The Plains of Patagonia. 221 
progressed far in weaving its fine network of re- 
straining influences over the primitive nature. The 
network is continually being strengthened in the 
individual’s life, and, in the end he is cased, like 
the caterpillar, in an impervious cocoon; only, as 
we have seen, there are in life miraculous moments 
when the cocoon suddenly dissolves, or becomes 
transparent, and he is permitted to see himself in 
his original nakedness. The delight which children 
experience on entering woods and other wild places 
is very keen; and this feeling, although it diminishes 
as we advance in life, remains with us to the last. 
Equally great is their delight at finding wild fruits, 
honey, and other natural food ; and even when not 
hungry they will devour it with strange zest. They 
will gladly feast on sour, acrid fruits, which at 
table, and picked in the garden, would only excite 
disgust. This instinctive seeking for food, and the 
delight experienced in finding it, occasionally comes 
up in very unexpected and surprising ways. “As 
I came through the wood,’ says Thoreau, “I 
caught a glimpse of a woodchuck stealing across 
my path, and felt a strange thrill of savage delight, 
and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him 
raw; not that I was hungry then, except for the 
wildness which he represented.” 
In almost all cases—those in which danger is en- 
countered and rage experienced being exceptions— 
the return to an instinctive or primitive state of 
mind is accompanied by this feeling of elation, 
which, in the very young, rises to an intense glad- 
