Primitive Manners and Customs

Despite the title, author and barrister James A. Farrer's book is a defense on behalf of groups that the English people of the 19th century see as 'savages', arguing that instead, these groups use different methods to arrive at the same conclusion that the English do. In his own words, Farrer gave the following example: «Statements of very low powers of numeration have been perhaps too hastily taken as indicative of a low state of intelligence; for not only have similar assertions concerning American and Tasmanian tribes by the earliest voyagers proved on subsequent investigation to be erroneous, but many savages have substitutes for our arithmetic which serve them perfectly well.»