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Title: Letters from an American Farmer

Author: J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur

Commentator: Warren Barton Blake

Release date: November 1, 2003 [eBook #4666]
                Most recently updated: September 14, 2023

Language: English

Credits: Steve Harris, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN FARMER ***

Steve Harris, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

HECTOR ST. JOHN DE CREVECOEUR


LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN FARMER


INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY WARREN BARTON BLAKE




INTRODUCTION


Hazlitt wrote that of the three notable writers whom the eighteenth
century had produced, in the North American colonies, one was "the
author (whoever he was) of the American Farmer's Letters."
Crevecoeur was that unknown author; and Hazlitt said further of him
that he rendered, in his own vividly characteristic manner, "not
only the objects, but the feelings, of a new country." Great is the
essayist's relish for passages descriptive of "a battle between two
snakes," of "the dazzling, almost invisible flutter of the humming-
bird's wing," of the manners of "the Nantucket people, their frank
simplicity, and festive rejoicings after the perils and hardships of
the whale-fishing." "The power to sympathise with nature, without
thinking of ourselves or others, if it is not a definition of
genius, comes very near to it," writes Hazlitt of our author. And
his references to Crevecoeur are closed with the remark: "We have
said enough of this ILLUSTRIOUS OBSCURE; for it is the rule of
criticism to praise none but the over-praised, and to offer fresh
incense to the idol of the day."

Others, at least, have followed that "rule of criticism," and the
American Farmer has long enjoyed undisturbed seclusion. Only once
since the eighteenth century has there been a new edition of his
Letters, that were first published at London in 1782, and reissued,
with a few corrections, in the next year. The original American
edition of this book about America was that published at
Philadelphia in 1793, and there was no reprint till 1904, [Footnote:
References may be found to American editions of 1794 and 1798, but
no copies of such editions are preserved in any library to which the
editor has had access.] when careless editing did all it could to
destroy the value of the work, the name of whose very author was
misstated. Yet the facts which we have concerning him are few enough
to merit truthful presentation.




I


Except by naturalisation, the author of Letters from an American
Farmer was not an American; and he was no ordinary farmer. Yet why
quarrel with him for the naming of his book, or for his signing it
"J. Hector Saint-John," when the "Hector" of his title-pages and
American biographers was only a prenom de faintaisie? We owe some
concessions to the author of so charming a book, to the eighteenth-
century Thoreau. His life is certainly more interesting than the
real Thoreau's--and would be, even if it did not present many
contradictions. Our records of that life are in the highest degree
inexact; he himself is wanting in accuracy as to the date of more
than one event. The records, however, agree that Crevecoeur belonged
to the petite noblesse of Normandy. The date of his birth was
January 31, 1735, the place was Caen, and his full name (his great-
grandson and biographer vouches for it) was Michel-Guillaume-Jean de
Crevecoeur. The boy was well enough brought up, but without more
than the attention that his birth gave him the right to expect; he
divided the years of his boyhood between Caen, where his father's
town-house stood, and the College du Mont, where the Jesuits gave
him his education. A letter dated 1785 and addressed to his children
tells us all that we know of his school-days; though it is said,
too, that he distinguished himself in mathematics. "If you only
knew," the reminiscent father of a family exclaims in this letter,
"in what shabby lodging, in what a dark and chilly closet, I was
mewed up at your age; with what severity I was treated; how I was
fed and dressed!" Already his powers of observation, that were so to
distinguish him, were quickened by his old-world milieu.

"From my earliest youth," he wrote in 1803, "I had a passion for
taking in all the antiques that I met with: moth-eaten furniture,
tapestries, family portraits, Gothic manuscripts (that I had learned
how to decipher), had for me an indefinable charm. A little later
on, I loved to walk in the solitude of cemeteries; to examine the
tombs and to trace out their mossy epitaphs. I knew most of the
churches of the canton, the date of their foundation, and what they
contained of interest in the way of pictures and sculptures."

The boy's gift of accurate and keen observation was to be tested
soon by a very different class of objects: there were to be no
crumbling saints and canvases of Bed-Chamber Grooms for him to study
in the forests of America; no reminders of the greatness of his
country's past, and the honour of his family.

From school, the future woodsman passed over into England. A distant
relative was living near Salisbury; for one reason or another the
boy was sent thither to finish his schooling. From England, with
what motives we know not, he set out for the New World, where he was
to spend his busiest and happiest days. In the Bibliotheca Americana
Nova Rich makes the statement that Crevecoeur was but sixteen when
he made the plunge, and others have followed Rich in this error. The
lad's age was really not less than nineteen or twenty. According to
the family legend, his ship touched at Lisbon on the way out; one
cannot decide whether this was just before or immediately after the
great earthquake. Then to New France, where he joined Montcalm.
Entering the service as cadet, he advanced to the rank of
lieutenant; was mentioned in the Gazette; shared in the French
successes; drew maps of the forests and block-houses that found
their way to the king's cabinet; served with Montcalm in the attack
upon Fort William Henry. With that the record is broken off: we can
less definitely associate his name with the humiliation of the
French in America than with their brief triumphs. Yet it is quite
certain, says Robert de Crevecoeur, his descendant, that he did not
return to France with the rag-tag of the defeated army. Quebec fell
before Wolfe's attack in September 1759; at some time in the course
of the year 1760 we may suppose the young officer to have entered
the British colonies; to have adopted his family name of "Saint
John" (Saint-Jean), and to have gradually worked his way south,
probably by the Hudson. The reader of the Letters hardly supposes
him to have enjoyed his frontier life; nor is there any means of
knowing how much of that life it was his fortune to lead. In time,
he found himself as far south as Pennsylvania. He visited
Shippensburg and Lancaster and Carlisle; perhaps he resided at or
near one of these towns. Many years later, when his son Louis
purchased a farm of two hundred acres from Chancellor Livingstone,
at Navesink, near the Blue Mountains, Crevecoeur the elder was still
remembered; and it may have been at this epoch that he visited the
place. During the term of his military service under Montcalm,
Crevecoeur saw something of the Great Lakes and the outlying
country; prior to his experience as a cultivator, and, indeed, after
he had settled down as such, he "travelled like Plato," even visited
Bermuda, by his own account. Not until 1764, however, have we any
positive evidence of his whereabouts; it was in April of that year
that he took out naturalisation papers at New York. Some months
later, he installed himself on the farm variously called Greycourt
and Pine-Hill, in the same state; he drained a great marsh there,
and seems to have practised agriculture upon a generous scale. The
certificate of the marriage of Crevecoeur to Mehitable Tippet, of
Yonkers is dated September 20, 1769; and of this union three
children were the issue. And more than children: for with the
marriage ceremony once performed by the worthy Tetard, a clergyman
of New York, formerly settled over a French Reformed Church at
Charleston, South Carolina, Crevecoeur is more definitely than ever
the "American Farmer"; he has thrown in his lot with that new
country; his children are to be called after their parent's adopted
name, Saint-John; the responsibilities of the adventurer are
multiplied; his life in America has become a matter more easy to
trace and richer, perhaps, in meaning.




II


One of the historians of American literature has written that these
Letters furnish "a greater number of delightful pages than any other
book written in America during the eighteenth century, save only
Franklin's Autobiography." A safe compliment, this; and yet does not
the very emptiness of American annals during the eighteenth century
make for our cherishing all that they offer of the vivid and the
significant? Professor Moses Coit Tyler long ago suggested what was
the literary influence of the American Farmer, whose "idealised
treatment of rural life in America wrought quite traceable effects
upon the imaginations of Campbell, Byron, Southey, Coleridge, and
furnished not a few materials for such captivating and airy schemes
of literary colonisation in America as that of 'Pantisocracy.'"
Hazlitt praised the book to his friends and, as we have seen,
commended it to readers of the Edinburgh Review. Lamb mentions it in
one of his letters--which is already some distinction. Yet when was
a book more completely lost to popular view--even among the books
that have deserved oblivion? The Letters were published, all the
same, at Belfast and Dublin and Philadelphia, as well as at London;
they were recast in French by the author, translated into German and
Dutch by pirating penny-a-liners, and given a "sequel" by a
publisher at Paris. [Footnote: Ouvrage pour servir de suite aux
Lettres d'un cultivateur Americain, Paris, 1785. The work so offered
seems to have been a translation of John Filson's History of
Kentucky (Wilmington, Del., 1784).]

The American Fanner made his first public appearance eleven years
before Chateaubriand found a publisher for his Essai sur les
Revolutions, wherein the great innovator first used the American
materials that he worked over more effectively in his travels,
tales, and memoirs. In Saint-John de Crevecoeur, we have a
contemporary--a correspondent, even--of Franklin; but if our author
shared many of poor Richard's interests, one may travel far without
finding a more complete antithesis to that common-sense philosopher.

Crevecoeur expresses mild wonderment that, while so many travellers
visit Italy and "the town of Pompey under ground," few come to the
new continent, where may be studied, not what is found in books, but
"the humble rudiments and embryos of society spreading everywhere,
the recent foundations of our towns, and the settlements of so many
rural districts." In the course of his sixteen or seventeen years'
experience as an American farmer he himself studied all these
matters; and he gives us a charming picture of them. Though his book
has very little obvious system, its author describes for us frontier
and farm; the ways of the Nantucket fishermen and their intrepid
wives; life in the Middle Colonies; the refinements and atrocities
of Charleston. Crevecoeur's account of the South (that he knew but
superficially and--who knows?--more, it may be, by Tetard's
anecdotes than through personal knowledge) is the least satisfactory
part of his performance. One feels it to be the most "literary"
portion of a book whose beauty is naivete. But whether we accept or
reject the story of the negro malefactor hung in a cage from a tree,
and pecked at by crows, it is certain that the traveller justly
regarded slavery as the one conspicuous blot on the new country's
shield. Crevecoeur was not an active abolitionist, like that other
naturalised Frenchman, Benezet of Philadelphia; he had his own
slaves to work his northern farms; he was, however, a man of humane
feelings--one who "had his doubts." [Footnote: In his Voyage dans la
Haute Pensylvanie (sic) et dans l'Etat de New York (Paris, 1801)
slavery is severely attacked by Crevecoeur. His descendant, Robert
de Crevecoeur, refers to him as "a friend of Wilberforce."] And his
narrative description of life in the American colonies in the years
immediately preceding the Revolution is one that social historians
cannot ignore.

Though our Farmer emphasises his plainness, and promises the readers
of his Letters only a matter-of-fact account of his pursuits, he has
his full share of eighteenth-century "sensibility." Since he is,
however, at many removes from the sophistications of London and
Paris, he is moved, not by the fond behaviour of a lap-dog, or the
"little arrangements" carters make with the bridles of their
faithful asses (that they have driven to death, belike), but by such
matters as he finds at home. "When I contemplate my wife, by my
fire-side, while she either spins, knits, darns, or suckles our
child, I cannot describe the various emotions of love, of gratitude,
or conscious pride which thrill in my heart, and often overflow in
voluntary tears ..." He is like that old classmate's of
Fitzgerald's, buried deep "in one of the most out-of-the-way
villages in all England," for if he goes abroad, "it is always
involuntary. I never return home without feeling some pleasant
emotion, which I often suppress as useless and foolish." He has his
reveries; but they are pure and generous; their subject is the
future of his children. In midwinter, instead of trapping and
"murthering" the quail, "often in the angles of the fences where the
motion of the wind prevents the snow from settling, I carry them
both chaff and grain: the one to feed them, the other to prevent
their tender feet from freezing fast to the earth as I have
frequently observed them to do." His love of birds is marked: this
in those provinces of which a German traveller wrote: "In the thrush
kind America is poor; there is only the red-breasted robin. ...
There are no sparrows. Very few birds nest in the woods; a solemn
stillness prevails through them, interrupted only by the screaming
of the crows." It is good, after such a passage as this has been
quoted, to set down what Crevecoeur says of the bird kingdom. "In
the spring," he writes, "I generally rise from bed about that
indistinct interval which, properly speaking, is neither night nor
day:" for then it is that he enjoys "the universal vocal choir." He
continues--more and more lyrically: "Who can listen unmoved, to the
sweet love-tales of our robins, told from tree to tree? Or to the
shrill cat birds? The sublime accents of the thrush from on high,
always retard my steps, that I may listen to the delicious music."
And the Farmer is no less interested in "the astonishing art which
all birds display in the construction of their nests, ill provided
as we may suppose them with proper tools; their neatness, their
convenience." At some time during his American residence he gathered
the materials for an unpublished study of ants; and his bees proved
an unfailing source of entertainment. "Their government, their
industry, their quarrels, their passions, always present me with
something new," he writes; adding that he is most often to be found,
in hours of rest, under the locust tree where his beehive stands.
"By their movements," says he, "I can predict the weather, and can
tell the day of their swarming." When other men go hunting game, he
goes bee-hunting. Such are the matters he tells of in his Letters.

One difference from the stereotyped "sensibility" of the old world
one may discover in the openness of Crevecoeur's heart; and that is
the completeness of his interest in all the humbler sorts of natural
phenomena. Nature is, for him, no mere bundle of poetic stage-
properties, soiled by much handling, but something fresh and
inviting and full of interest to a man alive. He takes more pleasure
in hunting bees than in expeditions with his dogs and gun; the king-
birds destroy his bees--but, he adds, they drive the crows away.
Ordinarily he could not persuade himself to shoot them. On one
occasion, however, he fired at a more than commonly impertinent
specimen, "and immediately opened his maw, from which I took 171
bees; I laid them all on a blanket in the sun, and to my great
surprise fifty-four returned to life, licked themselves clean, and
joyfully went back to the hive, where they probably informed their
companions of such an adventure and escape, as I believe had never
happened before to American bees." Must one regard this as a fable?
It is by no means as remarkable a yarn as one may find told by other
naturalists of the same century. There is, for example, that undated
letter of John Bartram's, in which he makes inquiries of his brother
William concerning "Ye Wonderful Flower;" [Footnote: see "A
Botanical Marvel," in The Nation (New York), August 5, 1909.] there
is, too, Kalm's report of Bartram's bear: "When a bear catches a
cow, he kills her in the following manner: he bites a hole into the
hide and blows with all his power into it, till the animal swells
excessively and dies; for the air expands greatly between the flesh
and the hide." After these fine fancies, where is the improbability
of Crevecoeur's modest adaptation of the Jonah-allegory that he
applies to the king-bird and his bees? The episode suggests, for
that matter, a chapter in Mitchell's My Farm at Edgewood. Mitchell,
a later American farmer, describes the same king-birds, the same
bees; has, too, the same supremely gentle spirit. "I have not the
heart to shoot at the king-birds; nor do I enter very actively into
the battle of the bees. ... I give them fair play, good lodging,
limitless flowers, willows bending (as Virgil advises) into the
quiet water of a near pool; I have even read up the stories of a
poor blind Huber, who so dearly loved the bees, and the poem of
Giovanni Rucellai, for their benefit." Can the reader state, without
stopping to consider, which author it was that wrote thus--Mitchell
or Crevecoeur? Certainly it is the essential modernity of the
earlier writer's style that most impresses one, after the charm of
his pictures. His was the age of William Livingston--later Governor
of the State of New Jersey; and in the very year when a London
publisher was bringing out the first edition of the Farmer's
Letters, Livingston, described on his title-page as a "young
gentleman educated at Yale College," brought out his Philosophic
Solitude at Trenton, in his native state. It is worth quoting
Philosophic Solitude for the sake of the comparison to be drawn
between Crevecoeur's prose and contemporary American verse:-

     "Let ardent heroes seek renown in arms,
     Pant after fame, and rush to war's alarms ...
     Mine be the pleasures of a RURAL life."

The thought is, after all, the same as that which we have found less
directly phrased in Crevecoeur. But let us quote the lines that
follow the exordium--now we should find the poet unconstrained and
fancy-free:--

     "Me to sequestred scenes, ye muses, guide,
     Where nature wantons in her virgin-pride;
     To mossy banks edg'd round with op'ning flow'rs,
     Elysian fields, and amaranthin bow'rs. ...
     Welcome, ye shades! all hail, ye vernal blooms!
     Ye bow'ry thickets, and prophetic glooms!
     Ye forests hail! ye solitary woods. ..."

and the "solitary woods" (rhyming with "floods") are a good place to
leave the "young gentleman educated at Yale College." Livingston
was, plainly enough, a poet of his time and place. He had a fine eye
for Nature--seen through library windows. He echoed Goldsmith and a
whole line of British poets--echoed them atrociously.

That one finds no "echoes" in Crevecoeur is one of our reasons for
praising his spontaneity and vigour. He did not import nightingales
into his America, as some of the poets did. He blazed away, rather,
toward our present day appreciation of surrounding nature--which was
not banal then. Crevecoeur's honest and unconventionalised love of
his rural environment is great enough to bridge the difference
between the eighteenth and the twentieth century. It is as easy for
us to pass a happy evening with him as it was for Thomas Campbell,
figuring to himself a realisation of Cowley's dreams and of
Rousseau's poetic seclusion; "till at last," in Southey's words,
"comes an ill-looking Indian with a tomahawk, and scalps me--a most
melancholy proof that society is very bad." It is the freshness, the
youthfulness, of these Letters, after their century and more of
dust-gathering, that is least likely to escape us. And this "Farmer
in Pennsylvania" is almost as unmistakably of kin with good Gilbert
White of Selborne as he is the American Thoreau's eighteenth-century
forerunner.




III


It is time, indeed, that we made the discovery that Crevecoeur was a
modern. He was, too, a dweller in the young republic--even before it
WAS a republic. Twice a year he had "the pleasure of catching
pigeons, whose numbers are sometimes so astonishing as to obscure
the sun in their flight." There is, then, no poetic licence about
Longfellow's description, in Evangeline, of how--

"A pestilence fell on the city Presaged by wondrous signs, and
mostly by flocks of wild pigeons, Darkening the sun in their flight,
with naught in their craws but an acorn."

Longfellow could have cited as his authority for this flight of
pigeons Mathew Carey's Record of the Malignant Fever lately
Prevalent, published at Philadelphia, which, to be sure, discusses a
different epidemic, but tells us that "amongst the country people,
large quantities of wild pigeons in the spring are regarded as
certain indications of an unhealthy summer. Whether or not this
prognostic has ever been verified, I cannot tell. But it is very
certain that during the last spring the numbers of these birds
brought to market were immense. Never, perhaps, were there so many
before."

Carey wrote in 1793, the year, as has been noted, of the first
American reprint of the Letters, that had first been published at
London. Carey was himself Crevecoeur's American publisher; and he
may well have thought as he wrote the lines quoted of Crevecoeur's
earlier pigeons "obscuring the sun in their flight." Crevecoeur had
by this time returned to France, and was never more to ply the
avocations of the American farmer. In the interval, much had
happened to this victim of both the revolutions. Though the Letters
are distinguished by an idyllic temper, over them is thrown the
shadow of impending civil war. The Farmer was a man of peace, for
all his experience under Montcalm in Canada (and even there his part
was rather an engineer's than a combatant's); he long hoped,
therefore, that peaceful counsels would prevail, and that England
and the colonies would somehow come to an understanding without
hostilities. Then, after the Americans had boldly broken with the
home government, he lent them all his sympathy but not his arms. He
had his family to watch over; likewise his two farms, one in Orange
County, New York, one in New Jersey. As it was, the Indians in the
royal service burned his New Jersey estate; and after his first
return to France (he was called thither by his father, we are told,
though we know nothing of the motives of this recall) he entered
upon a new phase of his career. "After his first return to France,"
I have said, as if that had been an entirely simple matter. One
cannot here describe all its alleged difficulties; his arrest at New
York as a suspected spy (though after having secured a pass from the
American commander. General MacDougal, he had secured a second pass
from General Clinton, and permission to embark for France); his
detention in the provost's prison in New York; the final embarkation
with his oldest son--this on September 1, 1780; the shipwreck which
he described as occurring off the Irish coast; his residence for
some months in Great Britain, and during a part of that time in
London, where he sold the manuscript of the Letters for thirty
guineas. One would like to know Crevecoeur's emotions on finally
reaching France and joining his father and relatives at Caen. One
would like to describe his romantic succour of five American seamen,
who had escaped from an English prison and crossed the Channel in a
sloop to Normandy. A cousin of one of these seamen, a Captain
Fellowes of Boston, was later to befriend Crevecoeur's daughter and
younger son in the new country; that was after the Loyalists and
their Indian allies had destroyed the Farmer's house at Pine Hill,
after his wife had fled to Westchester with her two children, and
had died there soon after, leaving them unprotected. But all this
must, in nautical phrase, "go by the board," including the novel
founded upon the episode. Nor can we linger over Crevecoeur's entry
into polite society, both in the Norman capital and at Paris. Fancy
the returned prodigal--if one may so describe him--in the salon of
Madame d'Houdetot, Rousseau's former mistress! He was fairly
launched, this American Farmer, in the society of the lettres.

"Twice a week," he wrote, some years after, "I went with M. de
Turgot to see the Duchesse de Beauvilliers, his sister; and another
twice-a-week I went with him to the Comte de Buffon's. ... It was at
the table of M. de Buffon, it was in his salon, during long winter
evenings, that I was awakened once more to the graces, the beauties,
the timid purity of our tongue, which, during my long sojourn in
North America, had become foreign to me, and of which I had almost
lost command--though not the memory."

Madame d'Houdetot presented Crevecoeur to the families of La
Rochefoucauld, Liancourt, d'Estissac, Breteuil, Rohan-Chabot,
Beauvau, Necker; to the academicians d'Alembert, La Harpe, Grimm,
Suard, Rulbriere; to the poet-academician Delille. We have in the
Memoires of Brissot an allusion to his entrance into this society,
under the wing of his elderly protectress:--

"Proud of possessing an American savage, she wished to form him, and
to launch him in society. He had the good sense to refuse and to
confine himself to the picked society of men of letters."

It was at a later period that Brissot and Crevecoeur were to meet;
their quarrel, naturally, came later still.

Madame d'Houdetot did more than entertain the Farmer, whose father
had been one of her oldest friends. She secured his nomination as
Consul-General to the United States, now recognised by France; it
was at New York that he took up residence. Through the influence of
Madame d'Houdetot and her friends, he retained the appointment
through the stormy years that followed, though in the end he was
obliged to make way for a successor more in sympathy with the
violent republicanism of the age. Throughout the years of the French
Revolution, the ex-farmer lived a life of retirement, and, if never
of conspicuous danger, of embarrassment enough, and of humiliation.
We need not discuss those years spent at Paris; or the visits paid,
after the close of the Revolution, to his son-in-law and daughter,
for his daughter Frances-America was married to a French Secretary
of Legation, who became a Count of the Empire. Now he was in Paris
or the suburbs; now in London, or Munich. Five years of the Farmer's
later life were spent at the Bavarian capital; Maximilian
entertained him there, and told him that he had read his book with
the keenest pleasure and great profit too. He busied himself in
preparing his three-volume Voyage dans la Haute Pensylvanie (sic) et
dans l'Etat de New York, and in adding to his paper on potato
culture,[Footnote: Traite de la Culture des Pommes de Terre, 1782.]
a second on the false acacia; but his best work was done and he knew
it. Crevecoeur lived on until 1813, dying in the same year with
Madame d'Houdetot, who was so much his elder. He paid a worthy
tribute to that lady's character; perhaps we do her an injustice in
knowing her only for the liaison with Jean-Jacques. He died on
November 12, 1813: member of agricultural societies and of the
Academy (section of moral and political science), and of Franklin's
Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. A town in Vermont had been
named St. Johnsbury in his honour; he had the freedom of more than
one New England city. It is, none the less, as the author of Letters
from an American Farmer, published in 1782, and written, for the
most part, years before that date, that we remember him--so far as
we do remember.




IV


Much remains unsaid--much, even, of the essential. Some of the facts
are still unknown; others may be looked for in the biography written
by his great-grandson, Robert de Crevecoeur, and published at Paris
some eighty years ago. There is hardly occasion to discuss here what
Crevecoeur did, as consul at New York, to encourage the exchange of
French manufactures and American exports; or to tell of his packet-
line--the first established between New York and a French port; or
to set down the story of his children; or to describe those last sad
years, at home and abroad, after the close of his consular career.
There is no room at all for the words of praise that were spoken of
the Letters by Franklin and Washington, who recommended them to
intending immigrants as a faithful, albeit "highly coloured"
picture. We must let the writings of the American Farmer speak for
themselves: they belong, after all, to literature.

It was a modest man--a modest life; a life filled, none the less,
with romantic incident. All this throws into relief the beauty of
its best fruits. Crevecoeur made no claim to artistry when he wrote
his simple, heartfelt Letters; and yet his style, in spite of
occasional defects and extra flourishes, seems to us worthy of his
theme. These Letters from an American Farmer have been an
inspiration to poets--and they "smell of the woods."

In a prose age, Crevecoeur lived a kind of pastoral poetry; in an
age largely blind, he saw the beauties of nature, less through
readings in the Nouvelle Heloise and Bernardin's Etudes than with
his own keen eyes; he was a true idealist, besides, and as such
kindles one's enthusiasm. The man's optimism, his grateful
personality, his saneness, too--for here is a dreamer neither idle
nor morbid--are qualities no less enduring, or endearing, than his
fame as "poet-naturalist." The American Farmer might have used
Cotton's Retirement for an epigraph on his title-page:--

     "Farewell, thou busy world, and may
     We never meet again,
     Here I can eat and sleep and pray. ..."

but for the fact that he found time to turn the clods, withal, and
eyes to watch the earth blackening behind the plough. "Our
necessities," wrote Poe, who contended, in a half-hearted way, that
the Americans of his generation were as poetical a people as any
other, "have been mistaken for our propensities. Having been forced
to make railroads, it has been deemed impossible that we should make
verse." But here was Saint-John de Crevecoeur writing, in the
eighteenth century, his idyllic Letters, while, if he did not build
railways, he interested himself in the experiments of Fitch and
Rumsey and Parmentier, and organised a packet-line between New York
and Lorient, in Brittany. This Crevecoeur should from the first have
appealed to the imagination--especially to the American imagination-
-combining as he did the faculty of the ideal and the achievement of
the actual. It is not too late for him to appeal to-day; in spite of
all his quaintness, Crevecoeur is a contemporary of our own.

WARREN BARTON BLAKE.

BRADFORD HILLS, WEST CHESTER,
PENNSYLVANIA.




SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Letters from an American Farmer (London), 1782, 1783; (Dublin),
1782; (Belfast), 1783; (Philadelphia), 1793; (New York), 1904;
(London), 1908; translated into French (with gratuitous additions)
as Lettres d'un cultivateur Americain (Paris), 1784 and 1787; into
German as Briefe eines Amerikanischen Landmanns (Leipzig), 1788,
1789. Voyage dans la Haute Pensylvanie et dans l'etat de New York
(Paris), 1801.



CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION by Warren Barton Blake

LETTER

   I. INTRODUCTION

  II. ON THE SITUATION, FEELINGS, AND PLEASURES OF AN AMERICAN
FARMER

 III. WHAT IS AN AMERICAN

  IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET, WITH THE MANNERS,
CUSTOMS, POLICY, AND TRADE OF THE INHABITANTS

   V. CUSTOMARY EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE INHABITANTS OF
NANTUCKET

  VI. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD, AND OF THE
WHALE FISHERY

 VII. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS AT NANTUCKET

VIII. PECULIAR CUSTOMS AT NANTUCKET

  IX. DESCRIPTION OF CHARLES-TOWN; THOUGHTS ON SLAVERY; ON PHYSICAL
EVIL; A MELANCHOLY SCENE

   X. ON SNAKES; AND ON THE HUMMING BIRD.

  XI. FROM MR. IW--N AL--Z, A RUSSIAN GENTLEMAN, DESCRIBING THE
VISIT HE PAID AT MY REQUEST TO MR. JOHN BERTRAM, THE
CELEBRATEDPENNSYLVANIA BOTANIST

 XII. DISTRESSES OF A FRONTIER MAN




LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN FARMER;

DESCRIBING CERTAIN PROVINCIAL SITUATIONS, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS, NOT
GENERALLY KNOWN; AND CONVEYING SOME IDEA OF THE LATE AND PRESENT
INTERIOR CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE BRITISH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA.

WRITTEN FOR THE INFORMATION OF A FRIEND IN ENGLAND,

By J. HECTOR ST. JOHN, A FARMER IN PENNSYLVANIA


ADVERTISEMENT

[To the first edition, 1782.]

The following Letters are the genuine production of the American
Farmer whose name they bear. They were privately written to gratify
the curiosity of a friend; and are made public, because they contain
much authentic information, little known on this side the Atlantic;
they cannot therefore fail of being highly interesting to the people
of England, at a time when everybody's attention is directed toward
the affairs of America.

That these letters are the actual result of a private correspondence
may fairly be inferred (exclusive of other evidence) from the style
and manner in which they are conceived: for though plain and
familiar, and sometimes animated, they are by no means exempt from
such inaccuracies as must unavoidably occur in the rapid effusions
of a confessedly inexperienced writer.

Our Farmer had long been an eye-witness of transactions that have
deformed the face of America: he is one of those who dreaded, and
has severely felt, the desolating consequences of a rupture between
the parent state and her colonies: for he has been driven from a
situation, the enjoyment of which the reader will find pathetically
described in the early letters of this volume. The unhappy contest
is at length, however, drawing toward a period; and it is now only
left us to hope, that the obvious interests and mutual wants of both
countries, may in due time, and in spite of all obstacles, happily
re-unite them.

Should our Farmer's letters be found to afford matter of useful
entertainment to an intelligent and candid public, a second volume,
equally interesting with those now published, may soon be expected.




ADVERTISEMENT

[To the Second Edition, 1783.]

Since the publication of this volume, we hear that Mr. St. John has
accepted a public employment at New York. It is therefore, perhaps,
doubtful whether he will soon be at leisure to revise his papers,
and give the world a second collection of the American Farmer
Letters.




TO THE ABBE RAYNAL, F.R.S.

Behold, Sir, an humble American Planter, a simple cultivator of the
earth, addressing you from the farther side of the Atlantic; and
presuming to fix your name at the head of his trifling lucubrations.
I wish they were worthy of so great an honour. Yet why should not I
be permitted to disclose those sentiments which I have so often felt
from my heart? A few years since, I met accidentally with your
Political and Philosophical History, and perused it with infinite
pleasure. For the first time in my life I reflected on the relative
state of nations; I traced the extended ramifications of a commerce
which ought to unite but now convulses the world; I admired that
universal benevolence, that diffusive goodwill, which is not
confined to the narrow limits of your own country; but, on the
contrary, extends to the whole human race. As an eloquent and
powerful advocate you have pleaded the cause of humanity in
espousing that of the poor Africans: you viewed these provinces of
North America in their true light, as the asylum of freedom; as the
cradle of future nations, and the refuge of distressed Europeans.
Why then should I refrain from loving and respecting a man whose
writings I so much admire? These two sentiments are inseparable, at
least in my breast. I conceived your genius to be present at the
head of my study: under its invisible but powerful guidance, I
prosecuted my small labours: and now, permit me to sanctify them
under the auspices of your name. Let the sincerity of the motives
which urge me, prevent you from thinking that this well meant
address contains aught but the purest tribute of reverence and
affection. There is, no doubt, a secret communion among good men
throughout the world; a mental affinity connecting them by a
similitude of sentiments: then, why, though an American, should not
I be permitted to share in that extensive intellectual
consanguinity? Yes, I do: and though the name of a man who possesses
neither titles nor places, who never rose above the humble rank of a
farmer, may appear insignificant; yet, as the sentiments I have
expressed are also the echo of those of my countrymen; on their
behalf, as well as on my own, give me leave to subscribe myself,

Sir,
Your very sincere admirer,
J. HECTOR ST. JOHN. CARLISLE IN PENNSYLVANIA.






LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN FARMER




LETTER I

INTRODUCTION


Who would have thought that because I received you with hospitality
and kindness, you should imagine me capable of writing with
propriety and perspicuity? Your gratitude misleads your judgment.
The knowledge which I acquired from your conversation has amply
repaid me for your five weeks' entertainment. I gave you nothing
more than what common hospitality dictated; but could any other
guest have instructed me as you did? You conducted me, on the map,
from one European country to another; told me many extraordinary
things of our famed mother-country, of which I knew very little; of
its internal navigation, agriculture, arts, manufactures, and trade:
you guided me through an extensive maze, and I abundantly profited
by the journey; the contrast therefore proves the debt of gratitude
to be on my side. The treatment you received at my house proceeded
from the warmth of my heart, and from the corresponding sensibility
of my wife; what you now desire must flow from a very limited power
of mind: the task requires recollection, and a variety of talents
which I do not possess. It is true I can describe our American modes
of farming, our manners, and peculiar customs, with some degree of
propriety, because I have ever attentively studied them; but my
knowledge extends no farther. And is this local and unadorned
information sufficient to answer all your expectations, and to
satisfy your curiosity? I am surprised that in the course of your
American travels you should not have found out persons more
enlightened and better educated than I am; your predilection excites
my wonder much more than my vanity; my share of the latter being
confined merely to the neatness of my rural operations.

My father left me a few musty books, which his father brought from
England with him; but what help can I draw from a library consisting
mostly of Scotch Divinity, the Navigation of Sir Francis Drake, the
History of Queen Elizabeth, and a few miscellaneous volumes? Our
minister often comes to see me, though he lives upwards of twenty
miles distant. I have shown him your letter, asked his advice, and
solicited his assistance; he tells me, that he hath no time to
spare, for that like the rest of us must till his farm, and is
moreover to study what he is to say on the sabbath. My wife (and I
never do anything without consulting her) laughs, and tells me that
you cannot be in earnest. What! says she, James, wouldst thee
pretend to send epistles to a great European man, who hath lived
abundance of time in that big house called Cambridge; where, they
say, that worldly learning is so abundant, that people gets it only
by breathing the air of the place? Wouldst not thee be ashamed to
write unto a man who has never in his life done a single day's work,
no, not even felled a tree; who hath expended the Lord knows how
many years in studying stars, geometry, stones, and flies, and in
reading folio books? Who hath travelled, as he told us, to the city
of Rome itself! Only think of a London man going to Rome! Where is
it that these English folks won't go? One who hath seen the factory
of brimstone at Suvius, and town of Pompey under ground! wouldst
thou pretend to letter it with a person who hath been to Paris, to
the Alps, to Petersburg, and who hath seen so many fine things up
and down the old countries; who hath come over the great sea unto
us, and hath journeyed from our New Hampshire in the East to our
Charles Town in the South; who hath visited all our great cities,
knows most of our famous lawyers and cunning folks; who hath
conversed with very many king's men, governors, and counsellors, and
yet pitches upon thee for his correspondent, as thee calls it?
surely he means to jeer thee! I am sure he does, he cannot be in a
real fair earnest. James, thee must read this letter over again,
paragraph by paragraph, and warily observe whether thee can'st
perceive some words of jesting; something that hath more than one
meaning: and now I think on it, husband, I wish thee wouldst let me
see his letter; though I am but a woman, as thee mayest say, yet I
understand the purport of words in good measure, for when I was a
girl, father sent us to the very best master in the precinct.--She
then read it herself very attentively: our minister was present, we
listened to, and weighed every syllable: we all unanimously
concluded that you must have been in a sober earnest intention, as
my wife calls it; and your request appeared to be candid and
sincere. Then again, on recollecting the difference between your
sphere of life and mine, a new fit of astonishment seized us all!

Our minister took the letter from my wife, and read it to himself;
he made us observe the two last phrases, and we weighed the contents
to the best of our abilities. The conclusion we all drew made me
resolve at last to write.--You say you want nothing of me but what
lies within the reach of my experience and knowledge; this I
understand very well; the difficulty is, how to collect, digest, and
arrange what I know? Next you assert, that writing letters is
nothing more than talking on paper; which, I must confess, appeared
to me quite a new thought.--Well then, observed our minister,
neighbour James, as you can talk well, I am sure you must write
tolerably well also; imagine, then, that Mr. F. B. is still here,
and simply write down what you would say to him. Suppose the
questions be will put to you in his future letters to be asked by
his viva voce, as we used to call it at the college; then let your
answers be conceived and expressed exactly in the same language as
if he was present. This is all that he requires from you, and I am
sure the task is not difficult. He is your friend: who would be
ashamed to write to such a person? Although he is a man of learning
and taste, yet I am sure he will read your letters with pleasure: if
they be not elegant, they will smell of the woods, and be a little
wild; I know your turn, they will contain some matters which he
never knew before. Some people are so fond of novelty, that they
will overlook many errors of language for the sake of information.
We are all apt to love and admire exotics, tho' they may be often
inferior to what we possess; and that is the reason I imagine why so
many persons are continually going to visit Italy.--That country is
the daily resort of modern travellers.

James: I should like to know what is there to be seen so goodly and
profitable, that so many should wish to visit no other country?

Minister: I do not very well know. I fancy their object is to trace
the vestiges of a once flourishing people now extinct. There they
amuse themselves in viewing the ruins of temples and other buildings
which have very little affinity with those of the present age, and
must therefore impart a knowledge which appears useless and
trifling. I have often wondered that no skilful botanists or learned
men should come over here; methinks there would be much more real
satisfaction in observing among us the humble rudiments and embryos
of societies spreading everywhere, the recent foundation of our
towns, and the settlements of so many rural districts. I am sure
that the rapidity of their growth would be more pleasing to behold,
than the ruins of old towers, useless aqueducts, or impending
battlements.

James: What you say, minister, seems very true: do go on: I always
love to hear you talk.

Minister: Don't you think, neighbour James, that the mind of a good
and enlightened Englishman would be more improved in remarking
throughout these provinces the causes which render so many people
happy? In delineating the unnoticed means by which we daily increase
the extent of our settlements? How we convert huge forests into
pleasing fields, and exhibit through these thirteen provinces so
singular a display of easy subsistence and political felicity.

In Italy all the objects of contemplation, all the reveries of the
traveller, must have a reference to ancient generations, and to very
distant periods, clouded with the mist of ages.--Here, on the
contrary, everything is modern, peaceful, and benign. Here we have
had no war to desolate our fields: [Footnote: The troubles that now
convulse the American colonies had not broke out when this and some
of the following letters were written.] our religion does not
oppress the cultivators: we are strangers to those feudal
institutions which have enslaved so many. Here nature opens her
broad lap to receive the perpetual accession of new comers, and to
supply them with food. I am sure I cannot be called a partial
American when I say that the spectacle afforded by these pleasing
scenes must be more entertaining and more philosophical than that
which arises from beholding the musty ruins of Rome. Here everything
would inspire the reflecting traveller with the most philanthropic
ideas; his imagination, instead of submitting to the painful and
useless retrospect of revolutions, desolations, and plagues, would,
on the contrary, wisely spring forward to the anticipated fields of
future cultivation and improvement, to the future extent of those
generations which are to replenish and embellish this boundless
continent. There the half-ruined amphitheatres, and the putrid
fevers of the Campania, must fill the mind with the most melancholy
reflections, whilst he is seeking for the origin and the intention
of those structures with which he is surrounded, and for the cause
of so great a decay. Here he might contemplate the very beginnings
and outlines of human society, which can be traced nowhere now but
in this part of the world. The rest of the earth, I am told, is in
some places too full, in others half depopulated. Misguided
religion, tyranny, and absurd laws everywhere depress and afflict
mankind. Here we have in some measure regained the ancient dignity
of our species; our laws are simple and just, we are a race of
cultivators, our cultivation is unrestrained, and therefore
everything is prosperous and flourishing. For my part I had rather
admire the ample barn of one of our opulent farmers, who himself
felled the first tree in his plantation, and was the first founder
of his settlement, than study the dimensions of the temple of Ceres.
I had rather record the progressive steps of this industrious
farmer, throughout all the stages of his labours and other
operations, than examine how modern Italian convents can be
supported without doing anything but singing and praying.

However confined the field of speculation might be here, the time of
English travellers would not be wholly lost. The new and unexpected
aspect of our extensive settlements; of our fine rivers; that great
field of action everywhere visible; that ease, that peace with which
so many people live together, would greatly interest the observer:
for whatever difficulties there might happen in the object of their
researches, that hospitality which prevails from one end of the
continent to the other would in all parts facilitate their
excursions. As it is from the surface of the ground which we till
that we have gathered the wealth we possess, the surface of that
ground is therefore the only thing that has hitherto been known. It
will require the industry of subsequent ages, the energy of future
generations, ere mankind here will have leisure and abilities to
penetrate deep, and, in the bowels of this continent, search for the
subterranean riches it no doubt contains.--Neighbour James, we want
much the assistance of men of leisure and knowledge, we want eminent
chemists to inform our iron masters; to teach us how to make and
prepare most of the colours we use. Here we have none equal to this
task. If any useful discoveries are therefore made among us, they
are the effects of chance, or else arise from that restless industry
which is the principal characteristic of these colonies.

James: Oh! could I express myself as you do, my friend, I should not
balance a single instant, I should rather be anxious to commence a
correspondence which would do me credit.

Minister: You can write full as well as you need, and will improve
very fast; trust to my prophecy, your letters, at least, will have
the merit of coming from the edge of the great wilderness, three
hundred miles from the sea, and three thousand miles over that sea:
this will be no detriment to them, take my word for it. You intend
one of your children for the gown, who knows but Mr. F. B. may give
you some assistance when the lad comes to have concerns with the
bishop; it is good for American farmers to have friends even in
England. What he requires of you is but simple--what we speak out
among ourselves we call conversation, and a letter is only
conversation put down in black and white.

