. The history of mankind . oftenobtain through their freedomfrom every legal restraint andevery regard for tribal rela-tions, even through the con-sideration which attracts tothem all the boldest andneediest men from neigh-bouring tribes, a force whichis capable of converting therobber tribe into a conquer-ing, state-founding, and rulingpeople. Plunder and conquestpass easily into one all countries of which we know the history, predatory tribes have played animportant part. Most of what we know of the history of the natural races is the historyof their wars. The first importation of
. The history of mankind . oftenobtain through their freedomfrom every legal restraint andevery regard for tribal rela-tions, even through the con-sideration which attracts tothem all the boldest andneediest men from neigh-bouring tribes, a force whichis capable of converting therobber tribe into a conquer-ing, state-founding, and rulingpeople. Plunder and conquestpass easily into one all countries of which we know the history, predatory tribes have played animportant part. Most of what we know of the history of the natural races is the historyof their wars. The first importation of firearms, which permitted unimportantpowers to rise rapidly, marks the most sharply-defined epoch in the history ofall negro states. What Wissmann says about the Kioko, with them camefirearms and therewith the formation of powerful kingdoms, is true of all. Is notthis constant fighting the primitive condition of man in its lowest manifestation ?To this it may be answered that hitherto our own peace has never been anything. Zulu chief in full war-dress. (From a photograph in the possessionof Dr. Wangemann.) THE STATE but armed, but among us serious outbreaks of the warlike impulse arc interrup-tions in longer intervals of rest which are enjoined by the conditions of civiliza-tion, while among- the races of which we are speaking, a condition like our mediaeval club law is very often permanent. Yet even so it must be pointed out thatamong barbarians also there are peaceful races and peace-loving rulers. Let usnot forget that the bloodiest and most ruinous wars waged by the natural raceshave been those which the}- have carried on not among themselves but withEuropeans, and that nothing has kindled violence and cruelty among them insuch a high degree as has the slave trade, instigated by the avarice of more highlycivilized strangers, with its horrible consequence of slave-hunting. When themost charitably just of all men who have criticised the natural races, the peaceableDavid Livi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectethnology, bookyear18
