INTRODUCTION, 7 



soon find inconvenient. If he resolved to live entirely on the 

 plain, in order to guard his cattle and preserve his corn, he 

 must first have recourse to the forest for wood, or to the loose 

 rocks of the neighbouring hills for stones, to construct huts and 

 fences. Water, it is true, he might generally command, by fixing 

 on a spot near a spring or a river. Finding some of the advan- 

 tages of this situation, he would easily discover methods of in- 

 creasing its conveniences ; and a very trifling reflection would 

 suggest to him the possibility of intermingling part of the 

 forest with the plain, thus to add shelter, shade, and fuel, to 

 his house, corn, and cattle. These being continually in his 

 view, he could easily guard them from the ravages of other 

 animals, which would lurk in forests and commit frequent de- 

 predations on the flocks and corn in the vallies. To obviate 

 the trouble of keeping, he would soon invent fences ; and to 

 provide shelter or shade, in seasons of excessive heat or violent 

 storms, he would naturally have recourse to trees, either planted 

 along those fences or collected in some place of no great use, 

 and where, in all probability, they would grow spontaneously 

 when surrounded by any rude fence, 



It is easy thus to conceive what would be the appearance of 

 a primitive country residence ; which, in fact, would be no- 

 thing more than a farm and a farm-house of the rudest struc- 

 ture. As population increased, however, and property be- 



