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4

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

i

THE

/CHARACTER OF RACE^

AS INFLUENCED BY PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL
SELECTION AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

ELLSWORTH HUNTINGTON

Research Associate in Geography in Yale University

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
NEW YORK . LONDON
1924

COPYMGHT. 1924, BY

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Printed in the United States of America

TO

THE ONE TO WHOM I OWE MOST
MY MOTHER

PREFACE

Some nine years ago, in a book called Civilization and Climate,
I set forth the thesis that the general distribution of civilization
and progress depends largely upon climate. I also attempted to
show that the influence of climate is strongly modified by migra-
tions of peoples and cultures, by racial mixture, by inventions
and discoveries such as iron tools and agriculture, and by ideas
such as religion. After reasonable allowance had been made for
all these factors, I still felt that certain highly significant features
of the distribution of human progress remained unexplained.
Why for example did such meteoric intellectual brilliancy occur
in Greece? Why are such wonderful Hindu ruins located in
Cambodia in Indo-China ? Why has a high type of culture been
able to persist for a thousand years in stormy Iceland? And
why do we see in China the curious anomaly of a progressive
South and a conservative North ? After years of search I believe
that at least a partial explanation is found in natural selection
arising most frequently under the stress of over-population and
migration. The principle involved is so simple and obvious that
it seems almost incredible that it has been so largely ignored by
students of geography, history, and sociology.

A study of famines in China was the step which disclosed the
importance of this principle. Having long been puzzled over the
fact that north China does not show the degree of progress that
one would expect on the basis of either its climate, its institu-
tions, or its past achievements, I was stimulated to further inves-
tigation by an article by Doctor Carl W. Bishop in The Geograph-
ical Review (vol. VII, 1922). Doctor Bishop points out most
clearly the nature of the contrast between the "staid and con-
servative" North of China and the "alert and progressive" al-
though semi-tropical South. It occurred to me that famines
might have something to do with this. Accordingly, I wrote to
an old friend. Reverend Robert E. Chandler, a missionary at

vii

viii

PREFACE

Tientsin, China, and asked his opinion as to the effect of famines
in selecting certain physical or mental types for destruction,
preservation, or migration. He not only sent his own answer,
but procured a series of most interesting letters from other mis-
sionaries, including Doctor Arthur H. Smith, author of Chinese
Characteristics and Village Life in China; Doctor F. F. Tucker,
head of the American Hospital at Tehchow; Professor Guy W.
Sarvis, of Nanking University; Reverend George D. Wilder, of
Peking; and Reverend Henry Lieper, of Tientsin. All of these
men have had personal experience of famines and of rehef work.
Later I visited China and interviewed still other missionaries,
among whom I must mention Doctor William E. Souter, of the
China International Famine Relief Commission; Reverend W. E.
Macklin, of Nanking; Reverend R. A. Torrey, of Tsinan, who
has lived among the famine-stricken people of Shantung and has
thought deeply on the significance of what he has seen; Doctor
J. H. Ingraham, of Peking; and Mr. E. W. Edwards, of the
Peking Y. M. C. A., secretary of the China International Famine
Relief Commission. All of these men, as well as others too
numerous to mention, were extremely kind in giving me a wealth
of information which seems to show that the process of natural
selection through over-population, famine, and migration is tak-
ing place in China to-day at a rapid rate. Historical records
prove that it has taken place with equal or greater rapidity dur-
ing a large part of the last two thousand years or more. The
case is so clear that the chapters on China form perhaps the most
important section of this book.

Iceland furnishes another equally clear-cut case. The condi-
tions there, however, are quite different from those of China, for
in that cool northern island the main selection of the inhabitants
took place once for all; the noteworthy fact is the extraordinary
persistence of a high inheritance when once it had been segre-
gated. The outward contrast between China and Iceland is so
pronounced, while the similarity of the principles involved is so
great, that in spite of the scanty population it has seemed worth
while to treat Iceland almost as fully as China. The rest of the

PREFACE

ix

book is devoted to an attempt to apply the biological principle
of natural selection to man's early history and distribution, and
then more fully to specific historical instances. The number of
such instances is so large and their intrinsic interest so great that
it has been no easy matter to choose among them.

Three peculiarities of this book perhaps need explanation.
First, natural selection is constantly emphasized, while other
equally important factors are made subordinate, although great
care is taken to mention them; second, only a few of the hundreds
of fine examples afforded by history are here treated; and third,
much space is devoted to a somewhat speculative account of man's
early evolution and migrations.

