PROPOSE to conclude this account of my Eastern travels, with a short
statement of my views as to the races of man which inhabit the
various parts of the Archipelago, their chief physical and mental
characteristics, their affinities with each other and with surrounding
tribes, their migrations, and their probable origin.
Two very strongly contrasted races inhabit the Archipelago--the Malays,
occupying almost exclusively the larger western half of it, and the
Papuans, whose headquarters are New Guinea and several of the adjacent
islands. Between these in locality, are found tribes who are also
intermediate in their chief characteristics, and it is sometimes a nice
point to determine whether they belong to one or the other race, or have
been formed by a mixture of the two.
The Malay is undoubtedly the most important of these two races, as it
is the one which is the most civilized, which has come most into contact
with Europeans, and which alone has any place in history. What may
be called the true Malay races, as distinguished from others who
have merely a Malay element in their language, present a considerable
uniformity of physical and mental characteristics, while there are very
great differences of civilization and of language. They consist of four
great, and a few minor semi-civilized tribes, and a number of others who
may be termed savages. The Malays proper inhabit the Malay peninsula,
and almost all the coast regions of Borneo and Sumatra. They all
speak the Malay language, or dialects of it; they write in the Arabic
character, and are Mahometans in religion. The Javanese inhabit Java,
part of Sumatra, Madura, Bali, and Bart of Lombock. They speak the
Javanese and Kawi languages, which they write in a native character.
They are now Mahometans in Java, but Brahmins in Bali and Lombock. The
Bugis are the inhabitants of the greater parts of Celebes, and there
seems to be an allied people in Sumbawa. They speak the Bugis and
Macassar languages, with dialects, and have two different native
characters in which they write these. They are all Mahometans. The
fourth great race is that of the Tagalas in the Philippine Islands,
about whom, as I did not visit those Islands, I shall say little. Many
of them are now Christians, and speak Spanish as well as their native
tongue, the Tagala. The Moluccan-Malays, who inhabit chiefly Ternate,
Tidore, Batchian, and Amboyna, may be held to form a fifth division of
semi-civilized Malays. They are all Mahometans, but they speak a variety
of curious languages, which seem compounded of Bugis and Javanese, with
the languages of the savage tribes of the Moluccas.
The savage Malays are the Dyaks of Borneo; the Battaks and other wild
tribes of Sumatra; the Jakuns of the Malay Peninsula; the aborigines of
Northern Celebes, of the Sula island, and of part of Bouru.
The colour of all these varied tribes is a light reddish brown, with
more or less of an olive tinge, not varying in any important degree
over an extent of country as large as all Southern Europe. The hair is
equally constant, being invariably black and straight, and of a rather
coarse texture, so that any lighter tint, or any wave or curl in it, is
an almost certain proof of the admixture of some foreign blood. The face
is nearly destitute of beard, and the breast and limbs are free from
hair. The stature is tolerably equal, and is always considerably below
that of the average European; the body is robust, the breast well
developed, the feet small, thick, and short, the hands small and rather
delicate. The face is a little broad, and inclined to be flat; the
forehead is rather rounded, the brows low, the eyes black and very
slightly oblique; the nose is rather small, not prominent, but straight
and well-shaped, the apex a little rounded, the nostrils broad and
slightly exposed; the cheek-bones are rather prominent, the mouth large,
the lips broad and well cut, but not protruding, the chin round and
well-formed.
In this description there seems little to object to on the score of
beauty, and yet on the whole the Malays are certainly not handsome. In
youth, however, they are often very good-looking, and many of the boys
and girls up to twelve or fifteen years of age are very pleasing, and
some have countenances which are in their way almost perfect. I am
inclined to think they lose much of their good looks by bad habits
and irregular living. At a very early age they chew betel and tobacco
almost incessantly; they suffer much want and exposure in their
fishing and other excursions; their lives are often passed in alternate
starvation and feasting, idleness and excessive labour,--and this
naturally produces premature old age and harshness of features.
