Kinship of Man witli Animals 159 



the legend, " the Creator began to raise up the people and nations 

 that are in that region, making one of each nation of clay, and 

 painting the dresses that each one was to wear ; those that were to 

 wear their hair, with hair, and those that were to be shorn, with hair 

 cut. And to each nation was given the language, that was to be 

 spoken, and the songs to be sung, and the seeds and food that they 

 were to sow. When the Creator had finished painting and making 

 the said nations and figures of clay, he gave life and soul to each 

 one, as well men as women, and ordered that they should pass under 

 the earth. Thence each nation came up in the places to which he 

 ordered them to go 1 ." 



These examples suffice to prove that the theory of the creation of 

 man out of dust or clay has been current among savages in many 

 parts of the world. But it is by no means the only explanation which 

 the savage philosopher has given of the beginnings of human life on 

 earth. Struck by the resemblances which may be traced between 

 himself and the beasts, he has often supposed, like Darwin himself, 

 that mankind has been developed out of lower forms of animal life. 

 For the simple savage has none of that high notion of the transcendant 

 dignity of man which makes so many superior persons shrink with 

 horror from the suggestion that they are distant cousins of the 

 brutes. He on the contrary is not too proud to own his humble 

 relations; indeed his difficulty often is to perceive the distinction 

 between him and them. Questioned by a missionary, a Bushman of 

 more than average intelligence "could not state any difference 

 between a man and a brute he did not know but a buffalo might 

 shoot with bows and arrows as well as a man, if it had them 2 ." When 

 the Russians first landed on one of the Alaskan islands, the natives 

 took them for cuttle-fish " on account of the buttons on their clothes 3 ." 

 The Giliaks of the Amoor think that the outward form and size of an 

 animal are only apparent; in substance every beast is a real man, 

 just like a Giliak himself, only endowed with an intelligence and 

 strength, which often surpass those of mere ordinary human beings 4 . 

 The Borororos, an Indian tribe of Brazil, will have it that they are 

 parrots of a gorgeous red plumage which live in their native forests. 

 Accordingly they treat the birds as their fellow-tribesmen, keeping 

 them in captivity, refusing to eat their flesh, and mourning for them 

 when they die 5 . 



1 E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America, i. (Oxford, 1892), p. 462. 

 - Bev. John Campbell, Travels in South Africa (London, 1822), n. p. 34. 



3 I. Petroff, Report on the Population, Industries, and Resources of Alaska, p. 145. 



4 L. Sternberg, "Die Eeligion der Giljaken," Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft, vin. 

 (1905), p. 248. 



5 K. von den Steinen, Unter den Naturvolkern Zentral-Brasiliens (Berlin, 1894), 

 pp. 352 sq., 512. 



