REMARKS, 
253 
/out deviating from the straight course, and will 
reach to a certainty the spot whither they in¬ 
tended to go on setting out: with equal skill 
they will cross one of the large lakes, and 
though out of sight of the shores for days, will 
to a certainty make the land at once, at the 
very place they desired. Some of the French 
missionaries have supposed that the Indians are 
guided by instinct, and have pretended that 
Indian children can find their way through a 
forest as easily as a person of maturer years; but 
this is a most absurd notion. It is unquestion¬ 
ably by a close attention to the growth of the 
trees, and position of the sun, that they find 
their way. On the northern side of a tree, 
there is generally the most moss, and the bark 
on that side in general differs from that on the 
opposite one. The branches towards the 
south are for the most part more luxuriant 
than those on the other sides of trees, and se¬ 
veral other distinctions also subsist between the 
northern and southern sides, conspicuous to 
Indians, who are taught from their infancy to 
attend to them, which a common observer 
would perhaps never notice. Being accustom¬ 
ed from their childhood, likewise, to pay great 
attention to the position of the sun, they learn 
to make the most accurate allowance for its 
apparent motion from one part of the heavens 
to another, and in any part of the day they will 
i 
