Are We a Declining Race ? 



be a relic of an old custom of the Papuans, which 

 has gradually been abandoned on coming in con- 

 tact with European ideas. 



" There are numerous savage and barbarous 

 peoples among whom sexual intercourse out of 

 wedlock is of rare occurrence, unchastity on the 

 part of the woman being looked upon as a dis- 

 grace and a crime." (Westermarck.) 



Mr. Winwood Reade tells us of the Equatorial 

 savages ol Africa : " A girl who disgraces her 

 family by wantonness, is banished from her clan, 

 and in case of seduction the man is severely 

 flogged. Theft is also punished by flogging, and 

 adultery by the payment of a large sum, in default 

 of which death or slavery is at the option of the 

 husband." (" Savage Africa.") 



The Rev. J. Shorter tells us that the Kaffir 

 laws also were very strict for these crimes : 

 adultery, fine or death ; rape, fine or death ; 

 murder, fine or death. (" Kaffirs of Natal.") 



Winwood Reade wrote of the moral bearing 

 of the people, thus : " For my part I can say that 

 during the whole time which I passed in Africa I 

 never saw so much as one indecent gesture pass 

 between a man and a woman." 



Another writer in describing the Kaffirs of 

 South Africa writes : " A Kaffir woman is 

 chaste and extremely modest." (" Travels in 

 Southern Africa," J. Barrow, Vol. I., 206.) 



In treating of these savage races, I have 

 endeavoured to point out three things : 



First, that where it is customary to delay 

 marriage until a more advanced age, we find 

 the people enjoying better health and finer 



