervals, were not very important to Bartram. For himself he 

 had evolved a philosophy of simple faith in God, in the moral 

 goodness of Nature, and in the infallibility of Reason as a true 

 guide in life. These were important. They account for his 

 serenity and optimism. Above all his sensitivity to the beauties 

 of nature kept him spiritually young and preoccupied. Duyc- 

 kinck's reaction to the Travels is fundamentally right. "All 

 his faculties are alive in this book, whether he describes a tree, 

 a fish, a bird, a beast, Indian, or hospitable planter. He de- 

 tects fragrance, vitality, and health everywhere in the animal 

 world." ^^® Inheriting a simple worship of God and an interest 

 in God's world, in its simple, natural forms, William Bartram 

 found in the study and contemplation of nature a source of 

 delight and an answer to the perplexities of his mind. 



' Cyclopaedia of American Literature, I, 234. 