James: You quite persuade me--if he laughs at my awkwardness, surely
he will be pleased with my ready compliance. On my part, it will be
well meant let the execution be what it may. I will write enough,
and so let him have the trouble of sifting the good from the bad,
the useful from the trifling; let him select what he may want, and
reject what may not answer his purpose. After all, it is but
treating Mr. F. B. now that he is in London, as I treated him when
he was in America under this roof; that is with the best things I
had; given with a good intention; and the best manner I was able.
Very different, James, very different indeed, said my wife, I like
not thy comparison; our small house and cellar, our orchard and
garden afforded what he wanted; one half of his time Mr. F. B., poor
man, lived upon nothing but fruit-pies, or peaches and milk. Now
these things were such as God had given us, myself and wench did the
rest; we were not the creators of these victuals, we only cooked
them as well and as neat as we could. The first thing, James, is to
know what sort of materials thee hast within thy own self, and then
whether thee canst dish them up.--Well, well, wife, thee art wrong
for once; if I was filled with worldly vanity, thy rebuke would be
timely, but thee knowest that I have but little of that. How shall I
know what I am capable of till I try? Hadst thee never employed
thyself in thy father's house to learn and to practise the many
branches of house-keeping that thy parents were famous for, thee
wouldst have made but a sorry wife for an American farmer; thee
never shouldst have been mine. I married thee not for what thee
hadst, but for what thee knewest; doest not thee observe what Mr. F.
B. says beside; he tells me, that the art of writing is just like
unto every other art of man; that it is acquired by habit, and by
perseverance. That is singularly true, said our minister, he that
shall write a letter every day of the week, will on Saturday
perceive the sixth flowing from his pen much more readily than the
first. I observed when I first entered into the ministry and began
to preach the word, I felt perplexed and dry, my mind was like unto
a parched soil, which produced nothing, not even weeds. By the
blessing of heaven, and my perseverance in study, I grew richer in
thoughts, phrases, and words; I felt copious, and now I can
abundantly preach from any text that occurs to my mind. So will it
be with you, neighbour James; begin therefore without delay; and Mr.
F. B.'s letters may be of great service to you: he will, no doubt,
inform you of many things: correspondence consists in reciprocal
letters. Leave off your diffidence, and I will do my best to help
you whenever I have any leisure. Well then, I am resolved, I said,
to follow your counsel; my letters shall not be sent, nor will I
receive any, without reading them to you and my wife; women are
curious, they love to know their husband's secrets; it will not be
the first thing which I have submitted to your joint opinions.
Whenever you come to dine with us, these shall be the last dish on
the table. Nor will they be the most unpalatable, answered the good
man. Nature hath given you a tolerable share of sense, and that is
one of her best gifts let me tell you. She has given you besides
some perspicuity, which qualifies you to distinguish interesting
objects; a warmth of imagination which enables you to think with
quickness; you often extract useful reflections from objects which
presented none to my mind: you have a tender and a well meaning
heart, you love description, and your pencil, assure yourself, is
not a bad one for the pencil of a farmer; it seems to be held
without any labour; your mind is what we called at Yale college a
Tabula rasa, where spontaneous and strong impressions are delineated
with facility. Ah, neighbour! had you received but half the
education of Mr. F. B. you had been a worthy correspondent indeed.
But perhaps you will be a more entertaining one dressed in your
simple American garb, than if you were clad in all the gowns of
Cambridge. You will appear to him something like one of our wild
American plants, irregularly luxuriant in its various branches,
which an European scholar may probably think ill placed and useless.
If our soil is not remarkable as yet for the excellence of its
fruits, this exuberance is however a strong proof of fertility,
which wants nothing but the progressive knowledge acquired by time
to amend and to correct. It is easier to retrench than it is to add;
I do not mean to flatter you, neighbour James, adulation would ill
become my character, you may therefore believe what your pastor
says. Were I in Europe I should be tired with perpetually seeing
espaliers, plashed hedges, and trees dwarfed into pigmies. Do let
Mr. F. B. see on paper a few American wild cherry trees, such as
nature forms them here, in all her unconfined vigour, in all the
amplitude of their extended limbs and spreading ramifications--let
him see that we are possessed with strong vegetative embryos. After
all, why should not a farmer be allowed to make use of his mental
faculties as well as others; because a man works, is not he to
think, and if he thinks usefully, why should not he in his leisure
hours set down his thoughts? I have composed many a good sermon as I
followed my plough. The eyes not being then engaged on any
particular object, leaves the mind free for the introduction of many
useful ideas. It is not in the noisy shop of a blacksmith or of a
carpenter, that these studious moments can be enjoyed; it is as we
silently till the ground, and muse along the odoriferous furrows of
our low lands, uninterrupted either by stones or stumps; it is there
that the salubrious effluvia of the earth animate our spirits and
serve to inspire us; every other avocation of our farms are severe
labours compared to this pleasing occupation: of all the tasks which
mine imposes on me ploughing is the most agreeable, because I can
think as I work; my mind is at leisure; my labour flows from
instinct, as well as that of my horses; there is no kind of
difference between us in our different shares of that operation; one
of them keeps the furrow, the other avoids it; at the end of my
field they turn either to the right or left as they are bid, whilst
I thoughtlessly hold and guide the plough to which they are
harnessed. Do therefore, neighbour, begin this correspondence, and
persevere, difficulties will vanish in proportion as you draw near
them; you'll be surprised at yourself by and by: when you come to
look back you'll say as I have often said to myself; had I been
diffident I had never proceeded thus far. Would you painfully till
your stony up-land and neglect the fine rich bottom which lies
before your door? Had you never tried, you never had learned how to
mend and make your ploughs. It will be no small pleasure to your
children to tell hereafter, that their father was not only one of
the most industrious farmers in the country, but one of the best
writers. When you have once begun, do as when you begin breaking up
your summer fallow, you never consider what remains to be done, you
view only what you have ploughed. Therefore, neighbour James, take
my advice; it will go well with you, I am sure it will.--And do you
really think so, Sir? Your counsel, which I have long followed,
weighs much with me, I verily believe that I must write to Mr. F. B.
by the first vessel.--If thee persistest in being such a foolhardy
man, said my wife, for God's sake let it be kept a profound secret
among us; if it were once known abroad that thee writest to a great
and rich man over at London, there would be no end of the talk of
the people; some would vow that thee art going to turn an author,
others would pretend to foresee some great alterations in the
welfare of thy family; some would say this, some would say that: Who
would wish to become the subject of public talk? Weigh this matter
well before thee beginnest, James--consider that a great deal of thy
time, and of thy reputation is at stake as I may say. Wert thee to
write as well as friend Edmund, whose speeches I often see in our
papers, it would be the very self same thing; thee wouldst be
equally accused of idleness, and vain notions not befitting thy
condition. Our colonel would be often coming here to know what it is
that thee canst write so much about. Some would imagine that thee
wantest to become either an assembly-man or a magistrate, which God
forbid; and that thee art telling the king's men abundance of
things. Instead of being well looked upon as now, and living in
peace with all the world, our neighbours would be making strange
surmises: I had rather be as we are, neither better nor worse than
the rest of our country folks. Thee knowest what I mean, though I
should be sorry to deprive thee of any honest recreation. Therefore
as I have said before, let it be as great a secret as if it was some
heinous crime; the minister, I am sure, will not divulge it; as for
my part, though I am a woman, yet I know what it is to be a wife.--I
would not have thee, James, pass for what the world calleth a
writer; no, not for a peck of gold, as the saying is. Thy father
before thee was a plain dealing honest man, punctual in all things;
he was one of yea and nay, of few words, all he minded was his farm
and his work. I wonder from whence thee hast got this love of the
pen? Had he spent his time in sending epistles to and fro, he never
would have left thee this goodly plantation, free from debt. All I
say is in good meaning; great people over sea may write to our
town's folks, because they have nothing else to do. These Englishmen
are strange people; because they can live upon what they call bank
notes, without working, they think that all the world can do the
same. This goodly country never would have been tilled and cleared
with these notes. I am sure when Mr. F. B. was here, he saw thee
sweat and take abundance of pains; he often told me how the
Americans worked a great deal harder than the home Englishmen; for
there he told us, that they have no trees to cut down, no fences to
make, no negroes to buy and to clothe: and now I think on it, when
wilt thee send him those trees he bespoke? But if they have no trees
to cut down, they have gold in abundance, they say; for they rake it
and scrape it from all parts far and near. I have often heard my
grandfather tell how they live there by writing. By writing they
send this cargo unto us, that to the West, and the other to the East
Indies. But, James, thee knowest that it is not by writing that we
shall pay the blacksmith, the minister, the weaver, the tailor, and
the English shop. But as thee art an early man follow thine own
inclinations; thee wantest some rest, I am sure, and why shouldst
thee not employ it as it may seem meet unto thee.--However let it be
a great secret; how wouldst thee bear to be called at our country
meetings, the man of the pen? If this scheme of thine was once
known, travellers as they go along would point out to our house,
saying, here liveth the scribbling fanner; better hear them as usual
observe, here liveth the warm substantial family, that never
begrudgeth a meal of victuals, or a mess of oats, to any one that
steps in. Look how fat and well clad their negroes are.

Thus, Sir, have I given you an unaffected and candid detail of the
conversation which determined me to accept of your invitation. I
thought it necessary thus to begin, and to let you into these
primary secrets, to the end that you may not hereafter reproach me
with any degree of presumption. You'll plainly see the motives which
have induced me to begin, the fears which I have entertained, and
the principles on which my diffidence hath been founded. I have now
nothing to do but to prosecute my task--Remember you are to give me
my subjects, and on no other shall I write, lest you should blame me
for an injudicious choice--However incorrect my style, however
unexpert my methods, however trifling my observations may hereafter
appear to you, assure yourself they will all be the genuine dictates
of my mind, and I hope will prove acceptable on that account.
Remember that you have laid the foundation of this correspondence;
you well know that I am neither a philosopher, politician, divine,
nor naturalist, but a simple farmer. I flatter myself, therefore,
that you'll receive my letters as conceived, not according to
scientific rules to which I am a perfect stranger, but agreeable to
the spontaneous impressions which each subject may inspire. This is
the only line I am able to follow, the line which nature has herself
traced for me; this was the covenant which I made with you, and with
which you seemed to be well pleased. Had you wanted the style of the
learned, the reflections of the patriot, the discussions of the
politician, the curious observations of the naturalist, the pleasing
garb of the man of taste, surely you would have applied to some of
those men of letters with which our cities abound. But since on the
contrary, and for what reason I know not, you wish to correspond
with a cultivator of the earth, with a simple citizen, you must
receive my letters for better or worse.




LETTER II

ON THE SITUATION, FEELINGS, AND PLEASURES, OF AN AMERICAN FARMER


As you are the first enlightened European I have ever had the
pleasure of being acquainted with, you will not be surprised that I
should, according to your earnest desire and my promise, appear
anxious of preserving your friendship and correspondence. By your
accounts, I observe a material difference subsists between your
husbandry, modes, and customs, and ours; everything is local; could
we enjoy the advantages of the English farmer, we should be much
happier, indeed, but this wish, like many others, implies a
contradiction; and could the English farmer have some of those
privileges we possess, they would be the first of their class in the
world. Good and evil I see is to be found in all societies, and it
is in vain to seek for any spot where those ingredients are not
mixed. I therefore rest satisfied, and thank God that my lot is to
be an American farmer, instead of a Russian boor, or an Hungarian
peasant. I thank you kindly for the idea, however dreadful, which
you have given me of their lot and condition; your observations have
confirmed me in the justness of my ideas, and I am happier now than
I thought myself before. It is strange that misery, when viewed in
others, should become to us a sort of real good, though I am far
from rejoicing to hear that there are in the world men so thoroughly
wretched; they are no doubt as harmless, industrious, and willing to
work as we are. Hard is their fate to be thus condemned to a slavery
worse than that of our negroes. Yet when young I entertained some
thoughts of selling my farm. I thought it afforded but a dull
repetition of the same labours and pleasures. I thought the former
tedious and heavy, the latter few and insipid; but when I came to
consider myself as divested of my farm, I then found the world so
wide, and every place so full, that I began to fear lest there would
be no room for me. My farm, my house, my barn, presented to my
imagination objects from which I adduced quite new ideas; they were
more forcible than before. Why should not I find myself happy, said
I, where my father was before? He left me no good books it is true,
he gave me no other education than the art of reading and writing;
but he left me a good farm, and his experience; he left me free from
debts, and no kind of difficulties to struggle with.--I married, and
this perfectly reconciled me to my situation; my wife rendered my
house all at once cheerful and pleasing; it no longer appeared
gloomy and solitary as before; when I went to work in my fields I
worked with more alacrity and sprightliness; I felt that I did not
work for myself alone, and this encouraged me much. My wife would
often come with her knitting in her hand, and sit under the shady
trees, praising the straightness of my furrows, and the docility of
my horses; this swelled my heart and made everything light and
pleasant, and I regretted that I had not married before.

I felt myself happy in my new situation, and where is that station
which can confer a more substantial system of felicity than that of
an American farmer, possessing freedom of action, freedom of
thoughts, ruled by a mode of government which requires but little
from us? I owe nothing, but a pepper corn to my country, a small
tribute to my king, with loyalty and due respect; I know no other
landlord than the lord of all land, to whom I owe the most sincere
gratitude. My father left me three hundred and seventy-one acres of
land, forty-seven of which are good timothy meadow, an excellent
orchard, a good house, and a substantial barn. It is my duty to
think how happy I am that he lived to build and to pay for all these
improvements; what are the labours which I have to undergo, what are
my fatigues when compared to his, who had everything to do, from the
first tree he felled to the finishing of his house? Every year I
kill from 1500 to 2000 weight of pork, 1200 of beef, half a dozen of
good wethers in harvest: of fowls my wife has always a great stock:
what can I wish more? My negroes are tolerably faithful and healthy;
by a long series of industry and honest dealings, my father left
behind him the name of a good man; I have but to tread his paths to
be happy and a good man like him. I know enough of the law to
regulate my little concerns with propriety, nor do I dread its
power; these are the grand outlines of my situation, but as I can
feel much more than I am able to express, I hardly know how to
proceed.

When my first son was born, the whole train of my ideas were
suddenly altered; never was there a charm that acted so quickly and
powerfully; I ceased to ramble in imagination through the wide
world; my excursions since have not exceeded the bounds of my farm,
and all my principal pleasures are now centred within its scanty
limits: but at the same time there is not an operation belonging to
it in which I do not find some food for useful reflections. This is
the reason, I suppose, that when you was here, you used, in your
refined style, to denominate me the farmer of feelings; how rude
must those feelings be in him who daily holds the axe or the plough,
how much more refined on the contrary those of the European, whose
mind is improved by education, example, books, and by every acquired
advantage! Those feelings, however, I will delineate as well as I
can, agreeably to your earnest request.

When I contemplate my wife, by my fire-side, while she either spins,
knits, darns, or suckles our child, I cannot describe the various
emotions of love, of gratitude, of conscious pride, which thrill in
my heart and often overflow in involuntary tears. I feel the
necessity, the sweet pleasure of acting my part, the part of an
husband and father, with an attention and propriety which may
entitle me to my good fortune. It is true these pleasing images
vanish with the smoke of my pipe, but though they disappear from my
mind, the impression they have made on my heart is indelible. When I
play with the infant, my warm imagination runs forward, and eagerly
anticipates his future temper and constitution. I would willingly
open the book of fate, and know in which page his destiny is
delineated; alas! where is the father who in those moments of
paternal ecstasy can delineate one half of the thoughts which dilate
his heart? I am sure I cannot; then again I fear for the health of
those who are become so dear to me, and in their sicknesses I
severely pay for the joys I experienced while they were well.
Whenever I go abroad it is always involuntary. I never return home
without feeling some pleasing emotion, which I often suppress as
useless and foolish. The instant I enter on my own land, the bright
idea of property, of exclusive right, of independence exalt my mind.
Precious soil, I say to myself, by what singular custom of law is it
that thou wast made to constitute the riches of the freeholder? What
should we American farmers be without the distinct possession of
that soil? It feeds, it clothes us, from it we draw even a great
exuberancy, our best meat, our richest drink, the very honey of our
bees comes from this. privileged spot. No wonder we should thus
cherish its possession, no wonder that so many Europeans who have
never been able to say that such portion of land was theirs, cross
the Atlantic to realise that happiness. This formerly rude soil has
been converted by my father into a pleasant farm, and in return it
has established all our rights; on it is founded our rank, our
freedom, our power as citizens, our importance as inhabitants of
such a district. These images I must confess I always behold with
pleasure, and extend them as far as my imagination can reach: for
this is what may be called the true and the only philosophy of an
American farmer.

Pray do not laugh in thus seeing an artless countryman tracing
himself through the simple modifications of his life; remember that
you have required it, therefore with candour, though with
diffidence, I endeavour to follow the thread of my feelings, but I
cannot tell you all. Often when I plough my low ground, I place my
little boy on a chair which screws to the beam of the plough--its
motion and that of the horses please him; he is perfectly happy and
begins to chat. As I lean over the handle, various are the thoughts
which crowd into my mind. I am now doing for him, I say, what my
father formerly did for me, may God enable him to live that he may
perform the same operations for the same purposes when I am worn out
and old! I relieve his mother of some trouble while I have him with
me, the odoriferous furrow exhilarates his spirits, and seems to do
the child a great deal of good, for he looks more blooming since I
have adopted that practice; can more pleasure, more dignity be added
to that primary occupation? The father thus ploughing with his
child, and to feed his family, is inferior only to the emperor of
China ploughing as an example to his kingdom. In the evening when I
return home through my low grounds, I am astonished at the myriads
of insects which I perceive dancing in the beams of the setting sun.
I was before scarcely acquainted with their existence, they are so
small that it is difficult to distinguish them; they are carefully
improving this short evening space, not daring to expose themselves
to the blaze of our meridian sun. I never see an egg brought on my
table but I feel penetrated with the wonderful change it would have
undergone but for my gluttony; it might have been a gentle useful
hen leading her chickens with a care and vigilance which speaks
shame to many women. A cock perhaps, arrayed with the most majestic
plumes, tender to its mate, bold, courageous, endowed with an
astonishing instinct, with thoughts, with memory, and every
distinguishing characteristic of the reason of man. I never see my
trees drop their leaves and their fruit in the autumn, and bud again
in the spring, without wonder; the sagacity of those animals which
have long been the tenants of my farm astonish me: some of them seem
to surpass even men in memory and sagacity. I could tell you
singular instances of that kind. What then is this instinct which we
so debase, and of which we are taught to entertain so diminutive an
idea? My bees, above any other tenants of my farm, attract my
attention and respect; I am astonished to see that nothing exists
but what has its enemy, one species pursue and live upon the other:
unfortunately our kingbirds are the destroyers of those industrious
insects; but on the other hand, these birds preserve our fields from
the depredation of crows which they pursue on the wing with great
vigilance and astonishing dexterity.

Thus divided by two interested motives, I have long resisted the
desire I had to kill them, until last year, when I thought they
increased too much, and my indulgence had been carried too far; it
was at the time of swarming when they all came and fixed themselves
on the neighbouring trees, from whence they catched those that
returned loaded from the fields. This made me resolve to kill as
many as I could, and I was just ready to fire, when a bunch of bees
as big as my fist, issued from one of the hives, rushed on one of
the birds, and probably stung him, for he instantly screamed, and
flew, not as before, in an irregular manner, but in a direct line.
He was followed by the same bold phalanx, at a considerable
distance, which unfortunately becoming too sure of victory, quitted
their military array and disbanded themselves. By this inconsiderate
step they lost all that aggregate of force which had made the bird
fly off. Perceiving their disorder he immediately returned and
snapped as many as he wanted; nay, he had even the impudence to
alight on the very twig from which the bees had drove him. I killed
him and immediately opened his craw, from which I took 171 bees; I
laid them all on a blanket in the sun, and to my great surprise 54
returned to life, licked themselves clean, and joyfully went back to
the hive; where they probably informed their companions of such an
adventure and escape, as I believe had never happened before to
American bees! I draw a great fund of pleasure from the quails which
inhabit my farm; they abundantly repay me, by their various notes
and peculiar tameness, for the inviolable hospitality I constantly
show them in the winter. Instead of perfidiously taking advantage of
their great and affecting distress, when nature offers nothing but a
barren universal bed of snow, when irresistible necessity forces
them to my barn doors, I permit them to feed unmolested; and it is
not the least agreeable spectacle which that dreary season presents,
when I see those beautiful birds, tamed by hunger, intermingling
with all my cattle and sheep, seeking in security for the poor
scanty grain which but for them would be useless and lost. Often in
the angles of the fences where the motion of the wind prevents the
snow from settling, I carry them both chaff and grain; the one to
feed them, the other to prevent their tender feet from freezing fast
to the earth as I have frequently observed them to do.

I do not know an instance in which the singular barbarity of man is
so strongly delineated, as in the catching and murthering those
harmless birds, at that cruel season of the year. Mr.---, one of the
most famous and extraordinary farmers that has ever done honour to
the province of Connecticut, by his timely and humane assistance in
a hard winter, saved this species from being entirely destroyed.
They perished all over the country, none of their delightful
whistlings were heard the next spring, but upon this gentleman's
farm; and to his humanity we owe the continuation of their music.
When the severities of that season have dispirited all my cattle, no
farmer ever attends them with more pleasure than I do; it is one of
those duties which is sweetened with the most rational satisfaction.
I amuse myself in beholding their different tempers, actions, and
the various effects of their instinct now powerfully impelled by the
force of hunger. I trace their various inclinations, and the
different effects of their passions, which are exactly the same as
among men; the law is to us precisely what I am in my barn yard, a
bridle and check to prevent the strong and greedy from oppressing
the timid and weak. Conscious of superiority, they always strive to
encroach on their neighbours; unsatisfied with their portion, they
eagerly swallow it in order to have an opportunity of taking what is
given to others, except they are prevented. Some I chide, others,
unmindful of my admonitions, receive some blows. Could victuals thus
be given to men without the assistance of any language, I am sure
they would not behave better to one another, nor more
philosophically than my cattle do.

The same spirit prevails in the stable; but there I have to do with
more generous animals, there my well-known voice has immediate
influence, and soon restores peace and tranquillity. Thus by
superior knowledge I govern all my cattle as wise men are obliged to
govern fools and the ignorant. A variety of other thoughts crowd on
my mind at that peculiar instant, but they all vanish by the time I
return home. If in a cold night I swiftly travel in my sledge,
carried along at the rate of twelve miles an hour, many are the
reflections excited by surrounding circumstances. I ask myself what
sort of an agent is that which we call frost? Our minister compares
it to needles, the points of which enter our pores. What is become
of the heat of the summer; in what part of the world is it that the
N. W. keeps these grand magazines of nitre? when I see in the
morning a river over which I can travel, that in the evening before
was liquid, I am astonished indeed! What is become of those millions
of insects which played in our summer fields, and in our evening
meadows; they were so puny and so delicate, the period of their
existence was so short, that one cannot help wondering how they
could learn, in that short space, the sublime art to hide themselves
and their offspring in so perfect a manner as to baffle the rigour
of the season, and preserve that precious embryo of life, that small
portion of ethereal heat, which if once destroyed would destroy the
species! Whence that irresistible propensity to sleep so common in
all those who are severely attacked by the frost. Dreary as this
season appears, yet it has like all others its miracles, it presents
to man a variety of problems which he can never resolve; among the
rest, we have here a set of small birds which never appear until the
snow falls; contrary to all others, they dwell and appear to delight
in that element.

It is my bees, however, which afford me the most pleasing and
extensive themes; let me look at them when I will, their government,
their industry, their quarrels, their passions, always present me
with something new; for which reason, when weary with labour, my
common place of rest is under my locust-tree, close by my bee-house.
By their movements I can predict the weather, and can tell the day
of their swarming; but the most difficult point is, when on the
wing, to know whether they want to go to the woods or not. If they
have previously pitched in some hollow trees, it is not the
allurements of salt and water, of fennel, hickory leaves, etc., nor
the finest box, that can induce them to stay; they will prefer those
rude, rough habitations to the best polished mahogany hive. When
that is the case with mine, I seldom thwart their inclinations; it
is in freedom that they work: were I to confine them, they would
dwindle away and quit their labour. In such excursions we only part
for a while; I am generally sure to find them again the following
fall. This elopement of theirs only adds to my recreations; I know
how to deceive even their superlative instinct; nor do I fear losing
them, though eighteen miles from my house, and lodged in the most
lofty trees, in the most impervious of our forests. I once took you
along with me in one of these rambles, and yet you insist on my
repeating the detail of our operations: it brings back into my mind
many of the useful and entertaining reflections with which you so
happily beguiled our tedious hours.

After I have done sowing, by way of recreation, I prepare for a
week's jaunt in the woods, not to hunt either the deer or the bears,
as my neighbours do, but to catch the more harmless bees. I cannot
boast that this chase is so noble, or so famous among men, but I
find it less fatiguing, and full as profitable; and the last
consideration is the only one that moves me. I take with me my dog,
as a companion, for he is useless as to this game; my gun, for no
man you know ought to enter the woods without one; my blanket, some
provisions, some wax, vermilion, honey, and a small pocket compass.
With these implements I proceed to such woods as are at a
considerable distance from any settlements. I carefully examine
whether they abound with large trees, if so, I make a small fire on
some flat stones, in a convenient place; on the fire I put some wax;
close by this fire, on another stone, I drop honey in distinct
drops, which I surround with small quantities of vermilion, laid on
the stone; and then I retire carefully to watch whether any bees
appear. If there are any in that neighbourhood, I rest assured that
the smell of the burnt wax will unavoidably attract them; they will
soon find out the honey, for they are fond of preying on that which
is not their own; and in their approach they will necessarily tinge
themselves with some particles of vermilion, which will adhere long
to their bodies. I next fix my compass, to find out their course,
which they keep invariably straight, when they are returning home
loaded. By the assistance of my watch, I observe how long those are
returning which are marked with vermilion. Thus possessed of the
course, and, in some measure, of the distance, which I can easily
guess at, I follow the first, and seldom fail of coming to the tree
where those republics are lodged. I then mark it; and thus, with
patience, I have found out sometimes eleven swarms in a season; and
it is inconceivable what a quantity of honey these trees will
sometimes afford. It entirely depends on the size of the hollow, as
the bees never rest nor swarm till it is all replenished; for like
men, it is only the want of room that induces them to quit the
maternal hive. Next I proceed to some of the nearest settlements,
where I procure proper assistance to cut down the trees, get all my
prey secured, and then return home with my prize. The first bees I
ever procured were thus found in the woods, by mere accident; for at
that time I had no kind of skill in this method of tracing them. The
body of the tree being perfectly sound, they had lodged themselves
in the hollow of one of its principal limbs, which I carefully sawed
off and with a good deal of labour and industry brought it home,
where I fixed it up again in the same position in which I found it
growing. This was in April; I had five swarms that year, and they
have been ever since very prosperous. This business generally takes
up a week of my time every fall, and to me it is a week of solitary
ease and relaxation.

The seed is by that time committed to the ground; there is nothing
very material to do at home, and this additional quantity of honey
enables me to be more generous to my home bees, and my wife to make
a due quantity of mead. The reason, Sir, that you found mine better
than that of others is, that she puts two gallons of brandy in each
barrel, which ripens it, and takes off that sweet, luscious taste,
which it is apt to retain a long time. If we find anywhere in the
woods (no matter on whose land) what is called a bee-tree, we must
mark it; in the fall of the year when we propose to cut it down, our
duty is to inform the proprietor of the land, who is entitled to
half the contents; if this is not complied with we are exposed to an
action of trespass, as well as he who should go and cut down a bee-
tree which he had neither found out nor marked.

We have twice a year the pleasure of catching pigeons, whose numbers
are sometimes so astonishing as to obscure the sun in their flight.
Where is it that they hatch? for such multitudes must require an
immense quantity of food. I fancy they breed toward the plains of
Ohio, and those about lake Michigan, which abound in wild oats;
though I have never killed any that had that grain in their craws.
In one of them, last year, I found some undigested rice. Now the
nearest rice fields from where I live must be at least 560 miles;
and either their digestion must be suspended while they are flying,
or else they must fly with the celerity of the wind. We catch them
with a net extended on the ground, to which they are allured by what
we call TAME WILD PIGEONS, made blind, and fastened to a long
string; his short flights, and his repeated calls, never fail to
bring them down. The greatest number I ever catched was fourteen
dozen, though much larger quantities have often been trapped. I have
frequently seen them at the market so cheap, that for a penny you
might have as many as you could carry away; and yet from the extreme
cheapness you must not conclude, that they are but an ordinary food;
on the contrary, I think they are excellent. Every farmer has a tame
wild pigeon in a cage at his door all the year round, in order to be
ready whenever the season comes for catching them.

The pleasure I receive from the warblings of the birds in the
spring, is superior to my poor description, as the continual
succession of their tuneful notes is for ever new to me. I generally
rise from bed about that indistinct interval, which, properly
speaking, is neither night or day; for this is the moment of the
most universal vocal choir. Who can listen unmoved to the sweet love
tales of our robins, told from tree to tree? or to the shrill cat
birds? The sublime accents of the thrush from on high always retard
my steps that I may listen to the delicious music. The variegated
appearances of the dew drops, as they hang to the different objects,
must present even to a clownish imagination, the most voluptuous
ideas. The astonishing art which all birds display in the
construction of their nests, ill provided as we may suppose them
with proper tools, their neatness, their convenience, always make me
ashamed of the slovenliness of our houses; their love to their dame,
their incessant careful attention, and the peculiar songs they
address to her while she tediously incubates their eggs, remind me
of my duty could I ever forget it. Their affection to their helpless
little ones, is a lively precept; and in short, the whole economy of
what we proudly call the brute creation, is admirable in every
circumstance; and vain man, though adorned with the additional gift
of reason, might learn from the perfection of instinct, how to
regulate the follies, and how to temper the errors which this second
gift often makes him commit. This is a subject, on which I have
often bestowed the most serious thoughts; I have often blushed
within myself, and been greatly astonished, when I have compared the
unerring path they all follow, all just, all proper, all wise, up to
the necessary degree of perfection, with the coarse, the imperfect
systems of men, not merely as governors and kings, but as masters,
as husbands, as fathers, as citizens. But this is a sanctuary in
which an ignorant farmer must not presume to enter.

If ever man was permitted to receive and enjoy some blessings that
might alleviate the many sorrows to which he is exposed, it is
certainly in the country, when he attentively considers those
ravishing scenes with which he is everywhere surrounded. This is the
only time of the year in which I am avaricious of every moment, I
therefore lose none that can add to this simple and inoffensive
happiness. I roam early throughout all my fields; not the least
operation do I perform, which is not accompanied with the most
pleasing observations; were I to extend them as far as I have
carried them, I should become tedious; you would think me guilty of
affectation, and I should perhaps represent many things as
pleasurable from which you might not perhaps receive the least
agreeable emotions. But, believe me, what I write is all true and
real.

Some time ago, as I sat smoking a contemplative pipe in my piazza, I
saw with amazement a remarkable instance of selfishness displayed in
a very small bird, which I had hitherto respected for its
inoffensiveness. Three nests were placed almost contiguous to each
other in my piazza: that of a swallow was affixed in the corner next
to the house, that of a phebe in the other, a wren possessed a
little box which I had made on purpose, and hung between. Be not
surprised at their tameness, all my family had long been taught to
respect them as well as myself. The wren had shown before signs of
dislike to the box which I had given it, but I knew not on what
account; at last it resolved, small as it was, to drive the swallow
from its own habitation, and to my very great surprise it succeeded.
Impudence often gets the better of modesty, and this exploit was no
sooner performed, than it removed every material to its own box with
the most admirable dexterity; the signs of triumph appeared very
visible, it fluttered its wings with uncommon velocity, an universal
joy was perceivable in all its movements. Where did this little bird
learn that spirit of injustice? It was not endowed with what we term
reason! Here then is a proof that both those gifts border very near
on one another; for we see the perfection of the one mixing with the
errors of the other! The peaceable swallow, like the passive Quaker,
meekly sat at a small distance and never offered the least
resistance; but no sooner was the plunder carried away, than the
injured bird went to work with unabated ardour, and in a few days
the depredations were repaired. To prevent however a repetition of
the same violence, I removed the wren's box to another part of the
house.

In the middle of my new parlour I have, you may remember, a curious
republic of industrious hornets; their nest hangs to the ceiling, by
the same twig on which it was so admirably built and contrived in
the woods. Its removal did not displease them, for they find in my
house plenty of food; and I have left a hole open in one of the
panes of the window, which answers all their purposes. By this kind
usage they are become quite harmless; they live on the flies, which
are very troublesome to us throughout the summer; they are
constantly busy in catching them, even on the eyelids of my
children. It is surprising how quickly they smear them with a sort
of glue, lest they might escape, and when thus prepared, they carry
them to their nests, as food for their young ones. These globular
nests are most ingeniously divided into many stories, all provided
with cells, and proper communications. The materials with which this
fabric is built, they procure from the cottony furze, with which our
oak rails are covered; this substance tempered with glue, produces a
sort of pasteboard, which is very strong, and resists all the
inclemencies of the weather. By their assistance, I am but little
troubled with flies. All my family are so accustomed to their strong
buzzing, that no one takes any notice of them; and though they are
fierce and vindictive, yet kindness and hospitality has made them
useful and harmless.

We have a great variety of wasps; most of them build their nests in
mud, which they fix against the shingles of our roofs, as nigh the
pitch as they can. These aggregates represent nothing, at first
view, but coarse and irregular lumps, but if you break them, you
will observe, that the inside of them contains a great number of
oblong cells, in which they deposit their eggs, and in which they
bury themselves in the fall of the year. Thus immured they securely
pass through the severity of that season, and on the return of the
sun are enabled to perforate their cells, and to open themselves a
passage from these recesses into the sunshine. The yellow wasps,
which build under ground, in our meadows, are much more to be
dreaded, for when the mower unwittingly passes his scythe over their
holes they immediately sally forth with a fury and velocity superior
even to the strength of man. They make the boldest fly, and the only
remedy is to lie down and cover our heads with hay, for it is only
at the head they aim their blows; nor is there any possibility of
finishing that part of the work until, by means of fire and
brimstone, they are all silenced. But though I have been obliged to
execute this dreadful sentence in my own defence, I have often
thought it a great pity, for the sake of a little hay, to lay waste
so ingenious a subterranean town, furnished with every conveniency,
and built with a most surprising mechanism.

I never should have done were I to recount the many objects which
involuntarily strike my imagination in the midst of my work, and
spontaneously afford me the most pleasing relief. These appear
insignificant trifles to a person who has travelled through Europe
and America, and is acquainted with books and with many sciences;
but such simple objects of contemplation suffice me, who have no
time to bestow on more extensive observations. Happily these require
no study, they are obvious, they gild the moments I dedicate to
them, and enliven the severe labours which I perform. At home my
happiness springs from very different objects; the gradual unfolding
of my children's reason, the study of their dawning tempers attract
all my paternal attention. I have to contrive little punishments for
their little faults, small encouragements for their good actions,
and a variety of other expedients dictated by various occasions. But
these are themes unworthy your perusal, and which ought not to be
carried beyond the walls of my house, being domestic mysteries
adapted only to the locality of the small sanctuary wherein my
family resides. Sometimes I delight in inventing and executing
machines, which simplify my wife's labour. I have been tolerably
successful that way; and these, Sir, are the narrow circles within
which I constantly revolve, and what can I wish for beyond them? I
bless God for all the good he has given me; I envy no man's
prosperity, and with no other portion of happiness than that I may
live to teach the same philosophy to my children; and give each of
them a farm, show them how to cultivate it, and be like their
father, good substantial independent American farmers--an
appellation which will be the most fortunate one a man of my class
can possess, so long as our civil government continues to shed
blessings on our husbandry. Adieu.




LETTER III

WHAT IS AN AMERICAN


I wish I could be acquainted with the feelings and thoughts which
must agitate the heart and present themselves to the mind of an
enlightened Englishman, when he first lands on this continent. He
must greatly rejoice that he lived at a time to see this fair
country discovered and settled; he must necessarily feel a share of
national pride, when he views the chain of settlements which
embellishes these extended shores. When he says to himself, this is
the work of my countrymen, who, when convulsed by factions,
afflicted by a variety of miseries and wants, restless and
impatient, took refuge here. They brought along with them their
national genius, to which they principally owe what liberty they
enjoy, and what substance they possess. Here he sees the industry of
his native country displayed in a new manner, and traces in their
works the embryos of all the arts, sciences, and ingenuity which
nourish in Europe. Here he beholds fair cities, substantial
villages, extensive fields, an immense country filled with decent
houses, good roads, orchards, meadows, and bridges, where an hundred
years ago all was wild, woody, and uncultivated! What a train of
pleasing ideas this fair spectacle must suggest; it is a prospect
which must inspire a good citizen with the most heartfelt pleasure.
The difficulty consists in the manner of viewing so extensive a
scene. He is arrived on a new continent; a modern society offers
itself to his contemplation, different from what he had hitherto
seen. It is not composed, as in Europe, of great lords who possess
everything, and of a herd of people who have nothing. Here are no
aristocratical families, no courts, no kings, no bishops, no
ecclesiastical dominion, no invisible power giving to a few a very
visible one; no great manufacturers employing thousands, no great
refinements of luxury. The rich and the poor are not so far removed
from each other as they are in Europe. Some few towns excepted, we
are all tillers of the earth, from Nova Scotia to West Florida. We
are a people of cultivators, scattered over an immense territory,
communicating with each other by means of good roads and navigable
rivers, united by the silken bands of mild government, all
respecting the laws, without dreading their power, because they are
equitable. We are all animated with the spirit of an industry which
is unfettered and unrestrained, because each person works for
himself. If he travels through our rural districts he views not the
hostile castle, and the haughty mansion, contrasted with the clay-
built hut and miserable cabin, where cattle and men help to keep
each other warm, and dwell in meanness, smoke, and indigence. A
pleasing uniformity of decent competence appears throughout our
habitations. The meanest of our log-houses is a dry and comfortable
habitation. Lawyer or merchant are the fairest titles our towns
afford; that of a farmer is the only appellation of the rural
inhabitants of our country. It must take some time ere he can
reconcile himself to our dictionary, which is but short in words of
dignity, and names of honour. There, on a Sunday, he sees a
congregation of respectable farmers and their wives, all clad in
neat homespun, well mounted, or riding in their own humble waggons.
There is not among them an esquire, saving the unlettered
magistrate. There he sees a parson as simple as his flock, a farmer
who does not riot on the labour of others. We have no princes, for
whom we toil, starve, and bleed: we are the most perfect society now
existing in the world. Here man is free as he ought to be; nor is
this pleasing equality so transitory as many others are. Many ages
will not see the shores of our great lakes replenished with inland
nations, nor the unknown bounds of North America entirely peopled.
Who can tell how far it extends? Who can tell the millions of men
whom it will feed and contain? for no European foot has as yet
travelled half the extent of this mighty continent!

The next wish of this traveller will be to know whence came all
these people? they are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French,
Dutch, Germans, and Swedes. From this promiscuous breed, that race
now called Americans have arisen. The eastern provinces must indeed
be excepted, as being the unmixed descendants of Englishmen. I have
heard many wish that they had been more intermixed also: for my
part, I am no wisher, and think it much better as it has happened.
They exhibit a most conspicuous figure in this great and variegated
picture; they too enter for a great share in the pleasing
perspective displayed in these thirteen provinces. I know it is
fashionable to reflect on them, but I respect them for what they
have done; for the accuracy and wisdom with which they have settled
their territory; for the decency of their manners; for their early
love of letters; their ancient college, the first in this
hemisphere; for their industry; which to me who am but a farmer, is
the criterion of everything. There never was a people, situated as
they are, who with so ungrateful a soil have done more in so short a
time. Do you think that the monarchical ingredients which are more
prevalent in other governments, have purged them from all foul
stains? Their histories assert the contrary.

In this great American asylum, the poor of Europe have by some means
met together, and in consequence of various causes; to what purpose
should they ask one another what countrymen they are? Alas, two
thirds of them had no country. Can a wretch who wanders about, who
works and starves, whose life is a continual scene of sore
affliction or pinching penury; can that man call England or any
other kingdom his country? A country that had no bread for him,
whose fields procured him no harvest, who met with nothing but the
frowns of the rich, the severity of the laws, with jails and
punishments; who owned not a single foot of the extensive surface of
this planet? No! urged by a variety of motives, here they came.
Every thing has tended to regenerate them; new laws, a new mode of
living, a new social system; here they are become men: in Europe
they were as so many useless plants, wanting vegetative mould, and
refreshing showers; they withered, and were mowed down by want,
hunger, and war; but now by the power of transplantation, like all
other plants they have taken root and flourished! Formerly they were
not numbered in any civil lists of their country, except in those of
the poor; here they rank as citizens. By what invisible power has
this surprising metamorphosis been performed? By that of the laws
and that of their industry. The laws, the indulgent laws, protect
them as they arrive, stamping on them the symbol of adoption; they
receive ample rewards for their labours; these accumulated rewards
procure them lands; those lands confer on them the title of freemen,
and to that title every benefit is affixed which men can possibly
require. This is the great operation daily performed by our laws.
From whence proceed these laws? From our government. Whence the
government? It is derived from the original genius and strong desire
of the people ratified and confirmed by the crown. This is the great
chain which links us all, this is the picture which every province
exhibits, Nova Scotia excepted.

There the crown has done all; either there were no people who had
genius, or it was not much attended to: the consequence is, that the
province is very thinly inhabited indeed; the power of the crown in
conjunction with the musketos has prevented men from settling there.
Yet some parts of it flourished once, and it contained a mild
harmless set of people. But for the fault of a few leaders, the
whole were banished. The greatest political error the crown ever
committed in America, was to cut off men from a country which wanted
nothing but men!

What attachment can a poor European emigrant have for a country
where he had nothing? The knowledge of the language, the love of a
few kindred as poor as himself, were the only cords that tied him:
his country is now that which gives him land, bread, protection, and
consequence: Ubi panis ibi patria, is the motto of all emigrants.
What then is the American, this new man? He is either an European,
or the descendant of an European, hence that strange mixture of
blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to
you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was
Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons
have now four wives of different nations. He is an American, who,
leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives
new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new
government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He becomes an
American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater.
Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men,
whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the
world. Americans are the western pilgrims, who are carrying along
with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and industry
which began long since in the east; they will finish the great
circle. The Americans were once scattered all over Europe; here they
are incorporated into one of the finest systems of population which
has ever appeared, and which will hereafter become distinct by the
power of the different climates they inhabit. The American ought
therefore to love this country much better than that wherein either
he or his forefathers were born. Here the rewards of his industry
follow with equal steps the progress of his labour; his labour is
founded on the basis of nature, SELF-INTEREST: can it want a
stronger allurement? Wives and children, who before in vain demanded
of him a morsel of bread, now, fat and frolicsome, gladly help their
father to clear those fields whence exuberant crops are to arise to
feed and to clothe them all; without any part being claimed, either
by a despotic prince, a rich abbot, or a mighty lord. Here religion
demands but little of him; a small voluntary salary to the minister,
and gratitude to God; can he refuse these? The American is a new
man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new
ideas, and form new opinions. From involuntary idleness, servile
dependence, penury, and useless labour, he has passed to toils of a
very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence.--This is an
American.

British America is divided into many provinces, forming a large
association, scattered along a coast 1500 miles extent and about 200
wide. This society I would fain examine, at least such as it appears
in the middle provinces; if it does not afford that variety of
tinges and gradations which may be observed in Europe, we have
colours peculiar to ourselves. For instance, it is natural to
conceive that those who live near the sea, must be very different
from those who live in the woods; the intermediate space will afford
a separate and distinct class.

Men are like plants; the goodness and flavour of the fruit proceeds
from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow. We are
nothing but what we derive from the air we breathe, the climate we
inhabit, the government we obey, the system of religion we profess,
and the nature of our employment. Here you will find but few crimes;
these have acquired as yet no root among us. I wish I was able to
trace all my ideas; if my ignorance prevents me from describing them
properly, I hope I shall be able to delineate a few of the outlines,
which are all I propose.

Those who live near the sea, feed more on fish than on flesh, and
often encounter that boisterous element. This renders them more bold
and enterprising; this leads them to neglect the confined
occupations of the land. They see and converse with a variety of
people, their intercourse with mankind becomes extensive. The sea
inspires them with a love of traffic, a desire of transporting
produce from one place to another; and leads them to a variety of
resources which supply the place of labour. Those who inhabit the
middle settlements, by far the most numerous, must be very
different; the simple cultivation of the earth purifies them, but
the indulgences of the government, the soft remonstrances of
religion, the rank of independent freeholders, must necessarily
inspire them with sentiments, very little known in Europe among
people of the same class. What do I say? Europe has no such class of
men; the early knowledge they acquire, the early bargains they make,
give them a great degree of sagacity. As freemen they will be
litigious; pride and obstinacy are often the cause of law suits; the
nature of our laws and governments may be another. As citizens it is
easy to imagine, that they will carefully read the newspapers, enter
into every political disquisition, freely blame or censure governors
and others. As farmers they will be careful and anxious to get as
much as they can, because what they get is their own. As northern
men they will love the cheerful cup. As Christians, religion curbs
them not in their opinions; the general indulgence leaves every one
to think for themselves in spiritual matters; the laws inspect our
actions, our thoughts are left to God. Industry, good living,
selfishness, litigiousness, country politics, the pride of freemen,
religious indifference, are their characteristics. If you recede
still farther from the sea, you will come into more modern
settlements; they exhibit the same strong lineaments, in a ruder
appearance. Religion seems to have still less influence, and their
manners are less improved.

Now we arrive near the great woods, near the last inhabited
districts; there men seem to be placed still farther beyond the
reach of government, which in some measure leaves them to
themselves. How can it pervade every corner; as they were driven
there by misfortunes, necessity of beginnings, desire of acquiring
large tracts of land, idleness, frequent want of economy, ancient
debts; the re-union of such people does not afford a very pleasing
spectacle. When discord, want of unity and friendship; when either
drunkenness or idleness prevail in such remote districts;
contention, inactivity, and wretchedness must ensue. There are not
the same remedies to these evils as in a long established community.
The few magistrates they have, are in general little better than the
rest; they are often in a perfect state of war; that of man against
man, sometimes decided by blows, sometimes by means of the law; that
of man against every wild inhabitant of these venerable woods, of
which they are come to dispossess them. There men appear to be no
better than carnivorous animals of a superior rank, living on the
flesh of wild animals when they can catch them, and when they are
not able, they subsist on grain. He who would wish to see America in
its proper light, and have a true idea of its feeble beginnings and
barbarous rudiments, must visit our extended line of frontiers where
the last settlers dwell, and where he may see the first labours of
settlement, the mode of clearing the earth, in all their different
appearances; where men are wholly left dependent on their native
tempers, and on the spur of uncertain industry, which often fails
when not sanctified by the efficacy of a few moral rules. There,
remote from the power of example and check of shame, many families
exhibit the most hideous parts of our society. They are a kind of
forlorn hope, preceding by ten or twelve years the most respectable
army of veterans which come after them. In that space, prosperity
will polish some, vice and the law will drive off the rest, who
uniting again with others like themselves will recede still farther;
making room for more industrious people, who will finish their
improvements, convert the loghouse into a convenient habitation, and
rejoicing that the first heavy labours are finished, will change in
a few years that hitherto barbarous country into a fine fertile,
well regulated district. Such is our progress, such is the march of
the Europeans toward the interior parts of this continent. In all
societies there are off-casts; this impure part serves as our
precursors or pioneers; my father himself was one of that class, but
he came upon honest principles, and was therefore one of the few who
held fast; by good conduct and temperance, he transmitted to me his
fair inheritance, when not above one in fourteen of his
contemporaries had the same good fortune.

