in insisting
on the inferiority of these primitive peoples. They
are said to be irrational, for example, when they are quite
logical in their way of dealing with the material which is at
their disposal. Without any scientific information available,
for example, anthropomorphism, or the tendency to interpret
cosmic phenomena in human terms is quite natural and reasonable.
Again:

The difference in the mode of thought of primitive man and that
of civilized man seems to consist largely in the difference of character
of the traditional material with which the new perception associates
itself. The instruction given to the child of primitive man is not
based on centuries of experimentation, but consists of the crude
experience of generations. When a new experience enters the mind of
primitive man, the same process which we observe among civilized
man brings about an entirely different series of associations, and
therefore results in a different type of explanation. A sudden
explosion will associate itself in his mind, perhaps, with the tales he has
heard in regard to the mythical history of the world, and consequently
will be accompanied by superstitious fear. When we recognize
that neither among civilized men nor among primitive men the
average individual carries to completion the attempt at causal
explanation of phenomena, but carries it only so far as to amalgamate
it with other previously known facts, we recognize that the
result of the whole process depends entirely upon the character of
the traditional material.[1]

[Footnote 1: Boas: _Mind of Primitive Man_, pp. 203-04.]

This may be illustrated by our immediate reactions of pleasure
or disgust at customs or ideas that provoke directly opposite
reactions among races reared in another tradition.

Again primitive races have been accused of lacking self-control.
The fact is that they exhibit self-control about
matters which they regard as important, and lack of it in
respect to matters which they regard as trivial. "When an
Eskimo community is on the point of starvation, and their
religious proscriptions forbid them to make use of the seals
that are basking on the ice, the amount of self-control of the
whole community which restrains them from killing those
seals is certainly very great."[2] The case is similar with
regard to nearly all the alleged inferiorities of primitive man, his
improvidence, unreliability, and the like. In nearly every
instance, it has been