Chap. XXIV. SAVAGES NOT WHOLLY UNTAUGHT. 



507 



source. Where that source may have been is probably 

 indicated by another pair of bellows, which we observed below 

 the Victoria Falls, being found in Central India and among 

 the Gipsies of Europe. 



Men in remote times may have had more highly-developed 

 instincts, which enabled them to avoid or use poisons ; but 

 the late Archbishop Whately has proved, that wholly un- 

 taught savages never could invent anything, or even subsist 

 at all. Abundant corroboration of his arguments is met 

 with in this country, where the natives require but little in 

 the way of clothing, and have remarkably hardy stomachs. 

 Although possessing a knowledge of all the edible roots 

 and fruits in the country, having hoes to dig with, and 

 spears, bows, and arrows to kill the game, — we have seen 

 that, notwithstanding all these appliances and means to 

 boot, they have perished of absolute starvation. 



Manganja Spears with iron paddles or dibbles in the ends of the handles and weighted with iron rings. 



Three kinds of wild grasses are met with, the seeds of 

 which may be used as food — one of them, called Noanje, has 

 been cultivated, and when the grain is separated from the 

 husks, and cooked, it yields a tolerable meal ; ' but without 

 the art of pounding these grains, and separating the husks, 

 the stomachs of the lowest savages could not endure the 

 sharp scales which form at least a half of the grain. The 

 same form of pestle and mortar for clearing grain is met with 

 from Egypt to the southern extremity of the continent ; the 

 existence of this seems to show that the same want has been 

 felt and provided for from the period of the earliest migra- 

 tions of the Africans. 



