46 MENTAL STATUS 



'instinct' of way-finding, frequently fails as a guide probably 

 from his loss of the memory of landmarks. 



51. The fear of what is novel or unusual is quite as con- 

 spicuous sometimes as it so frequently is among the lower 

 animals. Thus we are told, a propos of the dread inspired in 

 certain jungle Veddas of Ceylon by the sight of a mirror, 

 The first wheeled vehicle they saw filled them with alarm 

 and terror ; and as they bent eagerly forward to scrutinise 

 it, they instinctively grasped the handles of their axes.' 

 Boiled rice * they at first seemed to fear would make them 

 intoxicated or stupified.' And it may be added that the 

 same kind of fear characterises the child of civilised races. 



52. On the other hand, curiosity to ascertain the true 

 character of objects new to them is as prominent a feature 

 in the savage as in the child, and in many of the lower 

 animals, adult and young. 



I am not to be understood as asserting that all the 

 foregoing intellectual or moral peculiarities, negative or 

 positive, are to be met with in any one race of savage men ; 

 but that some of them are to be found, in various degrees 

 and combinations, among all primitive peoples, there can be 

 no doubt, if we can credit the many eminent travellers who 

 have described the psychical condition of uncivilised man. 

 That the savage, as a whole, is low in the scale of intelli- 

 gence, compared with his civilised brother, is generally, 

 perhaps, conceded. But there are many worthy people, 

 whose wish would appear to be father to their thought, 

 who, in the face of facts to the contrary, persist in believing 

 that a 'potentiality' for culture and civilisation exists in 

 all races of mankind, however primitive, however degraded. 

 That intelligence, reason, morals, are frequently so low in 

 their stage of development where they can be said to exist 

 at all as to sink man, in countless instances, below the 

 psychical level of many other animals, is what even the un- 

 biassed student will not at first be prepared to believe what 

 throughout his enquiry he may even be led honestly to 

 doubt. But his scepticism when it exists may be con- 

 verted into belief by a careful study of the intellectual and 

 moral condition of the following savage races: 



