136 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
race, and thinks that under the equator alone will it attain 
the highest form of perfection. I have had similar thoughts 
when riding over hundreds of miles of fertile savannahs in 
Central America, where an everlasting summer and fertile 
land yield a harvest of fruits and grain all the year round— 
where it is not even necessary “ to tickle the ground with a 
hoe to make it laugh with a harvest.” But thinking over the 
cause of the degeneracy of the Spaniards and Indians, I am 
led to believe that in climes where man has to battle with 
nature for his food, not to receive it from her hands as a gift; 
where he is a worker, and not an idler; where hard winters 
kill off the weak and brace up the strong; there only is that 
selection at work that keeps the human race advancing, and 
prevents it retrograding, now that Mars has been dethroned 
and Vulcan set on high. 
In destroying the ancient monarchies of Mexico and 
Central America, the Spaniards inflicted an irreparable 
injury on the Indian race; for whether or not a republic is 
the highest ideal form of government (and doubtless it would 
be if man were perfect), it is not adapted for savage or half- 
civilised communities, and I cordially agree with the truth 
enunciated by Darwin when, writing of the natives of Terra 
del Fuego, he says, ‘‘ Perfect equality among the individuals 
composing the Fuegian tribes must for a long time retard 
their civilisation. As we see those animals whose instinct 
compels them to live in society, and obey a chief, are most 
capable of improvement, so is it with the races of mankind. 
Whether we look at it as a cause or a consequence, the most 
civilised always have the most artificial governments. For 
instance, the inhabitants of Otaheite, who, when first dis- 
covered, were governed by hereditary kings, had arrived at 
a far higher grade than another branch of the same people, 
the New Zealanders, who, although benefited by being com- 
pelled to turn their attention to agriculture, were republicans 
in the most absolute sense.” 1 
Dusk was coming on before we left the small plain, with its 
broken statues, and the steep hill overlooking it, on which 
probably religious rites had been celebrated and human sacri- 
fices offered up. This people have entirely passed away, 
and the sparse inhabitants of the once thickly-populated 
1 Naturalist’s Voyage, p. 229. 
