REACHING THE GOAL 123 
We came upon no choom. The fog grew denser and 
denser, and at last there was nothing for it but to make 
a cast round. This showed us nothing, and it really 
seemed as though we had missed it altogether. 
And now I am going to relate a fact which I cannot 
explain excepting by a parallel taken from the physics. 
Just as by the first law of motion a body will continue 
in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an 
intercepting force, so it seems it must be with the brain. 
I cannot help believing that to this must be greatly due 
the notorious faculty which savages have for finding 
their way from point to point. I do not mean that such 
agencies as sun and wind have not a determining in- 
fluence, for of course they have; but that, apart from 
this active and observant intelligence, there is a con- 
sciousness of direction which is obeyed subjectively. It 
is instinctive, as we say. I remember once asking a 
Cree with whom I was hunting how he found his way 
home so wonderfully well, and was much struck by the 
man’s answer. Putting his hand to his side he said, 
‘Indian’s feart.’ | thought it was such a capital answer. 
By it I suppose he meant that the Indian’s affection 
would naturally be a sufficient guide to the home to 
which it pointed. 
The heart with him was the seat of the ‘homing 
instinct.’ , 
And so it doubtless is. And this function of the mind 
[whether ‘the heart’ (ze. the affection) or any other 
