324 IN THE GUIANA FOREST 



Everything they do is done for selfish reasons if we 

 may not rather consider the actions instinctive. 

 At the same time there are many object-lessons 

 in combination among them. Somehow or other, 

 however, communities of plants and animals do 

 not strike us as altogether successful. There is 

 no doubt that, as far as number is concerned, the 

 Socialists predominate, but they appear to be less 

 happy. Where father, mother, and children dwell 

 in one home there must surely be something 

 higher than a bee or ant community. Where 

 division of labour is carried to extremes the 

 individual necessarily degenerates. The slave- 

 holder among ants has got to a stage where it 

 cannot even feed itself, and we can hardly consider 

 the imperfect working females among insects as 

 other than degenerate. It may be good for the 

 race, but will a thinking individual efface himself 

 on that ground alone? 



Progress, as Herbert Spencer says, is from 

 homogeneity to heterogeneity, but comfort and 

 race development work in a contrary direction. The 

 natural man, as in the case of the Guiana Indian, 

 is an individualist ; his combinations were formerly 

 only conspicuous in war. Now that this incentive 

 has gone he has no reason for uniting with his 

 fellows. Is not this the cause of his decrease in 

 numbers ? 



