Observations on some parts of natural history : to which is prefixed an account of several remarkable vestiges of an ancient date, which have been discovered in different parts of North America. Pt. I / by Benjamin Smith Barton.

  • Benjamin Smith Barton
Date:
[1787?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on some parts of natural history : to which is prefixed an account of several remarkable vestiges of an ancient date, which have been discovered in different parts of North America. Pt. I / by Benjamin Smith Barton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ( (>9 ) cultivated no other vegetable but the maize, and this only in fmall quantities: it is true, how- ever, that, in the fpring of the year, they colledted from their forefts various efculent plants. Note [C], p. 3. So little attentive were the Indians to the pre- fervation of the hiftory of their anceftors, that on the arrival of the Europeans in America, there were few nations, which could relate, with any tolerable degree of accuracy, the events of the century which had but juft elapfed. Note [D], p. 3. Vanity is one of the moft prominent features in the character of the tribes of North Ame- rica : at their treaties, and in their private talks, the fpeaker is the hiftorian of his own atchieve- ments ; and thefe he does not fail to relate under every poflible advantage of language, and of elo- quence, * * **> * f ft • « Note [E], p. 5, “ It is to be lamented, very much to be la- <c mented,” fays Mr. JcfFerfon, that we have fuf- “ fered fo many of the Indian tribes already to “ extinguifh, without our having previoufly col- tc ledted and depofited in the records of literature, Fj