1876.] 
44i 
The Cradle of Civilisation. 
II. THE CRADLE OF CIVILISATION.* 
NRHINKERS of no mean standing! have insisted strongly 
'yfh on the faCt, real or supposed, that no nation claims 
civilisation as an indigenous product, but that all 
speak of it as having been originally introduced from abroad. 
Hence they infer that its source must have been a revelation 
communicated to man by some Divine, or at least super- 
human, agent. With all deference to such high authorities, 
we submit that the premisses, even if indisputable, do not 
by any means justify the conclusion. Were civilisation the 
result of supernatural instruction, this must still have 
been imparted to men in some country or countries. Those 
men would then hold, as regards their neighbours, the very 
same position as if the lessons they had to communicate 
were the fruits of their own inventive genius, and the country 
where the supposed revelation had taken place would be 
regarded by the rest of the world as the fountain-head of 
civilisation, and would doubtless claim for itself this proud 
distinction. According to the supernatural, as well as to the 
natural theory of the origin of culture, it must be indigenous 
in some one country, if not in more, and the traditions 
which everywhere ascribe it an extraneous source can be 
regarded merely as a proof of the unreliability of early 
history. Indeed these old legends are in their nature sub- 
jective rather than objective, and have their roots in a 
primitive tendency of the human mind which might be 
named “ elsewhereism ” or “ alibism.” Barbarians, young 
persons, and the imperfectly educated invariably conceive 
everything great and wonderful as coming from afar. In 
their own country, wherever that may be, all is tame, 
mean, and common-place. But in the dim distance, “ where 
the rainbow touches the ground,” lie hidden treasures. In 
some remote isle flows the fountain of eternal youth. 
Across the seas, beyond the mountains, at the head-waters, 
or at the mouth of the great rivers, wealth, fame, wisdom, 
might be easily won. This feeling is often the cause of 
emigration. Men believe that they may easily find “ else- 
where ” the success which has escaped them at home. If 
their new home proves no more propitious than the old one, 
* The Oera Linda Book, from a Manuscript of the Thirteenth Century. 
The original Frisian text, accompanied by an English version of Dr. Ottema’s 
Dutch translation, by W. I. Sandbach. London : Trubner and Co. 
f As, for instance, Archbishop Whately. 
