"(The Eskimos) have an original means for obviating the inconveniences
arising from a personal accumulation of wealth--which would soon destroy
their tribal unity. When a man has grown rich he convokes the folk of
his clan to a great festival, and after much eating, distributes among
them all his fortune. On the Yukon river Dall saw an Aleoute family
distributing in this way ten guns, ten full fur dresses, two hundred
strings of beads, numerous blankets, ten wolf furs, two hundred beavers
and five hundred zibellines. After that they took off their festival
dresses, and putting on old ragged furs, addressed a few words to their
kinsfolk, saying that, though they are now poorer than any one of them,
they have won their friendship.[50] Like distributions of wealth appear
to be a regular habit with the Eskimos, and to take place at a certain
season, after an exhibition of all that has been obtained during the
year. In my (Kropotkin) opinion, these distributions reveal a very old
institution, contemporaneous with the first apparition of personal
wealth; they must have been a means for re-establishing equality among
the members of the clan, after it had been disturbed by the enrichment
of the few. The periodical redistribution of land and the periodical
abandonment of all debts, which took place in historical times with so
many different races (Semites, Aryans, etc.), must have been a survival
of that old custom."
+The Samoyedes+
From _Icebound on the Kolguev_, p. 384, by A. Trevor-Battye.
(Constable, 1895.)
"Family affection among the Samoyeds is very strongly developed. It
would be impossible to find greater evidence of this among any people.
Another extremely marked character among them is family order. All
everyday offices and occupations are carried out by a well-defined
method and subdivision of labour. I never saw a single instance of
anything approaching a family quarrel.... They are very handy sailors,
patient and successful hunters and fishermen, and admirable workmen with
such tools as they understand. No man can repair a damaged boat more
quickly than a Samoyed, and from the roughest drift-wood (such as an
English carpenter would throw on the fire), they fashion bows, arrows,
sleighs, spoons, drinking-cups, bullet-moulds, and a variety of articles
of everyday use."
+The Belle of Kolguev+
From _Icebound on the Kolguev_, p. 130.
"Her sister-in-law Ustynia was really, if you accept the type, a pretty
girl.... Her eyes were bright, and a pleasant smile played about her
lips. When she laughed--and these people are always laughing--she
betrayed the most perfectly beautiful teeth it is possible to imagine.
Indeed all these people, even old Uano, had most wonderful teeth--white,
regular and perfectly shaped. On her fingers Ustynia wore heavy rings of
white and yellow metal, and her hands, like those of all Samoyeds, were
faultless in shape and extraordinarily supple. If you add to this a
dress reaching to the knees, formed of young reindeer skin, worked in
many stripes of white and brown, the skirt banded with scarlet cloth and
dogskin fur, and foot and leg coverings of soft patterned skin reaching
above the knee--there you have Ustynia, the belle of Kolguev."
+The Todas+
Quoted from _The Todas_, by W. H. Rivers (1906).
These people live on a very lofty and isolated plateau of the Nilgiri
Hills in South India; and are especially interesting to us because till
1812 "they were absolutely unknown to Europeans," and developed their
own customs untouched by Western civilisation. "They are a purely
pastoral people, limiting their activities almost entirely to the care
of their buffaloes and to the complicated ritual which has grown up in
association with these animals." (p. 6) ... They have a completely
organised and definite system of polyandry. When a woman marries a man,
it is understood that she becomes the wife of his brothers at the same
time. When a boy is married to a girl, not only are his brothers usually
regarded as also the husbands of the girl, but any brother born later
will similarly be regarded as sharing his older brother's rights." (p.
515.)
"The men are strong and very agile; the agility being most in evidence
when they have to catch their infuriated buffaloes at the funeral
ceremonies. They stand fatigue well, and often travel great
distances.... In going from one part of the hills to another a Toda
always travels as nearly as possible in a straight line, ignoring
altogether the influence of gravity, and mounting the steepest hills
with no apparent effort. In all my work with the men it seemed to me
they were extremely intelligent. They grasped readily the points of any
enquiry on which I entered, and often showed a marked appreciation of
complicated questions.... I can only record my impression, after several
months' intercourse with the Todas, that they were just as intelligent
as one would have found any average body of educated Europeans.... The
characteristic note in their demeanour is their absolute belief in their
own superiority over the surrounding races. They are grave and
dignified, and yet thoroughly cheerful and well-disposed towards all."
(pp. 18-23.)
+Nudity+
THE PELEW ISLANDS: from J. G. Wood (vol. _America_, p. 447). _See_
Captain H. Wilson, who was wrecked there in 1783.
"The inhabitants are of a dark copper colour, well-made, tall, and
remarkable for their stately gait. They employ the tattoo in rather a
curious manner, pricking the patterns thickly on their legs from the
ankles to a few inches above the knees, so that they look as if their
legs were darker in colour than the rest of their bodies. They are
cleanly in their habits, bathing frequently and rubbing themselves with
coco-nut oil, so as to give a soft and glossy appearance to the skin....