The reason for all three pecuHarities is the same: One cannot
do everything in a single book. This book is the logical com-
panion of Civilization and Climate. Each illustrates a great prin-
ciple which has generally been overlooked in the study of history.
Neither pretends to be complete, for where a new subject is first
presented the mere limitations of space, as well as the dictates of
psychology, make it necessary to concentrate upon a single theme.
For a complete, well-rounded view of history one must combine
these two books with many others which discuss such matters as
geographic location and natural resources; human inventions,
discoveries, and ideas; the influence of men of genius; the eco-
nomic forces that bind mankind so closely; the growth and pres-
sure of population; and the interplay of war, religion, intrigue,
and human ambition. Some day the progress of science will
give us a scientific history in which all these factors, as well as
the factors of climate and natural selection, are co-ordinated and
given due weight. As a help toward such a sketch, it has seemed
to me wise to show how the principles of climatic change and
natural selection probably apply to the earliest human develop-
ment, as well as to outstanding examples from later periods. It
has also seemed wise to concentrate on natural selection through
physical causes, and to devote to other factors only enough space
to convince the reader that I appreciate their great importance
in modifying human character.

X

PREFACE

In this book, as in every other that I have written, I owe
much to a group of kind friends, to all of whom I here tender
most hearty thanks. The manuscript has been read and criti-
cised in whole or in part by my colleagues Professors Irving
Fisher, Richard S. Lull, and George G. McCurdy; by Professor
Griffith Taylor, of Australia; and also by my wife and by Mr.
R. V. Coleman, of the Yale University Press. Had it not been
for Mr. Coleman's insistence I doubt whether this book would
have been written. Five years ago he persuaded me to write on
a topic which at first was tentatively expressed as The Influence
of Climate upon Mankind and later as The Effect of Physical
Environment upon the Origin and Modification of Racial Char-
acter. Professor Frederick W. Williams, of Yale University, and
Professor Stephen S. Visher, of Indiana University, have not only
read the manuscript but have devoted much time to providing
material which has been the basis of long sections of the book.

I also wish gratefully to acknowledge my indebtedness to the
following publishers and authors for permission to quote from
their books : to Stanislaus Novakovsky, for use of a passage from
his unpublished manuscript on ^'Hysteria Artica''; to E. P.
Dutton & Company and E. H. Parker, for the use of passages
from "China, Her History, Diplomacy, and Commerce: From the
Earliest Times to the Present Day"; to Harper & Brothers and Sir
Philip Gibbs, for the use of passages from "Now It Can Be Told"
and "Adventures in Journalism"; to Hurst & Blackett, Ltd.,
and Havelock Ellis for the use of a passage from "A Study of
British Genius " ; to Oxford University Press for the use of passages
from "Studies in History and Jurisprudence," by James Bryce;
to Roland B. Dixon, for the use of passages from "The Racial
History of Man"; to William McDougall for the use of passages
from "Is America Safe for Democracy?" to Macmillan & Co.,
Ltd., of London, and The Macmillan Company of New York,
for the use of passages from "Homer and History," by Walter
Leaf; to Yale University Press for the use of a passage from
the preface; by Charles M. Andrews, to "The Colonizing Acti\i-
ties of the English Puritans"; to Columbia Studies and Edwin

PREFACE

L. Clarke for the use of passages from "American Men of Letters:
Their Nature and Nurture"; to Columbia Studies and Mabel P.
Lee for the use of passages from "The Economic History of
China, with Special Reference to Agriculture''; to F. W. Williams,
for the use of passages from a manuscript entitled, "A History
of China"; to S. S. Visher, for the use of "A Study of the Type
of Place of Birth and Occupations of Fathers of Persons in Who's
Who in America." ^ tt

SL), £1,

Yale University,
New Haven, Conn.,
August, 1924.

CONTENTS

PACK

Preface vii

CEAFTSK

I. Racial Character and Natural Selection . . i

II. First Steps in Human Character 20

III. The Earliest Great Migrations 33

IV. Glaciation and the Supremacy of Europe . . 47
V. The Suppression of America 61

VI. The Classification of Races . 73

VII. The Anomalies of Aboriginal America .... 88

VIII. The Asiatics Who Dwell in Tents 112

IX. Jews, Armenians, and Turks 129

X. Cycles of Chinese History 148

XI. North versus South in China 158

XII. The Scourge of Famine 170

XIII. The Selection of the Chinese 184

XIV. The Three Great Races of Europe .... 205
XV. The Character of Modern Europe 220

XVI. The Contrast between Greeks and Irish . . . 236

XVII. The Dispersal of the Northmen 252

xiii

xiv CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGl

XVIII. Warlike Normans and Peaceful Icelanders . 264

XIX. The Persistence of a Selected Inheritance . 277

XX. The Direct Effect of Environment on Character 286

XXI. The Selection of Modern Americans .... 301

XXII. The Racial Tendencies of Civilization , . . 332

XXIIL A Racial Test of Cities, Democracy, and Feminism 346

List of References 374

Index 379

.A

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Pressure Zone between Glaciation and Deserts Facing page 48

Generalized Zones of Primitive Migrations ... " "76

Head-form and Routes of Migration in Europe . . a a

Maps Showing the Correlation of Cultural Conditions with the
Cephalic Index Facing page 80