Forty years ago this smiling country was thus inhabited; it is now
purged, a general decency of manners prevails throughout, and such
has been the fate of our best countries.

Exclusive of those general characteristics, each province has its
own, founded on the government, climate, mode of husbandry, customs,
and peculiarity of circumstances. Europeans submit insensibly to
these great powers, and become, in the course of a few generations,
not only Americans in general, but either Pennsylvanians,
Virginians, or provincials under some other name. Whoever traverses
the continent must easily observe those strong differences, which
will grow more evident in time. The inhabitants of Canada,
Massachusetts, the middle provinces, the southern ones will be as
different as their climates; their only points of unity will be
those of religion and language.

As I have endeavoured to show you how Europeans become Americans; it
may not be disagreeable to show you likewise how the various
Christian sects introduced, wear out, and how religious indifference
becomes prevalent. When any considerable number of a particular sect
happen to dwell contiguous to each other, they immediately erect a
temple, and there worship the Divinity agreeably to their own
peculiar ideas. Nobody disturbs them. If any new sect springs up in
Europe it may happen that many of its professors will come and
settle in American. As they bring their zeal with them, they are at
liberty to make proselytes if they can, and to build a meeting and
to follow the dictates of their consciences; for neither the
government nor any other power interferes. If they are peaceable
subjects, and are industrious, what is it to their neighbours how
and in what manner they think fit to address their prayers to the
Supreme Being? But if the sectaries are not settled close together,
if they are mixed with other denominations, their zeal will cool for
want of fuel, and will be extinguished in a little time. Then the
Americans become as to religion, what they are as to country, allied
to all. In them the name of Englishman, Frenchman, and European is
lost, and in like manner, the strict modes of Christianity as
practised in Europe are lost also. This effect will extend itself
still farther hereafter, and though this may appear to you as a
strange idea, yet it is a very true one. I shall be able perhaps
hereafter to explain myself better; in the meanwhile, let the
following example serve as my first justification.

Let us suppose you and I to be travelling; we observe that in this
house, to the right, lives a Catholic, who prays to God as he has
been taught, and believes in transubstantiation; he works and raises
wheat, he has a large family of children, all hale and robust; his
belief, his prayers offend nobody. About one mile farther on the
same road, his next neighbour may be a good honest plodding German
Lutheran, who addresses himself to the same God, the God of all,
agreeably to the modes he has been educated in, and believes in
consubstantiation; by so doing he scandalises nobody; he also works
in his fields, embellishes the earth, clears swamps, etc. What has
the world to do with his Lutheran principles? He persecutes nobody,
and nobody persecutes him, he visits his neighbours, and his
neighbours visit him. Next to him lives a seceder, the most
enthusiastic of all sectaries; his zeal is hot and fiery, but
separated as he is from others of the same complexion, he has no
congregation of his own to resort to, where he might cabal and
mingle religious pride with worldly obstinacy. He likewise raises
good crops, his house is handsomely painted, his orchard is one of
the fairest in the neighbourhood. How does it concern the welfare of
the country, or of the province at large, what this man's religious
sentiments are, or really whether he has any at all? He is a good
farmer, he is a sober, peaceable, good citizen: William Penn himself
would not wish for more. This is the visible character, the
invisible one is only guessed at, and is nobody's business. Next
again lives a Low Dutchman, who implicitly believes the rules laid
down by the synod of Dort. He conceives no other idea of a clergyman
than that of an hired man; if he does his work well he will pay him
the stipulated sum; if not he will dismiss him, and do without his
sermons, and let his church be shut up for years. But
notwithstanding this coarse idea, you will find his house and farm
to be the neatest in all the country; and you will judge by his
waggon and fat horses, that he thinks more of the affairs of this
world than of those of the next. He is sober and laborious,
therefore he is all he ought to be as to the affairs of this life;
as for those of the next, he must trust to the great Creator. Each
of these people instruct their children as well as they can, but
these instructions are feeble compared to those which are given to
the youth of the poorest class in Europe. Their children will
therefore grow up less zealous and more indifferent in matters of
religion than their parents. The foolish vanity, or rather the fury
of making Proselytes, is unknown here; they have no time, the
seasons call for all their attention, and thus in a few years, this
mixed neighbourhood will exhibit a strange religious medley, that
will be neither pure Catholicism nor pure Calvinism. A very
perceptible indifference even in the first generation, will become
apparent; and it may happen that the daughter of the Catholic will
marry the son of the seceder, and settle by themselves at a distance
from their parents. What religious education will they give their
children? A very imperfect one. If there happens to be in the
neighbourhood any place of worship, we will suppose a Quaker's
meeting; rather than not show their fine clothes, they will go to
it, and some of them may perhaps attach themselves to that society.
Others will remain in a perfect state of indifference; the children
of these zealous parents will not be able to tell what their
religious principles are, and their grandchildren still less. The
neighbourhood of a place of worship generally leads them to it, and
the action of going thither, is the strongest evidence they can give
of their attachment to any sect. The Quakers are the only people who
retain a fondness for their own mode of worship; for be they ever so
far separated from each other, they hold a sort of communion with
the society, and seldom depart from its rules, at least in this
country. Thus all sects are mixed as well as all nations; thus
religious indifference is imperceptibly disseminated from one end of
the continent to the other; which is at present one of the strongest
characteristics of the Americans. Where this will reach no one can
tell, perhaps it may leave a vacuum fit to receive other systems.
Persecution, religious pride, the love of contradiction, are the
food of what the world commonly calls religion. These motives have
ceased here; zeal in Europe is confined; here it evaporates in the
great distance it has to travel; there it is a grain of powder
inclosed, here it burns away in the open air, and consumes without
effect.

But to return to our back settlers. I must tell you, that there is
something in the proximity of the woods, which is very singular. It
is with men as it is with the plants and animals that grow and live
in the forests; they are entirely different from those that live in
the plains. I will candidly tell you all my thoughts but you are not
to expect that I shall advance any reasons. By living in or near the
woods, their actions are regulated by the wildness of the
neighbourhood. The deer often come to eat their grain, the wolves to
destroy their sheep, the bears to kill their hogs, the foxes to
catch their poultry. This surrounding hostility immediately puts the
gun into their hands; they watch these animals, they kill some; and
thus by defending their property, they soon become professed
hunters; this is the progress; once hunters, farewell to the plough.
The chase renders them ferocious, gloomy, and unsociable; a hunter
wants no neighbour, he rather hates them, because he dreads the
competition. In a little time their success in the woods makes them
neglect their tillage. They trust to the natural fecundity of the
earth, and therefore do little; carelessness in fencing often
exposes what little they sow to destruction; they are not at home to
watch; in order therefore to make up the deficiency, they go oftener
to the woods. That new mode of life brings along with it a new set
of manners, which I cannot easily describe. These new manners being
grafted on the old stock, produce a strange sort of lawless
profligacy, the impressions of which are indelible. The manners of
the Indian natives are respectable, compared with this European
medley. Their wives and children live in sloth and inactivity; and
having no proper pursuits, you may judge what education the latter
receive. Their tender minds have nothing else to contemplate but the
example of their parents; like them they grow up a mongrel breed,
half civilised, half savage, except nature stamps on them some
constitutional propensities. That rich, that voluptuous sentiment is
gone that struck them so forcibly; the possession of their freeholds
no longer conveys to their minds the same pleasure and pride. To all
these reasons you must add, their lonely situation, and you cannot
imagine what an effect on manners the great distances they live from
each other has! Consider one of the last settlements in its first
view: of what is it composed? Europeans who have not that sufficient
share of knowledge they ought to have, in order to prosper; people
who have suddenly passed from oppression, dread of government, and
fear of laws, into the unlimited freedom of the woods. This sudden
change must have a very great effect on most men, and on that class
particularly. Eating of wild meat, whatever you may think, tends to
alter their temper: though all the proof I can adduce, is, that I
have seen it: and having no place of worship to resort to, what
little society this might afford is denied them. The Sunday
meetings, exclusive of religious benefits, were the only social
bonds that might have inspired them with some degree of emulation in
neatness. Is it then surprising to see men thus situated, immersed
in great and heavy labours, degenerate a little? It is rather a
wonder the effect is not more diffusive. The Moravians and the
Quakers are the only instances in exception to what I have advanced.
The first never settle singly, it is a colony of the society which
emigrates; they carry with them their forms, worship, rules, and
decency: the others never begin so hard, they are always able to buy
improvements, in which there is a great advantage, for by that time
the country is recovered from its first barbarity. Thus our bad
people are those who are half cultivators and half hunters; and the
worst of them are those who have degenerated altogether into the
hunting state. As old ploughmen and new men of the woods, as
Europeans and new made Indians, they contract the vices of both;
they adopt the moroseness and ferocity of a native, without his
mildness, or even his industry at home. If manners are not refined,
at least they are rendered simple and inoffensive by tilling the
earth; all our wants are supplied by it, our time is divided between
labour and rest, and leaves none for the commission of great
misdeeds. As hunters it is divided between the toil of the chase,
the idleness of repose, or the indulgence of inebriation. Hunting is
but a licentious idle life, and if it does not always pervert good
dispositions; yet, when it is united with bad luck, it leads to
want: want stimulates that propensity to rapacity and injustice, too
natural to needy men, which is the fatal gradation. After this
explanation of the effects which follow by living in the woods,
shall we yet vainly flatter ourselves with the hope of converting
the Indians? We should rather begin with converting our back-
settlers; and now if I dare mention the name of religion, its sweet
accents would be lost in the immensity of these woods. Men thus
placed are not fit either to receive or remember its mild
instructions; they want temples and ministers, but as soon as men
cease to remain at home, and begin to lead an erratic life, let them
be either tawny or white, they cease to be its disciples.

Thus have I faintly and imperfectly endeavoured to trace our society
from the sea to our woods! yet you must not imagine that every
person who moves back, acts upon the same principles, or falls into
the same degeneracy. Many families carry with them all their decency
of conduct, purity of morals, and respect of religion; but these are
scarce, the power of example is sometimes irresistible. Even among
these back-settlers, their depravity is greater or less, according
to what nation or province they belong. Were I to adduce proofs of
this, I might be accused of partiality. If there happens to be some
rich intervals, some fertile bottoms, in those remote districts, the
people will there prefer tilling the land to hunting, and will
attach themselves to it; but even on these fertile spots you may
plainly perceive the inhabitants to acquire a great degree of
rusticity and selfishness.

It is in consequence of this straggling situation, and the
astonishing power it has on manners, that the back-settlers of both
the Carolinas, Virginia, and many other parts, have been long a set
of lawless people; it has been even dangerous to travel among them.
Government can do nothing in so extensive a country, better it
should wink at these irregularities, than that it should use means
inconsistent with its usual mildness. Time will efface those stains:
in proportion as the great body of population approaches them they
will reform, and become polished and subordinate. Whatever has been
said of the four New England provinces, no such degeneracy of
manners has ever tarnished their annals; their back-settlers have
been kept within the bounds of decency, and government, by means of
wise laws, and by the influence of religion. What a detestable idea
such people must have given to the natives of the Europeans! They
trade with them, the worst of people are permitted to do that which
none but persons of the best characters should be employed in. They
get drunk with them, and often defraud the Indians. Their avarice,
removed from the eyes of their superiors, knows no bounds; and aided
by the little superiority of knowledge, these traders deceive them,
and even sometimes shed blood. Hence those shocking violations,
those sudden devastations which have so often stained our frontiers,
when hundreds of innocent people have been sacrificed for the crimes
of a few. It was in consequence of such behaviour, that the Indians
took the hatchet against the Virginians in 1774. Thus are our first
steps trod, thus are our first trees felled, in general, by the most
vicious of our people; and thus the path is opened for the arrival
of a second and better class, the true American freeholders; the
most respectable set of people in this part of the world:
respectable for their industry, their happy independence, the great
share of freedom they possess, the good regulation of their
families, and for extending the trade and the dominion of our mother
country.

Europe contains hardly any other distinctions but lords and tenants;
this fair country alone is settled by freeholders, the possessors of
the soil they cultivate, members of the government they obey, and
the framers of their own laws, by means of their representatives.
This is a thought which you have taught me to cherish; our
difference from Europe, far from diminishing, rather adds to our
usefulness and consequence as men and subjects. Had our forefathers
remained there, they would only have crowded it, and perhaps
prolonged those convulsions which had shook it so long. Every
industrious European who transports himself here, may be compared to
a sprout growing at the foot of a great tree; it enjoys and draws
but a little portion of sap; wrench it from the parent roots,
transplant it, and it will become a tree bearing fruit also.
Colonists are therefore entitled to the consideration due to the
most useful subjects; a hundred families barely existing in some
parts of Scotland, will here in six years, cause an annual
exportation of 10,000 bushels of wheat: 100 bushels being but a
common quantity for an industrious family to sell, if they cultivate
good land. It is here then that the idle may be employed, the
useless become useful, and the poor become rich; but by riches I do
not mean gold and silver, we have but little of those metals; I mean
a better sort of wealth, cleared lands, cattle, good houses, good
clothes, and an increase of people to enjoy them.

There is no wonder that this country has so many charms, and
presents to Europeans so many temptations to remain in it. A
traveller in Europe becomes a stranger as soon as he quits his own
kingdom; but it is otherwise here. We know, properly speaking, no
strangers; this is every person's country; the variety of our soils,
situations, climates, governments, and produce, hath something which
must please everybody. No sooner does an European arrive, no matter
of what condition, than his eyes are opened upon the fair prospect;
he hears his language spoke, he retraces many of his own country
manners, he perpetually hears the names of families and towns with
which he is acquainted; he sees happiness and prosperity in all
places disseminated; he meets with hospitality, kindness, and plenty
everywhere; he beholds hardly any poor, he seldom hears of
punishments and executions; and he wonders at the elegance of our
towns, those miracles of industry and freedom. He cannot admire
enough our rural districts, our convenient roads, good taverns, and
our many accommodations; he involuntarily loves a country where
everything is so lovely. When in England, he was a mere Englishman;
here he stands on a larger portion of the globe, not less than its
fourth part, and may see the productions of the north, in iron and
naval stores; the provisions of Ireland, the grain of Egypt, the
indigo, the rice of China. He does not find, as in Europe, a crowded
society, where every place is over-stocked; he does not feel that
perpetual collision of parties, that difficulty of beginning, that
contention which oversets so many. There is room for everybody in
America; has he any particular talent, or industry? he exerts it in
order to procure a livelihood, and it succeeds. Is he a merchant?
the avenues of trade are infinite; is he eminent in any respect? he
will be employed and respected. Does he love a country life?
pleasant farms present themselves; he may purchase what he wants,
and thereby become an American farmer. Is he a labourer, sober and
industrious? he need not go many miles, nor receive many
informations before he will be hired, well fed at the table of his
employer, and paid four or five times more than he can get in
Europe. Does he want uncultivated lands? thousands of acres present
themselves, which he may purchase cheap. Whatever be his talents or
inclinations, if they are moderate, he may satisfy them. I do not
mean that every one who comes will grow rich in a little time; no,
but he may procure an easy, decent maintenance, by his industry.
Instead of starving he will be fed, instead of being idle he will
have employment; and these are riches enough for such men as come
over here. The rich stay in Europe, it is only the middling and the
poor that emigrate. Would you wish to travel in independent
idleness, from north to south, you will find easy access, and the
most cheerful reception at every house; society without ostentation,
good cheer without pride, and every decent diversion which the
country affords, with little expense. It is no wonder that the
European who has lived here a few years, is desirous to remain;
Europe with all its pomp, is not to be compared to this continent,
for men of middle stations, or labourers.

An European, when he first arrives, seems limited in his intentions,
as well as in his views; but he very suddenly alters his scale; two
hundred miles formerly appeared a very great distance, it is now but
a trifle; he no sooner breathes our air than he forms schemes, and
embarks in designs he never would have thought of in his own
country. There the plenitude of society confines many useful ideas,
and often extinguishes the most laudable schemes which here ripen
into maturity. Thus Europeans become Americans.

But how is this accomplished in that crowd of low, indigent people,
who flock here every year from all parts of Europe? I will tell you;
they no sooner arrive than they immediately feel the good effects of
that plenty of provisions we possess: they fare on our best food,
and they are kindly entertained; their talents, character, and
peculiar industry are immediately inquired into; they find
countrymen everywhere disseminated, let them come from whatever part
of Europe. Let me select one as an epitome of the rest; he is hired,
he goes to work, and works moderately; instead of being employed by
a haughty person, he finds himself with his equal, placed at the
substantial table of the farmer, or else at an inferior one as good;
his wages are high, his bed is not like that bed of sorrow on which
he used to lie: if he behaves with propriety, and is faithful, he is
caressed, and becomes as it were a member of the family. He begins
to feel the effects of a sort of resurrection; hitherto he had not
lived, but simply vegetated; he now feels himself a man, because he
is treated as such; the laws of his own country had overlooked him
in his insignificancy; the laws of this cover him with their mantle.
Judge what an alteration there must arise in the mind and thoughts
of this man; he begins to forget his former servitude and
dependence, his heart involuntarily swells and glows; this first
swell inspires him with those new thoughts which constitute an
American. What love can he entertain for a country where his
existence was a burthen to him; if he is a generous good man, the
love of this new adoptive parent will sink deep into his heart. He
looks around, and sees many a prosperous person, who but a few years
before was as poor as himself. This encourages him much, he begins
to form some little scheme, the first, alas, he ever formed in his
life. If he is wise he thus spends two or three years, in which time
he acquires knowledge, the use of tools, the modes of working the
lands, felling trees, etc. This prepares the foundation of a good
name, the most useful acquisition he can make. He is encouraged, he
has gained friends; he is advised and directed, he feels bold, he
purchases some land; he gives all the money he has brought over, as
well as what he has earned, and trusts to the God of harvests for
the discharge of the rest. His good name procures him credit. He is
now possessed of the deed, conveying to him and his posterity the
fee simple and absolute property of two hundred acres of land,
situated on such a river. What an epocha in this man's life! He is
become a freeholder, from perhaps a German boor--he is now an
American, a Pennsylvanian, an English subject. He is naturalised,
his name is enrolled with those of the other citizens of the
province. Instead of being a vagrant, he has a place of residence;
he is called the inhabitant of such a county, or of such a district,
and for the first time in his life counts for something; for
hitherto he has been a cypher. I only repeat what I have heard many
say, and no wonder their hearts should glow, and be agitated with a
multitude of feelings, not easy to describe. From nothing to start
into being; from a servant to the rank of a master; from being the
slave of some despotic prince, to become a free man, invested with
lands, to which every municipal blessing is annexed! What a change
indeed! It is in consequence of that change that he becomes an
American. This great metamorphosis has a double effect, it
extinguishes all his European prejudices, he forgets that mechanism
of subordination, that servility of disposition which poverty had
taught him; and sometimes he is apt to forget too much, often
passing from one extreme to the other. If he is a good man, he forms
schemes of future prosperity, he proposes to educate his children
better than he has been educated himself; he thinks of future modes
of conduct, feels an ardour to labour he never felt before. Pride
steps in and leads him to everything that the laws do not forbid: he
respects them; with a heart-felt gratitude he looks toward the east,
toward that insular government from whose wisdom all his new
felicity is derived, and under whose wings and protection he now
lives. These reflections constitute him the good man and the good
subject. Ye poor Europeans, ye, who sweat, and work for the great--
ye, who are obliged to give so many sheaves to the church, so many
to your lords, so many to your government, and have hardly any left
for yourselves--ye, who are held in less estimation than favourite
hunters or useless lap-dogs--ye, who only breathe the air of nature,
because it cannot be withheld from you; it is here that ye can
conceive the possibility of those feelings I have been describing;
it is here the laws of naturalisation invite every one to partake of
our great labours and felicity, to till unrented, untaxed lands!
Many, corrupted beyond the power of amendment, have brought with
them all their vices, and disregarding the advantages held to them,
have gone on in their former career of iniquity, until they have
been overtaken and punished by our laws. It is not every emigrant
who succeeds; no, it is only the sober, the honest, and industrious:
happy those to whom this transition has served as a powerful spur to
labour, to prosperity, and to the good establishment of children,
born in the days of their poverty; and who had no other portion to
expect but the rags of their parents, had it not been for their
happy emigration. Others again, have been led astray by this
enchanting scene; their new pride, instead of leading them to the
fields, has kept them in idleness; the idea of possessing lands is
all that satisfies them--though surrounded with fertility, they have
mouldered away their time in inactivity, misinformed husbandry, and
ineffectual endeavours. How much wiser, in general, the honest
Germans than almost all other Europeans; they hire themselves to
some of their wealthy landsmen, and in that apprenticeship learn
everything that is necessary. They attentively consider the
prosperous industry of others, which imprints in their minds a
strong desire of possessing the same advantages. This forcible idea
never quits them, they launch forth, and by dint of sobriety, rigid
parsimony, and the most persevering industry, they commonly succeed.
Their astonishment at their first arrival from Germany is very
great--it is to them a dream; the contrast must be powerful indeed;
they observe their countrymen flourishing in every place; they
travel through whole counties where not a word of English is spoken;
and in the names and the language of the people, they retrace
Germany. They have been an useful acquisition to this continent, and
to Pennsylvania in particular; to them it owes some share of its
prosperity: to their mechanical knowledge and patience it owes the
finest mills in all America, the best teams of horses, and many
other advantages. The recollection of their former poverty and
slavery never quits them as long as they live.

The Scotch and the Irish might have lived in their own country
perhaps as poor, but enjoying more civil advantages, the effects of
their new situation do not strike them so forcibly, nor has it so
lasting an effect. From whence the difference arises I know not, but
out of twelve families of emigrants of each country, generally seven
Scotch will succeed, nine German, and four Irish. The Scotch are
frugal and laborious, but their wives cannot work so hard as German
women, who on the contrary vie with their husbands, and often share
with them the most severe toils of the field, which they understand
better. They have therefore nothing to struggle against, but the
common casualties of nature. The Irish do not prosper so well; they
love to drink and to quarrel; they are litigious, and soon take to
the gun, which is the ruin of everything; they seem beside to labour
under a greater degree of ignorance in husbandry than the others;
perhaps it is that their industry had less scope, and was less
exercised at home. I have heard many relate, how the land was
parcelled out in that kingdom; their ancient conquest has been a
great detriment to them, by over-setting their landed property. The
lands possessed by a few, are leased down ad infinitum, and the
occupiers often pay five guineas an acre. The poor are worse lodged
there than anywhere else in Europe; their potatoes, which are easily
raised, are perhaps an inducement to laziness: their wages are too
low, and their whisky too cheap.

There is no tracing observations of this kind, without making at the
same time very great allowances, as there are everywhere to be
found, a great many exceptions. The Irish themselves, from different
parts of that kingdom, are very different. It is difficult to
account for this surprising locality, one would think on so small an
island an Irishman must be an Irishman: yet it is not so, they are
different in their aptitude to, and in their love of labour.

The Scotch on the contrary are all industrious and saving; they want
nothing more than a field to exert themselves in, and they are
commonly sure of succeeding. The only difficulty they labour under
is, that technical American knowledge which requires some time to
obtain; it is not easy for those who seldom saw a tree, to conceive
how it is to be felled, cut up, and split into rails and posts.

As I am fond of seeing and talking of prosperous families, I intend
to finish this letter by relating to you the history of an honest
Scotch Hebridean, who came here in 1774, which will show you in
epitome what the Scotch can do, wherever they have room for the
exertion of their industry. Whenever I hear of any new settlement, I
pay it a visit once or twice a year, on purpose to observe the
different steps each settler takes, the gradual improvements, the
different tempers of each family, on which their prosperity in a
great nature depends; their different modifications of industry,
their ingenuity, and contrivance; for being all poor, their life
requires sagacity and prudence. In the evening I love to hear them
tell their stories, they furnish me with new ideas; I sit still and
listen to their ancient misfortunes, observing in many of them a
strong degree of gratitude to God, and the government. Many a well
meant sermon have I preached to some of them. When I found laziness
and inattention to prevail, who could refrain from wishing well to
these new countrymen, after having undergone so many fatigues. Who
could withhold good advice? What a happy change it must be, to
descend from the high, sterile, bleak lands of Scotland, where
everything is barren and cold, to rest on some fertile farms in
these middle provinces! Such a transition must have afforded the
most pleasing satisfaction.

The following dialogue passed at an out-settlement, where I lately
paid a visit:

Well, friend, how do you do now; I am come fifty odd miles on
purpose to see you; how do you go on with your new cutting and
slashing? Very well, good Sir, we learn the use of the axe bravely,
we shall make it out; we have a belly full of victuals every day,
our cows run about, and come home full of milk, our hogs get fat of
themselves in the woods: Oh, this is a good country! God bless the
king, and William Penn; we shall do very well by and by, if we keep
our healths. Your loghouse looks neat and light, where did you get
these shingles? One of our neighbours is a New-England man, and he
showed us how to split them out of chestnut-trees. Now for a barn,
but all in good time, here are fine trees to build with. Who is to
frame it, sure you don't understand that work yet? A countryman of
ours who has been in America these ten years, offers to wait for his
money until the second crop is lodged in it. What did you give for
your land? Thirty-five shillings per acre, payable in seven years.
How many acres have you got? An hundred and fifty. That is enough to
begin with; is not your land pretty hard to clear? Yes, Sir, hard
enough, but it would be harder still if it were ready cleared, for
then we should have no timber, and I love the woods much; the land
is nothing without them. Have not you found out any bees yet? No,
Sir; and if we had we should not know what to do with them. I will
tell you by and by. You are very kind. Farewell, honest man, God
prosper you; whenever you travel toward----, inquire for J.S. He
will entertain you kindly, provided you bring him good tidings from
your family and farm. In this manner I often visit them, and
carefully examine their houses, their modes of ingenuity, their
different ways; and make them all relate all they know, and describe
all they feel. These are scenes which I believe you would willingly
share with me. I well remember your philanthropic turn of mind. Is
it not better to contemplate under these humble roofs, the rudiments
of future wealth and population, than to behold the accumulated
bundles of litigious papers in the office of a lawyer? To examine
how the world is gradually settled, how the howling swamp is
converted into a pleasing meadow, the rough ridge into a fine field;
and to hear the cheerful whistling, the rural song, where there was
no sound heard before, save the yell of the savage, the screech of
the owl or the hissing of the snake? Here an European, fatigued with
luxury, riches, and pleasures, may find a sweet relaxation in a
series of interesting scenes, as affecting as they are new. England,
which now contains so many domes, so many castles, was once like
this; a place woody and marshy; its inhabitants, now the favourite
nation for arts and commerce, were once painted like our neighbours.
The country will nourish in its turn, and the same observations will
be made which I have just delineated. Posterity will look back with
avidity and pleasure, to trace, if possible, the era of this or that
particular settlement.

Pray, what is the reason that the Scots are in general more
religious, more faithful, more honest, and industrious than the
Irish? I do not mean to insinuate national reflections, God forbid!
It ill becomes any man, and much less an American; but as I know men
are nothing of themselves, and that they owe all their different
modifications either to government or other local circumstances,
there must be some powerful causes which constitute this great
national difference.

Agreeable to the account which several Scotchmen have given me of
the north of Britain, of the Orkneys, and the Hebride Islands, they
seem, on many accounts, to be unfit for the habitation of men; they
appear to be calculated only for great sheep pastures. Who then can
blame the inhabitants of these countries for transporting themselves
hither? This great continent must in time absorb the poorest part of
Europe; and this will happen in proportion as it becomes better
known; and as war, taxation, oppression, and misery increase there.
The Hebrides appear to be fit only for the residence of malefactors,
and it would be much better to send felons there than either to
Virginia or Maryland. What a strange compliment has our mother
country paid to two of the finest provinces in America! England has
entertained in that respect very mistaken ideas; what was intended
as a punishment, is become the good fortune of several; many of
those who have been transported as felons, are now rich, and
strangers to the stings of those wants that urged them to violations
of the law: they are become industrious, exemplary, and useful
citizens. The English government should purchase the most northern
and barren of those islands; it should send over to us the honest,
primitive Hebrideans, settle them here on good lands, as a reward
for their virtue and ancient poverty; and replace them with a colony
of her wicked sons. The severity of the climate, the inclemency of
the seasons, the sterility of the soil, the tempestuousness of the
sea, would afflict and punish enough. Could there be found a spot
better adapted to retaliate the injury it had received by their
crimes? Some of those islands might be considered as the hell of
Great Britain, where all evil spirits should be sent. Two essential
ends would be answered by this simple operation. The good people, by
emigration, would be rendered happier; the bad ones would be placed
where they ought to be. In a few years the dread of being sent to
that wintry region would have a much stronger effect than that of
transportation.--This is no place of punishment; were I a poor
hopeless, breadless Englishman, and not restrained by the power of
shame, I should be very thankful for the passage. It is of very
little importance how, and in what manner an indigent man arrives;
for if he is but sober, honest, and industrious, he has nothing more
to ask of heaven. Let him go to work, he will have opportunities
enough to earn a comfortable support, and even the means of
procuring some land; which ought to be the utmost wish of every
person who has health and hands to work. I knew a man who came to
this country, in the literal sense of the expression, stark naked; I
think he was a Frenchman, and a sailor on board an English man-of-
war. Being discontented, he had stripped himself and swam ashore;
where, finding clothes and friends, he settled afterwards at
Maraneck, in the county of Chester, in the province of New York: he
married and left a good farm to each of his sons. I knew another
person who was but twelve years old when he was taken on the
frontiers of Canada, by the Indians; at his arrival at Albany he was
purchased by a gentleman, who generously bound him apprentice to a
tailor. He lived to the age of ninety, and left behind him a fine
estate and a numerous family, all well settled; many of them I am
acquainted with.--Where is then the industrious European who ought
to despair?

After a foreigner from any part of Europe is arrived, and become a
citizen; let him devoutly listen to the voice of our great parent,
which says to him, "Welcome to my shores, distressed European; bless
the hour in which thou didst see my verdant fields, my fair
navigable rivers, and my green mountains!--If thou wilt work, I have
bread for thee; if thou wilt be honest, sober, and industrious, I
have greater rewards to confer on thee--ease and independence. I
will give thee fields to feed and clothe thee; a comfortable
fireside to sit by, and tell thy children by what means thou hast
prospered; and a decent bed to repose on. I shall endow thee beside
with the immunities of a freeman. If thou wilt carefully educate thy
children, teach them gratitude to God, and reverence to that
government, that philanthropic government, which has collected here
so many men and made them happy. I will also provide for thy
progeny; and to every good man this ought to be the most holy, the
most powerful, the most earnest wish he can possibly form, as well
as the most consolatory prospect when he dies. Go thou and work and
till; thou shalt prosper, provided thou be just, grateful, and
industrious."

HISTORY OF ANDREW, THE HEBRIDEAN

Let historians give the detail of our charters, the succession of
our several governors, and of their administrations; of our
political struggles, and of the foundation of our towns: let
annalists amuse themselves with collecting anecdotes of the
establishment of our modern provinces: eagles soar high--I, a
feebler bird, cheerfully content myself with skipping from bush to
bush, and living on insignificant insects. I am so habituated to
draw all my food and pleasure from the surface of the earth which I
till, that I cannot, nor indeed am I able to quit it--I therefore
present you with the short history of a simple Scotchman; though it
contain not a single remarkable event to amaze the reader; no
tragical scene to convulse the heart, or pathetic narrative to draw
tears from sympathetic eyes. All I wish to delineate is, the
progressive steps of a poor man, advancing from indigence to ease;
from oppression to freedom; from obscurity and contumely to some
degree of consequence--not by virtue of any freaks of fortune, but
by the gradual operation of sobriety, honesty, and emigration. These
are the limited fields, through which I love to wander; sure to find
in some parts, the smile of new-born happiness, the glad heart,
inspiring the cheerful song, the glow of manly pride excited by
vivid hopes and rising independence. I always return from my
neighbourly excursions extremely happy, because there I see good
living almost under every roof, and prosperous endeavours almost in
every field. But you may say, why don't you describe some of the
more ancient, opulent settlements of our country, where even the eye
of an European has something to admire? It is true, our American
fields are in general pleasing to behold, adorned and intermixed as
they are with so many substantial houses, flourishing orchards, and
copses of woodlands; the pride of our farms, the source of every
good we possess. But what I might observe there is but natural and
common; for to draw comfortable subsistence from well fenced
cultivated fields, is easy to conceive. A father dies and leaves a
decent house and rich farm to his son; the son modernises the one,
and carefully tills the other; marries the daughter of a friend and
neighbour: this is the common prospect; but though it is rich and
pleasant, yet it is far from being so entertaining and instructive
as the one now in my view.

I had rather attend on the shore to welcome the poor European when
he arrives, I observe him in his first moments of embarrassment,
trace him throughout his primary difficulties, follow him step by
step, until he pitches his tent on some piece of land, and realises
that energetic wish which has made him quit his native land, his
kindred, and induced him to traverse a boisterous ocean. It is there
I want to observe his first thoughts and feelings, the first essays
of an industry, which hitherto has been suppressed. I wish to see
men cut down the first trees, erect their new buildings, till their
first fields, reap their first crops, and say for the first time in
their lives, "This is our own grain, raised from American soil--on
it we shall feed and grow fat, and convert the rest into gold and
silver." I want to see how the happy effects of their sobriety,
honesty, and industry are first displayed: and who would not take a
pleasure in seeing these strangers settling as new countrymen,
struggling with arduous difficulties, overcoming them, and becoming
happy.

Landing on this great continent is like going to sea, they must have
a compass, some friendly directing needle; or else they will
uselessly err and wander for a long time, even with a fair wind: yet
these are the struggles through which our forefathers have waded;
and they have left us no other records of them, but the possession
of our farms. The reflections I make on these new settlers recall to
my mind what my grandfather did in his days; they fill me with
gratitude to his memory as well as to that government, which invited
him to come, and helped him when he arrived, as well as many others.
Can I pass over these reflections without remembering thy name, O
Penn! thou best of legislators; who by the wisdom of thy laws hast
endowed human nature, within the bounds of thy province, with every
dignity it can possibly enjoy in a civilised state; and showed by
thy singular establishment, what all men might be if they would
follow thy example!

In the year 1770, I purchased some lands in the county of----, which
I intended for one of my sons; and was obliged to go there in order
to see them properly surveyed and marked out: the soil is good, but
the country has a very wild aspect. However I observed with
pleasure, that land sells very fast; and I am in hopes when the lad
gets a wife, it will be a well-settled decent country. Agreeable to
our customs, which indeed are those of nature, it is our duty to
provide for our eldest children while we live, in order that our
homesteads may be left to the youngest, who are the most helpless.
Some people are apt to regard the portions given to daughters as so
much lost to the family; but this is selfish, and is not agreeable
to my way of thinking; they cannot work as men do; they marry young:
I have given an honest European a farm to till for himself, rent
free, provided he clears an acre of swamp every year, and that he
quits it whenever my daughter shall marry. It will procure her a
substantial husband, a good farmer--and that is all my ambition.

Whilst I was in the woods I met with a party of Indians; I shook
hands with them, and I perceived they had killed a cub; I had a
little Peach brandy, they perceived it also, we therefore joined
company, kindled a large fire, and ate an hearty supper. I made
their hearts glad, and we all reposed on good beds of leaves. Soon
after dark, I was surprised to hear a prodigious hooting through the
woods; the Indians laughed heartily. One of them, more skilful than
the rest, mimicked the owls so exactly, that a very large one
perched on a high tree over our fire. We soon brought him down; he
measured five feet seven inches from one extremity of the wings to
the other. By Captain----I have sent you the talons, on which I have
had the heads of small candlesticks fixed. Pray keep them on the
table of your study for my sake.

Contrary to my expectation, I found myself under the necessity of
going to Philadelphia, in order to pay the purchase money, and to
have the deeds properly recorded. I thought little of the journey,
though it was above two hundred miles, because I was well acquainted
with many friends, at whose houses I intended to stop. The third
night after I left the woods, I put up at Mr.----'s, the most worthy
citizen I know; he happened to lodge at my house when you was
there.--He kindly inquired after your welfare, and desired I would
make a friendly mention of him to you. The neatness of these good
people is no phenomenon, yet I think this excellent family surpasses
everything I know. No sooner did I lie down to rest than I thought
myself in a most odoriferous arbour, so sweet and fragrant were the
sheets. Next morning I found my host in the orchard destroying
caterpillars. I think, friend B., said I, that thee art greatly
departed from the good rules of the society; thee seemeth to have
quitted that happy simplicity for which it hath hitherto been so
remarkable. Thy rebuke, friend James, is a pretty heavy one; what
motive canst thee have for thus accusing us? Thy kind wife made a
mistake last evening, I said; she put me on a bed of roses, instead
of a common one; I am not used to such delicacies. And is that all,
friend James, that thee hast to reproach us with?--Thee wilt not
call it luxury I hope? thee canst but know that it is the produce of
our garden; and friend Pope sayeth, that "to enjoy is to obey." This
is a most learned excuse indeed, friend B., and must be valued
because it is founded upon truth. James, my wife hath done nothing
more to thy bed than what is done all the year round to all the beds
in the family; she sprinkles her linen with rose-water before she
puts it under the press; it is her fancy, and I have nought to say.
But thee shalt not escape so, verily I will send for her; thee and
she must settle the matter, whilst I proceed on my work, before the
sun gets too high.--Tom, go thou and call thy mistress Philadelphia.
What. said I, is thy wife called by that name? I did not know that
before. I'll tell thee, James, how it came to pass: her grandmother
was the first female child born after William Penn landed with the
rest of our brethren; and in compliment to the city he intended to
build, she was called after the name he intended to give it; and so
there is always one of the daughters of her family known by the name
of Philadelphia. She soon came, and after a most friendly
altercation, I gave up the point; breakfasted, departed, and in four
days reached the city.

A week after news came that a vessel was arrived with Scotch
emigrants. Mr. C. and I went to the dock to see them disembark. It
was a scene which inspired me with a variety of thoughts; here are,
said I to my friend, a number of people, driven by poverty, and
other adverse causes, to a foreign land, in which they know nobody.
The name of a stranger, instead of implying relief, assistance, and
kindness, on the contrary, conveys very different ideas. They are
now distressed; their minds are racked by a variety of
apprehensions, fears, and hopes. It was this last powerful sentiment
which has brought them here. If they are good people, I pray that
heaven may realise them. Whoever were to see them thus gathered
again in five or six years, would behold a more pleasing sight, to
which this would serve as a very powerful contrast. By their
honesty, the vigour of their arms, and the benignity of government,
their condition will be greatly improved; they will be well clad,
fat, possessed of that manly confidence which property confers; they
will become useful citizens. Some of the posterity may act
conspicuous parts in our future American transactions. Most of them
appeared pale and emaciated, from the length of the passage, and the
indifferent provision on which they had lived. The number of
children seemed as great as that of the people; they had all paid
for being conveyed here. The captain told us they were a quiet,
peaceable, and harmless people, who had never dwelt in cities. This
was a valuable cargo; they seemed, a few excepted, to be in the full
vigour of their lives. Several citizens, impelled either by
spontaneous attachments, or motives of humanity, took many of them
to their houses; the city, agreeable to its usual wisdom and
humanity, ordered them all to be lodged in the barracks, and plenty
of provisions to be given them. My friend pitched upon one also and
led him to his house, with his wife, and a son about fourteen years
of age. The majority of them had contracted for land the year
before, by means of an agent; the rest depended entirely upon
chance; and the one who followed us was of this last class. Poor
man, he smiled on receiving the invitation, and gladly accepted it,
bidding his wife and son do the same, in a language which I did not
understand. He gazed with uninterrupted attention on everything he
saw; the houses, the inhabitants, the negroes, and carriages:
everything appeared equally new to him; and we went slow, in order
to give him time to feed on this pleasing variety. Good God! said
he, is this Philadelphia, that blessed city of bread and provisions,
of which we have heard so much? I am told it was founded the same
year in which my father was born; why, it is finer than Greenock and
Glasgow, which are ten times as old. It is so, said my friend to
him, and when thee hast been here a month, thee will soon see that
it is the capital of a fine province, of which thee art going to be
a citizen: Greenock enjoys neither such a climate nor such a soil.
Thus we slowly proceeded along, when we met several large Lancaster
six-horse waggons, just arrived from the country. At this stupendous
sight he stopped short, and with great diffidence asked us what was
the use of these great moving houses, and where those big horses
came from? Have you none such at home, I asked him? Oh, no; these
huge animals would eat all the grass of our island! We at last
reached my friend's house, who in the glow of well-meant
hospitality, made them all three sit down to a good dinner, and gave
them as much cider as they could drink. God bless this country, and
the good people it contains, said he; this is the best meal's
victuals I have made a long time.--I thank you kindly.

What part of Scotland dost thee come from, friend Andrew, said Mr.
C.? Some of us come from the main, some from the island of Barra, he
answered--I myself am a Barra man. I looked on the map, and by its
latitude, easily guessed that it must be an inhospitable climate.
What sort of land have you got there, I asked him? Bad enough, said
he; we have no such trees as I see here, no wheat, no kine, no
apples. Then, I observed, that it must be hard for the poor to live.
We have no poor, he answered, we are all alike, except our laird;
but he cannot help everybody. Pray what is the name of your laird?
Mr. Neiel, said Andrew; the like of him is not to be found in any of
the isles; his forefathers have lived there thirty generations ago,
as we are told. Now, gentlemen, you may judge what an ancient family
estate it must be. But it is cold, the land is thin, and there were
too many of us, which are the reasons that some are come to seek
their fortunes here. Well, Andrew, what step do you intend to take
in order to become rich? I do not know, Sir; I am but an ignorant
man, a stranger besides--I must rely on the advice of good
Christians, they would not deceive me, I am sure. I have brought
with me a character from our Barra minister, can it do me any good
here? Oh, yes; but your future success will depend entirely on your
own conduct; if you are a sober man, as the certificate says,
laborious, and honest, there is no fear but that you will do well.
Have you brought any money with you, Andrew? Yes, Sir, eleven
guineas and an half. Upon my word it is a considerable sum for a
Barra man; how came you by so much money? Why seven years ago I
received a legacy of thirty-seven pounds from an uncle, who loved me
much; my wife brought me two guineas, when the laird gave her to me
for a wife, which I have saved ever since. I have sold all I had; I
worked in Glasgow for some time. I am glad to hear you are so saving
and prudent; be so still; you must go and hire yourself with some
good people; what can you do? I can thresh a little, and handle the
spade. Can you plough? Yes, Sir, with the little breast plough I
have brought with me. These won't do here, Andrew; you are an able
man; if you are willing you will soon learn. I'll tell you what I
intend to do; I'll send you to my house, where you shall stay two or
three weeks, there you must exercise yourself with the axe, that is
the principal tool the Americans want, and particularly the back-
settlers. Can your wife spin? Yes, she can. Well then as soon as you
are able to handle the axe, you shall go and live with Mr. P. R., a
particular friend of mine, who will give you four dollars per month,
for the first six, and the usual price of five as long as you remain
with him. I shall place your wife in another house, where she shall
receive half a dollar a week for spinning; and your son a dollar a
month to drive the team. You shall have besides good victuals to
eat, and good beds to lie on; will all this satisfy you, Andrew? He
hardly understood what I said; the honest tears of gratitude fell
from his eyes as he looked at me, and its expressions seemed to
quiver on his lips.--Though silent, this was saying a great deal;
there was besides something extremely moving to see a man six feet
high thus shed tears; and they did not lessen the good opinion I had
entertained of him. At last he told me, that my offers were more
than he deserved, and that he would first begin to work for his
victuals. No, no, said I, if you are careful and sober, and do what
you can, you shall receive what I told you, after you have served a
short apprenticeship at my house. May God repay you for all your
kindnesses, said Andrew; as long as I live I shall thank you, and do
what I can for you. A few days after I sent them all three to----,
by the return of some waggons, that he might have an opportunity of
viewing, and convincing himself of the utility of those machines
which he had at first so much admired.