In character the Malay is impassive. He exhibits a reserve, diffidence,
and even bashfulness, which is in some degree attractive, and leads the
observer to thinly that the ferocious and bloodthirsty character imputed
to the race must be grossly exaggerated. He is not demonstrative. His
feelings of surprise, admiration, or fear, are never openly manifested,
and are probably not strongly felt. He is slow and deliberate in speech,
and circuitous in introducing the subject he has come expressly to
discuss. These are the main features of his moral nature, and exhibit
themselves in every action of his life.
Children and women are timid, and scream and run at the unexpected sight
of a European. In the company of men they are silent, and are generally
quiet and obedient. When alone the Malay is taciturn; he neither
talks nor sings to himself. When several are paddling in a canoe, they
occasionally chant a monotonous and plaintive song. He is cautious of
giving offence to his equals. He does not quarrel easily about money
matters; dislikes asking too frequently even for payment of his just
debts, and will often give them up altogether rather than quarrel with
his debtor. Practical joking is utterly repugnant to his disposition;
for he is particularly sensitive to breaches of etiquette, or any
interference with the personal liberty of himself or another. As an
example, I may mention that I have often found it very difficult to get
one Malay servant to waken another. He will call as loud as he can, but
will hardly touch, much less shake his comrade. I have frequently had to
waken a hard sleeper myself when on a land or sea journey.
The higher classes of Malays are exceedingly polite, and have all
the quiet ease and dignity of the best-bred Europeans. Yet this is
compatible with a reckless cruelty and contempt of human life, which
is the dark side of their character. It is not to be wondered at,
therefore, that different persons give totally opposite accounts of
them--one praising them for their soberness, civility, and good-nature;
another abusing them for their deceit, treachery, and cruelty. The old
traveller Nicolo Conti, writing in 1430, says: "The inhabitants of Java
and Sumatra exceed every other people in cruelty. They regard killing a
man as a mere jest; nor is any punishment allotted for such a deed. If
any one purchase a new sword, and wish to try it, he will thrust it
into the breast of the first person he meets. The passers-by examine the
wound, and praise the skill of the person who inflicted it, if he thrust
in the weapon direct." Yet Drake says of the south of Java: "The people
(as are their kings) are a very loving, true, and just-dealing people;"
and Mr. Crawfurd says that the Javanese, whom he knew thoroughly, are "a
peaceable, docile, sober, simple, and industrious people." Barbosa, on
the other hand, who saw them at Malacca about 1660, says: "They are
a people of great ingenuity, very subtle in all their dealings; very
malicious, great deceivers, seldom speaking the truth; prepared to do
all manner of wickedness, and ready to sacrifice their lives."
The intellect of the Malay race seems rather deficient. They are
incapable of anything beyond the simplest combinations of ideas, and
have little taste or energy for the acquirement of knowledge. Their
civilization, such as it is, does not seem to be indigenous, as it
is entirely confined to those nations who have been converted to the
Mahometan or Brahminical religions.
I will now give an equally brief sketch of the other great race of the
Malay Archipelago, the Papuan.
The typical Papuan race is in many respects the very opposite of the
Malay, and it has hitherto been very imperfectly described. The colour
of the body is a deep sooty-brown or black, sometimes approaching, but
never quite equalling, the jet-black of some negro races. It varies
in tint, however, more than that of the Malay, and is sometimes a
dusky-brown. The hair is very peculiar, being harsh, dry, and frizzly,
growing in little tufts or curls, which in youth are very short and
compact, but afterwards grow out to a considerable length, forming the
compact frizzled mop which is the Papuans' pride and glory. The face is
adorned with a beard of the same frizzly nature as the hair of the head.
The arms, legs, and breast are also more or less clothed with hair of a
similar nature.
In stature the Papuan decidedly surpasses the Malay, and is perhaps
equal, or even superior, to the average of Europeans. The legs are long
and thin, and the hands and feet larger than in the Malays. The face is
somewhat elongated, the forehead flatfish, the brows very prominent;
the nose is large, rather arched and high, the base thick, the nostrils
broad, with the aperture hidden, owing to the tip of the nose being
elongated; the mouth is large, the lips thick and protuberant. The face
has thus an altogether more European aspect than in the Malay, owing
to the large nose; and the peculiar form of this organ, with the more
prominent brows and the character of the hair on the head, face,
and body, enable us at a glance to distinguish the two races. I have
observed that most of these characteristic features are as distinctly
visible in children of ten or twelve years old as in adults, and the
peculiar form of the nose is always shown in the figures which they
carve for ornaments to their houses, or as charms to wear round their
necks.
