128 THE PSYCHICAL KINSHIP 



only case I can call to mind in which a man 

 .belonging to one of the lower races has accounted 

 for an act by saying explicitly that it was right, 

 was when Mr. Hunt asked a young Figian why 

 he had killed his mother ' (3). 



A few pages further on, the same author adds, 

 regarding the deplorable state of morality among 

 savages : ' That there should be races of men so 

 deficient in moral feeling was altogether opposed 

 to the preconceived ideas with which I com- 

 menced the study of savage life, and I have 

 arrived at the conviction by slow degrees, and 

 even with reluctance. I have, however, been 

 forced to this conclusion, not only by the direct 

 statements of travellers, but also by the general 

 tenor of their remarks, and especially by the 

 remarkable absence of repentance and remorse 

 among the lowest races of men.' Among ourselves 

 the words used to distinguish right and wrong are 

 metaphors. Right originally meant 'straight,' and 

 wrong meant * twisted.' Language existed, there- 

 fore, before morality ; for if moral ideas had 

 preceded language, there would have been original 

 words to stand for them. Religion, according to 

 Lubbock, has no moral aspect or influence except 

 among the more advanced races of men. ' The 

 deities of savages are evil, not good ; they may be 

 forced into compliance with the wishes of man ; 

 they generally delight in bloody, and often require 

 human, sacrifices ; they are mortal, not immortal ; 

 they are to be approached by dances rather than 

 by prayers ; and often approve what we call vice 



