of his neighbours or the whole community of which he is a member. So also, owing to his want of foresight, the savage would often fail to notice how important it may be to subject one's self to some temporary deprivation or discomfort in order to attain greater happiness in the future. We have noticed above that many savages hardly ever correct their children,1 and this means that one of the chief sources from which the notions of self-regarding duties spring is almost absent among them. But on the other hand it must also be remembered that disinterested antipathies, another cause of such notions, exercise more influence upon the unreflecting than upon the reflecting moral consciousness, and that many magic and religious ideas which at the lower stages of civilisation give rise to duties of a self-regarding character are no longer held by people more advanced in culture. These general statements referring to the nature and origin of self-regarding duties and virtues I shall now illustrate by a short survey of moral ideas concerning some representative modes of self-regarding conduct:industry and rest; temperance, fasting, and abstinence from certain kinds of food and drink; cleanliness and uncleanliness; and ascetic practices generally. Man is naturally inclined to idleness, not because he is averse from muscular activity as such, but because he dislikes the monotony of regular labour and the mental exertion it implies. In general he is induced to work only by some special motive which makes him think the trouble worth his while. Among savages, who have little care for the morrow, who have few comforts of life to provide for, and whose property is often of such a kind as to prevent any great accumulation of it, almost the sole inducement to industry is either necessity or compulsion. Men are lazy or industrious according as the necessaries of life are easy 3 1 Supra, i. 513 sq. 2 Cf. Ferrero, Les formes primitives du travail,' in Revue scientifique, ser, iv. vol. v. 331 $99. 3 Buecher, Die Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft, p. 21 sqq. or difficult to procure, and they prefer being idle if they can compel other persons to work for them as their servants or slaves. Australian natives "can exert themselves exert themselves vigorously when hunting or fishing or fighting or dancing, or at any time when there is a prospect of an immediate reward; but prolonged labour with the object of securing ultimate gain is distasteful to them."1 With reference to the Polynesians Mr. Hale observes that in those islands which are situated nearest the equator, where the heat with little or no aid from human labour calls into existence fruits serving to support human life, the inhabitants are an indolent and listless race; whilst "a severer clime and ruder soil are favourable to industry, foresight, and a hardy temperament. These opposite effects are manifested in the Samoans, Nukahivans, and Tahitians, on the one side, and the Sandwich Islanders and New Zealanders on the other." Mr. Yate likewise contrasts the industry of the Maoris with the proverbial idleness of the Tonga Islanders: the former "are obliged to work, if they would eat," whereas in the luxurious climate of the Friendly Islands, there is scarcely any need of labour, to obtain the necessaries, and even many of the luxuries, of life." The Malays are described as fond of a life of slothful ease, because "persevering toil is unnecessary, or would bring them no additional enjoyments.' The natives of Sumatra, says Marsden, "are careless and improvident of the future, because their wants are few; for though poor 1 Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, i. 29_sq. See also ibid. ii. 248; Collins, English Colony in New South Wales, i. 601; Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 259 sq. Hale, U.S. Exploring Expedition. Vol. VI. Ethnography and Philology, p. 17. See also Williams, Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands, p. 534 (Samoans); Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 130 sq. (Tahitians); Brenchley, Cruise of H.M.S. Curaçoa among the South Sea Islands, p. 58 "4 2 they are not necessitous, nature supplying, with extraordinary facility, whatever she has made requisite for their existence." 1 The Toda of the Neilgherry Hills will not "work one iota more than circumstances compel him to do" and indolence seems to be a characteristic of most peoples of India, though there are exceptions to the rule.* Burckhardt observes that it is not the southern sun, as Montesquieu imagined, but the luxuriance of the southern soil and the abundance of provisions that relax the exertions of the inhabitants and cause apathy :-" By the fertility of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India, which yield their produce almost spontaneously, the people are lulled into indolence; while in neighbouring countries, of a temperature equally warm, as among the mountains of Yemen and Syria, where hard labour is necessary to ensure a good harvest, we find a race as superior in industry to the former, as the inhabitants of Northern Europe are to those of Spain or Italy.' 