Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/863

* MAN. 769 MAN. The material activities, like the spontaneous, form a genetic series indicating the trend of liuman development; they are most easily sum- marized in terms of this natural sequence, though their number and diversity are such as to forbid treatment of the series save at a few points in the earlier stages. SiSTEXTATiox. The primal modes of sustenta- tion were clearly analogous to those of the more omnivorous lower animals ; for while archaeology yields no conclusive evidence of tireless man, certain living peoples have been found to use this agency in an incidental rather than essential way. Thus the Australian and Tasmanian aborigines consumed raw food so commonly as to indicate that cooking was but a partially acquired art, and the same may be said of the African Pygmies: while the Seri tribe subsist chiefly on uncooked food, and regard fire as an animate tutelary to be em- ployed ceremonially rather than industrially. This tribe, like some of the Australian natives, well exemplifies the habits and modes of thought of peoples not yet in full command of fire, and hence suggests the characteristics of the human prototype. The food habits are strikingly like those of lower animals; after gorging on quarry or carrion or cactus fruits in season, the tribes- men lie about sluggishly until spurred by sheer hunger to search for another supply; there is no knife sense, while the few crude implements are actual or symbolized animal organs; and there is a strong repugnance to the taking of quarry with artificial devices. With the habitual use of fire an increasing variety of foods is con- sumed; this fact, as well as the chemistry of cooking, indicates that the conquest of fire had nuich to do with the omnivorous character of the human animal: yet a potent reason for the sim- plicity of primitive diet is found in the fact that the food habits are largely modeled after those of tutelary animals through the influence of de- votional systems fostered by that mimetic in- .stinet which marks budding intelligence. In scores of known tribes the food-quest is a sacra- ment inaugurated by ceremonial invocations, pursued with concentrated intensity, and termi- nated with oblations followed by ceremonial feasting in which the qualities of the quarry are supposed to be transferred to the feasters. The Cherokee hunter ceremoniously placated the Ancient deer kind before setting out on a deer- hunt, the Iroquoian Ximrod made a propitiatory address to the bear before giving the fatal stroke, the Zufii youth dared not even let fly his arrow at a rabbit without a prayer, while the Papago and other Amerind tribes denoted diseases by the names of animals and imputed them to the vengeance of those animals for neglect of due devotions. These customs throw light on primi- tive warfare, with its concomitants of cannibal- ism, trophy -wearing, etc. In lower savagery there is a strong race sense and fellow feeling is restricted to the clan or tribe, while aliens are viewed with aversion as peculiarly potent an- tagonists; so that primitive warfare becomes a form of chase, inaugurated itli ceremonies growing into the war-dance, pursiied in an ex- altation passing into insane obsession, and ter- minated by observances designed to endow the victor with the valor and cunning and fortitude of the vanquished — these sometimes including cannibalism, and the preservation of his fingers, teeth, head, scalp, or tutelary sjTnbols, as per- manent invocations for his powers. The scalp- taking of various Amerind tribes, the aboriginal head-liunting in the Philippine Islands, the pres- ervation of shrunken human heads in South America and the Caribbean Islands, the wearing of necklaces of fingers and teeth, and the prehis- toric use of amulets made from bits of skull, exemplify the savage motives. Reprodvctio" and Pbeservation. Human re- production and propugnation are dominated by social regulations, and form the basis of the institutional activities; while domiciliation is a fruitful branch of industrial development. Primitive house types depend on the materials, climate, and other conditions of local environ- ment, and hence are widely diverse. The sim- plest known forms are mere bowers of bushes or brandies, little difi'erent from those of sim- ians ; these grade into more commodious habita- tions, running from the temporary bower to wattled structures, houses of thatched grass, bark and mat covered wigwams, log stockades and cabins, skin tepees and tents, earth lodges, cajon or pise structures, adobe and rubble pueblos, as well as brick, stone, stucco, and wooden houses. The constructional details and the modes of transition from type to type are innumerable, but the dominant motives in primitive culture are simple. Throughout, the construction is regulated by observances or elaborate ceremonies, which serve practically to crystallize types and methods ; the enterprise is launched with invoca- tions, the elders of the clan or tribe are con- sulted, and as the domicile approaclies comple- tion, household gods are convoked and enshrined by fasting and feasting and other devotional ex- ercises. Thenceforward each member of the fam- ily has a fixed place in the abode, and due pro- A ision is made for hospitable entertainment ; and the home passes through a cycle fixed by definite custom, often ending in deliberate abandonment or destruction on the death of owner or occupant. In seme tribes, like those of Alaska, the domi- ciliary customs are complemented by the erection of tctemic insignia ; and in wandering tribes like the Eskimo, the tutelary effigies may become portable and follow the family migrations. In more adf.nced culture, pueblos and towns are founded with related observances. Both pre- historic relics and modern examples attest the existence of troglodvtes or cave-dwellers, and there are some indications that in certain dis- tricts primal men lived permanently in natural niches or rock houses of cliti's, or even in deeper caverns; but these indications are offset by the arboreal habits of both the lowest known tribes and the higher simians, no less than by the course of evolution in motive exemplified by well- studied peoples; on the whole it seems probable that cave-dwelling was not primal, but secondary, and perhaps consequent on clianges of habitat. While the house-building of the higher quadru- mana grades into that of lower savagery, habili- mentation forms one of the clearest distinctions between man and the lower ^ininials; for not only are all mankind more or less clothed artifi- cially and all beasts unclothed save by nature, but the human habit is manifestly correlated with important structural characters. Without going into full analysis of functions, it may be said that the dermal appendages of lower animals (hair, fur, and wool of mammals, feathers of