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running along habitual lines, the attention is relaxed and the emotional processes are running low. A disturbance of habit throws a strain on the attention, and the emotional processes are accelerated in the attempt to accommodate. And since the normal attitude, as noted above, is one of distrust toward every- thing not included in the old run of habits, we find the most sin- ister meaning attached to signs of unfamiliar personality. The mental disturbance caused in the lower races by the appearance of white has often been noted by travelers :
There must be something in the appearance of white men frightfully repulsive to the unsophisticated natives of Africa ; for on entering villages previously unvisited by Europeans, if we met a child coming quietly and unsuspectingly toward us, the moment he raised his eyes and saw the men in "bags," he would take to his heels in an agony of terror, such as we might feel if we met a live Egyptian mummy at the door of the British Museum. Alarmed by the child's wild outcries, the mother rushes out of the hut, but darts back again at the first glimpse of the fearful apparition. Dogs turn tail and scour off in dismay, and hens, abandoning their chickens, fly scream- ing to the tops of the houses.'
By some such steps as we have outlined a group whose mem- bers have a history in common has to some degree a conscious- ness in common, and common emotional reactions. And before turning to the concrete expressions of its feeling for itself as expressed in its prejudices for aliens, I will illustrate by an instance the degree to which it is true that activities in common and community of interest may imply a common emotional atti- tude. The reception of news of disaster to a war party of Sioux Indians is thus related by Mr. Eastman, himself a Sioux:
One frosty morning .... the weird song of a solitary brave was heard. In an instant the camp was thrown into indescribable confusion. The mean- ing of this was clear as day to everybody all of our war party were killed save the one whose mournful song announced the fate of his companions. .... The village was convulsed with grief ; for in sorrow as in joy every Indian shares with all the others. The old women stood still wherever they might be and wailed dismally, at intervals chanting the praises of the departed warriors. The wives went a little way from their tepees and there audibly mourned ; but the young maidens wandered further away from the camp, where no one could witness their grief. The old men joined in the crying and singing. To all appearances the most unmoved of all were the warriors,
LIVINGSTONE, The Zambesi and its Tributaries, p. 181.
