Native Indians. 19 



clined to the belief that many acts of ingratitude shown for 

 favours received, were also the result of pent-up animosities 

 associated with an inherited distrust of every mark of consider- 

 ation shown towards them by the conquering race ; and pro- 

 bably this is true to some extent, although it would appear to 

 be owing, in no small degree, to an undemonstrative character 

 natural to them. 



I am, however, perfectly aware of the unsatisfactory con- 

 dition one is placed in who has to narrow his observations to 

 a small spot on a large continent. For this reason, and from 

 the absence of any personal experience with reference to the 

 natives of the adjoining regions, I am bound to state frankly 

 that these notes are very limited ; nevertheless, as far as 

 opportunities occurred and circumstances permitted, I hope 

 there will be found some points of interest, not only acceptable 

 to the general reader, but what the author had also much at 

 heart at the time, an acquaintance with the character and 

 modes of life of the primitive inhabitants of the region, con- 

 sidered from the stand-points from which the antiquarian and 

 ethnologist view such subjects. Moreover, to the naturalist, 

 wherever he is placed, and however tempting may be other 

 branches of science, there must always be a welcome field 

 of research in endeavouring to trace the natural history of 

 his own species back into unrecorded times, more particu- 

 larly in the New World, where the transition from savagery to 

 civilization is, comparatively speaking, but of yesterday. 



Our speculations, therefore, with reference to the habits, 

 modes of living, and appearances of the stone-folks of ancient 

 Europe, receive suggestive data from a study of the existent 

 races of North America. 



A strange fate, indeed, is the apparent doom of the red 

 Indian ! — already driven across the continent by the great 

 wave of European civilization, which, having overwhelmed the 

 mass, has left a few stragglers behind, whilst the greater portion 

 has either entirely disappeared, or been repelled to the slopes 



c 2 



