424 Life and Letters of Francis Galton 



again accredit them with occasional physical powers. Everyone here feels that they themselves 

 will, after their life is over, join the spirit legion, and they look forward with eager hope that 

 their descendants will then do what will be agreeable and not hateful to them. I have heard 

 some who likened life to the narrow crest of the line of breakers of a never-resting and infinite 

 ocean, eating slowly and everlastingly into the opposing shore of an infinite and inert continent. 

 But that metaphor does not help me much, beyond picturing what, in their view, is the small- 

 ness in amount of actual life with the much larger amount of elements of potential life. It is 

 quite possible that if their confused ideas were worked out by theologians, who in a general way 

 firmly believed in them, and who were able to define on valid grounds the extent of influences 

 that the spirit world exerts over the living world, a very respectable creed might be deduced. 

 Their superstition certainly succeeds, even as it is, in giving a unity of endeavour and a serious- 

 ness of action to the whole population. They have no fear of death. Their funerals are not 

 dismal functions as with us, but are made into occasions for short appreciative speeches dwelling 

 lovingly on the life-work of the deceased. 



" The houses near the town are practically villas, for the use of town dwellers, each with 

 a small garden for flowers, vegetables and fruit. The extent of garden and agricultural land is 

 about twenty square miles. There are about 500 holdings in all, of a rough general average of 

 40 acres each. About one half of these are let at a low rent, especially to highly diplomaed 

 parents. Though every married couple has perfect freedom in choosing his residence here, or in 

 emigrating elsewhere, the attractions offered to those who settle in the country are so large and 

 many that the pick of the Collegiates occupy farms or villas. A country life is considered to be 

 so highly conducive to the health and size of families that a large part of the wealth of Kant- 

 saywhere is gladly allotted to its encouragement. It is a great convenience to the Registrar to 

 have so large a part of his charge located close at hand and for his inspectors to have means of 

 easily verifying doubtful statements by conversation with neighbours. Nearly every household 

 undertakes some unpaid office connected with administration and there is abundance of local 

 pride and patriotism in doing this work welL With a less gifted people these customs would 

 hardly answer, but here it is otherwise. 



" The character of the farming of Kantsaywhere is in many respects such as is described as 

 ruling in Denmark, but for the most part it must bear a closer resemblance to...." 



Here my fragment breaks off, the remainder having been removed, so 

 that it is not possible to say what agricultural system Galton thought 

 superior to that of Denmark. 



Galton himself wrote very little of " Kantsaywhere " down ; he dictated 

 it to his Secretary, and was much diverted by his own characters. On one 

 occasion he had to be reminded that he had already killed a personage, 

 whom he badly needed later, and accordingly, much to his amusement, the 

 slaughter had to be revised. 



It is needful here to recall a point which Galton as an anthropologist 

 strongly insisted on. He held that any form of superstition held by a tribe 

 or nation as a whole — even the worst type of fetishism — was a source of 

 strength to the believing group. A religion might be false, but anthro- 

 pologically it was better than no religion*. 



Galton was a firm agnostic, that is to say while fully recognising the 

 infinite mystery behind life, and indeed behind the physical cosmos as well, 

 he did not think that man could fill the void either by his own reasoning or 

 by revelation of a transcendental kind. Nevertheless he believed that every 

 nation required its peculiar "superstition," and he devised in the above 

 paragraph a curious one for the inhabitants of Kantsaywhere. It appears to 



* See pp. 88-89 above. 



