176 THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part I. 



curious account which he gives of the weapons, tools, and 

 arts, used or practised by savages in various parts of the 

 world, it cannot be doubted that these have nearly all 

 been independent discoveries, excepting perhaps the' art 

 of making fire. 33 The Australian boomerang is a good in- 

 stance of one such independent discovery. The Tahitians 

 when first visited had advanced in many respects beyond 

 the inhabitants of most of the other Polynesian islands. 

 There are no just grounds for the belief that the high culture 

 of the native Peruvians and Mexicans was derived from 

 any foreign source ; 34 many native plants were there cul- 

 tivated, and a few native animals domesticated. We 

 should bear in mind that a wandering crew from some 

 semi-civilized land, if washed to the shores of America, 

 would not, judging from the small influence of most mis- 

 sionaries, have produced any marked effect on the natives, 

 unless they had already become somewhat advanced. 

 Looking to a very remote period in the history of the 

 world, we find, to use Sir J. Lubbock's well-known terms, 

 a paleolithic and neolithic period ; and no one will pretend 

 tnat the art of grinding rough flint tools was a borrowed 

 one. In all parts of Europe, as far east as Greece, in Pal- 

 estine, India, Japan, New Zealand, and Africa, including 

 Egypt, flint tools have been discovered in abundance ; and 

 of their use the existing inhabitants retain no tradition. 

 There is also indirect evidence of their former use by the 

 Chinese and ancient Jews. Hence there can hardly be a 

 doubt that the inhabitants of these many countries, which 

 include nearly the whole civilized world, were once in a 

 barbarous condition. To believe that man was aboriginally 

 civilized and then suffered utter degradation in so many 



33 Sir J. Lubbock, 'Prehistoric Times,' 2d edit. 1869, chaps, xv. and 

 xv i. ei passim. 



34 Dr. F. Midler has made some good remarks to this effect in the 

 Reise der Novara : Anthropolog. Theil,' Abtheil. Hi. 1868, s. 127. 



