Taller and far more muscular
in their persons, the lingering vestiges of their Saxon and Norman
ancestry were yet to be found beneath the swarthy complexions, which
had been bestowed by an American sun. It would have been a curious
investigation, for one skilled in such an enquiry, to have traced
those points of difference, by which the offspring of the most western
European was still to be distinguished from the descendant of the most
remote Asiatic, now that the two, in the revolutions of the world,
were approximating in their habits, their residence, and not a little
in their characters. The group, of whom we write, was composed of the
family of the squatter. They stood indolent, lounging, and inert, as
usual when no immediate demand was made on their dormant energies,
clustered in front of some four or five habitations of skin, for which
they were indebted to the hospitality of their Teton allies. The terms
of their unexpected confederation were sufficiently explained, by the
presence of the horses and domestic cattle that were quietly grazing
on the bottom beneath, under the jealous eyes of the spirited Hetty.
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