The further descriptions he gave us of the Hebrides in general, and
of his native island in particular; of the customs and modes of
living of the inhabitants; greatly entertained me. Pray is the
sterility of the soil the cause that there are no trees, or is it
because there are none planted? What are the modern families of all
the kings of the earth, compared to the date of that of Mr. Neiel?
Admitting that each generation should last but forty years, this
makes a period of 1200; an extraordinary duration for the
uninterrupted descent of any family! Agreeably to the description he
gave us of those countries, they seem to live according to the rules
of nature, which gives them but bare subsistence; their
constitutions are uncontaminated by any excess or effeminacy, which
their soil refuses. If their allowance of food is not too scanty,
they must all be healthy by perpetual temperance and exercise; if
so, they are amply rewarded for their poverty. Could they have
obtained but necessary food, they would not have left it; for it was
not in consequence of oppression, either from their patriarch or the
government, that they had emigrated. I wish we had a colony of these
honest people settled in some parts of this province; their morals,
their religion, seem to be as simple as their manners. This society
would present an interesting spectacle could they be transported on
a richer soil. But perhaps that soil would soon alter everything;
for our opinions, vices, and virtues, are altogether local: we are
machines fashioned by every circumstance around us.

Andrew arrived at my house a week before I did, and I found my wife,
agreeable to my instructions, had placed the axe in his hands, as
his first task. For some time he was very awkward, but he was so
docile, so willing, and grateful, as well as his wife, that I
foresaw he would succeed. Agreeably to my promise, I put them all
with different families, where they were well liked, and all parties
were pleased. Andrew worked hard, lived well, grew fat, and every
Sunday came to pay me a visit on a good horse, which Mr. P. R. lent
him. Poor man, it took him a long time ere he could sit on the
saddle and hold the bridle properly. I believe he had never before
mounted such a beast, though I did not choose to ask him that
question, for fear it might suggest some mortifying ideas. After
having been twelve months at Mr. P. R.'s, and having received his
own and his family's wages, which amounted to eighty-four dollars;
he came to see me on a week-day, and told me, that he was a man of
middle age, and would willingly have land of his own, in order to
procure him a home, as a shelter against old age: that whenever this
period should come, his son, to whom he would give his land, would
then maintain him, and thus live altogether; he therefore required
my advice and assistance. I thought his desire very natural and
praiseworthy, and told him that I should think of it, but that he
must remain one month longer with Mr. P. R., who had 3000 rails to
split. He immediately consented. The spring was not far advanced
enough yet for Andrew to begin clearing any land even supposing that
he had made a purchase; as it is always necessary that the leaves
should be out, in order that this additional combustible may serve
to burn the heaps of brush more readily.

A few days after, it happened that the whole family of Mr. P. R.
went to meeting, and left Andrew to take care of the house. While he
was at the door, attentively reading the Bible, nine Indians just
come from the mountains, suddenly made their appearance, and
unloaded their packs of furs on the floor of the piazza. Conceive,
if you can, what was Andrew's consternation at this extraordinary
sight! From the singular appearance of these people, the honest
Hebridean took them for a lawless band come to rob his master's
house. He therefore, like a faithful guardian, precipitately
withdrew and shut the doors, but as most of our houses are without
locks, he was reduced to the necessity of fixing his knife over the
latch, and then flew upstairs in quest of a broadsword he had
brought from Scotland. The Indians, who were Mr. P. R.'s particular
friends, guessed at his suspicions and fears; they forcibly lifted
the door, and suddenly took possession of the house, got all the
bread and meat they wanted, and sat themselves down by the fire. At
this instant Andrew, with his broadsword in his hand, entered the
room; the Indians earnestly looking at him, and attentively watching
his motions. After a very few reflections, Andrew found that his
weapon was useless, when opposed to nine tomahawks; but this did not
diminish his anger, on the contrary; it grew greater on observing
the calm impudence with which they were devouring the family
provisions. Unable to resist, he called them names in broad Scotch,
and ordered them to desist and be gone; to which the Indians (as
they told me afterwards) replied in their equally broad idiom. It
must have been a most unintelligible altercation between this honest
Barra man, and nine Indians who did not much care for anything he
could say. At last he ventured to lay his hands on one of them, in
order to turn him out of the house. Here Andrew's fidelity got the
better of his prudence; for the Indian, by his motions, threatened
to scalp him, while the rest gave the war hoop. This horrid noise so
effectually frightened poor Andrew, that, unmindful of his courage,
of his broadsword, and his intentions, he rushed out, left them
masters of the house, and disappeared. I have heard one of the
Indians say since, that he never laughed so heartily in his life.
Andrew at a distance, soon recovered from the fears which had been
inspired by this infernal yell, and thought of no other remedy than
to go to the meeting-house, which was about two miles distant. In
the eagerness of his honest intentions, with looks of affright still
marked on his countenance, he called Mr. P. R. out, and told him
with great vehemence of style, that nine monsters were come to his
house--some blue, some red, and some black; that they had little
axes in their hands out of which they smoked; and that like
highlanders, they had no breeches; that they were devouring all his
victuals, and that God only knew what they would do more. Pacify
yourself, said Mr. P. R., my house is as safe with these people, as
if I was there myself; as for the victuals, they are heartily
welcome, honest Andrew; they are not people of much ceremony; they
help themselves thus whenever they are among their friends; I do so
too in their wigwams, whenever I go to their village: you had better
therefore step in and hear the remainder of the sermon, and when the
meeting is over we will all go back in the waggon together.

At their return, Mr. P. R., who speaks the Indian language very
well, explained the whole matter; the Indians renewed their laugh,
and shook hands with honest Andrew, whom they made to smoke out of
their pipes; and thus peace was made, and ratified according to the
Indian custom, by the calumet.

Soon after this adventure, the time approached when I had promised
Andrew my best assistance to settle him; for that purpose I went to
Mr. A. V. in the county of----, who, I was informed, had purchased a
tract of land, contiguous to----settlement. I gave him a faithful
detail of the progress Andrew had made in the rural arts; of his
honesty, sobriety, and gratitude, and pressed him to sell him an
hundred acres. This I cannot comply with, said Mr. A. V., but at the
same time I will do better; I love to encourage honest Europeans as
much as you do, and to see them prosper: you tell me he has but one
son; I will lease them an hundred acres for any term of years you
please, and make it more valuable to your Scotchman than if he was
possessed of the fee simple. By that means he may, with what little
money he has, buy a plough, a team, and some stock; he will not be
incumbered with debts and mortgages; what he raises will be his own;
had he two or three sons as able as himself, then I should think it
more eligible for him to purchase the fee simple. I join with you in
opinion, and will bring Andrew along with me in a few days.

Well, honest Andrew, said Mr. A. V., in consideration of your good
name, I will let you have an hundred acres of good arable land, that
shall be laid out along a new road; there is a bridge already
erected on the creek that passes through the land, and a fine swamp
of about twenty acres. These are my terms, I cannot sell, but I will
lease you the quantity that Mr. James, your friend, has asked; the
first seven years you shall pay no rent, whatever you sow and reap,
and plant and gather, shall be entirely your own; neither the king,
government, nor church, will have any claim on your future property:
the remaining part of the time you must give me twelve dollars and
an half a year; and that is all you will have to pay me. Within the
three first years you must plant fifty apple trees, and clear seven
acres of swamp within the first part of the lease; it will be your
own advantage: whatever you do more within that time, I will pay you
for it, at the common rate of the country. The term of the lease
shall be thirty years; how do you like it, Andrew? Oh, Sir, it is
very good, but I am afraid, that the king or his ministers, or the
governor, or some of our great men, will come and take the land from
me; your son may say to me, by and by, this is my father's land,
Andrew, you must quit it. No, no, said Mr. A. V., there is no such
danger; the king and his ministers are too just to take the labour
of a poor settler; here we have no great men, but what are
subordinate to our laws; but to calm all your fears, I will give you
a lease, so that none can make you afraid. If ever you are
dissatisfied with the land, a jury of your own neighbourhood shall
value all your improvements, and you shall be paid agreeably to
their verdict. You may sell the lease, or if you die, you may
previously dispose of it, as if the land was your own. Expressive,
yet inarticulate joy, was mixed in his countenance, which seemed
impressed with astonishment and confusion. Do you understand me
well, said Mr. A. V.? No, Sir, replied Andrew, I know nothing of
what you mean about lease, improvement, will, jury, etc. That is
honest, we will explain these things to you by and by. It must be
confessed that those were hard words, which he had never heard in
his life; for by his own account, the ideas they convey would be
totally useless in the island of Barra. No wonder, therefore, that
he was embarrassed; for how could the man who had hardly a will of
his own since he was born, imagine he could have one after his
death? How could the person who never possessed anything, conceive
that he could extend his new dominion over this land, even after he
should be laid in his grave? For my part, I think Andrew's amazement
did not imply any extraordinary degree of ignorance; he was an actor
introduced upon a new scene, it required some time ere he could
reconcile himself to the part he was to perform. However he was soon
enlightened, and introduced into those mysteries with which we
native Americans are but too well acquainted.

Here then is honest Andrew, invested with every municipal advantage
they confer; become a freeholder, possessed of a vote, of a place of
residence, a citizen of the province of Pennsylvania. Andrew's
original hopes and the distant prospects he had formed in the island
of Barra, were at the eve of being realised; we therefore can easily
forgive him a few spontaneous ejaculations, which would be useless
to repeat. This short tale is easily told; few words are sufficient
to describe this sudden change of situation; but in his mind it was
gradual, and took him above a week before he could be sure, that
without disturbing any money he could possess lands. Soon after he
prepared himself; I lent him a barrel of pork, and 200 lb. weight of
meal, and made him purchase what was necessary besides.

He set out, and hired a room in the house of a settler who lived the
most contiguous to his own land. His first work was to clear some
acres of swamp, that he might have a supply of hay the following
year for his two horses and cows. From the first day he began to
work, he was indefatigable; his honesty procured him friends, and
his industry the esteem of his new neighbours. One of them offered
him two acres of cleared land, whereon he might plant corn,
pumpkins, squashes, and a few potatoes, that very season. It is
astonishing how quick men will learn when they work for themselves.
I saw with pleasure two months after, Andrew holding a two-horse
plough and tracing his furrows quite straight; thus the spade man of
the island of Barra was become the tiller of American soil. Well
done, said I, Andrew, well done; I see that God speeds and directs
your works; I see prosperity delineated in all your furrows and head
lands. Raise this crop of corn with attention and care, and then you
will be master of the art.

As he had neither mowing nor reaping to do that year, I told him
that the time was come to build his house; and that for the purpose
I would myself invite the neighbourhood to a frolic; that thus he
would have a large dwelling erected, and some upland cleared in one
day. Mr. P. R., his old friend, came at the time appointed, with all
his hands, and brought victuals in plenty: I did the same. About
forty people repaired to the spot; the songs, and merry stories,
went round the woods from cluster to cluster, as the people had
gathered to their different works; trees fell on all sides, bushes
were cut up and heaped; and while many were thus employed, others
with their teams hauled the big logs to the spot which Andrew had
pitched upon for the erection of his new dwelling. We all dined in
the woods; in the afternoon the logs were placed with skids, and the
usual contrivances: thus the rude house was raised, and above two
acres of land cut up, cleared, and heaped.

Whilst all these different operations were performing, Andrew was
absolutely incapable of working; it was to him the most solemn
holiday he had ever seen; it would have been sacrilegious in him to
have denied it with menial labour. Poor man, he sanctified it with
joy and thanksgiving, and honest libations--he went from one to the
other with the bottle in his hand, pressing everybody to drink, and
drinking himself to show the example. He spent the whole day in
smiling, laughing, and uttering monosyllables: his wife and son were
there also, but as they could not understand the language, their
pleasure must have been altogether that of the imagination. The
powerful lord, the wealthy merchant, on seeing the superb mansion
finished, never can feel half the joy and real happiness which was
felt and enjoyed on that day by this honest Hebridean: though this
new dwelling, erected in the midst of the woods, was nothing more
than a square inclosure, composed of twenty-four large clumsy logs,
let in at the ends. When the work was finished, the company made the
woods resound with the noise of their three cheers, and the honest
wishes they formed for Andrew's prosperity. He could say nothing,
but with thankful tears he shook hands with them all. Thus from the
first day he had landed, Andrew marched towards this important
event: this memorable day made the sun shine on that land on which
he was to sow wheat and other grain. What swamp he had cleared lay
before his door; the essence of future bread, milk, and meat, were
scattered all round him. Soon after he hired a carpenter, who put on
a roof and laid the floors; in a week more the house was properly
plastered, and the chimney finished. He moved into it, and purchased
two cows, which found plenty of food in the woods--his hogs had the
same advantage. That very year, he and his son sowed three bushels
of wheat, from which he reaped ninety-one and a half; for I had
ordered him to keep an exact account of all he should raise. His
first crop of other corn would have been as good, had it not been
for the squirrels, which were enemies not to be dispersed by the
broadsword. The fourth year I took an inventory of the wheat this
man possessed, which I send you. Soon after, further settlements
were made on that road, and Andrew, instead of being the last man
towards the wilderness, found himself in a few years in the middle
of a numerous society. He helped others as generously as others had
helped him; and I have dined many times at his table with several of
his neighbours. The second year he was made overseer of the road,
and served on two petty juries, performing as a citizen all the
duties required of him. The historiographer of some great prince or
general, does not bring his hero victorious to the end of a
successful campaign, with one half of the heart-felt pleasure with
which I have conducted Andrew to the situation he now enjoys: he is
independent and easy. Triumph and military honours do not always
imply those two blessings. He is unencumbered with debts, services,
rents, or any other dues; the successes of a campaign, the laurels
of war, must be purchased at the dearest rate, which makes every
cool reflecting citizen to tremble and shudder. By the literal
account hereunto annexed, you will easily be made acquainted with
the happy effects which constantly flow, in this country, from
sobriety and industry, when united with good land and freedom.

The account of the property he acquired with his own hands and those
of his son, in four years, is under:

                                                        Dollars

 The value of his improvements and lease                225
 Six cows, at 13 dollars                                78
 Two breeding mares                                     50
 The rest of the stock                                  100
 Seventy-three bushels of wheat                         66
 Money due to him on notes                              43
 Pork and beef in his cellar                            28
 Wool and flax                                          19
 Ploughs and other utensils of husbandry                31
---
240 pounds Pennsylvania currency--dollars               640




LETTER IV

DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET, WITH THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS,
POLICY, AND TRADE OF THE INHABITANTS


The greatest compliment that can be paid to the best of kings, to
the wisest ministers, or the most patriotic rulers, is to think,
that the reformation of political abuses, and the happiness of their
people are the primary objects of their attention. But alas! how
disagreeable must the work of reformation be; how dreaded the
operation; for we hear of no amendment: on the contrary, the great
number of European emigrants, yearly coming over here, informs us,
that the severity of taxes, the injustice of laws, the tyranny of
the rich, and the oppressive avarice of the church; are as
intolerable as ever. Will these calamities have no end? Are not the
great rulers of the earth afraid of losing, by degrees, their most
useful subjects? This country, providentially intended for the
general asylum of the world, will flourish by the oppression of
their people; they will every day become better acquainted with the
happiness we enjoy, and seek for the means of transporting
themselves here, in spite of all obstacles and laws. To what purpose
then have so many useful books and divine maxims been transmitted to
us from preceding ages?--Are they all vain, all useless? Must human
nature ever be the sport of the few, and its many wounds remain
unhealed? How happy are we here, in having fortunately escaped the
miseries which attended our fathers; how thankful ought we to be,
that they reared us in a land where sobriety and industry never fail
to meet with the most ample rewards! You have, no doubt, read
several histories of this continent, yet there are a thousand facts,
a thousand explanations overlooked. Authors will certainly convey to
you a geographical knowledge of this country; they will acquaint you
with the eras of the several settlements, the foundations of our
towns, the spirit of our different charters, etc., yet they do not
sufficiently disclose the genius of the people, their various
customs, their modes of agriculture, the innumerable resources which
the industrious have of raising themselves to a comfortable and easy
situation. Few of these writers have resided here, and those who
have, had not pervaded every part of the country, nor carefully
examined the nature and principles of our association. It would be a
task worthy a speculative genius, to enter intimately into the
situation and characters of the people, from Nova Scotia to West
Florida; and surely history cannot possibly present any subject more
pleasing to behold. Sensible how unable I am to lead you through so
vast a maze, let us look attentively for some small unnoticed
corner; but where shall we go in quest of such a one? Numberless
settlements, each distinguished by some peculiarities, present
themselves on every side; all seem to realise the most sanguine
wishes that a good man could form for the happiness of his race.
Here they live by fishing on the most plentiful coasts in the world;
there they fell trees, by the sides of large rivers, for masts and
lumber; here others convert innumerable logs into the best boards;
there again others cultivate the land, rear cattle, and clear large
fields. Yet I have a spot in my view, where none of these
occupations are performed, which will, I hope, reward us for the
trouble of inspection; but though it is barren in its soil,
insignificant in its extent, inconvenient in its situation, deprived
of materials for building; it seems to have been inhabited merely to
prove what mankind can do when happily governed! Here I can point
out to you exertions of the most successful industry; instances of
native sagacity unassisted by science; the happy fruits of a well
directed perseverance. It is always a refreshing spectacle to me,
when in my review of the various component parts of this immense
whole, I observe the labours of its inhabitants singularly rewarded
by nature; when I see them emerged out of their first difficulties,
living with decency and ease, and conveying to their posterity that
plentiful subsistence, which their fathers have so deservedly
earned. But when their prosperity arises from the goodness of the
climate, and fertility of the soil; I partake of their happiness, it
is true; yet stay but a little while with them, as they exhibit
nothing but what is natural and common. On the contrary, when I meet
with barren spots fertilised, grass growing where none grew before;
grain gathered from fields which had hitherto produced nothing
better than brambles; dwellings raised where no building materials
were to be found; wealth acquired by the most uncommon means: there
I pause, to dwell on the favourite object of my speculative
inquiries. Willingly do I leave the former to enjoy the odoriferous
furrow, or their rich valleys, with anxiety repairing to the spot,
where so many difficulties have been overcome; where extraordinary
exertions have produced extraordinary effects, and where every
natural obstacle has been removed by a vigorous industry.

I want not to record the annals of the island of Nantucket--its
inhabitants have no annals, for they are not a race of warriors. My
simple wish is to trace them throughout their progressive steps,
from their arrival here to this present hour; to inquire by what
means they have raised themselves from the most humble, the most
insignificant beginnings, to the ease and the wealth they now
possess; and to give you some idea of their customs, religion,
manners, policy, and mode of living.

This happy settlement was not founded on intrusion, forcible
entries, or blood, as so many others have been; it drew its origin
from necessity on the one side, and from good will on the other; and
ever since, all has been a scene of uninterrupted harmony.--Neither
political, nor religious broils; neither disputes with the natives,
nor any other contentions, have in the least agitated or disturbed
its detached society. Yet the first founders knew nothing either of
Lycurgus or Solon; for this settlement has not been the work of
eminent men or powerful legislators, forcing nature by the
accumulated labours of art. This singular establishment has been
effected by means of that native industry and perseverance common to
all men, when they are protected by a government which demands but
little for its protection; when they are permitted to enjoy a system
of rational laws founded on perfect freedom. The mildness and
humanity of such a government necessarily implies that confidence
which is the source of the most arduous undertakings and permanent
success. Would you believe that a sandy spot, of about twenty-three
thousand acres, affording neither stones nor timber, meadows nor
arable, yet can boast of an handsome town, consisting of more than
500 houses, should possess above 200 sail of vessels, constantly
employ upwards of 2000 seamen, feed more than 15,000 sheep, 500
cows, 200 horses; and has several citizens worth 20,000 pounds
sterling! Yet all these facts are uncontroverted. Who would have
imagined that any people should have abandoned a fruitful and
extensive continent, filled with the riches which the most ample
vegetation affords; replete with good soil, enamelled meadows, rich
pastures, every kind of timber, and with all other materials
necessary to render life happy and comfortable: to come and inhabit
a little sandbank, to which nature had refused those advantages; to
dwell on a spot where there scarcely grew a shrub to announce, by
the budding of its leaves, the arrival of the spring, and to warn by
their fall the proximity of winter. Had this island been contiguous
to the shores of some ancient monarchy, it would only have been
occupied by a few wretched fishermen, who, oppressed by poverty,
would hardly have been able to purchase or build little fishing
barks; always dreading the weight of taxes, or the servitude of men-
of-war. Instead of that boldness of speculation for which the
inhabitants of this island are so remarkable, they would fearfully
have confined themselves, within the narrow limits of the most
trifling attempts; timid in their excursions, they never could have
extricated themselves from their first difficulties. This island, on
the contrary, contains 5000 hardy people, who boldly derive their
riches from the element that surrounds them, and have been compelled
by the sterility of the soil to seek abroad for the means of
subsistence. You must not imagine, from the recital of these facts,
that they enjoyed any exclusive privileges or royal charters, or
that they were nursed by particular immunities in the infancy of
their settlement. No, their freedom, their skill, their probity, and
perseverance, have accomplished everything, and brought them by
degrees to the rank they now hold.

From this first sketch, I hope that my partiality to this island
will be justified. Perhaps you hardly know that such an one exists
in the neighbourhood of Cape Cod. What has happened here, has and
will happen everywhere else. Give mankind the full rewards of their
industry, allow them to enjoy the fruit of their labour under the
peaceable shade of their vines and fig-trees, leave their native
activity unshackled and free, like a fair stream without dams or
other obstacles; the first will fertilise the very sand on which
they tread, the other exhibit a navigable river, spreading plenty
and cheerfulness wherever the declivity of the ground leads it. If
these people are not famous for tracing the fragrant furrow on the
plain, they plough the rougher ocean, they gather from its surface,
at an immense distance, and with Herculean labours, the riches it
affords; they go to hunt and catch that huge fish which by its
strength and velocity one would imagine ought to be beyond the reach
of man. This island has nothing deserving of notice but its
inhabitants; here you meet with neither ancient monuments, spacious
halls, solemn temples, nor elegant dwellings; not a citadel, nor any
kind of fortification, not even a battery to rend the air with its
loud peals on any solemn occasion. As for their rural improvements,
they are many, but all of the most simple and useful kind.

The island of Nantucket lies in latitude 41 degrees 10 minutes. 60
miles S. from Cape Cod; 27 S. from Hyanes or Barnstable, a town on
the most contiguous part of the great peninsula; 21 miles E. by S.
from Cape Pog, on the vineyard; 50 E. by S. from Wood's Hole, on
Elizabeth Island; 80 miles S. from Boston; 120 from Rhode Island;
800 N. from Bermudas. Sherborn is the only town on the island, which
consists of about 530 houses, that have been framed on the main;
they are lathed and plastered within, handsomely painted and boarded
without; each has a cellar underneath, built with stones fetched
also from the main: they are all of a similar construction and
appearance; plain, and entirely devoid of exterior or interior
ornament. I observed but one which was built of bricks, belonging to
Mr.----, but like the rest it is unadorned. The town stands on a
rising sandbank, on the west side of the harbour, which is very safe
from all winds. There are two places of worship, one for the society
of Friends, the other for that of Presbyterians; and in the middle
of the town, near the market-place, stands a simple building, which
is the county court-house. The town regularly ascends toward the
country, and in its vicinage they have several small fields and
gardens yearly manured with the dung of their cows, and the soil of
their streets. There are a good many cherry and peach trees planted
in their streets and in many other places; the apple tree does not
thrive well, they have therefore planted but few. The island
contains no mountains, yet is very uneven, and the many rising
grounds and eminences with which it is filled, have formed in the
several valleys a great variety of swamps, where the Indian grass
and the blue bent, peculiar to such soils, grow with tolerable
luxuriancy. Some of the swamps abound with peat, which serves the
poor instead of firewood. There are fourteen ponds on this island,
all extremely useful, some lying transversely, almost across it,
which greatly helps to divide it into partitions for the use of
their cattle; others abound with peculiar fish and sea fowls. Their
streets are not paved, but this is attended with little
inconvenience, as it is never crowded with country carriages; and
those they have in the town are seldom made use of but in the time
of the coming in and before the sailing of their fleets. At my first
landing I was much surprised at the disagreeable smell which struck
me in many parts of the town; it is caused by the whale oil, and is
unavoidable; the neatness peculiar to these people can neither
remove nor prevent it. There are near the wharfs a great many
storehouses, where their staple commodity is deposited, as well as
the innumerable materials which are always wanted to repair and fit
out so many whalemen. They have three docks, each three hundred feet
long, and extremely convenient; at the head of which there are ten
feet of water. These docks are built like those in Boston, of logs
fetched from the continent, filled with stones, and covered with
sand. Between these docks and the town, there is room sufficient for
the landing of goods and for the passage of their numerous carts;
for almost every man here has one: the wharfs to the north and south
of the docks, are built of the same materials, and give a stranger,
at his first landing, an high idea of the prosperity of these
people; and there is room around these three docks for 300 sail of
vessels. When their fleets have been successful, the bustle and
hurry of business on this spot for some days after their arrival,
would make you imagine, that Sherborn is the capital of a very
opulent and large province. On that point of land, which forms the
west side of the harbour, stands a very neat lighthouse; the
opposite peninsula, called Coitou, secures it from the most
dangerous winds. There are but few gardens and arable fields in the
neighbourhood of the town, for nothing can be more sterile and sandy
than this part of the island; they have, however, with unwearied
perseverance, by bringing a variety of manure, and by cow-penning,
enriched several spots where they raise Indian corn, potatoes,
pumpkins, turnips, etc. On the highest part of this sandy eminence,
four windmills grind the grain they raise or import; and contiguous
to them their rope walk is to be seen, where full half of their
cordage is manufactured. Between the shores of the harbour, the
docks, and the town, there is a most excellent piece of meadow,
inclosed and manured with such cost and pains as show how necessary
and precious grass is at Nantucket. Towards the point of Shemah, the
island is more level and the soil better; and there they have
considerable lots well fenced and richly manured, where they
diligently raise their yearly crops. There are but very few farms on
this island, because there are but very few spots that will admit of
cultivation without the assistance of dung and other manure; which
is very expensive to fetch from the main. This island was patented
in the year 1671, by twenty-seven proprietors, under the province of
New York; which then claimed all the islands from the Neway Sink to
Cape Cod. They found it so universally barren and so unfit for
cultivation, that they mutually agreed not to divide it, as each
could neither live on, nor improve that lot which might fall to his
share. They then cast their eyes on the sea, and finding themselves
obliged to become fishermen, they looked for a harbour, and having
found one, they determined to build a town in its neighbourhood and
to dwell together. For that purpose they surveyed as much ground as
would afford to each what is generally called here a home lot. Forty
acres were thought sufficient to answer this double purpose; for to
what end should they covet more land than they could improve, or
even inclose; not being possessed of a single tree, in the whole
extent of their new dominion. This was all the territorial property
they allotted; the rest they agreed to hold in common, and seeing
that the scanty grass of the island might feed sheep, they agreed
that each proprietor should be entitled to feed on it if he pleased
560 sheep. By this agreement, the national flock was to consist of
15,120; that is the undivided part of the island was by such means
ideally divisible into as many parts or shares; to which
nevertheless no certain determinate quantity of land was affixed;
for they knew not how much the island contained, nor could the most
judicious surveyor fix this small quota as to quality and quantity.
Further they agreed, in case the grass should grow better by
feeding, that then four sheep should represent a cow, and two cows a
horse: such was the method this wise people took to enjoy in common
their new settlement; such was the mode of their first
establishment, which may be truly and literally called a pastoral
one. Several hundred of sheep-pasture titles have since been divided
on those different tracts, which are now cultivated; the rest by
inheritance and intermarriages have been so subdivided that it is
very common for a girl to have no other portion but her outset and
four sheep pastures or the privilege of feeding a cow. But as this
privilege is founded on an ideal, though real title to some unknown
piece of land, which one day or another may be ascertained; these
sheep-pasture titles should convey to your imagination, something
more valuable and of greater credit than the mere advantage arising
from the benefit of a cow, which in that case would be no more than
a right of commonage. Whereas, here as labour grows cheaper, as
misfortunes from their sea adventures may happen, each person
possessed of a sufficient number of these sheep-pasture titles may
one day realise them on some peculiar spot, such as shall be
adjudged by the council of the proprietors to be adequate to their
value; and this is the reason that these people very unwillingly
sell those small rights, and esteem them more than you would
imagine. They are the representation of a future freehold, they
cherish in the mind of the possessor a latent, though distant, hope,
that by his success in his next whale season, he may be able to
pitch on some predilected spot, and there build himself a home, to
which he may retire, and spend the latter end of his days in peace.
A council of proprietors always exists in this island, who decide
their territorial differences; their titles are recorded in the
books of the county, which this town represents, as well as every
conveyance of lands and other sales.

This island furnishes the naturalist with few or no objects worthy
observation: it appears to be the uneven summit of a sandy submarine
mountain, covered here and there with sorrel, grass, a few cedar
bushes, and scrubby oaks; their swamps are much more valuable for
the peat they contain, than for the trifling pasture of their
surface; those declining grounds which lead to the seashores abound
with beach grass, a light fodder when cut and cured, but very good
when fed green. On the east side of the island they have several
tracts of salt grasses, which being carefully fenced, yield a
considerable quantity of that wholesome fodder. Among the many ponds
or lakes with which this island abounds, there are some which have
been made by the intrusion of the sea, such as Wiwidiah, the Long,
the Narrow, and several others; consequently those are salt and the
others fresh. The former answer two considerable purposes, first by
enabling them to fence the island with greater facility; at peculiar
high tides a great number of fish enter into them, where they feed
and grow large, and at some known seasons of the year the
inhabitants assemble and cut down the small bars which the waves
always throw up. By these easy means the waters of the pond are let
out, and as the fish follow their native element, the inhabitants
with proper nets catch as many as they want, in their way out,
without any other trouble. Those which are most common, are the
streaked bass, the blue fish, the tom-cod, the mackerel, the tew-
tag, the herring, the flounder, eel, etc. Fishing is one of the
greatest diversions the island affords. At the west end lies the
harbour of Mardiket, formed by Smith Point on the south-west, by Eel
Point on the north, and Tuckanut Island on the north-west; but it is
neither so safe nor has it so good anchoring ground, as that near
which the town stands. Three small creeks run into it, which yield
the bitterest eels I have ever tasted. Between the lots of Palpus on
the east, Barry's Valley and Miacomet pond on the south, and the
narrow pond on the west, not far from Shemah Point, they have a
considerable tract of even ground, being the least sandy, and the
best on the island. It is divided into seven fields, one of which is
planted by that part of the community which are entitled to it. This
is called the common plantation, a simple but useful expedient, for
was each holder of this track to fence his property, it would
require a prodigious quantity of posts and rails, which you must
remember are to be purchased and fetched from the main. Instead of
those private subdivisions each man's allotment of land is thrown
into the general field which is fenced at the expense of the
parties; within it every one does with his own portion of the ground
whatever he pleases. This apparent community saves a very material
expense, a great deal of labour, and perhaps raises a sort of
emulation among them, which urges every one to fertilise his share
with the greatest care and attention. Thus every seven years the
whole of this tract is under cultivation, and enriched by manure and
ploughing yields afterwards excellent pasture; to which the town
cows, amounting to 500 are daily led by the town shepherd, and as
regularly drove back in the evening. There each animal easily finds
the house to which it belongs, where they are sure to be well
rewarded for the milk they give, by a present of bran, grain, or
some farinaceous preparation; their economy being very great in that
respect. These are commonly called Tetoukemah lots. You must not
imagine that every person on the island is either a landholder, or
concerned in rural operations; no, the greater part are at sea;
busily employed in their different fisheries; others are mere
strangers, who come to settle as handicrafts, mechanics, etc., and
even among the natives few are possessed of determinate shares of
land: for engaged in sea affairs, or trade, they are satisfied with
possessing a few sheep pastures, by means of which they may have
perhaps one or two cows. Many have but one, for the great number of
children they have, has caused such sub-divisions of the original
proprietorship as is sometimes puzzling to trace; and several of the
most fortunate at sea, have purchased and realised a great number of
these original pasture titles. The best land on the island is at
Palpus, remarkable for nothing but a house of entertainment. Quayes
is a small but valuable track, long since purchased by Mr. Coffin,
where he has erected the best house on the island. By long
attention, proximity of the sea, etc., this fertile spot has been
well manured, and is now the garden of Nantucket. Adjoining to it on
the west side there is a small stream, on which they have erected a
fulling mill; on the east is the lot, known by the name of Squam,
watered likewise by a small rivulet, on which stands another fulling
mill. Here is fine loamy soil, producing excellent clover, which is
mowed twice a year. These mills prepare all the cloth which is made
here: you may easily suppose that having so large a flock of sheep,
they abound in wool; part of this they export, and the rest is spun
by their industrious wives and converted into substantial garments.
To the south-east is a great division of the island, fenced by
itself, known by the name of Siasconcet lot. It is a very uneven
track of ground, abounding with swamps; here they turn in their fat
cattle, or such as they intend to stall-feed, for their winter's
provisions. It is on the shores of this part of the island, near
Pochick Rip, where they catch their best fish, such as sea bass,
tew-tag, or black fish, cod, smelt, perch, shadine, pike, etc. They
have erected a few fishing houses on this shore, as well as at
Sankate's Head, and Suffakatche Beach, where the fishermen dwell in
the fishing season. Many red cedar bushes and beach grass grow on
the peninsula of Coitou; the soil is light and sandy, and serves as
a receptacle for rabbits. It is here that their sheep find shelter
in the snow storms of the winter. At the north end of Nantucket,
there is a long point of land, projecting far into the sea, called
Sandy Point; nothing grows on it but plain grass; and this is the
place from whence they often catch porpoises and sharks, by a very
ingenious method. On this point they commonly drive their horses in
the spring of the year, in order to feed on the grass it bears,
which is useless when arrived at maturity. Between that point and
the main island they have a valuable salt meadow, called Croskaty,
with a pond of the same name famous for black ducks. Hence we must
return to Squam, which abounds in clover and herds grass; those who
possess it follow no maritime occupation, and therefore neglect
nothing that can render it fertile and profitable. The rest of the
undescribed part of the island is open, and serves as a common
pasture for their sheep. To the west of the island is that of
Tackanuck, where in the spring their young cattle are driven to
feed; it has a few oak bushes and two fresh-water ponds, abounding
with teals, brandts, and many other sea fowls, brought to this
island by the proximity of their sand banks and shallows; where
thousands are seen feeding at low water. Here they have neither
wolves nor foxes; those inhabitants therefore who live out of town,
raise with all security as much poultry as they want; their turkeys
are very large and excellent. In summer this climate is extremely
pleasant; they are not exposed to the scorching sun of the
continent, the heats being tempered by the sea breezes, with which
they are perpetually refreshed. In the winter, however, they pay
severely for those advantages; it is extremely cold; the northwest
wind, the tyrant of this country, after having escaped from our
mountains and forests, free from all impediment in its short
passage, blows with redoubled force and renders this island bleak
and uncomfortable. On the other hand, the goodness of their houses,
the social hospitality of their firesides, and their good cheer,
make them ample amends for the severity of the season; nor are the
snows so deep as on the main. The necessary and unavoidable
inactivity of that season, combined with the vegetative rest of
nature, force mankind to suspend their toils: often at this season
more than half the inhabitants of the island are at sea, fishing in
milder latitudes.

This island, as has been already hinted, appears to be the summit of
some huge sandy mountain, affording some acres of dry land for the
habitation of man; other submarine ones lie to the southward of
this, at different depths and different distances. This dangerous
region is well known to the mariners by the name of Nantucket
Shoals: these are the bulwarks which so powerfully defend this
island from the impulse of the mighty ocean, and repel the force of
its waves; which, but for the accumulated barriers, would ere now
have dissolved its foundations, and torn it in pieces. These are the
banks which afforded to the first inhabitants of Nantucket their
daily subsistence, as it was from these shoals that they drew the
origin of that wealth which they now possess; and was the school
where they first learned how to venture farther, as the fish of
their coast receded. The shores of this island abound with the soft-
shelled, the hard-shelled, and the great sea clams, a most
nutritious shell-fish. Their sands, their shallows are covered with
them; they multiply so fast, that they are a never-failing resource.
These and the great variety of fish they catch, constitute the
principal food of the inhabitants. It was likewise that of the
aborigines, whom the first settlers found here; the posterity of
whom still live together in decent houses along the shores of
Miacomet pond, on the south side of the island. They are an
industrious, harmless race, as expert and as fond of a seafaring
life as their fellow inhabitants the whites. Long before their
arrival they had been engaged in petty wars against one another; the
latter brought them peace, for it was in quest of peace that they
abandoned the main. This island was then supposed to be under the
jurisdiction of New York, as well as the islands of the Vineyard,
Elizabeth's, etc., but have been since adjudged to be a part of the
province of Massachusetts Bay. This change of jurisdiction procured
them that peace they wanted, and which their brethren had so long
refused them in the days of their religious frenzy: thus have
enthusiasm and persecution both in Europe as well as here, been the
cause of the most arduous undertakings, and the means of those rapid
settlements which have been made along these extended sea-shores.
This island, having been since incorporated with the neighbouring
province, is become one of its counties, known by the name of
Nantucket, as well as the island of the Vineyard, by that of Duke's
County. They enjoy here the same municipal establishment in common
with the rest; and therefore every requisite officer, such as
sheriff, justice of the peace, supervisors, assessors, constables,
overseer of the poor, etc. Their taxes are proportioned to those of
the metropolis, they are levied as with us by valuations, agreed on
and fixed, according to the laws of the province; and by assessments
formed by the assessors, who are yearly chosen by the people, and
whose office obliges them to take either an oath or an affirmation.
Two thirds of the magistrates they have here are of the society of
Friends.

Before I enter into the further detail of this people's government,
industry, mode of living, etc., I think it accessary to give you a
short sketch of the political state the natives had been in, a few
years preceding the arrival of the whites among them. They are
hastening towards a total annihilation, and this may be perhaps the
last compliment that will ever be paid them by any traveller. They
were not extirpated by fraud, violence, or injustice, as hath been
the case in so many provinces; on the contrary, they have been
treated by these people as brethren; the peculiar genius of their
sect inspiring them with the same spirit of moderation which was
exhibited at Pennsylvania. Before the arrival of the Europeans, they
lived on the fish of their shores; and it was from the same
resources the first settlers were compelled to draw their first
subsistence. It is uncertain whether the original right of the Earl
of Sterling, or that of the Duke of York, was founded on a fair
purchase of the soil or not; whatever injustice might have been
committed in that respect, cannot be charged to the account of those
Friends who purchased from others who no doubt founded their right
on Indian grants: and if their numbers are now so decreased, it must
not be attributed either to tyranny or violence, but to some of
those causes, which have uninterruptedly produced the same effects
from one end of the continent to the other, wherever both nations
have been mixed. This insignificant spot, like the sea-shores of the
great peninsula, was filled with these people; the great plenty of
clams, oysters, and other fish, on which they lived, and which they
easily catched, had prodigiously increased their numbers. History
does not inform us what particular nation the aborigines of
Nantucket were of; it is however very probable that they anciently
emigrated from the opposite coast, perhaps from the Hyannees, which
is but twenty-seven miles distant. As they then spoke and still
speak the Nattick, it is reasonable to suppose that they must have
had some affinity with that nation; or else that the Nattick, like
the Huron, in the north-western parts of this continent, must have
been the most prevailing one in this region. Mr. Elliot, an eminent
New England divine, and one of the first founders of that great
colony, translated the Bible into this language, in the year 1666,
which was printed soon after at Cambridge, near Boston; he
translated also the catechism, and many other useful books, which
are still very common on this island, and are daily made use of by
those Indians who are taught to read. The young Europeans learn it
with the same facility as their own tongues; and ever after speak it
both with ease and fluency. Whether the present Indians are the
decendants of the ancient natives of the island, or whether they are
the remains of the many different nations which once inhabited the
regions of Mashpe and Nobscusset, in the peninsula now known by the
name of Cape Cod, no one can positively tell, not even themselves.
The last opinion seems to be that of the most sensible people of the
island. So prevailing is the disposition of man to quarrel, and shed
blood; so prone is he to divisions and parties; that even the
ancient natives of this little spot were separated into two
communities, inveterately waging war against each other, like the
more powerful tribes of the continent. What do you imagine was the
cause of this national quarrel? All the coast of their island
equally abounded with the same quantity of fish and clams; in that
instance there could be no jealousy, no motives to anger; the
country afforded them no game; one would think this ought to have
been the country of harmony and peace. But behold the singular
destiny of the human kind, ever inferior, in many instances, to the
more certain instinct of animals; among which the individuals of the
same species are always friends, though reared in different
climates: they understand the same language, they shed not each
other's blood, they eat not each other's flesh. That part of these
rude people who lived on the eastern shores of the island, had from
time immemorial tried to destroy those who lived on the west; those
latter inspired with the same evil genius, had not been behind hand
in retaliating: thus was a perpetual war subsisting between these
people, founded on no other reason, but the adventitious place of
their nativity and residence. In process of time both parties became
so thin and depopulated, that the few who remained, fearing lest
their race should become totally extinct, fortunately thought of an
expedient which prevented their entire annihilation. Some years
before the Europeans came, they mutually agreed to settle a
partition line which should divide the island from north to south;
the people of the west agreed not to kill those of the east, except
they were found transgressing over the western part of the line;
those of the last entered into a reciprocal agreement. By these
simple means peace was established among them, and this is the only
record which seems to entitle them to the denomination of men. This
happy settlement put a stop to their sanguinary depredations, none
fell afterward but a few rash imprudent individuals; on the
contrary, they multiplied greatly. But another misfortune awaited
them; when the Europeans came they caught the smallpox, and their
improper treatment of that disorder swept away great numbers: this
calamity was succeeded by the use of rum; and these are the two
principal causes which so much diminished their numbers, not only
here but all over the continent. In some places whole nations have
disappeared. Some years ago three Indian canoes, on their return to
Detroit from the falls of Niagara, unluckily got the smallpox from
the Europeans with whom they had traded. It broke out near the long
point on Lake Erie, there they all perished; their canoes, and their
goods, were afterwards found by some travellers journeying the same
way; their dogs were still alive. Besides the smallpox, and the use
of spirituous liquors, the two greatest curses they have received
from us, there is a sort of physical antipathy, which is equally
powerful from one end of the continent to the other. Wherever they
happen to be mixed, or even to live in the neighbourhood of the
Europeans, they become exposed to a variety of accidents and
misfortunes to which they always fall victims: such are particular
fevers, to which they were strangers before, and sinking into a
singular sort of indolence and sloth. This has been invariably the
case wherever the same association has taken place; as at Nattick,
Mashpe, Soccanoket in the bounds of Falmouth, Nobscusset,
Houratonick, Monhauset, and the Vineyard. Even the Mohawks
themselves, who were once so populous, and such renowned warriors,
are now reduced to less than 200 since the European settlements have
circumscribed the territories which their ancestors had reserved.
Three years before the arrival of the Europeans at Cape Cod, a
frightful distemper had swept away a great many along its coasts,
which made the landing and intrusion of our forefathers much easier
than it otherwise might have been. In the year 1763, above half of
the Indians of this island perished by a strange fever, which the
Europeans who nursed them never caught; they appear to be a race
doomed to recede and disappear before the superior genius of the
Europeans. The only ancient custom of these people that is
remembered is, that in their mutual exchanges, forty sun-dried
clams, strung on a string, passed for the value of what might be
called a copper. They were strangers to the use and value of wampum,
so well known to those of the main. The few families now remaining
are meek and harmless; their ancient ferocity is gone: they were
early christianised by the New England missionaries, as well as
those of the Vineyard, and of several other parts of Massachusetts;
and to this day they remain strict observers of the laws and customs
of that religion, being carefully taught while young. Their
sedentary life has led them to this degree of civilisation much more
effectually, than if they had still remained hunters. They are fond
of the sea, and expert mariners. They have learned from the Quakers
the art of catching both the cod and whale, in consequence of which,
five of them always make part of the complement of men requisite to
fit out a whaleboat. Many have removed hither from the Vineyard, on
which account they are more numerous on Nantucket, than anywhere
else.

