In quality their voices are strident and rasping, and are always raised in conversation and grow higher with increased excitement. No Indian speaks confidentially, he shouts; and unless something very sacred and secret is under discussion the conversation in an Indian house can be heard a mile away. In the forest the mass of vegetation above appears to act as a sounding-board, and so to lengthen the distance that sound is carried, not, as one might think, to stifle it. But independent of this the Indians possess extraordinary power of throwing the voice, a sort of ventral whisper; and all, to some extent, are ventriloquists. Even semi-civilised Indians of Brazil, who have lost much of the cunning of their brethren, the “Wild Indians” of the forest, have this power.
The Indian is as fond of speaking and singing in a high-pitched voice interspersed with ventral grunts as a Chinese coolie, and this predilection, as regards the falsetto voice, is greatest on the part of the women, whose voices are always higher than the men’s.
When an Indian talks he sits down, no conversation is ever carried on when the speakers are standing unless it be a serious difference of opinion is under discussion; nor, when he speaks, does the Indian look at the person addressed, any more than the latter watches the speaker. Both look at some outside objects. This is the attitude also of the Indian when addressing more than one listener, so that he appears to be talking to some one not visibly present.
CHAPTER XX
No individualism—Effect of isolation—Extreme reserve of Indians—Cruelty—Dislike and fear of strangers—Indian hospitality—Treachery—Theft punished by death—Dualism of ethics—Vengeance—Moral sense and custom—Modesty of the women—Jealousy of the men—Hatred of white man—Ingratitude—Curiosity—Indians retarded but not degenerate—No evidence of reversion from higher culture—A neolithic people—Conclusion.
We find in all savage races, peoples of the lower cultures, that there is no differentiation of individualism, that is to say all members of the race or group are at approximately the same level. This is what we know as a “low state of civilisation.” It has been suggested that such dead level, the lack of all initiative, of progress in short, is due to the absence of religion, of ideals or gods, through which true enthusiasm only is engendered. A religious ideal undoubtedly tends to progress, and with the exception of patriotism—which, after all, is a religious ideal—is the main influence. It is a case of cause and effect, however, for the effect of environment must not be overlooked. Local conditions initiate progress and may cause enthusiasm for an ideal, the effect and, at the same time, the potent accelerator of such progression.
It is an extraordinary but undeniable fact that the Indian is individually wise yet racially foolish, individually intelligent, racially inept. This may be due entirely to geographical control, to the peculiar characteristics of the social environment. The greatest incitement to human progress, intercommunication, is denied in the Amazon wilds. True, there are the rivers, but the value of rivers and waterways in this respect is negatived by custom. Existing conditions make this necessary, for in isolation alone is protection to be found for any tribe.