Imatges de pàgina
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keeping the arms and hands under the water; i protruding only the face and part of the head ou of the water; and then using such action, as wil direct the body in any particular course.

Obs. All animals swim without instruction; becaus they are unable to lift their fore-legs over their heads The secret of this art depends, then, on keeping down th hands and arms, and acting under the water with them The parts of any body which rise out of the water, sinl the parts that are immersed within it.

13. Hunting is performed by most savage na tions on foot, and with many of them the principa weapon is the club.-Therefore the swiftest and strongest usually become chiefs.

Obs. Hence, Hercules, the Hero of antiquity, is draw with no other weapon than a club; with which, alone, he is said to have performed all his wonderful exploits. Some nations, nothing removed above savages, are, however found to have acquired the use of bows and arrows.

14. In taking aim with missile weapons, the precision which savage nations have attained, is wonderful. In throwing a stone, they seldom miss the smallest mark; they transfix fish in the water; knock down birds on the wing; and strike every enemy with unerring exactness.

Obs. Every one is acquainted with the success of the shepherd David, in killing Goliah. Even such is the precision of the South Sea islanders at the present day.

15. One of the great attainments of savage life was the procuring of artificial fire; but this was an art not known to all barbarous people. The inhabitants of the Ladrones considered fire as an invisible monster, when the Spaniards first introduced it among them.

16. The Persians, and other easter nations

after they had once acquired, or discovered fire, made its preservation à religious duty; and fire was continued in their temples, without being once extinguished, for many hundred years.Hence, they became, or were considered, fire worshippers.

17. Among savages, the usual mode of producing fire, is, by the rapid friction of two pieces of wood till they produce flames. Having no metals, they do not possess the simple method of communicating a spark to tinder, by the violent collision of flint and steel.

18. The clothing of savage nations has reference solely to the inclemency of the weather: and consists generally of the skins of animals, or of the natural products of vegetables, prepared by the most ingenious processes.

19. A precarious mode of subsistence is so unfavourable to the human species; that it is found, that savage tribes, in a series of ages, do not increase their numbers; and that they often become altogether extinct.

20. In the back settlements of North America, the souls in the various savage tribes, do not exceed twenty thousand; while, on an equal space of country in China, two or three hundred millions, aided by the arts of civilization, are much better fed and provided for.

21. The wretched Indians who reside in the districts that surround Hudson's Bay, often pass many days together without food; and frequently die of want, during the chase of an animal.

Obs. Hence, the origin of hospitality and social meetings kept up in civilized life, for purposes of pleasure;

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but originating in ages, when to divide with friends and neighbours the produce of the chase, was the first and the kindest of duties.

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22. If there are some privations to be borne in society; if the successful emulation of industry and talents, creates great inequalities of enjoyment; and if the laws are abused, and sometimes bear oppressively on weak individuals, the worst condition of social and civilized man, is better than the best condition of the untutored savage.

Obs. Such is man, in his native and original state, in all countries; and such are the boundaries of knowledge, among all aboriginal people: let us now consider him, in a better, happier, and more respectable condition.

III. Of Farming, or Agriculture.

23. The first step, from savage towards civilized life, is the acquirement, protection, and recognition of property. In early ages this consisted only, of what was essential to the immediate wants of man.

24. The first property consisted of sheep, goats, and oxen; and first husbandmen were shepherds, who tended their flocks, and drove them without restriction from pasture to pasture.

Obs. We have a beautiful picture of the pastoral lifes in the book of Genesis: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their families, were shepherds or husbandmen of the earliest ages. It will be seen, that their wealth consisted in their flocks and live stock; and that they roamed over the country to find pasture.

25. In the pastoral ages of husbandry, there

was no property in land: all the country, was open and common to any occupier; and no one assumed to himself a property in the soil, or considered as his own, the produce of any particular spot.

26. In Africa, among the native Americans, and in most parts of Asia, there exists to this day, no property in the land; hence, in those countries, there is little cultivation; and subsistence is precarious; notwithstanding the fertility of the soil, and the genial character of the climates.

27. The recognition and protection of property in the soil, is the basis of industry, plenty, and social improvement; and is, therefore, one of the most important steps in the progress of man, from the savage, to the civilized state.

28. As soon as any man could call a spot of ground his own, and could secure to his family the produce of it; he would carefully cultivate, sow, and plant it; knowing that he should reap the reward of his labour in the season of harvest. 29. Countries, however, in general, lie open; with nothing but banks and ditches to divide the land of every husbandman: but in all civilized countries, each separate farm is divided from others by hedges and fences; and the farms themselves, are sub-divided into small enclosures.

30. In France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and most other nations, the land still remain unenclosed, in large open fields; and those countries in consequence, present a dreary appearance.

31. Enclosures greatly improve the climate of a country, by protecting it from inclement winds; they pleasantly sub-divide the labours of the far

mer; and, by restraining the exercise of cattle, they occasion them to get fat much sooner.

32. Farmers are called arable farmers, when they are chiefly employed in raising corn and grain; and pasture or grass farmers, when they are engaged in rearing and fattening sheep, and other live stock.

33. Farms vary in size, from fifty to one thousand acres. Arable farms are generally sinaller than those employed in pasture, or grazing. Those, from one to two hundred acres are the most beneficial to the occupiers and the public.

34. Soils are divided into clayey, loamy, chalky, sandy, gravelly, peaty, and moory. The clayey and loamy are called stiff or strong soils; and the sandy and gravelly, light soils.

35. Soils are barren, when they consist of too much of one kind of material, do not hold moisture, or are too shallow. They are fertile, when they contain a due mixture of several primitive earths with vegetable and animal matter.

36. To render a barren soil fertile, it requires to be frequently turned up to the air, and to have manures mixed with it; which manures consist of animal dungs, decayed vegetables, lime, marl, sweepings of streets, &c.

37. In cultivating the soil, the chief implements of the gardener are the spade, the hoe, and the mattock; and of the farmer, the plough, the harrow, the roller, the scythe, and the sickle.

38. As a succession of the same crops tends to impoverish the soil, a rotation of different crops

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