52 SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED NATIONS. 



LESSON XV. 



SAVAGE, PASTORAL, AND CIVILIZED NATIONS. 



IN regard to their mode of life, the different 

 nations of the world have many points of resem- 

 blance. Some of them, which are called savage 

 nations, take no trouble to ensure a regular sub- 

 sistence. They neither plant nor sow; they lay 

 up no store of provisions ; they give themselves 

 no concern about the future, but go in quest of 

 food only when they are urged by hunger. Their 

 sole employments, therefore, are hunting and fish- 

 ing. They do not even dwell together in villages; 

 have no fixed habitations, but only wretched huts, 

 consisting of a few poles, thrust into the ground, 

 and covered with skins of animals, coarse felt, or 

 only the large leaves of trees. Some even live in 

 holes under the surface of the ground; and among 

 these savage nations only a few families in general 

 associate together. These have no common head^ 

 and no magistrates ; but, in time of war, or on oc- 

 casion of a great hunt, they have a leader, whom 

 they obey till the war or the hunt is over. 



Other nations, called Pastoral Nations, or No- 

 mades, from their wandering way of life, have no 

 fixed abodes, but only tents or huts, which they 

 easily take down and set up again "; but they are 

 much more intelligent and less rude than the sa- 

 vage tribes, because they are engaged in rearing 

 cattle a pursuit which requires much more atten- 



