184 SAVAGE SURVIVALS 



great many things that belong rightfully in the 

 past not only vestigial instincts, but also ves- 

 tigial customs, beliefs, ideals, and institutions. 



Customs are much like instincts. They are es- 

 tablished ways of acting which are observed by 

 all the members of a tribe or nation. They may 

 be called tribal or national habits. 



It is commonly supposed that the savage, living 

 as he does in the world of nature, has the ad- 

 vantage over the more civilized of being able to 

 do as he pleases. There cannot be a greater mis- 

 take. The savage is nowhere free. All over the 

 world the daily life of savages is hedged about by 

 customs and rules, which are none the less strin- 

 gent because unwritten. " Fashion in the distant 

 wilds of Africa/' says a writer, " tortures and 

 harasses poor humanity as much as in the great 

 prison of civilization. ' ' 



The Australian savage cannot even do as he 

 likes with what he kills when hunting, but must al- 

 lot it according to strict rules, one leg to one mem- 

 ber of the family, one to another, the breast to a 

 third, and so on. 



Among the Mbayas of South America "the mar- 

 ried women are not allowed to eat beef nor mon- 

 key, and the girls are forbidden to partake of any 

 meat or fish that is more than a foot long." 



Among the Sarnoyedes, women are not per- 

 mitted to eat the head of the reindeer nor to pass 

 across the hut behind the fire. 



Public business among uncivilized and semi- 



