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diff --git a/3066-h/3066-h.htm b/3066-h/3066-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d42dc5 --- /dev/null +++ b/3066-h/3066-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4081 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Red Man's Continent, by Ellsworth Huntington + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's The Red Man's Continent, by Ellsworth Huntington + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Red Man's Continent + A Chronicle of Aboriginal America, Volume 1 In The + Chronicles Of America Series + +Author: Ellsworth Huntington + +Editor: Allen Johnson + +Release Date: February 22, 2009 [EBook #3066] +Last Updated: February 4, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED MAN'S CONTINENT *** + + + + +Produced by The James J. Kelly Library of St. Gregory's +University, Alev Akman, and David Widger + + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE RED MAN'S CONTINENT + </h1> + <h2> + A CHRONICLE OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Ellsworth Huntington + </h2> + <h5> + NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS <br /><br /> TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & + CO. <br /><br /> LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD <br /><br /> OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS + <br /><br /> 1919 + </h5> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <h5> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a> + </h5> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE APPROACHES TO AMERICA + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE FORM OF THE CONTINENT + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE GEOGRAPHIC PROVINCES OF NORTH AMERICA + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE GARMENT OF VEGETATION + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE RED MAN IN AMERICA + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + In writing this book the author has aimed first to present in readable + form the main facts about the geographical environment of American + history. Many important facts have been omitted or have been touched upon + only lightly because they are generally familiar. On the other hand, + special stress has been laid on certain broad phases of geography which + are comparatively unfamiliar. One of these is the similarity of form + between the Old World and the New, and between North and South America; + another is the distribution of indigenous types of vegetation in North + America; and a third is the relation of climate to health and energy. In + addition to these subjects, the influence of geographical conditions upon + the life of the primitive Indians has been emphasized. This factor is + especially important because people without iron tools and beasts of + burden, and without any cereal crops except corn, must respond to their + environment very differently from civilized people of today. Limits of + space and the desire to make this book readable have led to the omission + of the detailed proof of some of the conclusions here set forth. The + special student will recognize such cases and will not judge them until he + has read the author's fuller statements elsewhere. The general reader, for + whom this book is designed, will be thankful for the omission of such + purely technical details. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE RED MAN'S CONTINENT + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. THE APPROACHES TO AMERICA + </h2> + <p> + Across the twilight lawn at Hampton Institute straggles a group of sturdy + young men with copper-hued complexions. Their day has been devoted to + farming, carpentry, blacksmithing, or some other trade. Their evening will + be given to study. Those silent dignified Indians with straight black hair + and broad, strong features are training their hands and minds in the hope + that some day they may stand beside the white man as equals. Behind them, + laughing gayly and chattering as if without a care in the world, comes a + larger group of kinky-haired, thick-lipped youths with black skins and + African features. They, too, have been working with the hands to train the + mind. Those two diverse races, red and black, sit down together in a + classroom, and to them comes another race. The faces that were + expressionless or merely mirthful a minute ago light up with serious + interest as the teacher comes into the room. She stands there a slender, + golden-haired, blue-eyed Anglo-Saxon girl just out of college—a mere + child compared with the score of swarthy, stalwart men as old as herself + who sit before her. Her mobile features seem to mirror a hundred thoughts + while their impassive faces are moved by only one. Her quick speech almost + trips in its eagerness not to waste the short, precious hour. Only a + strong effort holds her back while she waits for the slow answers of the + young men whom she drills over and over again in simple problems of + arithmetic. The class and the teacher are an epitome of American history. + They are more than that. They are an epitome of all history. + </p> + <p> + History in its broadest aspect is a record of man's migrations from one + environment to another. America is the last great goal of these + migrations. He who would understand its history must know its mountains + and plains, its climate, its products, and its relation to the sea and to + other parts of the world. He must know more than this, however, for he + must appreciate how various environments alter man's energy and capacity + and give his character a slant in one direction or another. He must also + know the paths by which the inhabitants have reached their present homes, + for the influence of former environments upon them may be more important + than their immediate surroundings. In fact, the history of North America + has been perhaps more profoundly influenced by man's inheritance from his + past homes than by the physical features of his present home. It is indeed + of vast importance that trade can move freely through such natural + channels as New York Harbor, the Mohawk Valley, and the Great Lakes. It is + equally important that the eastern highlands of the United States are full + of the world's finest coal, while the central plains raise some of the + world's most lavish crops. Yet it is probably even more important that + because of his inheritance from a remote ancestral environment man is + energetic, inventive, and long-lived in certain parts of the American + continent, while elsewhere he has not the strength and mental vigor to + maintain even the degree of civilization to which he seems to have risen. + </p> + <p> + Three streams of migration have mainly determined the history of America. + One was an ancient and comparatively insignificant stream from Asia. It + brought the Indian to the two great continents which the white man has now + practically wrested from him. A second and later stream was the great tide + which rolled in from Europe. It is as different from the other as West is + from East. Thus far it has not wholly obliterated the native people, for + between the southern border of the United States on the one hand, and the + northern borders of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay on the other, the vast + proportion of the blood is still Indian. The European tide may in time + dominate even this region, but for centuries to come the poor, + disinherited Indians will continue to form the bulk of the population. The + third stream flowed from Africa and was as different from either of the + others as South is from North. + </p> + <p> + The differences between one and another of these three streams of + population and the antagonisms which they have involved have greatly + colored American history. The Indian, the European, and the Negro + apparently differ not only in outward appearance but in the much more + important matter of mentality. According to Brinton * the average brain + capacity of Parisians, including adults of both sexes, is 1448 cubic + centimeters. That of the American Indian is 1376, and that of the Negro + 1344 cubic centimeters. With this difference in size there appears to be a + corresponding difference in function. Thus far not enough accurate tests + have been made upon Indians to enable us to draw reliable conclusions. The + Negro, however, has been tested on an extensive scale. The results seem to + leave little doubt that there are real and measurable differences in the + mental powers of races, just as we know to be the case among individuals. + The matter is so important that we may well dwell on it a moment before + turning to the cause of the differences in the three streams of American + immigrants. If there is a measurable difference between the inherent brain + power of the white race and the black, it is practically certain that + there are also measurable differences between the white and the red. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * D. G. Brinton. "The American Race." +</pre> + <p> + Numerous tests indicate that in the lower mental powers there is no great + difference between the black and the white. In physical reactions one is + as quick as the other. In the capacity of the senses and in the power to + perceive and to discriminate between different kinds of objects there is + also practical equality. When it comes to the higher faculties, however, + such as judgment, inventiveness, and the power of organization, a + difference begins to be apparent. These, as Ferguson * says, are the + traits that "divide mankind into the able and the mediocre, the brilliant + and the dull, and they determine the progress of civilization more + directly than do the simple fundamental powers which man has in common + with the lower animals." On the basis of the most exhaustive study yet + made, Ferguson believes that, apart from all differences due to home + training and environment, the average intellectual power of the colored + people of this country is only about three-fourths as great as that of + white persons of the same amount of training. He believes it probable, + indeed, that this estimate is too high rather than too low. As to the + Indian, his past achievements and present condition indicate that + intellectually he stands between the white man and the Negro in about the + position that would be expected from the capacity of his brain. If this is + so, the mental differences in the three streams of migration to America + are fully as great as the outward and manifest physical differences and + far more important. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * G. O. Ferguson. "The Psychology of the Negro," New York, 1916. +</pre> + <p> + Why does the American Indian differ from the Negro, and the European from + both? This is a question on which we can only speculate. But we shall find + it profitable to study the paths by which these diverse races found their + way to America from man's primeval home. According to the now almost + universally accepted theory, all the races of mankind had a common origin. + But where did man make the change from a four-handed, tree-dwelling little + ape to a much larger, upright creature with two hands and two feet? It is + a mistake to suppose that because he is hairless he must have originated + in a warm climate. In fact quite the opposite seems to be the case, for + apparently he lost his hair because he took to wearing the skins of slain + beasts in order that he might have not only his own hair but that of other + animals as a protection from the cold. + </p> + <p> + In our search for the starting-place of man's slow migration to America + our first step should be to ascertain what responses to physical + environment are common to all men. If we find that all men live and thrive + best under certain climatic conditions, it is fair to assume that those + conditions prevailed in man's original home, and this conclusion will + enable us to cast out of the reckoning the regions where they do not + prevail. A study of the relations of millions of deaths to weather + conditions indicates that the white race is physically at its best when + the average temperature for night and day ranges from about 50 to 73 + degrees F. and when the air is neither extremely moist nor extremely dry. + In addition to these conditions there must be not only seasonal changes + but frequent changes from day to day. Such changes are possible only where + there is a distinct winter and where storms are of frequent occurrence. + The best climate is, therefore, one where the temperature ranges from not + much below the freezing-point at night in winter to about 80 degrees F. by + day in summer, and where the storms which bring daily changes are frequent + at all seasons. + </p> + <p> + Surprising as it may seem, this study indicates that similar conditions + are best for all sorts of races. Finns from the Arctic Circle and Italians + of sunny Sicily have the best health and greatest energy under practically + the same conditions; so too with Frenchmen, Japanese, and Americans. Most + surprising of all, the African black man in the United States is likewise + at his best in essentially the same kind of weather that is most favorable + for his white fellow-citizens, and for Finns, Italians, and other races. + For the red race, no exact figures are available, but general observation + of the Indian's health and activity suggests that in this respect he is at + one with the rest of mankind. + </p> + <p> + For the source of any characteristic so widespread and uniform as this + adaptation to environment we must go back to the very beginning of the + human race. Such a characteristic must have become firmly fixed in the + human constitution before primitive man became divided into races, or at + least before any of the races had left their original home and started on + their long journey to America. On the way to this continent one race took + on a dark reddish or brownish hue and its hair grew straight and black; + another became black skinned and crinkly-haired, while a third developed a + white skin and wavy blonde hair. Yet throughout the thousands of years + which brought about these changes, all the races apparently retained the + indelible constitutional impress of the climate of their common + birthplace. Man's physical adaptation to climate seems to be a deep-seated + physiological fact like the uniformity of the temperature of the blood in + all races. Just as a change in the temperature of the blood brings + distress to the individual, so a change of climate apparently brings + distress to a race. Again and again, to be sure, on the way to America, + and under many other circumstances, man has passed through the most + adverse climates and has survived, but he has flourished and waxed strong + only in certain zones. + </p> + <p> + Curiously enough man's body and his mind appear to differ in their + climatic adaptations. Moreover, in this respect the black race, and + perhaps the red, appears to be diverse from the white. In America an + investigation of the marks of students at West Point and Annapolis + indicates that the best mental work is done when the temperature averages + not much above 40 degrees F. for night and day together. Tests of school + children in Denmark point to a similar conclusion. On the other hand, + daily tests of twenty-two Negroes at Hampton Institute for sixteen months + suggest that their mental ability may be greatest at a temperature only a + little lower than that which is best for the most efficient physical + activity. No tests of this sort have ever been made upon Indians, but such + facts as the inventiveness of the Eskimo, the artistic development of the + people of northern British Columbia and southern Alaska, and the + relatively high civilization of the cold regions of the Peruvian plateau + suggest that the Indian in this respect is more like the white race than + the black. Perhaps man's mental powers underwent their chief evolution + after the various races had left the aboriginal home in which the physical + characteristics became fixed. Thus the races, though alike in their + physical response to climate, may possibly be different in their mental + response because they have approached America by different paths. + </p> + <p> + Before we can understand how man may have been modified on his way from + his original home to America, we must inquire as to the geographical + situation of that home. Judging by the climate which mankind now finds + most favorable, the human race must have originated in the temperate + regions of Europe, Asia, or North America. We are not entirely without + evidence to guide to a choice of one of the three continents. There is a + scarcity of indications of preglacial man in the New World and an + abundance of such indications in the Old. To be sure, several skulls found + in America have been supposed to belong to a time before the last glacial + epoch. In every case, however, there has been something to throw doubt on + the conclusion. For instance, some human bones found at Vero in Florida in + 1915 seem to be very old. Certain circumstances, however, suggest that + possibly they may not really belong to the layers of gravel in which they + were discovered but may have been inserted at some later time. In the Old + World, on the contrary, no one doubts that many human skulls and other + parts of skeletons belong to the interglacial epoch preceding the last + glacial epoch, while some appear to date from still more remote periods. + Therefore no matter at what date man may have come to America, it seems + clear that he existed in the Old World much earlier. This leaves us to + choose between Europe and Asia. The evidence points to central Asia as + man's original home, for the general movement of human migrations has been + outward from that region and not inward. So, too, with the great families + of mammals, as we know from fossil remains. From the earliest geological + times the vast interior of Asia has been the great mother of the world, + the source from which the most important families of living things have + come. + </p> + <p> + Suppose, then, that we place in central Asia the primitive home of the + thin-skinned, hairless human race with its adaptation to a highly variable + climate with temperatures ranging from freezing to eighty degrees. Man + could not stay there forever. He was bound to spread to new regions, + partly because of his innate migratory tendency and partly because of + Nature's stern urgency. Geologists are rapidly becoming convinced that the + mammals spread from their central Asian point of origin largely because of + great variations in climate. * Such variations have taken place on an + enormous scale during geological times. They seem, indeed, to be one of + the most important factors in evolution. Since early man lived through the + successive epochs of the glacial period, he must have been subject to the + urgency of vast climatic changes. During the half million years more or + less of his existence, cold, stormy, glacial epochs lasting tens of + thousands of years have again and again been succeeded by warm, dry, + interglacial epochs of equal duration. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * W. D. Matthew. "Climate and Evolution," N. Y. Acad. Sci., 1915. +</pre> + <p> + During the glacial epochs the interior of Asia was well watered and full + of game which supplied the primitive human hunters. With the advent of + each interglacial epoch the rains diminished, grass and trees disappeared, + and the desert spread over enormous tracts. Both men and animals must have + been driven to sore straits for lack of food. Migration to better regions + was the only recourse. Thus for hundreds of thousands of years there + appears to have been a constantly recurring outward push from the center + of the world's greatest land mass. That push, with the consequent + overcrowding of other regions, seems to have been one of the chief forces + impelling people to migrate and cover the earth. + </p> + <p> + Among the primitive men who were pushed outward from the Asian deserts + during a period of aridity, one group migrated northeastward toward the + Kamchatkan corner of Asia. Whether they reached Bering Sea and the + Kamchatkan shore before the next epoch of glaciation we do not know. + Doubtless they moved slowly, perhaps averaging only a few score or a + hundred miles per generation, for that is generally the way with + migrations of primitive people advancing into unoccupied territory. Yet + sometimes they may have moved with comparative rapidity. I have seen a + tribe of herdsmen in central Asia abandon its ancestral home and start on + a zigzag march of a thousand miles because of a great drought. The grass + was so scanty that there was not enough to support the animals. The tribe + left a trail of blood, for wherever it moved it infringed upon the rights + of others and so with conflict was driven onward. In some such way the + primitive wanderers were kept in movement until at last they reached the + bleak shores of the North Pacific. Even there something—perhaps + sheer curiosity—still urged them on. The green island across the bay + may have been so enticing that at last a raft of logs was knotted together + with stout withes. Perhaps at first the men paddled themselves across + alone, but the hunting and fishing proved so good that at length they took + the women and children with them, and so advanced another step along the + route toward America. At other times distress, strife, or the search for + game may have led the primitive nomads on and on along the coast until a + day came when the Asian home was left and the New World was entered. The + route by which primitive man entered America is important because it + determined the surroundings among which the first Americans lived for many + generations. It has sometimes been thought that the red men came to + America by way of the Kurile Islands, Kamchatka, and the Aleutian Islands. + If this was their route, they avoided a migration of two or three thousand + miles through one of the coldest and most inhospitable of regions. This, + however, is far from probable. The distance from Kamchatka to the first of + the Aleutian Islands is over one hundred miles. As the island is not in + sight from the mainland, there is little chance that a band of savages, + including women, would deliberately sail thither. There is equally little + probability that they walked to the island on the ice, for the sea is + never frozen across the whole width. Nevertheless the climate may at that + time have been colder than now. There is also a chance that a party of + savages may have been blown across to the island in a storm. Suppose that + they succeeded in reaching Bering Island, as the most Asiatic of the + Aleutians is called, the next step to Copper Island would be easy. Then, + however, there comes a stretch of more than two hundred miles. The chances + that a family would ever cross this waste of ocean are much smaller than + in the first case. Still another possibility remains. Was there once a + bridge of land from Asia to America in this region? There is no evidence + of such a link between the two continents, for a few raised beaches + indicate that during recent geological times the Aleutian Islands have + been uplifted rather than depressed. + </p> + <p> + The passage from Asia to America at Bering Strait, on the other hand, is + comparatively easy. The Strait itself is fifty-six miles wide, but in the + middle there are two small islands so that the longest stretch of water is + only about thirty-five miles. Moreover the Strait is usually full of ice, + which frequently becomes a solid mass from shore to shore. Therefore it + would be no strange thing if some primitive savages, in hunting for seals + or polar bears, crossed the Strait, even though they had no boats. Today + the people on both sides of the Strait belong to the American race. They + still retain traditions of a time when their ancestors crossed this narrow + strip of water. The Thilanottines have a legend that two giants once + fought fiercely on the Arctic Ocean. One would have been defeated had not + a man whom he had befriended cut the tendon of his adversary's leg. The + wounded giant fell into Bering Strait and formed a bridge across which the + reindeer entered America. Later came a strange woman bringing iron and + copper. She repeated her visits until the natives insulted her, whereupon + she went underground with her fire-made treasures and came back no more. + Whatever may have been the circumstances that led the earliest families to + cross from Asia to America, they little recked that they had found a new + continent and that they were the first of the red race. + </p> + <p> + Unless the first Americans came to the new continent by way of the Kurile + and Aleutian Islands, it was probably their misfortune to spend many + generations in the cold regions of northeastern Asia and northwestern + America. Even if they reached Alaska by the Aleutian route but came to the + islands by way of the northern end of the Kamchatkan Peninsula, they must + have dwelt in a place where the January temperature averages -10 degrees + F. and where there are frosts every month in the year. If they came across + Bering Strait, they encountered a still more severe climate. The winters + there are scarcely worse than in northern Kamchatka, but the summers are + as cold as the month of March in New York or Chicago. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps a prolonged sojourn in such a climate is one reason for the stolid + character of the Indians. Of course we cannot speak with certainty, but we + must, in our search for an explanation, consider the conditions of life in + the far north. Food is scanty at all times, and starvation is a frequent + visitor, especially in winter when game is hard to get. The long periods + of cold and darkness are terribly enervating. The nervous white man goes + crazy if he stays too long in Alaska. Every spring the first boats + returning to civilization carry an unduly large proportion of men who have + lost their minds because they have endured too many dark, cold winters. + His companions say of such a man, "The North has got him." Almost every + Alaskan recognizes the danger. As one man said to a friend, "It is time I + got out of here." + </p> + <p> + "Why?" said the friend, "you seem all right. What's the matter?" + </p> + <p> + "Well," said the other, "you see I begin to like the smell of skunk + cabbage, and, when a man gets that way, it's time he went somewhere else." + </p> + <p> + The skunk cabbage, by the way, grows in Alaska in great thickets ten feet + high. The man was perfectly serious, for he meant that his mind was + beginning to act in ways that were not normal. Nowhere is the strain of + life in the far north better described than in the poems of Robert W. + Service. + </p> + <p> + Oh, the awful hush that seemed to crush me down on every hand, As I + blundered blind with a trail to find through that blank and bitter land; + Half dazed, half crazed in the winter wild, with its grim heartbreaking + woes, And the ruthless strife for a grip on life that only the sourdough + knows! North by the compass, North I pressed; river and peak and plain + Passed like a dream I slept to lose and waked to dream again. River and + plain and mighty peak—and who could stand unawed? As their summits + blazed, he could stand undazed at the foot of the throne of God. North, + aye, North, through a land accurst, shunned by the scouring brutes, And + all I heard was my own harsh word and the whine of the malamutes, Till at + last I came to a cabin squat, built in the side of a hill, And I burst in + the door, and there on the floor, frozen to death, lay Bill. