| 268 CONSTITUTION AND CHARACTER
any human community, even if there were no
natural instincts in the heart to war against it.
There. was no law among the Indians restricting
men to a single wife, and prominent personages,
such as great warriors and chieftains, often
accordingly possessed themselves of more than one.
The motive which influenced them, however, in these
cases was riot, as it would seem, a sensual one, but
rather a desire to extend their influence by connecting
themselves with powerful families, and to
aggrandize themselves in the estimation of the
community by enlarging their domestic establishment.
The practice, however, being in violation of the
natural instincts of man and the essential laws of
his constitution, led generally to domestic disquiet
and suffering, and sometimes to catastrophes which
would have comported well with the strength of
the sentiment of jealousy in the heart of the most
civilized woman.
INTELLECTUAL SUPERIORITY OF THE CAUCASIAN RACE.
We are surprised sometimes, it is true, at the
ingenuity which the Indians exhibited in some of
their inventions, and it is, indeed, in some sense
wonderful that with materials and implements so
imperfect they could manufacture such efficient
weapons and carry out such curious contriv-
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