148 REPORT— 1869. 



I would also call particular attention to the remarkable similarity between the 

 mental characteristics of savages and tliose of children. 



"Tlie Abipones," says Dobritzhoffer*, "when they are unable to comprehend 

 anything at first sight, soon grow weary of examining it, and cry ' orqueenam ' ? 

 what is it after all ? Sometimes the Guaranies, when completely puzzled, knit 

 their brows and cry ' tupa oiquaa,' God liuows what it is. Since they possess 

 such small reasoning powers, and have so little inclination to exert them, it is no 

 wonder that they are neither able nor willing to argue one thing from another." 

 Richardson says of the Dogrib Indians, "that however high the reward they 

 expected to receive on reaching their destination, they could not be depended on 

 to carry letters. A slight difficulty, the prospect of a banquet on venison, or a 

 sudden impulse to visit some friend, were sufficient to turn them aside for an 

 indefinite length of time"!. 



Le Vaillant J also observes of the Namaquas, that they closely resembled chil- 

 dren in their great curiosity. 



M. Bourien§, speaking of the wild tribes in the Malayan Peninsula, says that 

 an " inconstant humour, fickle and erratic, together with a mixture of fear, timidity, 

 and diffidence, lies at the bottom of their character, they seem always to think 

 that they would be better in any other place than in the one they occupy at the 

 time. Like children, their actions seem to be rarely guided by reflection, and they 

 almost always act impulsively." 



The tears of the South-Sea Islanders, "like those of children, were always 

 ready to express any passion that was strongly excited, and, like those of children, 

 they also appeared to be forgotten as soon as shed"||. 



At Tahiti Captain Cook mentions that Oberea, the Queen, and Tootathah, one 

 of the principal chiefs, amused themselves with two large dolls. D'Urville tells us 

 that a New Zealand chief, Tauvarya by name, " cried like a child because the 

 sailors spoilt his favourite cloak by powdering it with flour "^. 



Williams** mentions that in Fiji not only the women, but even the men give 

 vent to their feelings by crying. Burton even says that among East Africans 

 the men cried more frequently than the women ff. 



Not only do savages closely resemble children in their general character, but a 

 curious similarity exists between them in many small points. For instance, the 

 tendency to reduplication, which is so characteristic of children, prevails remark- 

 ably also amongst savages. 



The first 1000 words in Richardson's dictionary (down to allege), contain only 

 three, namely, adscititious, adventitious, agitator, and even in these it is 

 reduced to a minimum. There is not a single word like aki alii, evening ; ake ake, 

 eternal ; aid aki, a bird ; amivrmiwa, the rainbow ; miffa anf/a, agreement ; atiffi 

 anf/i, aboard; aro aro, in front; a>7<ar«, to woo ; ati ati, to drive out; awa awa, 

 a vaUey ; or awaiuja luawja, hope, words of a class which abound in savage lan- 

 guages. 



The first 1000 words in a French dictionary I found to contain only two redu- 

 plications, namely, anana and assassin, both of which are derived from a lower 

 race, and cannot, strictly speaking, be regarded as French. 



Again, 1000 German words, taking for variety the letters C and D, contain six 

 cases, namely, Cacadu (Cockatoo), cacao, cocon (cocoon), cocoshaum, a cocao tree, 

 cocos miss, cocao nut, and dagegen, of which again all but the last are foreign. 



Lastly, the first 1000 Greek words contained only two reduplications, one of 

 which is ajSap^apos. 



For comparison with the abo-\'e I have examined the vocabularies of seventeen 

 savage races, and the results are given in the following Table : — 



For African languages I have examined theBeetjuan and Bosjesman dialects, given 

 by Lichtenstein in his Travels in Soutliern Africa; the Namaqua Hottentot, as given 

 by TindaU in his ' Grammar and Vocabulary of the Namaqua Hottentot ; ' the Ne- 



* Vol. ii. p. 59. t Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 23. 



X Travels in Africa, 1776, vol. iii. p. 12. § Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S. vol. iii. p. 78. 



II Cook's First Voyage, p. 103. 



•jf Vol. ii. p. 398. See also ' Yates's New Zealand,' p. 101. 



** Fiji and the Fijians, vol. ii. p. 121. ft Lake Eegions, p. 332. 