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * From "Ballads of a Cheechako." +</pre> + <p> + The human organism inherits so delicate an adjustment to climate that, in + spite of man's boasted ability to live anywhere, the strain of the frozen + North eliminates the more nervous and active types of mind. Only those can + endure whose nerves lack sensitiveness and who are able to bear long + privation and the strain of hunger and cold and darkness. Though the + Indian may differ from the white man in many respects, such conditions are + probably as bad for him as for any race. For this reason it is not + improbable that long sojourns at way stations on the cold, Alaskan route + from central Asia may have weeded out certain types of minds. Perhaps that + is why the Indian, though brave, stoical, and hardy, does not possess the + alert, nervous temperament which leads to invention and progress. + </p> + <p> + The ancestors of the red man unwittingly chose the easiest path to America + and so entered the continent first, but this was their misfortune. They + could not inherit the land because they chose a path whose unfavorable + influence, exerted throughout centuries, left them unable to cope with + later arrivals from other directions. The parts of America most favorable + for the Indian are also best for the white man and Negro. There the + alerter minds of the Europeans who migrated in the other direction have + quickly eliminated the Indian. His long northern sojourn may be the reason + why farther south in tropical lands he is even now at a disadvantage + compared with the Negro or with the coolie from the East Indies. In + Central America, for instance, it is generally recognized that Negroes + stand the heat and moisture of the lowlands better than Indians. According + to a competent authority: "The American Indians cannot bear the heat of + the tropics even as well as the European, not to speak of the African + race. They perspire little, their skin becomes hot, and they are easily + prostrated by exertion in an elevated temperature. They are peculiarly + subject to diseases of hot climates, as hepatic disorders, showing none of + the immunity of the African. Furthermore, the finest physical specimens of + the race are found in the colder regions of the temperate zones, the + Pampas and Patagonian Indians in the south, the Iroquois and Algonkins in + the north; whereas, in the tropics they are generally undersized, + short-lived, of inferior muscular force and with slight tolerance of + disease." * "No one," adds another observer, "could live among the Indians + of the Upper Amazon without being struck with their constitutional dislike + to heat. The impression forced itself upon my mind that the Indian lives + as a stranger or immigrant in these hot regions." * * Thus when compared + with the other inhabitants of America, from every point of view the Indian + seems to be at a disadvantage, much of which may be due to the path which + he took from the Old World to the New. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * D. G. Brinton, "The American Race," pp. 34, 35. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * * H. W. Bates, "The Naturalist on the River Amazons." vol.II, +pp. 200, 201. +</pre> + <p> + Before the red man lost his American heritage, he must have enjoyed it for + thousands upon thousands of years. Otherwise he never could have become so + different from his nearest relative, the Mongol. The two are as truly + distinct races as are the white man and the Malay. Nor could the Indians + themselves have become so extraordinarily diverse except during the lapse + of thousands of years. The Quichua of the cold highlands of Peru is as + different from the Maya of Yucatan or the Huron of southern Canada as the + Swede is from the Armenian or the Jew. The separation of one stock from + another has gone so far that almost countless languages have been + developed. In the United States alone the Indians have fifty-five + "families" of languages and in the whole of America there are nearly two + hundred such groups. These comprise over one thousand distinct languages + which are mutually unintelligible and at least as different as Spanish and + Italian. Such differences might arise in a day at the Tower of Babel, but + in the processes of evolution they take thousands of years. + </p> + <p> + During those thousands of years the red man, in spite of his Arctic + handicap, by no means showed himself wholly lacking in originality and + inventive ability. In Yucatan two or three thousand years ago the Mayas + were such good scientists and recorded their observations of the stars so + accurately that they framed a calendar more exact than any except the one + that we have used for the last two centuries. They showed still greater + powers of mind in inventing the art of writing and in their architecture. + Later we shall depict the environment under which these things occurred; + it is enough to suggest in passing that perhaps at this period the + ancestors of the Indians had capacities as great as those of any people. + Today they might possibly hold their own against the white man, were it + not for the great handicap which they once suffered because Asia + approaches America only in the cold, depressing north. + </p> + <p> + The Indians were not the only primitive people who were driven from + central Asia by aridity. Another group pushed westward toward Europe. They + fared far better than their Indian cousins who went to the northeast. + These prospective Europeans never encountered benumbing physical + conditions like those of northeastern Asia and northwestern America. Even + when ice shrouded the northern part of Europe, the rest of the continent + was apparently favored with a stimulating climate. Then as now, Europe was + probably one of the regions where storms are most frequent. Hence it was + free from the monotony which is so deadly in other regions. When the ice + retreated our European ancestors doubtless followed slowly in its wake. + Thus their racial character was evolved in one of the world's most + stimulating regions. Privation they must have suffered, and hardihood and + boldness were absolutely essential in the combat with storms, cold, wild + beasts, fierce winds, and raging waves. But under the spur of constant + variety and change, these difficulties were merely incentives to progress. + When the time came for the people of the west of Europe to cross to + America, they were of a different caliber from the previous immigrants. + </p> + <p> + Two facts of physical geography brought Europe into contact with America. + One of these was the islands of the North, the other the trade-winds of + the South. Each seems to have caused a preliminary contact which failed to + produce important results. As in the northern Pacific, so in the northern + Atlantic, islands are stepping-stones from the Old World to the New. Yet + because in the latter case the islands are far apart, it is harder to + cross the water from Norway and the Lofoten Islands to Iceland and + Greenland than it is to cross from Asia by way of the Aleutian Islands or + Bering Strait. Nevertheless in the tenth century of the Christian era bold + Norse vikings made the passage in the face of storm and wind. In their + slender open ships they braved the elements on voyage after voyage. We + think of the vikings as pirates, and so they were. But they were also + diligent colonists who tilled the ground wherever it would yield even the + scantiest living. In Iceland and Greenland they must have labored mightily + to carry on the farms of which the Sagas tell us. When they made their + voyages, honest commerce was generally in their minds quite as much as was + plunder. Leif, the son of that rough Red Eric who first settled Greenland, + made a famous voyage to Vinland, the mainland of America. Like so many + other voyagers he was bent on finding a region where men could live + happily and on filling his boats with grapes, wood, or other commodities + worth carrying home. + </p> + <p> + In view of the energy of the Norsemen, the traces of their presence in the + Western Hemisphere are amazingly slight. In Greenland a few insignificant + heaps of stones are supposed to show where some of them built small + villages. Far in the north Stefansson found fair-haired, blue-eyed + Eskimos. These may be descendants of the Norsemen, although they have + migrated thousands of miles from Greenland. In Maine the Micmac Indians + are said to have had a curious custom which they may have learned from the + vikings. When a chief died, they chose his largest canoe. On it they piled + dry wood, and on the wood they placed the body. Then they set fire to the + pile and sent the blazing boat out to sea. Perhaps in earlier times the + Micmacs once watched the flaming funeral pyre of a fair-haired viking. As + the ruddy flames leaped skyward and were reflected in the shimmering waves + of the great waters the tribesmen must have felt that the Great Spirit + would gladly welcome a chief who came in such a blaze of glory. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * For this information I am indebted to Mr. Stansbury Hagar. +</pre> + <p> + It seems strange that almost no other traces of the strong vikings are + found in America. The explanation lies partly in the length and difficulty + of the ocean voyage, and partly in the inhospitable character of the two + great islands that served as stepping-stones from the Old World to the + New. Iceland with its glaciers, storms, and long dreary winters is bad + enough. Greenland is worse. Merely the tip of that island was known to the + Norse—and small wonder, for then as now most of Greenland was + shrouded in ice. Various Scandinavian authors, however, have thought that + during the most prosperous days of the vikings the conditions in Greenland + were not quite so bad as at the present day. One settlement, Osterbyden, + numbered 190 farms, 12 churches, 2 monasteries, and 1 bishopric. It is + even stated that apple-trees bore fruit and that some wheat was raised. + "Cattle-raising and fishing," says Pettersson, "appear to have procured a + good living.... At present the whole stock of cattle in Greenland does not + amount to 100 animals." * In those days the ice which borders all the east + coast and much of the west seems to have been less troublesome than now. + In the earliest accounts nothing is said of this ice as a danger to + navigation. We are told that the best sailing route was through the strait + north of Cape Farewell Island, where today no ships can pass because of + the ice. Since the days of the Norsemen the glaciers have increased in + size, for the natives say that certain ruins are now buried beneath the + ice, while elsewhere ruins can be seen which have been cut off from the + rest of the country by advancing glacial tongues. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * O. Pettersson, "Climatic Variations in Historic and Prehistoric +Times." Svenska Hydrogrifisk—Biologiska Kommissioneur Skrifter, Haft V. +Stockholm. +</pre> + <p> + Why the Norsemen disappeared from the Western Hemisphere we do not exactly + know, but there are interesting hints of an explanation. It appears that + the fourteenth century was a time of great distress. In Norway the crops + failed year after year because of cold and storms. Provinces which were + formerly able to support themselves by agriculture were obliged to import + food. The people at home were no longer able to keep in touch with the + struggling colony in Greenland. No supplies came from the home land, no + reenforcements to strengthen the colonists and make them feel that they + were a part of the great world. Moreover in the late Norse sagas much is + said about the ice along the Greenland coast, which seems to have been + more abundant than formerly. Even the Eskimos seem to have been causing + trouble, though formerly they had been a friendly, peaceable people who + lived far to the north and did not disturb the settlers. In the fourteenth + century, however, they began to make raids such as are common when + primitive people fall into distress. Perhaps the storms and the advancing + ice drove away the seals and other animals, so that the Eskimos were left + hungry. They consequently migrated south and, in the fifteenth century, + finally wiped out the last of the old Norse settlers. If the Norse had + established permanent settlements on the mainland of North America, they + might have persisted to this day. As it was, the cold, bleak climate of + the northern route across the Atlantic checked their progress. Like the + Indians, they had the misfortune of finding a route to America through + regions that are not good for man. + </p> + <p> + Though islands may be stepping-stones between the Old World and the New, + they have not been the bringers of civilization. That function in the + history of man has been left to the winds. The westerlies, however, which + are the prevailing winds in the latitude of the United States and Europe, + have not been of much importance. On the Atlantic side they were for many + centuries a barrier to contact between the Old World and the New. On the + Pacific side they have been known to blow Japanese vessels to the shores + of America contrary to the will of the mariners. Perhaps the same thing + may have happened in earlier times. Asia may thus have made some slight + contribution to primitive America, but no important elements of + civilization can be traced to this source. + </p> + <p> + From latitude 30 degrees N. to 30 degrees S. the tradewinds prevail. As + they blow from the east, they make it easy for boats to come from Africa + to America. In comparatively recent times they brought the slave ships + from the Guinea coast to our Southern States. The African, like the + Indian, has passed through a most unfavorable environment on his way from + central Asia to America. For ages he was doomed to live in a climate where + high temperature and humidity weed out the active type of human being. + Since activity like that of Europe means death in a tropical climate, the + route by way of Africa has been if anything worse than by Bering Strait. + </p> + <p> + By far the most important occurrence which can be laid at the door of the + trade-winds is the bringing of the civilization of Europe and the + Mediterranean to the New World. Twice this may have happened, but the + first occurrence is doubtful and left only a slight impress. For thousands + of years the people around the Mediterranean Sea have been bold sailors. + Before 600 B.C. Pharaoh Necho, so Herodotus says, had sent Phenician ships + on a three-year cruise entirely around Africa. The Phenicians also sailed + by way of Gibraltar to England to bring tin from Cornwall, and by 500 B.C. + the Carthaginians were well acquainted with the Atlantic coast of northern + Africa. + </p> + <p> + At some time or other, long before the Christian era, a ship belonging to + one of the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean was probably blown to the + shores of America by the steady trade-winds. Of course, no one can say + positively that such a voyage occurred. Yet certain curious similarities + between the Old World and the New enable us to infer with a great deal of + probability that it actually happened. The mere fact, for example, that + the adobe houses of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are strikingly like + the houses of northern Africa and Persia is no proof that the civilization + of the Old World and the New are related. A similar physical environment + might readily cause the same type of house to be evolved in both places. + When we find striking similarities of other kinds, however, the case + becomes quite different. The constellations of the zodiac, for instance, + are typified by twelve living creatures, such as the twins, the bull, the + lion, the virgin, the crab, and the goat. Only one of the constellations, + the scorpion, presents any real resemblance to the animal for which it is + named. Yet the signs of the zodiac in Mediterranean lands and in + pre-Columbian America from Peru to southern Mexico are almost identical. + Here is a list showing the Latin and English names of the constellations + and their equivalents in the calendars of the Peruvians, Mexicans, and + Mayas. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * See S. Hagar, "The Bearing of Astronomy on the Problems of the +Unity or Plurality and the Probable Place of Origin of the American +Aborigines, in American Anthropologist," vol. XIV (1912), pp. 43-48. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sign English Peruvian Mexican Maya + ———————————————————————————— + Aries Ram Llama Flayer — + + Taurus Bull (originally Stag) + Stag Stag or Deer Stag + + Gemini Twins Man and Woman Twins Two Generals + + Cancer Crab Cuttlefish Cuttlefish Cuttlefish + + Leo Lion Puma Ocelot Ocelot + + Virgo Virgin (Mother Goddess of Cereals) + Maize Mother Maize Mother Maize Mother + + Libra Scales (originally part of Scorpio) + Forks Scorpion Scorpion + + Scorpio Scorpion Mummy Scorpion Scorpion + + Sagittarius Bowman Arrows or Spears + Hunter and War God Hunter and War God + + Capricornus Sea Goat Beard Bearded God — + + Aquarius Water Pourer Water Water Water + + Pisces Fishes(and Knot) Knot Twisted Reeds — +</pre> + <p> + Notice how closely these lists are alike. The ram does not appear in + America because no such animal was known there. The nearest substitute was + the llama. In the Old World the second constellation is now called the + bull, but curiously enough in earlier days it was called the stag in + Mesopotamia. The twins, instead of being Castor and Pollux, may equally + well be a man and a woman or two generals. To landsmen not familiar with + creatures of the deep, the crab and the cuttlefish would not seem greatly + different. The lion is unknown in America, but the creature which most + nearly takes his place is the puma or ocelot. So it goes with all the + signs of the zodiac. There are little differences between the Old World + and the New, but they only emphasize the resemblance. Mathematically there + is not one chance in thousands or even millions that such a resemblance + could grow up by accident. Other similarities between ceremonies or + religious words in the Old World and the New might be pointed out, but the + zodiac is illustration enough. + </p> + <p> + Such resemblances, however, do not indicate a permanent connection between + Mediterranean civilization and that of Central America. They do not even + indicate that any one ever returned from the Western Hemisphere to the + Eastern previous to Columbus. Nor do they indicate that the civilization + of the New World arose from that of the Old. They simply suggest that + after the people of the Mediterranean regions had become well civilized + and after those of America were also sufficiently civilized to assimilate + new ideas, a stray ship or two was blown by the trade-winds across the + Atlantic. That hypothetical voyage was the precursor of the great journey + of Columbus. Without the tradewinds this historic discoverer never could + have found the West Indies. Suppose that a strong west wind had blown him + backward on his course when his men were mutinous. Suppose that he had + been forced to beat against head winds week after week. Is there one + chance in a thousand that even his indomitable spirit could have kept his + craft headed steadily into the west? But because there were the + trade-winds to bring him, the way was opened for the energetic people of + Europe to possess the new continent. Thus the greatest stream of + immigration commenced to flow, and the New World began to take on a + European aspect. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. THE FORM OF THE CONTINENT + </h2> + <p> + America forms the longest and straightest bone in the earth's skeleton. + The skeleton consists of six great bones, which may be said to form a + spheroidal tetrahedron, or pyramid with a triangular base, for when a + globe with a fairly rigid surface collapses because of shrinkage, it tends + to assume this form. That is what has happened to the earth. Geologists + tell us that during the thousand million years, more or less, since + geological history began, the earth has grown cooler and hence has + contracted. Moreover some of the chemical compounds of the interior have + been transformed into other compounds which occupy less space. For these + reasons the earth appears to have diminished in size until now its + diameter is from two hundred to four hundred miles less than formerly. + During the process of contraction the crust has collapsed in four main + areas, roughly triangular in shape. Between these stand the six ridges + which we have called the bones. Each of the four depressed areas forms a + side of our tetrahedron and is occupied by an ocean. The ridges and the + areas immediately flanking the oceans form the continents. The side which + we may think of as the base contains the Arctic Ocean. The ridges + surrounding it are broad and flat. Large parts of them stand above + sea-level and form the northern portions of North America, Europe, and + Asia. A second side is the Pacific Ocean with the great ridge of the two + Americas on one hand and Asia and Australia on the other. Next comes the + side containing the Indian Ocean in the hollow and the ridges of Africa + and Australia on either hand. The last of the four sides contains the + Atlantic Ocean and is bounded by Africa and Europe on one hand and North + and South America on the other. Finally the tip of the pyramid projects + above the surrounding waters, and forms the continent of Antarctica. + </p> + <p> + It may seem a mere accident that this tip lies near the South Pole, while + the center of the opposite face lies near the North Pole. Yet this has + been of almost infinite importance in the evolution not only of plants and + animals but of men. The reason is that this arrangement gives rise to a + vast and almost continuous land mass in comparatively high latitudes. Only + in such places does evolution appear to make rapid progress. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * W. D. Matthew, "Climate and Evolution," N. Y. Acad. Sci., 1915. +</pre> + <p> + Evolution is especially stimulated by two conditions. The first is that + there shall be marked changes in the environment so that the process of + natural selection has full opportunity to do its work. The second is that + numerous new forms or mutants, as the biologists call them, shall be + produced. Both of these conditions are most fully met in large continents + in the temperate zone, for in such places climatic variations are most + extreme. Such variations may take the form of extreme changes either from + day to night, from season to season, or from one century to another. In + any case, as Darwin long ago pointed out, they cause some forms of life to + perish while others survive. Thus climatic variations are among the most + powerful factors in causing natural selection and hence in stimulating + evolution. Moreover it has lately been shown that variations in + temperature are one of the chief causes of organic variation. Morgan and + Plough, * for example, have discovered that when a certain fly, called the + drosophila, is subjected to extremes of heat or cold, the offspring show + an unusually strong tendency to differ from the parents. Hence the + climatic variability of the interior of large continents in temperate + latitudes provides new forms of life and then selects some of them for + preservation. The fossils found in the rocks of the earth's crust support + this view. They indicate that most of the great families of higher animals + originated in the central part of the great land mass of Europe and Asia. + A second but much smaller area of evolution was situated in the similar + part of North America. From these two centers new forms of life spread + outward to other continents. Their movements were helped by the fact that + the tetrahedral form of the earth causes almost all the continents to be + united by bridges of land. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Unpublished manuscript. +</pre> + <p> + If any one doubts the importance of the tetrahedral form, let him consider + how evolution would have been hampered if the land of the globe were + arranged as isolated masses in low latitudes, while oceans took the place + of the present northern continents. The backwardness of the indigenous + life of Africa shows how an equatorial position retards evolution. The + still more marked backwardness of Australia with its kangaroos and + duck-billed platypuses shows how much greater is the retardation when a + continent is also small and isolated. Today, no less than in the past, the + tetrahedral form of the earth and the relation of the tetrahedron to the + poles and to the equator preserve the conditions that favor rapid + evolution. They are the dominant factors in determining that America shall + be one of the two great centers of civilization. + </p> + <p> + If North and South America be counted as one major land mass, and Europe, + Asia, and Africa as another, the two present the same general features. + Yet their mountains, plains, and coastal indentations are so arranged that + what is on the east in one is on the west in the other. Their similarity + is somewhat like that of a man's two hands placed palms down on a table. + </p> + <p> + On a map of the world place a finger of one hand on the western end of + Alaska and a finger of the other on the northeastern tip of Asia and + follow the main bones of the two continents. See how the chief mountain + systems, the Pacific "cordilleras," trend away from one another, + southeastward and southwestward. In the centers of the continents they + expand into vast plateaus. That of America in the Rocky Mountain region of + the United States reaches a width of over a thousand miles, while that of + Asia in Tibet and western China expands to far greater proportions. + </p> + <p> + From the plateaus the two cordilleras swing abruptly Atlantic-ward. The + Eurasian cordillera extends through the Hindu Kush, Caucasus, and Asia + Minor ranges to southern Europe and the Alps. Then it passes on into Spain + and ends in the volcanoes of the Canary Islands. The American cordillera + swings eastward in Mexico and continues as the isolated ranges of the West + Indies until it ends in the volcanoes of Martinique. Central America + appears at first sight to be a continuation of the great cordillera, but + really it is something quite different—a mass of volcanic material + poured out in the gap where the main chain of mountains breaks down for a + space. In neither hemisphere, however, is the main southward sweep of the + mountains really lost. In the Old World the cordillera revives in the + mountains of Syria and southern Arabia and then runs southward along the + whole length of eastern Africa. In America it likewise revives in the + mighty Andes, which take their rise fifteen hundred miles east of the + broken end of the northern cordillera in Mexico. In the Andes even more + distinctly than in Africa the cordillera forms a mighty wall running north + and south. It expands into the plateau of Peru and Bolivia, just as its + African compeer expands into that of Abyssinia, but this is a mere + incident. The main bone, so to speak, keeps on in each case till it + disappears in the great southern ocean. Even there, however, it is not + wholly lost, for it revives in the cold, lofty continent of Antarctica, + where it coalesces once more with the other great tetrahedral ridges of + Africa and Australia. + </p> + <p> + It is easy to see that these great cordilleras have turned most of the + earth's chief rivers toward the Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans. That is + why these two oceans with an area of only forty-three million square miles + receive the drainage from twenty million square miles of land, while the + far larger Indian and Pacific Oceans with an area of ninety-one million + square miles receive the rivers of only ten million square miles. The + world's streams of civilization, like the rivers of water, have flowed + from the great cordilleras toward the Atlantic. Half of the world's + people, to be sure, are lodged in the relatively small areas known as + China and India on the Pacific side of the Old World cordillera. + Nevertheless the active streams of civilization have flowed mainly on the + other side—the side where man apparently originated. From the + earliest times the mountains have served to determine man's chief + migrations. Their rugged fastnesses hinder human movements and thereby + give rise to a strong tendency to move parallel to their bases. During the + days of primitive man the trend of the mountains apparently directed his + migrations northeastward to Bering Strait and then southeastward and + southward from one end of America to the other. In the same way the + migrations to Europe and Africa which ultimately reached America moved + mainly parallel to the mountains. + </p> + <p> + From end to end of America the great mountains form a sharp dividing line. + The aboriginal tribes on the Pacific slope are markedly different from + those farther east across the mountains. Brinton sums the case up + admirably: + </p> + <p> + "As a rule the tribes of the western coast are not connected with any east + of the mountains. What is more singular, although they differ surprisingly + among themselves in language, they have marked anthropologic similarities, + physical and psychical. Virchow has emphasized the fact that the skulls + from the northern point of Vancouver's Island reveal an unmistakable + analogy to those from the southern coast of California; and this is to a + degree true of many intermediate points. Not that the crania have the same + indices. On the contrary, they present great and constant differences + within the same tribe; but these differences are analogous one to the + other, and on fixed lines. + </p> + <p> + "There are many other physical similarities which mark the Pacific Indians + and contrast them with those east of the mountains. The eyes are less + oblique, the nose flatter, the lips fuller, the chin more pointed, the + face wider. There is more hair on the face and in the axilla, and the + difference between the sexes is much more obvious. + </p> + <p> + "The mental character is also in contrast. The Pacific tribes are more + quiet, submissive, and docile; they have less courage, and less of that + untamable independence which is so constant a feature in the history of + the Algonquins and Iroquois." * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * D. G. Brinton, "The American Race," pp. 103-4. +</pre> + <p> + Although mountains may guide migrations, the plains are the regions where + people dwell in greatest numbers. The plains in the two great land masses + of the Old World and the New have the same inverse or right- and + left-handed symmetry as the mountains. In the north the vast stretches + from the Mackenzie River to the Gulf of Mexico correspond to the plains of + Siberia and Russia from the Lena to the Black Sea. Both regions have a + vast sweep of monotonous tundras at the north and both become fertile + granaries in the center. Before the white man introduced the horse, the + ox, and iron ploughs, there prevailed an extraordinary similarity in the + habits of the plains Indians from Texas to Alberta. All alike depended on + the buffalo; all hunted him in much the same way; all used his skins for + tents and robes, his bones for tools, and his horns for utensils. All + alike made him the center of their elaborate rituals and dances. Because + the plains of North America were easy to traverse, the relatively high + culture of the ancient people of the South spread into the Mississippi + Valley. Hence the Natchez tribe of Mississippi had a highly developed form + of sun-worship and a well-defined caste system with three grades of + nobility in addition to the common people. Even farther north, almost to + the Ohio River, traces of the sun-worship of Mexico had penetrated along + the easy pathway of the plains. + </p> + <p> + South of the great granaries of North America and Eurasia the plains are + broken, but occur again in the Orinoco region of South America and the + Sahara of Africa. Thence they stretch almost unbroken toward the southern + end of the continents. In view of the fertility of the plains it is + strange that the centers of civilization have so rarely been formed in + these vast level expanses. + </p> + <p> + The most striking of the inverse resemblances between America and the Old + World are found along the Atlantic border. In the north of Europe the + White Sea corresponds to Hudson Bay in America. Farther toward the + Atlantic Ocean Scandinavia with its mountains, glaciers, and fiords is + similar to Labrador, although more favored because warmer. Next the + islands of Great Britain occupy a position similar to that of Newfoundland + and Prince Edward Island. But here again the eastern climate is much more + favorable than the western. Although practically all of Newfoundland is + south of England, the American island has only six inhabitants per square + mile, while the European country has six hundred. To the east of the + British Isles the North Sea, the Baltic, and Lakes Ladoga and Onega + correspond in striking fashion to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the river of + the same name, and the Great Lakes from Ontario to Superior. Next the + indented shores of western France and the peninsula of Spain resemble our + own indented coast and the peninsula of Florida. Here at last the American + regions are as favored as the European. Farther south the Mediterranean + and Black seas penetrate far into the interior just as does the Gulf of + Mexico, and each continent is nearly cut in two where the canals of Suez + and Panama respectively have been trenched. Finally in the southern + continents a long swing eastward in America balances a similar swing + westward in Africa. Thus Cape Saint Roque and Cape Verde are separated by + scarcely 16 degrees of longitude, although the extreme points of the Gulf + of Mexico and the Black Sea are 140 degrees apart. Finally to the south of + the equator the continents swing away from one another once more, + preserving everywhere the same curious inverse relationship. + </p> + <p> + Even more striking than the inverse resemblance of the New World to the + Old is the direct similarity of North and South America. In physical form + the two continents are astonishingly alike. Not only does each have the + typical triangular form which would naturally arise from tetrahedral + shrinking of the globe, but there are four other cardinal points of + resemblance. First, in the northeast each possesses an area of extremely + ancient rocks, the Laurentian highlands of Quebec and Labrador in North + America and the highlands of Guiana in South America. Second, in the + southeast lie highlands of old but not the most ancient rocks stretching + from northeast to southwest in the Appalachian region of North America, + and in the Brazilian mountains of the southern continent. Third, along the + western side of each continent recent crustal movements supplemented by + volcanic action on a magnificent scale have given rise to a complex series + of younger mountains, the two great cordilleras. Finally, the spaces + between the three mountain masses are occupied by a series of vast + confluent plains which in each case extend from the northern ocean to the + southern and bend around the southeastern highlands. These plains are the + newest part of America, for many of them have emerged from the sea only in + recent geological times. Taken as a whole the resemblance between the two + continents is striking. + </p> + <p> + If these four physiographic provinces of North and South America lay in + similar latitudes in the respective continents we might expect each pair + to have a closely similar effect on life. In fauna, flora, and even in + human history they would present broad and important resemblances. As a + matter of fact, however, they are as different as can well be imagined. + Where North America, is bathed by icy waters full of seals and floating + ice South America is bathed by warm seas full of flying-fish and coral + reefs. The northern continent is broadest in the cool latitudes that are + most favorable for human activity. The southern expands most widely in + latitudes whose debilitating monotony of heat and moisture is the worst of + handicaps to human progress. The great rivers of the northern continent + correspond very closely to those of the southern. The Mackenzie, however, + is bound in the rigid bands of winter for eight months each year, while + the Orinoco, the corresponding South American river, lies sweltering under + a tropical sun which burns its grassy plains to bitter dust even as the + sharp cold reduced the Mackenzie region to barren tundra. The St. Lawrence + flows through fertile grain fields and the homes of an active people of + the temperate zone, but the Amazon winds its slow way amid the malarious + languor of vast tropical forests in which the trees shut out the sky and + the few natives are apathetic with the eternal inertia of the hot, damp + tropics. + </p> + <p> + Only when we come to the Mississippi in the northern continent and the Rio + de la Plata in the southern do we find a pair of rivers which correspond + to any degree in the character of the life surrounding them, as well as in + their physiographic character. Yet even here there is a vast difference, + especially in the upper courses of the river. Each at its mouth flows + through a rich, fertile plain occupied by a progressive, prosperous + people. But the Rio de la Plata takes its rise in one of the world's most + backward plains, the home of uncivilized Indians, heartless rubber + adventurers, and the most rapacious of officials. Not infrequently, the + degenerate white men of these regions, yielding to the subtle and + insidious influence of the tropics, inflict the most outrageous abuses + upon the natives, and even kill them on slight provocation. The natives in + turn hate their oppressors, and when the chance comes betray them or leave + them to perish in sickness and misery. The upper Mississippi, on the other + hand, comes from a plain where agriculture is carried on with more + labor-saving devices than are found anywhere else in the world. There + States like Wisconsin and Minnesota stand in the forefront of educational + and social progress. The contrasts between the corresponding rivers of the + two Americas are typical of the contrasts in the history of the two + continents. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. THE GEOGRAPHIC PROVINCES OF NORTH AMERICA + </h2> + <p> + The four great physical divisions of North America—the Laurentian + highland, the Appalachian highland, the plains, and the western cordillera—are + strikingly different in form and structure. The Laurentian highland + presents a monotonous waste of rough hills, irregular valleys, picturesque + lakes, and crooked rivers. Most of it is thinly clothed with pine trees + and bushes such as the blueberry and huckleberry. Yet everywhere the + ancient rock crops out. No one can travel there without becoming + tiresomely familiar with fine-grained, shattered schists, coarse granites, + and their curiously banded relatives, the gneisses. This rocky highland + stretches from a little north of the St. Lawrence River to Hudson Bay, + around which it laps in the form of a V, and so is known as the Archaean V + or shield. + </p> + <p> + Everywhere this oldest part of the Western Hemisphere presents + unmistakable signs of great age. The schists by their fine crumpling and + scaly flakes of mineral show that they were formed deep in the bowels of + the earth, for only there could they be subjected to the enormous pressure + needed to transform their minerals into sheets as thin as paper. The + coarse granites and gneisses proclaim still more clearly that they must + have originated far down in the depths of the earth; their huge crystals + of mica, quartz, hornblende, feldspar, and other minerals could never have + been formed except under a blanket of rock which almost prevented the + original magmas from cooling. The thousands or tens of thousands of feet + of rock which once overlay the schists and still more the granites and + gneisses must have been slowly removed by erosion, for there was no other + way to get rid of them. This process must have taken tens of millions of + years, and yet the whole work must have been practically completed a + hundred or perhaps several hundred million years ago. We know this because + the selfsame ancient eroded surface which is exposed in the Laurentian + highland is found dipping down under the oldest known fossiliferous rocks. + Traces of that primitive land surface are found over a large part of the + American continent. Elsewhere they are usually buried under later strata + laid down when the continent sank in part below sea-level. Only in + Laurentia has the land remained steadily above the reach of the ocean + throughout the millions of years. + </p> + <p> + Today this old, old land might be as rich as many others if climate had + been kind to it. Its soil, to be sure, would in many parts be sandy + because of the large amount of quartz in the rocks. That would be a small + handicap, however, provided the soil were scores of feet deep like the red + soil of the corresponding highland in the Guiana region of South America. + But today the North American Laurentia has no soil worth mentioning. For + some reason not yet understood this was the part of America where snow + accumulated most deeply and where the largest glaciers were formed during + the last great glacial period. Not once but many times its granite surface + was shrouded for tens of thousands of years in ice a mile or more thick. + As the ice spread outward in almost every direction, it scraped away the + soil and gouged innumerable hollows in the softer parts of the underlying + rock. It left the Laurentian highland a land of rocky ribs rising between + clear lakes that fill the hollows. The lakes are drained by rapid rivers + which wind this way and that in hopeless confusion as they strive to move + seaward over the strangely uneven surface left by the ice. Such a land is + good for the hunter and trapper. It is also good for the summer + pleasure-seeker who would fain grow strong by paddling a canoe. For the + man who would make a permanent home it is a rough, inscrutable region + where one has need of more than most men's share of courage and + persistence. Not only did the climate of the past cause the ice to scrape + away the soil, but the climate of the present is so cold that even where + new soil has accumulated the farmer can scarcely make a living. + </p> + <p> + Around the borders of the Laurentian highland the ice accomplished a work + quite different from the devastation of the interior. One of its chief + activities was the scouring of a series of vast hollows which now hold the + world's largest series of lakes. Even the lakes of Central Africa cannot + compare with our own Great Lakes and the other smaller lakes which belong + to the same series. These additional lakes begin in the far north with + Great Bear Lake and continue through Great Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca, and + Lake Winnipeg to the Lake of the Woods, which drains into Lake Superior. + All these lakes lie on the edge of the great Laurentian shield, where the + ice, crowding down from the highland to the north and east, was compressed + into certain already existent hollows which it widened, deepened, and left + as vast bowls ready to be filled with lakes. + </p> + <p> + South and southwest of the Laurentian highland the great ice sheet proved + beneficial to man. There, instead of leaving the rock naked, as in the + Laurentian region, it merely smoothed off many of the irregularities of + the surface and covered large areas with the most fertile soil. + </p> + <p> + In doing this, to be sure, the ice-cap scoured some hollows and left a + vastly larger number of basins surrounded in whole or in part by glacial + debris. These have given rise to the innumerable lakes, large and small, + whose beauty so enhances the charms of Canada, New England, New York, + Minnesota, and other States. They serve as reservoirs for the water supply + of towns and power plants and as sources of ice and fish. Though they take + land from agriculture, they probably add to the life of the community as + much in other ways as they detract in this. Moreover glaciation diverted + countless streams from their old courses and made them flow over falls and + rapids from which water-power can easily be developed. That is one reason + why glaciated New England contains over forty per cent of all the + developed water-power in the United States. + </p> + <p> + Far more important, however, than the glacial lakes and rivers is the + fertile glacial soil. It comes fresh from the original rocks and has not + yet been exhausted by hundreds of thousands of years of weathering. It + also has the advantage of being well mixed, for generally it is the + product of scrapings from many kinds of rocks, each of which contributes + its own particular excellence to the general composition. Take Wisconsin + as an example. * Most parts of that State have been glaciated, but in the + southwest there lies what is known as the "driftless area" because it is + not covered with the "drift" or glacial debris which is thickly strewn + over the rest of the State. A comparison of otherwise similar counties + lying within and without the driftless area shows an astonishing contrast. + In 1910 the average value of all the farm land in twenty counties covered + with drift amounted to $56.90 per acre. In six counties partly covered + with drift and partly driftless the value was $59.80 per acre, while in + thirteen counties in the driftless area it was only $33.30 per acre. In + spite of the fact that glaciation causes swamps and lakes, the proportion + of land cultivated in the glaciated areas is larger than in the driftless. + In the glaciated area 61 per cent of the land is improved and in the + driftless area only 43.5 per cent. Moreover, even though the underlying + rock and the original topography be of the same kind in both cases, the + average yield of crops per acre is greater where the ice has done its + work. Where the country rock consists of limestone, which naturally forms + a rich soil, the difference in favor of the glaciated area amounts to only + 1 or 2 per cent. Where the country rock is sandy, the soil is so much + improved by a mixture of fertilizing limestone or even of clay and other + materials that the average yield of crops per acre in the glaciated areas + is a third larger than in the driftless. Taking everything into + consideration it appears that the ancient glaciation of Wisconsin + increases the present agricultural output by from 20 to 40 per cent. + Upwards of 10,000,000 acres of glaciated land have already been developed + in the most populous parts of the State. If the average value of all + products on this area is reckoned at $15 per acre and if the increased + value of agricultural products due to glaciation amounts to 30 per cent, + then the net value of glaciation per year to the farmers of Wisconsin is + $45,000,000. This means about $300 for each farmer in the glaciated area. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * R. H. Whitbeck, "Economic Aspects of Glaciation in Wisconsin", +in "Annals of the Association of American Geographers," vol. III in +(1913), pp. 62-67. +</pre> + <p> + Wisconsin is by no means unique. In Ohio, for instance, there is also a + driftless area. * It lies in the southeast along the Ohio River. The + difference in the value of the farm land there and in the glaciated region + is extraordinary. In the driftless area the average value per acre in 1910 + was less than $24, while in the glaciated area it was nearly $64. Year by + year the proportion of the population of the State in the unglaciated area + is steadily decreasing. The difference between the two parts of the State + is not due to the underlying rock structure or to the rainfall except to a + slight degree. Some of the difference is due to the fact that important + cities such as Cleveland and Toledo lie on the fertile level strip of land + along the lake shore, but this strip itself, as well as the lake, owes + much of its character to glaciation. It appears, therefore, that in Ohio, + perhaps even more than in Wisconsin, man prospers most in the parts where + the ice has done its work. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * William H. Hess, "The Influence of Glaciation in Ohio," in +"Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia," vol. XV (1917), +pp. 19-42. +</pre> + <p> + We have taken Wisconsin and Ohio as examples, but the effect of glaciation + in those States does not differ materially from its effect all over + southern Canada and the northern United States from New England to Kansas + and Minnesota. Each year the people of these regions are richer by perhaps + a billion dollars because the ice scraped its way down from Laurentia and + spread out over the borders of the great plains on the west and of the + Appalachian region on the east. + </p> + <p> + We have considered the Laurentian highland and the glaciation which + centered there. Let us now turn to another highland only the northern part + of which was glaciated. The Appalachian highland, the second great + division of North America, consists of three parallel bands which extend + southwestward from Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River to Georgia and + Alabama. The eastern and most important band consists of hills and + mountains of ancient crystalline rocks, somewhat resembling those of the + Laurentian highland but by no means so old. West of this comes a broad + valley eroded for the most part in the softer portions of a highly folded + series of sedimentary rocks which are of great age but younger than the + crystalline rocks to the east. The third band is the Alleghany plateau, + composed of almost horizontal rocks which lie so high and have been so + deeply dissected that they are often called mountains. + </p> + <p> + The three Appalachian bands by no means preserve a uniform character + throughout their entire length. The eastern crystalline band has its chief + development in the northeast. There it comprises the whole of New England + and a large part of the maritime provinces of Canada as well as + Newfoundland. Its broad development in New England causes that region to + be one of the most clearly defined natural units of the United States. + Ancient igneous rocks such as granite lie intricately mingled with old and + highly metamorphosed sediments. Since some of the rocks are hard and + others soft and since all have been exposed to extremely long erosion, the + topography of New England consists typically of irregular masses of + rounded hills free from precipices. Here and there hard masses of + unusually resistant rock stand up as isolated rounded heights, like Mount + Katahdin in Maine. They are known as "monadnocks" from the mountain of + that name in southern New Hampshire. In other places larger and more + irregular masses of hard rock form mountain groups like the White + Mountains, the Green Mountains, and the Berkshires, each of which is + merely a great series of monadnocks. + </p> + <p> + In the latitude of southern New York the crystalline rocks are compressed + into narrow compass and lose their mountainous character. They form the + irregular hills on which New York City itself is built and which make the + suburbs of Westchester County along the eastern Hudson so diverse and + beautiful. To the southeast the topography of the old crystalline band + becomes still less pronounced, as may be seen in the rolling, fertile + hills around Philadelphia. Farther south the band divides into two parts, + the mountains proper and the Piedmont plateau. The mountains begin at the + Blue Ridge, which in Virginia raises its even-topped heights mile after + mile across the length of that State. In North Carolina, however, they + lose their character as a single ridge and expand into the broad mass of + the southern Appalachians. There Mount Mitchell dominates the eastern part + of the American continent and is surrounded by over thirty other mountains + rising to a height of at least six thousand feet. The Piedmont plateau, + which lies at the eastern foot of the Blue Ridge, is not really a plateau + but a peneplain or ancient lowland worn almost to a plain. It expands to a + width of one hundred miles in Virginia and the Carolinas and forms the + part of those States where most of the larger towns are situated. Among + its low gentle heights there rises an occasional little monadnock like + Chapel Hill, where the University of North Carolina lies on a rugged + eminence which strikingly recalls New England. For the most part, however, + the hills of the Piedmont region are lower and more rounded than those in + the neighborhood of Philadelphia. The country thus formed has many + advantages, for it is flat enough to be used for agriculture and yet + varied enough to be free from the monotony of the level plains. + </p> + <p> + The prolonged and broken inner valley forming the second band of the + Appalachians was of some importance as a highway in the days of the + Indians. Today the main highways of traffic touch it only to cross it as + quickly as possible. From Lake Champlain it trends straight southward in + the Hudson Valley until the Catskills have been passed. Then, while the + railroads and all the traffic go on down the gorge of the Hudson to New + York, the valley swings off into Pennsylvania past Scranton, Wilkesbarre, + and Harrisburg. There the underlying rock consists of a series of + alternately hard and soft layers which have been crumpled up much as one + might wrinkle a rug with one's foot. The pressure involved in the process + changed and hardened the rocks so much that the coal which they contain + was converted into anthracite, the finest coal in all the world and the + only example of its kind. Even the famous Welsh coal has not been so + thoroughly hardened. During a long period of erosion the tops of the + folded layers were worn off to a depth of thousands of feet and the whole + country was converted into an almost level plain. Then in the late + geological period known as the early Tertiary the land was lifted up + again, and once more erosion went on. The soft rocks were thus etched away + until broad valleys were formed. The hard layers were left as a + bewildering succession of ridges with flat tops. A single ridge may double + back and forth so often that the region well deserves the old Indian name + of the "Endless Mountains." Southwestward the valley grows narrower, and + the ridges which break its surface become straighter. Everywhere they are + flat-topped, steep-sided, and narrow, while between them lie parts of the + main valley floor, flat and fertile. Here in the south, even more clearly + than in the north, the valley is bordered on the east by the sharply + upstanding range of the crystalline Appalachians, while on the west with + equal regularity it comes to an end in an escarpment which rises to the + Alleghany plateau. + </p> + <p> + This plateau, the third great band of the Appalachians, begins on the + south side of the Mohawk Valley. To the north its place is taken by the + Adirondacks, which are an outlier of the great Laurentian area of Canada. + The fact that the outlier and the plateau are separated by the low strip + of the Mohawk Valley makes this the one place where the highly complex + Appalachian system can easily be crossed. If the Alleghany plateau joined + the Adirondacks, Philadelphia instead of New York would be the greatest + city of America. Where the plateau first rises on the south side of the + Mohawk, it attains heights of four thousand feet in the Catskill + Mountains. We think of the Catskills as mountains, but their steep cliffs + and table-topped heights show that they are really the remnants of a + plateau, the nearly horizontal strata of which have not yet been worn + away. Westward from the Catskills the plateau continues through central + New York to western Pennsylvania. Those who have traveled on the + Pennsylvania Railroad may remember how the railroad climbs the escarpment + at Altoona. Farther east the train has passed alternately through gorges + cut in the parallel ridges and