approach to lift them from the earth. In that case, they rear and love them affectionately. Can it be credited, however, that a mother can refuse to stretch out her arms, at the joyful moment when she receives the fruit of her pangs? When the tender cries of the infant put in motion all the affection of which the human heart is susceptible, will she be desirous that her offspring should pass from her own bowels into those of the earth? These Indians may perhaps think the days of man so unhappy, that they confer on him a kindness, when they abridge the term of his misfortunes; but they would not do this in so cruel a manner. They are in possession of poisons. It is beyond a doubt, that the Carthaginians sacrificed their children to their false deities; and that the Chinese expose them on the highways, to want, and the inclemency of the weather;—certainly a most barbarous and infallible death, unless they are succoured by the piety of the passenger. But the Indians have neither the fanaticism nor the indigence of those nations. They live in a manner naked, and have not any hand which oppresses them, nor any gods which require bloody holocausts: securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos[1]; and it is necessary that they should multiply, to cultivate their fields, and to maintain the mutual and constant wars which are fomented.
They find some difficulty in subsisting without implements of husbandry, which is not owing to any deficiency of soil and rivers, since these are most fertile in fruits, birds, quadrupeds, and fishes; but they cannot dispense with certain roots which require culture. Of these the principal is the yuca, with
- ↑ Corn. Tacit, de Moribus Germ.
which
