i PEIMITIVE TILLERS OF THE GROUND 5 



which is easier here, because the jungle is full of 

 things which they at least think eatable. But 

 they are cleverer than the Australian women ; 

 they have learnt something which the Australians 

 never learnt. Round the huts there is a clearing. 

 In that clearing the women sow food-plants. These 

 are tended with care, and the produce gathered to 

 form a store, something to be at hand if the men's 

 hunting fails, and the women cannot find enough 

 food in the jungle. 



The Korwas have, therefore, learnt a great 

 lesson compared with the Australians ; they know 

 that plants will grow better if they are carefully 

 tended and the soil kept free from weeds, but they 

 do not know that when they harvest their crops 

 they are taking away from the soil something 

 which ought to be given back. They have learnt 

 by experience that after a few years the crops get 

 poorer and poorer, but they have never learnt why. 

 After a few years, therefore, they move their camp, 

 leave their clearing, and depart to a little distance 

 where a fresh clearing may be made and crops 

 sown on unexhausted soil, where they may find fresh 

 fruits in the jungle, and the men fresh animals to 

 hunt. We find almost the same kind of life among 

 the little, dark-skinned mountain people in the 

 Philippine Islands ; it was probably once common 

 in many parts of the globe. 



