The Bedouin
himself is not so free, since he accords an almost superstitious
reverence and implicit obedience to his sheikh. Here the lord of many
leagues of land and of herds unnumbered sits down to talk with the
hired shepherd, a poor, bare-footed fellow in his smoky _rancho_,
and no class or caste difference divides them, no consciousness of
their widely different positions chills the warm current of sympathy
between two human hearts. How refreshing it is to meet with this perfect
freedom of intercourse, tempered only by that innate courtesy and
native grace of manner peculiar to Spanish Americans! What a change
to a person coming from lands with higher and lower classes, each with
its innumerable hateful subdivisions--to one who aspires not to mingle
with the class above him, yet who shudders at the slouching carriage
and abject demeanour of the class beneath him! If this absolute equality
is inconsistent with perfect political order, I for one should grieve
to see such order established. Moreover, it is by no means true that
the communities which oftenest startle us with crimes of disorder and
violence are morally worse than others. A community in which there are
not many crimes cannot be morally healthy. There were practically
_no_ crimes in Peru under the Inca dynasty; it was a marvellous
thing for a person to commit an offence in that empire.
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