CHAP. VI. J MAX. Ifil 



of man, and form no approximation to a biutal condition, in 

 which &quot; salutation &quot; is unknown. Sir John Lubbock gives * 

 the following as an instance of remarkable superstition: 

 &quot;The natives near Sydney made it an invariable rule never 

 to whistle when beneath a particular cliff, because on one 

 occasion a rock fell from it and crushed some natives who 

 were whistling underneath it.&quot; It is not clear, however, 

 that this was not rather a case of prudence, which many 

 Europeans would be inclined to imitate. Sir John Lubbock 

 also quotes with approval from Mr. Sproat the opinion that 

 the difference between the savage and the cultivated mind 

 is merely between the more or less aroused condition of the 

 one and the same mind. The quotation is made | in reference 

 to the Ahts of North- Western America : &quot; The native mind, 

 to an educated man, seems generally to be asleep; and, if 

 you suddenly ask a novel question, you have to repeat it 

 while the mind of the savage is awakening, and to speak 

 with emphasis until he has quite got your meaning.&quot; 



The low arithmetical power possessed by many tribes has 

 been much spoken of; but, in fact, what is really remark 

 able is, that this power, however low, really exists in all. If 

 any tribe could be found without the conception - number&quot; 

 at all, and therefore unable to count two, that would indeed 

 show the existence of an essential diversity ; but no one has 

 ventured to assert that such a tribe has been discovered. 

 Those who have examined the remains of our own ancestors 

 of the Bronze period their elaborate ornaments, their cere 

 monial weapons can hardly have avoided arriving at the 

 conclusion that the difference between them and the Eng 

 lishmen of to-day can have been but trifling in the extreme. 

 An absurdly exaggerated idea of the special importance of 

 our own social condition and of the value of the merely 

 material appliances of civilisation can alone induce an oppo 

 site conclusion. It is an analogous superficiality which also 

 tends to break down the barrier between man aud brute by 



* The Origin of Civilisation, p. 188. t Ibid. p. 5. 



M 



