PRIMITIVE EUGENICS 31 



places which must be considered as highly civilised 

 centres. I have visited countries where no European 

 had been before me, and I have been on such good 

 terms with the natives that I was enabled to get a 

 thorough insight into their ways of thought. As I 

 occupied no Government position, I was the favoured 

 witness of ceremonies carefully hidden from the 

 vigilant eye of the official and the missionary. Sitting 

 around the camp fire I have discussed with the 

 negroes many of the social problems that one hears 

 talked about even in the most select drawing-rooms 

 of London " Suburbia." The summary of what I 

 have seen and what I have been told on this subject 

 may well be called " Primitive Eugenics." 



It is a well-known fact that the child is the real 

 aim of marriage among the negroes ; tribes exist 

 where a man can divorce his wife at will if she has 

 not borne him a child, whereas the birth of one at 

 once makes the union indissoluble. Thus the racially 

 valueless sterile females are not a drag upon the 

 husband's energies, disappointing his hopes, and 

 cutting short the stock of which he is the representa- 

 tive and the gametic bearer. It is considered a 

 shame as well as a misfortune to be childless. I 

 mention this, because it is necessary that the reader 

 should understand that the savage negro is not less 

 fond of his progeny than the European parent. But 

 fond as he is of his children, the welfare of his race 

 is still instinctively dearer to his heart, and I want 

 to show in this paper by what means he manifests 

 this love of his race. 



