I 
150 TRAVELS IN 
ceived, my country, and the difficulties I • 
overcame, will, I hope, eafily plead my ex-» 
cufe. Though I acknowledge the utility of 
proper highv/ays among civilized nations, my 
being accuftomed to form them myfelf, in my 
youth, at Surinam, made me always confider 
them as a reftraint which leflens the value of 
liberty. Proud of his origin, man thinks it 
an indignity that people fhould beforehand 
dare to number his fteps. I have always care- 
fully avoided beaten tracks ; and never thought 
myfelf completely free, but when furrounded 
by the rocks, forefts, and defarts of Africa^ 
I was certain of meeting v/ith no other traces 
of human labour than thofe which I left my-^ 
felf. By the freedom of my will, which com-^ 
manded then with fovereign fway, and by 
iny complete independence, I really perceived 
in man the monarch of all animated beings, 
the abfolate defpot of nature. Situations 
which I thought delightful, might by others 
be thought very alarming. Thefe whimfical 
notions proceed from- the imprelTions I received 
in the early part of ray life ; they are only 
the pure and natural fentiments of liberty, 
%vhich rejedSj v/ithout diftindtion, every thing 
that 
