St INTRODUCTION. 
infant years. Educated by enlightened pa- 
rents, who endeavoured to procure thofe va- 
luable and interefling obje£ls which are dif- 
perfed throughout the country, I had continu- 
ally before my eyes the fruits of their labour, 
and I enjoyed at my eafe the whole of their 
curious collection. From my earlieft years, 
thefe tender parents, who could not be a mo- 
ment vv^lthout me, and who by their tafle 
w^ere often expofed to diftant journeys, and 
to be long abfent at the extremities of the co- 
lony, carried me along with them, making 
me a iliarer in their travels, their fatigues, 
and their amufements. My firft years v^^ere 
thus fpent in the defarts, and I was born al- 
mofl: a favage. When reafon, which in warm 
climates always precedes age, began to dawn 
in my mind, my taile was not long in dif- 
playing itfelf, and my parents did every 
thing in their power to alTifl: the firft efforts 
of my curiofity. Under fuch excellent In- 
ftrudors I every day tafted new pleafures : 
I heard them difcourfe in a manner fuited 
to my capacity on the objects which they 
had acquired, and on thofe which they hop- 
ed to procure in future. By thefe means an 
abundance 
DSI 
