134 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



heard the negro women teaching their young children to 

 love the truth. This, again, is one of the virtues which 

 becomes so deeply rooted in the mind that it is sometimes 

 practiced by savages, even at a high cost, toward strangers; 

 but to lie to your enemy has rarely been thought a sin, as 

 the history of modern diplomacy too plainly shows. As 

 soon as a tribe has a recognized leader disobedience becomes 

 a crime, and even abject submission is looked at as a sacred 

 virtue. 



As during rude times no man can be useful or faithful to 

 his tribe without courage, tliis quality has universally been 

 placed in the highest rank; and although in civilized coun- 

 tries a good yet timid man may be far more useful to the 

 community than a brave one, we cannot help instinctively 

 honoring the latter above a coward, however benevolent. 

 Prudence, on the other hand, which does not concern the 

 welfare of others, though a very useful virtue, has never 

 been highly esteemed. As no man can practice the virtues 

 necessary for the welfare of his tribe without self-sacrifice, 

 self-command, and the power of endurance, these qualities 

 have been at all times highly and most justly valued. The 

 American savage voluntarily submits to the most horrid 

 tortures without a groan, to prove and strengthen his forti- 

 tude and courage; and we cannot help admiring him, or 

 even an Indian Fakir, who, from a foolish religious motive, 

 swings suspended by a hook buried in his flesh. 



The other so-called self-regarding virtues, which do not 

 obviously, though they may really, affect the welfare of the 

 tribe, have never been esteemed by savages, though now 

 highly appreciated by civilized nations. The greatest 

 intemperance is no reproach with savages. Utter licen- 

 tiousness and unnatural crimes prevail to an astounding 

 extent.* As soon, however, as marriage, whether polyga- 

 mous or monogamous, becomes common, jealousy will lead 

 to the inculcation of female virtue; and this being honored, 

 will tend to spread to the unmarried females. How slowly 

 it spreads to the male sex, we see at the present day. 

 Chastity eminently requires self-command; therefore it has 

 been honored from a very early period in the moral history 

 of civilized man. As a consequence of this, the senseless 

 practice of celibacy has been ranked from a remote period 



*Mr. MLennan lias ofiven (" Primitive Marriage," 1865, p. 176) a 

 good collection of facts on tliis bead. 



