88 



CHAPTER VIL 



Rhetoric; Poetry ; Medical Skill ; Commerce 

 of the Araiicanians. 



NOTWITHSTANDING tlieir general igno- 

 ranee, they cultivate successfully the sciences of 

 rhetoric, poetry and medicine, as far as these are at- 

 tainable by practice or observation ; for they have no 

 books among them, or any who know how to write 

 or read. Nor can they be induced to learn these 

 arts, either from their aversion to every thing that 

 is practised by the Europeans, or from their being 

 urged by a savage spirit to despise whatever does 

 not belong to their country. 



Oratory is particularly held in high estimation by 

 them, and, as among the ancient Romans, is the high 

 road to honour and the management of public affairs. 

 The eldest son of an Ul men who is deficient in, this 

 talent, is for that sole reason excluded from the right 

 of succession, and one of his younger brothers, or 

 the nearest relation that he has, who is an able 

 speaker, substituted in his place. Their parents, 

 therefore, accustom then> from their childhood to 

 speak in public, and carry them to their national as- 

 semblies, where the best orators of the country dis- 

 play their eloquence. 



From hence is derived the attention which they 

 generally pay to speak their language correctly, and to 



