COOPERATION. 555 



Usages of kindred characters exist among the Araucanians, 

 concerning whom Thompson, after speaking of their funeral 

 and marriage feasts as open gratis to all, adds : 



* But this is not the case with the mingacos, or those dinners which 

 they are accustomed to make on occasion of cultivating their land, 

 threshing their grain, building a house, or any other work which 

 requires the combined aid of several. At such times all those who 

 wish to partake in the feast, must labour until the work is com 

 pleted.&quot; 



In these cases, however, cooperation is merely prefigured. 

 There is reciprocity of aid under a combined form, and the 

 idea of exchange is dominant; as is shown more clearly in 

 the case of the ancient Yucantanese. 



&quot;It is usual for the women to assist one another in weaving and 

 spinning, and to repay that assistance as their husbands do with 

 regard to their field works.&quot; 



But though here there is a bartering of labour, yet, as there 

 is a working in concert, the consciousness of cooperation is 

 nascent, and readily passes into a definite form where joint 

 advantage prompts. A good instance is furnished by the 

 Padam, who, as we saw ( 783) live in a kind of qualified 

 communism. Says Dalton 



&quot; The inhabitants are well supplied with water; there are several 

 elevated springs, and the discharges from these are collected and 

 carried to different parts of the villages in aqueducts or pipes of 

 bamboos, from which a bright, pure stream continually flows.&quot; 



Among a more civilized people, the ancient Singhalese, co 

 operation for a kindred purpose was highly developed. Ten- 

 nent writes concerning them: 



&quot; Cultivation, as it existed in the north of Ceylon, was almost entirely 

 dependent on the store of water preserved in each village tank ; and 

 it could only be carried on by the combined labour of the whole local 

 community, applied in the first instance to collect and secure the requi 

 site supply for irrigation, and afterwards to distribute it to the rice 

 lands, which were tilled by the united exertions of the inhabitants, 

 amongst whom the crop was divided in due proportions. So indis 

 pensable were concord and union in such operations, that injunctions 

 for their maintenance were sometimes engraven on the rocks. &quot; 



