THE PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAX. 475 



What, then, must have been their condition ? They were 

 ignorant of pottery, for the Esquimaux, the Polynesians, the 

 Australians, some North and South American tribes, and 

 many other savage races, have none even now, or at least 

 had none until quite lately. They had no bows and arrows, 

 for these weapons were unknown to the Australians and New 

 Zealanders ; their boats for the same reason must have been 

 of the rudest possible character ; they were naked, and igno- 

 rant of the art of spinning ; they had no knowledge of 

 agriculture, and probably no domestic animal but the dog, 

 though here the argument is weaker, inasmuch as experience 

 is more portable than property. It is, however, in my 

 opinion, most probable that the dog was long the only domes- 

 ticated animal. Of the more unusual weapons, such as the 

 boomerang, blowpipe, bolas, etc., they were certainly igno- 

 rant. The sling and the thro wing- stick were doubtless 

 unknown, and even the shield had. probably not been in- 

 vented. The spear, which is but a development of the knife- 

 point, and the club, which is but a long hammer, are the 

 only things left by this line of argument. They seem to be 

 the only natural and universal weapons of man. 



We might be disposed to wonder how man was at first 

 able to kill game ; but we must remember that if man was 

 unskilful, animals were unsuspicious. The tameness of the 

 birds on uninhabited islands is well known ; the wariness of 

 animals and the skill of man must have increased almost 

 pari passu. 



The same argument may be applied to the mental con- 

 dition of savages. That our earliest ancestors could have 

 counted to ten is very improbable, considering that so many 

 races now in existence cannot get beyond four. On the 

 other hand it is very improbable that man can have existed 

 in a lower condition than that thus indicated. So long, 

 indeed, as he was confined to the tropics, he may have found 



