Geoff writes:
"Re comment:- " Though much more recent, Rousseau certainly did a lot to
advance the 
> idea of the noble savage. I don't believe it goes back to the Greeks 
> who not big fans of barbarians."

Actually, that's incorrect. Turns out the Ancient Greeks did indeed often
favour the noble savage theory, such as the Arcadians and other tribes, real
or mythical:-

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_(utopia)

I'm sure we would find examples of this theory among any settled culture
around the world."

Sure, we can find such examples all over the world. The point of this
discourse, however, was not what ancients thought by a movement in Western
culture since the age of the Enlightenment bearing direct influence on 19th
century evolutionary thought impacting us to this very day. As such,
bringing in facts which while interesting have no direct bearing on recent
intellectual history is of no benefit (except possibly to 'needs' of
submitters).