442 The Cradle of Civilisation . [October, 
they merely conclude that it is not the right elsewhere.” 
Had they but gone to Canada instead of to South Africa all 
would have been well with them. 
As with wealth, so with knowledge : “ he has travelled 
for his wisdom ” is still a common expression. We have 
heard the discoveries of such men as Humboldt, Agassiz, 
Darwin, and Wallace, ascribed not to their genius or their 
industry, but simply to the fadt that they had visited coun- 
tries remote. Any man who had been where they went 
might, it is asserted, have done as much. If such notions 
are still current in our days, need we wonder that in more 
primitive times all valuable truths were supposed to have 
been imported from abroad ? A philosopher had travelled, 
and on his return imparted some valuable lesson to his 
countrymen ; forthwith the post hoc was converted into the 
propter hoc, and the story ran that he had learnt all this 
elsewhere ; yet the very legends betray themselves. Mr. 
G. H. Lewes, if we remember rightly, points out how a 
Greek sage is represented as having studied mathematics 
under the Egyptian priests, and yet at the same lime as 
havingtaughtthem howto measure the height ofthe pyramids 
by their shadows ! Surely they who required such an ele- 
mentary lesson would have nothing very valuable to commu- 
nicate. Nay, even if an originator had not travelled, his 
countrymen, rather than give honour to a prophet who had 
sprung up in their midst, would invent some legend of dis- 
tant travel. This view, which no close observer of human 
nature can dispute, throws a flood of light upon ail the 
Manco Capacs and other mysterious strangers who suddenly 
appear among savage tribes, and who, instead of being 
eaten, are at once accepted as high-priests, legislators, and 
kings. 
We do not, of course, mean to deny that primitive nations 
learnt much from abroad, and that travellers from time to 
time brought back valuable lessons. When the means of 
communication between countries were scanty, philosophers 
had to travel in person for knowledge, just like merchants 
for commodities. We seek merely to show the true origin 
of the misleading sagas which ascribe all improvement to 
an unknown source, which, like the mirage, vanishes as we 
pursue. 
However, if we may believe certain enthusiastic partisans, 
the true cradle of our modern civilisation has been at last 
discovered. The favoured spot is certainly not one which 
would be guessed by any unprepared reader. It is none of 
the regions which the researches of historians, antiquarians, 
