Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/190

 of distinction in the nation, by whose influence and example the condition of their Indian brethren has been ameliorated. Her advice and council borders on supreme, her interference is allowed to be decisive even in affairs of life and death.

From the civilized Cherokees, with whom alone I could conveniently hold converse, I found it extremely difficult to acquire any knowledge, either of the traditions, opinions, or ancient customs of their nation. The humiliating details of former poverty, {131} ignorance, and superstition, tended to wound the feelings of those, who, besides the advantages, had also imbibed the pride and luxury of Europe. If the Cherokees had only discarded their superstitions, and retained their social virtues, besides acquiring habits of industry, we might indeed congratulate them on the change of their condition; but, unfortunately, with the superior intelligence, conveniences, and luxuries of civilization, have also been acquired that selfish attachment to property, that love of riches, which, though not really intrinsic, have still the power to purchase sinister interest, and separate the condition of men, and hence arises that accumulation of laws and punishments, from which the patriarchal state of those we call savages was so happily exempt. No legal snares were laid for the heedless; no gallows erected for the guilty; no contest arose for wealth or power. Every tribe was but a single family; their aged chief and his venerable associates were as fathers, governors, and advisers. Their young men considered themselves as brothers. No one was rich while the others were poor; and they considered nothing of value that was not essentially useful. As their frugal wants were almost spontaneously supplied, they were strangers alike to poverty and affluence; they boasted not