V 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIRDS’ NESTS 
99 
Do Men build by Reason or by Imitation ? 
Lot us first consider the theory of reason, as alone deter- 
mining the domestic architecture of the human race. Man, 
as a reasonable animal, it is said, continually alters and 
improves his dwelling. This I entirely deny. As a rule, he 
neither alters nor improves, any more than the birds do. What 
have the houses of most savage tribes improved from, each as 
invariable as the nest of a species of bird ? The tents of the 
Arab are the same now as they were two or three thousand 
years ago, and the mud villages of Egypt can scarcely have 
improved since the time of the Pharaohs. The palm-leaf huts 
and hovels of the various tribes of South America and the 
Malay Archipelago, what have they improved from since 
those regions were first inhabited? The Patagonian’s rude 
shelter of leaves, the hollowed bank of the South African 
Earthmen, we cannot even conceive to have been ever 
inferior to what they now are. Even nearer home, the Irish 
turf cabin and the Highland stone shelty can hardly have 
advanced much during the last two thousand years. Now, 
no one imputes this stationary condition of domestic archi- 
tecture among these savage tribes to instinct, but to simple 
imitation from one generation to another, and the absence of 
any sufficiently powerful stimulus to change or improvement. 
No one imagines that if an infant Arab could be transferred 
to Patagonia or to the Highlands, it would, when it grew up, 
astonish its foster-parents by constructing a tent of skins. On 
the other hand, it is quite clear that physical conditions, 
combined with the degree of civilisation arrived at, almost 
necessitate certain types of structure. The turf, or stones, 
or snow — the palm-leaves, bamboo, or branches — which are 
the materials of houses in various countries, are used because 
nothing else is so readily to be obtained. The Egyptian 
peasant has none of these, not even wood. What, then, can 
lie use but mud ? In tropical forest-countries, the bamboo 
and the broad palm -leaves are the natural material for houses, 
and the form and mode of structure will be decided in part 
by the nature of the country, whether hot or cool, whether 
swampy or dry, whether rocky or plain, whether frequented 
by wild beasts, or whether subject to the attacks of enemies. 
