IV.

and wife unequal. They fhorten the duration, BOOK and weaken the force, of the connexion between parents and children.

ftitutions.

IV. FROM the .domeftic ftate of the Ameri- Political incans, the transition to the confideration of their civil government and political inftitutions is natural. In every enquiry concerning the operations of men when united together in fociety, the first object of attention should be their mode of fubfiftence. Accordingly as that varies, their laws and policy must be different. The inftitution fuited to the ideas and exigencies of tribes, which fubfift chiefly by fishing or hunting, and which have as yet acquired but an imperfect conception of any fpecies of property, will be much more fimple than thofe which must take place when the earth is cultivated with regularindustry, and a right of property not only in its productions, but in the foil itself, is completely afcertained.

fubfiftence.

ALL the people of America, now under re- Mode of view, belong to the former clafs. But though they may all be comprehended under the general denomination of favage, the advances which they had made in the art of procuring to themselves a certain and plentiful fubfiftence, were very unequal. On the extenfive plains of

South

IV.

BOOK South-America, man appears in one rudeft ftates in which he has been ev served, or, perhaps, can exist. Several depend entirely upon the bounty of nat fubfiftence. They discover no folicitude employ little forefight, they scarcely exe industry, to fecure what is neceflary for fupport. The Topayers of Brafil, the G of Tierra Firme, the Caiguas, the Moxo feveral other people of Paraguay, are quainted with every fpecies of cultivation. neither fow nor plant. Even the culture manioc, of which caffada bread is made, art too intricate for their ingenuity, or t tiguing to their indolence. The roots the earth produces fpontaneously, the fruit berries, and the feeds, which they gather woods, together with lizards and other re which multiply amazingly with the heat climate in a fat foil, moistened by frequent supply them with food during fome part By fishing. year. At other times they fubfift by fi and nature seems to have indulged the la of the South-American tribes by the lib

Nieuhoff. Hift. of Brafil.

Church. Coll. ii. 13

mon, Conquista de Tierra Firmè, p. 166. Techo, of Paraguay, &c. Church, vi. 78. Lettr. Edif. 10. 190. Lozano, Defcrip. del Gran Chaco, p. 8 bas, Hiftor. de los Triumfos, &c. p. 7.1.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.

113

IV.

with which the minifters, in this way, to their BOOK wants. The vaft rivers of that region in America abound with an infinite variety of the most delicate fifh. The lakes and marfhes formed by the annual overflowing of the waters, are filled with all the different fpecies, where they remain fhut up, as in natural refervoirs, for the ufe of the inhabitants. They fwarm in fuch fhoals, that in fome places they are catched without art or induftry. In others, the natives have difcovered a method of infecting the water with the juice of certain plants, by which the fish are fo intoxicated, that they float on the furface, and are taken with the hand. Some tribes have ingenuity enough to preserve them without falt, by drying or smoking them upon hurdles over a flow fire". The prolific quality of the rivers in South America induces many of the natives to refort to their banks, and to depend almost entirely for nourishment on what their waters supply with fuch profufion". In this part of the globe, hunting feems not to have been the first employment of men, or the first effort of their invention and labour to obtain food. They were fifhers before they became

Condam. 159. Gumilla, i. 37.

Lettr. Edif. 14.

99. 23. 328. Acugna, Relat. de la Riv. des Amaz. 138.

W

Barrere, Relat. de Fr. Equin. p. 155.

VOL. II.

I

hunters;

BOOK hunters; and as the occupations of the

IV.

By hunting.

do not call for equal exertions of activi talents, with those of the latter, people i ftate appear to poffefs neither the fame of enterprise nor of ingenuity. The pet tions, adjacent to the Maragnon and O are manifeftly the most inactive and leaft gent of all the Americans.

NONE but tribes contiguous to great can fuftain themfelves in this manner. greater part of the American nations, di over the forefts with which their country vered, do not procure fubfiftence with th facility. For although these forefts, efp in the fouthern continent of America, are plentifully with game, confiderable eff activity and ingenuity are requifite in pu it. Neceffity incited the natives to the on taught them the other. Hunting became principal occupation; and as it is called ftrenuous exertions of courage, of force of invention, it was deemed no less hond than neceffary. This occupation was p to the men. They were trained to it from earliest youth. A bold and dextrous ranked next in fame to the distinguished w

and an alliance with the former is often courted in preference to one with the latter. Hardly any device, which the ingenuity of man has discovered for enfharing or destroying wild animals, was unknown to the Americans. While engaged in this favourite exercise, they shake off the indolence peculiar to their nature, the latent powers and vigour of their minds are roufed, and they become active, persevering, and indefatigable. Their fagacity in finding their prey, and their address in killing it, are equal. Their reason and their fenfes being conftantly directed towards this one object, the former difplays fuch fertility of invention, and the latter acquire fuch a degree of acutenefs, as appear almost incredible. They difcern the footsteps of a wild beaft, which escape every other eye, and can follow them with certainty through the pathless forest. If they attack their game openly, their arrow feldom errs from the mark; if they endeavour to circumvent it by art, it is almoft impoffible to avoid their toils. Among several tribes, their young men were not permitted to marry, until they had given fuch proofs of their skill in hunting as put it beyond doubt that they were capable of providing for a family. Their

y Charlev. Hiftoire de la N. France, iii. 115. z Biet. Voy. de France Equin. 357. Davies' Difcov. of the River of Amaz. Purchaf. iv. p. 1287.