It is strange what revolution has happened among them in less than
two hundred years! What is become of those numerous tribes which
formerly inhabited the extensive shores of the great bay of
Massachusetts? Even from Numkeag (Salem), Saugus (Lynn), Shawmut
(Boston), Pataxet, Napouset (Milton), Matapan (Dorchester),
Winesimet (Chelsea), Poiasset, Pokanoket (New Plymouth), Suecanosset
(Falmouth), Titicut (Chatham). Nobscusset (Yarmouth), Naussit
(Eastham), Hyannees (Barnstable), etc., and many others who lived on
sea-shores of above three hundred miles in length; without
mentioning those powerful tribes which once dwelt between the rivers
Hudson, Connecticut, Piskataqua, and Kennebeck, the Mehikaudret,
Mohiguine, Pequods, Narragansets, Nianticks, Massachusetts,
Wamponougs, Nipnets, Tarranteens, etc.--They are gone, and every
memorial of them is lost; no vestiges whatever are left of those
swarms which once inhabited this country, and replenished both sides
of the great peninsula of Cape Cod: not even one of the posterity of
the famous Masconomeo is left (the sachem of Cape Ann); not one of
the descendants of Massasoit, father of Metacomet (Philip), and
Wamsutta (Alexander), he who first conveyed some lands to the
Plymouth Company. They have all disappeared either in the wars which
the Europeans carried on against them, or else they have mouldered
away, gathered in some of their ancient towns, in contempt and
oblivion: nothing remains of them all, but one extraordinary
monument, and even this they owe to the industry and religious zeal
of the Europeans, I mean the Bible translated into the Nattick
tongue. Many of these tribes giving way to the superior power of the
whites, retired to their ancient villages, collecting the scattered
remains of nations once populous; and in their grant of lands
reserved to themselves and posterity certain portions, which lay
contiguous to them. There forgetting their ancient manners, they
dwelt in peace; in a few years their territories were surrounded by
the improvements of the Europeans; in consequence of which they grew
lazy, inactive, unwilling, and unapt to imitate, or to follow any of
our trades, and in a few generations, either totally perished or
else came over to the Vineyard, or to this island, to re-unite
themselves with such societies of their countrymen as would receive
them. Such has been the fate of many nations, once warlike and
independent; what we see now on the main, or on those islands, may
be justly considered as the only remains of those ancient tribes.
Might I be permitted to pay perhaps a very useless compliment to
those at least who inhabited the great peninsula of Namset, now Cape
Cod, with whose names and ancient situation I am well acquainted.
This peninsula was divided into two great regions; that on the side
of the bay was known by the name of Nobscusset, from one of its
towns; the capital was called Nausit (now Eastham); hence the
Indians of that region were called Nausit Indians, though they dwelt
in the villages of Pamet, Nosset, Pashee, Potomaket, Soktoowoket,
Nobscusset (Yarmouth).

The region on the Atlantic side was called Mashpee, and contained
the tribes of Hyannees, Costowet, Waquoit, Scootin, Saconasset,
Mashpee, and Namset. Several of these Indian towns have been since
converted into flourishing European settlements, known by different
names; for as the natives were excellent judges of land, which they
had fertilised besides with the shells of their fish, etc., the
latter could not make a better choice; though in general this great
peninsula is but a sandy pine track, a few good spots excepted. It
is divided into seven townships, viz. Bamstable, Yarmouth, Harwich,
Chatham, Eastham, Pamet, Namset, or Province town, at the extremity
of the Cape. Yet these are very populous, though I am at a loss to
conceive on what the inhabitants live, besides clams, oysters, and
fish; their piny lands being the most ungrateful soil in the world.
The minister of Namset or Province Town, receives from the
government of Massachusetts a salary of fifty pounds per annum; and
such is the poverty of the inhabitants of that place, that, unable
to pay him any money, each master of a family is obliged to allow
him two hundred horse feet (sea spin) with which this primitive
priest fertilises the land of his glebe, which he tills himself: for
nothing will grow on these hungry soils without the assistance of
this extraordinary manure, fourteen bushels of Indian corn being
looked upon as a good crop. But it is time to return from a
digression, which I hope you will pardon. Nantucket is a great
nursery of seamen, pilots, coasters, and bank-fishermen; as a
country belonging to the province of Massachusetts, it has yearly
the benefit of a court of Common Pleas, and their appeal lies to the
supreme court at Boston. I observed before, that the Friends compose
two-thirds of the magistracy of this island; thus they are the
proprietors of its territory, and the principal rulers of its
inhabitants; but with all this apparatus of law, its coercive powers
are seldom wanted or required. Seldom is it that any individual is
amerced or punished; their jail conveys no terror; no man has lost
his life here judicially since the foundation of this town, which is
upwards of an hundred years. Solemn tribunals, public executions,
humiliating punishments, are altogether unknown. I saw neither
governors, nor any pageantry of state; neither ostentatious
magistrates, nor any individuals clothed with useless dignity: no
artificial phantoms subsist here either civil or religious; no
gibbets loaded with guilty citizens offer themselves to your view;
no soldiers are appointed to bayonet their compatriots into servile
compliance. But how is a society composed of 5000 individuals
preserved in the bonds of peace and tranquillity? How are the weak
protected from the strong?--I will tell you. Idleness and poverty,
the causes of so many crimes, are unknown here; each seeks in the
prosecution of his lawful business that honest gain which supports
them; every period of their time is full, either on shore or at sea.
A probable expectation of reasonable profits, or of kindly
assistance, if they fail of success, renders them strangers to
licentious expedients. The simplicity of their manners shortens the
catalogues of their wants; the law at a distance is ever ready to
exert itself in the protection of those who stand in need of its
assistance. The greatest part of them are always at sea, pursuing
the whale or raising the cod from the surface of the banks: some
cultivate their little farms with the utmost diligence; some are
employed in exercising various trades; others again in providing
every necessary resource in order to refit their vessels, or repair
what misfortunes may happen, looking out for future markets, etc.
Such is the rotation of those different scenes of business which
fill the measure of their days; of that part of their lives at least
which is enlivened by health, spirits, and vigour. It is but seldom
that vice grows on a barren sand like this, which produces nothing
without extreme labour. How could the common follies of society take
root in so despicable a soil; they generally thrive on its exuberant
juices: here there are none but those which administer to the
useful, to the necessary, and to the indispensable comforts of life.
This land must necessarily either produce health, temperance, and a
great equality of conditions, or the most abject misery. Could the
manners of luxurious countries be imported here, like an epidemical
disorder they would destroy everything; the majority of them could
not exist a month, they would be obliged to emigrate. As in all
societies except that of the natives, some difference must
necessarily exist between individual and individual, for there must
be some more exalted than the rest either by their riches or their
talents; so in this, there are what you might call the high, the
middling, and the low; and this difference will always be more
remarkable among people who live by sea excursions than among those
who live by the cultivation of their land. The first run greater
hazard, and adventure more: the profits and the misfortunes
attending this mode of life must necessarily introduce a greater
disparity than among the latter, where the equal divisions of the
land offers no short road to superior riches. The only difference
that may arise among them is that of industry, and perhaps of
superior goodness of soil: the gradations I observed here, are
founded on nothing more than the good or ill success of their
maritime enterprises, and do not proceed from education; that is the
same throughout every class, simple, useful, and unadorned like
their dress and their houses. This necessary difference in their
fortunes does not however cause those heart burnings, which in other
societies generate crimes. The sea which surrounds them is equally
open to all, and presents to all an equal title to the chance of
good fortune. A collector from Boston is the only king's officer who
appears on these shores to receive the trifling duties which this
community owe to those who protect them, and under the shadow of
whose wings they navigate to all parts of the world.




LETTER V

CUSTOMARY EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE INHABITANTS OF NANTUCKET


The easiest way of becoming acquainted with the modes of thinking,
the rules of conduct, and the prevailing manners of any people, is
to examine what sort of education they give their children; how they
treat them at home, and what they are taught in their places of
public worship. At home their tender minds must be early struck with
the gravity, the serious though cheerful deportment of their
parents; they are inured to a principle of subordination, arising
neither from sudden passions nor inconsiderate pleasure; they are
gently held by an uniform silk cord, which unites softness and
strength. A perfect equanimity prevails in most of their families,
and bad example hardly ever sows in their hearts the seeds of future
and similar faults. They are corrected with tenderness, nursed with
the most affectionate care, clad with that decent plainness, from
which they observe their parents never to depart: in short, by the
force of example, which is superior even to the strongest instinct
of nature, more than by precepts, they learn to follow the steps of
their parents, to despise ostentatiousness as being sinful. They
acquire a taste for neatness for which their fathers are so
conspicuous; they learn to be prudent and saving; the very tone of
voice with which they are always addressed, establishes in them that
softness of diction, which ever after becomes habitual. Frugal,
sober, orderly parents, attached to their business, constantly
following some useful occupation, never guilty of riot, dissipation,
or other irregularities, cannot fail of training up children to the
same uniformity of life and manners. If they are left with fortunes,
they are taught how to save them, and how to enjoy them with
moderation and decency; if they have none, they know how to venture,
how to work and toil as their fathers have done before them. If they
fail of success, there are always in this island (and wherever this
society prevails) established resources, founded on the most
benevolent principles. At their meetings they are taught the few,
the simple tenets of their sect; tenets as fit to render men sober,
industrious, just, and merciful, as those delivered in the most
magnificent churches and cathedrals: they are instructed in the most
essential duties of Christianity, so as not to offend the Divinity
by the commission of evil deeds; to dread his wrath and the
punishments he has denounced; they are taught at the same time to
have a proper confidence in his mercy while they deprecate his
justice. As every sect, from their different modes of worship, and
their different interpretations of some parts of the Scriptures,
necessarily have various opinions and prejudices, which contribute
something in forming their characters in society; so those of the
Friends are well known: obedience to the laws, even to non-
resistance, justice, goodwill to all, benevolence at home, sobriety,
meekness, neatness, love of order, fondness and appetite for
commerce. They are as remarkable here for those virtues as at
Philadelphia, which is their American cradle, and the boast of that
society. At schools they learn to read, and to write a good hand,
until they are twelve years old; they are then in general put
apprentices to the cooper's trade, which is the second essential
branch of business followed here; at fourteen they are sent to sea,
where in their leisure hours their companions teach them the art of
navigation, which they have an opportunity of practising on the
spot. They learn the great and useful art of working a ship in all
the different situations which the sea and wind so often require;
and surely there cannot be a better or a more useful school of that
kind in the world. Then they go gradually through every station of
rowers, steersmen, and harpooners; thus they learn to attack, to
pursue, to overtake, to cut, to dress their huge game: and after
having performed several such voyages, and perfected themselves in
this business, they are fit either for the counting house or the
chase.

The first proprietors of this island, or rather the first founders
of this town, began their career of industry with a single whale-
boat, with which they went to fish for cod; the small distance from
their shores at which they caught it, enabled them soon to increase
their business, and those early successes first led them to conceive
that they might likewise catch the whales, which hitherto sported
undisturbed on their banks. After many trials and several
miscarriages, they succeeded; thus they proceeded, step by step; the
profits of one successful enterprise helped them to purchase and
prepare better materials for a more extensive one: as these were
attended with little costs, their profits grew greater. The south
sides of the island from east to west, were divided into four equal
parts, and each part was assigned to a company of six, which though
thus separated, still carried on their business in common. In the
middle of this distance, they erected a mast, provided with a
sufficient number of rounds, and near it they built a temporary hut,
where five of the associates lived, whilst the sixth from his high
station carefully looked toward the sea, in order to observe the
spouting of the whales. As soon as any were discovered, the sentinel
descended, the whale-boat was launched, and the company went forth
in quest of their game. It may appear strange to you, that so
slender a vessel as an American whale-boat, containing six
diminutive beings, should dare to pursue and to attack, in its
native element, the largest and strongest fish that nature has
created. Yet by the exertions of an admirable dexterity, improved by
a long practice, in which these people are become superior to any
other whale-men; by knowing the temper of the whale after her first
movement, and by many other useful observations; they seldom failed
to harpoon it, and to bring the huge leviathan on the shores. Thus
they went on until the profits they made, enabled them to purchase
larger vessels, and to pursue them farther, when the whales quitted
their coasts; those who failed in their enterprises, returned to the
cod-fisheries, which had been their first school, and their first
resource; they even began to visit the banks of Cape Breton, the
isle of Sable, and all the other fishing places, with which this
coast of America abounds. By degrees they went a-whaling to
Newfoundland, to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to the Straits of
Belleisle, the coast of Labrador, Davis's Straits, even to Cape
Desolation, in 70 degrees of latitude; where the Danes carry on some
fisheries in spite of the perpetual severities of the inhospitable
climate. In process of time they visited the western islands, the
latitude of 34 degrees famous for that fish, the Brazils, the coast
of Guinea. Would you believe that they have already gone to the
Falkland Islands, and that I have heard several of them talk of
going to the South Sea! Their confidence is so great, and their
knowledge of this branch of business so superior to that of any
other people, that they have acquired a monopoly of this commodity.
Such were their feeble beginnings, such the infancy and the progress
of their maritime schemes; such is now the degree of boldness and
activity to which they are arrived in their manhood. After their
examples several companies have been formed in many of our capitals,
where every necessary article of provisions, implements, and timber,
are to be found. But the industry exerted by the people of
Nantucket, hath hitherto enabled them to rival all their
competitors; consequently this is the greatest mart for oil,
whalebone, and spermaceti, on the continent. It does not follow
however that they are always successful, this would be an
extraordinary field indeed, where the crops should never fail; many
voyages do not repay the original cost of fitting out: they bear
such misfortunes like true merchants, and as they never venture
their all like gamesters, they try their fortunes again; the latter
hope to win by chance alone, the former by industry, well judged
speculation, and some hazard. I was there when Mr.----had missed one
of his vessels; she had been given over for lost by everybody, but
happily arrived before I came away, after an absence of thirteen
months. She had met with a variety of disappointments on the station
she was ordered to, and rather than return empty, the people steered
for the coast of Guinea, where they fortunately fell in with several
whales, and brought home upward of 600 barrels of oil, beside bone.
Those returns are sometimes disposed of in the towns on the
continent, where they are exchanged for such commodities as are
wanted; but they are most commonly sent to England, where they
always sell for cash. When this is intended, a vessel larger than
the rest is fitted out to be filled with oil on the spot where it is
found and made, and thence she sails immediately for London. This
expedient saves time, freight, and expense; and from that capital
they bring back whatever they want. They employ also several vessels
in transporting lumber to the West Indian Islands, from whence they
procure in return the various productions of the country, which they
afterwards exchange wherever they can hear of an advantageous
market. Being extremely acute they well know how to improve all the
advantages which the combination of so many branches of business
constantly affords; the spirit of commerce, which is the simple art
of a reciprocal supply of wants, is well understood here by
everybody. They possess, like the generality of Americans, a large
share of native penetration, activity, and good sense, which lead
them to a variety of other secondary schemes too tedious to mention:
they are well acquainted with the cheapest method of procuring
lumber from Kennebeck river, Penobscot, etc., pitch and tar, from
North Carolina; flour and biscuit, from Philadelphia; beef and pork,
from Connecticut. They know how to exchange their cod fish and West-
Indian produce, for those articles which they are continually either
bringing to their island, or sending off to other places where they
are wanted. By means of all these commercial negotiations, they have
greatly cheapened the fitting out of their whaling fleets, and
therefore much improved their fisheries. They are indebted for all
these advantages not only to their national genius but to the
poverty of their soil; and as proof of what I have so often
advanced, look at the Vineyard (their neighbouring island) which is
inhabited by a set of people as keen and as sagacious as themselves.
Their soil being in general extremely fertile, they have fewer
navigators; though they are equally well situated for the fishing
business. As in my way back to Falmouth on the main, I visited this
sister island, permit me to give you as concisely as I can, a short
but true description of it; I am not so limited in the principal
object of this journey, as to wish to confine myself to the single
spot of Nantucket.




LETTER VI

DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD; AND OF THE WHALE
FISHERY


This island is twenty miles in length, and from seven to eight miles
in breadth. It lies nine miles from the continent, and with the
Elizabeth Islands forms one of the counties of Massachusetts Bay,
known by the name of Duke's County. Those latter, which are six in
number, are about nine miles distant from the Vineyard, and are all
famous for excellent dairies. A good ferry is established between
the Edgar Town, and Falmouth on the main, the distance being nine
miles. Martha's Vineyard is divided into three townships, viz.
Edgar, Chilmark, and Tisbury; the number of inhabitants is computed
at about 4000, 300 of which are Indians. Edgar is the best seaport,
and the shire town, and as its soil is light and sandy, many of its
inhabitants follow the example of the people of Nantucket. The town
of Chilmark has no good harbour, but the land is excellent and no
way inferior to any on the continent: it contains excellent
pastures, convenient brooks for mills, stone for fencing, etc. The
town of Tisbury is remarkable for the excellence of its timber, and
has a harbour where the water is deep enough for ships of the line.
The stock of the island is 20,000 sheep, 2000 neat cattle, beside
horses and goats; they have also some deer, and abundance of sea-
fowls. This has been from the beginning, and is to this day, the
principal seminary of the Indians; they live on that part of the
island which is called Chapoquidick, and were very early
christianised by the respectable family of the Mahews, the first
proprietors of it. The first settler of that name conveyed by will
to a favourite daughter a certain part of it, on which there grew
many wild vines; thence it was called Martha's Vineyard, after her
name, which in process of time extended to the whole island. The
posterity of the ancient Aborigines remain here to this day, on
lands which their forefathers reserved for themselves, and which are
religiously kept from any encroachments. The New England people are
remarkable for the honesty with which they have fulfilled, all over
that province, those ancient covenants which in many others have
been disregarded, to the scandal of those governments. The Indians
there appeared, by the decency of their manners, their industry, and
neatness, to be wholly Europeans, and nowise inferior to many of the
inhabitants. Like them they are sober, laborious, and religious,
which are the principal characteristics of the four New England
provinces. They often go, like the young men of the Vineyard, to
Nantucket, and hire themselves for whalemen or fishermen; and indeed
their skill and dexterity in all sea affairs is nothing inferior to
that of the whites. The latter are divided into two classes, the
first occupy the land, which they till with admirable care and
knowledge; the second, who are possessed of none, apply themselves
to the sea, the general resource of mankind in this part of the
world. This island therefore, like Nantucket, is become a great
nursery which supplies with pilots and seamen the numerous coasters
with which this extended part of America abounds. Go where you will
from Nova Scotia to the Mississippi, you will find almost everywhere
some natives of these two islands employed in seafaring occupations.
Their climate is so favourable to population, that marriage is the
object of every man's earliest wish; and it is a blessing so easily
obtained, that great numbers are obliged to quit their native land
and go to some other countries in quest of subsistence. The
inhabitants are all Presbyterians, which is the established religion
of Massachusetts; and here let me remember with gratitude the
hospitable treatment I received from B. Norton, Esq., the colonel of
the island, as well as from Dr. Mahew, the lineal descendant of the
first proprietor. Here are to be found the most expert pilots,
either for the great bay, their sound, Nantucket shoals, or the
different ports in their neighbourhood. In stormy weather they are
always at sea, looking out for vessels, which they board with
singular dexterity, and hardly ever fail to bring safe to their
intended harbour. Gay-Head, the western point of this island,
abounds with a variety of ochres of different colours, with which
the inhabitants paint their houses.

The vessels most proper for whale fishing are brigs of about 150
tons burthen, particularly when they are intended for distant
latitudes; they always man them with thirteen hands, in order that
they may row two whale-boats; the crews of which must necessarily
consist of six, four at the oars, one standing on the bows with the
harpoon, and the other at the helm. It is also necessary that there
should be two of these boats, that if one should be destroyed in
attacking the whale, the other, which is never engaged at the same
time, may be ready to save the hands. Five of the thirteen are
always Indians; the last of the complement remains on board to steer
the vessel during the action. They have no wages; each draws a
certain established share in partnership with the proprietor of the
vessel; by which economy they are all proportionately concerned in
the success of the enterprise, and all equally alert and vigilant.
None of these whalemen ever exceed the age of forty: they look on
those who are past that period not to be possessed of all that
vigour and agility which so adventurous a business requires. Indeed
if you attentively consider the immense disproportion between the
object assailed and the assailants; if you think on the diminutive
size, and weakness of their frail vehicle; if you recollect the
treachery of the element on which this scene is transacted; the
sudden and unforeseen accidents of winds, etc., you will readily
acknowledge that it must require the most consummate exertion of all
the strength, agility, and judgment, of which the bodies and minds
of men are capable, to undertake these adventurous encounters.

As soon as they arrive in those latitudes where they expect to meet
with whales, a man is sent up to the mast head; if he sees one, he
immediately cries out AWAITE PAWANA, here is a whale: they all
remain still and silent until he repeats PAWANA, a whale, when in
less than six minutes the two boats are launched, filled with every
implement necessary for the attack. They row toward the whale with
astonishing velocity; and as the Indians early became their fellow-
labourers in this new warfare, you can easily conceive how the
Nattick expressions became familiar on board the whale-boats.
Formerly it often happened that whale vessels were manned with none
but Indians and the master; recollect also that the Nantucket people
understand the Nattick, and that there are always five of these
people on board. There are various ways of approaching the whale,
according to their peculiar species; and this previous knowledge is
of the utmost consequence. When these boats are arrived at a
reasonable distance, one of them rests on its oars and stands off,
as a witness of the approaching engagement; near the bows of the
other the harpooner stands up, and on him principally depends the
success of the enterprise. He wears a jacket closely buttoned, and
round his head a handkerchief tightly bound: in his hands he holds
the dreadful weapon, made of the best steel, marked sometimes with
the name of their town, and sometimes with that of their vessel; to
the shaft of which the end of a cord of due length, coiled up with
the utmost care in the middle of the boat, is firmly tied; the other
end is fastened to the bottom of the boat. Thus prepared they row in
profound silence, leaving the whole conduct of the enterprise to the
harpooner and to the steersman, attentively following their
directions. When the former judges himself to be near enough to the
whale, that is, at the distance of about fifteen feet, he bids them
stop; perhaps she has a calf, whose safety attracts all the
attention of the dam, which is a favourable circumstance; perhaps
she is of a dangerous species, and it is safest to retire, though
their ardour will seldom permit them; perhaps she is asleep, in that
case he balances high the harpoon, trying in this important moment
to collect all the energy of which he is capable. He launches it
forth--she is struck: from her first movements they judge of her
temper, as well as of their future success. Sometimes in the
immediate impulse of rage, she will attack the boat and demolish it
with one stroke of her tail; in an instant the frail vehicle
disappears and the assailants are immersed in the dreadful element.
Were the whale armed with the jaws of a shark, and as voracious,
they never would return home to amuse their listening wives with the
interesting tale of the adventure. At other times she will dive and
disappear from human sight; and everything must give way to her
velocity, or else all is lost. Sometimes she will swim away as if
untouched, and draw the cord with such swiftness that it will set
the edge of the boat on fire by the friction. If she rises before
she has run out the whole length, she is looked upon as a sure prey.
The blood she has lost in her flight, weakens her so much, that if
she sinks again, it is but for a short time; the boat follows her
course with almost equal speed. She soon re-appears; tired at last
with convulsing the element; which she tinges with her blood, she
dies, and floats on the surface. At other times it may happen that
she is not dangerously wounded, though she carries the harpoon fast
in her body; when she will alternately dive and rise, and swim on
with unabated vigour. She then soon reaches beyond the length of the
cord, and carries the boat along with amazing velocity: this sudden
impediment sometimes will retard her speed, at other times it only
serves to rouse her anger, and to accelerate her progress. The
harpooner, with the axe in his hands, stands ready. When he observes
that the bows of the boat are greatly pulled down by the diving
whale, and that it begins to sink deep and to take much water, he
brings the axe almost in contact with the cord; he pauses, still
flattering himself that she will relax; but the moment grows
critical, unavoidable danger approaches: sometimes men more intent
on gain, than on the preservation of their lives, will run great
risks; and it is wonderful how far these people have carried their
daring courage at this awful moment! But it is vain to hope, their
lives must be saved, the cord is cut, the boat rises again. If after
thus getting loose, she re-appears, they will attack and wound her a
second time. She soon dies, and when dead she is towed alongside of
their vessel, where she is fastened.

The next operation is to cut with axes and spades, every part of her
body which yields oil; the kettles are set a boiling, they fill
their barrels as fast as it is made; but as this operation is much
slower than that of cutting up, they fill the hold of their ship
with those fragments, lest a storm should arise and oblige them to
abandon their prize. It is astonishing what a quantity of oil some
of these fish will yield, and what profit it affords to those who
are fortunate enough to overtake them.

The river St. Lawrence whale, which is the only one I am well
acquainted with, is seventy-five feet long, sixteen deep, twelve in
the length of its bone, which commonly weighs 3000 lbs., twenty in
the breadth of their tails and produces 180 barrels of oil: I once
saw 16 boiled out of the tongue only. After having once vanquished
this leviathan, there are two enemies to be dreaded beside the wind;
the first of which is the shark: that fierce voracious fish, to
which nature has given such dreadful offensive weapons, often comes
alongside, and in spite of the people's endeavours, will share with
them their prey; at night particularly. They are very mischievious,
but the second enemy is much more terrible and irresistible; it is
the killer, sometimes called the thrasher, a species of whales about
thirty feet long. They are possessed of such a degree of agility and
fierceness, as often to attack the largest spermaceti whales, and
not seldom to rob the fishermen of their prey; nor is there any
means of defence against so potent an adversary. When all their
barrels are full, for everything is done at sea, or when their
limited time is expired and their stores almost expended, they
return home, freighted with their valuable cargo; unless they have
put it on board a vessel for the European market. Such are, as
briefly as I can relate them, the different branches of the economy
practised by these bold navigators, and the method with which they
go such distances from their island to catch this huge game.

The following are the names and principal characteristics of the
various species of whales known to these people:

The St. Lawrence whale, just described.

The disko, or Greenland ditto.

The right whale, or seven feet bone, common on the coasts of this
country, about sixty feet long. The spermaceti whale, found all over
the world, and of all sizes; the longest are sixty feet, and yield
about 100 barrels of oil.

The hump-backs, on the coast of Newfoundland, from forty to seventy
feet in length.

The finn-back, an American whale, never killed, as being too swift.

The sulphur-bottom, river St. Lawrence, ninety foot long; they are
but seldom killed, as being extremely swift.

The grampus, thirty feet long, never killed on the same account.

The killer or thrasher, about thirty feet; they often kill the other
whales with which they are at perpetual war.

The black fish whale, twenty feet, yields from eight to ten barrels.

The porpoise, weighing about 160 lb.

In 1769 they fitted out 125 whalemen; the first fifty that returned
brought with them 11,000 barrels of oil. In 1770 they fitted out 135
vessels for the fisheries, at thirteen hands each; four West-
Indiamen, twelve hands; twenty-five wood vessels, four hands;
eighteen coasters, five hands; fifteen London traders, eleven hands.
All these amount to 2158 hands, employed in 197 vessels. Trace their
progressive steps between the possession of a few whale-boats, and
that of such a fleet!

The moral conduct, prejudices, and customs of a people who live two-
thirds of their time at sea, must naturally be very different from
those of their neighbours, who live by cultivating the earth. That
long abstemiousness to which the former are exposed, the breathing
of saline air, the frequent repetitions of danger, the boldness
acquired in surmounting them, the very impulse of the winds, to
which they are exposed; all these, one would imagine must lead them,
when on shore, to no small desire of inebriation, and a more eager
pursuit of those pleasures, of which they have been so long
deprived, and which they must soon forego. There are many appetites
that may be gratified on shore, even by the poorest man, but which
must remain unsatisfied at sea. Yet notwithstanding the powerful
effects of all these causes, I observed here, at the return of their
fleets, no material irregularities; no tumultuous drinking
assemblies: whereas in our continental towns, the thoughtless seaman
indulges himself in the coarsest pleasures; and vainly thinking that
a week of debauchery can compensate for months of abstinence,
foolishly lavishes in a few days of intoxication, the fruits of half
a year's labour. On the contrary all was peace here, and a general
decency prevailed throughout; the reason I believe is, that almost
everybody here is married, for they get wives very young; and the
pleasure of returning to their families absorbs every other desire.
The motives that lead them to the sea, are very different from those
of most other sea-faring men; it is neither idleness nor profligacy
that sends them to that element; it is a settled plan of life, a
well founded hope of earning a livelihood; it is because their soil
is bad, that they are early initiated to this profession, and were
they to stay at home, what could they do? The sea therefore becomes
to them a kind of patrimony; they go to whaling with as much
pleasure and tranquil indifference, with as strong an expectation of
success, as a landsman undertakes to clear a piece of swamp. The
first is obliged to advance his time, and labour, to procure oil on
the surface of the sea; the second advances the same to procure
himself grass from grounds that produced nothing before but hassocks
and bogs. Among those who do not use the sea, I observed the same
calm appearance as among the inhabitants on the continent; here I
found, without gloom, a decorum and reserve, so natural to them,
that I thought myself in Philadelphia. At my landing I was cordially
received by those to whom I was recommended, and treated with
unaffected hospitality by such others with whom I became acquainted;
and I can tell you, that it is impossible for any traveller to dwell
here one month without knowing the heads of the principal families.
Wherever I went I found a simplicity of diction and manners, rather
more primitive and rigid than I expected; and I soon perceived that
it proceeded from their secluded situation, which has prevented them
from mixing with others. It is therefore easy to conceive how they
have retained every degree of peculiarity for which this sect was
formerly distinguished. Never was a bee-hive more faithfully
employed in gathering wax, bee-bread, and honey, from all the
neighbouring fields, than are the members of this society; every one
in the town follows some particular occupation with great diligence,
but without that servility of labour which I am informed prevails in
Europe. The mechanic seemed to be descended from as good parentage,
was as well dressed and fed, and held in as much estimation as those
who employed him; they were once nearly related; their different
degrees of prosperity is what has caused the various shades of their
community. But this accidental difference has introduced, as yet,
neither arrogance nor pride on the one part, nor meanness and
servility on the other. All their houses are neat, convenient, and
comfortable; some of them are filled with two families, for when the
husbands are at sea, the wives require less house-room. They all
abound with the most substantial furniture, more valuable from its
usefulness than from any ornamental appearance. Wherever I went, I
found good cheer, a welcome reception; and after the second visit I
felt myself as much at my ease as if I had been an old acquaintance
of the family. They had as great plenty of everything as if their
island had been part of the golden quarter of Virginia (a valuable
track of land on Cape Charles): I could hardly persuade myself that
I had quitted the adjacent continent, where everything abounds, and
that I was on a barren sand-bank, fertilised with whale oil only. As
their rural improvements are but trifling, and only of the useful
kind, and as the best of them are at a considerable distance from
the town, I amused myself for several days in conversing with the
most intelligent of the inhabitants of both sexes, and making myself
acquainted with the various branches of their industry; the
different objects of their trade; the nature of that sagacity which,
deprived as they are of every necessary material, produce, etc., yet
enables them to flourish, to live well, and sometimes to make
considerable fortunes. The whole is an enigma to be solved only by
coming to the spot and observing the national genius which the
original founders brought with them, as well as their unwearied
patience and perseverance. They have all, from the highest to the
lowest, a singular keenness of judgment, unassisted by any
academical light; they all possess a large share of good sense,
improved upon the experience of their fathers; and this is the
surest and best guide to lead us through the path of life, because
it approaches nearest to the infallibility of instinct. Shining
talents and University knowledge, would be entirely useless here,
nay, would be dangerous; it would pervert their plain judgment, it
would lead them out of that useful path which is so well adapted to
their situation; it would make them more adventurous, more
presumptuous, much less cautious, and therefore less successful. It
is pleasing to hear some of them tracing a father's progress and
their own, through the different vicissitudes of good and adverse
fortune. I have often, by their fire-sides, travelled with them the
whole length of their career, from their earliest steps, from their
first commercial adventure, from the possession of a single whale-
boat, up to that of a dozen large vessels! This does not imply,
however, that every one who began with a whale-boat, has ascended to
a like pitch of fortune; by no means, the same casualty, the same
combination of good and evil which attends human affairs in every
other part of the globe, prevails here: a great prosperity is not
the lot of every man, but there are many and various gradations; if
they all do not attain riches, they all attain an easy subsistence.
After all, is it not better to be possessed of a single whale-boat,
or a few sheep pastures; to live free and independent under the
mildest governments, in a healthy climate, in a land of charity and
benevolence; than to be wretched as so many are in Europe,
possessing nothing but their industry: tossed from one rough wave to
another; engaged either in the most servile labours for the smallest
pittance, or fettered with the links of the most irksome dependence,
even without the hopes of rising?

The majority of those inferior hands which are employed in this
fishery, many of the mechanics, such as coopers, smiths, caulkers,
carpenters, etc., who do not belong to the society of Friends, are
Presbyterians, and originally came from the main. Those who are
possessed of the greatest fortunes at present belong to the former;
but they all began as simple whalemen: it is even looked upon as
honourable and necessary for the son of the wealthiest man to serve
an apprenticeship to the same bold, adventurous business which has
enriched his father; they go several voyages, and these early
excursions never fail to harden their constitutions, and introduce
them to the knowledge of their future means of subsistence.




LETTER VII

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS AT NANTUCKET


As I observed before, every man takes a wife as soon as he chooses,
and that is generally very early; no portion is required, none is
expected; no marriage articles are drawn up among us, by skilful
lawyers, to puzzle and lead posterity to the bar, or to satisfy the
pride of the parties. We give nothing with our daughters, their
education, their health, and the customary out-set, are all that the
fathers of numerous families can afford: as the wife's fortune
consists principally in her future economy, modesty, and skilful
management; so the husband's is founded on his abilities to labour,
on his health, and the knowledge of some trade or business. Their
mutual endeavours, after a few years of constant application, seldom
fail of success, and of bringing them the means to rear and support
the new race which accompanies the nuptial bed. Those children born
by the sea-side, hear the roaring of its waves as soon as they are
able to listen; it is the first noise with which they become
acquainted, and by early plunging in it they acquire that boldness,
that presence of mind, and dexterity, which makes them ever after
such expert seamen. They often hear their fathers recount the
adventures of their youth, their combats with the whales; and these
recitals imprint on their opening minds an early curiosity and taste
for the same life. They often cross the sea to go to the main, and
learn even in those short voyages how to qualify themselves for
longer and more dangerous ones; they are therefore deservedly
conspicuous for their maritime knowledge and experience, all over
the continent. A man born here is distinguishable by his gait from
among an hundred other men, so remarkable are they for a pliability
of sinews, and a peculiar agility, which attends them even to old
age. I have heard some persons attribute this to the effects of the
whale oil, with which they are so copiously anointed in the various
operations it must undergo ere it is fit either for the European
market or the candle manufactory.

But you may perhaps be solicitous to ask, what becomes of that
exuberancy of population which must arise from so much temperance,
from healthiness of climate, and from early marriage? You may justly
conclude that their native island and town can contain but a limited
number. Emigration is both natural and easy to a maritime people,
and that is the very reason why they are always populous,
problematical as it may appear. They yearly go to different parts of
this continent, constantly engaged in sea affairs; as our internal
riches increase, so does our external trade, which consequently
requires more ships and more men: sometimes they have emigrated like
bees, in regular and connected swarms. Some of the Friends (by which
word I always mean the people called Quakers) fond of a
contemplative life, yearly visit the several congregations which
this society has formed throughout the continent. By their means a
sort of correspondence is kept up among them all; they are generally
good preachers, friendly censors, checking vice wherever they find
it predominating; preventing relaxations in any parts of their
ancient customs and worship. They everywhere carry admonition and
useful advice; and by thus travelling they unavoidably gather the
most necessary observations concerning the various situations of
particular districts, their soils, their produce, their distance
from navigable rivers, the price of land, etc. In consequence of
informations of this kind, received at Nantucket in the year 1766, a
considerable number of them purchased a large track of land in the
county of Orange, in North Carolina, situated on the several spring
heads of Deep River, which is the western branch of Cape Fear, or
North-West River. The advantage of being able to convey themselves
by sea, to within forty miles of the spot, the richness of the soil,
etc., made them cheerfully quit an island on which there was no
longer any room for them. There they have founded a beautiful
settlement, known by the name of New Garden, contiguous to the
famous one which the Moravians have at Bethabara, Bethamia, and
Salem, on Yadkin River. No spot of earth can be more beautiful; it
is composed of gentle hills, of easy declivities, excellent low
lands, accompanied by different brooks which traverse this
settlement. I never saw a soil that rewards men so early for their
labours and disbursements; such in general with very few exceptions,
are the lands which adjoin the innumerable heads of all the large
rivers which fall into the Chesapeak, or flow through the provinces
of North and South Carolina, Georgia, etc. It is perhaps the most
pleasing, the most bewitching country which the continent affords;
because while it preserves an easy communication with the sea-port
towns, at some seasons of the year, it is perfectly free from the
contagious air often breathed in those flat countries, which are
more contiguous to the Atlantic. These lands are as rich as those
over the Alleghany; the people of New Garden are situated at the
distance of between 200 and 300 miles from Cape Fear; Cape Fear is
at least 450 from Nantucket: you may judge therefore that they have
but little correspondence with this their little metropolis, except
it is by means of the itinerant Friends. Others have settled on the
famous river Kennebeck, in that territory of the province of
Massachusetts, which is known by the name of Sagadahock. Here they
have softened the labours of clearing the heaviest timbered land in
America, by means of several branches of trade which their fair
river, and proximity to the sea affords them. Instead of entirely
consuming their timber, as we are obliged to do, some parts of it
are converted into useful articles for exportation, such as staves,
scantlings, boards, hoops, poles, etc. For that purpose they keep a
correspondence with their native island, and I know many of the
principal inhabitants of Sherburn, who, though merchants, and living
at Nantucket, yet possess valuable farms on that river; from whence
they draw great part of their subsistence, meat, grain, fire-wood,
etc. The title of these lands is vested in the ancient Plymouth
Company, under the powers of which the Massachusetts was settled;
and that company which resides in Boston, are still the granters of
all the vacant lands within their limits.

Although this part of the province is so fruitful, and so happily
situated, yet it has been singularly overlooked and neglected: it is
surprising that the excellence of that soil which lies on the river
should not have caused it to be filled before now with inhabitants;
for the settlements from thence to Penobscot are as yet but in their
infancy. It is true that immense labour is required to make room for
the plough, but the peculiar strength and quality of the soil never
fails most amply to reward the industrious possessor; I know of no
soil in this country more rich or more fertile. I do not mean that
sort of transitory fertility which evaporates with the sun, and
disappears in a few years; here on the contrary, even their highest
grounds are covered with a rich moist swamp mould, which bears the
most luxuriant grass, and never-failing crops of grain.

If New Gardens exceeds this settlement by the softness of its
climate, the fecundity of its soil, and a greater variety of produce
from less labour; it does not breed men equally hardy, nor capable
to encounter dangers and fatigues. It leads too much to idleness and
effeminacy; for great is the luxuriance of that part of America, and
the ease with which the earth is cultivated. Were I to begin life
again, I would prefer the country of Kennebeck to the other, however
bewitching; the navigation of the river for above 200 miles, the
great abundance of fish it contains, the constant healthiness of the
climate, the happy severities of the winters always sheltering the
earth with a voluminous coat of snow, the equally happy necessity of
labour: all these reasons would greatly preponderate against the
softer situations of Carolina; where mankind reap too much, do not
toil enough, and are liable to enjoy too fast the benefits of life.
There are many I know who would despise my opinion, and think me a
bad judge; let those go and settle at the Ohio, the Monongahela, Red
Stone Creek, etc., let them go and inhabit the extended shores of
that superlative river; I with equal cheerfulness would pitch my
tent on the rougher shores of Kennebeck; this will always be a
country of health, labour, and strong activity, and those are
characteristics of society which I value more than greater opulence
and voluptuous ease.

Thus though this fruitful hive constantly sends out swarms, as
industrious as themselves, yet it always remains full without having
any useless drones: on the contrary it exhibits constant scenes of
business and new schemes; the richer an individual grows, the more
extensive his field of action becomes; he that is near ending his
career, drudges on as well as he who has just begun it; nobody
stands still. But is it not strange, that after having accumulated
riches, they should never wish to exchange their barren situation
for a more sheltered, more pleasant one on the main? Is it not
strange, that after having spent the morning and the meridian of
their days amidst the jarring waves, weary with the toils of a
laborious life, they should not wish to enjoy the evenings of those
days of industry in a larger society, on some spots of terra firma,
where the severity of the winters is balanced by a variety of more
pleasing scenes, not to be found here? But the same magical power of
habit and custom which makes the Laplander, the Siberian, the
Hottentot, prefer their climates, their occupations, and their soil,
to more beneficial situations, leads these good people to think,
that no other spot on the globe is so analagous to their
inclinations as Nantucket. Here their connections are formed; what
would they do at a distance removed from them? Live sumptuously, you
will say, procure themselves new friends, new acquaintances, by
their splendid tables, by their ostentatious generosity, and by
affected hospitality. These are thoughts that have never entered
into their heads; they would be filled with horror at the thought of
forming wishes and plans so different from that simplicity, which is
their general standard in affluence as well as in poverty. They
abhor the very idea of expending in useless waste and vain luxuries,
the fruits of prosperous labour; they are employed in establishing
their sons and in many other useful purposes: strangers to the
honours of monarchy they do not aspire to the possession of affluent
fortunes, with which to purchase sounding titles, and frivolous
names!

Yet there are not at Nantucket so many wealthy people as one would
imagine after having considered their great successes, their
industry, and their knowledge. Many die poor, though hardly able to
reproach Fortune with a frown; others leave not behind them that
affluence which the circle of their business and of their prosperity
naturally promised. The reason of this is, I believe, the peculiar
expense necessarily attending their tables; for as their island
supplies the town with little or nothing (a few families excepted)
every one must procure what they want from the main. The very hay
their horses consume, and every other article necessary to support a
family, though cheap in a country of so great abundance as
Massachusetts; yet the necessary waste and expenses attending their
transport, render these commodities dear. A vast number of little
vessels from the main, and from the Vineyard, are constantly
resorting here, as to a market. Sherburn is extremely well supplied
with everything, but this very constancy of supply, necessarily
drains off a great deal of money. The first use they make of their
oil and bone is to exchange it for bread and meat, and whatever else
they want; the necessities of a large family are very great and
numerous, let its economy be what it will; they are so often
repeated, that they perpetually draw off a considerable branch of
the profits. If by any accidents those profits are interrupted, the
capital must suffer; and it very often happens that the greatest
part of their property is floating on the sea.

There are but two congregations in this town. They assemble every
Sunday in meeting houses, as simple as the dwelling of the people;
and there is but one priest on the whole island. What would a good
Portuguese observe?--But one single priest to instruct a whole
island, and to direct their consciences! It is even so; each
individual knows how to guide his own, and is content to do it, as
well as he can. This lonely clergyman is a Presbyterian minister,
who has a very large and respectable congregation; the other is
composed of Quakers, who you know admit of no particular person, who
in consequence of being ordained becomes exclusively entitled to
preach, to catechise, and to receive certain salaries for his
trouble. Among them, every one may expound the Scriptures, who
thinks he is called so to do; beside, as they admit of neither
sacrament, baptism, nor any other outward forms whatever, such a man
would be useless. Most of these people are continually at sea, and
have often the most urgent reasons to worship the Parent of Nature
in the midst of the storms which they encounter. These two sects
live in perfect peace and harmony with each other; those ancient
times of religious discords are now gone (I hope never to return)
when each thought it meritorious, not only to damn the other, which
would have been nothing, but to persecute and murther one another,
for the glory of that Being, who requires no more of us, than that
we should love one another and live! Every one goes to that place of
worship which he likes best, and thinks not that his neighbour does
wrong by not following him; each busily employed in their temporal
affairs, is less vehement about spiritual ones, and fortunately you
will find at Nantucket neither idle drones, voluptuous devotees,
ranting enthusiasts, nor sour demagogues. I wish I had it in my
power to send the most persecuting bigot I could find in----to the
whale fisheries; in less than three or four years you would find him
a much more tractable man, and therefore a better Christian.

