different language, and having a distinct organization." 25 To the north and south of them were the Mangues who had been split into by the early migrations of the Nahuas. Squier says, "In most places, however, the native language has fallen into disuse, or only a few words, which have also been accepted by the whites, are retained." 26 On the island of Ometepec, Squier procured with great difficulty a few words, and some of their numerals." 27 Dr. Habel says, "Notwithstanding the greatest efforts, I could not get any information in regard to the language of the natives; they told me it was all forgotten." 28 66 On coming in contact with the Spaniards a mixed dialect came into vogue, composed of a corrupt Spanish and a broken down Nahuatl, which served as a means of communication between both races. It has been described as an unintelligible jargon. Many of its Spanish elements are ungrammatical, while the interlarded Nahuatl words and phrases are so mutilated as to be scarcely recognizable. The Indians of this district were passionately fond of dramatic representations, accompanied by masked actors, dances and songs, and various musical instruments. These took place at certain seasons and epochs of the year, and were generally of a religious character. The music was monotonous, the singing in the minor key, and the motions dull, mechanical, and ungraceful. The play known as The Güegüence is the only specimen now known of native American comedy.29 It is of comparatively recent origin, and is composed in the jargon already described. Güegüence is a Nahuatl word, from the root hue, old; huehue is "old man"; to this is added tzin, denoting 25 Squiers' States of Central Americu, p. 317. 26 The States of Central America, p. 819. 27 Nicaragua, Vol. II. p. 13. Dr. Bransford's statement (Archæological Researches in Nicaragua, pp. 7, 79) that Squier found many words of the Aztec language spoken by the Indians of Ometepec," is rather stronger than Squier's words will allow. 28 Sculptures of Santa Lucia Cosumalwhuapa in Guatemala, p. 24. 25 The comedies of Bartholomede Alva, written in Nahoutl, about 1625, drew their plots from Lope de Vega. Alva was a descendant of the native king of Tezcuco. reverence or affection; and in the vocative the word becomes huehuentze, meaning, therefore, "the honored elder," or "the dear old man." This comedy has not been given of late years. It was sometimes performed at the festival of St. Jerome, Sept. 30. The preparations for it were expensive and elaborate. The rehearsals were given daily, consuming from a period of six to eight months before the public performance. Of the dramatis persona Güegüence is the principal figure, who wore the most magnificent apparel of any of the performers, although all were gorgeously dressed. His character is a marked type of that peculiar form of humor preferred by the native mind. It was, however, anything but respectable. His indifference to truth, impudence, unscrupulous tricks, and low jokes detract materially from the element of the comical to those accustomed to a better class of comedy. His two sons, Don Forcico and Don Ambrosio, present the opposites of character. The former follows the example of his father; the latter opposes and exposes their dishonesty. Governor Tastuanes appears in Spanish cosutme; his character being designed to bring out the ruses of Güegüence. The Aguacil, Secretary and Registrar appear in full official dress, with the insignia of office. The muta persona consist of the women and a dozen mules. Dr. Brinton has given the comedy in the original, with an English translation, followed by valuable notes and a glossary, and preceded by a lengthy introduction. The attempt is not here made to give all of Dr. Brinton's productions, but only some of his recent works bearing on the development of a department of ethnology that must attract more attention and awaken an intelligent interest. Rev. J. P. MacLean. ARTICLE XXIX. Does Civilization Civilize? THE book entitled "Progress and Poverty," by Henry George, is a remarkable contribution to social and economic science. It assumes to deal not only with the vexed questions of political science, but with the profoundest problems that lie at the foundation of human society. It is said to have had a wide circulation, not only in our own country, but in England and on the continent. Its remarkable character consists chiefly in its positive tone, and in the certainty that the convictions of the writer, as set forth in the pages of his book, are indisputable truths. To this may be added the extraordinary nature of the assumptions made, and the strange conclusions drawn from unwarranted premises. There is no reason to doubt the earnestness and sincerity of the writer of this book. It manifests itself upon every page. Nor is there any reason to doubt that his main purpose is a philanthropic one, or to question the genuineness of his sympathy with the masses whose welfare he claims to seek. Mr. George is a man who has the courage of his convictions. He claims no special consideration except the justice of his cause, and the respect due to the essential merits of his performance. He feels confident of his ground, and challenges criticism to overthrow the structure he has reared upon it. He wields an incisive pen, and his clear and forcible style rarely lays him open to the charge of obscurity or