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[20]
Iberian fondness for antiquity and Indian ignorance of dates.
Yet they are old enough; having outlived the friars who planted them, and the natives for whose benefit they were trained.
“ You have a lovely country here about; why is Carmelo left a desert?”
“ Ah!”
the squatter laughs, “you see the good fathers have been driven away, and these poor devils, whether Redskins or Half-breeds, have now no friends to tell them what to do.”
“Tell them what to do!
The soil has not been sent away, nor have the sunshine and the rain been sent away.
They have the wood, the river, and the sea. Yon hills are full of ore, yon waters full of fish.”
“ Yes, Sefior, that is true; but who will find that ore and catch that fish?”
“All those who want to eat. Cannot the Redskin scale these heights, cannot the Half-breed plough those seas?”
“No Sefior,” sneers the Portuguese; “no Indian ever wrought a mine, no mixed-blood ever speared a whale.
Strangers may hunt for coal and gold, and bring in whale and seal.
You'll find some ”
1875.
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