266 TRAVELS THROUGH UPPER CANADA: 
their own private circles,, however, they fre¬ 
quently keep up gay and sprightly conversa¬ 
tions ; and they are 1 possessed, it is said, of a 
lively and ready turn of wit. When at such a 
place as Philadelphia, notwithstanding their 
appearing so indifferent to every thing before 
them whilst strangers are present, yet, after 
having retired by themselves to an apartment 
for the night, they will frequently sit up for 
hours together, laughing and talking of what 
they have seen in the course of the day. I 
have been told by persons acquainted with 
their language, that have overheard their dis¬ 
course on such occasions, that their remarks 
are most pertinent, and that they sometimes 
turn what has passed before them into such 
ludicrous points of view, that it is scarcely pos¬ 
sible to refrain from laughter. 
But though the Indians, in general, appear 
so reserved in the presence of strangers, yet 
the firmness of their dispositions forbids them 
from ever appearing embarrassed, and they 
would sit down to table in a place, before 
the first crowned head on the face of the earth, 
with as much unconcern as they would sit 
down to a frugal meal in one of their own ca¬ 
bins. They deem it highly becoming in a 
warridl, to accommodate his manners to those 
of the people with whom he may happen to 
be, and as they are wonderfully observant. 