dullness. When he misses his mark his error comes not so much from any defect in his reasoning as from the assumption of unsound premises, or from the omission of some of the essential factors in the problem he attempts to solve. Whatever may be said of the certainty of the teachings of political science-cailed by Mr. Carlyle the dismal science" -no one who knows anything of its scope or its elements, doubts its complexity. But Mr. George cuts his way through this difficulty that lies at the threshold of his inquiry in the following manner: - It is the ex "Political economy is not a set of dogmas. planation of a certain set of facts. It lays its foundations upon firm ground. The premises from which it makes its deductions are truths which have the highest sanction; upon which we safely base the reasoning and actions of every-day life, and which may be reduced to the metaphysical expression of the physical law that motion seeks the line of least resistance, viz., that men seek to gratify their desires with the least exertion. Proceding from a basis thus assured, its processes, which consist simply in identification and separation, have the same certainty. In this sense it is as exact a science as geometry, which, from similar truths relative to space, obtains its conclusions by similar means, and its conclusions when valid should be as self-apparent." Mr. George fails to see that his saving clause — " when valid" overthrows the assumption which he makes in this definition of political economy. The conclusions of geometry are always valid because the experience of ages has shown them to be invariable. For this reason it is not equally true that matter seeks the line of least resistance," and that "men seek to gratify their desires with the least exertion." The first is fixed by unalterable conditions of physical law; a body moves in the line of least resistance because it must. But men do not always seek to gratify their desires with the least exertion. They may, and often do, take a freak to work harder than necessity requires, both mentally and physically, in the accomplishment of their desires. Men highly endowed with mental or physical energy are prodigal of their strength. This is especially true of young men. The distinction lies here One is an invariable law of matter, the other is the outcome of man's will subject to the uncertainty of human volition. It is this human element in the workings of economic laws, that vitiates much of the reasoning of these polit ical economists who do not give full play to this important factor, or ignore its existence altogether. This factor is a variable one; and so uncertain are its movements that in this branch of investigation, more frequently than anywhere else, perhaps, the saving clause so often used by the logician has a place, other things being equal. But here, as in other cases where this saving clause is used, other things rarely are equal; or, what amounts to the same thing, we do not know that they are equal. On this point the high authority, John Stuart Mill, so often cited by Mr. George, says: "Political Economy concerns itself only with such of the phenomena of the social state as take place in consequence of the pursuit of wealth. It makes entire abstraction of every other human passion or motive, except those which may be regarded as perpetually antagonizing principles to the desire of wealth, namely, the aversion to labor, and of the present enjoyment of costly indulgences. These it takes to a certain extent into its calculations, because these do not merely, like our other desires, occasionally conflict with the pursuit of wealth, but accompany it always as a drag or impediment, and are, therefore, inseparably mixed up in the consideration of it. All these operations, though many of them are really the result of a plurality of motives, are considered by political economy as flowing from the desire of wealth. The science then proceeds to investigate the laws which govern these several operations, under the supposition that man is a being who is determined, by the necessity of his nature, to prefer a greater portion of wealth to a smaller in all cases, without any other exception than that constituted by the two counter-motives already specified. "Not that any political economist was ever so absurd as to snppose that men are really thus constituted, but because this is the mode in which science must necessarily proceed. The political economist inquires what are the actions which would be produced by this desire, if, within the department in question, it were unimpeded by any other. In this way a nearer approximation is obtained than would otherwise be practicable to the real order of human affairs in those departments. This approximation has then to be corrected by making proper allowance for the effects of any impulses of a different description, which can be shown to interfere with the result in any particular case... In political economy, for instance, empirical laws of human nature are tacitly assumed by English thinkers, which are calculated only for Great Britain and the United States. Among other things, an intensity of competition is constantly supposed which, as a general mercantile fact, exists in no country in the world except those two. An English political economist, like his countrymen in general, has seldom learned that it is possible that men, in |