(See p. 26) The following remarks by Mr. H. B. Cotterill on the
natives around Lake Nyassa, among whom he lived at a time, 1876-8,
when the region was almost unvisited, may be of interest. "In
regard of merely 'animal' development and well-being, that is in
the delicate perfection of bodily faculties (perceptive), the
African savage is as a rule incomparably superior to us. One feels
like a child, utterly dependent on them, when travelling or hunting
with them. It is true that many may be found (especially amongst
the weaker tribes that have been slave-hunted or driven into barren
corners) who are half-starved and wizened, but as a rule they are
splendid animals. In _character_ there is a great want of that
strength which in the educated civilised man is secured by the
roots striking out into the Past and Future--and in spite of their
immense perceptive superiority they feel and acknowledge the
superior force of character in the white man. They are the very
converse of the Stoic self-sufficient sage--like children in their
'admiration' and worship of the Unknown. Hence their absolute want
of _Conceit_, though they possess self-command and dignity. They
are, to those they love and respect, faithful and devoted--their
faithfulness and truthfulness are dictated by no 'categorical
imperative,' but by personal affection. Towards an enemy they can
be, without any conscientious scruples, treacherous and inhumanly
cruel. I should say that there is scarcely any possible idea that
is so foreign to the savage African mind as that of general
philanthropy or enemy-love."
"In _endurance_ the African savage beats us hollow (except trained
athletes). On one occasion my men rowed my boat with 10 foot oars
against the wind in a choppy sea for _25 hours at one go_, across
Kuwirwe Bay, about 60 miles. They never once stopped or left their
seats--just handed round a handful of rice now and then. I was at
the helm all the time--and had enough of it!... They carry 80 lbs.
on their heads for 10 hours through swamps and jungles. Four of my
men carried a sick man weighing 14 stones in a hammock for 200
miles, right across the dreaded Malikata Swamp. But for _sudden_
emergencies, squalls, etc., they are nowhere."
(See p. 27) "So lovely a scene made easily credible the suggestion,
otherwise highly probable, that the Golden Age was no mere fancy of
the poets, but a reminiscence of the facts of social life in its
primitive organisation of village and house-communities." (J. S.
Stuart-Glennie's _Europe and Asia_, ch. i. Servia.)
(See p. 72) "It was only on the up-break of the primitive
socialisms that the passionate desire of, and therefore belief in,
individual Immortality arose. With an intense feeling, not of an
independent individual life, but of a dependent common life, there
is no passionate desire of, though there may be more or less of
belief in, a continuance after death of individual existence."
(_Ibid_, p. 161.)
Following is an extract from a letter from my friend Havelock
Ellis, which he kindly allows me to reprint. The passage is
interesting as indicating _one_ cause, at any rate, of the failure
of the modern civilisations. "Your remark that you are
re-publishing _Civilisation: its Cause and Cure_ has led me to read
it once again, and I see how well adapted it is for reissue just
now when there is so widespread a discontent with 'civilisation.' I
do not see any reason for changing the essay, though, no doubt,
much might be added to supplement it. What has, however, struck me
is that you leave out of account the _reason_ for the greater
health, vigour, and high spirit of savages (when such conditions
exist), and that is _the more stringent natural_ selection among
savages owing to the greater hardness of their life. You doubtless
know ch. xvii of Westermarck's _Moral Ideas_, where he shows how
widespread among savages (when they have got past the first crude
primitive stage), and in the ancient civilisations, was the
practice of infanticide applied to inferior babies and the habit of
allowing sick persons to die. That was evidently the secret of the
natural superiority of the savage and of the men of the old
civilisation, for the Greeks and Romans were very stringent in this
matter. The flabbiness of the civilised and the prevalence of
doctors and hygienists, which you make fun of, is due to the modern
tenderness for human life which is afraid to kill off even the most
worthless specimens and so lowers the whole level of 'civilised'
humanity. Introduce a New Hardness in this matter and we should
return to the high level of savagery, while the doctors would
disappear as if by magic. I don't myself believe we _can_ introduce
this hardness; and that is why I attach so much importance to
_intelligent_ eugenics, working through birth-control, as the only
_now possible_ way of getting towards that high natural level you
aim at."--HAVELOCK ELLIS (1920).