MENTAL PROCESSES 213 



would ruin the national character. But they are 

 antagonised by sympathy and admiration ; and these 

 higher motives can be much strengthened by educa- 

 tion. Sympathy was useful in drawing the members 

 of a tribe together and causing united action. 

 Religion has been useful in the same way ; but its 

 power is now much weakened, and science, the crea- 

 tion of curiosity, has largely supplanted it in sup- 

 plying strength to a nation. 



Curiosity and admiration were born and nurtured 

 among the infinite variety of nature. With the 

 motive of admiration we advance to the highest 

 human ideals, and in art we find the expression of 

 the highest faculties. Poetry came first. It was 

 the founder of music and the inspirer of religion ; 

 and must been a most important motive in the early 

 days of human development. We see this in the 

 poems which form the religious books of various 

 nations ; and we also see it in the poetry of some 

 peoples that we are accustomed to look upon as 

 savages. To bear out this statement, which may 

 seem far-fetched, I will give two short examples of 

 Maori poetry, translated by the Rev. J. W. Stack. 53 



(1) 



Here I sit while my throbbing heart 

 Mourns for my loved children. 

 Here, like Tane's off spring, 

 Drooping yonder in the inland forest, 

 I bend like the fronds of the tree-fern. 

 Over my lost children. 



Aust. Ass. for Adran. of Science, 1891, pp. 

 387 and 388. 



