we feel surprised. The
endearments of home, wretched as that home may be; the ties of kindred;
the love of country; the force of early training, and old associations;
all imbue the breast of the savage in an equal degree that similar
sentiments do the bosoms of his civilized neighbours.

Let a man of humble birth, and parentage so mean that they have been
considered, by their fellow mortals, as cumberances on the earth; we
say, let him, through his own industry and fortuitous circumstances,
raise himself to a post of eminence and power; and amidst all the
engrossing excitement of his life of pomp and pedantry, the promptings
of his natural affection will cause his heart to yearn after the authors
of his being, and the humble tenement that sheltered his infant head.
If, then, such feelings exist in the mind of a man subject to all the
caprices of the world, and made callous to the feelings of humanity by
the usages of that society that would hold up to scorn and ridicule the
exhibition of affection for anything so mean; how much more would the
child of nature, unencumbered with such conventionalities, and
unfettered by the prejudices of civilized life, yearn after the ties of
kindred and the associations of his early training. Hence all attempts
to draw the savage races into a settled civilisation, and wean them from
their inherent customs, have signally failed. Blacks may have been
partially induced to adopt the customs of the whites, in individual
cases, such as Jemmy Davis; but their continuance is not to be depended
upon, for they soon tire of their new life when they find that labour is
its natural adjunct, and they relapse into their former state,
preferring the indolence it ensures.

The mode of living of the blacks in their wild state is primitive in the
extreme; and the sources of their sustenance equally precarious. Their
diet consists of roots, berries, fish, small animals, and reptiles (such
as snakes and lizards); and as the country never abounds with either,
they are necessarily often perfectly destitute; and the water as
frequently failing, coupled with the entire absence of any degree of
pre-thought or providence on their part, and their imperfect means of
procuration, they are almost constantly in an abject state of
wretchedness. Their weapons are primitive, singular, and even, as savage
specimens, ineffective. Their natural characteristics are cowardice,
indolence, deceit, cunning, and treachery (part