342 ON SECLUDED TRIBES OF UNCIVILIZED MEN. 



have had any feuds with them it is impossible to say. They appear 

 to have been originally landed in their present habitat from a con- 

 siderable distance. Pickering states that a great resemblance has 

 been traced in them to the Chinooks, dwelling at the Straits of 

 Fuca, on^the western coast of North America. There is a further 

 similarity in the shape of the paddles used by both tribes. Accord- 

 ing to Pickering the Puegians are identical in physical characteristics 

 with the northern aborigines. It is worthy of observation that, 

 although the most of the known secluded tribes reside in barren and 

 unproductive regions, that circumstance alone is scarcely sufficient 

 to account for their physical and mental degradation. Ceylon, for 

 example, is an exceedingly fertile country, abounding in edible pro- 

 ductions, both animal and vegetable. It is quite a contrast to the 

 regions in which the Shoshokee, the Andaman Islander and the 

 Bushman have to struggle for existence. We find that peculiarities 

 in the habits or disposition of these curious tribes have much to do 

 with their degradation. The Bakalahari, the poorest of the Bechu- 

 ana tribes, who reside in close proximity to the Bushmen, and under 

 circumstances exactly similar, live in a very diflterent style. The 

 Bushman steals, hunts, attempts to satisfy his hunger with vermin, 

 but will not tend cattle or cultivate the soil. The Bakalahari, 

 wherever they can find a spot suitable amid their desert wastes, 

 cultivate a few vegetables, and keep goats to assist in providing for 

 their wants. The Bushmen, determined in their seclusion, will not 

 mix with these although dwelling in their immediate neighbourhood. 

 Notwithstanding there may have been a difierence originally in 

 the mental qualities and powers of the various secluded tribes known 

 to us, according to the races from which they have sprung, yet there 

 can be no doubt that the causes which have stunted their physical 

 growth have also arrested the due development of their intellects. 

 Inadequate and irregular nutrition must cause a deficiency in the 

 quantity and a deterioration in the quality of that vital fluid which, 

 under favourable circumstances, keeps all the organs in a state of 

 vigorous efficiency. And if, as we may reasonably suppose, either a 

 failure in the quantity, or deficiency in the proportions of certain 

 constituents of that fluid, compromise their functional efficiency, 

 we may conclude that the brain must suffer as well as other portions 

 of the body. In addition to such a cause of mental degradation we 

 may enumerate the necessities, in a small and secluded community, 

 for unions between those already related by consanguinity ; as well 



