38 Field and Forest Rambles. 



the general arrangement of these middens on flats, and along 

 shallow shores, it seemed likely they had been the refuse 

 heaps of wigwams placed immediately behind them, such as 

 the Fuegian is forming at this day. Moreover, we find them 

 nearer home in many a fishing village, and in front of Irish 

 cabins; indeed within a stone throw of these old shell piles you 

 may come on temporarily erected bark wigwams of the same 

 sugar-loaf shape used by the ancient Melicites, whose de- 

 scendants repair annually to St. Andrews with their basket- 

 work and wares. Moreover there is difficulty in picking one's 

 way to the cabin door through the filth and garbage they are 

 too lazy to convey from the immediate precincts of their 

 dwellings. Thus this custom of savage man still lingers on 

 in civilized life. 



But there is another trait of character of the wild man 

 which we have refined, and that is, the love for the chase and 

 destruction of wild animals. When this is pursued to the 

 exclusion of everything intelligent beyond the mere slaying, 

 there is engendered that potent impulse a longing for the 

 pursuit, — in other words, a craving that is never satisfied, 

 and seldom cries " enough " as long as there are birds or 

 beasts to be killed. If we give way too much to this in early 

 life, our tastes will soar no higher, and we may bid "good-bye" 

 to mental culture ever afterwards. Thus the youth who 

 thinks of nothing but sport, grows up, like the savage hunter, 

 a fine fellow indeed ; but unless he can separate the pleasures 

 of the gun, rifle, rod, and chase from his business, it is not 

 much mark he will make on the civilization of his day ; for 

 after all, he has been reverting to the habits of primeval man, 

 and displaying a spice of the old times when " Wild in woods 

 the noble savage ran." It is in this way that the love of the 

 chase, and of wild countries, come to us so readily ; indeed 

 there are few who have wandered in the wilderness but 

 get to like it so that the refinements of civilization become 

 irksome. There is the charm of freedom in savage life, which 



