Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/195

 SECT. V.] GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 159 causes will ultimately produce the same effects. A nation of hunters cannot exist, as such, when brought in contact with an agricultural and industrious people. They must be deeply im- pressed with the conviction that their ultimate fate depends exclusively on themselves. The obstacles to be surmounted, before deep-rooted habits can be eradicated and a total change be effected, are undoubt- edly great, and should be fully understood. If the missions to the Eskimaux have been so much more successful, than those amongst the more southern Indians, it has been principally, because a profitable cultivation of the soil was impracticable in that frozen region, and that, as the inhabitants must continue to draw their subsistence from the sea or the chase, it was only requisite to regulate and not necessary to change their habits. The attempt may be hopeless with respect to men beyond a certain age ; and the effort should be directed towards the chil- dren. For that purpose, it is sufficient, that the parent should be thoroughly convinced of the absolute necessity for a change, without requiring him to do himself what perhaps has be- come impracticable. If that point could be accomplished, and the Indians would permit their children to be brought up by us, the success of the experiment would depend on those appointed to superintend its execution. Moral and religious education will not be neglected. In the present state of those people, no greater demand need be made on their intellectual faculties, than to teach them the English language ; but this so thoroughly, that they may forget their own. That, without which all the rest would be useless, is the early habit of manual labor. They must be brought up to work, to till the ground, in short, in the same manner as our own people, as the sons of our industrious farmers. They have land of their own, and will not, when reaching manhood, be obliged to work for others. They have an abundant quantity of land, and may, if they please, be per- petuated and multiply as ourselves. There is no reason why, if they become an agricultural people, the sixty thousand southern Indians should not, within less than a century, increase to one million.