SPECIALISED FORMS OF MIRTH 229

" a slave never breaks a thing without an instinctive laugh
of pleasure "} This laugh is set down to the love of de-
struction ; yet it may be, in part at least, like that of a
naughty child, a laugh of bravado hiding a consciousness
of naughtiness, a mode of drowning a nascent sense of
shame; for it is presumable, from what this same writer
tells us, that an East African slave does not destroy his
owner's property with impunity. At the same time, one
must allow that the process of destruction in itself may be
to a savage, as alas it often is to an English boy, an easy
way to the attainment of a " sudden glory "

Savages appear to resemble children more clearly in their
introduction of jocose attack into their play. Here we
see an analogy between the mental attitude of a savage and
that of an older child. Nothing comes out more plainly in
the reports on these uncivilised peoples than their fondness
for teasing, including practical jokes.
