Sir John Lubbock on Savages.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 201, 30 April 1887, Page 9

Sir John Lubbock on Savages.

Sra John Lubbock, M.P., lectured in London recently on savages. He said that from the study of modern savages we could gain a fairly correct idea of a man as he existed in early times, and of many of the stages from which our ancestors had developed in civilisation. The modes of salutation among savages were very curious, and quite unlike our own. Kissing, which seemed so natural to Europeans, was quite unknown to Australians, New Zealanaers, Papuans, Esquimaux, and other races. Some tribes in tne Neilgherry Hills of Hindostan showed respect by placing the thumb of an extended hand to the tip of the nose. The Esquimaux pulled a man's nose as a compliment ; and a Chinaman put on his hat where we took it off. In China, too, a coffin was considered to be a very tasteful and appropriate present for an aged person or an invalid. The early Britons readily lent money on promise of repayment in the next world. Some races believed that chiefs only went to heaven, and others that men possessed souls, but not women. It Avas a very common belief among even the lower races of man that as a person died so he would rise again. The Fijians were so fully convinced of this that directly the first symptoms of old age appeared, they eagerly put an end to life. Consequently in many villages there were no old people to be seen. The study of savage man had interest for the philosopher, and especially for the Englishman, belonging da he did to an Empire which contained so many races of man in every stage of civilisation. It was a most encouraging study in its results, as it seemed to prove that although there , had been periods of decay and degradation, still the history of mankind on the whole had been one of progress, and they might fairly look forward to the future with confidence and hope.