466 INTELLECTUAL INFERIORITY OF SAVAGES. 



enough to obtain vocabularies of the words in use; and 

 we seldom get any information as to words for which savages 

 have no equivalent, or ideas which they dp not possess. 

 I have, however, already mentioned the deficiency of some 

 North American languages in terms of endearment ; this 

 fact suggests a melancholy condition of the domestic rela- 

 tions, but it may here be referred to again as an evidence of 

 a low mental, as well as moral, condition. What Spix and 

 Martius tell us about the Brazilian tribes* appears also to be 

 true of many, if not of most, savage races. Their vocabulary 

 is rich, and they have separate names for the different parts 

 of the body, for all the different animals and plants with 

 which they are acquainted, for everything, in fact, which 

 they can see and handle. Yet they are entirely deficient in 

 words for abstract ideas ; they have no expressions for color, 

 tone, sex, genus, spirit, etc. So, again, the Tasmanians had 

 no word for a tree, though they had a name for each species ; 

 nor could they express " qualities such as hard, soft, warm, 

 cold, long, short, round, etc. : for ' hard ' they would say 

 'like a stone;' for 'tall' they would say 'long legs/ etc. ; 

 and for ' round * they said ' like a ball,' ' like the moon,' and 

 so on."t According to the missionaries, J Fuegians have 

 " no abstract terms for expressing the truths of our religion ; " 

 and among the North American languages "a term sufficiently 

 general to denote an 'oak tree' is exceptional. " Even the 

 comparatively civilised inhabitants of Tahiti had, according 

 1 to Forster, "no proper words for expressing abstract ideas. "|| 

 The names for numbers are, however, among the lower races, 

 the best, or at least the most easily applicable test of mental 

 condition. 



We have seen that the Esquimaux can only with difficulty 



* Reise in Brazilian, vol. i., p, 385. J The Voice of Pity, vol. x., p. 152. 



f Milligan. Proc. Roy. Society. Tas- Latham. Varieties of Man, p. 375. 



mania, vol. iii., p. 281. || I.e. p. 403. 



