292 PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART II. 



without any control. Endeavouring to subject others when- 

 ever they come in conflict with his own interest, every indi- 

 vidual leads originally an isolated life. However repulsive 

 these characteristic features of the primitive man may be, they 

 are not manifestations of malignity, but as in the child and the 

 perfectly uneducated the result of capricious desires. The 

 absence of steadiness in the pursuit of a certain object, the 

 action from sudden impulses, render the uncultivated savage 

 unintelligible to the civilized man, so that he judges him in a 

 variety of ways. 



If the correctness of the preceding characteristic of the pri- 

 mitive man be admitted, then we are justified in designating 

 the majority of the uncultivated nations of the globe as primitive 

 peoples (Naturvolker peoples in a state of nature), because 

 though not exactly in a primitive or natural state, they still 

 occupy a scale of development which pretty nearly approaches 

 it ; for all the peculiarities which we attributed to the primitive 

 man are found among them, and all agree in this respect. To 

 consider, on the other hand, all uncultivated nations as dege- 

 nerate, as fallen from a previous elevation, would be to assume 

 that culture was the primitive, and barbarism the secondary 

 state of man. 



We shall now compare the more prominent empirical in- 

 formation we possess of uncultivated nations, in order to see 

 whether our characteristics of the natural state of man be 

 correct. 



The inhabitant of the north does not emigrate to the south 

 to improve his condition, nor does the inhabitant of the south 

 desire to exchange his climate for a more favourable one. In 

 spite of the many diseases to which, for instance, the inhabi- 

 tants of Darfur are subject, they love their country, have no 

 wish to emigrate, but desire to return when they have left 

 it. 1 It is reasonable to suppose that this attachment to their 

 native country, even among nomadic nations, may partly arise 

 from their ignorance that there are finer climates, more abound- 

 ing in natural products. This is not always the case. With 



1 Moliainined-el-Tounsy, " Voy. au Darfour," p. 296, Paris, 1845. 



