chap, i.] WEST INDIES. an 
Perhaps the circumstance most distinguishable in 
the character of the natives to which the climate 
seems to contribute is the early display of the mental 
powers in young children; whose quick perception, 
and rapid advances in knowledge, exceed those of 
European infants of the same age, in a degree that 
is perfectly unaccountable and astonishing. This cir¬ 
cumstance is, indeed, too striking to have escaped 
the notice of any one writer who has visited the 
tropical parts of America; and the fact being too 
well established to be denied, the philosophers of 
Europe have consoled themselves with an idea that, 
as the genius of the young West Indians attains 
sooner to maturity, it declines more rapidly than 
that of Europeans. Nature is supposed to act in 
this case in a manner analogous to her operations in 
the vegetable kingdom, where the trees that come 
soonest to perfection, are at the same time less 
firm and durable than those which require more 
time for the completion of their growth. It is in¬ 
deed certain, that the subsequent acquirements of 
the mind in the Natives, do not always keep pace 
with its early progress; but the chief cause (as 
Ulloa hath observed) of the short duration of such 
promising beginnings, seems to be the want of 
proper objects for exercising the faculties. The 
propensity also, which the climate undoubtedly en¬ 
courages, to early and habitual licentiousness, in¬ 
withe called the Chew-sfick ; a species of rhamnus. It is cut into 
small pieces, and used as a tooth brush. The juic? is a strong bitter, 
and a powerful detergent. 
