SOUTH AMERICA. 
255 
There is certainly a gentleness in these people, both fourth 
to be admired and imitated. I could see very few - 
dogs, still fewer cats, and but a very small propor¬ 
tion of fat women in the streets of New York. The 
climate was the only thing that I had really to find 
fault with : and as the autumn was now approaching, 
I began to think of preparing for warmer regions. 
Strangers are apt to get violent colds, on account climate, 
of the sudden change of the atmosphere. The noon 
would often be as warm as tropical weather, and the 
close of day cold and chilly. This must sometimes 
act with severity upon the newly-arrived stranger ; 
and it requires more care and circumspection than 
I am master of to guard against it. I contracted a 
bad and obstinate cough, which did not quite leave 
me till I had got under the regular heat of the sun, 
near the equator. 
I may be asked, was it all good fellowship and 
civility during my stay in the United States? Did 
no forward person cause offence ? was there no ex¬ 
hibition of drunkenness, or swearing, or rudeness; 
or display of conduct which disgraces civilized man 
in other countries ? I answer, very few indeed: 
scarce any worth remembering, and none worth 
noticing. These are a gentle and a civil people. 
Should a traveller, now and then in the long run, 
witness a few of the scenes alluded to, he ought not, 
on his return home, to adduce a solitary instance or 
two, as the custom of the country. In roving 
through the wilds of Guiana, I have sometimes seen 
a tree hollow at heart, shattered and leafless; but I 