The moral characteristics of the Papuan appear to me to separate him as
distinctly from the Malay as do his form and features. He is impulsive
and demonstrative in speech and action. His emotions and passions
express themselves in shouts and laughter, in yells and frantic
leapings. Women and children take their share in every discussion, and
seem little alarmed at the sight of strangers and Europeans.
Of the intellect of this race it is very difficult to judge, but I
am inclined to rate it somewhat higher than that of the Malays,
notwithstanding the fact that the Papuans have never yet made any
advance towards civilization. It must be remembered, however, that for
centuries the Malays have been influenced by Hindoo, Chinese, and Arabic
immigration, whereas the Papuan race has only been subjected to the very
partial and local influence of Malay traders. The Papuan has much more
vital energy, which would certainly greatly assist his intellectual
development. Papuan slaves show no inferiority of intellect, compared
with Malays, but rather the contrary; and in the Moluccas they are
often promoted to places of considerable trust. The Papuan has a greater
feeling for art than the Malay. He decorates his canoe, his house, and
almost every domestic utensil with elaborate carving, a habit which is
rarely found among tribes of the Malay race.
In the affections and moral sentiments, on the other hand, the Papuans
seem very deficient. In the treatment of their children they are often
violent and cruel; whereas the Malays are almost invariably kind and
gentle, hardly ever interfering at all with their children's pursuits
and amusements, and giving them perfect liberty at whatever age they
wish to claim it. But these very peaceful relations between parents
and children are no doubt, in a great measure, due to the listless and
apathetic character of the race, which never leads the younger members
into serious opposition to the elders; while the harsher discipline of
the Papuans may be chiefly due to that greater vigour and energy of
mind which always, sooner or later, leads to the rebellion of the
weaker against the stronger,--the people against their rulers, the slave
against his master, or the child against its parent.
It appears, therefore, that, whether we consider their physical
conformation, their moral characteristics, or their intellectual
capacities, the Malay and Papuan races offer remarkable differences
and striking contrasts. The Malay is of short stature, brown-skinned,
straight-haired, beardless, and smooth-bodied. The Papuan is taller, is
black-skinned, frizzly-haired, bearded, and hairy-bodied. The former
is broad-faced, has a small nose, and flat eyebrows; the latter is
long-faced, has a large and prominent nose, and projecting eyebrows. The
Malay is bashful, cold, undemonstrative, and quiet; the Papuan is bold,
impetuous, excitable, and noisy. The former is grave and seldom laughs;
the latter is joyous and laughter-loving,--the one conceals his
emotions, the other displays them.
Having thus described in some detail, the great physical, intellectual,
and moral differences between the Malays and Papuans, we have to
consider the inhabitants of the numerous islands which do not agree very
closely with either of these races. The islands of Obi, Batchian, and
the three southern peninsulas of Gilolo, possess no true indigenous
population; but the northern peninsula is inhabited by a native race,
the so-called Alfuros of Sahoe and Galela. These people are quite
distinct from the Malays, and almost equally so from the Papuans. They
are tall and well-made, with Papuan features, and curly hair; they are
bearded and hairy-limbed, but quite as light in colour as the Malays.
They are an industrious and enterprising race, cultivating rice and
vegetables, and indefatigable in their search after game, fish, tripang,
pearls, and tortoiseshell.
In the great island of Ceram there is also an indigenous race very
similar to that of Northern Gilolo. Bourn seems to contain two distinct
races,--a shorter, round-faced people, with a Malay physiognomy, who may
probably have come from Celebes by way of the Sula islands; and a taller
bearded race, resembling that of Ceram.
Far south of the Moluccas lies the island of Timor, inhabited by tribes
much nearer to the true Papuan than those of the Moluccas.
