U THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part I. 



conduct is not much worse than that of the North Amer- 

 ican Indians who leave their feeble comrades to perish 

 on the plains, or the Feegeans, who, when their parents 

 get old or fall ill, bury them alive. 10 



Many animals, however, certainly sympathize with 

 each other's distress or danger. This is the case even 

 with birds ; Captain Stansbury " found, on a salt lake in 

 Utah, an old and completely blind pelican, which was very 

 fat, and must have been long and well fed by his compan- 

 ions. Mr. Blytb, as he informs me, saw Indian crows 

 feeding two or three of their companions which were 

 blind ; and I have heard of an analogous case with the 

 domestic cock. We may, if we choose, call these actions 

 instinctive ; but such cases are much too rare for the de- 

 velopment of any special instinct. 12 I have myself seen 

 a dog, who never passed a great friend of his, a cat which 

 lay sick in a basket, without giving her a few licks with 

 his tongue, the surest sign of kind feeling in a dog. 



It must be called sympathy that leads a courageous 

 dog to fly at any one who strikes his master, as he cer- 

 tainly will. I saw a person pretending to beat a lady who 

 had a very timid little dog on her lap, and the trial had 

 never before been made. The little creature instantly 

 jumped away, but, after the pretended beating was over, 

 it was really pathetic to see how perseveringly he tried to 

 lick his mistress's face and comfort her. Brehm 13 states 

 that when a baboon in confinement was pursued to be 



10 Sir J. Lubbock, 'Prehistoric Times,' 2d edit. p. 446. 



11 As quoted by Mr. L. H. Morgan, ' The American Beaver,' 18G8, p. 

 272. Captain Stansbury also gives an interesting account of the manner 

 in which a very young pelican, carried away by a strong stream, was 

 guided and encouraged in its attempts to reach the shore by half a dozen 

 old birds. 



12 As Mr. Bain states, " effective aid to a sufferer springs from sym- 

 pathy proper: " ' Mental and Moral Science,' 1868, p. 245. 



13 ' Thierleben,' B. i. s. 85. 



