NATIVES 



far to explain otherwise unexplainable visitations. 

 Truly, as Hobley says in his unexcelled work on the 

 A-Kamba, "the life of a savage native is a complex 

 matter, and he is hedged round by all sorts of rules 

 and prohibitions, the infringment of which will prob- 

 ably cause his death, if only by the intense belief 

 he has in the rules which guide his life." 



For these rules and customs he never attempts to 

 give a reason. They are; and that is all there is to 

 it. A mere statement: "This is the custom" set- 

 tles the matter finally. There is no necessity, nor 

 passing thought even, of finding any logical cause. 

 The matter was worked out in the mental evolution 

 of remote ancestors. At that time, perhaps, in- 

 surgent and Standpatter, Conservative and Radical 

 fought out the questions of the day, and the Muck- 

 rakers swung by their tails and chattered about it. 

 Those days are all long since over. The questions of 

 the world are settled forever. The people have 

 passed through the struggles of their formative pe- 

 riod to the ultimate highest perfection of adjustment 

 to material and spiritual environment of which 

 they were capable under the influence of their origi- 

 nal racial force. 



Parenthetically, it is now a question whether or 

 not an added impulse can be communicated from 

 without. Such an impulse must (a) unsettle all 



215 



