fend
themselves in any way.

I afterwards got the old man to tell me something about their customs
regarding marriage and family organization.

"By thus living separate", he said "each family by itself, without being
subject to any chief or authority, save only that of the Elder (be he
father or grandfather), our peace is guaranteed. There are no quarrels,
there is no jealousy or bad-feeling, for all are equal, all live in the
same way and each one divides what he may possess amongst the others, so
that there is also no injustice".

I raised the objection that this perfect equality could not possibly
exist because the identical rights and duties in domestic economy could
not be applied in the same way to the hale and strong members of the
family as to the weak and sickly. But I had to repeat my idea in various
ways before the Sakai caught the meaning, then he exclaimed:

"Ah, I suppose you are speaking of some sort of deformity, or defect.
Amongst us it is so rare to find either one or the other that it would
be difficult for a Sakai to understand when you talk of men different to
him in form or robustness. If however, the Evil Spirit makes one of our
children be born deformed, or with a defect, he is treated with the care
necessary to his state but he cannot transmit his infirmity to others
because, first of all our customs compel him to lead a life of chastity,
and secondly, no woman of our tribe would consent to a union with him".

Oh, Lycurgus, I thought, thy wise laws have here, among savages, a less
brutal application. For one who dies loveless (and as the Sakais are not
given to strong passions, and are chaste by nature, this is not a very
great sacrifice) many are saved from unhappiness and a whole race
preserved from degeneration.

The old man having spoken of the Evil Spirit, I abruptly demanded who
this much feared being might be.

"He possesses all things", he answered, lowering his voice as if afraid
of being heard. "He is in the wind, the lightning, the earthquake, he is
in the trees and the water. Sometimes he enters our huts and makes
someone die; then we bury our dead very deep under the ground, leaving
to them food and their own property, and we fly from the spot, for it is
a dangerous thing to remain under the Spirit's gaze".

* * * * *

Finished our conversation, of which I have sought to give you a faithful
translation, although the Sakai had expressed himsel