XXXIX 

 CHRISTMAS FARE 



MOST English people who can afford it eat more 

 than is good for them on Christmas Day, and 

 consider it more or less of a religious duty to do so, 

 even though they shrink from the ordeal. It is an 

 interesting tendency, and at the same time one readily 

 explained. Primitive men, and our own remote ancestors, 

 had few, if any, joys greater than those afforded by an 

 abundant meal of roasted meat. When a great beast 

 such as a mammoth was taken in a skilfully-prepared 

 pitfall, and slaughtered, the whole tribe of palaeolithic 

 huntsmen assembled and gorged themselves with its 

 flesh, which, it seems fairly certain, they cooked on open 

 fires. The strongest seized the most and ate the most, 

 and were able to bear up the longest in something like 

 full vigour until such time as another big beast should 

 be killed, and another opportunity for " gorging " should 

 arise, when they would naturally again get the largest 

 share, having eaten most on the previous occasion, and 

 so being least famished. Hence the belief that a great 

 appetite is a fine thing, and that the more you can eat, 

 the stronger and better you are, is one of the deeply-laid 

 traditions of humanity which civilised men have inherited 

 from barbarians, and are only slowly commencing to 



criticise and to put aside. The negroes who accompany 

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