INTRODUCTION. 
XVII, 
fienfible, what mud be the intelleftual fyflem ? that 
inexpreffibly more effential principle, which fecretly 
operates within ? that which animates the inimitable 
machines, which gives them motion, impowers 
them to aft, fpeak, and perform, this mud be 
divine and immortal? 
I am fenfible that the general opinion of philo— 
fophers has diftinguifhed the moral fyftem of the 
brute creature from that of mankind, by an epithet 
which implies a mere mechanical impulfe, which 
leads and impels them to neceifary aftions, without 
any premeditated defign or contrivance; this we 
term inftinft, which faculty we fuppofe to be inferior 
to reafon in man. 
The parental and filial affeftions feem to be as 
ardent, their fenfibility and attachment as aftive 
and faithful, as thofe obferved in human nature. 
When travelling on the eaft coail of the ifthmus 
of Florida, afcending the fouth Mufquito river, in 
a canoe, we obferved numbers of deer and bears, 
near the banks, and on the ifiands of the river : 
the bears were feeding on the fruit of the dwarf 
creeping Chamaerops; (this fruit is of the form and 
fize of dates, and is delicious and nourifhing food:) 
we faw eleven bears in the courfe of the day, they 
feemed no way furprifed or affrighted at the fight 
of us. In the evening, my hunter, who was an 
excellent markfman, faid that he would fhoot one 
of them for the fake of the fkin and oil, for we 
had plenty and variety of provifions in our bark. 
We accordingly, on fight of two of them, planned 
our approaches as artfully as pofiible, by eroding 
over to the oppofite fhore, in order to get under 
cover of a fmall ifland ; this we cautioufiy coafted 
round, to a point, which we apprehended would 
take us within fhot of the bears ; but here finding 
ourfelves 
