Folklore as an Historical ScienceGomme, George Laurence
History
Folklore as an Historical Science
Gomme, George Laurence
Folklore
I shall not attempt to exhaust the evidence to be derived from the
pygmy people. What has been said of the examples I have chosen may in
all essentials be said of the remaining examples. But it is perhaps
advisable to be assured that the evidence of kinless people is not
confined to the stunted and dwarfed races, for it has been argued that
the pygmies are nothing but the ne'er-do-wells of the stronger races,
and may not therefore be taken as true racial types. This may be true,
but it does not affect my case, because I am not depending so much
upon the physical characteristics of these people as upon their
culture characteristics. These are definite and conclusive, and they
are repeated among people of higher physical type. Thus the Jolas of
the Gambia district have practically no government and no law; every
man does as he chooses, and the most successful thief is considered
the greatest man. There is no recognised punishment for murder or any
other crime. Individual settlement is the only remedy, and the fittest
survives. There is no formality in regard to marriage, or what passes
for marriage, amongst them. Natural selection is observed on both
sides, and the pair, after having ascertained a reciprocity of
sentiment, at once cohabit. They do not intermarry with any other
race.[350]
It is possible to proceed from this to other regions of man's
occupation ground. In America, the evidence of the modern savage is
preceded by most interesting facts. If we compare Dr. Brinton's
conclusions as to the spread of the American Indians from the north to
the south, and as to the development of culture in the favoured
districts being of the same origin as the undeveloped culture of the
less favoured and of absolutely sterile districts, with Mr. Curtin's
altogether independent conclusions as to the growth of the American
creation myth with its cycle of first people peaceful and migratory,
and its cycle of second people "containing accounts of conflicts which
are ever recurrent," we are conscious that mythic and material remains
of great movements of people are in absolute accord,[351] an accord
which leads us to expect that the peoples who were pushed ever forward
into the most desolate and most sterile districts of southern America
would be the most nearly savage of all the American peoples. This is
in agreement with Darwin's estimate of the Fuegians who wander about
in groups of kinless society,[352] and it is in accord with other
evidence. Thus the Zaparos, belonging to the great division of
unchristianised Indians of the oriental province of Ecuador, have the
fame of being most expert woodsmen and hunters. To communicate with
one another in the wood, they generally imitate the whistle of the
toman or partridge. They believe that they partake of the nature of
the animals they devour. They are very disunited, and wander about in
separate hordes. The stealing of women is much carried on even amongst
themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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