There _is_ an Indian who, before he married, had his _dress shoes_ made by this lady (Folly, or Jealousy). She was, of course, extremely fond of him. "The shoes were beautifully garnished, far superior to anything of the kind done by _our_ women!" There are not {51} wanting ladies, living with the white, who confer full share of their _favors_ on some of the Indians, and from one of these I fancy it is he got these shoes. But to hide the business, [he] imputed them to Folly, which served him a double end. If I can see that chap I shall be very particular in my inquiries of him. I know him well. This brings to my mind the _white stag_ or hind _Sertorius_ had in his exile and during his wars with his country, as mentioned by Plutarch. Indeed, to be candid, _I_ find a very great affinity between the ideas and notions of these people and those of the Greeks and Romans. And by these [affinities], much--far much--better than by the incongruous hypothesis of the learned, might be traced the _origin_ of these people. And I am far from taking the task to be difficult. Would _we_ only divest ourselves of _our own_ prejudices and take the proper plan, this great _Enigma_, if I may so explain myself, would be not perfectly cleared I allow, but a rational clew [would be] afforded to the unravelling of it. I have read many of these _hypotheses_, but they are so filled with inconsistencies that I could scarcely believe men could employ so much time in them. ..... I could say something else instead of the conclusion of this last sentence. A Gentleman, and an Englishman too, but I forget his name, would wish to _insinuate_ that these people are from a different origin with ourselves: [from] Adam. And to prove his hypothesis, he begins by an anatomizing hogs! (See the Encyclopaedia, not by Rees, but _Fitz-Patrick_ I believe.) This puts me in mind of some of the _Newtonian Systems_: There is no such thing in nature as _cold_. We must say an _absence_ of _heat_! Why cannot we as well say there is no such thing as _darkness_, but merely an _absence of light_, or reverse either, and either will be as reasonable. Most strange reasoning is this indeed! [Confession] These people have a notion that _confession_ saves them from many accidents and also preserves the lives of the sick, or rather restores them to their wonted health. I have not learned the origin of this--when, why, or wherefore--but it seems to be very remote, to have [sprung up] with their mythology. I shall [make it] a point to enquire very particularly into this, and for this, as well as other things, at different quarters to find and detect _errors_. But all, however, that I have written in these pages, though there may be some difference in the recital and perhaps a _few_ straggling circumstances, are, I have great reason to think, fundamentally the same throughout among these people. .....