272 



setting fire to the brambles, and putting a few 

 seeds or slips into the ground is all the hus- 

 bandry it demands. If we go back in thought 

 to the most remote ages, in these thick forests 

 we must always figure to ourselves nations 

 drawing the greatest part of their nourishment 

 from the earth ; but, as this earth produces 

 abundance in a small space, and almost with- 

 out toil, we must also represent to ourselves 

 these nations as often changing their dwelling 

 along the banks of the same river. In fact, 

 even now the native of Oroonoko travels with 

 his seeds ; and transports his farm (conuco), as 

 the Arab transports his tent, and changes his 

 pasturage. The number of cultivated plants, 

 which are found wild amid the woods, proves 

 the nomade habits of an agricultural people. 

 Can we be surprised, that from these habits 

 they lose almost all the advantages, that result 

 in the temperate zone from stationary culture, 

 from that of corn*, which requires extensive 

 lands, and the most assiduous labour ? 



The nations of the Upper Oroonoko, the 

 Atabapo, and the Inirida, like the ancient Ger- 

 mans and the Persians, have no other worship 

 than that of the powers of nature. They call 

 the good principle Cachimana ; it is the Mamtou, 

 the Great Spirit, that regulates the seasons, and 



* See vol. iii, p 13. 



