which they rarely fail, makes them the more unfit for bearing children afterwards. This is one of the reasons of the depopulation of America; for whatever losses they suffer, ei|ther by epidemical diseases or by war, are re|paired slowly.CHAP. IV.ALMOST the sole occupation of the American is war, or such an exer|cises as qualies him for it. His whole glory consists in this; and no man is at all considered until he has increased the strength of his country with a captive, or adorned his house with the scalp of one of it's enemies. When the ancients resolve upon war, they do not always declare what nation it is they are determined to attack; that the enemy, upon whom they really intend to fall, may be off his guard. Nay, they even some|times let years pass over without committing any act of hostility, that the vigilance of all may be unbent by the long continuance of the watch, and the uncertainty of the danger. In the mean time they are not idle at home. The principal captain summons the youth of the town to which he belongs; the war ket|tle is set on the fire; the war songs and dances commence; the hatchet is sent to all the villages of the same nation, and to all its