172 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Cli. IX. 



and sensual instincts are developed, and year by year 

 the Indian degenerates. 



Mr. Bates, at the end of his admirable work on the 

 natural history of the Amazons, speculates on the future 

 of the human race, and thinks that under the equator 

 alone will it attain the highest form of perfection. I 

 have had similar thoughts when riding: over hundreds of 



o o 



miles of fertile savannahs in Central America, where an 

 everlasting summer and fertile land yield a harvest of 

 fruits and grain all the year round where it is not even 

 necessary " to tickle the ground with a plough to make 

 it laugh with a harvest." But thinking over the cause 

 of the degeneracy of the Spaniards and Indians, I am 

 led to believe that in climes where man has to battle 

 with nature for his food, not take it from her hands 

 as a gift ; where he is a worker, and not a pauper ; 

 where hard winters kill off the weak and brace up the 

 strong ; there only is that selection at work that keeps 

 the human race advancing, and prevents it retrograding, 

 now that Mars has been dethroned and Vulcan set on 

 high. 



In destroying the ancient monarchies of Mexico and 

 Central America, the Spaniards inflicted an irreparable 

 injury on the Indian race ; for whether or not a republic 

 is the highest ideal form of government (and doubtless it 

 would be if man were perfect), it is not adapted for 

 savage or half- civilised communities, and I cordially 

 agree with Darwin when, writing of the natives of Terra 

 del Fuego, he says, " Perfect equality among the indi- 

 viduals composing the Fuegian tribes must for a long 

 time retard their civilisation. As we see those animals 

 whose instinct compels them to live in society, and obey 



