| 260 CONSTITUTION AND CHARACTER
mechanism was with him, at birth, the same in respect
to these faculties as in the Caucasian race,
but that, on account of the mode of life which the
Indian leads, it remained undeveloped. This is,
doubtless, to some extent, true. But it would
seem that the Indian children manifest from their
earliest infancy the same low degree of sensibility,
giving them the power of bearing without inconvenience,
or at least without pain, what would be intolerable
to the children of another race, which
characterizes their fathers and mothers. The children
seldom cry. They remain patient, strapped
upon their board, looking quietly about, and content
apparently with existence alone; while a white
child of the same age is endowed with powers of
observation and with mental instincts and propen-
sities so sensitive and active that it craves the
incessant occupation of its faculties, and scarcely
ever intermits his restless activity.
Where we find peculiarities of temperament thus
showing themselves at the earliest age, and continuing
to mark the character and conduct under
all circumstances to the end of life, it would seem
that we are entitled to conclude that they are innate,
and, in the individual at least, are not the
result of climate or of education, or of any other
outward causes.
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