EMOTIONS IN THE PRIMITIVE MAN. 



339 



absence of independence will of itself cause an opposite result. The 

 Kamtchadales, according to Grieve, exhibit " slavishness to people 

 who use them hard," and " contempt of those who treat them with 

 gentleness;" and Galton, describing the Damaras as having "no in- 

 dependence," says they " court slavery " that " admiration and fear" 

 are their only strong sentiments. A certain proportion between the 

 feelings prompting obedience and prompting resistance seems required. 

 The Malays, who have evolved into several semi-civilized societies, 

 are said to be submissive to authority ; and yet each is " sensitive to 

 any interference with the personal liberty of himself or another." 

 Clearly, however, be the cause of submission what it may whether 

 want of self-assertion, or fear, or awe of superiority, which, separately 

 and together, in different proportions, favor subordination a rela- 

 tively-subordinate nature is everywhere shown by men composing 

 social aggregates of considerable size. In such semi-civilized socie- 

 ties as tropical Africa contains, it is conspicuous ; and it was manifest 

 in the peoples who formed the extinct Oriental societies, as also in 

 those who formed the extinct societies of the New World. 



If, as among the Mantras above named, intolerance of restraint is 

 joined with want of sociality, there is a double obstacle to social 

 union : a cause of dispersion is not checked by a cause of aggregation. 

 If, as among the Todas, a man will sit inactive for hours, " seeking no 

 companionship," he is under less temptation to tolerate restrictions, 

 han if solitude is unbearable. Clearly, the ferocious Feejeean, in 

 whom, strange as it seems, " the sentiment of friendship is strongly 

 developed," is impelled by this sentiment, as well as by his extreme 

 loyalty, to continue in a society in which despotism based on canni- 

 balism is absolutely without check. 



When we average the evidence, first as presented by the very low- 

 est men who group themselves socially to the smallest extent, and then 

 as presented by more advanced men forming larger aggregates, we 

 find warrant for saying that primitive men, who, before any arts of life 

 were developed, necessarily lived on wild food, implying wide disper- 

 sion of small numbers, were, on the one hand, not much habituated to 

 associated life, and were, on the other hand, habituated to that uncon- 

 trolled following of immediate desires which goes along with separate- 

 ness. So that, while the attractive force was small, the repulsive force 

 was great. Only as primitive men were impelled into greater grega- 

 riousness by local conditions which furthered the maintenance of many 

 individuals in a small area, could there come that increase of sociality 

 required to check unrestrained action. And here we see yet a further 

 difficulty which stood in the way of social evolution at the outset. 

 From the " Principles of Sociology" Part I. 



