Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



survived . . . when I held the lanthorn to investigate 

 the wound I started back in amazement to see a 

 hole at the base of the skull, perhaps two inches 

 long and an inch and a half wide, and I will not 

 venture to say how deep, but the depth too must 

 have been an affair of inches. Of course this 

 hole penetrated into the substance of the brain, 

 and probably for some distance. I dare say a 

 mouse could have sat in it." Yet the man was 

 not so much disconcerted. Like Old King Cole, 

 " He asked for a pipe and a drink of brandy," 

 and ultimately made a perfect recovery ! Of 

 course it might be said that such a story only 

 proves the lowness of organisation of the brains 

 of savages ; but to the Kaffirs at any rate this would 

 not apply ; they are a quick-witted race, with 

 large brains, and exceedingly acute in argument, 

 as Colenso found to his cost. Another point 

 which indicates superabundant health is the 

 amazing animal spirits of these native races ! 

 The shouting, singing, dancing kept up nights 

 long among the Kaffirs are exhausting merely 

 to witness, while the graver North American 

 Indian exhibits a corresponding power of life in 

 his eagerness for battle or his stoic resistance of 

 pain. 1 



Similarly when we come to consider the social 



1 A similar physical health and power of life are also developed 

 among Europeans who have lived for long periods in more native 

 conditions. It is not to our race, which is probably superior to 

 any in capacity, but to the state in which we live that we must 

 ascribe our defect in this particular matter. 



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