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were laid in ruins, and its people became barbarous and 
ignorant. Thus, too, Rome was overwhelmed by the 
northern tribes, and civilisation, though preserved amongst 
the Arabs, did not reappear until Christianity pervaded 
the West. 
Loss of the conception of a Deity—so extraordinary a 
characteristic of some savages—is paralleled by the revelations 
occasionally made of the condition of our street arabs, showing 
that it is by no means incompatible with a former state of 
civilisation. 
Sir John Lubbock’s objections to Archbishop Whately’s 
theory appear very unsatisfactory and shallow when critically 
examined; for instance, he stated, at Dundee, that the Anda- 
man Islanders were an instance of a race which had spon- 
taneously improved, having invented or adopted ‘ the out- 
rigger ” within the past few years. 
Now, if he will refer to Dr. Mouatt’s interesting work on the 
Andaman Islands, he will find that the Burmese have long 
been in the habit of frequenting the croup to obtain the prized 
edible nests for barter with the Chinese ; and, as the Burmese, 
Cingalese, and other inhabitants of these seas are well 
acquainted with the principle of the ‘‘ outrigger,” it appears 
much the most probable theory that they (the Andamaners) 
copied them, instead of inventing a principle already well 
known. , 
Besides this, these very Andamaners’ appear to afford a 
striking example of the process of deterioration,which Sir J. 
Lubbock particularly singles out for attack! 
Not long since, they habitually visited the Nicobar group, 
some distance from them, on predatory excursions, and the 
old Mohammedan geographers mention their piracies in the 
Straits of Malacca. Surely their canoes must have deterio- 
rated, stead of improved (like those of the New Zealanders) ! 
The presence of long-civilised plants, such as the banana, 
which only seeds in one spot on earth, 7.e., the Andamans, 
seems also to prove former intercourse with the main land. 
Sir J. Lubbock also stated that the following circumstances 
seemed to argue against the truth of the “degradation - 
theory,” 7.e., that in many communities of savage islanders 
and others there were no traces of a former civilisation, no 
remains of pottery (which it was almost impossible to destroy 
in any lapse of time), buildings, or other arts; Australia, the 
South Sea Islands, and America being destitute of antiquities, 
or even the bones of domestic animals. 
But these assertions, if capable of proof, do not appear to 
me to necessarily invalidate Whately’s theory. 
