| 284 THE COMNG OF THE EUROPEANS.
head-dress of a western Indian, which he wished to
purchase as a specimen of Indian art, to add to his
museum.
DIFFERENT CAUSES FOR THE AVERSION OF THE INDIANS TO
LIVE LIKE THE WHITES.
Great surprise has often been expressed at the
total disinclination always manifested by Indians
to imitate the modes of living adopted by the
whites, after having once had an opportunity to
observe the infinite superiority of them. And al-
though the principal cause may be that they are
endowed by the Creator with a mental and physical
constitution that adapts them to a different course
of life, there are other causes that have been com-
bined with this in producing the effect. Among
them one was the repulsion of race—a fixed prin-
ciple of nature that manifests itself universally
throughout all the realms of animal life, and has
been ordained, as we shall presently see, for wise
and beneficent ends, which prevented them from
being cordially received into the same social and
domestic system with the whites, and treated by
them in it as friends and brothers. A great many
curious anecdotes are related in books of Indian
history illustrating the position which the poor
Indian occupied among the whites, and the feelings
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