TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



241 



In general, the make of the Indian is robust, broad, 

 and short, whereas that of the negro is tall and 

 slender ; thus it approaches nearer to that of the 

 other races, especially that of the Chinese and Cal- 

 mucks, though the latter have lighter complexions 

 and better formed features. We did not meet with 

 any deformed persons or cripples among the In- 

 dians, for which reason some persons believe that 

 they put them to death immediately after their 

 birth. 



The temperament of the Indian is almost wholly 

 undeveloped, and appears as phlegm. All the 

 powers of the soul, nay, even the more refined 

 pleasures of the senses, seem to be in a state of 

 lethargy. Without reflection on the whole of the 

 creation, or the causes and internal connection of 

 things, they live with their faculties directed only 

 to self-preservation. They scarcely distinguish 

 the past and the future, and hence they never pro- 

 vide for the following day. Strangers to complai- 

 sance, gratitude, friendship, humility, ambition, 

 and, in general, to all delicate and noble emotions 

 which adorn human society ; obtuse, reserved, 

 sunk in indifference to every thing, the Indian 

 employs nothing but his naturally acute senses, his 

 cunning, and his retentive memory, and that only 

 in war or hunting, his chief occupations. Cold 

 and indolent in his domestic relations, he follows 

 mere animal instinct more than tender attachment j 

 and his love to his wife shows itself only in cruel 



VOL. II. R 



