41.  See Prof.  M. Kovalevsky’s Modern Customs and Ancient Law (Russian), Moscow, 1886, vol. ii., which contains many important considerations upon this subject.

42.  See Carl Bock, The Head Hunters of Borneo, London, 1881.  I am told, however, by Sir Hugh Law, who was for a long time Governor of Borneo, that the “head-hunting” described in this book is grossly exaggerated.  Altogether, my informant speaks of the Dayaks in exactly the same sympathetic terms as Ida Pfeiffer.  Let me add that Mary Kingsley speaks in her book on West Africa in the same sympathetic terms of the Fans, who had been represented formerly as the most “terrible cannibals.”

43.  Ida Pfeiffer, Meine zweite Weltrieze, Wien, 1856, vol. i. pp. 116 seq.  See also Muller and Temminch’s Dutch Possessions in Archipelagic India, quoted by Elisee Reclus, in Geographie Universelle, xiii.

44.  Descent of Man, second ed., pp. 63, 64.

45.  See Bastian’s Mensch in der Geschichte, iii. p. 7.  Also Grey, loc. cit. ii. p. 238.

46.  Miklukho-Maclay, loc. cit.  Same habit with the Hottentots.

CHAPTER IV

MUTUAL AID AMONG THE BARBARIANS

The great migrations.  New organization rendered necessary.  The village community.  Communal work.  Judicial procedure.  Inter-tribal law.  Illustrations from the life of our contemporaries.  Buryates.  Kabyles.  Caucasian mountaineers.  African stems.

It is not possible to study primitive mankind without being deeply impressed by the sociability it has displayed since its very first steps in life.  Traces of human societies are found in the relics of both the oldest and the later stone age; and, when we come to observe the savages whose manners of life are still those of neolithic man, we find them closely bound together by an extremely ancient clan organization which enables them to combine their individually weak forces, to enjoy life in common, and to progress.  Man is no exception in nature.  He also is subject to the great principle of Mutual Aid which grants the best chances of survival to those who best support each other in the struggle for life.  These were the conclusions arrived at in the previous chapters.

However, as soon as we come to a higher stage of civilization, and refer to history which already has something to say about that stage, we are bewildered by the struggles and conflicts which it reveals.  The old bonds seem entirely to be broken.  Stems are seen to fight against stems, tribes against tribes, individuals against individuals; and out of this chaotic contest of hostile forces, mankind issues divided into castes, enslaved to despots, separated into States always ready to wage war against each other.  And, with this history of mankind in his hands, the pessimist philosopher triumphantly concludes that warfare and oppression are the very essence of human nature; that the warlike and predatory instincts of man can only be restrained within certain limits by a strong authority which enforces peace and thus gives an opportunity to the few and nobler ones to prepare a better life for humanity in times to come.