THE PLAINS OF PATAGONIA 223 



more than touch the surface of so large a subject 

 as that of the instincts and remains of instincts 

 existing in us. Dr. Wallace doubts that there are 

 any human instincts, even in the perfect savage; 

 which seems strange in so keen an observer, and 

 one who has lived so much with nature and un- 

 civilized men; but it must be borne in mind that 

 his peculiar theories with regard to man's origin 

 the acquisition of large brains, naked body, and 

 the upright form not through but in spite of natu- 

 ral selection would predispose him to take such a 

 view. My own experience and observation have 

 led me to a contrary conclusion, and my belief is 

 that we might learn something by looking more 

 beneath the hardened crust of custom into the still 

 burning core. For instance, that experience I had 

 in Patagonia the novel state of mind I have de- 

 scribed seemed to furnish an answer to a ques- 

 tion frequently asked with regard to men living 

 in a state of nature. When we consider that our 

 intellect, ^unlike that of the inferior animals, is 

 progressive, how wonderful it seems that commu- 

 nities and tribes of men should exist "are con- 

 tented to exist," we often say, just as if they had 

 any choice in the matter for ages and for thou- 

 sands of years in a state of pure barbarism, living 

 from hand to mouth, exposed to extremes of tem- 

 perature, and to frequently-recurring famine even 

 in the midst of the greatest fertility, when a lit- 

 tle foresight "the smallest amount of intelli- 

 gence possessed by the lowest of mankind," we 



