CHAPTER VI 



HOW TO CIVILIZE SAVAGES 



Do our missionaries really produce on savages an effect 

 proportionate to the time, money, and energy expended ? 

 Are the dogmas of our Church adapted to people in every 

 degree of barbarism, and in all stages of mental develop- 

 ment ? Does the fact of a particular form of religion 

 taking root, and maintaining itself among a people, de- 

 pend in any way upon race — upon those deep-seated 

 mental and moral peculiarities which distinguish the 

 European or Aryan races from the negro or the Australian 

 savage ? Can the savage be mentally, morally, and phy- 

 sically improved, without the inculcation of the tenets 

 of a dogmatic theology ? These are a few of the interest- 

 ing questions that were discussed, however imperfectly, 

 at a meeting of the Anthropological Society in 1865, Avhen 

 the Bishop of Natal read his paper, " On the Efforts of 

 Missionaries among Savages ; " and on some of these ques- 

 tions we propose to make a few observations. 



If the history of mankind teaches us one thing more 

 clearly than another, it is this — that all true civilizations 

 and all great religions are alike the slow growth of ages, 

 and both are inextricably connected with the struggles 

 and development of the human mind. They have ever 

 in their infancy been watered with tears and blood — they 

 have had to suffer the rude prunings of wars and perse- 

 cutions — they have withstood the wintry blasts of anarchy, 

 of despotism, and of neglect — they have been able to 

 survive all the vicissitudes of human affairs, and have 

 proved their suitability to their age and country by suc- 

 cessfully resisting every attack, and by flourishing under 

 the most unfavourable conditions. 



