184 
WANDERINGS IN 
THIRD 
JOUKNBY. 
am I aware that any white man has reduced their 
language to the rules of grammar; some may have 
made a short manuscript vocabulary of the few 
necessary words, but that is all. Here and there a 
white man, and some few people of colour, talk the 
language well. The temper of the Indian of Guiana 
is mild and gentle, and he is very fond of his children. 
Some ignorant travellers and colonists call these 
o 
Indians a lazy race, Man in general will not be 
active without an object. Now when the Indian 
has caught plenty of fish, and killed game enough to 
last him for a week, what need has he to range the 
forest ? He has no idea of making pleasure-grounds. 
Money is of no use to him, for in these wilds there 
are no markets for him to frequent, nor milliners’ 
shops for his wife and daughters ; he has no taxes 
to pay, no highways to keep up, no poor to main¬ 
tain, nor army nor navy to supply; he lies in his 
hammock both night and day, (for he has no chair 
or bed, neither does he want them,) and in it he 
forms his bow, and makes his arrows, and repairs 
his fishing tackle. But as soon as he has consumed 
his provisions, he then rouses himself, and, like the 
lion, scours the forest in quest of food. He plunges 
into the river after the deer and tapir, and swims 
across it; passes through swamps and quagmires, 
and never fails to obtain a sufficient supply of food. 
Should the approach of night stop his career, while 
he is hunting the wild boar, he stops for the night, 
and continues the chase the next morning. In my 
way through the wilds to the Portuguese frontier, 
