THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIRDS' NESTS 



Do Men build by Reason or by Imitation ? 



Let us first consider the theory of reason, as alone deter- 

 mining the domestic architecture of the human race. Man, 

 as a reasonable animal, it is said, continually alters and 

 improves his dwelling. This I entirely deny. As a rule, he 

 neither alters nor improves, any more than the birds do. What 

 have the houses of most savage tribes improved from, each as 

 invariable as the nest of a species of bird ? The tents of the 

 Arab are the same now as they were two or three thousand 

 years ago, and the mud villages of Egypt can scarcely have 

 improved since the time of the Pharaohs. The palm-leaf huts 

 and hovels of the various tribes of South America and the 

 Malay Archipelago, what have they improved from since 

 those regions were first inhabited? The Patagonian's rude 

 shelter of leaves, the hollowed bank of the South African 

 Earthmen, we cannot even conceive to have been ever 

 inferior to what they now are. Even nearer home, the Irish 

 turf cabin and the Highland stone shelty can hardly have 

 advanced much during the last two thousand years. Now, 

 no one imputes this stationary condition of domestic archi- 

 tecture among these savage tribes to instinct, but to simple 

 imitation from one generation to another, and the absence of 

 any sufficiently powerful stimulus to change or improvement. 

 No one imagines that if an infant Arab could be transferred 

 to Patagonia or to the Highlands, it would, when it grew up, 

 astonish its foster-parents by constructing a tent of skins. On 

 the other hand, it is quite clear that physical conditions, 

 combined with the degree of civilisation arrived at, almost 

 necessitate certain types of structure. The turf, or stones, 

 or snow the palm-leaves, bamboo, or branches which are 

 the materials of houses in various countries, are used because 

 nothing else is so readily to be obtained. The Egyptian 

 peasant has none of these, not even wood. What, then, can 

 he use but mud ? In tropical foresi^countries, the bamboo 

 and the broad palm -leaves are the natural material for houses, 

 and the form and mode of structure will be decided in part 

 by the nature of the country, whether hot or cool, whether 

 swampy or. dry, whether rocky or plain, whether frequented 

 by wild beasts, or whether subject to the attacks of enemies. 



