528 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



tive to three chief principles: Respect for property ^ respect for the life 

 of others^ and respect for one^s self 



I. Respect for Property. — It has been said that the notion of prop- 

 erty does not exist among savage people. This is an error. With 

 them, arms, utensils, instruments, are strictly personal property, as with 

 us ; but some travelers have been deceived by the existence, among 

 hunting-tribes, of another kind of property, communal property, if I 

 may so speak. Among these peoj^le the ground does not belong to 

 the individual but to the entire tribe. Under this relation the prop- 

 erty is so well known that war is the consequenceof the least violation 

 of the hunting limits. 



Certain races have been accused of being essentially thievish. This 

 reproach is brought particularly upon the negroes of the Gulf of 

 Guinea, and upon the Polynesians. They have been accused of stealing 

 even the nails of the ship. But let me remind you what iron is for 

 people who do not have it. It is more precious to them than gold. 

 Well, suppose there should arrive among us a ship, gold clad and nailed 

 with diamonds and rubies. Do you believe it would go out intact 

 from our ports ? Remark further, that, among the negroes of Guinea 

 and Polynesia, those who steal of their comrade are dishonored and 

 punished as they would be with us. They have the idea of respect 

 for property the same as ourselves. 



II. Respect for Life. — Everywhere the life of man is sacred ; every- 

 where the murderer is punished ; but, with ourselves, circumstances 

 determine the nature of the act. Nobody would treat as an assassin 

 him who beats fairly in a duel ; the soldier who has killed with his 

 hand a great number of enemies is decorated ; very far from being 

 punished, he is recompensed. With savages the formula is still more 

 elastic. For him the stranger is always an enemy ; besides, vengeance 

 is in his eyes a virtue, and when he has a murder to avenge he cares 

 little to strike the murderer himself. Provided he furnishes a member 

 of his family or his tribe, his vengeance is satisfied ; whence results 

 the had hlood between European travelers and the Polynesians in par- 

 ticular. These people have too often complained of violence exercised 

 by Europeans, who have left without being punished. The savage 

 watches for those who come after the really guilty, sets a trap for 

 them, and massacres the innocents. He applies his moral law, and we 

 find the theory horrible. But forget not our middle age ; we have got 

 the start a little, but, in our day, if the vendetta were not abolished in 

 Corsica, it would be the same, as it was the same in Scotland between 

 clan and- clan. , 



For the rest, gentlemen, the question of respect for the life of others 

 is one of those that I least like to enter upon, because I cannot speak 

 without blushing for the white race. You know that it rules every- 

 where, but some of you do not know, perhaps, that everywhere devas- 

 tation and massacre have marked its steps round the world. It seems 