through fertile open valleys forming the + main floor of the inner valley. Then it winds up the long ascent of the + Alleghany front in a splendid horseshoe curve. At the top, after a short + tunnel, the train emerges in a wholly different country. The valleys are + without order or system. They wind this way and that. The hills are not + long ridges but isolated bits left between the winding valleys. Here and + there beds of coal blacken the surface, for here we are among the rocks + from which the world's largest coal supply is derived. Since the layers + lie horizontally and have never been compressed, the same material which + in the inner valley has been changed to hard, clean-burning anthracite + here remains soft and smoky. + </p> + <p> + In its southwestern continuation through West Virginia and Kentucky to + Tennessee the plateau maintains many of its Pennsylvanian characteristics, + but it now rises higher and becomes more inaccessible. The only habitable + portions are the bottoms of the valleys, but they are only wide enough to + support a most scanty population. Between them most of the land is too + rough for anything except forests. Hence the people who live at the + bottoms of the valleys are strangely isolated. They see little or nothing + of the world at large or even of their neighbors. The roads are so few and + the trails so difficult that the farmers cannot easily take their produce + to market. Their only recourse has been to convert their bulky corn into + whisky, which occupied little space in proportion to its value. Since the + mountaineer has no other means of getting ready money, it is not strange + that he has become a moonshiner and has fought bitterly for what he + genuinely believed to be his rights in that occupation. Education has not + prospered on the plateau because the narrowness of the valleys causes the + population to be too poor and too scattered to support schools. For the + same reason feuds grow up. When people live by themselves they become + suspicious. Not being used to dealing with their neighbors, they suspect + the motives of all but their intimate friends. Moreover, in those deep + valleys, with their steep sides and their general inaccessibility, laws + cannot easily be enforced, and therefore each family takes the law into + its own hands. + </p> + <p> + Today the more rugged parts of the Appalachian system are chiefly + important as a hindrance to communication. On the Atlantic slope of the + old crystalline band there are great areas of gentle relief where an + abundant population can dwell. Westward on the edges of the plateau and + the plains beyond a still greater population can find a living, but in the + intervening space there is opportunity for only a few. The great problem + is to cross the mountains as easily as possible. Each accessible + crossing-place is associated with a city. Boston, as well as New York, + owes much to the low Mohawk-Hudson route, but is badly handicapped because + it has no easy means of crossing the eastern crystalline band. + Philadelphia, on the other hand, benefits from the fact that in its + vicinity the crystallizes are low and can readily be crossed even without + the aid of the valleys of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is + handicapped, however, by the Alleghany escarpment at Altoona, even though + this is lower there than farther south. Baltimore, in the same way, owes + much of its growth to the easy pathways of the Susquehanna on the north + and the Potomac on the south. Farther south both the crystalline band and + the Alleghany plateau become more difficult to traverse, so that + communication between the Atlantic coast and the Mississippi Valley is + reduced to small proportions. Happy is New York in its situation where no + one of the three bands of the Appalachians opposes any obstacle. The + plains of North America form the third of the four main physical divisions + of the continent. For the most part they lie between the great western + cordillera on one side and the Laurentian and Appalachian highlands on the + other. Yet they lap around the southern end of the Appalachians and run + far up the Atlantic coast to New York. They remained beneath the sea till + a late date, much later than the other three divisions. They were not, + however, covered with deep water like that of the abysmal oceans, but only + with shallow seas from which the land at times emerged. In spite of the + old belief to the contrary, the continents appear to be so permanent that + they have occupied practically their present positions from the remotest + geological times. They have moved slowly up and down, however, so that + some parts have frequently been submerged, and the plains are the parts + that remained longest under water. + </p> + <p> + The plains of North America may be divided into four parts according to + the character of their surface: the Atlantic coastal plain, the prairies, + the northwestern peneplain, and the southwestern high plains. The Atlantic + coastal plain lies along the Atlantic coast from New York southward to + Florida and Alabama. It also forms a great embayment up the Mississippi + Valley as far as the Ohio River, and it extends along the shore of the + Gulf of Mexico to the Rio Grande. The chief characteristic of this + Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain is its belted nature. One layer of rocks + is sandy, another consists of limestone, and a third of clay. When + uplifted and eroded each assumes its own special topography and is covered + with its own special type of vegetation. Thus in South Carolina and + Georgia the crystalline Piedmont band of the Appalachian province is + bordered on the southeast by a belt of sandstone. This rock is so far from + the sea and has been raised so high above it that erosion has converted it + into a region of gentle hills, whose tops are six hundred or seven hundred + feet above sea-level. Its sandy soil is so poor that farming is difficult. + The hills are largely covered with pine, yielding tar and turpentine. + Farther seaward comes a broad band of younger rock which forms a clayey + soil or else a yellow sandy loam. These soils are so rich that splendid + cotton crops can be raised, and hence the region is thickly populated. + Again there comes a belt of sand, the so-called "pine barrens," which form + a poor section about fifty miles inland from the coast. Finally the + coastal belt itself has emerged from beneath the sea so recently and lies + so nearly at sea-level that it has not been greatly eroded, and is still + covered with numerous marshes and swamps. The rich soil and the moisture + are good for rice, but the region is so unhealthy and so hard to drain + that only small parts are inhabited. + </p> + <p> + Everywhere in the coastal plain this same belted character is more or less + evident. It has much to do with all sorts of activities from farming to + politics. On consulting the map showing the cotton production of the + United States in 1914, one notices the two dark bands in the southeast. + One of them, extending from the northwestern part of South Carolina across + Georgia and Alabama, is due to the fertile soil of the Piedmont region. + The other, lying nearer the sea, begins in North Carolina and extends well + into Alabama before it swings around to the northwest toward the area of + heavy production along the Mississippi. It is due to the fertile soil of + that part of the coastal plain known as the "cotton belt." Portions of it + are called the "black belt," not because of the colored population, but + because of the darkness of the soil. Since this land has always been + prosperous, it has regularly been conservative in politics. + </p> + <p> + The Atlantic coastal plain is by no means the only part of the United + States where the fertility of the soil is the dominant fact in the life of + the people. Because of their rich soil the prairies which extend from + western Ohio to the Missouri River and northward into Canada are fast + becoming the most steadily prosperous part of America. They owe their + surpassing richness largely to glaciation. We have already seen how the + coming of the ice-sheet benefited the regions on the borders of the old + Laurentian highland. This same benefit extended over practically the whole + of what are now the prairies. Before the advent of the ice the whole + section consisted of a broadly banded coastal plain much older than that + of the Atlantic coast. When the ice with its burden of material scraped + from the hills of the north passed over the coastal plain, it filled the + hollows with rich new soil. The icy streams that flowed out from the + glaciers were full of fine sediment, which they deposited over enormous + flood plains. During dry seasons the winds picked up this dust and spread + it out still more widely, forming the great banks of yellow loess whose + fertile soil mantles the sides of many a valley in the Mississippi basin. + Thus glaciers, streams, and winds laid down ten, twenty, fifty, or even + one hundred feet of the finest, most fertile soil. We have already seen + how much the soil was improved by glaciation in Wisconsin and Ohio. It was + in the prairie States that this improvement reached a maximum. The soil + there is not only fine grained and free from rocks, but it consists of + particles brought from widely different sources and is therefore full of + all kinds of plant foods. In most parts of the world a fine-grained soil + is formed only after a prolonged period of weathering which leaches out + many valuable chemical elements. In the prairies, however, the soil + consists largely of materials that were mechanically ground to dust by the + ice without being exposed to the action of weathering. Thus they have + reached their present resting-places without the loss of any of their + original plant foods. When such a soil is found with a climate which is + good for crops and which is also highly stimulating to man, the + combination is almost ideal. There is some justification for those who say + that the north central portion of the United States is more fortunate than + any other part of the earth. Nowhere else, unless in western Europe, is + there such a combination of fertile soil, fine climate, easy + communication, and possibilities for manufacturing and commerce. Iron from + that outlier of the Laurentian highland which forms the peninsula of + northern Michigan can easily be brought by water almost to the center of + the prairie region. Coal in vast quantities lies directly under the + surface of this region, for the rock of the ancient coastal plain belongs + to the same Pennsylvanian series which yields most of the world's coal. + Here man is, indeed, blessed with resources and opportunities scarcely + equaled in any other part of the world, and finds the only drawbacks to be + the extremes of temperature in both winter and summer and the remoteness + of the region from the sea. Because of the richness of their heritage and + because they live safely protected from threats of foreign aggression, the + people who live in this part of the world are in danger of being slow to + feel the currents of great world movements. + </p> + <p> + The western half of the plains of North America consists of two parts + unlike either the Atlantic coastal plain or the prairies. From South + Dakota and Nebraska northward far into Canada and westward to the Rocky + Mountains there extends an ancient peneplain worn down to gentle relief by + the erosion of millions of years. It is not so level as the plains farther + east nor so low. Its western margin reaches heights of four or five + thousand feet. Here and there, especially on the western side, it rises to + the crest of a rugged escarpment where some resistant layer of rocks still + holds itself up against the forces of erosion. Elsewhere its smooth + surfaces are broken by lava-capped mesas or by ridges where some ancient + volcanic dike is so hard that it has not yet been worn away. The soil, + though excellent, is thinner and less fertile than in the prairies. + Nevertheless the population might in time become as dense and prosperous + as almost any in the world if only the rainfall were more abundant and + good supplies of coal were not quite so far away. Yet in spite of these + handicaps the northwestern peneplain with its vast open stretches, its + cattle, its wheat, and its opportunities is a most attractive land. + </p> + <p> + South of Nebraska and Wyoming the "high plains," the last of the four + great divisions of the plains, extend as far as western Texas. These, like + the prairies, have been built up by deposits brought from other regions. + In this case, however, the deposits consist of gravel, sand, and silt + which the rivers have gradually washed out from the Rocky Mountains. As + the rivers have changed their courses from one bed to another, layer after + layer has been laid down to form a vast plain like a gently sloping beach + hundreds of miles wide. In most places the streams are no longer building + this up. Frequently they have carved narrow valleys hundreds of feet deep + in the materials which they formerly deposited. Elsewhere, however, as in + western Kansas, most of the country is so flat that the horizon is like + that of the ocean. It seems almost incredible that at heights of four or + five thousand feet the plains can still be so wonderfully level. When the + grass is green, when the spring flowers are at their best, it would be + hard to find a picture of greater beauty. Here the buffalo wandered in the + days before the white man destroyed them. Here today is the great cattle + region of America. Here is the region where the soul of man is filled with + the feeling of infinite space. + </p> + <p> + To the student of land forms there is an ever-present contrast between + those due directly to the processes which build up the earth's surface and + those due to the erosive forces which destroy what the others have built. + In the great plains of North America two of the divisions, that is, the + Atlantic coastal plain of the southeast and the peneplain of the + northwest, owe their present form to the forces of erosion. The other two, + that is, the prairies and the high plains, still bear the impress of the + original processes of deposition and have been modified to only a slight + extent by erosion. + </p> + <p> + A similar but greater contrast separates the mountains of eastern North + America and those of the western cordillera—the fourth and last of + the main physical divisions of the continent. In both the Laurentian and + the Appalachian highlands the eastern mountains show no trace of the + original forms produced by the faulting of the crust or by volcanic + movements. All the original distinctive topography has been removed. What + we see today is the product of erosion working upon rocks that were + thousands of feet beneath the surface when they were brought to their + present positions. In the western cordillera, on the contrary, although + much of the present form of the land is due to erosion, a vast amount is + due directly to so-called "tectonic" activities such as the breaking of + the crust, the pouring out of molten lavas, and the bursting forth of + explosive eruptions. + </p> + <p> + The character of these tectonic activities has differed widely in + different parts of the cordillera. A broad upheaval of great blocks of the + earth's crust without tilting or disturbance has produced the plateaus of + Arizona and Utah. The gorges that have been rapidly cut into such great + upheaved blocks form part of the world's most striking scenery. The Grand + Canyon of the Colorado with its tremendous platforms, mesas, and + awe-inspiring cliffs could have been formed in no other way. Equally + wonderful are some of the narrow canyons in the broadly upheaved plateaus + of southern Utah where the tributaries of the Virgin and other rivers have + cut red or white chasms thousands of feet deep and so narrow that at their + bottoms perpetual twilight reigns. It is a curious proof of the + fallibility of human judgment that these great gorges are often cited as + the most striking examples of the power of erosion. Wonderful as these + gorges certainly are, the Piedmont plain or the northwestern peneplain is + far more wonderful. Those regions had their grand canyons once upon a + time, but now erosion has gone so far that it has reduced the whole area + to the level of the bottoms of the gorges. Though such a fate is in store + for all the marvelous scenery of the western cordillera, we have it, for + the present at least, as one of the most stimulating panoramas of our + American environment. No man worthy of the name can sit on the brink of a + great canyon or gaze up from the dark depths of a gorge without a sense of + awe and wonder. There, as in few other places, Nature shows with + unmistakable grandeur the marvelous power and certainty with which her + laws work out the destiny of the universe. + </p> + <p> + In other parts of the great American cordillera some of the simplest and + youngest mountain ridges in the world are found. In southern Oregon, for + example, lava blocks have been broken and uplifted and now stand with + steep fresh faces on one side and with the old surface inclining more + gently on the other. Tilted blocks on a larger scale and much more deeply + carved by erosion are found in the lofty St. Elias Mountain of Alaska, + where much of the erosion has been done by some of the world's greatest + glaciers. The western slope of the Wasatch Mountains facing the desert of + Utah is the wall of a huge fracture, as is the eastern face of the Sierra + Nevadas facing the deserts of Nevada. Each of these great faces has been + deeply eroded. At the base, however, recent breaking and upheaval of the + crust have given rise to fresh uneroded slopes. Some take the form of + triangular facets, where a series of ridges has been sliced across and + lifted up by a great fault. Others assume the shape of terraces which + sometimes continue along the base of the mountains for scores of miles. In + places they seem like bluffs cut by an ancient lake, but suddenly they + change their altitude or pass from one drainage area to another as no + lake-formed strand could possibly do. + </p> + <p> + In other parts of the cordillera, mountains have been formed by a single + arching of the crust without any breaking. Such is the case in the Uinta + Mountains of northwestern Utah and in some of the ranges of the Rocky + Mountains in Colorado. The Black Hills of South Dakota, although lying out + in the plains, are an example of the same kind of structure and really + belong to the cordillera. In them the layers of the earth's crust have + been bent up in the form of a great dome. The dome structure, to be sure, + has now been largely destroyed, for erosion has long been active. The + result is that the harder strata form a series of concentric ridges, while + between them are ring-shaped valleys, one of which is so level and + unbroken that it is known to the Indians as the "race-course." In other + parts of the cordillera great masses of rock have been pushed horizontally + upon the tops of others. In Montana, for example, the strata of the plains + have been bent down and overridden by those of the mountains. These are + only a few of the countless forms of breaking, faulting, and crumpling + which have given to the cordillera an almost infinite variety of scenery. + </p> + <p> + The work of mountain building is still active in the western cordillera, + as is evident from such an event as the San Francisco earthquake. In the + Owens Valley region in southern California the gravelly beaches of old + lakes are rent by fissures made within a few years by earthquakes. In + other places fresh terraces on the sides of the valley mark the lines of + recent earth movements, while newly formed lakes lie in troughs at their + base. These Owens Valley movements of the crust are parts of the + stupendous uplift which has raised the Sierra Nevada to heights of over + 14,000 feet a few miles to the west. Along the fault line at the base of + the mountains there runs for over 9.50 miles the world's longest aqueduct, + which was built to relieve Los Angeles from the danger of drought. It is a + strange irony of fate that so delicate and so vital an artery of + civilization should be forced to lie where a renewal of earthquake + movements may break it at any time. Yet there was no other place to put + it, for in spite of man's growing control of nature he was forced to + follow the topography of the region in which he lived and labored. + </p> + <p> + On the southern side of the Mohave Desert a little to the east of where + the Los Angeles aqueduct crosses the mountains in its southward course, + the record of an earthquake is preserved in unique fashion. The steep face + of a terrace is covered with trees forty or fifty years old. Near the base + the trees are bent in peculiar fashion. Their lower portions stand at + right angles to the steeply sloping face of the terrace, but after a few + feet the trunks bend upward and stand vertically. Clearly when these trees + were young the terrace was not there. Then an earthquake came. One block + of the earth's crust was dropped down while another was raised up. Along + the dividing line a terrace was formed. The trees that happened to stand + along the line were tilted and left in a slanting position on the sloping + surface between the two parts of the earth's crust. They saw no reason to + stop growing, but, turning their tips toward the sky, they bravely pushed + upward. Thus they preserve in a striking way the record of this recent + movement of the earth's crust. + </p> + <p> + Volcanoes as well as earth movements have occurred on a grand scale within + a few hundred years in the cordillera. Even where there is today no + visible volcanic activity, recent eruptions have left traces as fresh as + if they had occurred but yesterday. On the borders of the Grand Canyon of + the Colorado one can see not only fresh cones of volcanic ash but lava + which has poured over the edges of the cliffs and hardened while in the + act of flowing. From Orizaba and Popocatepetl in Mexico through Mount San + Francisco in Arizona, Lassen Peak and Mount Shasta in California, Mount + Rainier with its glaciers in the Cascade Range of Washington, and Mount + Wrangell in Alaska, the cordillera contains an almost unbroken chain of + great volcanoes. All are either active at present or have been active + within very recent times. In 1912 Mount Katmai, near the northwestern end + of the volcanic chain, erupted so violently that it sent dust around the + whole world. The presence of the dust caused brilliant sunsets second only + to those due to Krakatoa in 1883. It also cut off so much sunlight that + the effect was felt in measurements made by the Smithsonian Institution in + the French provinces of North Africa. In earlier times, throughout the + length of the cordillera great masses of volcanic material were poured out + to form high plateaus like those of southern Mexico or of the Columbia + River in Oregon. In Utah some of these have been lifted up so that heavy + caps of lava now form isolated sheets topping lofty plateaus. There the + lowland shepherds drive their sheep in summer and live in absolute + isolation for months at a time. There, as everywhere, the cordillera bears + the marks of mountains in the making, while the mountains of eastern + America bear the marks of those that were made when the world was young. + </p> + <p> + The geysers and hot springs of the Yellowstone are another proof of recent + volcanic activity. They owe their existence to hot rocks which lie only a + little way below the surface and which not long ago were molten lava. The + terraces and platforms built by the geysers are another evidence that the + cordillera is a region where the surface of the earth is still being + shaped into new forms by forces acting from within. The physical features + of the country are still in process of construction. + </p> + <p> + In spite of the importance of the constructive forces which are still + building up the mountains, much of the finest scenery of the cordillera is + due to the destructive forces of erosion. The majestic Columbia Canyon, + like others of its kind, is the work of running water. Glaciers also have + done their part. During the glacial period the forces which control the + paths of storms did not give to the cordillera region such an abundance of + snow as was sifted down upon Laurentia. Therefore no such huge continental + glaciers have flowed out over millions of square miles of lower country. + Nevertheless among the mountains themselves the ice gouged and scraped and + smoothed and at its lower edges deposited great moraines. Its work today + makes the cliffs and falls of the Yosemite one of the world's most famous + bits of scenery. This scenery is young and its beauty will pass in a short + time as geology counts the years, for in natural scenery as in human life + it is youth that makes beauty. The canyons, waterfalls, and geysers of the + cordillera share their youth with the lakes, waterfalls, and rapids due to + recent glaciation in the east. Nevertheless, though youth is the condition + of most striking beauty, maturity and old age are the condition of + greatest usefulness. The young cordillera with its mountains still in the + making can support only a scanty population, whereas the old eastern + mountains, with the lines of long life engraved upon every feature, open + their arms to man and let him live and prosper. + </p> + <p> + It is not enough that we should picture merely the four divisions of the + land of our continent. We must see how the land meets the sea. In low + latitudes in both the Old World and the New, the continents have tended to + emerge farther and farther from the sea during recent geological times. + Hence on the eastern side of both North and South America from New Jersey + to Brazil the ocean is bordered for the most part by coastal plains, + uplifted from the sea only a short time ago. On the mountainous western + side of both continents, however, the sea bottom shelves downward so + steeply that its emergence does not give rise to a plain but merely to a + steep slope on which lie a series of old beaches several hundred and even + one thousand feet above the present shore line. Such conditions are not + favorable to human progress. The coastal plains produced by uplift of the + land may be fertile and may furnish happy homes for man, but they do not + permit ready access to the sea because they have no harbors. The chief + harbor of Mexico at Vera Cruz is merely a little nick in the coast-line + and could never protect a great fleet, even with the help of its + breakwater. Where an enterprising city like Los Angeles lies on the + uplifted Pacific coast, it must spend millions in wresting a harbor from + the very jaws of the sea. + </p> + <p> + In high latitudes in all parts of the world the land has recently been + submerged beneath the sea. In some places, especially those like the + coasts of Virginia and central California which lie in middle latitudes, a + recent slight submergence has succeeded a previous large emergence. + Wherever such sinking of the land has taken place, it has given rise to + countless bays, gulfs, capes, islands, and fiords. The ocean water has + entered the valleys and has drowned their lower parts. It has surrounded + the bases of hills and left them as islands; it has covered low valleys + and has created long sounds where traffic may pass with safety even in + great storms. Though much land has thus been lost which would be good for + agriculture, commerce has been wonderfully stimulated. Through Long Island + Sound there pass each day hundreds of boats which again and again would + suffer distress and loss if they were not protected from the open sea. It + is no accident that of the eight largest metropolitan districts in the + United States five have grown up on the shores of deep inlets which are + due to the drowning of valleys. + </p> + <p> + Nor must the value of scenery be forgotten in a survey such as this. Year + by year we are learning that in this restless, strenuous American life of + ours vacations are essential. We are learning, too, that the love of + beauty is one of Nature's greatest healers. Regions like the coast of + Maine and Puget Sound, where rugged land and life-giving ocean interlock, + are worth untold millions because of their inspiring beauty. It is indeed + marvelous that in the latitude of the northern United States and southern + Canada so many circumstances favorable to human happiness are combined. + Fertile soil, level plains, easy passage across the mountains, coal, iron, + and other metals imbedded in the rocks, and a stimulating climate, all + shower their blessings upon man. And with all these blessings goes the + advantage of a coast which welcomes the mariner and brings the stimulus of + foreign lands, while at the same time it affords rest and inspiration to + the toilers here at home. