336 PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART II. 



Simpson 1 observes justly, that the character of peoples 

 living together in masses differs greatly from those who wander 

 about scattered in the woods, or live by fishing. This is es- 

 pecially shown on comparing fishing with hunting peoples. 



The fisher requires instruments differing much from those of 

 the hunter. They are generally less varied in shape, nor does 

 the fisher require such an acute perception of the phenomena 

 of nature ; his experience is less, and hence his mental horizon 

 is more limited. His mode of life is not apt to call forth that 

 energy of character which distinguishes the hunter ; he is not 

 a warrior, has no ambition, no confidence in his own strength, 

 no love for liberty. The greater security for subsistence 

 without much effort makes him indolent, and he is gene- 

 rally very deficient in cleanliness. Fishing peoples, how- 

 ever, occupy a higher state when they live on the coast, 

 carrying on a coasting trade, and in the struggle with the ele- 

 ments they have to display more invention and courage than the 

 river fishers. The intercourse with strangers also contributes 

 to stimulate their activity, especially if fishing does not form 

 their sole means of subsistence. The gathering of wild grow- 

 ing fruits is but little calculated to promote intellectual de- 

 velopment ; it becomes nevertheless important as leading to 

 the cultivation of the soil, the thought of which must naturally 

 arise when the fruit does not grow in sufficient abundance. It 

 is the cultivation of the soil which may be considered as the 

 first and necessary stage from which civilization proceeds. 



Agriculture may, however, be carried on in a way that 

 proves but a weak lever of civilization. Numerous instances 

 in all parts of the world may be cited to that effect. In the 

 north-west of the great prairies of North America rice grows 

 wild in large quantities, extending from 31-50 N. lat., and 



When water, a tiger, a serpent, do any mischief, it is an individual evil spirit 

 which has incited them to do so. It is not the genus or the species which 

 inspires the primitive man with awe, and which he worships. Even where 

 all the animals of a certain species are worshipped, it is only the particular 

 individual which is honoured as the incarnation of an individual spirit. The 

 travestying of natural forces into mythological persons, does not correspond 

 with the intuition of the primitive man ; but he beholds in what we call 

 nature a number of mysterious, arbitrarily acting, individual beings. 

 1 " Narrative of a Journey round the world," i, p. 251, 1847. 



