PREFACE. 



xxi 



lent association, might ascertain their feelings, in 

 regard to such an establishment as I have proposed. 



The Aborigines of America, are capable of be- 

 ing exalted in the scale of existence, and of arriv- 

 ing, even at eminence, in the arts and sciences. 

 The native oratory of some of them, is proverbial 

 in civilized countries, and has caused them to be 

 enrolled among the sons of genius. Many of them 

 afford proof, that they possess acute and compre- 

 hensive minds ; and as a people, their mental ca- 

 pacity is certainly respectable. Nor, perhaps, can 

 a people be found on the earth who are not rais- 

 ed above them by superior cultivation and means 

 of improvement, who possess greater elevation of 

 feeling, and who appear more majestick in ruins. 

 Their virtues and their vices too, are not those of 

 ignoble minds. Let their condition be improved 

 by the arts of civilized life, their minds be en- 

 lightened by science, and their hearts be softened 

 by the genial influence of Christianity, and they 

 will assume a respectable rank among the nations. 

 Could we hear some of their superior geniuses un- 

 fold to their countrymen the wonderful scheme of 



