5 



ynained in a state little different from that in 

 which they existed, when their scattered dwell- 

 ings were not yet collected round the habitation 

 of a missionary. Their number has consider- 

 ably augmented, but the sphere of their ideas 

 is not enlarged. They have progressively lost 

 that vigour of character, and that natural viva- 

 city, which in every state of society are the 

 noble fruits of independence. By subjecting to 

 invariable rules even the slightest actions of 

 their domestic life, they have been rendered 

 stupid, by the effort to render them obedient. 

 Their subsistence is in general more certain^ 

 and their habits more pacific ; but subject to 

 the constraint and the dull monotony of the 

 government of the missions, they discover by 

 their gloomy and reserved looks, that they have 

 not sacrificed their liberty to their repose with- 

 out regret. The monastic system confined to the 

 cloister, while it deprives the state of useful citi- 

 zens, may however sometimes contribute to calm 

 the passions, to sooth incurable sorrows, and fit 

 the mind for meditation ; but transplanted into 

 the forests of the new world, applied to the nu- 

 merous relations of civil society, it has conse- 

 quences so much the more fatal, as its duration 

 is prolonged ; it enchains from generation to 

 generation the intellectual faculties, interrupts 

 the intercourse of nations, and is hostile to 

 whatever elevates the mind, or enlarges it's con- 