Singular as it may appear to you, there are but two medical
professors on the island; for of what service can physic be in a
primitive society, where the excesses of inebriation are so rare?
What need of galenical medicines, where fevers, and stomachs loaded
by the loss of the digestive powers, are so few? Temperance, the
calm of passions, frugality, and continual exercise, keep them
healthy, and preserve unimpaired that constitution which they have
received from parents as healthy as themselves; who in the
unpolluted embraces of the earliest and chastest love, conveyed to
them the soundest bodily frame which nature could give. But as no
habitable part of this globe is exempt from some diseases,
proceeding either from climate or modes of living; here they are
sometimes subject to consumptions and to fevers. Since the
foundation of that town no epidemical distempers have appeared,
which at times cause such depopulations in other countries; many of
them are extremely well acquainted with the Indian methods of curing
simple diseases, and practise them with success. You will hardly
find anywhere a community, composed of the same number of
individuals, possessing such uninterrupted health, and exhibiting so
many green old men, who show their advanced age by the maturity of
their wisdom, rather than by the wrinkles of their faces; and this
is indeed one of the principal blessings of the island, which richly
compensates their want of the richer soils of the south; where iliac
complaints and bilious fevers, grow by the side of the sugar cane,
the ambrosial ananas, etc. The situation of this island, the purity
of the air, the nature of their marine occupations, their virtue and
moderation, are the causes of that vigour and health which they
possess. The poverty of their soil has placed them, I hope, beyond
the danger of conquest, or the wanton desire of extirpation. Were
they to be driven from this spot, the only acquisition of the
conquerors would be a few acres of land, inclosed and cultivated; a
few houses, and some movables. The genius, the industry of the
inhabitants would accompany them; and it is those alone which
constitute the sole wealth of their island. Its present fame would
perish, and in a few years it would return to its pristine state of
barrenness and poverty: they might perhaps be allowed to transport
themselves in their own vessels to some other spot or island, which
they would soon fertilise by the same means with which they have
fertilised this.

One single lawyer has of late years found means to live here, but
his best fortune proceeds more from having married one of the
wealthiest heiresses of the island, than from the emoluments of his
practice: however he is sometimes employed in recovering money lent
on the main, or in preventing those accidents to which the
contentious propensity of its inhabitants may sometimes expose them.
He is seldom employed as the means of self-defence, and much
seldomer as the channel of attack; to which they are strangers,
except the fraud is manifest, and the danger imminent. Lawyers are
so numerous in all our populous towns, that I am surprised they
never thought before of establishing themselves here: they are
plants that will grow in any soil that is cultivated by the hands of
others; and when once they have taken root they will extinguish
every other vegetable that grows around them. The fortunes they
daily acquire in every province, from the misfortunes of their
fellow-citizens, are surprising! The most ignorant, the most
bungling member of that profession, will, if placed in the most
obscure part of the country, promote litigiousness, and amass more
wealth without labour, than the most opulent farmer, with all his
toils. They have so dexterously interwoven their doctrines and
quirks with the laws of the land, or rather they are become so
necessary an evil in our present constitutions, that it seems
unavoidable and past all remedy. What a pity that our forefathers,
who happily extinguished so many fatal customs, and expunged from
their new government so many errors and abuses, both religious and
civil, did not also prevent the introduction of a set of men so
dangerous! In some provinces, where every inhabitant is constantly
employed in tilling and cultivating the earth, they are the only
members of society who have any knowledge; let these provinces
attest what iniquitous use they have made of that knowledge.

They are here what the clergy were in past centuries with you; the
reformation which clipped the clerical wings, is the boast of that
age, and the happiest event that could possibly happen; a
reformation equally useful is now wanted, to relieve us from the
shameful shackles and the oppressive burthen under which we groan;
this perhaps is impossible; but if mankind would not become too
happy, it were an event most devoutly to be wished.

Here, happily, unoppressed with any civil bondage, this society of
fishermen and merchants live, without any military establishments,
without governors or any masters but the laws; and their civil code
is so light, that it is never felt. A man may pass (as many have
done whom I am acquainted with) through the various scenes of a long
life, may struggle against a variety of adverse fortune, peaceably
enjoy the good when it comes, and never in that long interval, apply
to the law either for redress or assistance. The principal benefit
it confers is the general protection of individuals, and this
protection is purchased by the most moderate taxes, which are
cheerfully paid, and by the trifling duties incident in the course
of their lawful trade (for they despise contraband). Nothing can be
more simple than their municipal regulations, though similar to
those of the other counties of the same province; because they are
more detached from the rest, more distinct in their manners, as well
as in the nature of the business they pursue, and more unconnected
with the populous province to which they belong. The same simplicity
attends the worship they pay to the Divinity; their elders are the
only teachers of their congregations, the instructors of their
youth, and often the example of their flock. They visit and comfort
the sick; after death, the society bury them with their fathers,
without pomp, prayers, or ceremonies; not a stone or monument is
erected, to tell where any person was buried; their memory is
preserved by tradition. The only essential memorial that is left of
them, is their former industry, their kindness, their charity, or
else their most conspicuous faults.

The Presbyterians live in great charity with them, and with one
another; their minister as a true pastor of the gospel, inculcates
to them the doctrines it contains, the rewards it promises, the
punishments it holds out to those who shall commit injustice.
Nothing can be more disencumbered likewise from useless ceremonies
and trifling forms than their mode of worship; it might with great
propriety have been called a truly primitive one, had that of the
Quakers never appeared. As fellow Christians, obeying the same
legislator, they love and mutually assist each other in all their
wants; as fellow labourers they unite with cordiality and without
the least rancour in all their temporal schemes: no other emulation
appears among them but in their sea excursions, in the art of
fitting out their vessels; in that of sailing, in harpooning the
whale, and in bringing home the greatest harvest. As fellow subjects
they cheerfully obey the same laws, and pay the same duties: but let
me not forget another peculiar characteristic of this community:
there is not a slave I believe on the whole island, at least among
the Friends; whilst slavery prevails all around them, this society
alone, lamenting that shocking insult offered to humanity, have
given the world a singular example of moderation, disinterestedness,
and Christian charity, in emancipating their negroes. I shall
explain to you farther, the singular virtue and merit to which it is
so justly entitled by having set before the rest of their fellow-
subjects, so pleasing, so edifying a reformation. Happy the people
who are subject to so mild a government; happy the government which
has to rule over such harmless, and such industrious subjects!

While we are clearing forests, making the face of nature smile,
draining marshes, cultivating wheat, and converting it into flour;
they yearly skim from the surface of the sea riches equally
necessary. Thus, had I leisure and abilities to lead you through
this continent, I could show you an astonishing prospect very little
known in Europe; one diffusive scene of happiness reaching from the
sea-shores to the last settlements on the borders of the wilderness:
an happiness, interrupted only by the folly of individuals, by our
spirit of litigiousness, and by those unforeseen calamities, from
which no human society can possibly be exempted. May the citizens of
Nantucket dwell long here in uninterrupted peace, undisturbed either
by the waves of the surrounding element, or the political commotions
which sometimes agitate our continent.




LETTER VIII

PECULIAR CUSTOMS AT NANTUCKET


The manners of the Friends are entirely founded on that simplicity
which is their boast, and their most distinguished characteristic;
and those manners have acquired the authority of laws. Here they are
strongly attached to plainness of dress, as well as to that of
language; insomuch that though some part of it may be ungrammatical,
yet should any person who was born and brought up here, attempt to
speak more correctly, he would be looked upon as a fop or an
innovator. On the other hand, should a stranger come here and adopt
their idiom in all its purity (as they deem it) this accomplishment
would immediately procure him the most cordial reception; and they
would cherish him like an ancient member of their society. So many
impositions have they suffered on this account, that they begin now
indeed to grow more cautious. They are so tenacious of their ancient
habits of industry and frugality, that if any of them were to be
seen with a long coat made of English cloth, on any other than the
first-day (Sunday), he would be greatly ridiculed and censured; he
would be looked upon as a careless spendthrift, whom it would be
unsafe to trust, and in vain to relieve. A few years ago two single-
horse chairs were imported from Boston, to the great offence of
these prudent citizens; nothing appeared to them more culpable than
the use of such gaudy painted vehicles, in contempt of the more
useful and more simple single-horse carts of their fathers. This
piece of extravagant and unknown luxury almost caused a schism, and
set every tongue a-going; some predicted the approaching ruin of
those families that had imported them; others feared the dangers of
example; never since the foundation of the town had there happened
anything which so much alarmed this primitive community. One of the
possessors of these profane chairs, filled with repentance, wisely
sent it back to the continent; the other, more obstinate and
perverse, in defiance to all remonstrances, persisted in the use of
his chair until by degrees they became more reconciled to it; though
I observed that the wealthiest and the most respectable people still
go to meeting or to their farms in a single-horse cart with a decent
awning fixed over it: indeed, if you consider their sandy soil, and
the badness of their roads, these appear to be the best contrived
vehicles for this island.

Idleness is the most heinous sin that can be committed in Nantucket:
an idle man would soon be pointed out as an object of compassion:
for idleness is considered as another word for want and hunger. This
principle is so thoroughly well understood, and is become so
universal, so prevailing a prejudice, that literally speaking, they
are never idle. Even if they go to the market-place, which is (if I
may be allowed the expression) the coffee-house of the town, either
to transact business, or to converse with their friends; they always
have a piece of cedar in their hands, and while they are talking,
they will, as it were instinctively, employ themselves in converting
it into something useful, either in making bungs or spoyls for their
oil casks, or other useful articles. I must confess, that I have
never seen more ingenuity in the use of the knife; thus the most
idle moments of their lives become usefully employed. In the many
hours of leisure which their long cruises afford them, they cut and
carve a variety of boxes and pretty toys, in wood, adapted to
different uses; which they bring home as testimonies of remembrance
to their wives or sweethearts. They have showed me a variety of
little bowls and other implements, executed cooper-wise, with the
greatest neatness and elegance. You will be pleased to remember they
are all brought up to the trade of coopers, be their future
intentions or fortunes what they may; therefore almost every man in
this island has always two knives in his pocket, one much larger
than the other; and though they hold everything that is called
fashion in the utmost contempt, yet they are as difficult to please,
and as extravagant in the choice and price of their knives, as any
young buck in Boston would be about his hat, buckles, or coat. As
soon as a knife is injured, or superseded by a more convenient one,
it is carefully laid up in some corner of their desk. I once saw
upwards of fifty thus preserved at Mr.----'s, one of the worthiest
men on this island; and among the whole, there was not one that
perfectly resembled another. As the sea excursions are often very
long, their wives in their absence are necessarily obliged to
transact business, to settle accounts, and in short, to rule and
provide for their families. These circumstances being often
repeated, give women the abilities as well as a taste for that kind
of superintendency, to which, by their prudence and good management,
they seem to be in general very equal. This employment ripens their
judgment, and justly entitles them to a rank superior to that of
other wives; and this is the principal reason why those of Nantucket
as well as those of Montreal [Footnote: Most of the merchants and
young men of Montreal spend the greatest part of their time in
trading with the Indians, at an amazing distance from Canada; and it
often happens that they are three years together absent from home.]
are so fond of society, so affable, and so conversant with the
affairs of the world. The men at their return, weary with the
fatigues of the sea, full of confidence and love, cheerfully give
their consent to every transaction that has happened during their
absence, and all is joy and peace. "Wife, thee hast done well," is
the general approbation they receive, for their application and
industry. What would the men do without the agency of these faithful
mates? The absence of so many of them at particular seasons, leaves
the town quite desolate; and this mournful situation disposes the
women to go to each other's house much oftener than when their
husbands are at home: hence the custom of incessant visiting has
infected every one, and even those whose husbands do not go abroad.
The house is always cleaned before they set out, and with peculiar
alacrity they pursue their intended visit, which consists of a
social chat, a dish of tea, and an hearty supper. When the good man
of the house returns from his labour, he peaceably goes after his
wife and brings her home; meanwhile the young fellows, equally
vigilant, easily find out which is the most convenient house, and
there they assemble with the girls of the neighbourhood. Instead of
cards, musical instruments, or songs, they relate stories of their
whaling voyages, their various sea adventures, and talk of the
different coasts and people they have visited. "The island of
Catharine in the Brazil," says one, "is a very droll island, it is
inhabited by none but men; women are not permitted to come in sight
of it; not a woman is there on the whole island. Who among us is not
glad it is not so here? The Nantucket girls and boys beat the
world." At this innocent sally the titter goes round, they whisper
to one another their spontaneous reflections: puddings, pies, and
custards never fail to be produced on such occasions; for I believe
there never were any people in their circumstances, who live so
well, even to superabundance. As inebriation is unknown, and music,
singing, and dancing, are held in equal detestation, they never
could fill all the vacant hours of their lives without the repast of
the table. Thus these young people sit and talk, and divert
themselves as well as they can; if any one has lately returned from
a cruise, he is generally the speaker of the night; they often all
laugh and talk together, but they are happy, and would not exchange
their pleasures for those of the most brilliant assemblies in
Europe. This lasts until the father and mother return; when all
retire to their respective homes, the men re-conducting the partners
of their affections.

Thus they spend many of the youthful evenings of their lives; no
wonder therefore, that they marry so early. But no sooner have they
undergone this ceremony than they cease to appear so cheerful and
gay; the new rank they hold in the society impresses them with more
serious ideas than were entertained before. The title of master of a
family necessarily requires more solid behaviour and deportment; the
new wife follows in the trammels of Custom, which are as powerful as
the tyranny of fashion; she gradually advises and directs; the new
husband soon goes to sea, he leaves her to learn and exercise the
new government, in which she is entered. Those who stay at home are
full as passive in general, at least with regard to the inferior
departments of the family. But you must not imagine from this
account that the Nantucket wives are turbulent, of high temper, and
difficult to be ruled; on the contrary, the wives of Sherburn in so
doing, comply only with the prevailing custom of the island: the
husbands, equally submissive to the ancient and respectable manners
of their country, submit, without ever suspecting that there can be
any impropriety. Were they to behave otherwise, they would be afraid
of subverting the principles of their society by altering its
ancient rules; thus both parties are perfectly satisfied, and all is
peace and concord. The richest person now in the island owes all his
present prosperity and success to the ingenuity of his wife: this is
a known fact which is well recorded; for while he was performing his
first cruises, she traded with pins and needles, and kept a school.
Afterward she purchased more considerable articles, which she sold
with so much judgment, that she laid the foundation of a system of
business, that she has ever since prosecuted with equal dexterity
and success. She wrote to London, formed connections, and, in short,
became the only ostensible instrument of that house, both at home
and abroad. Who is he in this country, and who is a citizen of
Nantucket or Boston, who does not know Aunt Kesiah? I must tell you
that she is the wife of Mr. C----n, a very respectable man, who,
well pleased with all her schemes, trusts to her judgment, and
relies on her sagacity, with so entire a confidence, as to be
altogether passive to the concerns of his family. They have the best
country seat on the island, at Quayes, where they live with
hospitality, and in perfect union. He seems to be altogether the
contemplative man.

To this dexterity in managing the husband's business whilst he is
absent, the Nantucket wives unite a great deal of industry. They
spin, or cause to be spun in their houses, abundance of wool and
flax; and would be for ever disgraced and looked upon as idlers if
all the family were not clad in good, neat, and sufficient home-spun
cloth. First Days are the only seasons when it is lawful for both
sexes to exhibit some garments of English manufacture; even these
are of the most moderate price, and of the gravest colours: there is
no kind of difference in their dress, they are all clad alike, and
resemble in that respect the members of one family.

A singular custom prevails here among the women, at which I was
greatly surprised; and am really at a loss how to account for the
original cause that has introduced in this primitive society so
remarkable a fashion, or rather so extraordinary a want. They have
adopted these many years the Asiatic custom of taking a dose of
opium every morning; and so deeply rooted is it, that they would be
at a loss how to live without this indulgence; they would rather be
deprived of any necessary than forego their favourite luxury. This
is much more prevailing among the women than the men, few of the
latter having caught the contagion; though the sheriff, whom I may
call the first person in the island, who is an eminent physician
beside, and whom I had the pleasure of being well acquainted with,
has for many years submitted to this custom. He takes three grains
of it every day after breakfast, without the effects of which, he
often told me, he was not able to transact any business.

It is hard to conceive how a people always happy and healthy, in
consequence of the exercise and labour they undergo, never oppressed
with the vapours of idleness, yet should want the fictitious effects
of opium to preserve that cheerfulness to which their temperance,
their climate, their happy situation so justly entitle them. But
where is the society perfectly free from error or folly; the least
imperfect is undoubtedly that where the greatest good preponderates;
and agreeable to this rule, I can truly say, that I never was
acquainted with a less vicious, or more harmless one.

The majority of the present inhabitants are the descendants of the
twenty-seven first proprietors, who patenteed the island; of the
rest, many others have since come over among them, chiefly from the
Massachusetts: here are neither Scotch, Irish, nor French, as is the
case in most other settlements; they are an unmixed English breed.
The consequence of this extended connection is, that they are all in
some degree related to each other: you must not be surprised
therefore when I tell you, that they always call each other cousin,
uncle or aunt; which are become such common appellations, that no
other are made use of in their daily intercourse: you would be
deemed stiff and affected were you to refuse conforming yourself to
this ancient custom, which truly depicts the image of a large
family. The many who reside here that have not the least claim of
relationship with any one in the town, yet by the power of custom
make use of no other address in their conversation. Were you here
yourself but a few days, you would be obliged to adopt the same
phraseology, which is far from being disagreeable, as it implies a
general acquaintance and friendship, which connects them all in
unity and peace.

Their taste for fishing has been so prevailing, that it has
engrossed all their attention, and even prevented them from
introducing some higher degree of perfection in their agriculture.
There are many useful improvements which might have meliorated their
soil; there are many trees which if transplanted here would have
thriven extremely well, and would have served to shelter as well as
decorate the favourite spots they have so carefully manured. The red
cedar, the locust, [Footnote: A species of what we call here the
two-thorn acacia: it yields the most valuable timber we have, and
its shade is very beneficial to the growth and goodness of the
grass.] the button wood, I am persuaded would have grown here
rapidly and to a great size, with many others; but their thoughts
are turned altogether toward the sea. The Indian corn begins to
yield them considerable crops, and the wheat sown on its stocks is
become a very profitable grain; rye will grow with little care; they
might raise if they would, an immense quantity of buck-wheat.

Such an island inhabited as I have described, is not the place where
gay travellers should resort, in order to enjoy that variety of
pleasures the more splendid towns of this continent afford. Not that
they are wholly deprived of what we might call recreations, and
innocent pastimes; but opulence, instead of luxuries and
extravagancies, produces nothing more here than an increase of
business, an additional degree of hospitality, greater neatness in
the preparation of dishes, and better wines. They often walk and
converse with each other, as I have observed before; and upon
extraordinary occasions, will take a ride to Palpus, where there is
an house of entertainment; but these rural amusements are conducted
upon the same plan of moderation, as those in town. They are so
simple as hardly to be described; the pleasure of going and
returning together; of chatting and walking about, of throwing the
bar, heaving stones, etc., are the only entertainments they are
acquainted with. This is all they practise, and all they seem to
desire. The house at Palpus is the general resort of those who
possess the luxury of a horse and chaise, as well as of those who
still retain, as the majority do, a predilection for their primitive
vehicle. By resorting to that place they enjoy a change of air, they
taste the pleasures of exercise; perhaps an exhilarating bowl, not
at all improper in this climate, affords the chief indulgence known
to these people, on the days of their greatest festivity. The
mounting a horse, must afford a most pleasing exercise to those men
who are so much at sea. I was once invited to that house, and had
the satisfaction of conducting thither one of the many beauties of
that island (for it abounds with handsome women) dressed in all the
bewitching attire of the most charming simplicity: like the rest of
the company, she was cheerful without loud laughs, and smiling
without affectation. They all appeared gay without levity. I had
never before in my life seen so much unaffected mirth, mixed with so
much modesty. The pleasures of the day were enjoyed with the
greatest liveliness and the most innocent freedom; no disgusting
pruderies, no coquettish airs tarnished this enlivening assembly:
they behaved according to their native dispositions, the only rules
of decorum with which they were acquainted. What would an European
visitor have done here without a fiddle, without a dance, without
cards? He would have called it an insipid assembly, and ranked this
among the dullest days he had ever spent. This rural excursion had a
very great affinity to those practised in our province, with this
difference only, that we have no objection to the sportive dance,
though conducted by the rough accents of some self-taught African
fiddler. We returned as happy as we went; and the brightness of the
moon kindly lengthened a day which had past, like other agreeable
ones, with singular rapidity.

In order to view the island in its longest direction from the town,
I took a ride to the easternmost parts of it, remarkable only for
the Pochick Rip, where their best fish are caught. I past by the
Tetoukemah lots, which are the fields of the community; the fences
were made of cedar posts and rails, and looked perfectly straight
and neat; the various crops they enclosed were flourishing: thence I
descended into Barrey's Valley, where the blue and the spear grass
looked more abundant than I had seen on any other part of the
island; thence to Gib's Pond; and arrived at last at Siasconcet.
Several dwellings had been erected on this wild shore, for the
purpose of sheltering the fishermen in the season of fishing; I
found them all empty, except that particular one to which I had been
directed. It was like the others, built on the highest part of the
shore, in the face of the great ocean; the soil appeared to be
composed of no other stratum but sand, covered with a thinly
scattered herbage. What rendered this house still more worthy of
notice in my eyes, was, that it had been built on the ruins of one
of the ancient huts, erected by the first settlers, for observing
the appearance of the whales. Here lived a single family without a
neighbour; I had never before seen a spot better calculated to
cherish contemplative ideas; perfectly unconnected with the great
world, and far removed from its perturbations. The ever raging ocean
was all that presented itself to the view of this family; it
irresistibly attracted my whole attention: my eyes were
involuntarily directed to the horizontal line of that watery
surface, which is ever in motion, and ever threatening destruction
to these shores. My ears were stunned with the roar of its waves
rolling one over the other, as if impelled by a superior force to
overwhelm the spot on which I stood. My nostrils involuntarily
inhaled the saline vapours which arose from the dispersed particles
of the foaming billows, or from the weeds scattered on the shores.
My mind suggested a thousand vague reflections, pleasing in the hour
of their spontaneous birth, but now half forgot, and all indistinct:
and who is the landman that can behold without affright so singular
an element, which by its impetuosity seems to be the destroyer of
this poor planet, yet at particular times accumulates the scattered
fragments and produces islands and continents fit for men to dwell
on! Who can observe the regular vicissitudes of its waters without
astonishment; now swelling themselves in order to penetrate through
every river and opening, and thereby facilitate navigation; at other
times retiring from the shores, to permit man to collect that
variety of shell fish which is the support of the poor? Who can see
the storms of wind, blowing sometimes with an impetuosity
sufficiently strong even to move the earth, without feeling himself
affected beyond the sphere of common ideas? Can this wind which but
a few days ago refreshed our American fields, and cooled us in the
shade, be the same element which now and then so powerfully
convulses the waters of the sea, dismasts vessels, causes so many
shipwrecks, and such extensive desolations? How diminutive does a
man appear to himself when filled with these thoughts, and standing
as I did on the verge of the ocean! This family lived entirely by
fishing, for the plough has not dared yet to disturb the parched
surface of the neighbouring plain; and to what purpose could this
operation be performed! Where is it that mankind will not find
safety, peace, and abundance, with freedom and civil happiness?
Nothing was wanting here to make this a most philosophical retreat,
but a few ancient trees, to shelter contemplation in its beloved
solitude. There I saw a numerous family of children of various ages-
-the blessings of an early marriage; they were ruddy as the cherry,
healthy as the fish they lived on, hardy as the pine knots: the
eldest were already able to encounter the boisterous waves, and
shuddered not at their approach; early initiating themselves in the
mysteries of that seafaring career, for which they were all
intended: the younger, timid as yet, on the edge of a less agitated
pool, were teaching themselves with nut-shells and pieces of wood,
in imitation of boats, how to navigate in a future day the larger
vessels of their father, through a rougher and deeper ocean. I
stayed two days there on purpose to become acquainted with the
different branches of their economy, and their manner of living in
this singular retreat. The clams, the oysters of the shores, with
the addition of Indian Dumplings, [Footnote: Indian Dumplings are a
peculiar preparation of Indian meal, boiled in large lumps.]
constituted their daily and most substantial food. Larger fish were
often caught on the neighbouring rip; these afforded them their
greatest dainties; they had likewise plenty of smoked bacon. The
noise of the wheels announced the industry of the mother and
daughters; one of them had been bred a weaver, and having a loom in
the house, found means of clothing the whole family; they were
perfectly at ease, and seemed to want for nothing. I found very few
books among these people, who have very little time for reading; the
Bible and a few school tracts, both in the Nattick and English
languages, constituted their most numerous libraries. I saw indeed
several copies of Hudibras, and Josephus; but no one knows who first
imported them. It is something extraordinary to see this people,
professedly so grave, and strangers to every branch of literature,
reading with pleasure the former work, which should seem to require
some degree of taste, and antecedent historical knowledge. They all
read it much, and can by memory repeat many passages; which yet I
could not discover that they understood the beauties of. Is it not a
little singular to see these books in the hands of fishermen, who
are perfect strangers almost to any other? Josephus's history is
indeed intelligible, and much fitter for their modes of education
and taste; as it describes the history of a people from whom we have
received the prophecies which we believe, and the religious laws
which we follow.

Learned travellers, returned from seeing the paintings and
antiquities of Rome and Italy, still filled with the admiration and
reverence they inspire, would hardly be persuaded that so
contemptible a spot, which contains nothing remarkable but the
genius and the industry of its inhabitants, could ever be an object
worthy attention. But I, having never seen the beauties which Europe
contains, cheerfully satisfy myself with attentively examining what
my native country exhibits: if we have neither ancient
amphitheatres, gilded palaces, nor elevated spires; we enjoy in our
woods a substantial happiness which the wonders of art cannot
communicate. None among us suffer oppression either from government
or religion; there are very few poor except the idle, and
fortunately the force of example, and the most ample encouragement,
soon create a new principle of activity, which had been extinguished
perhaps in their native country, for want of those opportunities
which so often compel honest Europeans to seek shelter among us. The
means of procuring subsistence in Europe are limited; the army may
be full, the navy may abound with seamen, the land perhaps wants no
additional labourers, the manufacturer is overcharged with
supernumerary hands; what then must become of the unemployed? Here,
on the contrary, human industry has acquired a boundless field to
exert itself in--a field which will not be fully cultivated in many
ages!




LETTER IX

DESCRIPTION OF CHARLES-TOWN; THOUGHTS ON SLAVERY; ON PHYSICAL EVIL;
A MELANCHOLY SCENE


Charles-town is, in the north, what Lima is in the south; both are
Capitals of the richest provinces of their respective hemispheres:
you may therefore conjecture, that both cities must exhibit the
appearances necessarily resulting from riches. Peru abounding in
gold, Lima is filled with inhabitants who enjoy all those gradations
of pleasure, refinement, and luxury, which proceed from wealth.
Carolina produces commodities, more valuable perhaps than gold,
because they are gained by greater industry; it exhibits also on our
northern stage, a display of riches and luxury, inferior indeed to
the former, but far superior to what are to be seen in our northern
towns. Its situation is admirable, being built at the confluence of
two large rivers, which receive in their course a great number of
inferior streams; all navigable in the spring, for flat boats. Here
the produce of this extensive territory concentres; here therefore
is the seat of the most valuable exportation; their wharfs, their
docks, their magazines, are extremely convenient to facilitate this
great commercial business. The inhabitants are the gayest in
America; it is called the centre of our beau monde, and is always
filled with the richest planters of the province, who resort hither
in quest of health and pleasure. Here are always to be seen a great
number of valetudinarians from the West Indies, seeking for the
renovation of health, exhausted by the debilitating nature of their
sun, air, and modes of living. Many of these West Indians have I
seen, at thirty, loaded with the infirmities of old age; for nothing
is more common in those countries of wealth, than for persons to
lose the abilities of enjoying the comforts of life, at a time when
we northern men just begin to taste the fruits of our labour and
prudence. The round of pleasure, and the expenses of those citizens'
tables, are much superior to what you would imagine: indeed the
growth of this town and province has been astonishingly rapid. It is
pity that the narrowness of the neck on which it stands prevents it
from increasing; and which is the reason why houses are so dear. The
heat of the climate, which is sometimes very great in the interior
parts of the country, is always temperate in Charles-Town; though
sometimes when they have no sea breezes the sun is too powerful. The
climate renders excesses of all kinds very dangerous, particularly
those of the table; and yet, insensible or fearless of danger, they
live on, and enjoy a short and a merry life: the rays of their sun
seem to urge them irresistibly to dissipation and pleasure: on the
contrary, the women, from being abstemious, reach to a longer period
of life, and seldom die without having had several husbands. An
European at his first arrival must be greatly surprised when he sees
the elegance of their houses, their sumptuous furniture, as well as
the magnificence of their tables. Can he imagine himself in a
country, the establishment of which is so recent?

The three principal classes of inhabitants are, lawyers, planters,
and merchants; this is the province which has afforded to the first
the richest spoils, for nothing can exceed their wealth, their
power, and their influence. They have reached the ne plus ultra of
worldly felicity; no plantation is secured, no title is good, no
will is valid, but what they dictate, regulate, and approve. The
whole mass of provincial property is become tributary to this
society; which, far above priests and bishops, disdain to be
satisfied with the poor Mosaical portion of the tenth. I appeal to
the many inhabitants, who, while contending perhaps for their right
to a few hundred acres, have lost by the mazes of the law their
whole patrimony. These men are more properly law givers than
interpreters of the law; and have united here, as well as in most
other provinces, the skill and dexterity of the scribe with the
power and ambition of the prince: who can tell where this may lead
in a future day? The nature of our laws, and the spirit of freedom,
which often tends to make us litigious, must necessarily throw the
greatest part of the property of the colonies into the hands of
these gentlemen. In another century, the law will possess in the
north, what now the church possesses in Peru and Mexico.

While all is joy, festivity, and happiness in Charles-Town, would
you imagine that scenes of misery overspread in the country? Their
ears by habit are become deaf, their hearts are hardened; they
neither see, hear, nor feel for the woes of their poor slaves, from
whose painful labours all their wealth proceeds. Here the horrors of
slavery, the hardship of incessant toils, are unseen; and no one
thinks with compassion of those showers of sweat and of tears which
from the bodies of Africans, daily drop, and moisten the ground they
till. The cracks of the whip urging these miserable beings to
excessive labour, are far too distant from the gay Capital to be
heard. The chosen race eat, drink, and live happy, while the
unfortunate one grubs up the ground, raises indigo, or husks the
rice; exposed to a sun full as scorching as their native one;
without the support of good food, without the cordials of any
cheering liquor. This great contrast has often afforded me subjects
of the most conflicting meditation. On the one side, behold a people
enjoying all that life affords most bewitching and pleasurable,
without labour, without fatigue, hardly subjected to the trouble of
wishing. With gold, dug from Peruvian mountains, they order vessels
to the coasts of Guinea; by virtue of that gold, wars, murders, and
devastations are committed in some harmless, peaceable African
neighbourhood, where dwelt innocent people, who even knew not but
that all men were black. The daughter torn from her weeping mother,
the child from the wretched parents, the wife from the loving
husband; whole families swept away and brought through storms and
tempests to this rich metropolis! There, arranged like horses at a
fair, they are branded like cattle, and then driven to toil, to
starve, and to languish for a few years on the different plantations
of these citizens. And for whom must they work? For persons they
know not, and who have no other power over them than that of
violence, no other right than what this accursed metal has given
them! Strange order of things! Oh, Nature, where art thou?--Are not
these blacks thy children as well as we? On the other side, nothing
is to be seen but the most diffusive misery and wretchedness,
unrelieved even in thought or wish! Day after day they drudge on
without any prospect of ever reaping for themselves; they are
obliged to devote their lives, their limbs, their will, and every
vital exertion to swell the wealth of masters; who look not upon
them with half the kindness and affection with which they consider
their dogs and horses. Kindness and affection are not the portion of
those who till the earth, who carry the burdens, who convert the
logs into useful boards. This reward, simple and natural as one
would conceive it, would border on humanity; and planters must have
none of it!

If negroes are permitted to become fathers, this fatal indulgence
only tends to increase their misery: the poor companions of their
scanty pleasures are likewise the companions of their labours; and
when at some critical seasons they could wish to see them relieved,
with tears in their eyes they behold them perhaps doubly oppressed,
obliged to bear the burden of nature--a fatal present--as well as
that of unabated tasks. How many have I seen cursing the
irresistible propensity, and regretting, that by having tasted of
those harmless joys, they had become the authors of double misery to
their wives. Like their masters, they are not permitted to partake
of those ineffable sensations with which nature inspires the hearts
of fathers and mothers; they must repel them all, and become callous
and passive. This unnatural state often occasions the most acute,
the most pungent of their afflictions; they have no time, like us,
tenderly to rear their helpless off-spring, to nurse them on their
knees, to enjoy the delight of being parents. Their paternal
fondness is embittered by considering, that if their children live,
they must live to be slaves like themselves; no time is allowed them
to exercise their pious office, the mothers must fasten them on
their backs, and, with this double load, follow their husbands in
the fields, where they too often hear no other sound than that of
the voice or whip of the taskmaster, and the cries of their infants,
broiling in the sun. These unfortunate creatures cry and weep like
their parents, without a possibility of relief; the very instinct of
the brute, so laudable, so irresistible, runs counter here to their
master's interest; and to that god, all the laws of nature must give
way. Thus planters get rich; so raw, so unexperienced am I in this
mode of life, that were I to be possessed of a plantation, and my
slaves treated as in general they are here, never could I rest in
peace; my sleep would be perpetually disturbed by a retrospect of
the frauds committed in Africa, in order to entrap them; frauds
surpassing in enormity everything which a common mind can possibly
conceive. I should be thinking of the barbarous treatment they meet
with on ship-board; of their anguish, of the despair necessarily
inspired by their situation, when torn from their friends and
relations; when delivered into the hands of a people differently
coloured, whom they cannot understand; carried in a strange machine
over an ever agitated element, which they had never seen before; and
finally delivered over to the severities of the whippers, and the
excessive labours of the field. Can it be possible that the force of
custom should ever make me deaf to all these reflections, and as
insensible to the injustice of that trade, and to their miseries, as
the rich inhabitants of this town seem to be? What then is man; this
being who boasts so much of the excellence and dignity of his
nature, among that variety of unscrutable mysteries, of unsolvable
problems, with which he is surrounded? The reason why man has been
thus created, is not the least astonishing! It is said, I know that
they are much happier here than in the West Indies; because land
being cheaper upon this continent than in those islands, the fields
allowed them to raise their subsistence from, are in general more
extensive. The only possible chance of any alleviation depends on
the humour of the planters, who, bred in the midst of slaves, learn
from the example of their parents to despise them; and seldom
conceive either from religion or philosophy, any ideas that tend to
make their fate less calamitous; except some strong native
tenderness of heart, some rays of philanthropy, overcome the
obduracy contracted by habit.

I have not resided here long enough to become insensible of pain for
the objects which I every day behold. In the choice of my friends
and acquaintance, I always endeavour to find out those whose
dispositions are somewhat congenial with my own. We have slaves
likewise in our northern provinces; I hope the time draws near when
they will be all emancipated: but how different their lot, how
different their situation, in every possible respect! They enjoy as
much liberty as their masters, they are as well clad, and as well
fed; in health and sickness they are tenderly taken care of; they
live under the same roof, and are, truly speaking, a part of our
families. Many of them are taught to read and write, and are well
instructed in the principles of religion; they are the companions of
our labours, and treated as such; they enjoy many perquisites, many
established holidays, and are not obliged to work more than white
people. They marry where inclination leads them; visit their wives
every week; are as decently clad as the common people; they are
indulged in educating, cherishing, and chastising their children,
who are taught subordination to them as to their lawful parents: in
short, they participate in many of the benefits of our society,
without being obliged to bear any of its burdens. They are fat,
healthy, and hearty, and far from repining at their fate; they think
themselves happier than many of the lower class whites: they share
with their masters the wheat and meat provision they help to raise;
many of those whom the good Quakers have emancipated have received
that great benefit with tears of regret, and have never quitted,
though free, their former masters and benefactors.

But is it really true, as I have heard it asserted here, that those
blacks are incapable of feeling the spurs of emulation, and the
cheerful sound of encouragement? By no means; there are a thousand
proofs existing of their gratitude and fidelity: those hearts in
which such noble dispositions can grow, are then like ours, they are
susceptible of every generous sentiment, of every useful motive of
action; they are capable of receiving lights, of imbibing ideas that
would greatly alleviate the weight of their miseries. But what
methods have in general been made use of to obtain so desirable an
end? None; the day in which they arrive and are sold, is the first
of their labours; labours, which from that hour admit of no respite;
for though indulged by law with relaxation on Sundays, they are
obliged to employ that time which is intended for rest, to till
their little plantations. What can be expected from wretches in such
circumstances? Forced from their native country, cruelly treated
when on board, and not less so on the plantations to which they are
driven; is there anything in this treatment but what must kindle all
the passions, sow the seeds of inveterate resentment, and nourish a
wish of perpetual revenge? They are left to the irresistible effects
of those strong and natural propensities; the blows they receive,
are they conducive to extinguish them, or to win their affections?
They are neither soothed by the hopes that their slavery will ever
terminate but with their lives; or yet encouraged by the goodness of
their food, or the mildness of their treatment. The very hopes held
out to mankind by religion, that consolatory system, so useful to
the miserable, are never presented to them; neither moral nor
physical means are made use of to soften their chains; they are left
in their original and untutored state; that very state wherein the
natural propensities of revenge and warm passions are so soon
kindled. Cheered by no one single motive that can impel the will, or
excite their efforts; nothing but terrors and punishments are
presented to them; death is denounced if they run away; horrid
delaceration if they speak with their native freedom; perpetually
awed by the terrible cracks of whips, or by the fear of capital
punishments, while even those punishments often fail of their
purpose.

A clergyman settled a few years ago at George-Town, and feeling as I
do now, warmly recommended to the planters, from the pulpit, a
relaxation of severity; he introduced the benignity of Christianity,
and pathetically made use of the admirable precepts of that system
to melt the hearts of his congregation into a greater degree of
compassion toward their slaves than had been hitherto customary;
"Sir," said one of his hearers, "we pay you a genteel salary to read
to us the prayers of the liturgy, and to explain to us such parts of
the Gospel as the rule of the church directs; but we do not want you
to teach us what we are to do with our blacks." The clergyman found
it prudent to withhold any farther admonition. Whence this
astonishing right, or rather this barbarous custom, for most
certainly we have no kind of right beyond that of force? We are
told, it is true, that slavery cannot be so repugnant to human
nature as we at first imagine, because it has been practised in all
ages, and in all nations: the Lacedemonians themselves, those great
assertors of liberty, conquered the Helotes with the design of
making them their slaves; the Romans, whom we consider as our
masters in civil and military policy, lived in the exercise of the
most horrid oppression; they conquered to plunder and to enslave.
What a hideous aspect the face of the earth must then have
exhibited! Provinces, towns, districts, often depopulated! their
inhabitants driven to Rome, the greatest market in the world, and
there sold by thousands! The Roman dominions were tilled by the
hands of unfortunate people, who had once been, like their victors,
free, rich, and possessed of every benefit society can confer; until
they became subject to the cruel right of war, and to lawless force.
Is there then no superintending power who conducts the moral
operations of the world, as well as the physical? The same sublime
hand which guides the planets round the sun with so much exactness,
which preserves the arrangement of the whole with such exalted
wisdom and paternal care, and prevents the vast system from falling
into confusion; doth it abandon mankind to all the errors, the
follies, and the miseries, which their most frantic rage, and their
most dangerous vices and passions can produce?

The history of the earth! doth it present anything but crimes of the
most heinous nature, committed from one end of the world to the
other? We observe avarice, rapine, and murder, equally prevailing in
all parts. History perpetually tells us of millions of people
abandoned to the caprice of the maddest princes, and of whole
nations devoted to the blind fury of tyrants. Countries destroyed;
nations alternately buried in ruins by other nations; some parts of
the world beautifully cultivated, returned again to the pristine
state; the fruits of ages of industry, the toil of thousands in a
short time destroyed by a few! If one corner breathes in peace for a
few years, it is, in turn subjected, torn, and levelled; one would
almost believe the principles of action in man, considered as the
first agent of this planet, to be poisoned in their most essential
parts. We certainly are not that class of beings which we vainly
think ourselves to be; man an animal of prey, seems to have rapine
and the love of bloodshed implanted in his heart; nay, to hold it
the most honourable occupation in society: we never speak of a hero
of mathematics, a hero of knowledge of humanity; no, this
illustrious appellation is reserved for the most successful butchers
of the world. If Nature has given us a fruitful soil to inhabit, she
has refused us such inclinations and propensities as would afford us
the full enjoyment of it. Extensive as the surface of this planet
is, not one half of it is yet cultivated, not half replenished; she
created man, and placed him either in the woods or plains, and
provided him with passions which must for ever oppose his happiness;
everything is submitted to the power of the strongest; men, like the
elements, are always at war; the weakest yield to the most potent;
force, subtlety, and malice, always triumph over unguarded honesty
and simplicity. Benignity, moderation, and justice, are virtues
adapted only to the humble paths of life: we love to talk of virtue
and to admire its beauty, while in the shade of solitude and
retirement; but when we step forth into active life, if it happen to
be in competition with any passion or desire, do we observe it to
prevail? Hence so many religious impostors have triumphed over the
credulity of mankind, and have rendered their frauds the creeds of
succeeding generations, during the course of many ages; until worn
away by time, they have been replaced by new ones. Hence the most
unjust war, if supported by the greatest force, always succeeds;
hence the most just ones, when supported only by their justice, as
often fail. Such is the ascendancy of power; the supreme arbiter of
all the revolutions which we observe in this planet: so irresistible
is power, that it often thwarts the tendency of the most forcible
causes, and prevents their subsequent salutary effects, though
ordained for the good of man by the Governor of the universe. Such
is the perverseness of human nature; who can describe it in all its
latitude?

In the moments of our philanthropy we often talk of an indulgent
nature, a kind parent, who for the benefit of mankind has taken
singular pains to vary the genera of plants, fruits, grain, and the
different productions of the earth; and has spread peculiar
blessings in each climate. This is undoubtedly an object of
contemplation which calls forth our warmest gratitude; for so
singularly benevolent have those parental intentions been, that
where barrenness of soil or severity of climate prevail, there she
has implanted in the heart of man, sentiments which overbalance
every misery, and supply the place of every want. She has given to
the inhabitants of these regions, an attachment to their savage
rocks and wild shores, unknown to those who inhabit the fertile
fields of the temperate zone. Yet if we attentively view this globe,
will it not appear rather a place of punishment, than of delight?
And what misfortune! that those punishments should fall on the
innocent, and its few delights be enjoyed by the most unworthy.
Famine, diseases, elementary convulsions, human feuds, dissensions,
etc., are the produce of every climate; each climate produces
besides, vices, and miseries peculiar to its latitude. View the
frigid sterility of the north, whose famished inhabitants hardly
acquainted with the sun, live and fare worse than the bears they
hunt: and to which they are superior only in the faculty of
speaking. View the arctic and antarctic regions, those huge voids,
where nothing lives; regions of eternal snow: where winter in all
his horrors has established his throne, and arrested every creative
power of nature. Will you call the miserable stragglers in these
countries by the name of men? Now contrast this frigid power of the
north and south with that of the sun; examine the parched lands of
the torrid zone, replete with sulphureous exhalations; view those
countries of Asia subject to pestilential infections which lay
nature waste; view this globe often convulsed both from within and
without; pouring forth from several mouths, rivers of boiling
matter, which are imperceptibly leaving immense subterranean graves,
wherein millions will one day perish! Look at the poisonous soil of
the equator, at those putrid slimy tracks, teeming with horrid
monsters, the enemies of the human race; look next at the sandy
continent, scorched perhaps by the fatal approach of some ancient
comet, now the abode of desolation. Examine the rains, the
convulsive storms of those climates, where masses of sulphur,
bitumen, and electrical fire, combining their dreadful powers, are
incessantly hovering and bursting over a globe threatened with
dissolution. On this little shell, how very few are the spots where
man can live and flourish? even under those mild climates which seem
to breathe peace and happiness, the poison of slavery, the fury of
despotism, and the rage of superstition, are all combined against
man! There only the few live and rule, whilst the many starve and
utter ineffectual complaints: there, human nature appears more
debased, perhaps than in the less favoured climates. The fertile
plains of Asia, the rich low lands of Egypt and of Diarbeck, the
fruitful fields bordering on the Tigris and the Euphrates, the
extensive country of the East Indies in all its separate districts;
all these must to the geographical eye, seem as if intended for
terrestrial paradises: but though surrounded with the spontaneous
riches of nature, though her kindest favours seem to be shed on
those beautiful regions with the most profuse hand; yet there in
general we find the most wretched people in the world. Almost
everywhere, liberty so natural to mankind is refused, or rather
enjoyed but by their tyrants; the word slave, is the appellation of
every rank, who adore as a divinity, a being worse than themselves;
subject to every caprice, and to every lawless rage which
unrestrained power can give. Tears are shed, perpetual groans are
heard, where only the accents of peace, alacrity, and gratitude
should resound. There the very delirium of tyranny tramples on the
best gifts of nature, and sports with the fate, the happiness, the
lives of millions: there the extreme fertility of the ground always
indicates the extreme misery of the inhabitants!