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. THE GARMENT OF VEGETATION + </h2> + <p> + No part of the world can be truly understood without a knowledge of its + garment of vegetation, for this determines not only the nature of the + animal inhabitants but also the occupations of the majority of human + beings. Although the soil has much to do with the character of vegetation, + climate has infinitely more. It is temperature which causes the moss and + lichens of the barren tundras in the far north to be replaced by orchids, + twining vines, and mahogany trees near the equator. It is rainfall which + determines that vigorous forests shall grow in the Appalachians in + latitudes where grasslands prevail in the plains and deserts in the + western cordillera. + </p> + <p> + Forests, grass-lands, deserts, represent the three chief types of + vegetation on the surface of the earth. Each is a response to certain + well-defined conditions of climate. Forests demand an abundance of + moisture throughout the entire season of growth. Where this season lasts + only three months the forest is very different from where it lasts twelve. + But no forest can be vigorous if the ground habitually becomes dry for a + considerable period during which the weather is warm enough for growth. + Desert vegetation, on the other hand, which consists primarily of bushes + with small, drought-resistant leaves, needs only a few irregular and + infrequent showers in order to endure long periods of heat and drought. + Discontinuity of moisture is the cause of deserts, just as continuity is + the necessary condition of forest growth. Grasses prevail where the + climatic conditions are intermediate between those of the forest and the + desert. Their primary requisite is a short period of fairly abundant + moisture with warmth enough to ripen their seeds. Unlike the trees of the + forests, they thrive even though the wet period be only a fraction of the + entire time that is warm enough for growth. Unlike the bushes of the + desert, they rarely thrive unless the ground is well soaked for at least a + few weeks. Most people think of forests as offering far more variety than + either deserts or grass-lands. To them grass is just grass, while trees + seem to possess individuality. In reality, however, the short turfy grass + of the far north differs from the four-foot fronds of the bunchy saccaton + grass of Arizona, and from the far taller tufts of the plumed pampas + grass, much more than the pine tree differs from the palm. Deserts vary + even more than either forests or grass-lands. The traveler in the Arizona + desert, for example, has been jogging across a gravelly plain studded at + intervals of a few yards with little bushes a foot high. The scenery is so + monotonous and the noon sunshine so warm that he almost falls asleep. When + he wakes from his daydream, so weird are his surroundings that he thinks + he must be in one of the places to which Sindbad was carried by the roc. + The trail has entered an open forest of joshuas, as the big tree yuccas + are called in Arizona. Their shaggy trunks and uncouth branches are + rendered doubly unkempt by swordlike, ashy-yellow dead leaves that double + back on the trunk but refuse to fall to the ground. At a height of from + twelve to twenty feet each arm of the many-branched candelabrum ends in a + stiff rosette of gray-green spiky leaves as tough as hemp. Equally bizarre + and much more imposing is a desert "stand" of giant suhuaros, great fluted + tree-cacti thirty feet or more high. In spite of their size the suhuaros + are desert types as truly as is sagebrush. + </p> + <p> + In America the most widespread type of forest is the evergreen coniferous + woodland of the north. Its pines, firs, spruces, hemlocks, and cedars + which are really junipers, cover most of Canada together with northern New + England and the region south of Lakes Huron and Superior. At its northern + limit the forest looks thoroughly forlorn. The gnarled and stunted trees + are thickly studded with half-dead branches bent down by the weight of + snow, so that the lower ones sweep the ground, while the upper look tired + and discouraged from their struggle with an inclement climate. Farther + south, however, the forest loses this aspect of terrific struggle. In + Maine, for example, it gives a pleasant impression of comfortable + prosperity. Wherever the trees have room to grow, they are full and + stocky, and even where they are crowded together their slender upspringing + trunks look alert and energetic. The signs of death and decay, indeed, + appear everywhere in fallen trunks, dead branches, and decayed masses of + wood, but moss and lichens, twinflowers and bunchberries so quickly mantle + the prostrate trees that they do not seem like tokens of weakness. Then, + too, in every open space thousands of young trees bank their soft green + masses so gracefully that one has an ever-present sense of pleased + surprise as he comes upon this younger foliage out of the dim aisles among + the bigger trees. + </p> + <p> + Except on their southern borders the great northern forests are not good + as a permanent home for man. The snow lies so late in the spring and the + summers are so short and cool that agriculture does not prosper. As a home + for the fox, marten, weasel, beaver, and many other fur-bearing animals, + however, the coniferous forests are almost ideal. That is why the Hudson's + Bay Company is one of the few great organizations which have persisted and + prospered from colonial times to the present. As long ago as 1670 Charles + II granted to Prince Rupert and seventeen noblemen and gentlemen a charter + so sweeping that, aside from their own powers of assimilation, there was + almost no limit to what the "Governor and Company of Adventurers of + England trading into Hudson's Bay" might acquire. By 1749, nearly eighty + years after the granting of the charter, however, the Company had only + four or five forts on the coast of Hudson Bay, with about 120 regular + employees. Nevertheless the poor Indians were so ignorant of the value of + their furs and the consequent profits were so large that, after Canada had + been ceded to Great Britain in 1763, a rival organization, the Northwest + Fur Company of Montreal, was established. Then there began an era that was + truly terrible for the Indians of the northern forest. In their eagerness + to get the valuable furs the companies offered the Indians strong liquors + in an abundance that ruined the poor red man, body and soul. Moreover the + fur-bearing animals were killed not only in winter but during the breeding + season. Many mother animals were shot and their little ones were left to + die. Hence in a short time the wild creatures of the great northern forest + were so scarce that the Indians well-nigh starved. + </p> + <p> + In spite of this slaughter of fur-bearing animals, the same Company still + draws fat dividends from the northern forest and its furry inhabitants. If + the forest had been more habitable, it would long ago have been occupied + by settlers, as have its warmer, southern portions, and the Company would + have ceased to exist. Aside from the regions too cold or too dry to + support any vegetation whatever, few parts of the world are more deadening + to civilization than the forests of the far north. Near the northern limit + of the great evergreen forest of North America wild animals are so rare + that a family of hunting Indians can scarcely find a living in a thousand + square miles. Today the voracious maw of the daily newspaper is eating the + spruce and hemlock by means of relentless saws and rattling pulp-mills. In + the wake of the lumbermen settlers are tardily spreading northward from + the more favored tracts in northern New England and southern Canada. + Nevertheless most of the evergreen forests of the north must always remain + the home of wild animals and trappers, a backward region in which it is + easy for a great fur company to maintain a practical monopoly. + </p> + <p> + Outliers of the pine forest extend far down into the United States. The + easternmost lies in part along the Appalachians and in part along the + coastal plain from southern New Jersey to Texas. The coastal forest is + unlike the other coniferous forests in two respects, for its distribution + and growth are not limited by long winters but by sandy soil which quickly + becomes dry. This drier southern pine forest lacks the beauty of its + northern companion. Its trees are often tall and stately, but they are + usually much scattered and are surrounded by stretches of scanty grass. + There is no trace of the mossy carpet and dense copses of undergrowth that + add so much to the picturesqueness of the forests farther north. The + unkempt half-breed or Indian hunter is replaced by the prosaic gatherer of + turpentine. As the man of the southern forests shuffles along in blue or + khaki overalls and carries his buckets from tree to tree, he seems a dull + figure contrasted with the active northern hunter who glides swiftly and + silently from trap to trap on his rawhide snowshoes. Yet though the + southern pine forest may be less picturesque than the northern, it is more + useful to man. In spite of its sandy soil, much of this forest land is + being reclaimed, and all will some day probably be covered by farms. + </p> + <p> + Two other outliers of the northern evergreen forest extend southward along + the cool heights of the Rocky Mountains and of the Pacific coast ranges of + the United States. In the Olympic and Sierra Nevada ranges the most + western outlier of this northern band of vegetation probably contains the + most inspiring forests of the world. There grow the vigorous Oregon pines, + firs, and spruces, and the still more famous Big Trees or sequoias. High + on the sides of the Sierra above the yuccas, the live oaks, and the + deciduous forest of the lower slopes, one meets these Big Trees. To come + upon them suddenly after a long, rough tramp over the sunny lower slopes + is the experience of a lifetime. Upward the great trees rise sheer one + hundred feet without a branch. The huge fluted trunks encased in soft, red + bark six inches or a foot thick are more impressive than the columns of + the grandest cathedral. It seems irreverent to speak above a whisper. Each + tree is a new wonder. One has to walk around it and study it to appreciate + its enormous size. Where a tree chances to stand isolated so that one can + see its full majesty, the sense of awe is tempered by the feeling that in + spite of their size the trees have a beauty all their own. Lifted to such + heights, the branches appear to be covered with masses of peculiarly soft + and rounded foliage like the piled-up banks of a white cumulus cloud + before a thunderstorm. At the base of such a tree the eye is caught by the + sharp, triangular outline of one of its young progeny. The lower branches + sweep the ground. The foliage is harsh and rough. In almost no other + species of trees is there such a change from comparatively ungraceful + youth to a superbly beautiful old age. + </p> + <p> + The second great type of American forest is deciduous. The trees have + broad leaves quite unlike the slender needles or overlapping scales of the + northern evergreens. Each winter such forests shed their leaves. Among the + mountains where the frosts come suddenly, the blaze of glory and + brilliance of color which herald the shedding of the leaves are surpassed + in no other part of the world. Even the colors of the Painted Desert in + northern Arizona and the wonderful flowers of the California plains are + less pleasing. In the Painted Desert the patches of red, yellow, + gray-blue, white, pale green, and black have a garish, almost repellent + appearance. In California the flame-colored acres of poppies in some + places, of white or yellow daisylike flowers in others, or of purple + blossoms elsewhere have a softer expression than the bare soil of the + desert. Yet they lack the delicate blending and harmony of colors which is + the greatest charm of the autumn foliage in the deciduous forests. Even + where the forests consist of such trees as birches, beeches, aspens, or + sycamores, whose leaves merely turn yellow in the fall, the contrast + between this color and the green tint of summer or the bare branches of + winter adds a spice of variety which is lacking in other and more + monotonous forests. + </p> + <p> + From still other points of view the deciduous forest has an almost + unequaled degree of variety. In one place it consists of graceful little + birches whose white trunks shimmering in the twilight form just the + background for ghosts. Contrast them with the oak forest half a mile away. + There the sense of gracefulness gives place to a feeling of strength. The + lines are no longer vertical but horizontal. The knotted elbows of the + branches recall the keels of sturdy merchantmen of bygone days. The acorns + under foot suggest food for the herds of half-wild pigs which roam among + the trees in many a southern county. Of quite another type are the stately + forests of the Appalachians where splendid magnolia and tulip trees spread + their broad limbs aloft at heights of one hundred feet or more. + </p> + <p> + Deciduous forests grow in the well-balanced regions where summer and + winter approach equality, where neither is unduly long, and where neither + is subject to prolonged drought. They extend southward from central New + England, the Great Lakes, and Minnesota, to Mississippi, Arkansas, and + eastern Texas. They predominate even in parts of such prairie States as + Michigan, Indiana, southern Illinois, and southeastern Missouri. No part + of the continent is more populous or more progressive than the regions + once covered by deciduous forests. In the United States nearly sixty per + cent of the inhabitants live in areas reclaimed from such forests. Yet the + area of the forests is less than a quarter of the three million square + miles that make up the United States. + </p> + <p> + In their relation to human life the forests of America differ far more + than do either grass-lands or deserts. In the far north, as we have seen, + the pine forests furnish one of the least favorable environments. In + middle latitudes the deciduous forests go to the opposite extreme and + furnish the most highly favored of the homes of man. Still farther + southward the increasing luxuriance of the forests, especially along the + Atlantic coast, renders them less and less favorable to mankind. In + southern Mexico and Yucatan the stately equatorial rain forest, the most + exuberant of all types of vegetation and the most unconquerable by man, + makes its appearance. It forms a discontinuous belt along the wet east + coast and on the lower slopes of the mountains from southern Yucatan to + Venezuela. Then it is interrupted by the grasslands of the Orinoco, but + revives again in still greater magnificence in the Guianas. Thence it + stretches not only along the coast but far into the little known interior + of the Great Amazon basin, while southward it borders all the coast as far + as southern Brazil. In the Amazon basin it reaches its highest development + and becomes the crowning glory of the vegetable world, the most baffling + obstacle to human progress. + </p> + <p> + Except in its evil effects on man, the equatorial rain forest is the + antithesis of the forests of the extreme north. The equatorial trees are + hardwood giants, broad leaved, bright flowered, and often fruit-bearing. + The northern trees are softwood dwarfs, needle-leaved, flowerless, and + cone-bearing. The equatorial trees are often branchless for one hundred + feet, but spread at the top into a broad overarching canopy which shuts + out the sun perpetually. The northern trees form sharp little pyramids + with low, widely spreading branches at the base and only short twigs at + the top. In the equatorial forests there is almost no underbrush. The + animals, such as monkeys, snakes, parrots, and brilliant insects, live + chiefly in the lofty treetops. In the northern forests there is almost + nothing except underbrush, and the foxes, rabbits, weasels, ptarmigans, + and mosquitoes live close to the ground in the shelter of the branches. + Both forests are alike, however, in being practically uninhabited by man. + Each is peopled only by primitive nomadic hunters who stand at the very + bottom in the scale of civilization. + </p> + <p> + Aside from the rain forest there are two other types in tropical countries—jungle + and scrub. The distinction between rain forest, jungle, and scrub is due + to the amount and the season of rainfall. An understanding of this + distinction not only explains many things in the present condition of + Latin America but also in the history of pre-Columbian Central America. + Forests, as we have seen, require that the ground be moist throughout + practically the whole of the season that is warm enough for growth. Since + the warm season lasts throughout the year within the tropics, dense + forests composed of uniformly large trees corresponding to our oaks, + maples, and beeches will not thrive unless the ground is wet most of the + time. Of course there may be no rain for a few weeks, but there must be no + long and regularly recurrent periods of drought. Smaller trees and such + species as the cocoanut palm are much less exacting and will flourish even + if there is a dry period of several months. Still smaller, bushy species + will thrive even when the rainfall lasts only two or three months. Hence + where the rainy season lasts most of the year, rain forest prevails; where + the rainy and dry seasons do not differ greatly in length, tropical jungle + is the dominant growth; and where the rainy season is short and the dry + season long, the jungle degenerates into scrub or bush. + </p> + <p> + The relation of scrub, jungle, and rain forest is well illustrated in + Yucatan, where the ancient Mayas reared their stately temples. On the + northern coast the annual rainfall is only ten or fifteen inches and is + concentrated largely in our summer months. There the country is covered + with scrubby bushes six to ten feet high. These are beautifully green + during the rainy season from June to October, but later in the year lose + almost all their leaves. The landscape would be much like that of a thick, + bushy pasture in the United States at the same season, were it not that in + the late winter and early spring some of the bushes bear brilliant red, + yellow, or white flowers. As one goes inland from the north coast of + Yucatan the rainfall increases. The bushes become taller and denser, trees + twenty feet high become numerous, and many rise thirty or forty feet or + even higher. This is the jungle. Its smaller portions suggest a second + growth of timber in the deciduous forests of the United States fifteen or + twenty years after the cutting of the original forest, but here there is + much more evidence of rapid growth. A few species of bushes and trees may + remain green throughout the year, but during the dry season most of the + jungle plants lose their leaves, at least in part. + </p> + <p> + With every mile that one advances into the more rainy interior, the jungle + becomes greener and fresher, the density of the lower growths increases, + and the proportion of large trees becomes greater until finally jungle + gives place to genuine forest. There many of the trees remain green + throughout the year. They rise to heights of fifty or sixty feet even on + the borders of their province, and at the top form a canopy so thick that + the ground is shady most of the time. Even in the drier part of the year + when some of the leaves have fallen, the rays of the sun scarcely reach + the ground until nine or ten o'clock in the morning. Even at high noon the + sunlight straggles through only in small patches. Long, sinuous lianas, + often queerly braided, hang down from the trees; epiphytes and various + parasitic growths add their strange green and red to the complex variety + of vegetation. Young palms grow up almost in a day and block a trail which + was hewn out with much labor only a few months before. Wherever the death + of old trees forms an opening, a thousand seedlings begin a fierce race to + reach the light. Everywhere the dominant note is intensely vigorous life, + rapid growth, and quick decay. + </p> + <p> + In their effect on man, the three forms of tropical forest are very + different. In the genuine rain forest agriculture is almost impossible. + Not only does the poor native find himself baffled in the face of Nature, + but the white man is equally at a loss. Many things combine to produce + this result. Chief among them are malaria and other tropical diseases. + When a few miles of railroad were being built through a strip of tropical + forest along the coast of eastern Guatemala, it was impossible to keep the + laborers more than twenty days at a time; indeed, unless they were sent + away at the end of three weeks, they were almost sure to be stricken with + virulent malarial fevers from which many died. An equally potent enemy of + agriculture is the vegetation itself. Imagine the difficulty of + cultivating a garden in a place where the weeds grow all the time and + where many of them reach a height of ten or twenty feet in a single year. + Perhaps there are people in the world who might cultivate such a region + and raise marvelous crops, but they are not the indolent people of + tropical America; and it is in fact doubtful whether any kind of people + could live permanently in the tropical forest and retain energy enough to + carry on cultivation. Nowhere in the world is there such steady, damp heat + as in these shadowy, windless depths far below the lofty tops of the rain + forest. Nowhere is there greater disinclination to work than among the + people who dwell in this region. Consequently in the vast rain forests of + the Amazon basin and in similar small forests as far north as Central + America, there are today practically no inhabitants except a mere handful + of the poorest and most degraded people in the world. Yet in ancient times + the northern border of the rain forest was the seat of America's most + advanced civilization. The explanation of this contradiction will appear + later. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * See Chapter 5, Aztecs. +</pre> + <p> + Tropical jungle borders the rain forest all the way from southern Mexico + to southern Brazil. It treats man far better than does the rain forest. In + marked contrast to its more stately neighbor, it contains abundant game. + Wild fruits ripen at almost all seasons. A few banana plants and palm + trees will well-nigh support a family. If corn is planted in a clearing, + the return is large in proportion to the labor. So long as the population + is not too dense, life is so easy that there is little to stimulate + progress. Hence, although the people of the jungle are fairly numerous, + they have never played much part in history. Far more important is the + role of those living in the tropical lands where scrub is the prevailing + growth. In our day, for example, few tropical lowlands are more + progressive than the narrow coastal strip of northern Yucatan. There on + the border between jungle and scrub the vegetation does not thrive + sufficiently to make life easy for the chocolate-colored natives. Effort + is required if they would make a living, yet the effort is not so great as + to be beyond the capacity of the indolent people of the tropics. + </p> + <p> + Leaving the forests, let us step out into the broad, breezy grass-lands. + One would scarcely expect that a journey poleward out of the forest of + northern Canada would lead to an improvement in the conditions of human + life, yet such is the case. Where the growing season becomes so short that + even the hardiest trees disappear, grassy tundras replace the forest. By + furnishing food for such animals as the musk-ox, they are a great help to + the handful of scattered Indians who dwell on the northern edge of the + forest. In summer, when the animals grow fat on the short nutritious + grass, the Indians follow them out into the open country and hunt them + vigorously for food and skins to sustain life through the long dreary + winter. In many cases the hunters would advance much farther into the + grass-lands were it not that the abundant musk-oxen tempt the Eskimo of + the seacoast also to leave their homes and both sides fear bloody + encounters. + </p> + <p> + With the growth of civilization the advantage of the northern grass-lands + over the northern forests becomes still more apparent. The domestic + reindeer is beginning to replace the wild musk-ox. The reindeer people, + like the Indian and Eskimo hunters, must be nomadic. Nevertheless their + mode of life permits them to live in much greater numbers and on a much + higher plane of civilization than the hunters. Since they hunt the + furbearing animals in the neighboring forests during the winter, they + diminish the food supply of the hunters who dwell permanently in the + forest, and thus make their life still more difficult. The northern + forests bid fair to decline in population rather than increase. In this + New World of ours, strange as it may seem, the almost uninhabited forest + regions of the far north and of the equator are probably more than twice + as large as the desert areas with equally sparse population. + </p> + <p> + South of the tundras the grass-lands have a still greater advantage over + the forests. In the forest region of the Laurentian highland abundant snow + lasts far into the spring and keeps the ground so wet and cold that no + crops can be raised. Moreover, because of the still greater abundance of + snow in former times, the largest of ice sheets, as we have seen, + accumulated there during the Glacial Period and scraped away most of the + soil. The grassy plains, on the contrary, are favored not only by a deep, + rich soil, much of which was laid down by the ice, but by the relative + absence of snow in winter and the consequent rapidity with which the + ground becomes warm in the spring. Hence the Canadian plains from the + United States boundary northward to latitude 57 degrees contain a + prosperous agricultural population of over a million people, while the far + larger forested areas in the same latitude support only a few thousand. + </p> + <p> + The question is often asked why, in a state of nature, trees are so scarce + on the prairies—in Iowa, for instance—although they thrive + when planted. In answer we are often told that up to the middle of the + nineteenth century such vast herds of buffaloes roamed the prairies that + seedling trees could never get a chance to grow. It is also said that + prairie fires sweeping across the plains destroyed the little trees + whenever they sprouted. Doubtless the buffaloes and the fires helped to + prevent forest growth, but another factor appears to be still more + important. All the States between the Mississippi River and the Rocky + Mountains receive much more rain in summer than in winter. But as the soil + is comparatively dry in the spring when the trees begin their growth, they + are handicapped. They could grow if nothing else interfered with them, + just as peas will grow in a garden