195 Indolence is a common," though not universal,' trait of the African character. Of the Negroes on the Gold Coast Bosman says that "nothing Tuckey, Expedition to Explore the 7 Baker, Ismailia, p. 56 (Shilluks). Baumann, Usambara, p. 244 (Wapare). Bosman Description of the Coast of Guinea, p. 318 (Negroes of Fida). Andersson, Notes on Travel in South Africa, p. 235 (Ovambo). See also infra p. 272. but the utmost necessity can force them to labour." 1 The Waganda are represented as excessively indolent, in consequence of the ease with which they can obtain all the necessaries of life. Of the Namaquas we are told that "they may be seen basking in the sun for days together, in listless inactivity, frequently almost perishing from thirst or hunger, when with very little exertion they may have it in their power to satisfy the cravings of nature. If urged to work, they have been heard to say: Why should we resemble the worms of the ground?'" 3 Most of the American Indians are said to have a slothful disposition, because they can procure a livelihood with but little labour. But the case is different with the Greenlanders and other Eskimo, who have to struggle hard for their existence.5 We have seen that savages consider it a duty for a married man to support his family," and this in most cases implies that he is under an obligation to do a certain amount of work. We have also seen that the various occupations of life are divided between the sexes according to rules fixed by custom, and this means that absolute idleness is not generally tolerated in either men or women, though the drudgeries of life are often imposed upon the latter. Of some uncivilised peoples we are directly told that they enjoin work as a duty or regard industry as a virtue. The Greenlanders esteem addiction to labour as the chief of virtues and believe that the industrious man 1 Bosman, op. cit. p. 101. 2 Wilson and Felkin, op. cit. i. 225. 3 Andersson, Lake Ngami, p. 335. See also Kolben, Present State of the Cape of Good-Hope, i. 46, 324; Barrow, Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa, i. 152; Fritsch, Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika's, p. 324 (Hottentots). Bridges, Manners and Customs of the Firelanders,' in A Voice for South America, xiii. 203 (Fuegians). Dobrizhoffer, Account of the Abipones, ii. 151; but he praises the Abiponian women for their unwearied industry (ibid. ii. 151 sq.). Brett, Indian Tribes of Guiana, p. 343; Kirke, Twentyfive Years in British Guiana, p. 150. Domenech, Seven Years' Residence in the Great Deserts of North America, ii. 190. Burton, City of the Saints, p. 126 (Sioux). Harmon, Voyages and Travels in the Interior of North America, p. 285 (Tacullies). Meares, Voyages to the North-West Coast of America, p. 265 (Nootkas). Cranz, History of Greenland, i. 126. Armstrong, Narrative of the Discovery of the North-West Passage, p. 196 (Western Eskimo). 6 Supra, i. 526 sqq. that 66 3 will have a very happy existence after death.' The Atkha Aleuts prohibited laziness.2 Mr. Batchelor relates an Ainu fable which encourages diligence and discourages idleness in young people. The Karens of Burma have a traditional precept which runs, "Be not idle, but labour diligently, that you may not become slaves." + The Maoris say, "Let industry be rewarded, lest idleness gets the advantage." The Malagasy likewise inculcate industry in many of their proverbs. The Basutos have a saying perseverance always triumphs." Among the Bachapins, a Bechuana tribe conspicuous for its activity, a man's merit is estimated principally by his industry, and the words múnănă usinȧacha (an industrious man) are an expression of high approbation and praise; while he who is seldom seen to hunt, to prepare skins for clothing, or to sew koboes, is accounted a worthless and disgraceful member of society."8 Among the Beni M'zab in the Sahara-an industrious people inhabiting a sterile country -boys are already at the age of six years compelled by law to begin to work, either in driving a camel or ass, or in drawing water for the gardens. We may expect to find industry especially insisted upon by uncivilised peoples who are habitually addicted to it, partly because it is a necessity among them, partly owing to the influence of habit. But instead of being regarded as a duty, industrial activity is not infrequently looked down upon as disreputable for a free man. This is especially the case among warlike nations, nomadic tribes, and peoples who have many slaves. In Uganda, for instance, the prevalence of slavery "causes all manual labour to be looked upon as derogatory to the dignity of a free man." The 1 Cranz, op. cit. i. 186. 2 Yakof, quoted by Petroff, Report on Alaska, p. 158. 3 Batchelor, Ainu of Japan, p. 111. 4 Smeaton, Loyal Karens of Burma, P. 255. 5 Taylor, Te Ika a Maui, p. 293. See also Johnston, Maoria, p. 43. " 10 6 Clemes, Malagasy Proverbs,' in Antananarivo Annual, iv. 29. 7 Casalis, Basutos, p. 310. 8 Burchell, Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, ii. 557. 9 Tristram, The Great Sahara, p. 207 sq. 10 Wilson and Felkin, op. cit. i. 186. |
