property? The natives of Carolina were doubtless displeased at the
encroachments of strangers on their inheritance, and if they had not
advanced a single step towards civilization, no man can reasonably expect
from them a conduct incompatible with their natural circumstances. The
woods abounded with deer and buffaloes, which, when young, might have
been domesticated; but on such employment no Indian had entered; it
probably appeared to him equally despicable as that of agriculture.

[Sidenote] The occasion of Europeans being peaceably admitted among
them.

The first bond of union and affection between Europeans and Americans was
conveniency. At this early period, to the Indian a knife, a hatchet, or a
hoe, was a useful and invaluable acquisition. He observed with what
facility the strangers supplied their wants, which were many in
comparison with his, by means of the various implements they used. The
woods fell before the axe, the earth opened before the hoe or the spade;
and the knife was useful on numberless occasions. He admired the skill of
white men in making those implements of ease and profit, and voluntarily
offered them his deer skins, the only riches he had which could procure
them. The love of ease was as natural to the one as the other, and he
would rather give them the profits of a year's hunting than want such
instruments. Having obtained these in process of time, he found the
tomahawk and musket equally useful; these he also coveted, and could not
rest till he obtained them. What was at first only convenient, as his
wants increased, became absolutely necessary, by which means the original
bond was strengthened and confirmed. As the channel of commerce opened,
the Indian found that he was not only treated with friendship and
civility, but that the white people were equally fond of his skins, furs
and lands, as he was of their gaudy trinkets, and various implements of