if the weeds are kept out. If peas, + however, are left uncared for, the weeds gain the upper hand and there are + no peas the second year. If the weeds are left to contend with grass, the + grass in the end prevails. In the eastern forest region, if the grass be + left to itself, small trees soon spring up in its midst. In half a century + a field of grass goes back to forest because trees are especially favored + by the climate. In the same way in the prairies, grass is especially + favored, for it is not weakened by the spring drought, and it grows + abundantly until it forms the wonderful stretches of waving green where + the buffalo once grew fat. Moreover the fine glacial soil of the prairies + is so clayey and compact that the roots of trees cannot easily penetrate + it. Since grasses send their roots only into the more friable upper layers + of soil, they possess another great advantage over the trees. + </p> + <p> + Far to the south of the prairies lie the grass-lands of tropical America, + of which the Banos of the Orinoco furnish a good example. Almost + everywhere their plumed grasses have been left to grow undisturbed by the + plough, and even grazing animals are scarce. These extremely flat plains + are flooded for months in the rainy season from May to October and are + parched in the dry season that follows. As trees cannot endure such + extremes, grasses are the prevailing growth. Elsewhere the nature of the + soil causes many other grassy tracts to be scattered among the tropical + jungle and forest. Trees are at a disadvantage both in porous, sandy + soils, where the water drains away too rapidly, and in clayey soil, where + it is held so long that the ground is saturated for weeks or months at a + time. South of the tropical portion of South America the vast pampas of + Argentina closely resemble the North American prairies and the drier + plains to the west of them. Grain in the east and cattle in the west are + fast causing the disappearance of those great tussocks of tufted grasses + eight or nine feet high which hold among grasses a position analogous to + that of the Big Trees of California among trees of lower growth. + </p> + <p> + It is often said that America has no real deserts. This is true in the + sense that there are no regions such as are found in Asia and Africa where + one can travel a hundred miles at a stretch and scarcely see a sign of + vegetation-nothing but barren gravel, graceful wavy sand dunes, hard + wind-swept clay, or still harder rock salt broken into rough blocks with + upturned edges. In the broader sense of the term, however, America has an + abundance of deserts—regions which bear a thin cover of bushy + vegetation but are too dry for agriculture without irrigation. On the + north such deserts begin in southern Canada where a dry region abounding + in small salt lakes lies at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. In + the United States the deserts lie almost wholly between the Sierra Nevada + and the Rocky Mountain ranges, which keep out any moisture that might come + from either the west or the east. Beginning on the north with the + sagebrush plateau of southern Washington, the desert expands to a width of + seven hundred miles in the gray, sage-covered basins of Nevada and Utah. + In southern California and Arizona the sage-brush gives place to smaller + forms like the saltbush, and the desert assumes a sterner aspect. Next + comes the cactus desert extending from Arizona far south into Mexico. One + of the notable features of the desert is the extreme heat of certain + portions. Close to the Nevada border in southern California, Death Valley, + 250 feet below sea-level, is the hottest place in America. There alone + among the American regions familiar to the writer does one have that + feeling of intense, overpowering aridity which prevails so often in the + deserts of Arabia and Central Asia. Some years ago a Weather Bureau + thermometer was installed in Death Valley at Furnace Creek, where the only + flowing water in more than a hundred miles supports a depressing little + ranch. There one or two white men, helped by a few Indians, raise alfalfa, + which they sell at exorbitant prices to deluded prospectors searching for + riches which they never find. Though the terrible heat ruins the health of + the white men in a year or two, so that they have to move away, they have + succeeded in keeping a thermometer record for some years. No other + properly exposed, out-of-door thermometer in the United States, or perhaps + in the world, is so familiar with a temperature of 100 degrees F. or more. + During the period of not quite fifteen hundred days from the spring of + 1911 to May, 1915, a maximum temperature of 100 degrees F. or more was + reached on five hundred and forty-eight days, or more than one-third of + the time. On July 10, 1913, the mercury rose to 134 degrees F. and touched + the top of the tube. How much higher it might have gone no one can tell. + That day marks the limit of temperature yet reached in this country + according to official records. In the summer of 1914 there was one night + when the thermometer dropped only to 114 degrees F., having been 128 + degrees F. at noon. The branches of a peppertree whose roots had been + freshly watered wilted as a flower wilts when broken from the stalk. + </p> + <p> + East and south of Death Valley lies the most interesting section of the + American desert, the so-called succulent desert of southern Arizona and + northern Mexico. There in greatest profusion grow the cacti, perhaps the + latest and most highly specialized of all the great families of plants. + There occur such strange scenes as the "forests" of suhuaros, whose giant + columns have already been described. Their beautiful crowns of large white + flowers produce a fruit which is one of the mainstays of the Papagos and + other Indians of the regions. In this same region the yucca is highly + developed, and its tall stalks of white or greenish flowers make the + desert appear like a flower garden. In fact this whole desert, thanks to + light rains in summer as well as winter, appears extraordinarily green and + prosperous. Its fair appearance has deceived many a poor settler who has + vainly tried to cultivate it. + </p> + <p> + Farther south the deserts of America are largely confined to plateaus like + those of Mexico and Peru or to basins sheltered on all sides from + rain-bearing winds. In such basins the suddenness of the transition from + one type of vegetation to another is astonishing. In Guatemala, for + instance, the coast is bordered by thick jungle which quickly gives place + to magnificent rain forest a few miles inland. This continues two or three + score miles from the coast until a point is reached where mountains begin + to obstruct the rain-bearing trade-winds. At once the rain forest gives + place to jungle; in a few miles jungle in its turn is replaced by scrub; + and shortly the scrub degenerates to mere desert bush. Then in another + fifty miles one rises to the main plateau passing once more through scrub. + This time the scrub gives place to grass-lands diversified by deciduous + trees and pines which give the country a distinctly temperate aspect. On + such plateaus the chief civilization of the tropical Latin-American + countries now centers. In the past, however, the plateaus were far + surpassed by the Maya lowlands of Yucatan and Guatemala. + </p> + <p> + We are wont to think of deserts as places where the plants are of few + kinds and not much crowded. As a matter of fact, an ordinary desert + supports a much greater variety of plants than does either a forest or a + prairie. The reason is simple. Every desert contains wet spots near + springs or in swamps. Such places abound with all sorts of water-loving + plants. The deserts also contain a few valleys where the larger streams + keep the ground moist at all seasons. In such places the variety of trees + is as great as in many forests. Moreover almost all deserts have short + periods of abundant moisture. + </p> + <p> + At such times the seeds of all sorts of little annual plants, including + grasses, daisies, lupines, and a host of others, sprout quickly, and give + rise to a carpet of vegetation as varied and beautiful as that of the + prairie. Thus the desert has not only its own peculiar bushes and + succulents but many of the products of vegetation in swamps, grasslands, + and forests. Though much of the ground is bare in the desert, the plants + are actually crowded together as closely as possible. The showers of such + regions are usually so brief that they merely wet the surface. At a depth + of a foot or more the soil of many deserts never becomes moist from year's + end to year's end. It is useless for plants to send their roots deep down + under such circumstances, for they might not reach water for a hundred + feet. Their only recourse is to spread horizontally. The farther they + spread, the more water they can absorb after the scanty showers. Hence the + plants of the desert throttle one another by extending their roots + horizontally, just as those of the forest kill one another by springing + rapidly upward and shutting out the light. + </p> + <p> + Vegetation, whether in forests, grasslands, or deserts, is the primary + source of human sustenance. Without it man would perish miserably; and + where it is deficient, he cannot rise to great heights in the scale of + civilization. Yet strangely enough the scantiness of the vegetation of the + deserts was a great help in the ascent of man. Only in dry regions could + primitive man compete with nature in fostering the right kind of + vegetation. In such regions arose the nations which first practised + agriculture. There man became comparatively civilized while his + contemporaries were still nomadic hunters in the grasslands and the + forests. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. THE RED MAN IN AMERICA + </h2> + <p> + When the white man first explored America, the parts of the continent that + had made most progress were by no means those that are most advanced + today. * None of the inhabitants, to be sure, had risen above barbarism. + Yet certain nations or tribes had advanced much higher than others. There + was a great contrast, for example, between the well-organized barbarians + of Peru and the almost completely unorganized Athapascan savages near + Hudson Bay. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * In the present chapter most of the facts as to the Indians +north of Mexico are taken from the admirable "Handbook of American +Indians North of Mexico," edited by F. W. Hodge, Smithsonian +Institution, Bureau of Ethnology, Bulletin 30, Washington, 1907, two +volumes. In summing up the character and achievements of the Indians +I have drawn also on other sources, but have everywhere taken pains +to make no statements which are not abundantly supported by this +authoritative publication. In some cases I have not hesitated to +paraphrase considerable portions of its articles. +</pre> + <p> + In the northern continent aboriginal America reached its highest + development in three typical environments. The first of these regions + centered in the valley of Mexico where dwelt the Aztecs, but it extended + as far north as the Pueblos in Arizona and New Mexico. The special feature + of the environment was the relatively dry, warm climate with the chief + rainfall in summer. The Indians living in this environment were notable + for their comparatively high social organization and for religious + ceremonials whose elaborateness has rarely been surpassed. On the whole, + the people of this summer rain or Mexican type were not warlike and + offered little resistance to European conquest. Some tribes, to be sure, + fought fiercely at first, but yielded within a few years; the rest + submitted to the lordly Spaniards almost without a murmur. Their + civilization, if such we may call it, had long ago seen its best days. The + period of energy and progress had passed, and a time of inertia and decay + had set in. A century after the Spaniards had overcome the aborigines of + Mexico, other Europeans—French, English, and Dutch—came into + contact with a sturdier type of red man, best represented by the Iroquois + or Five Nations of central New York. This more active type dwelt in a + physical environment notable for two features—the abundance of + cyclonic storms bringing rain or snow at all seasons and the deciduous + forest which thickly covered the whole region. Unlike the Mexican, the + civilization of the Iroquois was young, vigorous, and growing. It had not + learned to express itself in durable architectural forms like those of + Mexico, nor could it rival the older type in social and religious + organization. In political organization, however, the Five Nations had + surpassed the other aboriginal peoples of North America. When the white + man became acquainted with the Iroquois in the seventeenth century, he + found five of their tribes organized into a remarkable confederation whose + avowed object was to abolish war among themselves and to secure to all the + members the peaceful exercise of their rights and privileges. So well was + the confederation organized that, in spite of war with its enemies, it + persisted for at least two hundred years. One of the chief characteristics + of the Iroquois was their tremendous energy. They were so energetic that + they pursued their enemies with an implacable relentlessness similar to + the restless eagerness with which the people of the region from New York + to Chicago now pursue their business enterprises. This led the Iroquois to + torture their prisoners with the utmost ingenuity and cruelty. Not only + did the savages burn and mutilate their captives, but they sometimes added + the last refinement of torture by compelling the suffering wretches to eat + pieces of flesh cut from their own bodies. Energy may lead to high + civilization, but it may also lead to excesses of evil. The third + prominent aboriginal type was that of the fishermen of the coast of + British Columbia, especially the Haidas of the Queen Charlotte Islands. + The most important features of their environment were the submerged coast + with its easy navigation, the mild oceanic climate, and the dense pine + forests. The Haidas, like the Iroquois, appear to have been a people who + were still advancing. Such as it was, their greatness was apparently the + product of their own ingenuity and not, like that of the Mexicans, an + inheritance from a greater past. The Haidas lacked the relentless energy + of the Iroquois and shared the comparatively gentle character which + prevailed among all the Indians along the Pacific Coast. They were by no + means weaklings, however. Commercially, for instance, they seem to have + been more advanced than any North American tribe except those in the + Mexican area. In architecture they stood equally high. We are prone to + think of the Mexicans as the best architects among the aborigines, but + when the white man came even the Aztecs were merely imitating the work of + their predecessors. The Haidas, on the contrary, were showing real + originality. They had no stone with which to build, for their country is + so densely forested that stone is rarely visible. They were remarkably + skillful, however, in hewing great beams from the forest. With these they + constructed houses whose carved totem poles and graceful facades gave + promise of an architecture of great beauty. Taking into account the + difficulties presented by a material which was not durable and by tools + which were nothing but bits of stone, we must regard their totem poles and + mural decorations as real contributions to primitive architecture. + </p> + <p> + In addition to these three highest types of the red man there were many + others. Each, as we shall see, owed its peculiarities largely to the + physical surroundings in which it lived. Of course different tribes + possessed different degrees of innate ability, but the chief differences + in their habits and mode of life arose from the topography, the climate, + the plants, and the animals which formed the geographical setting of their + homes. + </p> + <p> + In previous chapters we have gained some idea of the topography of the New + World and of the climate in its relation to plants and animals. We have + also seen that climate has much to do with human energy. We have not, + however, gained a sufficiently clear idea of the distribution of climatic + energy. A map of the world showing how energy would be distributed if it + depended entirely upon climate clarifies the subject. The dark shading of + the map indicates those regions where energy is highest. It is based upon + measurements of the strength of scores of individuals, upon the scholastic + records of hundreds of college students, upon the piecework of thousands + of factory operatives, and upon millions of deaths and births in a score + of different countries. It takes account of three chief climatic + conditions—temperature, humidity, and variability. It also takes + account of mental as well as physical ability. Underneath it is a map of + the distribution of civilization on the basis of the opinion of fifty + authorities in fifteen different countries. The similarity of the two maps + is so striking that there can be little question that today the + distribution of civilization agrees closely with the distribution of + climatic energy. When Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, and Rome were at the + height of their power this agreement was presumably the same, for the + storm belt which now gives variability and hence energy to the thickly + shaded regions in our two maps then apparently lay farther south. It is + generally considered that no race has been more closely dependent upon + physical environment than were the Indians. Why, then, did the energizing + effect of climate apparently have less effect upon them than upon the + other great races? Why were not the most advanced Indian tribes found in + the same places where white civilization is today most advanced? Climatic + changes might in part account for the difference, but, although such + changes apparently took place on a large scale in earlier times, there is + no evidence of anything except minor fluctuations since the days of the + first white settlements. Racial inheritance likewise may account for some + of the differences among the various tribes, but it was probably not the + chief factor. That factor was apparently the condition of agriculture + among people who had neither iron tools nor beasts of burden. Civilization + has never made much progress except when there has been a permanent + cultivation of the ground. It has been said that "the history of + agriculture is the history of man in his most primitive and most permanent + aspect." If we examine the achievements and manner of life of the Indians + in relation to the effect of climate upon agriculture and human energy, as + well as in relation to the more obvious features of topography and + vegetation, we shall understand why the people of aboriginal America in + one part of the continent differed so greatly from those in another part. + In the far north the state of the inhabitants today is scarcely different + from what it was in the days of Columbus. Then, as now, the Eskimos had + practically no political or social organization beyond the family or the + little group of relatives who lived in a single camp. They had no + permanent villages, but moved from place to place according to the season + in search of fish, game, and birds. They lived this simple life not + because they lacked ability but because of their surroundings. Their + kayaks or canoes are marvels of ingenuity. With no materials except bones, + driftwood, and skins they made boats which fulfilled their purpose with + extraordinary perfection. Seated in the small, round hole which is the + only opening in the deck of his canoe, the Eskimo hunter ties his skin + jacket tightly outside the circular gunwale and is thus shut into a + practically water-tight compartment. Though the waves dash over him, + scarcely a drop enters the craft as he skims along with his double paddle + among cakes of floating ice. So, too, the snowhouse with its anterooms and + curved entrance passage is as clever an adaptation to the needs of + wanderers in a land of ice and snow as is the skyscraper to the needs of a + busy commercial people crowded into great cities. The fact that the + oilburning, soapstone lamps of the Eskimo were the only means of producing + artificial light in aboriginal America, except by ordinary fires, is + another tribute to the ingenuity of these northerners. So, too, is the + fire-drill by which they alone devised a means of increasing the speed + with which one stick could be twirled against another to produce fire. In + view of these clever inventions it seems safe to say that the Eskimo has + remained a nomadic savage not because he lacks inventive skill but partly + because the climate deadens his energies and still more because it forbids + him to practice agriculture. + </p> + <p> + Southward and inland from the coastal homes of the Eskimo lies the great + region of the northern pine forests. It extends from the interior of + Alaska southeastward in such a way as to include most of the Canadian + Rockies, the northern plains from Great Bear Lake almost to Lake Winnipeg, + and most of the great Laurentian shield around Hudson Bay and in the + peninsula of Labrador. Except among the inhabitants of the narrow Pacific + slope and those of the shores of Labrador and the St. Lawrence Valley, a + single type of barbarism prevailed among the Indians of all the vast pine + forest area. Only in a small section of the wheat-raising plains of + Alberta and Saskatchewan have their habits greatly changed because of the + arrival of the white man. Now as always the Indians in these northern + regions are held back by the long, benumbing winters. They cannot practice + agriculture, for no crops will grow. They cannot depend to any great + extent upon natural vegetation, for aside from blueberries, a few lichens, + and one or two other equally insignificant products, the forests furnish + no food except animals. These lowly people seem to have been so occupied + with the severe struggle with the elements that they could not even + advance out of savagery into barbarism. They were homeless nomads whose + movements were determined largely by the food supply. + </p> + <p> + Among the Athapascans who occupied all the western part of the northern + pine forests, clothing was made of deerskins with the hair left on. The + lodges were likewise of deer or caribou skins, although farther south + these were sometimes replaced by bark. The food of these tribes consisted + of caribou, deer, moose, and musk-ox together with smaller animals such as + the beaver and hare. They also ate various kinds of birds and the fish + found in the numerous lakes and rivers. They killed deer by driving them + into an angle formed by two converging rows of stakes, where they were + shot by hunters lying in wait. Among the Kawchodinne tribe near Great Bear + Lake hares were the chief source of both food and clothing. When an + unusually severe winter or some other disaster diminished the supply, the + Indians believed that the animals had mounted to the sky by means of the + trees and would return by the same way. In 1841 owing to scarcity of hares + many of this tribe died of starvation, and numerous acts of cannibalism + are said to have occurred. Small wonder that civilization was low and that + infanticide, especially of female children, was common. Among such people + women were naturally treated with a minimum of respect. Since they were + not skilled as hunters, there was relatively little which they could + contribute toward the sustenance of the family. Hence they were held in + low esteem, for among most primitive people woman is valued largely in + proportion to her economic contribution. Her low position is illustrated + by the peculiar funeral custom of the Takulli, an Athapascan tribe on the + Upper Frazer River. A widow was obliged to remain upon the funeral pyre of + her husband till the flames reached her own body. When the fire had died + down she collected the ashes of her dead and placed them in a basket, + which she was obliged to carry with her during three years of servitude in + the family of her husband. At the end of that time a feast was held, when + she was released from thraldom and permitted to remarry if she desired. + </p> + <p> + Poor and degraded as the people of the northern forests may have been, + they had their good traits. The Kutchins of the Yukon and Lower Mackenzie + regions, though they killed their female children, were exceedingly + hospitable and kept guests for months. Each head of a family took his turn + in feasting the whole band. On such occasions etiquette required the host + to fast until the guests had departed. At such feasts an interesting + wrestling game was played. First the smallest boys began to wrestle. The + victors wrestled with those next in strength and so on until finally the + strongest and freshest man in the band remained the final victor. Then the + girls and women went through the same progressive contest. It is hard to + determine whether the people of the northern pine forest were more or less + competent than their Eskimo neighbors. It perhaps makes little difference, + for it is doubtful whether even a race with brilliant natural endowments + could rise far in the scale of civilization under conditions so highly + adverse. + </p> + <p> + The Eskimos of the northern coasts and the people of the pine forests were + not the only aborigines whose development was greatly retarded because + they could not practice agriculture. All the people of the Pacific coast + from Alaska to Lower California were in similar circumstances. + Nevertheless those living along the northern part of this coast rose to a + much higher level than did those of California. This has sometimes been + supposed to show that geographical environment has little influence upon + civilization, but in reality it proves exactly the opposite. + </p> + <p> + The coast of British Columbia was one of the three chief centers of + aboriginal America. As The Encyclopaedia Britannica * puts it: "The Haida + people constituted with little doubt the finest race and that most + advanced in the arts of the entire west coast of North America." They and + their almost equally advanced Tlingit and Tsimshian neighbors on the + mainland displayed much mechanical skill, especially in canoe-building, + woodcarving, and the working of stone and copper, as well as in making + blankets and baskets. To this day they earn a considerable amount of money + by selling their carved objects of wood and slate to traders and tourists. + Their canoes were hollowed out of logs of cedar and were often very large. + Houses which were sometimes 40 by 100 feet were built of huge cedar beams + and planks, which were first worked with stone and were then put together + at great feasts. These correspond to the "raising bees" at which the + neighbors gathered to erect the frames of houses in early New England. + Each Haida house ordinarily had a single carved totem pole in the middle + of the gable end which faced toward the beach. Often the end posts in + front were also carved and the whole house was painted. Another evidence + of the fairly advanced state of the Haidas was their active commercial + intercourse with regions hundreds of miles away. At their "potlatches," as + the raising bees were called by the whites, trading went on vigorously. + Carved copper plates were among the articles which they esteemed of + highest value. Standing in the tribe depended on the possession of + property rather than on ability in war, in which respect the Haidas were + more like the people of today than were any of the other Indian tribes. