386 
ferent faith or conviction, and it is only 
to-day that they recognize that the defec- 
tive organization of society is responsible 
for many criminals. None of the natives 
indulge any longer in cannibalism; yet 
those most anxious to help them, and 
many of the professional reformers, 
Makere women and children watching a dance. 
heads are wrapped to lengthen the occipital region, this elongation 
being considered a mark of beauty. 
speak even now about their “degraded 
condition,” ‘shameless manners,” and 
“behaviour like animals,” perhaps be- 
cause the warm climate allows them to 
walk about in just the state that seems, 
from all accounts, to have been the most 
satisfactory in Paradise. 
The dancing costume of the 
women" consists of a green banana leaf slit into ribbons 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
They are not necessarily degraded 
because they enjoy life according to their 
own standards, which in essentials do not 
differ so very widely from those of civil- 
ized people; nor because they are cap- 
able of living well on native food with- 
out silverware or china. It is true that 
they are born and die 
in the densest super- 
stition, but this latter 
is their religion, their 
code of morals, their 
own very rigid set of 
laws, which binds them 
together in spite of all 
savage feeling in true 
democratic spirit. The 
saw dis- 
played a most admira- 
ble spirit of fellowship, 
negroes We 
cordially assisting one 
another in any diffi- 
culty. They might be 
hungry themselves but 
they unselfishly divided 
their food, and this so 
naturally that anyone 
could see that the con- 
trary would have con- 
stituted a breach of 
the generally accepted 
The great- 
est fallacy in judging 
standards. 
natives is the common 
habit of travelers and 
many residents of bas- 
ing their judgment 
about them upon infor- 
mation received from 
workmen, servants or 
half-civilized negroes. Even the most 
truthful individuals among these natives 
generally try to speak from the white 
The children’s 
man’s point of view, displaying in this 
great shrewdness, so that any question 
asked is answered with the desire of 
pleasing the inquirer. This really ac- 
