The Origin of Man and of His SuperstitionsRead, Carveth
Philosophy
The Origin of Man and of His Superstitions
Read, Carveth
Animism; Human beings -- Origin; Magic; Superstition; Totemism
(_e_) The first wars, probably, were waged for hunting-grounds; and
this may have been a revival, for the carnivorous anthropoid pack,
of a state of affairs that existed amongst their ancestors at a much
earlier date; for battles for a feeding-ground have been witnessed
between troops of the lower Primates. Such a battle between two bands
of langur (_Semnopithecus entellus_) has been described;[73] and Darwin
relates after Brehm how “in Abyssinia, when baboons of one species (_C.
gelada_) descend in troops from the mountains to plunder the fields,
they sometimes encounter troops of another species (_C. hamadryas_),
and then a fight ensues. The Geladas roll down great stones, which
the Hamadryas try to avoid, and then both species, making a great
uproar, rush furiously against each other.”[74] As packs of the
wolf-ape increased in numbers and spread over the world, they no doubt
generally came to regard one another as rivals upon the same footing
as the great cats and packs of dogs, and every attempt at expansion or
migration provoked a battle. Wars strengthened the internal sympathies
and loyalties of the pack or tribe and its external antipathies, and
extended the range and influence of the more virile and capable tribes.
It is true that neighbouring tribes of savages are not now always
mutually hostile. In Australia, we are told, local groups and adjacent
tribes are usually friendly;[75] but with them the age of expansion
seems to have closed some time ago, and a sort of equilibrium has been
established. On the other hand, it is a shallow sort of profundity that
insists upon interpreting every war as a struggle for nutrition, an
effort to solve the social problem. Aggressiveness and insatiable greed
are characteristic of many tribes—passions always easily exploited by
their leaders, as in the civilised world by dynasts and demagogues.
Plethora is more insolent than poverty. Lust of power, of glory, of
mere fighting is a stronger incentive than solicitude for the poor.
However, in the development of society nothing has been so influential
as war: an immense subject, for the outlines of which I refer to
Herbert Spencer’s _Political Institutions_.[76]
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