The men wear no clothing, not even the king himself having the least
vestige of raiment, the tattoo being supposed to answer the purposes of
dress.... In spite, however, of the absence of dress, the deportment of
the sexes towards each other is perfectly modest. For example, the men
and women will not bathe at the same spot, nor even go near a bathing
place of the opposite sex unless it be deserted."
+Natives of the Amazon Region+
Alfred Russell Wallace, in his _Travels on the Amazon_ (1853), speaks
most warmly about the aborigines of that district--both as to their
grace of form, their quickness of hand, and their goodnatured
inoffensive disposition. He says (chap. xvii): "Their figures are
generally superb; and I have never felt so much pleasure in gazing at
the finest statue as at these living illustrations of the human form."
In his _My Life_, vol. ii, p. 288, he says: "Their whole aspect and
manner were different (from the semi-civilised tribes); they walked with
the free step of the independent forest-dweller ... original and
self-sustaining as the wild animals of the forest ... living their own
lives in their own way, as they had done for countless generations
before America was discovered. The true denizen of the Amazonian
forests, like the forest itself, is unique and not to be forgotten."
From _The Putumayo, or Devil's Paradise_. By W. E. Hardenburg
(1912).
"The Huitotos are a well-formed race, and although small, are stout and
strong, with a broad chest and a prominent bust; but their limbs,
especially the lower, are but little developed.... That repugnant sight,
a protruding abdomen, so common among the 'whites' and half-breeds on
the Amazon, is very rare among these aborigines.... Notwithstanding some
defects it is not rare to find among these women many who are really
beautiful--so magnificent are their figures, and so free and graceful
their movements." (p. 152).
"Unions are considered binding among the Huitotos, and it is very rarely
that serious disagreements arise between husband and wife. The women
are naturally chaste, and it was not till the advent of the rubber
collectors that they began to lose this primitive virtue--so generally
met with among people not yet in contact with white men" (p. 154).
[N.B.--These were some of the people so villainously tortured--men,
women and children--for the collection of rubber, by commercial
scoundrels, whose atrocities were exposed by Roger Casement and others.
E.C.]
+Fine Figures and Features of the Dyaks+
Quotations from Beccar's _In the Forests of Borneo_, pp. 325 and
329. (Constable 1904.)
"On the morning of October 19, as previously arranged, Ladja, with eight
other Dyaks, came to the fort duly equipped for the journey. Ladja was a
handsome young man, tall like most of his companions, slender, and
beautifully made. His profile was nearly regular, the nose perfectly
straight, but the cheek bones rather too prominent and the chin rather
pointed. His complexion was very light." ... "Our Arno boatmen in
Florence always pole where the river is shallow, and use their poles
exactly as the Dyaks do theirs, only they certainly cannot compare with
the latter in the length of the journeys thus performed with their light
canoes. Ours literally flew over the water handled with incomparable
dexterity by my six young savages. There is to my mind no lighter and
more pleasant mode of progression, and certainly no kind of work
displays so well the elegant movements and perfect proportions of these
young Dyaks, who, practically unencumbered with clothing, are truly
splendid specimens of humanity."
From Ida Pfeiffer's book _Meine zweite Weltreise_, vol. i, p. 116.
(Vienna, 1856.)
"I must confess that I would gladly have journeyed longer among the free
Dayaks. I found them wonderfully honourable, gentle and modest; indeed
in these respects I put them above any people that I have as yet become
acquainted with. I could leave all my things about, and go away for
hours together, and never was the least thing missing. They begged me
occasionally for many an object they saw, but immediately gave way when
I explained that I needed it myself. They were never over-pressing or
tiresome. It will be said, in denial of this, that the beheading of
corpses and preservation of skulls does not look exactly like
gentleness; but it must be remembered that this sad custom is chiefly
the result of rude and ignorant superstition. I stick to my opinion, and
as a further proof, would cite their domestic and thoroughly patriarchal
mode of life, their morals and manners, the love that they have for
their children, and the respect their children show to them."
