Let us now suppose the child come to man's estate in the condition of
a wandering savage, dependent for his food upon what he can pick up or
catch, after the fashion of the Australian aborigines. It is plain that
the place of mother, as the supplier of vital capital, is now taken
by the fruits, seeds, and roots of plants and by various kinds of
animals....
The savage, like the child, borrows the capital he needs, and, at any
rate, intentionally, does nothing towards repayment; it would plainly be
an improper use of the word "produce" to say that his labour in hunting
for the roots, or the fruits, or the eggs, or the grubs and snakes,
which he finds and eats, "produces" or contributes to "produce" them.
The same thing is true of more advanced tribes, who are still merely
hunters, such as the Esquimaux. They may expend more labour and skill;
but it is spent in destruction.