ted
States. But the Brahmin put an end to that hope, by reminding me that
we should be attracted towards the Equator, and that we had to choose
between Asia, Africa, and South America; and that our only course
would be, to check the progress of our car over the country of
greatest extent, through which the equinoctial circle might pass.
Saying which, he relapsed into his melancholy silence, and I betook
myself once more to the telescope. With a bosom throbbing with
emotion, I saw that we were descending towards the American continent.
When we were about ten or twelve miles from the earth, the Brahmin
arrested the progress of the car, and we hovered over the broad
Atlantic. Looking down on the ocean, the first object which presented
itself to my eye, was a small one-masted shallop, which was buffetting
the waves in a south-westerly direction. I presumed it was a
New-England trader, on a voyage to some part of the Republic of
Colombia: and, by way of diverting my friend from his melancholy
reverie, I told him some of the many stories which are current
respecting the enterprise and ingenuity of this portion of my
countrymen, and above all, their adroitness at a bargain.

"'Methinks,' says the Brahmin, 'you are describing a native of Canton
or Pekin. But,' added he, after a short pause, 'though to a
superficial observer man appears to put on very different characters,
to a philosopher he is every where the same--for he is every where
moulded by the circumstances in which he is placed. Thus; let him be
in a situation that is propitious to commerce, and the habits of
traffic produce in him shrewdness and address. Trade is carried on
chiefly in towns, because it is there carried on most advantageously.
This situation gives the trader a more intimate knowledge of his
species--a more ready insight into character, and of the modes of
operating on it. His chief purpose is to buy as cheap, and to sell as
dear, as he can; and he is often able to heighten the recommendations
or soften the defects of some of the articles in which he deals,
without danger of immediate detection; or, in other words, big
representations have some influence with his customers. He avails
himself of this circumstance, and thus acquires the habit of lying;
but, as he is studious to conceal it, he becomes wary, ingenious, and
cunning. It is thus that the Phenicians, the Carthagenians, the