lOG THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



the existence of an Omnipotent God. On the contrary- 

 there is ample evidence, derived not from hasty travelers, 

 but from men who have long resided with savages, that 

 numerous races have existed, and still exist, who have no 

 idea of one or more gods, and who have no words in their 

 languages to express such an idea.* The question is of 

 course wholly distinct from that higher one, whether there 

 exists a Creator and Ruler of the universe; and this has 

 been answered in the affirmative by some of the highest 

 intellects that have ever existed. 



If, however, we include under the term ^^ religion" the 

 belief in unseen or spiritual agencies, the case is wholly 

 different; for this belief seems to be universal with the less 

 civilized races. Nor is it difficult to comprehend how it 

 arose. As soon as the important faculties of the imagina- 

 tion, wonder, and curiosity, together with some power of 

 reasoning, had become partially developed, man would 

 naturally crave to understand what was passing around him, 

 and would have vaguely speculated on his own existence. 

 As Mr. McLennan f has remarked, " Some explanation of 

 the phenomena of life, a man must feign for himself, and 

 to judge from the universality of it, the simplest hypothe- 

 sis, and the first to occur to men, seems to have been that 

 natural phenomena are ascribable to the presence in 

 animals, plants, and things, and in the forces of nature, of 

 such spirits prompting to action as men are conscious they 

 themselves possess." It is also probable, as Mr. Tylor has 

 shown, that dreams may have first given rise to the notion 

 of spirits; for savages do not readily distinguish between 

 subjective and objective impressions. When a savage 

 dreams, the figures which appear before him are believed to 

 have come from a distance, and to stand over him; or ^' the 

 soul of the dreamer goes out on its travels, and comes 

 home with a remembrance of what it has seen." J But 



* See an excellent article on this subject by the Rev. F. W. Farrar, 

 in the "Anthropological Review," Aug., 1864, p. 217. For fur- 

 ther facts see Sir J. Lubbock, "Prehistoric Times," 2d edit., 1869, p. 

 564; and especially the chapters on Religion in his " Origin of Civil- 

 ization," 1870, 



f " The Worship of Animals and Plants," in the " Fortnightly Re- 

 view," Oct. 1, 1869, p. 422. 



J Tylor, "Early History of Mankind," 1865, p. 6. See also the 

 three striking chapters on tlie Development of Religion, in Lub- 

 bock's " Origin of Civilization," 1870. In a like manner Mr. Herbert 



