334 PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART II. 



body and mind, so that man's efforts scarcely suffice to provide 

 for his physical existence. If nature yields quantitatively but a 

 scanty subsistence, man is frequently exposed to want, and 

 physical and mental debility must be the result. If, in addi- 

 tion, his nation is surrounded by inimical tribes, so that it 

 must live in a state of isolation, every progress is clearly ob- 

 structed whatever may be the original mental endowment. But 

 in such a condition are most of the peoples who occupy the 

 lowest scale in civilization : the Bosjesmans, the natives of 

 Tierra del Fuego, a considerable number of the Australians ; 

 also the black aborigines of many East India islands, who live, 

 as it were, imprisoned by the Malays of the coast, and the 

 savage tribes of the Vindjha mountains, of the Deccan, and 

 other parts of India, etc. 



The results will be more favourable, where a people living in 

 a healthy climate is master of the soil and its products. In 

 such a condition are the greater portion of the natives of Ame- 

 rica and Africa, and they stand somewhat higher in civilization 

 than the above-mentioned nations. It is surrounding nature 

 which first determines the direction of their activity, for on 

 it depends what means, instruments, and skill are requisite 

 to satisfy their daily wants, and what difficulties they have 

 to contend with. It is easily seen how great must be the 

 difference it makes in the character of a people, whether the 

 chase, fishing, gathering of fruits, or the breeding of cattle and 

 agriculture constitute the essential subsistence of a people. 



Where vegetable food is not abundant, there will originally 

 arise a tendency to a hunting life first, because, if successful, 

 it yields in a short time a large amount of aliment; and secondly, 

 because the excitement which attends it is more adapted to the 

 feeling of strength and the natural inclination than the tame 

 collecting of fruit. However, the first important result of a 

 hunting life is, the scattering of the population in small masses 

 which require a large area, which by itself renders any advance 

 in civilization impossible, a relatively dense population with its 

 multifarious reciprocal relations being an indispensable con- 

 dition of civilization. The hunters, moreover, must follow the 

 game ; they form no permanent settlements ; their migrations 



