180 Instinct and Intelligence 



Andaman Islands. When this lad was ten 

 years old he was brought to Calcutta; the day 

 after his arrival, while walking with him and 

 his master over the open plain (maidan), we 

 were suddenly enveloped in one of the dense 

 fogs common to Calcutta; our party halted, 

 and were discussing the advisability of remain- 

 ing where we were until the fog cleared; the 

 Andamanese lad, hearing what we were dis- 

 cussing, said he thought he could show us the 

 way home along the path we had traversed. 

 He pointed to a stone a few feet from us and 

 said we had passed it, and a little further on a 

 clump of grass; and so, like a dog on scent, 

 he followed on until we came to the public road 

 which led to our house. The lad said he had 

 paid no particular attention to the various 

 objects he recognised on the ground, but that 

 he must have seen them and had no difficulty 

 in recognising them again. It seemed to us 

 that this boy had inherited a sense of observa- 

 tion similar to that possessed by his progenitors 

 a development, in fact, of the instinctive 

 power possessed by many of the lower animals 

 which had remained dormant in his case, until 



