The San Francisco call., 1898-12-25
.COMPE NSATI0N
 IF SAVAGERY 1t Has Many Advantages Over Civilization. "A STATE OF TRUE HAPPINESS HEALTH, STRENGTH AND THE JOY OF LIFE ATTEND TT. How the old Spanish Conquerors Ac- counted for Conditions That
 Were Self Evil
A STATE OF TRUE HAPPINESS
HEALTH, STRENGTH AND THE
 JOY OF LIFE ATTEND TT.

The Spanish eonQuerorS admitted the
 fact, but they assigned it to the visible
 protection of devils. Cartier and Drake
 and Raleigh agreed that men lived in
 America as in the Golden Age. Cook
 was perplexed by the felicity of those
 very sinful islanders of the South Sea
 Rousseau built his theory of human rights upon the innocent happiness Of
 primeyal man. and Voltafre wrote a tale, famous in it's day, with this motif
 Our Johnson would have none of 1t, of
 course, and presently the reaction set in. It was proved by deductive argu-
 ment that the savage Is a miserable
 creature-sad, weakly, prey to dis
 ease; in all respects inferior to civilized
 man. There are plenty of people who
 hold this view still, though the wise
 have ceased to rely on deductive argu-
 ments in matters of the sort It is
 comforting for humdrum townsfolk to
 believe that those who dwell, seemingly without care, amid the glories of the tropics are really far worse off than
 themselves. To enyy-though uncon-
 scous-I attribute the ready acceptance and the obstinate survival Of state
 ments which are only true, in fact, of
 a tiny percentage among the savage
 peoples, if at all.
 It is allowed even to proverb that the supreme compensation for misery is health, and so this is denied in the first place. But it may be asserted
 roundly that every disease of an epi- demic character by which sayages are afflicted has been introduced by white
 men. The Hottentots were almost the
 lowest; very few of them remain now.
 In 1874, when they abounded, terrible
 unknown malady assailed them, and
 Governor Goske drew up report upon the subject. It states that the Hotten- tots did not suffer from any particular
 disease until the arrival of Europeans. Many reached a great age. Famine
 lessened their numbers periodically, but 1t was not attended by fever; this is striking testimony to their soundneSs of constitution, for the consequences of
 dearth generally claim more victims than the dearth itself We have de populated whole countries with small pox, measles, scarlet fever, consump- tion, and 1 know not how many plaques, but has it ever been alleged | that the poor savage imparted one to us? The origin of leproSy is mysterious, even if we agree upon the form of dis ease so described, but all the white per sons who have ever taken 1t in India, China and South Africa could be count
 ed in hundreds only, perhaps in scores. Rheumatism is hardly known among the peoples who go naked, affections of the nerves being quite unknown. Even toothache will rarely be heard of, still more rarely seen.
 But the most efficient tests of general health are fine build muscular strength
 and readiness of the flesh to heal under injury. Upon each of these points the evidence is overwhelming in favor of
 savages. There are races of low stat
 ure among them, as throughout the far East, but Rajah Brooke could find
 plenty of his subjects under feet 3 inches in height who would hold their
 own in trial of strength against Eu-
 ropean athletes. Joke, the Kennowit
 warrior who carried Walter Watson in chair seven miles over a jungle path, with one halt of ten minutes, was very little over feet. Watson weighed fully sixteen stone-I knew them both. But most of the savage tribes show a stat
 ure and a chest equal to those of Eu- ropeans, when not superior. Humboldt pronounced the Indians of the Orinoco the finest specimens of the human race
 Of their neighbors on the Amazon Wal lace says: "The development of the chest is such as I believe never exists in the best formed Europeans, exhibit ing splendid series of convex unduIa- tiens, without a hollow in any part of it.' In spite of drink and degradation the physique of the Indians IT the United States is still above the average of whites The Zulu is almost becoming a proyerb for superb development but other kaff1rs equal him, and the biggest group Of men I ever saw were bastard Griquas, belonging to some nomadic families, encountered when I lost my way on the veldt by Campbell Grounds. But the most tremendous creatures in
 my experience are Kroomen. In aver age height they do not equal the Pa nm crfa fc of Nau CS,1ip J,,% x1, breadth of shoulder Is almost a de- formity.
 Power of muscle is not necessarily sign of health, but it demands a note.
 Drake was a cool-headed man and truthful above all, but he wrote that
 the Indians of California are common " so strong of body that that which two or three of our men could hardly bear one of them would take upon his shoulders and without gr1dging carry 1t easily away, up hill and down hill,
 an English mile together" One is ern-
 barrassed by the choice of testimony as
 to the muscular powers of the negro.
 and in truth it is not required, for every
 one has friends somewhere In Africa. I
 have mentioned the astounding feat of the Dyak Joke within my own knowl- edge; the present Rajah Brooke and
 Mrs. McDougall refer to it in their
 books. But other Dyaks saw nothing
 III Ilc dCIiitfeI11cQC. 11uID-
 boldt weighed the loads of ore which
 Indian serfs carried to the surface from a vast depth underground in Mexico
 He himself was tired for the day with one journey, empty-handed. But those Indians brought up 240 to 3S0 pounds or stone every time, and they worked without a pause from dawn to sunset. Humboldt's observations on the absence of dwarfs, hunchbaeks and deformed persons in general among the Indians of America, and their length of life, are to the point. I have no room for details: perhaps the editor will allow me to deal with them another. t.me. Briefly, however. deformities are very rare among all savages, and Humboldt will not admit the easy explanation that children so afflicted die in infancy; but of course he speaks only of the Indians
 he studied. As for length of life, there is plenty of evidence. refer the reader. for instance, to a most interesting re-
 port issued by the Native Department
 of Cape Colony in 1875, summarized by
 Mr. Theal in his history, since I have
 not space to quote 1t.
 But to my mind the clearest proof of vital force is shown in the rapidity and
 ease with which savages in general re- cover from hurts that would be fatal to white men. My attention was drawn
 to this matter In youth, when saw