The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1870-12-07

One of the most interesting new h
hooks of the day is 'sThe Origin of i
Civilization and the Primitive Condi- |
ton of Man." by Sir John Lubbock $
ID. Appleton & Coy The author is a !
distinguished member of Parliament,
Vice-President of the English Ethno-
logical Society, and the author of ''Pre-
historic Times,n and other valuable
works. His object in the present vol
ume is to describe the social and men
tai condition of savages, their art, their
systems of marriage and OF relation
ship, their religions, language, moral
character and laws. He has found, In
studying the lower races OF men as
they now exist Oh the globe, that they !
| illustrate in many ways, though not III
all, the condition and habits of own
ancestors in period long gone by. and
also explain many customs Of civilized
men which evidently have no relation
to present circumstances, and even
some ideas which are rooted IN our
minds as fossils are imbedded i'll the
soil.
But though our information with re-
ference to the social and molal condl-
ton of the lower races of man is very
considerable, it is certainly very lar
from being satisfactory either in extent
or accuracy. Travellers naturally find
it far easier to describe the houses,
boats, food, dress, weapons and nipple,
: ments of savages than to understand
+. their thoughts and feelings. The whole
mental condition of q savage is so dit-
' ferent from ours that it is often very
o difficult to follow what is passing IN ms
!, mind, or to understand the motives by
4 which he is Influenced. Many things
appear natural and almost self-eyldeh,
. TO him which produce very dltferen'
l. immersion on us. "What" said ne
GRO to Burton, ':am l to starve Wlilit
y nv sister has children whom she cal
n sell ?" ,:,-
u Again. the mind of the savage, Tx
that of the child, is easily fat'Sied, am
lie he will often give random answers Il
Mt snare himself the trouble of thong ht.,
=, MANY races. indeed, seem to be ilttl
a. superior to beasts in intelligence.
a the interior of Borneo there are trioe
ed who live absolutely in state "i ia
ts. trre. They neither cultivate tn
~ Ground nor live in huts; neither ca
90 rice por salt. and do not associate VIII
each other. but rove about the wooc
by like wild beasts; the sexes meet III I'll
he Jungle, or the man carries away W.
:, man from her abode. When the chi
a dren are old enough to shift for then
he selves. they generally separate, neith
re- one afterwards thinking of the othe
ful at night they sleep under some larE
I'D tree. the branches of which hang lo'
III" On these they tasten the children In
10, kind Of swing. Around the tree TIL
make a fire to keep off the wild beas
Z. and snakes; they cover themseiv
With n niece of bark, and in this al
~. they wrap their children; 1t is soit a
ely warm, but will not keep out the IA
yer; The poor creatures are looked up
be and treated by the other borheahs
wild beasts.
Lichtenstein thus describes Bus
ors' man: zone of our present guests, F"
and appeared abont fifty years OF ago. "
con- had gray hair aud a brist'y pea
Ito whose forehead, nose, cheeks ana c
we're all smeared over with pi;
: the grease, having ouly a white Gil
ame, round the eye washed clean with
nth tears occasioned by smoking-this
had the true physiognomy OF the sf
=, blue ape of Caffraria. What ewes
Fieu' more verify to such comparison
oned the vivacity of his eyes, and the III
, ma bili.y of his eyebrows, which he VIZ
,eon ed M and down with every chang
countenauce. Even his nostrlis
Wv the corners of his mouth, nay, his
min ears. moved involuntarily, expires
q few his hasty transitions from eager az
with TO watchful distrust. There was
- on the contrary, a single feature IL
'0S' couutenance flat evinced cohsc'
ness of mental powers, or any
when that denoted emotions of the mihu
,rp,l milder species than what belong
man in his mere animal nature. '
a niece of meat was given hliii'
;, that half rising he stretched ont a dlst
I'd the full arm to take it, he snatched IL
", and stuck it immediately lnt'
o,;o fire, peering around with his little
ono'. ewes as if fearing lest some one 81
as left take it away again. All this was
S exis- with such looks and gestures tina
VOW one must have been ready to swe
had taken the example OF them e
ly from an ape"
cores One very remarkable charactf
rope of savage life is the existence OF G. c.
Nihs ideas and customs, apparently Ii
him a tic and unreasonable, which are
wentS,, most universal aud prevail
arrived races the most distant and distlnc
time, each other. One of these slngni
though lions is that which forbids Won
nfe'- sneak to her son -in-law- Sir
elr ac- Franklin, in his "Journey to the
which of the Polar Sea-" tells us that
lused a the indians of the far north 1t Il
town TO sidered extremely improper for
nj start ther-in-la to speak or even Il
Ithst9 9i her daughters husband; and WI
bic, bnt has communication to make &c
st week, is the etiquette that she sho"
lrned TO her back upon him aud adore
ket fnil only through the medium OF
ted only person. Further south amo
itsef a Omahas, neither the father-in-
six car mother-in-law will hold any
Hebron communication with their SON
also re- nor will he on any occasion, OF
lceess;I any consideration, converse
the helds ately with them, although no
sing the EXISTS between them. They Y
he P pun on any account mention each
ired dia- names in company, nor look
orty car others faces. Any conversatl
ne queen passes between them is co
ear It. through the medium OF some OF
daily IN son. The same custom ?
inc in at A., N,,.tb American Inli