IV. and copper, are found in their perfect state in the BOOK clefts of rocks, in the sides of mountains, or the channels of rivers. These were accordingly the metals first known, and first applied to use. But iron, the most serviceable of all, and to which man is most indebted, is never discovered in its perfect form; its gross and stubborn ore must feel twice the force of fire, and go through two laborious processes, before it become fit for use. Man was long acquainted with the other metals, before he acquired the art of fabricating iron, or attained such ingenuity as to perfect an invention, to which he is indebted for those instruments wherewith he subdues the earth, and commands all its inhabitants. But in this, as well as in many other respects, the inferiority of the Americans was conspicuous. All the savage tribes, scattered over the continent and islands, were totally unacquainted with the metals which their soil produces in great abundance, if we except some trifling quantity of gold, which they picked up in the torrents that descended from their mountains, and formed into ornaments. Their devices to supply this want of the serviceable metals were extremely rude and awkward. The most simple operation was to them an undertaking of immense difficulty and labour. To fell a tree with no other instruments than hatchets of stone, was employment for a month. To form a canoe into shape, and to hollow it, consumed years; and it frequently began to rot before they were able to finish it. Their operations in agriculture were 4 Gumilla, iii. 196. Borde Relat. des Caraibes, p. 22. IV. BO O K equally slow and defective. In a country covered with woods of the hardest timber, the clearing of a small field destined for culture required the united efforts of a tribe, and was a work of much time and great toil. This was the business of the men, and their indolence was satisfied with performing it in a very slovenly manner. The labour of cultivation was left to the women, who, after digging, or rather stirring the field, with wooden mattocks, and stakes hardened in the fire, sowed or planted it; but they were more indebted for the increase to the fertility of the soil than to their own rude industry. Political institutions arising from this state. Agriculture, even when the strength of man is seconded by that of the animals which he has subjected to the yoke, and his power augmented by the use of the various instruments with which the discovery of metals has furnished him, is still a work of great labour; and it is with the sweat of his brow that he renders the earth fertile. It is not wonderful, then, that people destitute of both these advantages should have made so little progress in cultivation, that they must be considered as depending for subsistence on fishing and hunting, rather than on the fruits of their own labour. From this description of the mode of subsisting among the rude American tribes, the form and genius of their political institutions may be deduced, and we are enabled to trace various circumstances of distinction between them and more civilized nations. 1. They were divided into small independent IV. commu communities. While hunting is the chief source BOOK of subsistence, a vast extent of territory is requisite for supporting a small number of people. In pro- 1. Divided portion as men multiply and unite, the wild ani- into small mals on which they depend for food diminish, or nities. fly at a greater distance from the haunts of their enemy. The increase of a society in this state is limited by its own nature, and the members of it must either disperse, like the game which they pursue, or fall upon some better method of procuring food than by hunting. Beasts of prey are by nature solitary and unsocial, they go not forth to the chase in herds, but delight in those recesses of the forest where they can roam and destroy undisturbed. A nation of hunters resembles them both in occupation and in genius. They cannot form into large communities, because it would be impossible to find subsistence; and they must drive to a distance every rival who may encroach on those domains, which they consider as their own. This was the state of all the American tribes; the numbers in each were inconsiderable, though scattered over countries of great extent; they were far removed from one another, and engaged in perpetual hostilities or rivalship. In America, the word nation is not of the same import as in other parts of the globe. It is applied to small societies, not exceeding, perhaps, two or three hundred persons, but occupying provinces greater than some kingdoms in Europe. The country of Guiana, though of larger extent than the kingdom of Ferane, and divided t Lozano Descrip. del Gran Chaco, 59. 62. Fernandez Relac. Hist. de los Chequit. 162. IV. BOOK among a greater number of nations, did not contain above twenty-five thousand inhabitants". In the provinces which border on the Orinoco, one may travel several hundred miles in different directions without finding a single hut, or observing the footsteps of a human creature". In North America, where the climate is more rigorous, and the soil less fertile, the desolation is still greater. There, journeys of some hundred leagues have been made through uninhabited plains and forests. As long as hunting continues to be the chief employment of man, to which he trusts for subsistence, he can hardly be said to have occupied the earthy. Unacquainted with the idea of property. 2. Nations which depend upon hunting are in a great measure strangers to the idea of property. As the animals on which the hunter feeds are not bred under his inspection, nor nourished by his care, he can claim no right to them while they run wild in the forest. Where game is so plentiful that it may be catched with little trouble, men never dream of appropriating what is of small value, or of easy acquisition. Where it is so rare, that the labour or danger of the chase requires the united efforts of a tribe, or village, what is killed is a common stock belonging equally to all, who, by their skill or their courage, have contributed to the success of the excursion. The forest or huntinggrounds are deemed the property of the tribe, from * M. Fabry, quoted by Buffon, iii. 448. Lafitau, ii. 179. Bossu, Travels through Louisiana, i. 111. See NOTE VII. y See NOTE VIII. IV. which it has a title to exclude every rival nation. B O O K But no individual arrogates a right to any district of these in preference to his fellow-citizens. They belong alike to all; and thither, as to a general and undivided store, all repair in quest of sustenance. The same principles by which they regulate their chief occupation, extend to that which is subordinate. Even agriculture has not introduced among them a complete idea of property. As the men hunt, the women labour together, and after they have shared the toils of the seed time, they enjoy the harvest in common 2. Among some tribes, the increase of their cultivated lands is deposited in a public granary, and divided among them at stated times, according to their wants. Among others, though they lay up separate stores, they do not acquire such an exclusive right of property, that they can enjoy superfluity while those around them suffer want. Thus the distinctions arising from the inequality of possessions are unknown. The terms rich or poor enter not into their language; and being strangers to property, they are unacquainted with what is the great object of laws and policy, as well as the chief motive which induced mankind to establish the various arrangements of regular government. 3. People in this state retain a high sense of High sense of equality * Dr. Ferguson's Essay, 125. a Gumilla, i. 265. Brickell, Hist. of N. Carol. 327. See NOTE IX. b Denys Hist. Natur. ii. 392, 393. C c P. Martyr, Decad. p. 45. Veneg. Hist. of Californ, i. 66. Lery, Navig. in Brazil, c. 17. |