HISTORY OF AMERICA. 105

^ inhabitants of many regions of the New World, B1,1 where the bifon abounds, might have derivedlc: the fame advantages from it. It is not of a nature

P*' fo indocile, but that it might have been trainedto be as fubfervient to man as our cattle 1 ’ 4 . But^ a favage, in that uncultivated ftate wherein the

J ® : Americans were difcovered, is the enemy of the

ie other animals, not their fuperior. He waftes and

■k deftroys, but knows not how to multiply or to

1! ~ govern them 1 ”.

■tThis, perhaps, is the mod notable diftindlionbetween the inhabitants of the Ancient and Newfc Worlds, and a high pre-eminence of civilized

ret men above fuch as continue rude. The greateft

,«l operations of man in changing and improving the

e::,l face of nature, as well as his mod confiderable

pc efforts in cultivating the earth, are accomplished

fei by means of the aid which he receives from the

hat* animals whom he has tamed and employs in labor.

a It is by their ftrength that he fubdues the ftubbom

foil, and converts the defert or marfh into a fruitful: ■ field. But man , in his civilized ftate , is foOB- accuftomed to the fervice of the domeftic animals,iE that he feldom reflects upon the vaft benefits|2 which he derives from it. If we were to fuppofehim, even wjien moft improved , to be deprived(juis of their ufeful miniftry, his empire over naturenp

ill)} ”* Nou v. Decouverte par Hennepin, p. 192. Kalm,i.

. *° 7 - ,

1 ’ BufFon, Hift. Nat. ix. 85. Hift. Philof. et Polit. desEtablilTem. des Europ . dans les deux Indes, vi. 564.

0 0 K

IV.

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