Everywhere one part of the human species are taught the art of
shedding the blood of the other; of setting fire to their dwellings;
of levelling the works of their industry: half of the existence of
nations regularly employed in destroying other nations.--"What
little political felicity is to be met with here and there, has cost
oceans of blood to purchase; as if good was never to be the portion
of unhappy man. Republics, kingdoms, monarchies, founded either on
fraud or successful violence, increase by pursuing the steps of the
same policy, until they are destroyed in their turn, either by the
influence of their own crimes, or by more successful but equally
criminal enemies."

If from this general review of human nature, we descend to the
examination of what is called civilised society; there the
combination of every natural and artificial want, makes us pay very
dear for what little share of political felicity we enjoy. It is a
strange heterogeneous assemblage of vices and virtues, and of a
variety of other principles, for ever at war, for ever jarring, for
ever producing some dangerous, some distressing extreme. Where do
you conceive then that nature intended we should be happy? Would you
prefer the state of men in the woods, to that of men in a more
improved situation? Evil preponderates in both; in the first they
often eat each other for want of food, and in the other they often
starve each other for want of room. For my part, I think the vices
and miseries to be found in the latter, exceed those of the former;
in which real evil is more scarce, more supportable, and less
enormous. Yet we wish to see the earth peopled; to accomplish the
happiness of kingdoms, which is said to consist in numbers. Gracious
God! to what end is the introduction of so many beings into a mode
of existence in which they must grope amidst as many errors, commit
as many crimes, and meet with as many diseases, wants, and
sufferings!

The following scene will I hope account for these melancholy
reflections, and apologise for the gloomy thoughts with which I have
filled this letter: my mind is, and always has been, oppressed since
I became a witness to it. I was not long since invited to dine with
a planter who lived three miles from----, where he then resided. In
order to avoid the heat of the sun, I resolved to go on foot,
sheltered in a small path, leading through a pleasant wood. I was
leisurely travelling along, attentively examining some peculiar
plants which I had collected, when all at once I felt the air
strongly agitated, though the day was perfectly calm and sultry. I
immediately cast my eyes toward the cleared ground, from which I was
but at a small distance, in order to see whether it was not
occasioned by a sudden shower; when at that instant a sound
resembling a deep rough voice, uttered, as I thought, a few
inarticulate monosyllables. Alarmed and surprised, I precipitately
looked all round, when I perceived at about six rods distance
something resembling a cage, suspended to the limbs of a tree; all
the branches of which appeared covered with large birds of prey,
fluttering about, and anxiously endeavouring to perch on the cage.
Actuated by an involuntary motion of my hands, more than by any
design of my mind, I fired at them; they all flew to a short
distance, with a most hideous noise: when, horrid to think and
painful to repeat, I perceived a negro, suspended in the cage, and
left there to expire! I shudder when I recollect that the birds had
already picked out his eyes, his cheek bones were bare; his arms had
been attacked in several places, and his body seemed covered with a
multitude of wounds. From the edges of the hollow sockets and from
the lacerations with which he was disfigured, the blood slowly
dropped, and tinged the ground beneath. No sooner were the birds
flown, than swarms of insects covered the whole body of this
unfortunate wretch, eager to feed on his mangled flesh and to drink
his blood. I found myself suddenly arrested by the power of affright
and terror; my nerves were convoked; I trembled, I stood motionless,
involuntarily contemplating the fate of this negro, in all its
dismal latitude. The living spectre, though deprived of his eyes,
could still distinctly hear, and in his uncouth dialect begged me to
give him some water to allay his thirst. Humanity herself would have
recoiled back with horror; she would have balanced whether to lessen
such reliefless distress, or mercifully with one blow to end this
dreadful scene of agonising torture! Had I had a ball in my gun, I
certainly should have despatched him; but finding myself unable to
perform so kind an office, I sought, though trembling, to relieve
him as well as I could. A shell ready fixed to a pole, which had
been used by some negroes, presented itself to me; filled it with
water, and with trembling hands I guided it to the quivering lips of
the wretched sufferer. Urged by the irresistible power of thirst, he
endeavoured to meet it, as he instinctively guessed its approach by
the noise it made in passing through the bars of the cage. "Tanke,
you white man, tanke you, pute some poison and give me." "How long
have you been hanging there?" I asked him. "Two days, and me no die;
the birds, the birds; aaah me!" Oppressed with the reflections which
this shocking spectacle afforded me, I mustered strength enough to
walk away, and soon reached the house at which I intended to dine.
There I heard that the reason for this slave being thus punished,
was on account of his having killed the overseer of the plantation.
They told me that the laws of self-preservation rendered such
executions necessary; and supported the doctrine of slavery with the
arguments generally made use of to justify the practice; with the
repetition of which I shall not trouble you at present.--Adieu.




LETTER X

ON SNAKES; AND ON THE HUMMING BIRD


Why would you prescribe this task; you know that what we take up
ourselves seems always lighter than what is imposed on us by others.
You insist on my saying something about our snakes; and in relating
what I know concerning them, were it not for two singularities, the
one of which I saw, and the other I received from an eye-witness, I
should have but very little to observe. The southern provinces are
the countries where nature has formed the greatest variety of
alligators, snakes, serpents; and scorpions, from the smallest size,
up to the pine barren, the largest species known here. We have but
two, whose stings are mortal, which deserve to be mentioned; as for
the black one, it is remarkable for nothing but its industry,
agility, beauty, and the art of enticing birds by the power of its
eyes. I admire it much, and never kill it, though its formidable
length and appearance often get the better of the philosophy of some
people, particularly of Europeans. The most dangerous one is the
pilot, or copperhead; for the poison of which no remedy has yet been
discovered. It bears the first name because it always precedes the
rattlesnake; that is, quits its state of torpidity in the spring a
week before the other. It bears the second name on account of its
head being adorned with many copper-coloured spots. It lurks in
rocks near the water, and is extremely active and dangerous. Let man
beware of it! I have heard only of one person who was stung by a
copperhead in this country. The poor wretch instantly swelled in a
most dreadful manner; a multitude of spots of different hues
alternately appeared and vanished, on different parts of his body;
his eyes were filled with madness and rage, he cast them on all
present with the most vindictive looks: he thrust out his tongue as
the snakes do; he hissed through his teeth with inconceivable
strength, and became an object of terror to all by-standers. To the
lividness of a corpse he united the desperate force of a maniac;
they hardly were able to fasten him, so as to guard themselves from
his attacks; when in the space of two hours death relieved the poor
wretch from his struggles, and the spectators from their
apprehensions. The poison of the rattlesnake is not mortal in so
short a space, and hence there is more time to procure relief; we
are acquainted with several antidotes with which almost every family
is provided. They are extremely inactive, and if not touched, are
perfectly inoffensive. I once saw, as I was travelling, a great
cliff which was full of them; I handled several, and they appeared
to be dead; they were all entwined together, and thus they remain
until the return of the sun. I found them out, by following the
track of some wild hogs which had fed on them; and even the Indians
often regale on them. When they find them asleep, they put a small
forked stick over their necks, which they keep immovably fixed on
the ground; giving the snake a piece of leather to bite: and this
they pull back several times with great force, until they observe
their two poisonous fangs torn out. Then they cut off the head, skin
the body, and cook it as we do eels; and their flesh is extremely
sweet and white. I once saw a TAMED ONE, as gentle as you can
possibly conceive a reptile to be; it took to the water and swam
whenever it pleased; and when the boys to whom it belonged called it
back, their summons was readily obeyed. It had been deprived of its
fangs by the preceding method; they often stroked it with a soft
brush, and this friction seemed to cause the most pleasing
sensations, for it would turn on its back to enjoy it, as a cat does
before the fire. One of this species was the cause, some years ago,
of a most deplorable accident which I shall relate to you, as I had
it from the widow and mother of the victims. A Dutch farmer of the
Minisink went to mowing, with his negroes, in his boots, a
precaution used to prevent being stung. Inadvertently he trod on a
snake, which immediately flew at his legs; and as it drew back in
order to renew its blow, one of his negroes cut it in two with his
scythe. They prosecuted their work, and returned home; at night the
farmer pulled off his boots and went to bed; and was soon after
attacked with a strange sickness at his stomach; he swelled, and
before a physician could be sent for, died. The sudden death of this
man did not cause much inquiry; the neighbourhood wondered, as is
usual in such cases, and without any further examination the corpse
was buried. A few days after, the son put on his father's boots, and
went to the meadow; at night he pulled them off, went to bed, and
was attacked with the same symptoms about the same time, and died in
the morning. A little before he expired the doctor came, but was not
able to assign what could be the cause of so singular a disorder;
however, rather than appear wholly at a loss before the country
people, he pronounced both father and son to have been bewitched.
Some weeks after, the widow sold all the movables for the benefit of
the younger children; and the farm was leased. One of the
neighbours, who bought the boots, presently put them on, and was
attacked in the same manner as the other two had been; but this
man's wife being alarmed by what had happened in the former family,
despatched one of her negroes for an eminent physician, who
fortunately having heard something of the dreadful affair, guessed
at the cause, applied oil, etc. and recovered the man. The boots
which had been so fatal, were then carefully examined; and he found
that the two fangs of the snake had been left in the leather, after
being wrenched out of their sockets by the strength with which the
snake had drawn back its head. The bladders which contained the
poison and several of the small nerves were still fresh, and adhered
to the boot. The unfortunate father and son had been poisoned by
pulling off these boots, in which action they imperceptibly
scratched their legs with the points of the fangs, through the
hollow of which, some of this astonishing poison was conveyed. You
have no doubt heard of their rattles, if you have not seen them; the
only observation I wish to make is, that the rattling is loud and
distinct when they are angry; and on the contrary, when pleased, it
sounds like a distant trepidation, in which nothing distinct is
heard. In the thick settlements, they are now become very scarce;
for wherever they are met with, open war is declared against them;
so that in a few years there will be none left but on our mountains.
The black snake on the contrary always diverts me because it excites
no idea of danger. Their swiftness is astonishing; they will
sometimes equal that of a horse; at other times they will climb up
trees in quest of our tree toads; or glide on the ground at full
length. On some occasions they present themselves half in the
reptile state, half erect; their eyes and their heads in the erect
posture appear to great advantage: the former display a fire which I
have often admired, and it is by these they are enabled to fascinate
birds and squirrels. When they have fixed their eyes on an animal,
they become immovable; only turning their head sometimes to the
right and sometimes to the left, but still with their sight
invariably directed to the object. The distracted victim, instead of
flying its enemy, seems to be arrested by some invincible power; it
screams; now approaches, and then recedes; and after skipping about
with unaccountable agitation, finally rushes into the jaws of the
snake, and is swallowed, as soon as it is covered with a slime or
glue to make it slide easily down the throat of the devourer.

One anecdote I must relate, the circumstances of which are as true
as they are singular. One of my constant walks when I am at leisure,
is in my lowlands, where I have the pleasure of seeing my cattle,
horses, and colts. Exuberant grass replenishes all my fields, the
best representative of our wealth; in the middle of that tract I
have cut a ditch eight feet wide, the banks of which nature adorns
every spring with the wild salendine, and other flowering weeds,
which on these luxuriant grounds shoot up to a great height. Over
this ditch I have erected a bridge, capable of bearing a loaded
waggon; on each side I carefully sow every year some grains of hemp,
which rise to the height of fifteen feet, so strong and so full of
limbs as to resemble young trees: I once ascended one of them four
feet above the ground. These produce natural arbours, rendered often
still more compact by the assistance of an annual creeping plant
which we call a vine, that never fails to entwine itself among their
branches, and always produces a very desirable shade. From this
simple grove I have amused myself an hundred times in observing the
great number of humming birds with which our country abounds: the
wild blossoms everywhere attract the attention of these birds, which
like bees subsist by suction. From this retreat I distinctly watch
them in all their various attitudes; but their flight is so rapid,
that you cannot distinguish the motion of their wings. On this
little bird nature has profusely lavished her most splendid colours;
the most perfect azure, the most beautiful gold, the most dazzling
red, are for ever in contrast, and help to embellish the plumes of
his majestic head. The richest palette of the most luxuriant painter
could never invent anything to be compared to the variegated tints,
with which this insect bird is arrayed. Its bill is as long and as
sharp as a coarse sewing needle; like the bee, nature has taught it
to find out in the calix of flowers and blossoms, those mellifluous
particles that serve it for sufficient food; and yet it seems to
leave them untouched, undeprived of anything that our eyes can
possibly distinguish. When it feeds, it appears as if immovable
though continually on the wing; and sometimes, from what motives I
know not, it will tear and lacerate flowers into a hundred pieces:
for, strange to tell, they are the most irascible of the feathered
tribe. Where do passions find room in so diminutive a body? They
often fight with the fury of lions, until one of the combatants
falls a sacrifice and dies. When fatigued, it has often perched
within a few feet of me, and on such favourable opportunities I have
surveyed it with the most minute attention. Its little eyes appear
like diamonds, reflecting light on every side: most elegantly
finished in all parts it is a miniature work of our great parent;
who seems to have formed it the smallest, and at the same time the
most beautiful of the winged species.

As I was one day sitting solitary and pensive in my primitive
arbour, my attention was engaged by a strange sort of rustling noise
at some paces distant. I looked all around without distinguishing
anything, until I climbed one of my great hemp stalks; when to my
astonishment, I beheld two snakes of considerable length, the one
pursuing the other with great celerity through a hemp stubble field.
The aggressor was of the black kind, six feet long; the fugitive was
a water snake, nearly of equal dimensions. They soon met, and in the
fury of their first encounter, they appeared in an instant firmly
twisted together; and whilst their united tails beat the ground,
they mutually tried with open jaws to lacerate each other. What a
fell aspect did they present! their heads were compressed to a very
small size, their eyes flashed fire; and after this conflict had
lasted about five minutes, the second found means to disengage
itself from the first, and hurried toward the ditch. Its antagonist
instantly assumed a new posture, and half creeping and half erect,
with a majestic mien, overtook and attacked the other again, which
placed itself in the same attitude, and prepared to resist. The
scene was uncommon and beautiful; for thus opposed they fought with
their jaws, biting each other with the utmost rage; but
notwithstanding this appearance of mutual courage and fury, the
water snake still seemed desirous of retreating toward the ditch,
its natural element. This was no sooner perceived by the keen-eyed
black one, than twisting its tail twice round a stalk of hemp, and
seizing its adversary by the throat, not by means of its jaws, but
by twisting its own neck twice round that of the water snake, pulled
it back from the ditch. To prevent a defeat the latter took hold
likewise of a stalk on the bank, and by the acquisition of that
point of resistance became a match for its fierce antagonist.
Strange was this to behold; two great snakes strongly adhering to
the ground mutually fastened together by means of the writhings
which lashed them to each other, and stretched at their full length,
they pulled but pulled in vain; and in the moments of greatest
exertions that part of their bodies which was entwined, seemed
extremely small, while the rest appeared inflated, and now and then
convulsed with strong undulations, rapidly following each other.
Their eyes seemed on fire, and ready to start out of their heads; at
one time the conflict seemed decided; the water snake bent itself
into two great folds, and by that operation rendered the other more
than commonly outstretched; the next minute the new struggles of the
black one gained an unexpected superiority, it acquired two great
folds likewise, which necessarily extended the body of its adversary
in proportion as it had contracted its own. These efforts were
alternate; victory seemed doubtful, inclining sometimes to the one
side and sometimes to the other; until at last the stalk to which
the black snake fastened, suddenly gave way, and in consequence of
this accident they both plunged into the ditch. The water did not
extinguish their vindictive rage; for by their agitations I could
trace, though not distinguish, their mutual attacks. They soon re-
appeared on the surface twisted together, as in their first onset;
but the black snake seemed to retain its wonted superiority, for its
head was exactly fixed above that of the other, which it incessantly
pressed down under the water, until it was stifled, and sunk. The
victor no sooner perceived its enemy incapable of farther
resistance, than abandoning it to the current, it returned on shore
and disappeared.




LETTER XI

FROM MR. IW--N AL--Z, A RUSSIAN GENTLEMAN; DESCRIBING THE VISIT HE
PAID AT MY REQUEST TO MR. JOHN BERTRAM, THE CELEBRATED PENNSYLVANIAN
BOTANIST


Examine this flourishing province, in whatever light you will, the
eyes as well as the mind of an European traveller are equally
delighted; because a diffusive happiness appears in every part:
happiness which is established on the broadest basis. The wisdom of
Lycurgus and Solon never conferred on man one half of the blessings
and uninterrupted prosperity which the Pennsylvanians now possess:
the name of Penn, that simple but illustrious citizen, does more
honour to the English nation than those of many of their kings.

In order to convince you that I have not bestowed undeserved praises
in my former letters on this celebrated government; and that either
nature or the climate seems to be more favourable here to the arts
and sciences, than to any other American province; let us together,
agreeable to your desire, pay a visit to Mr. John Bertram, the first
botanist, in this new hemisphere: become such by a native impulse of
disposition. It is to this simple man that America is indebted for
several useful discoveries, and the knowledge of many new plants. I
had been greatly prepossessed in his favour by the extensive
correspondence which I knew he held with the most eminent Scotch and
French botanists; I knew also that he had been honoured with that of
Queen Ulrica of Sweden.

His house is small, but decent; there was something peculiar in its
first appearance, which seemed to distinguish it from those of his
neighbours: a small tower in the middle of it, not only helped to
strengthen it but afforded convenient room for a staircase. Every
disposition of the fields, fences, and trees, seemed to bear the
marks of perfect order and regularity, which in rural affairs,
always indicate a prosperous industry.

I was received at the door by a woman dressed extremely neat and
simple, who without courtesying, or any other ceremonial, asked me,
with an air of benignity, who I wanted? I answered, I should be glad
to see Mr. Bertram. If thee wilt step in and take a chair, I will
send for him. No, I said, I had rather have the pleasure of walking
through his farm, I shall easily find him out, with your directions.
After a little time I perceived the Schuylkill, winding through
delightful meadows, and soon cast my eyes on a new-made bank, which
seemed greatly to confine its stream. After having walked on its top
a considerable way I at last reached the place where ten men were at
work. I asked, if any of them could tell me where Mr. Bertram was?
An elderly looking man, with wide trousers and a large leather apron
on, looking at me said, "My name is Bertram, dost thee want me?"
Sir, I am come on purpose to converse with you, if you can be spared
from your labour. "Very easily," he answered, "I direct and advise
more than I work." We walked toward the house, where he made me take
a chair while he went to put on clean clothes, after which he
returned and sat down by me. The fame of your knowledge, said I, in
American botany, and your well-known hospitality, have induced me to
pay you a visit, which I hope you will not think troublesome: I
should be glad to spend a few hours in your garden. "The greatest
advantage," replied he, "which I receive from what thee callest my
botanical fame, is the pleasure which it often procureth me in
receiving the visits of friends and foreigners: but our jaunt into
the garden must be postponed for the present, as the bell is ringing
for dinner." We entered into a large hall, where there was a long
table full of victuals; at the lowest part sat his negroes, his
hired men were next, then the family and myself; and at the head,
the venerable father and his wife presided. Each reclined his head
and said his prayers, divested of the tedious cant of some, and of
the ostentatious style of others. "After the luxuries of our
cities," observed he, "this plain fare must appear to thee a severe
fast." By no means, Mr. Bertram, this honest country dinner
convinces me, that you receive me as a friend and an old
acquaintance. "I am glad of it, for thee art heartily welcome. I
never knew how to use ceremonies; they are insufficient proofs of
sincerity; our society, besides, are utterly strangers to what the
world calleth polite expressions. We treat others as we treat
ourselves. I received yesterday a letter from Philadelphia, by which
I understand thee art a Russian; what motives can possibly have
induced thee to quit thy native country and to come so far in quest
of knowledge or pleasure? Verily it is a great compliment thee
payest to this our young province, to think that anything it
exhibiteth may be worthy thy attention." I have been most amply
repaid for the trouble of the passage. I view the present Americans
as the seed of future nations, which will replenish this boundless
continent; the Russians may be in some respects compared to you; we
likewise are a new people, new I mean in knowledge, arts, and
improvements. Who knows what revolutions Russia and America may one
day bring about; we are perhaps nearer neighbours than we imagine. I
view with peculiar attention all your towns, I examine their
situation and the police, for which many are already famous. Though
their foundations are now so recent, and so well remembered, yet
their origin will puzzle posterity as much as we are now puzzled to
ascertain the beginning of those which time has in some measure
destroyed. Your new buildings, your streets, put me in mind of those
of the city of Pompeia, where I was a few years ago; I attentively
examined everything there, particularly the foot-path which runs
along the houses. They appeared to have been considerably worn by
the great number of people which had once travelled over them. But
now how distant; neither builders nor proprietors remain; nothing is
known! "Why thee hast been a great traveller for a man of thy
years." Few years, Sir, will enable anybody to journey over a great
tract of country; but it requires a superior degree of knowledge to
gather harvests as we go. Pray, Mr. Bertram, what banks are those
which you are making: to what purpose is so much expense and so much
labour bestowed? "Friend Iwan, no branch of industry was ever more
profitable to any country, as well as to the proprietors; the
Schuylkill in its many windings once covered a great extent of
ground, though its waters were but shallow even in our highest
tides: and though some parts were always dry, yet the whole of this
great tract presented to the eye nothing but a putrid swampy soil,
useless either for the plough or for the scythe. The proprietors of
these grounds are now incorporated; we yearly pay to the treasurer
of the company a certain sum, which makes an aggregate, superior to
the casualties that generally happen either by inundations or the
musk squash. It is owing to this happy contrivance that so many
thousand acres of meadows have been rescued from the Schuylkill,
which now both enricheth and embellisheth so much of the
neighbourhood of our city. Our brethren of Salem in New Jersey have
carried the art of banking to a still higher degree of perfection."
It is really an admirable contrivance, which greatly redounds to the
honour of the parties concerned; and shows a spirit of discernment
and perseverance which is highly praiseworthy: if the Virginians
would imitate your example, the state of their husbandry would
greatly improve. I have not heard of any such association in any
other parts of the continent; Pennsylvania hitherto seems to reign
the unrivalled queen of these fair provinces. Pray, Sir, what
expense are you at e'er these grounds be fit for the scythe? "The
expenses are very considerable, particularly when we have land,
brooks, trees, and brush to clear away. But such is the excellence
of these bottoms and the goodness of the grass for fattening of
cattle, that the produce of three years pays all advances." Happy
the country where nature has bestowed such rich treasures, treasures
superior to mines, said I: if all this fair province is thus
cultivated, no wonder it has acquired such reputation for the
prosperity and the industry of its inhabitants.

By this time the working part of the family had finished their
dinner, and had retired with a decency and silence which pleased me
much. Soon after I heard, as I thought, a distant concert of
instruments.--However simple and pastoral your fare was, Mr.
Bertram, this is the dessert of a prince; pray what is this I hear?
"Thee must not be alarmed, it is of a piece with the rest of thy
treatment, friend Iwan." Anxious I followed the sound, and by
ascending the staircase, found that it was the effect of the wind
through the strings of an Eolian harp; an instrument which I had
never before seen. After dinner we quaffed an honest bottle of
Madeira wine, without the irksome labour of toasts, healths, or
sentiments; and then retired into his study.

I was no sooner entered, than I observed a coat of arms in a gilt
frame with the name of John Bertram. The novelty of such a
decoration, in such a place, struck me; I could not avoid asking,
Does the society of Friends take any pride in those armorial
bearings, which sometimes serve as marks of distinction between
families, and much oftener as food for pride and ostentation? "Thee
must know," said he, "that my father was a Frenchman, he brought
this piece of painting over with him; I keep it as a piece of family
furniture, and as a memorial of his removal hither." From his study
we went into the garden, which contained a great variety of curious
plants and shrubs; some grew in a greenhouse, over the door of which
were written these lines:

     "Slave to no sect, who takes no private road,
      But looks through nature, up to nature's God!"

He informed me that he had often followed General Bouquet to
Pittsburgh, with the view of herbalising; that he had made useful
collections in Virginia, and that he had been employed by the king
of England to visit the two Floridas.

Our walks and botanical observations engrossed so much of our time,
that the sun was almost down ere I thought of returning to
Philadelphia; I regretted that the day had been so short, as I had
not spent so rational a one for a long time before. I wanted to
stay, yet was doubtful whether it would not appear improper, being
an utter stranger. Knowing, however, that I was visiting the least
ceremonious people in the world, I bluntly informed him of the
pleasure I had enjoyed, and with the desire I had of staying a few
days with him. "Thee art as welcome as if I was thy father; thee art
no stranger; thy desire of knowledge, thy being a foreigner besides,
entitleth thee to consider my house as thine own, as long as thee
pleaseth: use thy time with the most perfect freedom; I too shall do
so myself." I thankfully accepted the kind invitation.

We went to view his favourite bank; he showed me the principles and
method on which it was erected; and we walked over the grounds which
had been already drained. The whole store of nature's kind
luxuriance seemed to have been exhausted on these beautiful meadows;
he made me count the amazing number of cattle and horses now feeding
on solid bottoms, which but a few years before had been covered with
water. Thence we rambled through his fields, where the right-angular
fences, the heaps of pitched stones, the flourishing clover,
announced the best husbandry, as well as the most assiduous
attention. His cows were then returning home, deep bellied, short
legged, having udders ready to burst; seeking with seeming toil to
be delivered from the great exuberance they contained: he next
showed me his orchard, formerly planted on a barren sandy soil, but
long since converted into one of the richest spots in that vicinage.

"This," said he, "is altogether the fruit of my own contrivance; I
purchased some years ago the privilege of a small spring, about a
mile and a half from hence, which at a considerable expense I have
brought to this reservoir; therein I throw old lime, ashes, horse-
dung, etc., and twice a week I let it run, thus impregnated; I
regularly spread on this ground in the fall, old hay, straw, and
whatever damaged fodder I have about my barn. By these simple means
I mow, one year with another, fifty-three hundreds of excellent hay
per acre, from a soil, which scarcely produced five-fingers [a small
plant resembling strawberries] some years before." This is, Sir, a
miracle in husbandry; happy the country which is cultivated by a
society of men, whose application and taste lead them to prosecute
and accomplish useful works. "I am not the only person who do these
things," he said, "wherever water can be had it is always turned to
that important use; wherever a farmer can water his meadows, the
greatest crops of the best hay and excellent after-grass, are the
sure rewards of his labours. With the banks of my meadow ditches, I
have greatly enriched my upland fields, those which I intend to rest
for a few years, I constantly sow with red clover, which is the
greatest meliorator of our lands. For three years after, they yield
abundant pasture; when I want to break up my clover fields, I give
them a good coat of mud, which hath been exposed to the severities
of three or four of our winters. This is the reason that I commonly
reap from twenty-eight to thirty-six bushels of wheat an acre; my
flax, oats, and Indian corn, I raise in the same proportion. Wouldst
thee inform me whether the inhabitants of thy country follow the
same methods of husbandry?" No, Sir; in the neighbourhood of our
towns, there are indeed some intelligent farmers, who prosecute
their rural schemes with attention; but we should be too numerous,
too happy, too powerful a people, if it were possible for the whole
Russian Empire to be cultivated like the province of Pennsylvania.
Our lands are so unequally divided, and so few of our farmers are
possessors of the soil they till, that they cannot execute plans of
husbandry with the same vigour as you do, who hold yours, as it were
from the Master of nature, unencumbered and free. Oh, America!
exclaimed I, thou knowest not as yet the whole extent of thy
happiness: the foundation of thy civil polity must lead thee in a
few years to a degree of population and power which Europe little
thinks of! "Long before this happen," answered the good man, "we
shall rest beneath the turf; it is vain for mortals to be
presumptuous in their conjectures: our country, is, no doubt, the
cradle of an extensive future population; the old world is growing
weary of its inhabitants, they must come here to flee from the
tyranny of the great. But doth not thee imagine, that the great
will, in the course of years, come over here also; for it is the
misfortune of all societies everywhere to hear of great men, great
rulers, and of great tyrants." My dear Sir, I replied, tyranny never
can take a strong hold in this country, the land is too widely
distributed: it is poverty in Europe that makes slaves. "Friend
Iwan, as I make no doubt that thee understandest the Latin tongue,
read this kind epistle which the good Queen of Sweden, Ulrica, sent
me a few years ago. Good woman! that she should think in her palace
at Stockholm of poor John Bertram, on the banks of the Schuylkill,
appeareth to me very strange." Not in the least, dear Sir; you are
the first man whose name as a botanist hath done honour to America;
it is very natural at the same time to imagine, that so extensive a
continent must contain many curious plants and trees: is it then
surprising to see a princess, fond of useful knowledge, descend
sometimes from the throne, to walk in the gardens of Linnaeus? "'Tis
to the directions of that learned man," said Mr. Bertram, "that I am
indebted for the method which has led me to the knowledge I now
possess; the science of botany is so diffusive, that a proper thread
is absolutely wanted to conduct the beginner." Pray, Mr. Bertram,
when did you imbibe the first wish to cultivate the science of
botany; was you regularly bred to it in Philadelphia? "I have never
received any other education than barely reading and writing; this
small farm was all the patrimony my father left me, certain debts
and the want of meadows kept me rather low in the beginning of my
life; my wife brought me nothing in money, all her riches consisted
in her good temper and great knowledge of housewifery. I scarcely
know how to trace my steps in the botanical career; they appear to
me now like unto a dream: but thee mayest rely on what I shall
relate, though I know that some of our friends have laughed at it."
I am not one of those people, Mr. Bertram, who aim at finding out
the ridiculous in what is sincerely and honestly averred. "Well,
then, I'll tell thee: One day I was very busy in holding my plough
(for thee seest that I am but a ploughman) and being weary I ran
under the shade of a tree to repose myself. I cast my eyes on a
daisy, I plucked it mechanically and viewed it with more curiosity
than common country farmers are wont to do; and observed therein
very many distinct parts, some perpendicular, some horizontal. What
a shame, said my mind, or something that inspired my mind, that thee
shouldest have employed so many years in tilling the earth and
destroying so many flowers and plants, without being acquainted with
their structures and their uses! This seeming inspiration suddenly
awakened my curiosity, for these were not thoughts to which I had
been accustomed. I returned to my team, but this new desire did not
quit my mind; I mentioned it to my wife, who greatly discouraged me
from prosecuting my new scheme, as she called it; I was not opulent
enough, she said, to dedicate much of my time to studies and labours
which might rob me of that portion of it which is the only wealth of
the American farmer. However her prudent caution did not discourage
me; I thought about it continually, at supper, in bed, and wherever
I went. At last I could not resist the impulse; for on the fourth
day of the following week, I hired a man to plough for me, and went
to Philadelphia. Though I knew not what book to call for, I
ingeniously told the bookseller my errand, who provided me with such
as he thought best, and a Latin grammar beside. Next I applied to a
neighbouring schoolmaster, who in three months taught me Latin
enough to understand Linnaeus, which I purchased afterward. Then I
began to botanise all over my farm; in a little time I became
acquainted with every vegetable that grew in my neighbourhood; and
next ventured into Maryland, living among the Friends: in proportion
as I thought myself more learned I proceeded farther, and by a
steady application of several years I have acquired a pretty general
knowledge of every plant and tree to be found in our continent. In
process of time I was applied to from the old countries, whither I
every year send many collections. Being now made easy in my
circumstances, I have ceased to labour, and am never so happy as
when I see and converse with my friends. If among the many plants or
shrubs I am acquainted with, there are any thee wantest to send to
thy native country, I will cheerfully procure them, and give thee
moreover whatever directions thee mayest want."

Thus I passed several days in ease, improvement, and pleasure; I
observed in all the operations of his farm, as well as in the mutual
correspondence between the master and the inferior members of his
family, the greatest ease and decorum; not a word like command
seemed to exceed the tone of a simple wish. The very negroes
themselves appeared to partake of such a decency of behaviour, and
modesty of countenance, as I had never before observed. By what
means, said I, Mr. Bertram, do you rule your slaves so well, that
they seem to do their work with all the cheerfulness of white men?
"Though our erroneous prejudices and opinions once induced us to
look upon them as fit only for slavery, though ancient custom had
very unfortunately taught us to keep them in bondage; yet of late,
in consequence of the remonstrances of several Friends, and of the
good books they have published on that subject, our society treats
them very differently. With us they are now free. I give those whom
thee didst see at my table, eighteen pounds a year, with victuals
and clothes, and all other privileges which white men enjoy. Our
society treats them now as the companions of our labours; and by
this management, as well as by means of the education we have given
them, they are in general become a new set of beings. Those whom I
admit to my table, I have found to be good, trusty, moral men; when
they do not what we think they should do, we dismiss them, which is
all the punishment we inflict. Other societies of Christians keep
them still as slaves, without teaching them any kind of religious
principles: what motive beside fear can they have to behave well? In
the first settlement of this province, we employed them as slaves, I
acknowledge; but when we found that good example, gentle admonition,
and religious principles could lead them to subordination and
sobriety, we relinquished a method so contrary to the profession of
Christianity. We gave them freedom, and yet few have quitted their
ancient masters. The women breed in our families; and we become
attached to one another. I taught mine to read and write; they love
God, and fear his judgments. The oldest person among them transacts
my business in Philadelphia, with a punctuality, from which he has
never deviated. They constantly attend our meetings, they
participate in health and sickness, infancy and old age, in the
advantages our society affords. Such are the means we have made use
of, to relieve them from that bondage and ignorance in which they
were kept before. Thee perhaps hast been surprised to see them at my
table, but by elevating them to the rank of freemen, they
necessarily acquire that emulation without which we ourselves should
fall into debasement and profligate ways." Mr. Bertram, this is the
most philosophical treatment of negroes that I have heard of; happy
would it be for America would other denominations of Christians
imbibe the same principles, and follow the same admirable rules. A
great number of men would be relieved from those cruel shackles,
under which they now groan; and under this impression, I cannot
endure to spend more time in the southern provinces. The method with
which they are treated there, the meanness of their food, the
severity of their tasks, are spectacles I have not patience to
behold. "I am glad to see that thee hast so much compassion; are
there any slaves in thy country?" Yes, unfortunately, but they are
more properly civil than domestic slaves; they are attached to the
soil on which they live; it is the remains of ancient barbarous
customs, established in the days of the greatest ignorance and
savageness of manners! and preserved notwithstanding the repeated
tears of humanity, the loud calls of policy, and the commands of
religion. The pride of great men, with the avarice of landholders,
make them look on this class as necessary tools of husbandry; as if
freemen could not cultivate the ground. "And is it really so, Friend
Iwan? To be poor, to be wretched, to be a slave, are hard indeed;
existence is not worth enjoying on those terms. I am afraid thy
country can never flourish under such impolitic government." I am
very much of your opinion, Mr. Bertram, though I am in hopes that
the present reign, illustrious by so many acts of the soundest
policy, will not expire without this salutary, this necessary
emancipation; which would fill the Russian empire with tears of
gratitude. "How long hast thee been in this country?" Four years,
Sir. "Why thee speakest English almost like a native; what a toil a
traveller must undergo to learn various languages, to divest himself
of his native prejudices, and to accommodate himself to the customs
of all those among whom he chooseth to reside."

Thus I spent my time with this enlightened botanist--this worthy
citizen; who united all the simplicity of rustic manners to the most
useful learning. Various and extensive were the conversations that
filled the measure of my visit. I accompanied him to his fields, to
his barn, to his bank, to his garden, to his study, and at last to
the meeting of the society on the Sunday following. It was at the
town of Chester, whither the whole family went in two waggons; Mr.
Bertram and I on horseback. When I entered the house where the
friends were assembled, who might be about two hundred men and
women, the involuntary impulse of ancient custom made me pull off my
hat; but soon recovering myself, I sat with it on, at the end of a
bench. The meeting-house was a square building devoid of any
ornament whatever; the whiteness of the walls, the conveniency of
seats, that of a large stove, which in cold weather keeps the whole
house warm, were the only essential things which I observed. Neither
pulpit nor desk, fount nor altar, tabernacle nor organ, were there
to be seen; it is merely a spacious room, in which these good people
meet every Sunday. A profound silence ensued, which lasted about
half an hour; every one had his head reclined, and seemed absorbed
in profound meditation, when a female friend arose, and declared
with a most engaging modesty, that the spirit moved her to entertain
them on the subject she had chosen. She treated it with great
propriety, as a moral useful discourse, and delivered it without
theological parade or the ostentation of learning. Either she must
have been a great adept in public speaking, or had studiously
prepared herself; a circumstance that cannot well be supposed, as it
is a point, in their profession, to utter nothing but what arises
from spontaneous impulse: or else the great spirit of the world, the
patronage and influence of which they all came to invoke, must have
inspired her with the soundest morality. Her discourse lasted three
quarters of an hour. I did not observe one single face turned toward
her; never before had I seen a congregation listening with so much
attention to a public oration. I observed neither contortions of
body, nor any kind of affectation in her face, style, or manner of
utterance; everything was natural, and therefore pleasing, and shall
I tell you more, she was very handsome, although upward of forty. As
soon as she had finished, every one seemed to return to their former
meditation for about a quarter of an hour; when they rose up by
common consent, and after some general conversation, departed.

How simple their precepts, how unadorned their religious system: how
few the ceremonies through which they pass during the course of
their lives! At their deaths they are interred by the fraternity,
without pomp, without prayers; thinking it then too late to alter
the course of God's eternal decrees: and as you well know, without
either monument or tombstone. Thus after having lived under the
mildest government, after having been guided by the mildest
doctrine, they die just as peaceably as those who being educated in
more pompous religions, pass through a variety of sacraments,
subscribe to complicated creeds, and enjoy the benefits of a church
establishment. These good people flatter themselves, with following
the doctrines of Jesus Christ, in that simplicity with which they
were delivered: an happier system could not have been devised for
the use of mankind. It appears to be entirely free from those
ornaments and political additions which each country and each
government hath fashioned after its own manners.

At the door of this meeting house, I had been invited to spend some
days at the houses of some respectable farmers in the neighbourhood.
The reception I met with everywhere insensibly led me to spend two
months among these good people; and I must say they were the golden
days of my riper years. I never shall forget the gratitude I owe
them for the innumerable kindnesses they heaped on me; it was to the
letter you gave me that I am indebted for the extensive acquaintance
I now have throughout Pennsylvania. I must defer thanking you as I
ought, until I see you again. Before that time comes, I may perhaps
entertain you with more curious anecdotes than this letter affords.-
-Farewell.     I----N AL----Z.




LETTER XII

DISTRESSES OF A FRONTIER MAN


I wish for a change of place; the hour is come at last, that I must
fly from my house and abandon my farm! But what course shall I
steer, inclosed as I am? The climate best adapted to my present
situation and humour would be the polar regions, where six months
day and six months night divide the dull year: nay, a simple Aurora
Borealis would suffice me, and greatly refresh my eyes, fatigued now
by so many disagreeable objects. The severity of those climates,
that great gloom, where melancholy dwells, would be perfectly
analogous to the turn of my mind. Oh, could I remove my plantation
to the shores of the Oby, willingly would I dwell in the hut of a
Samoyede; with cheerfulness would I go and bury myself in the cavern
of a Laplander. Could I but carry my family along with me, I would
winter at Pello, or Tobolsky, in order to enjoy the peace and
innocence of that country. But let me arrive under the pole, or
reach the antipodes, I never can leave behind me the remembrance of
the dreadful scenes to which I have been a witness; therefore never
can I be happy! Happy, why would I mention that sweet, that
enchanting word? Once happiness was our portion; now it is gone from
us, and I am afraid not to be enjoyed again by the present
generation! Whichever way I look, nothing but the most frightful
precipices present themselves to my view, in which hundreds of my
friends and acquaintances have already perished: of all animals that
live on the surface of this planet, what is man when no longer
connected with society; or when he finds himself surrounded by a
convulsed and a half dissolved one? He cannot live in solitude, he
must belong to some community bound by some ties, however imperfect.
Men mutually support and add to the boldness and confidence of each
other; the weakness of each is strengthened by the force of the
whole. I had never before these calamitous times formed any such
ideas; I lived on, laboured and prospered, without having ever
studied on what the security of my life and the foundation of my
prosperity were established: I perceived them just as they left me.
Never was a situation so singularly terrible as mine, in every
possible respect, as a member of an extensive society, as a citizen
of an inferior division of the same society, as a husband, as a
father, as a man who exquisitely feels for the miseries of others as
well as for his own! But alas! so much is everything now subverted
among us, that the very word misery, with which we were hardly
acquainted before, no longer conveys the same ideas; or rather tired
with feeling for the miseries of others, every one feels now for
himself alone. When I consider myself as connected in all these
characters, as bound by so many cords, all uniting in my heart, I am
seized with a fever of the mind, I am transported beyond that degree
of calmness which is necessary to delineate our thoughts. I feel as
if my reason wanted to leave me, as if it would burst its poor weak
tenement: again I try to compose myself, I grow cool, and
preconceiving the dreadful loss, I endeavour to retain the useful
guest.

You know the position of our settlement; I need not therefore
describe it. To the west it is inclosed by a chain of mountains,
reaching to----; to the east, the country is as yet but thinly
inhabited; we are almost insulated, and the houses are at a
considerable distance from each other. From the mountains we have
but too much reason to expect our dreadful enemy; the wilderness is
a harbour where it is impossible to find them. It is a door through
which they can enter our country whenever they please; and, as they
seem determined to destroy the whole chain of frontiers, our fate
cannot be far distant: from Lake Champlain, almost all has been
conflagrated one after another. What renders these incursions still
more terrible is, that they most commonly take place in the dead of
the night; we never go to our fields but we are seized with an
involuntary fear, which lessens our strength and weakens our labour.
No other subject of conversation intervenes between the different
accounts, which spread through the country, of successive acts of
devastation; and these told in chimney-corners, swell themselves in
our affrighted imaginations into the most terrific ideas! We never
sit down either to dinner or supper, but the least noise immediately
spreads a general alarm and prevents us from enjoying the comfort of
our meals. The very appetite proceeding from labour and peace of
mind is gone; we eat just enough to keep us alive: our sleep is
disturbed by the most frightful dreams; sometimes I start awake, as
if the great hour of danger was come; at other times the howling of
our dogs seems to announce the arrival of the enemy: we leap out of
bed and run to arms; my poor wife with panting bosom and silent
tears, takes leave of me, as if we were to see each other no more;
she snatches the youngest children from their beds, who, suddenly
awakened, increase by their innocent questions the horror of the
dreadful moment. She tries to hide them in the cellar, as if our
cellar was inaccessible to the fire. I place all my servants at the
windows, and myself at the door, where I am determined to perish.
Fear industriously increases every sound; we all listen; each
communicates to the other his ideas and conjectures. We remain thus
sometimes for whole hours, our hearts and our minds racked by the
most anxious suspense: what a dreadful situation, a thousand times
worse than that of a soldier engaged in the midst of the most severe
conflict! Sometimes feeling the spontaneous courage of a man, I seem
to wish for the decisive minute; the next instant a message from my
wife, sent by one of the children, puzzling me beside with their
little questions, unmans me: away goes my courage, and I descend
again into the deepest despondency. At last finding that it was a
false alarm, we return once more to our beds; but what good can the
kind sleep of nature do to us when interrupted by such scenes!
Securely placed as you are, you can have no idea of our agitations,
but by hear-say; no relation can be equal to what we suffer and to
what we feel. Every morning my youngest children are sure to have
frightful dreams to relate: in vain I exert my authority to keep
them silent, it is not in my power; and these images of their
disturbed imagination, instead of being frivolously looked upon as
in the days of our happiness, are on the contrary considered as
warnings and sure prognostics of our future fate. I am not a
superstitious man, but since our misfortunes, I am grown more timid,
and less disposed to treat the doctrine of omens with contempt.

Though these evils have been gradual, yet they do not become
habitual like other incidental evils. The nearer I view the end of
this catastrophe, the more I shudder. But why should I trouble you
with such unconnected accounts; men secure and out of danger are
soon fatigued with mournful details: can you enter with me into
fellowship with all these afflictive sensations; have you a tear
ready to shed over the approaching ruin of a once opulent and
substantial family? Read this I pray with the eyes of sympathy; with
a tender sorrow, pity the lot of those whom you once called your
friends; who were once surrounded with plenty, ease, and perfect
security; but who now expect every night to be their last, and who
are as wretched as criminals under an impending sentence of the law.

