ly. Though with more compass of intelligence and thought than the others, he was still the wild son of the forest. One of his remarks struck me forcibly. I asked him if the Indians had not a dislike to the Negroes. He said, by no means; that they judged of men by their worth, and not by their colour. "Besides," added he, "why should we dislike them more than the whites? The whites came in first, and then brought in the blacks; and the two together have taken away our country, and we are under no obliga tions to either of them."

Some of these Senecas have embraced Christianity; but I did not learn that they are at all superior in either morals or habits to the rest. An intelligent tradesman resident in their vicinity, insisted that the labours of the missionaries had not only been useless but absolutely prejudicial. He said that he was persuaded, that many amongst those whom we denominate heathen, were men and women of real piety, acknowledging the influence of the Great Spirit on their hearts, reclaiming them from evil and drawing them to good. A people of so much doctrinal purity, are certainly less likely to be benefitted by missionaries, than idolaters and cannibals. One thing is admitted by all travellers to

the western regions of North America, namely, that in proportion as the Indians know less of the whites, the better they are in morals. The accounts published by the missionaries of 'conversions, triumphant deaths and the like, require to be cautiously relied on. The Indians, so long as they continue Indians, that is, so long as they continue to subsist by hunting rather than agriculture, will in all probability never become sincere, enlightened Christians. They may perhaps become professors of Christianity, but their profession will not give them the mildness and forbearance required by Christianity, unless they adopt civilization. The Friends, sensible of this, have endeavoured to persuade them to turn to agriculture, but after all the labour they have bestowed, their success has been so small, that I should not be surprised if they were ultimately to abandon their object.

CHAPTER XIX.

SLAVERY.

THE evils of slavery are felt and acknowledged in the slave States, but I fear that habit, early prejudice, and other concurring causes, have produced a torpor on the subject amongst the inhabitants who are free. It is true that few or none will advocate slavery abstractedly, but most are willing to defend it under existing circumstances. So obvious are the evils of slavery, that in passing from Pennsylvania into Maryland, the former a free, the latter a slave State, I was struck with the difference between them almost at first entering. Instead of neat farm-houses with spacious substantial out-buildings, and surrounding cottages with small gardens attached, where the poor might be supposed to reside in comfort, a different scene presented. The farm-houses large but of slovenly appearance; the barns of rude structure; and the negro huts no better than pigstyes: these were the objects I was obliged to see. As a proof how great is the contrast between Pennsylvania and Maryland, I may mention that as we were in the stage-coach, one of

the passengers suddenly remarked that we had passed the boundary line. I asked him how he knew it as he had never been that road before. He directed my attention to a barn, and said that he knew by that we must have entered Maryland, as Pennsylvania he was sure had nothing so shabby. This was his own spontaneous remark, no part of our previous conversation having been on slavery, or the comparative merits of the two States. In Virginia, I found that the farm-houses had an aristocratical appearance in comparison with the other houses, some of them being not only large, but approaching to splendour. The roads were so bad, as to be in some parts nearly impassable for carriages, and where crossed by a brook or small creek, without even the accommodation of a foot-bridge; a deficiency, which to a pedestrian like me, was a most troublesome inconvenience. On several occasions, I was beholden to persons for the use of a horse for getting over; on others, I had to make circuitous routes to find a ford, or avail myself of the trunk of a tree placed across for the general accommodation. At one place where I crossed, the water was about four feet deep, and the log so unsteady that I had to crawl on hands and knees to avoid the chance of a ducking. If these things had occurred on the newly formed

roads in the western wilderness, I should have passed them as matters of course. But after the good roads and bridges of Pennsylvania, to find such things in a part of the country of older date in settlement, I was led to the belief that the existence of slavery was the main cause of the inferiority.

In New York and Pennsylvania, the work of improvement was evidently rapidly proceeding. Villages were rising up in various places in which I observed many good houses and some elegant ones. The churches were numerous, displaying considerable beauty of architecture. The whole appearance of the new villages was exceedingly comfortable; and every where life, bustle and improvement were apparent. But in Virginia how dismal was the look of things! Few, very few villages attracted the eye. From Richmond to Charlottesville, a distance of eighty miles, there was hardly one deserving the name: in other parts I remarked the same circumstance. The places for worship were small frame houses, built. in the plainest manner, having poor accommoda tions for the frequenters of them. The loghouses of the poor white and free coloured people were little adapted to exclude cold and wet.. All seemed dormant. Gangs of negro slaves un