Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



Civilisation does not Engross all the Virtues. 



Quotations from Herman Melville's Typee, pp. 225, etc. 

 (John Murray, 1861.) 



u Civilisation does not engross all the virtues of humanity : 

 she has not even her full share of them. They flourish 

 in greater abundance and attain greater strength among 

 many barbarous people. The hospitality of the wild Arab, 

 the courage of the North American Indian, and the faithful 

 friendships of some of the Polynesian nations, far surpass 

 anything of a similar kind among the polished communities 

 of Europe. If truth and justice, and the better principles 

 of our nature, cannot exist unless enforced by the statute- 

 book, how are we to account for the social condition of 

 the Typees ? So pure and upright were they in all the 

 relations of life, that entering their valley, as I did, under 

 the most erroneous impressions of their character, I was 

 soon led to exclaim in amazement : 4 Are these the fero- 

 cious savages, the bloodthirsty cannibals of whom I have 

 heard such frightful tales ! They deal more kindly with 

 each other, and are more humane, than many who study 

 essays on virtue and benevolence, and who repeat every 

 night that beautiful prayer breathed first by the lips of 

 the divine and gentle Jesus.' I will frankly declare, that 

 after passing a few weeks in this valley of the Marquesas, 

 I formed a higher estimate of human nature than I had 

 ever before entertained. But alas ! since then I have 

 been one of the crew of a man-of war, and the pent-up 

 wickedness of five hundred men has nearly overturned all 

 my previous theories. 



How little do some of these poor islanders comprehend, 

 when they look around them, that no inconsiderable part 



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