54 WILLIAM BARTRAM 



How happily situated is this retired spot of earth! What an elysium 

 it is! where the wandering Siminole, the naked red warrior, roams 

 at large, and after the vigorous chase retires from the scorching heat 

 of the meridian sun. Here he reclines, and reposes under the odori- 

 ferous shades of Zanthoxilon, his verdant couch guarded by the Diety; 

 Liberty, and the Muses, inspiring him with wisdom and valour, whilst 

 the balmy zephyrs fan him to sleep (p. 107). 



And here is a further glimpse of the blessed state of the 

 Seminole: 



They seem to be free from want or desires. No cruel enemy to 

 dread; nothing to give them disquietude, but the gradual encroach- 

 ments of the white people. Thus contented and undisturbed, they 

 appear as blithe and free as the birds of the air, and like them as 

 volatile and active, tuneful and vociferous. The visage, action and 

 deportment of a Siminole, being the most striking picture of happiness 

 in this life; joy, contentment, love and friendship, without guile or 

 affectation, seem inherent in them, or predominant in their vital prin- 

 ciple, for it leaves them but with the last breath of life (p. 212). 



And this is his comment on the Cherokees: 



. . . happy people; I mean happy in their dispositions, in their appre- 

 hensions of rectitude with regard to our social or moral conduct: O 

 divine simplicity and truth, friendship without fallacy or guile, 

 hospitality disinterested, native, undefiled, unmodified by artificial 

 refinements! (pp. 350-51). 



That the beauty of the landscape influences Bartram's ecstatic 

 idealizations of Indian life is quite clear. All his descriptions 

 either start or are intertwined with landscape. After a while 

 the actual, observed landscape and the induced idealization be- 

 come fused until his Indian territories partake of the light that 

 shines on all Glittering Plains, Typees, and Green Mansions. 

 Here is a view from a hill: 



... a vast expanse of green meadows and strawberry fields ; a meander- 

 ing river gliding through, saluting in its various turnings the swelling, 

 green, turfy knolls, embellished with parterres of flowers and fruitful 

 strawberry beds; flocks of turkies strolling about them; herds of deer 

 prancing in the meads or bounding over the hills ; companies of young, 

 innocent Cherokee virgins, some busy gathering the rich fragrant fruit, 

 others having already filled their baskets, lay reclined under the shade 

 of floriferous and fragrant native bowers of Magnolia, Azalea, Phila- 

 delphus, perfumed Calycanthus, sweet Yellow Jessamine and cerulean 