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * 11th Edition, vol. XXII, p. 730. +</pre> + <p> + Slavery was common among the Haidas. Even as late as 1861, 7800 Tlingits + held 828 slaves. Slavery may not be a good institution in itself, but it + indicates that people are well-to-do, that they dwell in permanent abodes, + and that they have a well-established social order. Among the more + backward Iroquois, captives rarely became genuine slaves, for the social + and economic organization was not sufficiently developed to admit of this. + The few captives who were retained after a fight were adopted into the + tribe of the captors or else were allowed to live with them and shift for + themselves—a practice very different from that of the Haidas. + </p> + <p> + Another feature of the Haidas' life which showed comparative progress was + the social distinctions which existed among them. One of the ways in which + individuals maintained their social position was by giving away quantities + of goods of all kinds at the potlatches which they organized. A man + sometimes went so far as to strip himself of nearly every possession + except his house. In return for this, however, he obtained what seemed to + him an abundant reward in the respect with which his fellow-tribesmen + afterward regarded him. At subsequent potlatches he received in his turn a + measure of their goods in proportion to his own gifts, so that he was + sometimes richer than before. These potlatches were social as well as + industrial functions, and dancing and singing were interspersed with the + feasting. One of the amusements was a musical contest in which singers + from one tribe or band would contend with one another as to which could + remember the greatest number of songs or accurately repeat a new song + after hearing it for the first time. At the potlatches the children of + chiefs were initiated into secret societies. They had their noses, ears, + and lips pierced for ornaments, and some of them were tattooed. This great + respect for social position which the Haidas manifested is doubtless far + from ideal, but it at least indicates that a part of the tribe was + sufficiently advanced to accumulate property and to pass it on to its + descendants—a custom that is almost impossible among tribes which + move from place to place. The question suggests itself why these coast + barbarians were so much in advance of their neighbors a few hundred miles + away in the pine woods of the mountains. The climate was probably one + reason for this superiority. Instead of being in a region like the center + of the pine forests of British Columbia where human energy is sapped by + six or eight months of winter, the Haidas enjoyed conditions like those of + Scotland. Although snow fell occasionally, severe cold was unknown. Nor + was there great heat in summer. The Haidas dwelt where both bodily + strength and mental activity were stimulated. In addition to this + advantage of a favorable climate these Indians had a large and steady + supply of food close at hand. Most of their sustenance was obtained from + the sea and from the rivers, in which the runs of salmon furnished + abundant provisions, which rarely failed. In Hecate Strait, between the + Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland, there were wonderfully + productive halibut fisheries, from which a supply of fish was dried and + packed away for the winter, so that there was always a store of provisions + on hand. The forests in their turn furnished berries and seeds, as well as + bears, mountain goats, and other game. + </p> + <p> + Moreover the people of the northwest coast had the advantage of not being + forced to move from place to place in order to follow the fish. They lived + on a drowned shore where bays, straits, and sounds are extraordinarily + numerous. The great waves of the Pacific are shut out by the islands so + that the waterways are almost always safe for canoes. Instead of moving + their dwellings in order to follow the food supply, as the Eskimo and the + people of the pine forest were forced to do, the Haidas and their + neighbors were able without difficulty to bring their food home. At all + seasons the canoes made it easy to transport large supplies of fish from + places even a hundred miles away. Having settled dwellings, the Haidas + could accumulate property and acquire that feeling of permanence which is + one of the most important conditions for the development of civilization. + Doubtless the Haidas were intellectually superior to many other tribes, + but even if they had not been greatly superior, their surroundings would + probably have made them stand relatively high in the scale of + civilization. Southward from the Haidas, around Puget Sound and in + Washington and Oregon, there was a gradual decline in civilization. The + Chinook Indians of the lower Columbia, beyond the limits of the great + northern archipelago, had large communal houses occupied by three or four + families of twenty or more individuals. Their villages were thus fairly + permanent, although there was much moving about in summer owing to the + nature of the food supply, which consisted chiefly of salmon, with roots + and berries indigenous to the region. The people were noted as traders not + only among themselves but with surrounding tribes. They were extremely + skillful in handling their canoes, which were well made, hollowed out of + single logs, and often of great size. In disposition they are described as + treacherous and deceitful, especially when their cupidity was aroused. + Slaves were common and were usually obtained by barter from surrounding + tribes, though occasionally by successful raids. These Indians of Oregon + by no means rivaled the Haidas, for their food supply was less certain and + they did not have the advantage of easy water communication, which did so + much to raise the Haidas to a high level of development. + </p> + <p> + Of the tribes farther south an observer says: "In general rudeness of + culture the California Indians are scarcely above the Eskimo, and whereas + the lack of development of the Eskimo on many sides of their nature is + reasonably attributable in part to their difficult and limiting + environment, the Indians of California inhabit a country naturally as + favorable, it would seem, as it might be. If the degree of civilization + attained by a people depends in any large measure on their habitat, as + does not seem likely, it might be concluded from the case of the + California Indians that natural advantages were an impediment rather than + an incentive to progress." In some of the tribes, such as the Hupa, for + example, there existed no organization and no formalities in the + government of the village. Formal councils were unknown, although the + chief might and often did ask advice of his men in a collected body. In + general the social structure of the California Indians was so simple and + loose that it is hardly correct to speak of their tribes. Whatever + solidarity there was among these people was due in part to family ties and + in part to the fact that they lived in the same village and spoke the same + dialect. Between different groups of these Indians, the common bond was + similarity of language as well as frequency and cordiality of intercourse. + In so primitive a condition of society there was neither necessity nor + opportunity for differences of rank. The influence of chiefs was small and + no distinct classes of slaves were known. Extreme poverty was the chief + cause of the low social and political organization of these Indians. The + Maidus in the Sacramento Valley were so poor that, in addition to + consuming every possible vegetable product, they not only devoured all + birds except the buzzard, but ate badgers, skunks, wildcats, and mountain + lions, and even consumed salmon bones and deer vertebrae. They gathered + grasshoppers and locusts by digging large shallow pits in a meadow or + flat. Then, setting fire to the grass on all sides, they drove the insects + into the pit. Their wings being burned off by the flames, the grasshoppers + were helpless and were thus collected by the bushel. Again of the + Moquelumne, one of the largest tribes in central California, it is said + that their houses were simply frameworks of poles and brush which in + winter were covered with earth. In summer they erected cone-shaped lodges + of poles among the mountains. In favorable years they gathered large + quantities of acorns, which formed their principal food, and stored them + for winter use in granaries raised above the ground. Often, however, the + crop was poor, and the Indians were left on the verge of starvation. + </p> + <p> + Finally in the far south, in the peninsula of Lower California, the tribes + were "probably the lowest in culture of any Indians in North America, for + their inhospitable environment which made them wanderers, was unfavorable + to the foundation of government even of the rude and unstable kind found + elsewhere." The Yuman tribes of the mountains east of Santiago wore + sandals of maguey fiber and descended from their own territory among the + mountains "to eat calabash and other fruits" that grew beside the Colorado + River. They were described as "very dirty on account of the much mescal + they eat." Others speak of them as "very filthy in their habits. To + overcome vermin they coat their heads with mud with which they also paint + their bodies. On a hot day it is by no means unusual to see them wallowing + in the mud like pigs." They were "exceedingly poor, having no animals + except foxes of which they had a few skins. The dress of the women in + summer was a shirt and a bark skirt. The men appear to have been + practically unclothed during this season. The practice of selling children + seems to have been common. Their sustenance was fish, fruits, vegetables, + and seeds of grass, and many of the tribes were said to have been + dreadfully scorbutic." A little to the east of these degraded savages the + much more advanced Mohave tribe had its home on the lower Colorado River. + The contrast between these neighboring tribes throws much light on the + reason for the low estate of the California Indians. "No better example of + the power of environment to better man's condition can be found than that + shown as the lower Colorado is reached. Here are tribes of the same family + (as those of Lower California) remarkable not only for their fine physical + development, but living in settled villages with well-defined tribal + lines, practising a rude, but effective, agriculture, and well advanced in + many primitive Indian arts. The usual Indian staples were raised except + tobacco, these tribes preferring a wild tobacco of their region to the + cultivated." * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Hodge, "Handbook of American Indians." +</pre> + <p> + This quotation is highly significant. With it should be compared the fact + that there is no evidence that corn or anything else was cultivated in + California west of the Rio Colorado Valley. California is a region famous + throughout America for its agriculture, but its crops are European in + origin. Even in the case of fruits, such as the grape, which have American + counterparts, the varieties actually cultivated were brought from Europe. + Wheat and barley, the chief foodstuffs for which California and similar + subtropical regions are noted, were unknown in the New World before the + coming of the white man. In pre-Columbian America corn was the only + cultivated cereal. The other great staples of early American agriculture + were beans and pumpkins. All three are preeminently summer crops and need + much water in July and August. In California there is no rain at this + season. Though the fall rains, which begin to be abundant in October and + November, do not aid these summer crops, they favor wheat and barley. The + winter rains and the comparatively warm winter weather permit these grains + to grow slowly but continuously. When the warm spring arrives, there is + still enough rain to permit wheat and barley to make a rapid growth and to + mature their seeds long before the long, dry summer begins. The + comparatively dry weather of May and June is just what these cereals need + to ripen the crop, but it is fatal to any kind of agriculture which + depends on summer rain. + </p> + <p> + Crops can of course be grown during the summer in California by means of + irrigation, but this is rarely a simple process. If irrigation is to be + effective in California, it cannot depend on the small streams which + practically dry up during the long, rainless summer, but it must depend on + comparatively large streams which flow in well-defined channels. With our + modern knowledge and machinery it is easy for us to make canals and + ditches and to prepare the level fields needed to utilize this water. A + people with no knowledge of agriculture, however, and with no iron tools + cannot suddenly begin to practice a complex and highly developed system of + agriculture. In California there is little or none of the natural summer + irrigation which, in certain parts of America, appears to have been the + most important factor leading to the first steps in tilling the ground. + The lower Colorado, however, floods broad areas every summer. Here, as on + the Nile, the retiring floods leave the land so moist that crops can + easily be raised. Hence the Mohave Indians were able to practice + agriculture and to rise well above their kinsmen not only in Lower + California but throughout the whole State. + </p> + <p> + In the Rocky Mountain region of the United States, just as on the Pacific + coast, the condition of the tribes deteriorated more and more the farther + they lived to the south. In the regions where the rainfall comes in + summer, however, and hence favors primitive agriculture, there was a + marked improvement. The Kutenai tribes lived near the corner where Idaho, + Montana, and British Columbia now meet. They appear to have been of rather + high grade, noteworthy for their morality, kindness, and hospitality. More + than any other Indians of the Rocky Mountain region, they avoided + drunkenness and lewd intercourse with the whites. Their mental ability was + comparatively high, as appears from their skill in buffalo-hunting, in + making dugouts and bark canoes, and in constructing sweat-houses and + lodges of both skins and rushes. Even today the lower Kutenai are noted + for their water-tight baskets of split roots. Moreover the degree to which + they used the plants that grew about them for food, medicine, and + economical purposes was noteworthy. They also had an esthetic appreciation + of several plants and flowers—a gift rare among Indians. These + people lived in the zone of most stimulating climate and, although they + did not practice agriculture and had little else in their surroundings to + help them to rise above the common level, they dwelt in a region where + there was rain enough in summer to prevent their being on the verge of + starvation, as the Indians of California usually were. Moreover they were + near enough to the haunts of the buffalo to depend on that great beast for + food. Since one buffalo supplies as much food as a hundred rabbits, these + Indians were vastly better off than the people of the drier parts of the + western coast. + </p> + <p> + South of the home of the Kutenai, in eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, + Nevada, Utah, and neighboring regions dwelt the Utes and other Shoshoni + tribes. In this region the rainfall, which is no greater than that of + California, occurs chiefly in winter. The long summer is so dry that, + except by highly developed methods of irrigation, agriculture is + impossible. Hence it is not surprising to find a traveler in 1850 + describing one tribe of the Ute family as "without exception the most + miserable looking set of human beings I ever saw. They have hitherto + subsisted principally on snakes, lizards, roots." The lowest of all the + Ute tribes were those who lived in the sage-brush. The early explorer, + Bonneville, found the tribes of Snake River wintering in brush shelters + without roofs merely heaps of brush piled high, behind which the Indians + crouched for protection from wind and snow. Crude as such shelters may + seem, they were the best that could be constructed by people who dwelt + where there was no vegetation except little bushes, and where the soil was + for the most part sandy or so salty that it could not easily be made into + adobe bricks. + </p> + <p> + The food of these Utes and Shoshonis was no better than their shelters. + There were no large animals for them to hunt; rabbits were the best that + they could find. Farther to the east, where the buffalo wandered during + part of the year and where there are some forests, the food was better, + the shelters were more effective, and, in general, the standard of living + was higher, although racially the two groups of people were alike. In this + case, as in others, the people whose condition was lowest were apparently + as competent as those whose material conditions were much better. Today, + although the Ute Indians, like most of their race, are rather slow, some + tribes, such as the Payutes, are described as not only "peaceful and + moral," but also "industrious." They are highly commended for their good + qualities by those who have had the best opportunities for judging. While + not as bright in intellect as some of the prairie tribes whom we shall + soon consider, they appear to possess more solidity of character. By their + willingness and efficiency as workers they have made themselves necessary + to the white farmers and have thus supplied themselves with good clothing + and many of the comforts of life. They have resisted, too, many of the + evils coming from the advance of civilization, so that one agent speaks of + these Indians as presenting the singular anomaly of improving by contact + with the whites. Apparently their extremely low condition in former times + was due merely to that same handicap of environment which kept back the + Indians of California. + </p> + <p> + Compare these backward but not wholly ungifted Utes with the Hopi who + belonged to the same stock. The relatively high social organization of the + latter people and the intricacy and significance of their religious + ceremonials are well known. Mentally the Hopi seem to be the equal of any + tribe, but it is doubtful whether they have much more innate capacity than + many of their more backward neighbors. Nevertheless they made much more + progress before the days of the white man, as can easily be seen in their + artistic development. Every one who has crossed the continent by the Santa + Fe route knows how interesting and beautiful are their pottery, basketry, + and weaving. Not only in art but also in government the Hopi are highly + advanced. Their governing body is a council of hereditary elders together + with the chiefs of religious fraternities. Among these officials there is + a speaker chief and a war chief, but there seems never to have been any + supreme chief of all the Hopi. Each pueblo has an hereditary chief who + directs all the communal work, such as the cleaning of the springs and the + general care of the village. Crimes are rare. This at first sight seems + strange in view of the fact that no penalty was inflicted for any crime + except sorcery, but under Hopi law all transgressions could be reduced to + sorcery. One of the most striking features of Hopi life was its rich + religious development. The Hopi recognized a large number of supernatural + beings and had a great store of most interesting and poetic mythological + tales. The home of the Hopi would seem at first sight as unfavorable to + progress as that of their Ute cousins, but the Hopi have the advantage of + being the most northwesterly representatives of the Indians who dwell + within the regions of summer rain. Fortunately for them, their country is + too desert and unforested for them to subsist to any great degree by the + chase. They are thus forced to devote all their energy to agriculture, + through which they have developed a relatively high standard of living. + They dwell far enough south to have their heaviest rainfall in summer and + not in winter, as is the case in Utah, so that they are able to cultivate + crops of corn and beans. Where such an intensive system of agriculture + prevails, the work of women is as valuable as that of men. The position of + woman is thus relatively high among the Hopi, for she is useful not only + for her assistance in the labors of the field but also for her skill in + preserving the crops, grinding the flour, and otherwise preparing the + comparatively varied food which this tribe fortunately possesses. + </p> + <p> + From northern New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico City summer rains, dry + winters, and still drier springs, are the rule. Forests are few, and much + of the country is desert. The more abundant the rains, the greater the + number of people and the greater the opportunities for the accumulation of + wealth, and thus for that leisure which is necessary to part of a + community if civilization is to make progress. That is one reason why the + civilization of the summer rain people becomes more highly developed as + they go from north to south. The fact that the altitude of the country + increases from the United States border southward also tends in the same + direction, for it causes the climate to be cooler and more bracing at + Mexico City than at places farther north. + </p> + <p> + The importance of summer rains in stimulating growth and in facilitating + the early stages of agriculture is noteworthy. Every one familiar with + Arizona and New Mexico knows how the sudden summer showers fill the + mountain valleys with floods which flow down upon the plain and rapidly + spread out into broad, thin sheets, often known as playas. There the water + stands a short time and then either sinks into the ground or evaporates. + Such places are favored with the best kind of natural irrigation, and + after the first shower it is an easy matter for the primitive farmer to go + out and drop grains of corn into holes punched with a stick. Thereafter he + can count on other showers to water his field while the corn sprouts and + grows to maturity. All that he needs to do is to watch the field to + protect it from the rare depredations of wild animals. As time goes on the + primitive farmer realizes the advantage of leading the water to + particularly favorable spots and thus begins to develop a system of + artificial irrigation. In regions where such advantageous conditions + prevail, the people who live permanently in one place succeed best, for + the work that they do one year helps them the next. They are not greatly + troubled by weeds, for, though grasses grow as well as corn in the places + where the water spreads out, the grasses take the form of little clumps + which can easily be pulled up. In the drier parts of the area of summer + rain, it becomes necessary to conserve the water supply to the utmost. The + Hopi consider sandy fields the best, for the loose sand on top acts as a + natural blanket to prevent evaporation from the underlying layers. + Sometimes in dry seasons the Hopi use extraordinary methods to help their + seeds to sprout. For instance, they place a seed in a ball of saturated + mud which they bury beneath several inches of sand. As the sand prevents + evaporation, practically all the water is retained for the use of the + seed, which thereupon sprouts and grows some inches by the time the first + summer floods arrive. + </p> + <p> + The Indians of the Great Plains lived a very different life from that of + the natives of either the mountains or the Pacific coast. In the far + north, to be sure, the rigorous climate caused all the Indians to live + practically alike, whether in the Rockies, the plains, or the Laurentian + highland. South of them, in that great central expanse stretching from the + latitude of Lake Winnipeg to the Rio Grande River, the Indians of the + plains possessed a relatively uniform type of life peculiar to themselves. + This individuality was due partly to the luxuriant carpet of grass which + covered the plains and partly to the supply of animal food afforded by the + vast herds of buffaloes which roamed in tens of thousands throughout the + whole territory. The grass was important chiefly because it prevented the + Indians from engaging in agriculture, for it must never be forgotten that + the Indians had neither iron tools nor beasts of burden to aid them in + overcoming the natural difficulties in the way of agriculture. To be sure, + they did occasionally pound meteoric iron into useful implements, but this + substance was so rare that probably not one Indian in a hundred had ever + seen a piece. The Indians were quite familiar with copper, but there is + not the slightest evidence that they had discovered any means of hardening + it. Metals played no real part in the life of any of the Indians of + America, and without such tools as iron spades and hoes it was impossible + for them to cultivate grassland. If they burned the prairie and dropped + seeds into holes, the corn or beans which they thus planted were sure to + be choked by the quickly springing grass. To dig away the tough sod around + the hole for each seed would require an almost incredible amount of work + even with iron tools. To accomplish this with wooden spades, rude hoes + made of large flakes of flint, or the shoulder blades of the buffalo, was + impossible on any large scale. Now and then in some river bottom where the + grass grew in clumps and could be easily pulled up, a little agriculture + was possible. That is all that seems to have been attempted on the great + grassy plains. + </p> + <p> + The Indians could not undertake any widespread cultivation of the plains + not only because they lacked iron tools but also because they had no draft + animals. The buffalo was too big, too fierce, and too stupid to be + domesticated. In all the length and breadth of the two Americas there was + no animal to take the place of the useful horse, donkey, or ox. The llama + was too small to do anything but carry light loads, and it could live only + in a most limited area among the cold Andean highlands. Even if the + aboriginal Americans could have made iron ploughs, they could not have + ploughed the tough sod without the aid of animals. Moreover, even if the + possession of metal tools and beasts of burden had made agriculture + possible in the grass-lands, it would have been difficult, in the absence + of wood for fences, to prevent the buffalo from eating up the crops or at + least from tramping through them and spoiling them. Thus the fertile land + of the great plains remained largely unused until the white man came to + the New World bringing the iron tools and domestic animals that were + necessary to successful agriculture. + </p> + <p> + Although farming of any sort was almost as impossible in the plains as in + the dry regions of winter rains farther west, the abundance of buffaloes + made life much easier in many respects. It is astonishing to see how many + purposes these animals served. An early traveler who dwelt among one of + the buffalo-hunting tribes, the Tonkawa of central Texas, says: "Besides + their meat it [the buffalo] furnishes them liberally what they desire for + conveniences. The brains are used to soften skins, the horns for spoons + and drinking cups, the shoulder blades to dig up and clear off the ground, + the tendons for threads and bow strings, the hoofs to glue the + arrow-feathering. From the tail-hair they make ropes and girths, from the + wool, belts and various ornaments. The hide furnishes... shields, tents, + shirts, footwear, and blankets to protect them from the cold." * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + *See Hodge, "Handbook of American Indians," vol. II, p. 781. +</pre> + <p> + The buffalo is a surprisingly stupid animal. When a herd is feeding it is + possible for a man to walk into the midst of it and shoot down an animal. + Even when one of their companions falls dead, the buffaloes pay no + attention to the hunter provided he remains perfectly still. The wounded + animals are not at first dangerous but seek to flee. Only when pursued and + brought to bay do they turn on their