184 SAVAGE SURVIVALS 



great many things that belong rightfully in the 

 past — not only vestigial instincts, but also ves- 

 tigial customs, beliefs, ideals, and institutions. 



Customs are much like instincts. They are es- 

 tablished ways of acting which are observed by 

 all the members of a tribe or nation. They may 

 be called tribal or national habits. 



It is commonly supposed that the savage, living 

 as he does in the world of nature, has the ad- 

 vantage over the more civilized of being able to 

 do as he pleases. There cannot be a greater mis- 

 take. The savage is nowhere free. All over the 

 world the daily life of savages is hedged about by 

 customs and rules, which are none the less strin- 

 gent because unwritten. ^^ Fashion in the distant 

 wilds of Africa,'' says a waiter, ^^ tortures and 

 harasses poor humanity as much as in the great 

 prison of civilization.'' 



The Australian savage cannot even do as he 

 likes with what he kills when hunting, but must al- 

 lot it according to strict rules, one leg to one mem- 

 ber of the family, one to another, the breast to a 

 third, and so on. 



Among the Mbayas of South America ^Hhe mar- 

 ried women are not allowed to eat beef nor mon- 

 key, and the girls are forbidden to partake of any 

 meat or fish that is more than a foot long. ' ' 



Among the Samoyedes, women are not per- 

 mitted to eat the head of the reindeer nor to pass 

 across the hut behind the fire. 



Public business among uncivilized and semi- 



