IN HIGHER PEOPLES 103 



that, was enough to turn them aside for an indefi- 

 nite length of time. ' ' 



A writer, speaking of the wild tribes in the Ma- 

 lay peninsula, says that they are always restless 

 and always seem to think that they would be bet- 

 ter off in some other place than the one they are 

 in at the time. Like children, they almost always 

 act impulsively, being rarely guided by reflection. 



Of the South Sea Islanders, it is said that they 

 express any strong passion that affects them by 

 crying, and, like children, seem to forget their 

 tears as soon as they are shed. A New Zealand 

 chief is said to have ''cried like a child because 

 the sailors spoiled his favorite cloak by spilling 

 flour on it. ^ ' 



Captain Cook says that the king and queen of 

 Tahiti amused themselves with two large dolls. 

 And according to Burton the Negro kings of West 

 Africa generally ''are delighted with toys, rubber 

 faces, and other trinkets, such as would be accept- 

 able to a child of eight— which the negro is.'' 



Like the child, the savage is exceedingly vari- 

 able and chameleonic in his nature, being driven 

 hither and thither by whatever feelings and im- 

 pulses happen along from time to time. He is 

 governed by individual emotions, which succes- 

 sively depose one another, instead of by a council 

 of the emotions. The nature of the savage is a 

 series of emotional despotisms, instead of a re- 

 public presided over by reason. 



