TAMING A WILD MAN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 78, 25 November 1912, Page 7

TAMING A WILD MAN.

SURVIVOR OF THE STONE AGE

Almost exactly eleven months ago a wild man was caught in California and identified as the last survivor of the Southern Yana tribe of Indians that had been almost wiped out by the massacre in 1865. The name of “Ishi,” meaning “man” in the Yana dialect, was given to him because lie would not tell his real name. He was taken to the University Museum in San Francisco, and there they have been trying to civilise him. The results of their efforts are described in the "World’s Work, by A. L. Kroebcr, curator of the museum. When first introduced to the strange sights and sounds of the big city he was a pathetic figure, scared at the slightest noise and stiffening to rigidity by the crowding upon him of half a dozen persons. “His one great dread,” says Mr fvrocber, “which he overcame but slowly, was of crowds. A lone American had always been a signal of imminent danger to him; no wonder that a hundred literally paralysed him. A week after his arrival at San Francisco lie was taken for an automobile ride through Golden Gate Park and to the ocean beach. The one thing above all others that drew his attention was the Sunday crowds. When the car reached the bluff looking down on the breakers, with a long sandy beach studded with thousands of holidayseekers stretching miles away, everything else was forgotten and the exclamation ‘hansi saltu!’ (‘many white people’) burst involuntarily from him.

“A week later lie was. invited to a vaudeville performance. For two act: Tslii sat in his box seat and looked at the audience. So many people crowded together so closely were more remarkable than the mysterious capers that a couple of actors might be cutting on the stage. “It was the little things that got a -response from him. A penny whistle evoked more expression than all the houses spread before him. “The museum authorities gave him clothes and taught him to put them on. Getting in and out of his coat made some little difficulty for a time, but everything else about his clothes seemed to come as natural, once he had them on, as to a civilised person.

“Shoes alone had no attraction for him. It was thought that they might incommode him, so he was not pressed, but asked if he wished them. T sec all the ground is stone here,’ he said. ‘Walking on that all the time I would wear out shoes, but ray feet .will never wear out’—an answer perhaps partly dictated by inborn politeness, but as ingenuous as logical. It was not until the rainy season set in and he underwent an unexpected attack of pneumonia that he was provided with shoes, and then seemed content. “Ho learned quickly to use knife, fork and spoon, and seemed proud of the accomplishment. A few days’ practice enabled him to use mop, broom and duster, ‘with the skill of an experienced janitor, probably with greater care. 5 “One remarkable fact so far has, stood out against his progress towards real civilisation, a reluctance to learn English. In several months of association only with people of English speech one would expect a tolerable proficiency in the new language, an ability of expression at least lively and fluent if not correct. Hut a few, dozen names of objects and persons are all that have crossed his lips. It is not inability that is at fault, for his pronunciation, when called upon to repeat what is spoken to him, is excellent, and some words, such as ‘water,’ ‘money, 5 and ‘chicken 5 blossomed from him in a very few days. “What interests him most is the names of people. ‘Achi djeyauna?’ (‘What is his name?’) is the first and often reheated question until he has mastered the apollation of a newcomer.

“His face is as clean of beard as when he was discovered, and has not been touched by a razor. This is not a racial characteristic, but the result of his substitute for shaving. He pulls out Iris beard hairs one by one as soon as they emerge—a habit formerly universal among all tribes on the continent, but less frequently practised to-day. In this connection he manifests a peculiar personal refinement, he never follows the habit when in company.

“The strange history of this survivor from the past seems to show that intelligence is not a monopoly of civilisation, and that lack of civilisation is perhaps due not so much to want of actual ability as to lack of knowledge of precedent. Ishi has as good a head as the average American, but be is unspeakably ignorant, fie knows nothing, or knew nothing six months ago of hours and years, of money and labour and pay, of government and authority, of newspapers and business, of the other thousands of things that make up our life. In short, lie has really lived in the Stone Age, as has so often been said.”