pursuers. When the Indians of an + encampment united their forces, as was their regular habit, they were able + to slaughter hundreds of animals in a few days. The more delicate parts of + the meat they ate first, often without cooking them. The rest they dried + and packed away for future use, while they prepared the hides as coverings + for the tents or as rugs in which to sleep. + </p> + <p> + Wherever the buffaloes were present in large numbers, the habits of the + Indians were much the same. They could not live in settled villages, for + there was no assurance that the buffalo would come to any particular place + each year. The plains tribes were therefore more thoroughly nomadic than + almost any others, especially after the introduction of horses. Because + they wandered so much, they came into contact with other tribes to an + unusual degree, and much of the contact was friendly. Gradually the + Indians developed a sign language by which tribes of different tongues + could communicate with one another. At first these signs were like + pictographs, for the speaker pointed as nearly as possible to the thing + that he desired to indicate, but later they became more and more + conventional. For example, man, the erect animal, was indicated by + throwing up the hand, with its back outward and the index finger extending + upward. Woman was indicated by a sweeping downward movement of the hand at + the side of the head with fingers extended to denote long hair or the + combing of flowing locks. + </p> + <p> + Among the plains Indians, the Dakotas, the main tribe of the Sioux family, + are universally considered to have stood highest not only physically but + mentally, and probably morally. Their bravery was never questioned, and + they conquered or drove out every rival except the Chippewas. Their + superiority was clearly seen in their system of government. Personal + fitness and popularity determined chieftainship more than did heredity. + The authority of the chief was limited by the Band Council, without whose + approbation little or nothing could be accomplished. In one of the Dakota + tribes, the Tetons, the policing of a village was confided to two or three + officers who were appointed by the chief and who remained in power until + their successors were appointed. Day and night they were always on the + watch, and so arduous were their labors that their term of service was + necessarily short. The brevity of their term, however, was atoned for by + the greatness of their authority, for in the suppression of disturbances + no resistance was suffered. Their persons were sacred, and if in the + execution of their duty they struck even a chief of the second class they + could not be punished. + </p> + <p> + The Dakotas, who lived in the region where their name is still preserved, + inhabited that part of the great plain which is climatically most + favorable to great activity. It is perhaps because of their response to + the influence of this factor of geographical environment that they and + their neighbors are the best known of the plains tribes. Their activity in + later times is evident from the fact that the Tetons were called "the + plundering Arabs of America." If their activities had been more wisely + directed, they might have made a great name for themselves in Indian + history. In the arts they stood as high as could be expected in view of + the wandering life which they led and the limited materials with which + they had to work. In the art of making pictographs, for instance, they + excelled all other tribes, except perhaps the Kiowas, a plains tribe of + Colorado and western Kansas. On the hides of buffalo, deer, and antelope + which formed their tents, the Dakotas painted calendars, which had a + picture for each year, or rather for each winter, while those of the + Kiowas had a summer symbol and a winter symbol. Probably these calendars + reveal the influence of the whites, but they at least show that these + people of the plains were quickwitted. + </p> + <p> + Farther south the tribes of the plains stood on a much lower level than + the Dakotas. The Spanish explorer, Cabeza de Vaca, describes the Yguases + in Texas, among whom he lived for several years, in these words: "Their + support is principally roots which require roasting two days. Many are + very bitter. Occasionally they take deer and at times fish, but the + quantity is so small and the famine so great that they eat spiders and + eggs of ants, worms, lizards, salamanders, snakes, and vipers that kill + whom they strike, and they eat earth and all that there is, the dung of + deer, things I omit to mention and I earnestly believe that were there + stones in that land they would eat them. They save the bones of the fish + they consume, the snakes and other animals, that they may afterward beat + them together and eat the powder." During these painful periods, they bade + Cabeza de Vaca "not to be sad. There would soon be prickly pears, although + the season of this fruit of the cactus might be months distant. When the + pears were ripe, the people feasted and danced and forgot their former + privations. They destroyed their female infants to prevent them being + taken by their enemies and thus becoming the means of increasing the + latter's number." + </p> + <p> + East of the Great Plains there dwelt still another important type of + Indians, the people of the deciduous forests. Their home extended from the + Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. As we have already seen, the Iroquois + who inhabited the northern part of this region were in many respects the + highest product of aboriginal America. The northern Iroquois tribes, + especially those known as the Five Nations, were second to no other Indian + people north of Mexico in political organization, statecraft, and military + prowess. Their leaders were genuine diplomats, as the wily French and + English statesmen with whom they treated soon discovered. One of their + most notable traits was the reverence which they had for the tribal law. + The wars that they waged were primarily for political independence, for + the fundamental principle of their confederation was that by uniting with + one another they would secure the peace and welfare of all with whom they + were connected by ties of blood. They prevented blood feuds by decreeing + that there should be a price for the killing of a co-tribesman, and they + abstained from eating the flesh of their enemies in order to avoid future + strife. So thoroughly did they believe in the rights of the individual + that women were accorded a high position. Among some of the tribes the + consent of all the women who had borne children was required before any + important measure could be taken. Candidates for a chiefship were + nominated by the votes of the mothers, and, as lands and houses were the + property of the women, their power in the tribe was great. + </p> + <p> + The Iroquois were sedentary and agricultural, and depended on the chase + for only a small part of their existence. The northern tribes were + especially noted for their skill in building fortifications and houses. + Their so-called castles were solid wooden structures with platforms + running around the top on the inside. From the platforms stones and other + missiles could be hurled down upon besiegers. According to our standards + such dwellings were very primitive, but they were almost as great an + advance upon the brush piles of the Utes as our skyscrapers are upon them. + Farther south in the Carolinas, the Cherokees, another Iroquoian tribe, + stand out prominently by reason of their unusual mental ability. Under the + influence of the white man, the Cherokees were the first to adopt a + constitutional form of government embodied in a code of laws written in + their own language. Their language was reduced to writing by means of an + alphabet which one of their number named Sequoya had devised. Sequoya and + other leaders, however, may not have been pure Indians, for by that time + much white blood had been mixed with the tribe. Yet even before the coming + of the white man the Cherokees were apparently more advanced in + agriculture than the Iroquois were, but less advanced in their form of + government, in their treatment of women, and in many other respects. In + general, as we go from north to south in the region of deciduous forests, + we find that among the early Indians agriculture became more and more + important and the people more sedentary, though not always more + progressive in other ways. The Catawbas, for instance, in South Carolina + were sedentary agriculturists and seem to have differed little in general + customs from their neighbors. Their men were brave and honest but lacking + in energy. In the Muskhogean family of Indians, comprising the Creeks, + Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles, who occupied the Gulf States from + Georgia to Mississippi, all the tribes were agricultural and sedentary and + occupied villages of substantial houses. The towns near the tribal + frontiers were usually palisaded, but those more remote from invasion were + unprotected. All these Indians were brave but not warlike in the violent + fashion of the Five Nations. The Choctaws would fight only in + self-defense, it was said, but the Creeks and especially the Chickasaws + were more aggressive. In their government these Muskhogean tribes appear + to have attained a position corresponding to their somewhat advanced + culture in other respects. Yet their confederacies were loose and flimsy + compared with that of the Five Nations. Another phase of the life of the + tribes in the southern part of the region of deciduous forests is + illustrated by the Natchez of Mississippi. These people were strictly + sedentary and depended chiefly upon agriculture for a livelihood. They + possessed considerable skill in the arts. For instance, they wove a cloth + from the inner bark of the mulberry tree and made excellent pottery. They + also constructed great mounds of earth upon which to erect their dwellings + and temples. Like a good many of the other southern tribes, they fought + when it was necessary, but they were peaceable compared with the Five + Nations. They had a form of sun-worship resembling that of Mexico, and in + other ways their ideas were like those of the people farther south. For + instance, when a chief died, his wives were killed. In times of distress + the parents frequently offered their children as sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + Many characteristics of the Natchez and other southern tribes seem to + indicate that they had formerly possessed a civilization higher than that + which prevailed when the white man came. The Five Nations, on the + contrary, apparently represent an energetic people who were on the upward + path and who might have achieved great things if the whites had not + interrupted them. The southern Indians resemble people whose best days + were past, for the mounds which abound in the Gulf States appear to have + been built chiefly in pre-Columbian days. Their objects of art, such as + the remarkable wooden mortars found at Key Marco and the embossed copper + plates found elsewhere in Florida, point to a highly developed artistic + sense which was no longer in evidence at the coming of the white man. + </p> + <p> + It is interesting to see the way in which climatic energy tended to give + the Five Nations a marked superiority over the tribesmen of the South, + while agriculture tended in the opposite direction. There has been much + discussion as to the part played by agriculture among the primitive + Americans, especially in the northeast. Corn, beans, and squashes were an + important element in the diet of the Indians of the New England region, + while farther south potatoes, sunflower seeds, and melons were also + articles of food. The New England tribes knew enough about agriculture to + use fish and shells for fertilizer. They had wooden mattocks and hoes made + from the shoulder blades of deer, from tortoise shells, or from conch + shells set in handles. They also had stone hoes and spades, while the + women used short pickers or parers about a foot long and five inches wide. + Seated on the ground they used these to break the upper part of the soil + and to grub out weeds, grass, and old cornstalks. They had the regular + custom of burning over an old patch each year and then replanting it. + Sometimes they merely put the seeds in holes and sometimes they dug up and + loosened the ground for each seed. Clearings they made by girdling the + trees, that is, by cutting off the bark in a circle at the bottom and thus + causing the tree to die. The brush they hacked or broke down and burned + when it was dry enough. + </p> + <p> + There is much danger of confusing the agricultural condition of the Indian + after the European had modified his life with his condition before the + European came to America. For instance, in the excellent article on + agriculture in the "Handbook of American Indians," conditions prevailing + as late as 1794 in the States south of the Great Lakes are spoken of as if + typical of aboriginal America. But at that time the white man had long + been in contact with the Indian, and iron tools had largely taken the + place of stone. The rapidity with which European importations spread may + be judged by the fact that as early as 1736 the Iroquois in New York not + only had obtained horses but were regularly breeding them. The use of the + iron axe of course spread with vastly greater rapidity than that of the + horse, for an axe or a knife was the first thing that an Indian sought + from the white man. In the eighteenth century agriculture had thus become + immeasurably easier than before, yet even then the Indians still kept up + their old habit of cultivating the same fields only a short time. The + regular practice was to cultivate a field five, ten, and sometimes even + twenty or more years, and then abandon it. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + *Ordinarily it is stated that this practice was due to the +exhaustion of the soil. That, however, is open to question, for five +or ten years' desultory cultivation on the part of the Indian would +scarcely exhaust the soil so much that people would go to the great +labor of making new clearings and moving their villages. Moreover, in +the Southern States it is well known today that the soil is exhausted +much more rapidly than farther north because it contains less humus. +Nevertheless the southern tribes cultivated the land about their +villages for long periods. Tribes like the Creeks, the Cherokees, and +the Natchez appear to have been decidedly less prone to move than the +Iroquois, in spite of the relatively high development of these northern +nations. +</pre> + <p> + What hindered agriculture most in the northern part of the deciduous + forest was the grass. Any one who has cultivated a garden knows how + rapidly the weeds grow. He also knows that there is no weed so hard to + exterminate as grass. When once it gets a foothold mere hoeing seems only + to make it grow the faster. The only way to get rid of grass when once it + has become well established is to plow the field and start over again, but + this the Indians could not do. When first a clearing was made in the midst + of the forest, there was no grass to be contended with. Little by little, + however, it was sure to come in, until at length what had been a garden + was in a fair way to become a meadow. Then the Indians would decide that + it was necessary to seek new fields. + </p> + <p> + One might suppose that under such circumstances the Indians would merely + clear another patch of forest not far from the village and so continue to + live in the old place. This, however, they did not do because the labor of + making a clearing with stone axes and by the slow process of girdling and + burning the trees was so great that it was possible only in certain + favored spots where by accident the growth was less dense than usual. When + once a clearing became grassy, the only thing to do was to hunt for a new + site, prepare a clearing, and then move the village. This was apparently + the reason why the Iroquois, although successful in other ways, failed to + establish permanent towns like those of the Pueblos and the Haidas. Their + advancement not only in architecture but in many of the most important + elements of civilization was for this reason greatly delayed. There was + little to stimulate them to improve the land to which they were attached, + for they knew that soon they would have to move. + </p> + <p> + Farther south the character of the grassy vegetation changes, and the + condition of agriculture alters with it. The grass ceases to have that + thick, close, turfy quality which we admire so much in the fields of the + north, and it begins to grow in bunches. Often a southern hillside may + appear from a distance to be as densely covered with grass as a New + England hayfield. On closer examination, however, the growth is seen to + consist of individual bunches which can easily be pulled up, so that among + the southern tribes the fields did not become filled with grass as they + did in the north, for the women had relatively little difficulty in + keeping out this kind of weed as well as others. + </p> + <p> + In this survey of aboriginal America we have been impressed by the + contrast between two diverse aspects of the control of human activities by + physical environment. We saw, in the first place, that in our own day the + distribution of culture in America is more closely related to climatic + energy than to any other factor, because man is now so advanced in the + arts and crafts that agricultural difficulties do not impede him, except + in the far north and in tropical forests. Secondly, we have found that, + although all the geographical factors acted upon the Indian as they do + today, the absence of metals and beasts of burden compelled man to be + nomadic, and hence to remain in a low stage of civilization in many places + where he now can thrive. In the days long before Columbus the distribution + of civilization in the Red Man's Continent offered still a third aspect, + strikingly different both from that of today and from that of the age of + discovery. In that earlier period the great centers of civilization were + south of their present situation. In the southern part of North America + from Arizona to Florida there are abundant evidences that the Indians whom + the white man found were less advanced than their predecessors. The + abundant ruins of Arizona and New Mexico, their widespread distribution, + and the highly artistic character of the pottery and other products of + handicraft found in them seem to indicate that the ancient population was + both denser and more highly cultured than that which the Europeans finally + ousted. In the Gulf States there is perhaps not much evidence that there + was a denser population at an earlier period, but the excellence of the + pre-Columbian handicrafts and the existence of a decadent sun worship + illustrate the way in which the civilization of the past was higher than + that of later days. The Aztecs, who figure so largely in the history of + the exploration and conquest of Mexico, were merely a warlike tribe which + had been fortunate in the inheritance of a relatively high civilization + from the past. So, too, the civilization found by the Spaniards at places + such as Mitla, in the extreme south of Mexico, could not compare with that + of which evidence is found in the ruins. Most remarkable of all is the + condition of Yucatan and Guatemala. In northern Yucatan the Spaniards + found a race of mild, decadent Mayas living among the relics of former + grandeur. Although they used the old temples as shrines, they knew little + of those who had built these temples and showed still less capacity to + imitate the ancient architects. Farther south in the forested region of + southern Yucatan and northern Guatemala the conditions are still more + surprising, for today these regions are almost uninhabitable and are + occupied by only a few sickly, degraded natives who live largely by the + chase. Yet in the past this region was the scene of by far the highest + culture that ever developed in America. There alone in this great + continent did men develop an architecture which, not only in massiveness + but in wealth of architectural detail and sculptural adornment, vies with + that of early Egypt or Chaldea. There alone did the art of writing + develop. Yet today in those regions the density of the forest, the + prevalence of deadly fevers, the extremely enervating temperature, and the + steady humidity are as hostile to civilization as are the cold of the far + north and the dryness of the desert. + </p> + <p> + The only explanation of this anomaly seems to be that in the past the + climatic zones of the world have at certain periods been shifted farther + toward the equator than they are at present. Practically all the + geographers of America now believe that within the past two or three + thousand years climatic pulsations have taken place whereby places like + the dry Southwest have alternately experienced centuries of greater + moisture than at present and centuries as dry as today or even drier. + During the moist centuries greater storminess prevailed, so that the + climate was apparently better not only for agriculture but for human + energy. At such times the standard of living was higher than now not only + in the Southwest but in the Gulf States and in Mexico. In periods when the + deserts of the southwestern United States were wet, the Maya region of + Yucatan and Guatemala appears to have been relatively dry. Then the dry + belt which now extends from northern Mexico to the northern tip of Yucatan + apparently shifted southward. Such conditions would cause the forests of + Yucatan and Guatemala to become much less dense than at present. This + comparative deforestation would make agriculture easily possible where + today it is out of the question. At the same time the relatively dry + climate and the clearing away of the vegetation would to a large degree + eliminate the malarial fevers and other diseases which are now such a + terrible scourge in wet tropical countries. Then, too, the storms which at + the present time give such variability to the climate of the United States + would follow more southerly courses. In its stimulating qualities the + climate of the home of the Mayas in the days of their prime was much more + nearly like that which now prevails where civilization rises highest. + </p> + <p> + From first to last the civilization of America has been bound up with its + physical environment. It matters little whether we are dealing with the + red race, the black, or the white. Nor does it matter whether we deal with + one part of the continent or another. Wherever we turn we can trace the + influence of mountains and plains, of rocks and metals from which tools + are made, of water and its finny inhabitants, of the beasts of the chase + from the hare to the buffalo, of domestic animals, of the native forests, + grass-lands, and deserts, and, last but not least, of temperature, + moisture, and wind in their direct effects upon the human body. At one + stage of human development the possibilities of agriculture may be the + dominant factor in man's life in early America. At another, domestic + animals may be more important, and at still another, iron or waterways or + some other factor may be predominant. It is the part of the later history + of the American Continent to trace the effect of these various factors and + to chronicle the influence that they have had upon man's progress. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + </h2> + <p> + Although many books deal with the physical features of the Western + Hemisphere and many others with the Indians, few deal with the two in + relation to one another. One book, however, stands out preeminent in this + respect, namely, Edward John Payne's "History of the New World Called + America," 2 vols. (1892-99). This book, which has never been finished, + attempts to explain the conditions of life among the American aborigines + as the result of geographical conditions, especially of the food supply. + Where the author carries this attempt into the field of special customs + and religious rites, he goes too far. Nevertheless his work is uncommonly + stimulating and deserves the careful attention of the reader who would + gain a broad grasp of the relation of geography to the history of the New + World. + </p> + <p> + Two other good books which deal with the relation of geography to American + history are Miss Ellen C. Semple's "American History and its Geographical + Conditions" (1903) and A. P. Brigham's "Geographic Influences in American + History" (1903). Both of these books interpret geography as if it included + little except the form of the land. While they bring out clearly the + effect of mountain barriers, indented coasts, and easy routes whether by + land or water, they scarcely touch on the more subtle relationships + between man on the one hand and the climate, plants, and animals which + form the dominant features of his physical environment on the other hand. + </p> + <p> + In their emphasis on the form of the land both Semple and Brigham follow + the lead of W. M. Davis. In his admirable articles on America and the + United States in "The Encyclopaedia Britannica" (11th edition) and in The + International Geography edited by H. R. Mill (1901), Davis has given an + uncommonly clear and vivid description of the main physical features of + the New World. Living beings, however, play little part in this + description, so that the reader is not led to an understanding of how + physical geography affects human actions. + </p> + <p> + Other good descriptions of the North American continent are found in the + following books: I. C. Russell's "North America" (1904), Stanford's + "Compendium of Modern Geography and Travel," including the volumes on + Canada, the United States, and Central America, and the great volumes on + America in "The Earth and its Inhabitants" by Elise Reclus, 19 vols. + (1876-1894). Russell's book is largely physiographic but contains some + good chapters on the Indians. In Stanford's "Compendium" the purpose is to + treat man and nature in their relation to one another, but the + relationships are not clearly brought out, and there is too much emphasis + on purely descriptive and encyclopedic matter. So far as interest is + concerned, the famous work by Elise Reclus holds high rank. It is an + encyclopedia of geographical facts arranged and edited in such a way that + it has all the interest of a fine book of travel. Like most of the other + books, however, it fails to bring out relationships. + </p> + <p> + As sources of information on the Indians, two books stand out with special + prominence. "The American Race," by D. G. Brinton (1891), is a most + scholarly volume devoted largely to a study of the Indians on a linguistic + basis. It contains some general chapters, however, on the Indians and + their environment, and these are most illuminating. The other book is the + "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico," edited by F. W. Hodge, and + published by the United States Bureau of Ethnology (Washington, 1897, + 1910, 1911). Its two large volumes are arranged in encyclopedic form. The + various articles are written by a large number of scholars, including + practically all the students who were at work on Indian ethnology at the + time of publication. Many of the articles are the best that have been + written and will not only interest the general reader but will contribute + to an understanding of what America was when the Indians came here and + what it still is today. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Red Man's Continent, by Ellsworth Huntington + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED MAN'S CONTINENT *** + +***** This file should be named 3066-h.htm or 3066-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/6/3066/ + +Produced by The James J. 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