The Timorese of the interior are dusky brown or blackish, with bushy
frizzled hair, and the long Papuan nose. They are of medium height,
and rather slender figures. The universal dress is a long cloth twisted
round the waist, the fringed ends of which hang below the knee. The
people are said to be great thieves, and the tribes are always at war
with each other, but they are not very courageous or bloodthirsty. The
custom of "tabu," called here "pomali," is very general, fruit trees,
houses, crop, and property of all kinds being protected from depredation
by this ceremony, the reverence for which is very great. A palm branch
stuck across an open door, showing that the house is tabooed, is a more
effectual guard against robbery than any amount of locks and bars. The
houses in Timor are different from those of most of the other islands;
they seem all roof, the thatch overhanging the low walls and reaching
the ground, except where it is cut away for an entrance. In some parts
of the west end of Timor, and on the little island of Semau, the houses
more resemble those of the Hottentots, being egg-shaped, very small, and
with a door only about three feet high. These are built on the ground,
while those of the eastern districts art, raised a few feet on posts.
In their excitable disposition, loud voices, and fearless demeanour, the
Timorese closely resemble the people of New Guinea.
In the islands west of Timor, as far as Flores and Sandalwood Island, a
very similar race is found, which also extends eastward to Timor-laut,
where the true Papuan race begins to appear. The small islands of
Savu and Rotti, however, to the west of Timor, are very remarkable
in possessing a different and, in some respects, peculiar race. These
people are very handsome, with good features, resembling in many
characteristics the race produced by the mixture of the Hindoo or Arab
with the Malay. They are certainly distinct from the Timorese or Papuan
races, and must be classed in the western rather than the eastern
ethnological division of the Archipelago.
The whole of the great island of New Guinea, the Ke and Aru Islands,
with Mysol, Salwatty, and Waigiou, are inhabited almost exclusively by
the typical Papuans. I found no trace of any other tribes inhabiting the
interior of New Guinea, but the coast people are in some places mixed
with the browner races of the Moluccas. The same Papuan race seems to
extend over the islands east of New Guinea as far as the Fijis.
There remain to be noticed the black woolly-haired races of the
Philippines and the Malay peninsula, the former called "Negritos," and
the latter "Semangs." I have never seen these people myself, but from
the numerous accurate descriptions of them that have been published,
I have had no difficulty in satisfying myself that they have little
affinity or resemblance to the Papuans, with which they have been
hitherto associated. In most important characters they differ more from
the Papuan than they do from the Malay. They are dwarfs in stature, only
averaging four feet six inches to four feet eight inches high, or eight
inches less than the Malays; whereas the Papuans are decidedly taller
than the Malays. The nose is invariably represented as small, flattened,
or turned up at the apex, whereas the most universal character of the
Papuan race is to have the nose prominent and large, with the apex
produced downwards, as it is invariably represented in their own rude
idols. The hair of these dwarfish races agrees with that of the Papuans,
but so it does with that of the negroes of Africa. The Negritos and the
Semangs agree very closely in physical characteristics with each other
and with the Andaman Islanders, while they differ in a marked manner
from every Papuan race.
A careful study of these varied races, comparing them with those of
Eastern Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Australia, has led me to adopt a
comparatively simple view as to their origin and affinities.
If we draw a line (see Physical Map, Vol. 1. p. 14), commencing to
the east of the Philippine Islands, thence along the western coast of
Gilolo, through the island of Bouru, and curving round the west end of
Mores, then bending back by Sandalwood Island to take in Rotti, we
shall divide the Archipelago into two portions, the races of which have
strongly marked distinctive peculiarities. This line will separate the
Malayan and all the Asiatic races, from the Papuans and all that inhabit
the Pacific; and though along the line of junction intermigration and
commixture have taken place, yet the division is on the whole almost as
well defined and strongly contrasted, as is the corresponding zoological
division of the Archipelago, into an Indo-Malayan and Austro-Malayan
region.
I must briefly explain the reasons that have led me to consider this
division of the Oceanic races to be a true and natural one. The Malayan
race, as a whole, undoubtedly very closely resembles the East Asian
populations, from Siam to Mandchouria. I was much struck with this, when
in the island of Bali I saw Chinese traders who had adopted the costume
of that country, and who could then hardly be distinguished from Malays;
and, on the other hand, I have seen natives of Java who, as far as
physiognomy was concerned, would pass very well for Chinese. Then,
again, we have the most typical of the Malayan tribes inhabiting a
portion of the Asiatic continent itself, together with those great
islands which, possessing the same species of large Mammalia with
the adjacent parts of the continent, have in all probability formed a
connected portion of Asia during the human period. The Negritos are, no
doubt, quite a distinct race from the Malay; but yet, as some of them
inhabit a portion of the continent, and others the Andaman Islands
in the Bay of Bengal, they must be considered to have had, in all
probability, an Asiatic rather than a Polynesian origin.
