'
Every motion, every word spoken, they agreed, abode an eternal influence
in the world. Nothing, either in action or in reasoning, was lost; the
unborn ages made response. If we could go back far enough we should be
able to trace, by the influence it had wrought, that red streak, the
murder of Abel. Had we a divine intellect, we could see the whole
universe, a complete machine, at work. Sir George would marvel at the
splendour of that creation, asking himself, 'Might it, if fully revealed,
not be all too dazzling for human eyes?'
The Aborigine--Australian, Maori, and Kaffir--was to him a guarantee, by
physical evidence, of the same law of the universe. They three had passed
intimately before him, and he had mapped the intertwine of their paths.
These were noteworthy, being a fruit of Sir George's observation on the
human race in primitive lands. First, consider the women, who, among
barbarians, not having animals of burden, had always been pack horses.
'In New Zealand,' he said, 'with its forests, the females had to carry
their loads along narrow paths. The proper way to carry a pack is on the
head, but the trees made that impossible. Hills, too, had often to be
climbed, and to ease the ascent a bending posture must be taken. Add that
fact to the load on the back, and it was a consequence that Maori women
should evolve clumsy figures.
Pages:
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100