Footnotes:
[6] "Philosophy, poor and naked thou goest". This is a quotation from the Italian poet Petrarch. Translator's Note.
CHAPTER IX.
The origin of the Sakais—Hypothesis and legend—Physical character—Thick tresses, gay flowers and troublesome guests—Hereditary antipathy—The five senses reduced to two—Food and drink—Tranquil life—Intolerance of authority—Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law—Logical laziness—A Sakai journalist—The story of a mattress.
Paolo Mantegazza, the scientific poet writes:
"Man is eternally tormenting himself with unanswered questions: Where did our species first come from? When did this life first begin?
"This is his real original sin, as it is also the source of his true greatness. He is but a single link in an endless chain; he is but one imperceptible moment enclosed by a Past which he does not know and a Future which he will never see. But he feels the need of looking back and asking: where did we begin? And of looking forward, asking: where shall we finish?".
I, too, have often made much the same demands, not about myself, for I have no inclination for metaphysical reflections, but about the Sakais who have unconsciously given me a difficult problem to solve: who are they? From whence did they come?