Now, turning to the eastern parts of the Archipelago, I find, by
comparing my own observations with those of the most trustworthy
travellers and missionaries, that a race identical in all its chief
features with the Papuan, is found in all the islands as far east as the
Fijis; beyond this the brown Polynesian race, or some intermediate type,
is spread everywhere over the Pacific. The descriptions of these latter
often agree exactly with the characters of the brown indigenes of Gilolo
and Ceram.
It is to be especially remarked that the brown and the black Polynesian
races closely resemble each other. Their features are almost identical,
so that portraits of a New Zealander or Otaheitan will often serve
accurately to represent a Papuan or Timorese, the darker colour and more
frizzly hair of the latter being the only differences. They are both
tall races. They agree in their love of art and the style of
their decorations. They are energetic, demonstrative, joyous, and
laughter-loving, and in all these particulars they differ widely from
the Malay.
I believe, therefore, that the numerous intermediate forms that occur
among the countless islands of the Pacific, are not merely the result of
a mixture of these races, but are, to some extent, truly intermediate or
transitional; and that the brown and the black, the Papuan, the natives
of Gilolo and Ceram, the Fijian, the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands
and those of New Zealand, are all varying forms of one great Oceanic or
Polynesian race.
It is, however, quite possible, and perhaps probable, that the brown
Polynesians were originally the produce of a mixture of Malays, or
some lighter coloured Mongol race with the dark Papuans; but if so,
the intermingling took place at such a remote epoch, and has been
so assisted by the continued influence of physical conditions and of
natural selection, leading to the preservation of a special type suited
to those conditions, that it has become a fixed and stable race with no
signs of mongrelism, and showing such a decided preponderance of Papuan
character, that it can best be classified as a modification of the
Papuan type. The occurrence of a decided Malay element in the Polynesian
languages, has evidently nothing to do with any such ancient physical
connexion. It is altogether a recent phenomenon, originating in the
roaming habits of the chief Malay tribes; and this is proved by the fact
that we find actual modern words of the Malay and Javanese languages in
use in Polynesia, so little disguised by peculiarities of pronunciation
as to be easily recognisable--not mere Malay roots only to be detected
by the elaborate researches of the philologist, as would certainly have
been the case had their introduction been as remote as the origin of
a very distinct race--a race as different from the Malay in mental and
moral, as it is in physical characters.
As bearing upon this question it is important to point out the harmony
which exists, between the line of separation of the human races of the
Archipelago and that of the animal productions of the same country,
which I have already so fully explained and illustrated. The dividing
lines do not, it is true, exactly agree; but I think it is a remarkable
fact, and something more than a mere coincidence, that they should
traverse the same district and approach each other so closely as they
do. If, however, I am right in my supposition that the region where the
dividing line of the Indo-Malayan and Austro-Malayan regions of zoology
can now be drawn, was formerly occupied by a much wider sea than at
present, and if man existed on the earth at that period, we shall see
good reason why the races inhabiting the Asiatic and Pacific areas
should now meet and partially intermingle in the vicinity of that
dividing line.
It has recently been maintained by Professor Huxley, that the Papuans
are more closely allied to the negroes of Africa than to any other race.
The resemblance both in physical and mental characteristics had often
struck myself, but the difficulties in the way of accepting it as
probable or possible, have hitherto prevented me front giving full
weight to those resemblances. Geographical, zoological, and ethnological
considerations render it almost certain, that if these two races ever
had a common origin, it could only have been at a period far more remote
than any which has yet been assigned to the antiquity of the human race.
And even if their lenity could be proved, it would in no way affect my
argument for the close affinity of the Papuan and Polynesian races, and
the radical distinctness of both from the Malay.
