The Plains of Patagonia. 229 



seems strange in so keen an observer, and one who 

 has lived so much with nature and uncivilized men ; 

 but it must be borne in mind that his peculiar 

 theories with regard to man's origin the acquisi- 

 tion of large brains, naked body, and the upright 

 form not through but in spite of natural 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 described seemed to 

 furnish an answer to a question 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 communities and tribes of men should 

 exist " are contented to exist," we often say, just as 

 if they had any choice in the matter for ages and 

 for thousands of years in a state of pure barbarism, 

 living from hand to mouth, exposed to extremes of 

 temperature, and to frequently-recurring famine 

 even in the midst of the greatest fertility, when a 

 little foresight " the smallest amount of intelligence 

 possessed by the lowest of mankind," we say would 

 be sufficient to make their condition immeasurably 

 better. If, in the wild natural life, their normal 

 state is like that into which I temporarily fell, then 

 it no longer appears strange to me that they take 

 no thought for the morrow, and remain stationary, 



