THE ORIGIN OF CIVILISATION AND THE PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN. MENTAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF SAVAGES. BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M.P., F.R.S. BODI VICE-CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: AUTHOR OF PREHISTORIC TIMES' ETC.: HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE LONDON BANKERS: THIRD EDITION, WITH NUMEROUS ADDITIONS. LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. PREFACE. IN my work on 'Prehistoric Times' I have devoted several chapters to the description of modern savages, because the weapons and implements now used by the lower races of men throw much light on the signification and use of those discovered in ancient tumuli, or in the drift gravels; and because a knowledge of modern savages and their modes of life enables us more accurately to picture, and more vividly to conceive, the manners and customs of our ancestors in bygone ages. In the present volume, which is founded on a course of lectures delivered at the Royal Institution in the spring of 1868, I propose more particularly to describe the social and mental condition of savages, their art, their systems of marriage and of relationship, their religions, language, moral character, and laws. Subsequently I shall hope to publish those portions of my lectures which have reference to their houses, dress, boats, arms, implements, &c. From the very nature of the subjects dealt with in the present volume, I shall have to record many actions and ideas very abhorrent to us; so many, in fact, that if I pass them without comment or condemnation, it is because I am reluctant to fatigue the reader by a wearisome iteration of disapproval. In the chapters on Marriage and Religion more especially, though I have endeavoured to avoid everything that was needlessly offensive, still it was impossible not to mention some facts which are very repugnant to our feelings. Yet were I to express my sentiments in some cases, silence in others might be held to imply indifference, if not approval. Montesquieu commences with an apology that portion of his great work which is devoted to Religion. As, he says, 'on peut juger parmi les ténèbres celles qui sont les moins épaisses, et parmi les abîmes ceux qui sont les moins profonds, ainsi l'on peut chercher entre les religions fausses celles qui sont les plus conformes au bien de la société; celles qui, quoiqu'elles n'aient pas l'effet de mener les hommes aux félicités de l'autre vie, peuvent le plus contribuer à leur bonheur dans celle-ci. Je n'examinerai donc les diverses religions du monde que par rapport au bien que l'on en tire dans l'état civil, soit que je parle de celle qui a sa racine dans le ciel, ou bien de celles qui ont la leur sur la terre.' The difficulty which I have felt has taken a different form, but I deem it necessary to say these few words of explanation, lest I should be supposed to approve that which I do not expressly condemn. Klemm, in his 'Allgemeine Culturgeschichte der Menschen,' and recently Mr. Wood, in a more popular manner (Natural History of Man'), have described the various races of man consecutively; a system which has its advantages, but which does not well bring out the general stages of progress in civilisation. Various other works, amongst which I must specially mention Müller's 'Geschichte der Americanischen Urreligionen,' M'Lennan's 'Primitive Marriage,' and Bachofen's 'Das Mutterrecht,' deal with particular portions of the subject. Maine's interesting work on 'Ancient Law,' again, considers man in a more advanced stage than that which is the special subject of my work. The plan pursued by Tylor in his remarkable work on the Early History of Mankind' more nearly resembles that which I have sketched out for myself, but the subject is one which no two minds would view in the same manner, and is so vast that I am sure my friend will not regard me as intruding upon a field which he has done so much to make his own. Nor must I omit to mention Lord Kames' 'History of Man,' and Montesquieu's 'Esprit des Lois,' both of them works of great interest, although written at a time when our knowledge of savage races was even more imperfect than it is now. Yet the materials for such a work as the present are immense, and are daily increasing. Those who take an interest in the subject become every year more and more numerous; and while none of my readers can be |