156 SAVAGE SURIVVALS 



largely composed of pure impulses. It is incapa- 

 ble of driving the individual in a definite and pre- 

 determined direction. It is wobbly and haphaz- 

 ard. The intelligence of the child is also unde- 

 veloped. It can't think. It believes whatever it 

 is told. I have often noticed, when I have been out 

 walking with children, how much they were in- 

 clined to cough or to expectorate when I did, to 

 walk with their hands behind them when I did, to 

 call out when I did, to adopt immediately any 

 opinion I expressed; in short, to reproduce as 

 nearly as possible in every way the copy I set for 

 them. And I can recall myself how as a boy I 

 used to be everlastingly trying to shape myself 

 in accordance with those I from time tc time took 

 a fancy to. 



The savage is in many ways a child. He has the 

 same untrained will as the child, the same un- 

 steadiness, the same tendency to be ruled by the 

 impulses that rise within him from moment to mo- 

 ment, the same lack of experience, the same men- 

 tal weakness, and the same dependence on others 

 for cues as to what to do and think in life. Sav- 

 ages dress like each other, build their huts like 

 each other, worship in the same way, and bow to 

 the same customs and traditions. 



Savages are natural mimics. They are able to 

 imitate perfectly the sounds of ather animals, and 

 to repeat a sentence word for word that is spoken 

 to them, mimicking the manner and voice of the 

 speaker. There is a tendency in the nature of sav- 