As a member of a large society which extends to many parts of the
world, my connection with it is too distant to be as strong as that
which binds me to the inferior division in the midst of which I
live. I am told that the great nation, of which we are a part, is
just, wise, and free, beyond any other on earth, within its own
insular boundaries; but not always so to its distant conquests: I
shall not repeat all I have heard, because I cannot believe half of
it. As a citizen of a smaller society, I find that any kind of
opposition to its now prevailing sentiments, immediately begets
hatred: how easily do men pass from loving, to hating and cursing
one another! I am a lover of peace, what must I do? I am divided
between the respect I feel for the ancient connection, and the fear
of innovations, with the consequence of which I am not well
acquainted; as they are embraced by my own countrymen. I am
conscious that I was happy before this unfortunate Revolution. I
feel that I am no longer so; therefore I regret the change. This is
the only mode of reasoning adapted to persons in my situation. If I
attach myself to the Mother Country, which is 3000 miles from me, I
become what is called an enemy to my own region; if I follow the
rest of my countrymen, I become opposed to our ancient masters: both
extremes appear equally dangerous to a person of so little weight
and consequence as I am, whose energy and example are of no avail.
As to the argument on which the dispute is founded, I know little
about it. Much has been said and written on both sides, but who has
a judgment capacious and clear enough to decide? The great moving
principles which actuate both parties are much hid from vulgar eyes,
like mine; nothing but the plausible and the probable are offered to
our contemplation.

The innocent class are always the victim of the few; they are in all
countries and at all times the inferior agents, on which the popular
phantom is erected; they clamour, and must toil, and bleed, and are
always sure of meeting with oppression and rebuke. It is for the
sake of the great leaders on both sides, that so much blood must be
spilt; that of the people is counted as nothing. Great events are
not achieved for us, though it is by us that they are principally
accomplished; by the arms, the sweat, the lives of the people. Books
tell me so much that they inform me of nothing. Sophistry, the bane
of freemen, launches forth in all her deceiving attire! After all,
most men reason from passions; and shall such an ignorant individual
as I am decide, and say this side is right, that side is wrong?
Sentiment and feeling are the only guides I know. Alas, how should I
unravel an argument, in which reason herself hath given way to
brutality and bloodshed! What then must I do? I ask the wisest
lawyers, the ablest casuists, the warmest patriots; for I mean
honestly. Great Source of wisdom! inspire me with light sufficient
to guide my benighted steps out of this intricate maze! Shall I
discard all my ancient principles, shall I renounce that name, that
nation which I held once so respectable? I feel the powerful
attraction; the sentiments they inspired grew with my earliest
knowledge, and were grafted upon the first rudiments of my
education. On the other hand, shall I arm myself against that
country where I first drew breath, against the play-mates of my
youth, my bosom friends, my acquaintance?--the idea makes me
shudder! Must I be called a parricide, a traitor, a villain, lose
the esteem of all those whom I love, to preserve my own; be shunned
like a rattlesnake, or be pointed at like a bear? I have neither
heroism not magnanimity enough to make so great a sacrifice. Here I
am tied, I am fastened by numerous strings, nor do I repine at the
pressure they cause; ignorant as I am, I can pervade the utmost
extent of the calamities which have already overtaken our poor
afflicted country. I can see the great and accumulated ruin yet
extending itself as far as the theatre of war has reached; I hear
the groans of thousands of families now ruined and desolated by our
aggressors. I cannot count the multitude of orphans this war has
made; nor ascertain the immensity of blood we have lost. Some have
asked, whether it was a crime to resist; to repel some parts of this
evil. Others have asserted, that a resistance so general makes
pardon unattainable, and repentance useless: and dividing the crime
among so many, renders it imperceptible. What one party calls
meritorious, the other denominates flagitious. These opinions vary,
contract, or expand, like the events of the war on which they are
founded. What can an insignificant man do in the midst of these
jarring contradictory parties, equally hostile to persons situated
as I am? And after all who will be the really guilty?--Those most
certainly who fail of success. Our fate, the fate of thousands, is
then necessarily involved in the dark wheel of fortune. Why then so
many useless reasonings; we are the sport of fate. Farewell
education, principles, love of our country, farewell; all are become
useless to the generality of us: he who governs himself according to
what he calls his principles, may be punished either by one party or
the other, for those very principles. He who proceeds without
principle, as chance, timidity, or self-preservation directs, will
not perhaps fare better; but he will be less blamed. What are we in
the great scale of events, we poor defenceless frontier inhabitants?
What is it to the gazing world, whether we breathe or whether we
die? Whatever virtue, whatever merit and disinterestedness we may
exhibit in our secluded retreats, of what avail?

We are like the pismires destroyed by the plough; whose destruction
prevents not the future crop. Self-preservation, therefore, the rule
of nature, seems to be the best rule of conduct; what good can we do
by vain resistance, by useless efforts? The cool, the distant
spectator, placed in safety, may arraign me for ingratitude, may
bring forth the principles of Solon or Montesquieu; he may look on
me as wilfully guilty; he may call me by the most opprobrious names.
Secure from personal danger, his warm imagination, undisturbed by
the least agitation of the heart, will expatiate freely on this
grand question; and will consider this extended field, but as
exhibiting the double scene of attack and defence. To him the object
becomes abstracted, the intermediate glares, the perspective
distance and a variety of opinions unimpaired by affections,
presents to his mind but one set of ideas. Here he proclaims the
high guilt of the one, and there the right of the other; but let him
come and reside with us one single month, let him pass with us
through all the successive hours of necessary toil, terror and
affright, let him watch with us, his musket in his hand, through
tedious, sleepless nights, his imagination furrowed by the keen
chisel of every passion; let his wife and his children become
exposed to the most dreadful hazards of death; let the existence of
his property depend on a single spark, blown by the breath of an
enemy; let him tremble with us in our fields, shudder at the
rustling of every leaf; let his heart, the seat of the most
affecting passions, be powerfully wrung by hearing the melancholy
end of his relations and friends; let him trace on the map the
progress of these desolations; let his alarmed imagination predict
to him the night, the dreadful night when it may be his turn to
perish, as so many have perished before. Observe then, whether the
man will not get the better of the citizen, whether his political
maxims will not vanish! Yes, he will cease to glow so warmly with
the glory of the metropolis; all his wishes will be turned toward
the preservation of his family! Oh, were he situated where I am,
were his house perpetually filled, as mine is, with miserable
victims just escaped from the flames and the scalping knife, telling
of barbarities and murders that make human nature tremble; his
situation would suspend every political reflection, and expel every
abstract idea. My heart is full and involuntarily takes hold of any
notion from whence it can receive ideal ease or relief. I am
informed that the king has the most numerous, as well as the
fairest, progeny of children, of any potentate now in the world: he
may be a great king, but he must feel as we common mortals do, in
the good wishes he forms for their lives and prosperity. His mind no
doubt often springs forward on the wings of anticipation, and
contemplates us as happily settled in the world. If a poor frontier
inhabitant may be allowed to suppose this great personage the first
in our system, to be exposed but for one hour, to the exquisite
pangs we so often feel, would not the preservation of so numerous a
family engross all his thoughts; would not the ideas of dominion and
other felicities attendant on royalty all vanish in the hour of
danger? The regal character, however sacred, would be superseded by
the stronger, because more natural one of man and father. Oh! did he
but know the circumstances of this horrid war, I am sure he would
put a stop to that long destruction of parents and children. I am
sure that while he turned his ears to state policy, he would
attentively listen also to the dictates of nature, that great
parent; for, as a good king, he no doubt wishes to create, to spare,
and to protect, as she does. Must I then, in order to be called a
faithful subject, coolly, and philosophically say, it is necessary
for the good of Britain, that my children's brains should be dashed
against the walls of the house in which they were reared; that my
wife should be stabbed and scalped before my face; that I should be
either murdered or captivated; or that for greater expedition we
should all be locked up and burnt to ashes as the family of the B---
-n was? Must I with meekness wait for that last pitch of desolation,
and receive with perfect resignation so hard a fate, from ruffians,
acting at such a distance from the eyes of any superior; monsters,
left to the wild impulses of the wildest nature. Could the lions of
Africa be transported here and let loose, they would no doubt kill
us in order to prey upon our carcasses! but their appetites would
not require so many victims. Shall I wait to be punished with death,
or else to be stripped of all food and raiment, reduced to despair
without redress and without hope. Shall those who may escape, see
everything they hold dear destroyed and gone. Shall those few
survivors, lurking in some obscure corner, deplore in vain the fate
of their families, mourn over parents either captivated, butchered,
or burnt; roam among our wilds, and wait for death at the foot of
some tree, without a murmur, or without a sigh, for the good of the
cause? No, it is impossible! so astonishing a sacrifice is not to be
expected from human nature, it must belong to beings of an inferior
or superior order, actuated by less, or by more refined principles.
Even those great personages who are so far elevated above the common
ranks of men, those, I mean, who wield and direct so many thunders;
those who have let loose against us these demons of war, could they
be transported here, and metamorphosed into simple planters as we
are, they would, from being the arbiters of human destiny, sink into
miserable victims; they would feel and exclaim as we do, and be as
much at a loss what line of conduct to prosecute. Do you well
comprehend the difficulties of our situation? If we stay we are sure
to perish at one time or another; no vigilance on our part can save
us; if we retire, we know not where to go; every house is filled
with refugees as wretched as ourselves; and if we remove we become
beggars. The property of farmers is not like that of merchants; and
absolute poverty is worse than death. If we take up arms to defend
ourselves, we are denominated rebels; should we not be rebels
against nature, could we be shamefully passive? Shall we then, like
martyrs, glory in an allegiance, now become useless, and voluntarily
expose ourselves to a species of desolation which, though it ruin us
entirely, yet enriches not our ancient masters. By this inflexible
and sullen attachment, we shall be despised by our countrymen, and
destroyed by our ancient friends; whatever we may say, whatever
merit we may claim, will not shelter us from those indiscriminate
blows, given by hired banditti, animated by all those passions which
urge men to shed the blood of others; how bitter the thought! On the
contrary, blows received by the hands of those from whom we expected
protection, extinguish ancient respect, and urge us to self-defence-
-perhaps to revenge; this is the path which nature herself points
out, as well to the civilised as to the uncivilised. The Creator of
hearts has himself stamped on them those propensities at their first
formation; and must we then daily receive this treatment from a
power once so loved? The Fox flies or deceives the hounds that
pursue him; the bear, when overtaken, boldly resists and attacks
them; the hen, the very timid hen, fights for the preservation of
her chickens, nor does she decline to attack, and to meet on the
wing even the swift kite. Shall man, then, provided both with
instinct and reason, unmoved, unconcerned, and passive, see his
subsistence consumed, and his progeny either ravished from him or
murdered? Shall fictitious reason extinguish the unerring impulse of
instinct? No; my former respect, my former attachment vanishes with
my safety; that respect and attachment was purchased by protection,
and it has ceased. Could not the great nation we belong to have
accomplished her designs by means of her numerous armies, by means
of those fleets which cover the ocean? Must those who are masters of
two thirds of the trade of the world; who have in their hands the
power which almighty gold can give; who possess a species of wealth
that increases with their desires; must they establish their
conquest with our insignificant innocent blood!

Must I then bid farewell to Britain, to that renowned country? Must
I renounce a name so ancient and so venerable? Alas, she herself,
that once indulgent parent, forces me to take up arms against her.
She herself, first inspired the most unhappy citizens of our remote
districts, with the thoughts of shedding the blood of those whom
they used to call by the name of friends and brethren. That great
nation which now convulses the world; which hardly knows the extent
of her Indian kingdoms; which looks toward the universal monarchy of
trade, of industry, of riches, of power: why must she strew our poor
frontiers with the carcasses of her friends, with the wrecks of our
insignificant villages, in which there is no gold? When, oppressed
by painful recollection, I revolve all these scattered ideas in my
mind, when I contemplate my situation, and the thousand streams of
evil with which I am surrounded; when I descend into the particular
tendency even of the remedy I have proposed, I am convulsed--
convulsed sometimes to that degree, as to be tempted to exclaim--Why
has the master of the world permitted so much indiscriminate evil
throughout every part of this poor planet, at all times, and among
all kinds of people? It ought surely to be the punishment of the
wicked only. I bring that cup to my lips, of which I must soon
taste, and shudder at its bitterness. What then is life, I ask
myself, is it a gracious gift? No, it is too bitter; a gift means
something valuable conferred, but life appears to be a mere
accident, and of the worst kind: we are born to be victims of
diseases and passions, of mischances and death: better not to be
than to be miserable.--Thus impiously I roam, I fly from one erratic
thought to another, and my mind, irritated by these acrimonious
reflections, is ready sometimes to lead me to dangerous extremes of
violence. When I recollect that I am a father, and a husband, the
return of these endearing ideas strikes deep into my heart. Alas!
they once made it to glow with pleasure and with every ravishing
exultation; but now they fill it with sorrow. At other times, my
wife industriously rouses me out of these dreadful meditations, and
soothes me by all the reasoning she is mistress of; but her
endeavours only serve to make me more miserable, by reflecting that
she must share with all these calamities, the bare apprehensions of
which I am afraid will subvert her reason. Nor can I with patience
think that a beloved wife, my faithful help-mate, throughout all my
rural schemes, the principal hand which has assisted me in rearing
the prosperous fabric of ease and independence I lately possessed,
as well as my children, those tenants of my heart, should daily and
nightly be exposed to such a cruel fate. Selfpreservation is above
all political precepts and rules, and even superior to the dearest
opinions of our minds; a reasonable accommodation of ourselves to
the various exigencies of the time in which we live, is the most
irresistible precept. To this great evil I must seek some sort of
remedy adapted to remove or to palliate it; situated as I am, what
steps should I take that will neither injure nor insult any of the
parties, and at the same time save my family from that certain
destruction which awaits it, if I remain here much longer. Could I
insure them bread, safety, and subsistence, not the bread of
idleness, but that earned by proper labour as heretofore; could this
be accomplished by the sacrifice of my life, I would willingly give
it up. I attest before heaven, that it is only for these I would
wish to live and to toil: for these whom I have brought into this
miserable existence. I resemble, methinks, one of the stones of a
ruined arch, still retaining that pristine form that anciently
fitted the place I occupied, but the centre is tumbled down; I can
be nothing until I am replaced, either in the former circle, or in
some stronger one. I see one on a smaller scale, and at a
considerable distance, but it is within my power to reach it: and
since I have ceased to consider myself as a member of the ancient
state now convulsed, I willingly descend into an inferior one. I
will revert into a state approaching nearer to that of nature,
unencumbered either with voluminous laws, or contradictory codes,
often galling the very necks of those whom they protect; and at the
same time sufficiently remote from the brutality of unconnected
savage nature. Do you, my friend, perceive the path I have found
out? it is that which leads to the tenants of the great------village
of------, where, far removed from the accursed neighbourhood of
Europeans, its inhabitants live with more ease, decency, and peace,
than you imagine: where, though governed by no laws, yet find, in
uncontaminated simple manners all that laws can afford. Their system
is sufficiently complete to answer all the primary wants of man, and
to constitute him a social being, such as he ought to be in the
great forest of nature. There it is that I have resolved at any rate
to transport myself and family: an eccentric thought, you may say,
thus to cut asunder all former connections, and to form new ones
with a people whom nature has stamped with such different
characteristics! But as the happiness of my family is the only
object of my wishes, I care very little where we be, or where we go,
provided that we are safe, and all united together. Our new
calamities being shared equally by all, will become lighter; our
mutual affection for each other, will in this great transmutation
become the strongest link of our new society, will afford us every
joy we can receive on a foreign soil, and preserve us in unity, as
the gravity and coherency of matter prevents the world from
dissolution. Blame me not, it would be cruel in you, it would beside
be entirely useless; for when you receive this we shall be on the
wing. When we think all hopes are gone, must we, like poor
pusillanimous wretches, despair and die? No; I perceive before me a
few resources, though through many dangers, which I will explain to
you hereafter. It is not, believe me, a disappointed ambition which
leads me to take this step, it is the bitterness of my situation, it
is the impossibility of knowing what better measure to adopt: my
education fitted me for nothing more than the most simple
occupations of life; I am but a feller of trees, a cultivator of
land, the most honourable title an American can have. I have no
exploits, no discoveries, no inventions to boast of; I have cleared
about 370 acres of land, some for the plough, some for the scythe;
and this has occupied many years of my life. I have never possessed,
or wish to possess anything more than what could be earned or
produced by the united industry of my family. I wanted nothing more
than to live at home independent and tranquil, and to teach my
children how to provide the means of a future ample subsistence,
founded on labour, like that of their father, This is the career of
life I have pursued, and that which I had marked out for them and
for which they seemed to be so well calculated by their
inclinations, and by their constitutions. But now these pleasing
expectations are gone, we must abandon the accumulated industry of
nineteen years, we must fly we hardly know whither, through the most
impervious paths, and become members of a new and strange community.
Oh, virtue! is this all the reward thou hast to confer on thy
votaries? Either thou art only a chimera, or thou art a timid
useless being; soon affrighted, when ambition, thy great adversary,
dictates, when war re-echoes the dreadful sounds, and poor helpless
individuals are mowed down by its cruel reapers like useless grass.
I have at all times generously relieved what few distressed people I
have met with; I have encouraged the industrious; my house has
always been opened to travellers; I have not lost a month in illness
since I have been a man; I have caused upwards of an hundred and
twenty families to remove hither. Many of them I have led by the
hand in the days of their first trial; distant as I am from any
places of worship or school of education, I have been the pastor of
my family, and the teacher of many of my neighbours. I have learnt
them as well as I could, the gratitude they owe to God, the father
of harvests; and their duties to man: I have been as useful a
subject; ever obedient to the laws, ever vigilant to see them
respected and observed. My wife hath faithfully followed the same
line within her province; no woman was ever a better economist, or
spun or wove better linen; yet we must perish, perish like wild
beasts, included within a ring of fire!

Yes, I will cheerfully embrace that resource, it is an holy
inspiration; by night and by day, it presents itself to my mind: I
have carefully revolved the scheme; I have considered in all its
future effects and tendencies, the new mode of living we must
pursue, without salt, without spices, without linen and with little
other clothing; the art of hunting, we must acquire, the new manners
we must adopt, the new language we must speak; the dangers attending
the education of my children we must endure. These changes may
appear more terrific at a distance perhaps than when grown familiar
by practice: what is it to us, whether we eat well made pastry, or
pounded alagriches; well roasted beef, or smoked venison; cabbages,
or squashes? Whether we wear neat home-spun or good beaver; whether
we sleep on feather-beds, or on bear-skins? The difference is not
worth attending to. The difficulty of the language, fear of some
great intoxication among the Indians; finally, the apprehension lest
my younger children should be caught by that singular charm, so
dangerous at their tender years; are the only considerations that
startle me. By what power does it come to pass, that children who
have been adopted when young among these people, can never be
prevailed on to readopt European manners? Many an anxious parent I
have seen last war, who at the return of the peace, went to the
Indian villages where they knew their children had been carried in
captivity; when to their inexpressible sorrow, they found them so
perfectly Indianised, that many knew them no longer, and those whose
more advanced ages permitted them to recollect their fathers and
mothers, absolutely refused to follow them, and ran to their adopted
parents for protection against the effusions of love their unhappy
real parents lavished on them! Incredible as this may appear, I have
heard it asserted in a thousand instances, among persons of credit.
In the village of------, where I purpose to go, there lived, about
fifteen years ago, an Englishman and a Swede, whose history would
appear moving, had I time to relate it. They were grown to the age
of men when they were taken; they happily escaped the great
punishment of war captives, and were obliged to marry the Squaws who
had saved their lives by adoption. By the force of habit, they
became at last thoroughly naturalised to this wild course of life.
While I was there, their friends sent them a considerable sum of
money to ransom themselves with. The Indians, their old masters,
gave them their choice, and without requiring any consideration,
told them, that they had been long as free as themselves. They chose
to remain; and the reasons they gave me would greatly surprise you:
the most perfect freedom, the ease of living, the absence of those
cares and corroding solicitudes which so often prevail with us; the
peculiar goodness of the soil they cultivated, for they did not
trust altogether to hunting; all these, and many more motives, which
I have forgot, made them prefer that life, of which we entertain
such dreadful opinions. It cannot be, therefore, so bad as we
generally conceive it to be; there must be in their social bond
something singularly captivating, and far superior to anything to be
boasted of among us; for thousands of Europeans are Indians, and we
have no examples of even one of those Aborigines having from choice
become Europeans! There must be something more congenial to our
native dispositions, than the fictitious society in which we live;
or else why should children, and even grown persons, become in a
short time so invincibly attached to it? There must be something
very bewitching in their manners, something very indelible and
marked by the very hands of nature. For, take a young Indian lad,
give him the best education you possibly can, load him with your
bounty, with presents, nay with riches; yet he will secretly long
for his native woods, which you would imagine he must have long
since forgot; and on the first opportunity he can possibly find, you
will see him voluntarily leave behind him all you have given him,
and return with inexpressible joy to lie on the mats of his fathers.
Mr.----, some years ago, received from a good old Indian, who died
in his house, a young lad, of nine years of age, his grandson. He
kindly educated him with his children, and bestowed on him the same
care and attention in respect to the memory of his venerable
grandfather, who was a worthy man. He intended to give him a genteel
trade, but in the spring season when all the family went to the
woods to make their maple sugar, he suddenly disappeared; and it was
not until seventeen months after, that his benefactor heard he had
reached the village of Bald Eagle, where he still dwelt. Let us say
what we will of them, of their inferior organs, of their want of
bread, etc., they are as stout and well made as the Europeans.
Without temples, without priests, without kings, and without laws,
they are in many instances superior to us; and the proofs of what I
advance, are, that they live without care, sleep without inquietude,
take life as it comes, bearing all its asperities with unparalleled
patience, and die without any kind of apprehension for what they
have done, or for what they expect to meet with hereafter. What
system of philosophy can give us so many necessary qualifications
for happiness? They most certainly are much more closely connected
with nature than we are; they are her immediate children, the
inhabitants of the woods are her undefiled off-spring: those of the
plains are her degenerated breed, far, very far removed from her
primitive laws, from her original design. It is therefore resolved
on. I will either die in the attempt or succeed; better perish all
together in one fatal hour, than to suffer what we daily endure. I
do not expect to enjoy in the village of------an uninterrupted
happiness; it cannot be our lot, let us live where we will; I am not
founding my future prosperity on golden dreams. Place mankind where
you will, they must always have adverse circumstances to struggle
with; from nature, accidents, constitution; from seasons, from that
great combination of mischances which perpetually lead us to new
diseases, to poverty, etc. Who knows but I may meet in this new
situation, some accident from whence may spring up new sources of
unexpected prosperity? Who can be presumptuous enough to predict all
the good? Who can foresee all the evils, which strew the paths of
our lives? But after all, I cannot but recollect what sacrifice I am
going to make, what amputation I am going to suffer, what transition
I am going to experience. Pardon my repetitions, my wild, my
trifling reflections, they proceed from the agitations of my mind,
and the fulness of my heart; the action of thus retracing them seems
to lighten the burden, and to exhilarate my spirits; this is besides
the last letter you will receive from me; I would fain tell you all,
though I hardly know how. Oh! in the hours, in the moments of my
greatest anguish, could I intuitively represent to you that variety
of thought which crowds on my mind, you would have reason to be
surprised, and to doubt of their possibility. Shall we ever meet
again? If we should, where will it be? On the wild shores of----. If
it be my doom to end my days there, I will greatly improve them; and
perhaps make room for a few more families, who will choose to retire
from the fury of a storm, the agitated billows of which will yet
roar for many years on our extended shores. Perhaps I may repossess
my house, if it be not burnt down; but how will my improvements
look? why, half defaced, bearing the strong marks of abandonment,
and of the ravages of war. However, at present I give everything
over for lost; I will bid a long farewell to what I leave behind. If
ever I repossess it, I shall receive it as a gift, as a reward for
my conduct and fortitude. Do not imagine, however, that I am a
stoic--by no means: I must, on the contrary, confess to you, that I
feel the keenest regret, at abandoning an house which I have in some
measure reared with my own hands. Yes, perhaps I may never revisit
those fields which I have cleared, those trees which I have planted,
those meadows which, in my youth, were a hideous wilderness, now
converted by my industry into rich pastures and pleasant lawns. If
in Europe it is praise-worthy to be attached to paternal
inheritances, how much more natural, how much more powerful must the
tie be with us, who, if I may be permitted the expression, are the
founders, the creators of our own farms! When I see my table
surrounded with my blooming offspring, all united in the bonds of
the strongest affection, it kindles in my paternal heart a variety
of tumultuous sentiments, which none but a father and a husband in
my situation can feel or describe. Perhaps I may see my wife, my
children, often distressed, involuntarily recalling to their minds
the ease and abundance which they enjoyed under the paternal roof.
Perhaps I may see them want that bread which I now leave behind;
overtaken by diseases and penury, rendered more bitter by the
recollection of former days of opulence and plenty. Perhaps I may be
assailed on every side by unforeseen accidents, which I shall not be
able to prevent or to alleviate. Can I contemplate such images
without the most unutterable emotions? My fate is determined; but I
have not determined it, you may assure yourself, without having
undergone the most painful conflicts of a variety of passions;--
interest, love of ease, disappointed views, and pleasing
expectations frustrated;--I shuddered at the review! Would to God I
was master of the stoical tranquillity of that magnanimous sect; oh,
that I were possessed of those sublime lessons which Appollonius of
Chalcis gave to the Emperor Antoninus! I could then with much more
propriety guide the helm of my little bark, which is soon to be
freighted with all that I possess most dear on earth, through this
stormy passage to a safe harbour; and when there, become to my
fellow passengers, a surer guide, a brighter example, a pattern more
worthy of imitation, throughout all the new scenes they must pass,
and the new career they must traverse. I have observed
notwithstanding, the means hitherto made use of, to arm the
principal nations against our frontiers. Yet they have not, they
will not take up the hatchet against a people who have done them no
harm. The passions necessary to urge these people to war, cannot be
roused, they cannot feel the stings of vengeance, the thirst of
which alone can compel them to shed blood: far superior in their
motives of action to the Europeans, who for sixpence per day, may be
engaged to shed that of any people on earth. They know nothing of
the nature of our disputes, they have no ideas of such revolutions
as this; a civil division of a village or tribe, are events which
have never been recorded in their traditions: many of them know very
well that they have too long been the dupes and the victims of both
parties; foolishly arming for our sakes, sometimes against each
other, sometimes against our white enemies. They consider us as born
on the same land, and, though they have no reasons to love us, yet
they seem carefully to avoid entering into this quarrel, from
whatever motives. I am speaking of those nations with which I am
best acquainted, a few hundreds of the worst kind mixed with whites,
worse than themselves, are now hired by Great Britain, to perpetuate
those dreadful incursions. In my youth I traded with the----, under
the conduct of my uncle, and always traded justly and equitably;
some of them remember it to this day. Happily their village is far
removed from the dangerous neighbourhood of the whites; I sent a man
last spring to it, who understands the woods extremely well, and who
speaks their language; he is just returned, after several weeks
absence, and has brought me, as I had flattered myself, a string of
thirty purple wampum, as a token that their honest chief will spare
us half of his wigwam until we have time to erect one. He has sent
me word that they have land in plenty, of which they are not so
covetous as the whites; that we may plant for ourselves, and that in
the meantime he will procure for us some corn and some meat; that
fish is plenty in the waters of---, and that the village to which he
had laid open my proposals, have no objection to our becoming
dwellers with them. I have not yet communicated these glad tidings
to my wife, nor do I know how to do it; I tremble lest she should
refuse to follow me; lest the sudden idea of this removal rushing on
her mind, might be too powerful. I flatter myself I shall be able to
accomplish it, and to prevail on her; I fear nothing but the effects
of her strong attachment to her relations. I will willingly let you
know how I purpose to remove my family to so great a distance, but
it would become unintelligible to you, because you are not
acquainted with the geographical situation of this part of the
country. Suffice it for you to know, that with about twenty-three
miles land carriage, I am enabled to perform the rest by water; and
when once afloat, I care not whether it be two or three hundred
miles. I propose to send all our provisions, furniture, and clothes
to my wife's father, who approves of the scheme, and to reserve
nothing but a few necessary articles of covering; trusting to the
furs of the chase for our future apparel. Were we imprudently to
encumber ourselves too much with baggage, we should never reach to
the waters of---, which is the most dangerous as well as the most
difficult part of our journey; and yet but a trifle in point of
distance. I intend to say to my negroes--In the name of God, be
free, my honest lads, I thank you for your past services; go, from
henceforth, and work for yourselves; look on me as your old friend,
and fellow labourer; be sober, frugal, and industrious, and you need
not fear earning a comfortable subsistence.--Lest my countrymen
should think that I am gone to join the incendiaries of our
frontiers, I intend to write a letter to Mr.---, to inform him of
our retreat, and of the reasons that have urged me to it. The man
whom I sent to----village, is to accompany us also, and a very
useful companion he will be on every account.

You may therefore, by means of anticipation, behold me under the
Wigwam; I am so well acquainted with the principal manners of these
people, that I entertain not the least apprehension from them. I
rely more securely on their strong hospitality, than on the
witnessed compacts of many Europeans. As soon as possible after my
arrival, I design to build myself a wigwam, after the same manner
and size with the rest, in order to avoid being thought singular, or
giving occasion for any railleries; though these people are seldom
guilty of such European follies. I shall erect it hard by the lands
which they propose to allot me, and will endeavour that my wife, my
children, and myself may be adopted soon after our arrival. Thus
becoming truly inhabitants of their village, we shall immediately
occupy that rank within the pale of their society, which will afford
us all the amends we can possibly expect for the loss we have met
with by the convulsions of our own. According to their customs we
shall likewise receive names from them, by which we shall always be
known. My youngest children shall learn to swim, and to shoot with
the bow, that they may acquire such talents as will necessarily
raise them into some degree of esteem among the Indian lads of their
own age; the rest of us must hunt with the hunters. I have been for
several years an expert marksman; but I dread lest the imperceptible
charm of Indian education, may seize my younger children, and give
them such a propensity to that mode of life, as may preclude their
returning to the manners and customs of their parents. I have but
one remedy to prevent this great evil; and that is, to employ them
in the labour of the fields, as much as I can; I am even resolved to
make their daily subsistence depend altogether on it. As long as we
keep ourselves busy in tilling the earth, there is no fear of any of
us becoming wild; it is the chase and the food it procures, that
have this strange effect. Excuse a simile--those hogs which range in
the woods, and to whom grain is given once a week, preserve their
former degree of tameness; but if, on the contrary, they are reduced
to live on ground nuts, and on what they can get, they soon become
wild and fierce. For my part, I can plough, sow, and hunt, as
occasion may require; but my wife, deprived of wool and flax, will
have no room for industry; what is she then to do? like the other
squaws, she must cook for us the nasaump, the ninchicke, and such
other preparations of corn as are customary among these people. She
must learn to bake squashes and pumpkins under the ashes; to slice
and smoke the meat of our own killing, in order to preserve it; she
must cheerfully adopt the manners and customs of her neighbours, in
their dress, deportment, conduct, and internal economy, in all
respects. Surely if we can have fortitude enough to quit all we
have, to remove so far, and to associate with people so different
from us; these necessary compliances are but part of the scheme. The
change of garments, when those they carry with them are worn out,
will not be the least of my wife's and daughter's concerns: though I
am in hopes that self-love will invent some sort of reparation.
Perhaps you would not believe that there are in the woods looking-
glasses, and paint of every colour; and that the inhabitants take as
much pains to adorn their faces and their bodies, to fix their
bracelets of silver, and plait their hair, as our forefathers the
Picts used to do in the time of the Romans. Not that I would wish to
see either my wife or daughter adopt those savage customs; we can
live in great peace and harmony with them without descending to
every article; the interruption of trade hath, I hope, suspended
this mode of dress. My wife understands inoculation perfectly well,
she inoculated all our children one after another, and has
successfully performed the operation on several scores of people,
who, scattered here and there through our woods, were too far
removed from all medical assistance. If we can persuade but one
family to submit to it, and it succeeds, we shall then be as happy
as our situation will admit of; it will raise her into some degree
of consideration, for whoever is useful in any society will always
be respected. If we are so fortunate as to carry one family through
a disorder, which is the plague among these people, I trust to the
force of example, we shall then become truly necessary, valued, and
beloved; we indeed owe every kind office to a society of men who so
readily offer to assist us into their social partnership, and to
extend to my family the shelter of their village, the strength of
their adoption, and even the dignity of their names. God grant us a
prosperous beginning, we may then hope to be of more service to them
than even missionaries who have been sent to preach to them a Gospel
they cannot understand.

As to religion, our mode of worship will not suffer much by this
removal from a cultivated country, into the bosom of the woods; for
it cannot be much simpler than that which we have followed here
these many years: and I will with as much care as I can, redouble my
attention, and twice a week, retrace to them the great outlines of
their duty to God and to man. I will read and expound to them some
part of the decalogue, which is the method I have pursued ever since
I married.

Half a dozen of acres on the shores of---, the soil of which I know
well, will yield us a great abundance of all we want; I will make it
a point to give the over-plus to such Indians as shall be most
unfortunate in their huntings; I will persuade them, if I can, to
till a little more land than they do, and not to trust so much to
the produce of the chase. To encourage them still farther, I will
give a quirn to every six families; I have built many for our poor
back settlers, it being often the want of mills which prevents them
from raising grain. As I am a carpenter, I can build my own plough,
and can be of great service to many of them; my example alone, may
rouse the industry of some, and serve to direct others in their
labours. The difficulties of the language will soon be removed; in
my evening conversations, I will endeavour to make them regulate the
trade of their village in such a manner as that those pests of the
continent, those Indian traders, may not come within a certain
distance; and there they shall be obliged to transact their business
before the old people. I am in hopes that the constant respect which
is paid to the elders, and shame, may prevent the young hunters from
infringing this regulation. The son of----will soon be made
acquainted with our schemes, and I trust that the power of love, and
the strong attachment he professes for my daughter, may bring him
along with us: he will make an excellent hunter; young and vigorous,
he will equal in dexterity the stoutest man in the village. Had it
not been for this fortunate circumstance, there would have been the
greatest danger; for however I respect the simple, the inoffensive
society of these people in their villages, the strongest prejudices
would make me abhor any alliance with them in blood: disagreeable no
doubt, to nature's intentions which have strongly divided us by so
many indelible characters. In the days of our sickness, we shall
have recourse to their medical knowledge, which is well calculated
for the simple diseases to which they are subject. Thus shall we
metamorphose ourselves, from neat, decent, opulent planters,
surrounded with every conveniency which our external labour and
internal industry could give, into a still simpler people divested
of everything beside hope, food, and the raiment of the woods:
abandoning the large framed house, to dwell under the wigwam; and
the featherbed, to lie on the mat, or bear's skin. There shall we
sleep undisturbed by fruitful dreams and apprehensions; rest and
peace of mind will make us the most ample amends for what we shall
leave behind. These blessings cannot be purchased too dear; too long
have we been deprived of them. I would cheerfully go even to the
Mississippi, to find that repose to which we have been so long
strangers. My heart sometimes seems tired with beating, it wants
rest like my eye-lids, which feel oppressed with so many watchings.

These are the component parts of my scheme, the success of each of
which appears feasible; from whence I flatter myself with the
probable success of the whole. Still the danger of Indian education
returns to my mind, and alarms me much; then again I contrast it
with the education of the times; both appear to be equally pregnant
with evils. Reason points out the necessity of choosing the least
dangerous, which I must consider as the only good within my reach; I
persuade myself that industry and labour will be a sovereign
preservative against the dangers of the former; but I consider, at
the same time, that the share of labour and industry which is
intended to procure but a simple subsistence, with hardly any
superfluity, cannot have the same restrictive effects on our minds
as when we tilled the earth on a more extensive scale. The surplus
could be then realised into solid wealth, and at the same time that
this realisation rewarded our past labours, it engrossed and fixed
the attention of the labourer, and cherished in his mind the hope of
future riches. In order to supply this great deficiency of
industrious motives, and to hold out to them a real object to
prevent the fatal consequences of this sort of apathy; I will keep
an exact account of all that shall be gathered, and give each of
them a regular credit for the amount of it to be paid them in real
property at the return of peace. Thus, though seemingly toiling for
bare subsistence on a foreign land, they shall entertain the
pleasing prospect of seeing the sum of their labours one day
realised either in legacies or gifts, equal if not superior to it.
The yearly expense of the clothes which they would have received at
home, and of which they will then be deprived, shall likewise be
added to their credit; thus I flatter myself that they will more
cheerfully wear the blanket, the matchcoat, and the Moccasins.
Whatever success they may meet with in hunting or fishing, shall
only be considered as recreation and pastime; I shall thereby
prevent them from estimating their skill in the chase as an
important and necessary accomplishment. I mean to say to them: "You
shall hunt and fish merely to show your new companions that you are
not inferior to them in point of sagacity and dexterity." Were I to
send them to such schools as the interior parts of our settlements
afford at present, what can they learn there? How could I support
them there? What must become of me; am I to proceed on my voyage,
and leave them? That I never could submit to. Instead of the
perpetual discordant noise of disputes so common among us, instead
of those scolding scenes, frequent in every house, they will observe
nothing but silence at home and abroad: a singular appearance of
peace and concord are the first characteristics which strike you in
the villages of these people. Nothing can be more pleasing, nothing
surprises an European so much as the silence and harmony which
prevails among them, and in each family; except when disturbed by
that accursed spirit given them by the wood rangers in exchange for
their furs. If my children learn nothing of geometrical rules, the
use of the compass, or of the Latin tongue, they will learn and
practise sobriety, for rum can no longer be sent to these people;
they will learn that modesty and diffidence for which the young
Indians are so remarkable; they will consider labour as the most
essential qualification; hunting as the second. They will prepare
themselves in the prosecution of our small rural schemes, carried on
for the benefit of our little community, to extend them further when
each shall receive his inheritance. Their tender minds will cease to
be agitated by perpetual alarms; to be made cowards by continual
terrors: if they acquire in the village of---, such an awkwardness
of deportment and appearance as would render them ridiculous in our
gay capitals, they will imbibe, I hope, a confirmed taste for that
simplicity, which so well becomes the cultivators of the land. If I
cannot teach them any of those professions which sometimes embellish
and support our society, I will show them how to hew wood, how to
construct their own ploughs; and with a few tools how to supply
themselves with every necessary implement, both in the house and in
the field. If they are hereafter obliged to confess, that they
belong to no one particular church, I shall have the consolation of
teaching them that great, that primary worship which is the
foundation of all others. If they do not fear God according to the
tenets of any one seminary, they shall learn to worship him upon the
broad scale of nature. The Supreme Being does not reside in peculiar
churches or communities; he is equally the great Manitou of the
woods and of the plains; and even in the gloom, the obscurity of
those very woods, his justice may be as well understood and felt as
in the most sumptuous temples. Each worship with us, hath, you know,
its peculiar political tendency; there it has none but to inspire
gratitude and truth: their tender minds shall receive no other idea
of the Supreme Being, than that of the father of all men, who
requires nothing more of us than what tends to make each other
happy. We shall say with them, Soungwaneha, esa caurounkyawga,
nughwonshauza neattewek, nesalanga.--Our father, be thy will done in
earth as it is in great heaven.

Perhaps my imagination gilds too strongly this distant prospect; yet
it appears founded on so few, and simple principles, that there is
not the same probability of adverse incidents as in more complex
schemes. These vague rambling contemplations which I here faithfully
retrace, carry me sometimes to a great distance; I am lost in the
anticipation of the various circumstances attending this proposed
metamorphosis! Many unforeseen accidents may doubtless arise. Alas!
it is easier for me in all the glow of paternal anxiety, reclined on
my bed, to form the theory of my future conduct, than to reduce my
schemes into practice. But when once secluded from the great society
to which we now belong, we shall unite closer together; and there
will be less room for jealousies or contentions. As I intend my
children neither for the law nor the church, but for the cultivation
of the land, I wish them no literary accomplishments; I pray heaven
that they may be one day nothing more than expert scholars in
husbandry: this is the science which made our continent to flourish
more rapidly than any other. Were they to grow up where I am now
situated, even admitting that we were in safety; two of them are
verging toward that period in their lives, when they must
necessarily take up the musket, and learn, in that new school, all
the vices which are so common in armies. Great God! close my eyes
for ever, rather than I should live to see this calamity! May they
rather become inhabitants of the woods.

Thus then in the village of---, in the bosom of that peace it has
enjoyed ever since I have known it, connected with mild hospitable
people, strangers to OUR political disputes, and having none among
themselves; on the shores of a fine river, surrounded with woods,
abounding with game; our little society united in perfect harmony
with the new adoptive one, in which we shall be incorporated, shall
rest I hope from all fatigues, from all apprehensions, from our
perfect terrors, and from our long watchings. Not a word of politics
shall cloud our simple conversation; tired either with the chase or
the labour of the field, we shall sleep on our mats without any
distressing want, having learnt to retrench every superfluous one:
we shall have but two prayers to make to the Supreme Being, that he
may shed his fertilising dew on our little crops, and that he will
be pleased to restore peace to our unhappy country. These shall be
the only subject of our nightly prayers, and of our daily
ejaculations: and if the labour, the industry, the frugality, the
union of men, can be an agreeable offering to him, we shall not fail
to receive his paternal blessings. There I shall contemplate nature
in her most wild and ample extent; I shall carefully study a species
of society, of which I have at present but very imperfect ideas; I
will endeavour to occupy with propriety that place which will enable
me to enjoy the few and sufficient benefits it confers. The solitary
and unconnected mode of life I have lived in my youth must fit me
for this trial, I am not the first who has attempted it; Europeans
did not, it is true, carry to the wilderness numerous families; they
went there as mere speculators; I, as a man seeking a refuge from
the desolation of war. They went there to study the manner of the
aborigines; I to conform to them, whatever they are; some went as
visitors, as travellers; I as a sojourner, as a fellow hunter and
labourer, go determined industriously to work up among them such a
system of happiness as may be adequate to my future situation, and
may be a sufficient compensation for all my fatigues and for the
misfortunes I have borne: I have always found it at home, I may hope
likewise to find it under the humble roof of my wigwam.

O Supreme Being! if among the immense variety of planets, inhabited
by thy creative power, thy paternal and omnipotent care deigns to
extend to all the individuals they contain; if it be not beneath thy
infinite dignity to cast thy eye on us wretched mortals; if my
future felicity is not contrary to the necessary effects of those
secret causes which thou hast appointed, receive the supplications
of a man, to whom in thy kindness thou hast given a wife and an
offspring: View us all with benignity, sanctify this strong conflict
of regrets, wishes, and other natural passions; guide our steps
through these unknown paths, and bless our future mode of life. If
it is good and well meant, it must proceed from thee; thou knowest,
O Lord, our enterprise contains neither fraud, nor malice, nor
revenge. Bestow on me that energy of conduct now become so
necessary, that it may be in my power to carry the young family thou
hast given me through this great trial with safety and in thy peace.
Inspire me with such intentions and such rules of conduct as may be
most acceptable to thee. Preserve, O God, preserve the companion of
my bosom, the best gift thou hast given me: endue her with courage
and strength sufficient to accomplish this perilous journey. Bless
the children of our love, those portions of our hearts; I implore
thy divine assistance, speak to their tender minds, and inspire them
with the love of that virtue which alone can serve as the basis of
their conduct in this world, and of their happiness with thee.
Restore peace and concord to our poor afflicted country; assuage the
fierce storm which has so long ravaged it. Permit, I beseech thee, O
Father of nature, that our ancient virtues, and our industry, may
not be totally lost: and that as a reward for the great toils we
have made on this new land, we may be restored to our ancient
tranquillity, and enabled to fill it with successive generations,
that will constantly thank thee for the ample subsistence thou hast
given them.

The unreserved manner in which I have written must give you a
convincing proof of that friendship and esteem, of which I am sure
you never yet doubted. As members of the same society, as mutually
bound by the ties of affection and old acquaintance, you certainly
cannot avoid feeling for my distresses; you cannot avoid mourning
with me over that load of physical and moral evil with which we are
all oppressed. My own share of it I often overlook when I minutely
contemplate all that hath befallen our native country.

The End



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