HABITS OF LIFE. 
217 
that they are cowards, because they dread or give 
way before Europeans and their fire-arms. So un- 
equal a match is no criterion of bravery, and yet 
even thus, among natives, who were labouring under 
the feelings, naturally produced by seeing a race 
they were unacquainted with, and weapons that 
dealt death as if by magic, I have seen many 
instances of an open manly intrepidity of manner 
and bearing, and a proud unquailing glance of eye, 
which instinctively stamped upon my mind the 
conviction that the individuals before me were 
very brave men. 
In travelling about from one place to another, I 
have always made it a point, if possible, to be ac- 
companied by one or more natives, and I have often 
found great advantage from it. Attached to an 
exploring party they are frequently invaluable, as 
their perceptive powers are very great, and enable 
them both to see and hear anything at a much 
greater distance than a European. In tracking 
stray animals, and keeping on indistinct paths, they 
display a degree of perseverance and skill that is 
really wonderful. They are useful also in cutting 
bark canoes to cross a river, should such impede 
the progress of the party, and in diving for anything 
that may be lost in the water, &c. &c. The Abo- 
rigines generally, and almost always those living 
near large bodies of water, are admirable swimmers 
and divers, and are almost as much at home in the 
water as on dry land. I have known them even 
