66 WILLIAM BARTRAM 



Feasts and Divertisements ; Property, Agriculture, Arts and 

 Manufactures; their Marriage and Funeral Ceremonies; their 

 Language and Manners. In his Observations he answers spe- 

 cific questions on the origin and migrations of certain tribes, 

 on Indian painting, religion, the condition of women, ancient 

 mounds, diseases, food, fossil remains. 



His discussion of these subjects is always clear and definite. 

 Vague terms and generalization he disliked. He criticized the 

 historians who had said that the American aborigines had 

 " every thing in common, and no private property; which," he 

 complained, " are terms in my opinion too vague and general, 

 when applied to these people." ^* He himself was given to 

 philosophical generalizations and often yielded to the luscious- 

 ness of diction ; possessed of keen aesthetic perceptions he could 

 not help merging his Indians into the landscape of tropical 

 luxuriance he was so fond of. Yet underneath his lucious 

 paintings the amount of factual observation is both great and 

 sound and his Indians, instead of remaining merely Noble 

 Savages, remain ordinary Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, or 

 Chickasaws. 



The pioneer nature of his work can best be illustrated by 

 comparing the writings of a few of his predecessors, their dog- 

 matism and, especially, their credulity, with his conservatism 

 and careful rejection of everything not absolutely verifiable or 

 at least creditable. John Lawson did not hesitate to repeat the 

 story of a cure effected by a conjuror who performed some 

 hocus-pocus with a string of beads which " turned up as an ell 

 would do, and without any motion of his they came all up 

 (in a lump) under his Hand, and hung so for a considerable 

 time, he never closing his Hand, and at length returned to their 

 pristine Length and Shape." The performance and the cure, 

 Lawson assured us, were " Matters of Fact " and he offered to 

 " prove the truth thereof by several substantial Evidences, that 

 are Men of Reputation, there being more than a dozen present 

 when it was performed; most of whom are now alive." ^^ Cap- 



''nbid., 511. 



^^ The History of Carolina; Containing the Exact Description and Natural 

 History of that Country: Together with the Present State thereof. And a 



