296 ANTHROPOID APES. 



it has taken to raise ns so far above the Paptians ! 

 It is indeed manifest that even very rude savages 

 may be constituted serviceable members of human 

 society, as we may see from the changes which have 

 taken place among the Sandwich Islanders, the 

 Tahitians, and the Maoris in the course of the last 

 eighty years. In our days the envoys of the Queen 

 of Madagascar have understood how to move in the 

 highest Berlin circles with high-bred demeanour, 

 and we must recognize this fact as significant, 

 without, however, deluding ourselves by too wide 

 deductions from it. 



The remark has often been made that the African 

 blacks, Indians, etc., display great docility when 

 young, and are very receptive of wisdom and cul- 

 ture, but stop short at a certain point, as if unable 

 to advance beyond it, and sometimes, indeed, like 

 apes in advancing age, relapse into their originally 

 savage state. It may, however, be inferred that 

 these attempts to educate young savages are 

 generally wrecked by mistaken methods of instruc- 

 tion. The young sons of nature are often too much 

 indulged, their childish performances are over-esti- 

 mated, their minds are over-taxed, the due develop- 

 ment of mind and body is checked ; they become 

 arrogant, and then people are surprised that, as 

 self-consciousness increases in their immature brains, 

 a greater or less amount of conceit is developed. 

 There are cases in which a savage, who has been 

 with much labour educated and civilized, relapses 

 into barbarism, and comes to a violent end as the 

 enemy of his former protector, as a robber or a 