Polynesia is pre-eminently an area of subsidence, and its great
widespread groups of coral-reefs mark out the position of former
continents and islands. The rich and varied, yet strangely isolated
productions of Australia and New Guinea, also indicate an extensive
continent where such specialized forms were developed. The races of
men now inhabiting these countries are, therefore, most probably the
descendants of the races which inhabited these continents and islands.
This is the most simple and natural supposition to make. And if we find
any signs of direct affinity between the inhabitants of any other part
of the world and those of Polynesia, it by no means follows that the
latter were derived from the former. For as, when a Pacific continent
existed, the whole geography of the earth's surface would probably be
very different from what it now is, the present continents may not then
have risen above the ocean, and, when they were formed at a subsequent
epoch, may have derived some of their inhabitants from the Polynesian
area itself. It is undoubtedly true that there are proofs of extensive
migrations among the Pacific islands, which have led to community of
language from the sandwich group to New Zealand; but there are no proofs
whatever of recent migration from any surrounding country to Polynesia,
since there is no people to be found elsewhere sufficiently resembling
the Polynesian race in their chief physical and mental characteristics.
If the past history of these varied races is obscure and uncertain,
the future is no less so. The true Polynesians, inhabiting the farthest
isles of the Pacific, are no doubt doomed to an early extinction.
But the more numerous Malay race seems well adapted to survive as the
cultivator of the soil, even when his country and government have passed
into the hands of Europeans. If the tide of colonization should be
turned to New Guinea, there can be little doubt of the early extinction
of the Papuan race. A warlike and energetic people, who will not submit
to national slavery or to domestic servitude, must disappear before the
white man as surely as do the wolf and the tiger.
I have now concluded my task. I have given, in more or less detail,
a sketch of my eight years' wanderings among the largest and the most
luxuriant islands which adorn our earth's surface. I have endeavoured to
convey my impressions of their scenery, their vegetation, their animal
productions, and their human inhabitants. I have dwelt at some length on
the varied and interesting problems they offer to the student of nature.
Before bidding my reader farewell, I wish to make a few observations
on a subject of yet higher interest and deeper importance, which the
contemplation of savage life has suggested, and on which I believe that
the civilized can learn something from the savage man.
We most of us believe that we, the higher races have progressed and
are progressing. If so, there must be some state of perfection, some
ultimate goal, which we may never reach, but to which all true progress
must bring nearer. What is this ideally perfect social state towards
which mankind ever has been, and still is tending? Our best thinkers
maintain, that it is a state of individual freedom and self-government,
rendered possible by the equal development and just balance of the
intellectual, moral, and physical parts of our nature,--a state in which
we shall each be so perfectly fitted for a social existence, by knowing
what is right, and at the same time feeling an irresistible impulse to
do what we know to be right., that all laws and all punishments shall
be unnecessary. In such a state every man would have a sufficiently
well-balanced intellectual organization, to understand the moral law in
all its details, and would require no other motive but the free impulses
of his own nature to obey that law.
Now it is very remarkable, that among people in a very low stage of
civilization, we find some approach to such a perfect social state. I
have lived with communities of savages in South America and in the East,
who have no laws or law courts but the public opinion of the village
freely expressed. Each man scrupulously respects the rights of his
fellow, and any infraction of those rights rarely or never takes place.
In such a community, all are nearly equal. There are cone of those wide
distinctions, of education and ignorance, wealth and poverty, master
and servant, which are the product of our civilization; there is none of
that wide-spread division of labour, which, while it increases
wealth, products also conflicting interests; there is not that severe
competition and struggle for existence, or for wealth, which the dense
population of civilized countries inevitably creates. All incitements to
great crimes are thus wanting, and petty ones are repressed, partly by
the influence of public opinion, but chiefly by that natural sense of
justice and of his neighbour's right, which seems to be, in some degree,
inherent in every race of man.
Now, although we have progressed vastly beyond the savage state in
intellectual achievements, we have not advanced equally in morals. It
is true that among those classes who have no wants that cannot be easily
supplied, and among whom public opinion has great influence; the rights
of others are fully respected. It is true, also, that we have vastly
extended the sphere of those rights, and include within them all the
brotherhood of man. But it is not too much to say, that the mass of our
populations have not at all advanced beyond the savage code of morals,
and have in many cases sunk below it. A deficient morality is the
great blot of modern civilization, and the greatest hindrance to true
progress.
