276 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



ostensibly for the better, though it would be 

 hard to point to the improvement of the donkey 

 in a coster's cart on the splendid-looking wild 

 ass of Somaliland, and, unless viewed from the 

 standpoint of the farmer, our tame cattle and 

 pigs are poor specimens to look at compared 

 with their magnificent cousins of the wilderness. 

 Man's prerogative of dominion over the fish 

 of the sea could be exercised in one way only. 

 First he caught and then he ate them. But his 

 sway "over all the earth " bore a higher inter- 

 pretation than the savage right to kill. No 

 doubt he was a hunter before becoming a 

 pastoralist, but the arts of the pastoralist are 

 nobler than those of the chase. The negro was 

 never a tamer of the wild. He has, of course, 

 owned herds and flocks, and he has even been 

 known to train an occasional hunting-dog to 

 assist him in killing other animals. As a 

 rule, the pastoral life is associated with a gentle 

 disposition, and shepherds are rarely warriors. 

 Yet there are exceptions to this rule, and the 

 Somali herdsman is not only a born fighter, but 

 also a merciless robber of all weaker than him- 

 self, so that his peaceful occupation has not 

 moulded his character. The lack of physical 

 strength in many of the Asiatic races most 

 noted for their domesticated animals is a strong 

 argument in favour of will-power as the chief 

 factor in the taming of the wild. Many a 



