AFFECTION— CHILDISHNESS  s^i

dividual  indicates  that  of  the  race, — that  the  best  test  of
the  affinities  of  a  species  are  the  stages  through  which  it
passes.  So  also  it  is  in  the  case  of  man  ;  the  life  of  each
individual  is  an  epitome  of  the  history  of  the  race,  and
the  gradual  development  of  the  child  illustrates  that  of
the  species.  Hence  the  importance  of  the  similarity
between  savages  and  children.  Savages,  like  children,  ;
have  no  steadiness  of  purpose.  Speaking  of  the  Dogrib
Indians,  we  found,  says  Richardson,^  "by  experience,
that  however  high  the  reward  they  expected  to  receive
on  reaching  their  destination,  they  could  not  be  depended
on  to  carry  letters.  A  slight  difficulty,  the  prospect  of  a
banquet  on  venison,  or  a  sudden  impulse  to  visit  some
friend,  were  sufficient  to  turn  them  aside  for  an  in-
definite length  of  time."  Even  among  the  comparatively
civilized  South  Sea  Islanders  this  childishness  was  very
apparent.  "  Their  tears  indeed,'^  like  those  of  children,
were  always  ready  to  express  any  passion  that  was  strongly
excited,  and  like  those  of  children  they  also  appear  to  be
forgotten  as  soon  as  shed."  D'Urville  also  mentions
that  Tai-wanga,  a  New  Zealand  chief,  cried  like  a  child
because  the  sailors  spoilt  his  favourite  cloak  by  powdering
it  with  flour.^  "  It  is  not,"  says  Cook,  "  indeed  strange
that  the  sorrows  of  these  artless  people  should  be  transient,
any  more  than  that  their  passions  should  be  suddenly
and  strongly  expressed  ;  what  they  feel  they  have  never
been  taught  either  to  disguise  or  suppress  ;  and  having  ,
no  habits  of  thinking  which  perpetually  recall  the  past  ■
and  anticipate  the  future,  they  are  affected  by  all  the
changes  of  the  passing  hour,  and  reflect  the  colour  of  the
time,  however  frequently  it  may  vary  ;  they  have  no
project  which  is  to  be  pursued  from  day  to  day,  the
subject  of  unremitted  anxiety  and  soHcitude,  that  first
rushes  into  the  mind  when  they  awake  in  the  morning,
and  is  last  dismissed  when  they  sleep  at  night.     Yet  if

^  Arctic  Expedition,  vol.  ii.  p.  23.