+A Rodiya Boy+
Ernst Haeckel in his _Visit to Ceylon_, describes the devotion to him of
his Rodiya serving-boy at Belligam near Galle. The keeper of the
rest-house there was an old man whom Haeckel, from his likeness to a
well-known head, called by the name of Socrates. And Haeckel continues:
"It really seemed as though I should be pursued by the familiar aspects
of classical antiquity from the first moment of my arrival at my idyllic
home. For as Socrates led me up the steps of the open central hall of
the rest-house, I saw before me, with uplifted arms in an attitude of
prayer, a beautiful naked brown figure, which could be nothing else than
the famous statue of the 'Youth Adoring.' How surprised I was when the
graceful bronze statue suddenly came to life, and dropping his arms fell
on his knees, and after raising his black eyes imploringly to mine bowed
his handsome face so low at my feet that his long black hair fell on the
floor! Socrates informed me that this boy was a Pariah, a member of the
lowest caste, the Rodiyas, who had lost his parents at an early age. He
was told off to my exclusive service, and in answer to the question what
I was to call my new body-servant, the old man informed me that his name
was Gamameda. Of course I immediately thought of Ganymede, for the
favorite of Jove himself could not have been more finely made, or have
had limbs more beautifully proportioned and moulded.
"Among the many beautiful figures which move in the foreground of my
memories of the Paradise of Ceylon, Ganymede remains one of my dearest
favorites. Not only did he fulfil his duties with the greatest attention
and conscientiousness, but he developed a personal attachment and
devotion to me which touched me deeply. The poor boy, as a miserable
outcast of the Rodiya caste, had been from his birth the object of the
deepest contempt of his fellow-men, and subjected to every sort of
brutality and ill-treatment. He was evidently as much surprised as
delighted to find me willing to be kind to him from the first.... I owe
many beautiful and valuable contributions to my museum to Ganymede's
unfailing zeal and dexterity. With the keen eye, the neat hand, and the
supple agility of the Cinghalese youth, he could catch a fluttering moth
or a gliding fish with equal promptitude; and his nimbleness was really
amazing when, out hunting, he climbed the tall trees like a cat, or
scrambled through the densest jungle to recover the prize I had killed."
(p. 200.)
+Second Sight+
Native "diviners" in South Africa, from _The Spiritualism of the
Zulu_, by C. H. Bull, of Durban.
"Many years ago I was riding transport between Durban and the Umzimkulu.
I checked my loads at Durban and found them correct with the waybill,
but when I reached my destination I discovered that I was one case
short, for which I had to pay. On my return to my farm, I mentioned the
fact to my brother, who proposed, more in the spirit of fun than
anything else, that we should visit a diviner, and endeavour to discover
what had become of it. I consented, and together we repaired to a native
diviner. He immediately informed us of the object of our visit,
although, so far as I can tell, it was morally impossible for him to
have known it through any ordinary channels, and then he went on
speaking as though in a dream: 'I see a waggon loaded with cases
climbing up the Umgwababa Hill; there has been a lot of rain and the
roads are slippery. Half way up the hill the rains have washed a gully;
into this the waggon lurches, displacing a small case, which falls to
the ground, but the driver, who is busy urging his team up the hill,
does not notice it. Now the waggon has passed out of sight, but I see a
Kaffir coming up the hill. When he reaches the spot where the case is
lying, he stops for a few moments to examine it, and then proceeds to
the top of the hill, where he stands for a few moments shading his eyes
with his hand, as though looking beyond. Now he returns to where the
case is lying, and lifting it up, crosses the road, and pushing his way
through some tall tambootie grass, he reaches a large indonie tree;
under the tree there is a stunted clump of wild bananas. He places the
case in the centre of the clump, and after concealing it with some of
the dry leaves, he goes on his way. The case is still there.'
"Though wholly incredulous of the truth of the vision, I sent two 'boys'
to the spot indicated, and they returned bringing with them the lost
case, having found it exactly where the diviner said that he saw it."
+The Zulus+
THE ZULUS: Quotations from General Sir W. Butler's _Naboth's
Vineyard_, p. 263 (given in Blyden's _African Life and Customs_, p.
43).
"In all the sad history of South Africa few things are sadder than the
Zulu question. Where the Zulu came (in those days), no lock or key were
necessary. No man who knew the Zulu--not even the white colonist, whose
rage was largely the result of his being unable to get servile labour
from him--could say that he had not found the Zulu honest, truthful,
faithful; that the white wife and child had not been entirely safe from
insult or harm at the hands of this black man; or that money and
property were not immeasurably more secure in Zulu charge than in that
of Europeans or Asiatics."
From Blyden's _African Life and Customs_, p. 37.
"There are to-day hundreds of so-called civilised Africans who are
coming back to themselves. They have grasped the principles underlying
the European social and economic order and reject them as not equal to
their own as means of making adequate provision for the normal needs of
all members of society both present and future--from birth all through
life to death. They have discovered all the waste places, all the
nakedness of the European system, both by reading and travel. The great
wealth can no longer dazzle them, or conceal from their view the vast
masses of the population living under what they once supposed to be the
ideal system--who are of no earthly use to themselves or to others....
Under the African system of communal property and co-operative effort,
every member of a community has a home and a sufficiency of food and
clothing and other necessaries of life--and for life; and his children
after him have the same advantages. In this system there is no workhouse
and no necessity for such an arrangement."
+Over-government+