630 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The Greenlanders are entirely without political control ; having 

 nothing which represents it more nearly than the deference paid to the 

 opinion of some old man, skilled in seal-catching and the signs of the 

 weather. But a Greenlander who is aggrieved by another has his 

 remedy in what is called a singing combat. He composes a satirical 

 poem, and challenges his antagonist to a satirical duel in face of the 

 tribe : " He who has the last word wins the trial." And then Crantz 

 adds : " Nothing so effectually restrains a Greenlander from vice as 

 the dread of public disgrace." Here we see operating, in its original 

 unqualified way, that governing influence of public sentiment which 

 precedes more special governing influences. The dread of social rep- 

 robation is in some cases enforced by the dread of banishment. 

 Among the otherwise unsubordinated Australians, they " punish each 

 other for such offenses as theft, sometimes by expulsion from the 

 camp." Of one of the Columbian tribes we read that " the Salish can 

 hardly be said to have any regular form of government " ; and then, 

 further, we read that " criminals are sometimes punished by banish- 

 ment from their tribe." Certain aborigines of the Indian hills, widely 

 unlike these Columbians in type and in their modes of life, show us a 

 similar relation between undeveloped political restraint and the re- 

 straint of aggregate feeling. Among the Bodo and Dhimals, whose 

 village heads are simply respected elders with no coercive power, those 

 who offend against customs "are admonished, fined, or excommuni- 

 cated, according to the degree of the offense." But the controlling 

 influence of public sentiment, in groups which have little or no politi- 

 cal organization, is best shown in the force with which it acts on those 

 who are bound to avenge murders. Concerning the Australian abori- 

 gines, Sir George Grey writes : " The holiest duty a native is called on 

 to perform is that of avenging the death of his nearest relation, for it 

 is his peculiar duty to do so ; until he has fulfilled this task, he is con- 

 stantly taunted by the old women ; his wives, if he is married, would 

 soon quit him ; if he is unmarried, not a single young woman would 

 speak to him ; his mother would constantly cry, and lament that she 

 should ever have given birth to so degenerate a son ; his father would 

 treat him with contempt, and reproaches would constantly be sounded 

 in his ear." 



We have next to note that, for a long time after political control 

 has made its appearance, it remains conspicuously subordinate to this 

 control of general feeling ; both because, while there is no developed 

 political organization, the head-man has little ability to enforce his 

 will, and because such ability as he has, if unduly exercised, causes 

 desertion. From all parts of the world may be cited illustrations. 

 In America, among the Snake Indians, " each individual is his own 

 master, and the only control to which his conduct is subjected is the 

 advice of a chief supported by his influence over the opinions of the 

 rest of the tribe." Of a Chinook chief we are told that "his ability 