During the last century, and especially in the last thirty years, our
intellectual and material advancement has been too quickly achieved for
us to reap the full benefit of it. Our mastery over the forces of mature
has led to a rapid growth of population, and a vast accumulation of
wealth; but these have brought with them such au amount of poverty and
crime, and have fostered the growth of so much sordid feeling and so
many fierce passions, that it may well be questioned, whether the mental
and moral status of our population has not on the average been lowered,
and whether the evil has not overbalanced the good. Compared with our
wondrous progress in physical science and its practical applications,
our system of government, of administering justice, of national
education, and our whole social and moral organization, remains in a
state of barbarism. [See note next page.] And if we continue to devote
our chief energies to the utilizing of our knowledge the laws of nature
with the view of still further extending our commerce and our wealth,
the evils which necessarily accompany these when too eagerly pursued,
may increase to such gigantic dimensions as to be beyond our power to
alleviate.
We should now clearly recognise the fact, that the wealth and knowledge
and culture of the few do not constitute civilization, and do not of
themselves advance us towards the "perfect social state." Our vast
manufacturing system, our gigantic commerce, our crowded towns and
cities, support and continually renew a mass of human misery and
crime absolutely greater than has ever existed before. They create and
maintain in life-long labour an ever-increasing army, whose lot is the
more hard to bear, by contrast with the pleasures, the comforts, and the
luxury which they see everywhere around them, but which they can never
hope to enjoy; and who, in this respect, are worse off than the savage
in the midst of his tribe.
This is not a result to boast of, or to be satisfied with; and,
until there is a more general recognition of this failure of our
civilization--resulting mainly from our neglect to train and develop
more thoroughly the sympathetic feelings and moral faculties of
our nature, and to allow them a larger share of influence in our
legislation, our commerce, and our whole social organization--we shall
never, as regards the whole community, attain to any real or important
superiority over the better class of savages.
This is the lesson I have been taught by my observations of uncivilized
man. I now bid my readers--Farewell!
NOTE.
THOSE who believe that our social condition approaches perfection, will
think the above word harsh and exaggerated, but it seems to me the only
word that can be truly applied to us. We are the richest country in the
world, and yet cue-twentieth of our population are parish paupers, and
one-thirtieth known criminals. Add to these, the criminals who escape
detection; and the poor who live mainly on private charity, (which,
according to Dr. Hawkesley, expends seven millions sterling annually
is London alone,) and we may be sure that more than ONE-TENTH of our
population are actually Paupers and Criminals. Both these classes we
keep idle or at unproductive labour, and each criminal costs us annually
in our prisons more than the wages of an honest agricultural labourer.
We allow over a hundred thousand persons known to have no means
of subsistence but by crime, to remain at large and prey upon the
community, and many thousand children to grow up before our eyes in
ignorance and vice, to supply trained criminals for the next generation.
This, in a country which boasts of its rapid increase in wealth, of its
enormous commerce and gigantic manufactures, of its mechanical skill
and scientific knowledge, of its high civilization and its pure
Christianity,--I can but term a state of social barbarism. We also boast
of our love of justice, and that the law protects rich and poor alike,
yet we retain money fines as a punishment, and make the very first
steps to obtain justice a matter of expense--in both cases a barbarous
injustice, or denial of justice to the poor. Again, our laws render it
possible, that, by mere neglect of a legal form, and contrary to his own
wish and intention, a man's property may all go to a stranger, and his
own children be left destitute. Such cases have happened through the
operation of the laws of inheritance of landed property; and that such
unnatural injustice is possible among us, shows that we are in a state
of social barbarism. One more example to justify my use of the term, and
I have done. We permit absolute possession of the soil of our country,
with no legal rights of existence on the soil, to the vast majority
who do not possess it. A great landholder may legally convert his whole
property into a forest or a hunting-ground, and expel every human being
who has hitherto lived upon it. In a thickly-populated country like
England, where every acre has its owner and its occupier, this is a
power of legally destroying his fellow-creatures; and that such a
power should exist, and be exercised by individuals, in however small a
degree, indicates that, as regards true social science, we are still in
a state of barbarism.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Malay Archipelago, by Alfred Russell Wallace