He then amused me with accounts of the manners and mode of life of the Hyperborean race, with whom he had once passed a summer.  Glancing my eye then to the south,—­“See,” said I, “while the Kamtschadale is providing his supply of furs and of fish, for the long winter which is already knocking at the door of his hut, the gay and voluptuous native of the Sandwich and other islands between the tropics.  How striking the contrast!  The one passes his life in ease, abundance, and enjoyment; the other in toil, privation, and care.  No inclemency of the seasons inflicts present suffering on these happy islanders, or brings apprehensions for the future.  Nature presents them with her most delicious fruits spontaneously and abundantly; and she has implanted in their breast a lively relish for the favours she so lavishly bestows upon them.”

The Brahmin, after musing a while, replied:  “The difference is far less than you imagine.  Perhaps, on balancing their respective pleasures and pains, the superior gain of the islander will be reduced to nothing:  for, as to the simplest source of gratification, that of palatable food, if nature produces it more liberally in the islands, she also produces there more mouths to consume it.  The richest Kamtschadale may, indeed, oftener go without a dinner than the richest Otaheitan; but it may be quite the reverse with the poorest.  Then, as to quality of the food:  if nature has provided more delicious fruits for the natives of tropical climates, she has given a sharper appetite and stronger digestion to the Hyperborean, which equalizes the sum of their enjoyments.  A dry crust is relished, when an individual is hungry, more than the most savoury and delicate dainties when he is in a fever; and water to one man, is a more delicious beverage than the juice of the grape or of the palm to another.  As to the necessity for labour, which is ever pressing on the inhabitants of cold countries, it is this consequent and incessant activity which gives health to their bodies, and cheerful vigour to their minds; since, without such exercise, man would have been ever a prey to disease and discontent.  And, if no other occupation be provided for the mind of man, it carves out employment for itself in vain regrets and gloomy forebodings—­in jealousy, envy, and the indulgence of every hateful and tormenting passion:  hence the proverb,—­’If you want corn, cultivate your soil; if you want weeds, let it alone.’

“But again:  the native of those sunny isles is never sensible of the bounty of Providence, till he is deprived of it.  Here, as well as every where else, desire outgoes gratification.  Man sees or fancies much that he cannot obtain; and in his regret for what he wants, forgets what he already possesses.  What is it to one with a tooth-ache, that a savoury dish is placed before him?  It is the same with the mind as the body:  when pain engrosses it in one way, it cannot relish pleasure in another.  Every climate and country too, have their own evils and inconveniences.”