Instinct 135 



creatures. Where man has set foot in newly-explored 

 territory, seldom or never trodden, the animals are tame, 

 and advance to meet him with charming confidence, 

 which is only dispelled, when they find their trust is 

 betrayed. 



In confirmation of this conviction that this sense of fear 

 in the animals for man must have been acquired, and is 

 not in any way natural, I may quote Mr. Darwin, who says : 

 " I have already discussed the hereditary tameness of our 

 domestic animals. From what follows, I have no doubt, 

 that the fear of man has always first to be acquired in a 

 state of nature, and that under domesticity it is nearly lost. 

 In all the few archipelagoes and islands inhabited by man, 

 of which I have been able to find an early account, the 

 native animals were entirely void of fear of man ; I have 

 ascertained this in six cases, in the most distant part of 

 the world, and with birds and in animals of the most 

 different kinds. At the Galapagos Islands, I pushed a hawk 

 off a tree with the muzzle of my gun, and the little birds 

 drank water out of a vessel which I held in my hand. These 

 wolf-like foxes were here as fearless of man as were the 

 birds, and the sailors in Byron's voyage, mistaking their 

 curiosity for fierceness, ran into the water to avoid them. 

 In all old civilized countries, the wariness and fear of even 

 young foxes and wolves are well known. At the Galapagos 

 Islands, the great land lizards were extremely tame, so that 

 I could pull them by the tail, whereas, in other parts of 

 the world, large lizards are wary enough. The aquatic 

 lizard of the same genus, lives on the coast, is adapted to 

 swim and to dive perfectly, and feeds on submerged algae. 

 No doubt it must be exposed to danger from sharks, and, 

 consequently, though quite tame on the land, I could not 

 drive them into the water, and when I threw them in, 



