of the descent of God upon the earth, who was seen by men, conversed with them, and wrought miracles. If that was true, they asked, why did he not come down now among men as he did then? To which Mr. B. replied, because the world was now so wicked. They looked at one another, held their hands to their mouths, as they always do in token of surprise, and, smiling, {196} said, "the book may tell you so, but we don't believe it."
Independent of some resemblance in language, discoverable betwixt the aborigines of North America, and the Tartar tribes of the Russian empire, there is, likewise, something very similar in their habits and morals. They are equally erratic and unsettled in their abode, and have ever been so, according to Herodotus, for thousands of years. The Hamaxobii, of that author, still live in their travelling houses, and occupy the same country without any sensible diminution or increase of numbers. Both people are separated into numerous bands or tribes, characterised by a diversity of language, acknowledging no other rule than that which is patriarchal, and no other alliance than that of fraternity. They are alike insensible to the wants and comforts of civilization. They know neither poverty nor riches; vice nor virtue. Their simple condition appears to have perpetually partaken of that of the first family of the human race, and they have been alike exempt from the luxuries of ephemeral grandeur, and the mournful vicissitudes of fortune. Happy equality, which knows neither the sins of ambition, nor the crimes of avarice!
The picture of the Samoyades,[202] drawn apparently by
