NATURAL HISTORY OF MAX. 519 



bet ; and this alphabet, which constitutes the first step of elementary 

 instruction, is certainly one of the most marvelous inventions of the 

 human mind. So almost all the ancients attributed to it a divine 

 origin. 



III. J^rimitive Forms of Society. — As I just said to you, it is by 

 language that societies begin, and by writing that they make the 

 greatest progress in civilization. But, before they attain civilization, 

 they have long halting-places to get over, and, regarding the ensem- 

 hies of the human races, we see three very distinct kinds of primitive 

 . society. 



The lowest degree of human association is people that hunt and 

 fish ; and this inferiority is easily explained. A society composed 

 entirely of hunters cannot be numerous, because it must live on the 

 game it kills. Therefore, a great space is needed to nourish a sparse 

 population. Besides, the hunter's chances are for the day; he is never 

 sure of a living for to-morrow. This incessant uncertainty prevents 

 him from directing his intelligence toward more elevated subjects. 

 Hunters, besides, have incessantly to watch their hunting-grounds to 

 prevent encroachments. In other words, the hunter is the image of 

 war. Wars easily arise between neighboring populations placed in 

 identical conditions. These wars are without mercy, for each prisoner 

 is one more mouth to feed ; kill him, then. Hence, hunting-tribes are 

 almost inevitably courageous, sometimes heroic, but warlike and cruel. 



As soon as man domesticates certain animals — cattle, sheep, or 

 llamas — as soon as he becomes pastoral, his to-morrow is assured. He 

 can at once begin to occupy himself with something besides his food ; 

 and we see societies of this kind begin to make progress. However, 

 pastoral people need vast spaces for their animals ; these promptly ex- 

 haust the herbage of a canton ; it becomes needful to go elsewhere 

 after food for the animals which supply milk and flesh, the nourish- 

 ment of the master, and so a pastoral population cannot exist in great 

 numbers. They easily become nomadic. In their migrations the 

 hordes meet and dispute by force of arms for the precious pasturage. 

 War breaks them up ; but prisoners may be utilized by the con- 

 queror, and their food will not be a great sacrifice. They are spared, 

 and slavery is born. 



Society takes its third form, when man finds that the vegetable 

 kingdom furnishes more abundant and reliable food than that ob- 

 tained from animals — when he becomes an agriculturist. Besides, 

 agriculture gives him leisure. His manners soften. War, when it 

 breaks out, becomes less cruel. Prisoners employed to work in the 

 field can render services more and more considerable. Slavery be- 

 comes serfdom. Kelieved from imperious material necessities, the 

 intelligence of the master awakens and enlarges. A true civilization 

 may arise and grow among agriculturists. 



Centuries ago Europeans attained a social stjjte permitting the de- 