Birthplaces of High Officials in China .... " " 162

Percentage of Scientists among Eminent Europeans

Between pages 222 and 223

Percentage of Eminent Europeans Engaged in Religious, Educa-
tional, and Philosophical Work . . Between pages 222 and 223

Percentage of Eminent Europeans Engaged in Art and Literature

Between pages 222 and 223

Percentage of Historians among Eminent Europeans

Between pages 222 and 223

Percentage of Eminent Europeans Engaged in War and Politics

Between pages 230 and 231

Distribution of Civilization in Europe . " " "

Eminent Europeans Born since 1600 A. D. per 10,000 of Estimated
Population in 1800 A. D Between pages 230 and 231

Distribution of Health in Europe . . " " "

Distribution of Chmatic Energy in Europe . . . Facing page 232

Approximate Variations of Rainfall in California during the Chris-
tian Era Facing page 232

Deaths of Men Compared with Women at Various Ages in Ice-
land, Norway, and Switzerland, 1876-1915 . ♦ Facing page 314

xvi

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG.

17. Persons in Who^s Who (1922-1923) Born in Each State per

1,000,000 of Mean White Population 1 850-1 880, Giving
Double Weight to i860 and 1870 Facing page 314

18. Residents Included in Who's Who (1922-1923) per 1,000,000

Population in 1923 Facing page 316

19. Increase (or decrease) (1912 to 1922) in Proportion of Eminent

Persons Born per 100,000 of Population . . . Facing page 316

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

CHAPTER I
RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION

A CENTURY or two ago it was widely held that all races and
even all individuals are equally endowed by nature. Physically
there might indeed be enormous diversity, but differences in
character and mentality were supposed to be due entirely to
training. Then there arose a school of thinkers who violently
combated this idea. They wrote books like The Inequality of
Races, by Gobineau,* in order to convince the world that men-
tally as well as physically one race actually differs from another.
The theory of evolution reinforced their conclusions; according
to that theory it is almost inevitable not only that different races
should be in different stages of mental as well as physical devel-
opment, but that they should develop along different and diver-
gent lines. Then came Mendel with his explanation of the
mechanism by which individual traits are passed from parent to
child, and Galton with his insistence on the importance of hered-
ity. At last the idea of racial differences became so firmly estab-
Hshed that a leading scientist could say: "Race has played a far
larger part than either language or nationality in moulding the
destinies of man." (Osborn, in The Passing of the Great Race, by
Madison Grant.)

Then the problem of race left the realm of scientific discussion
and flared up as an idea belonging to the people as a whole. In
our own day scores of writers have declared or implied that racial
inheritance is the most potent of all forces. It, and it alone, we
are sometimes told, has determined the rise and fall of nations.
It is even asserted that no great and permanent advance in civ-

* See list of references preceding the index.
1

2

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

ilization has ever been made except under the leadership of one
limited race, the Nordics. To-day the world is vibrating with
racial questions. The various races, or at least the people who
suppose that they belong to various races, are beginning to look
askance at one another as never before. There is a fierce cry for
the rights of racial minorities; there are rumors that great and
devastating racial wars are brewing for the next generation. If
open war is not threatened, there is even greater danger that the
highest racial values will be irrevocably swamped by those of
lower caliber.

The modernness of this whole idea of the importance of race
is well brought out by Lord Bryce in his lecture on Race Senti-
ment as a Factor in History. From a review of history he con-
cludes that the mere consciousness of racial affinity has had al-
most no effect upon the contact of nation with nation. The
Greeks, to be sure, differentiated sharply between themselves
and the barbarians. Their cities fought side by side in an effort
to stay the advance of the Persians, and seem to have done this
largely because the enemy was of an alien race. But the Greeks
also fought fiercely against one another, and thereby contributed
greatly to their own decay. The Phoenicians likewise had a
strong racial feeling which caused them to inform the Persian
kings that while they were willing to fight their maritime rivals,
the Greeks, they would not serve against their kinsmen of Car-
thage. But perhaps it was mere community of language, or the
exigencies of commerce, which held the Phoenicians and their
colonies together. In the same way, but more markedly, the
ancient Jews showed an almost unequalled racial solidarity.
Nevertheless, the Israelites not only intermarried with neighbor-
ing Egyptians, Phihstines, and Hittites, but adopted their gods.
The various tribes of ancient Israel never thought of helping one
another against the Syrian invaders. To-day religion is prob-
ably more potent than race in preserving Jewish unity.

Aside from the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Jews, Bryce finds no
case previous to the last century where people have waged war
or refrained from waging war because of racial motives. He may

RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION 3

have overlooked an agelong antipathy between the Iranian Per-
sians and the Turanian Tartars, and likewise between Persians
and Semites, and Semites and Tartars. These aversions appear
in both ancient and modern history and appear to be neither
religious nor geographic. Nevertheless, Bryce is not greatly in
error when he says that people have fought for plunder, for land,
for conquest, for religion, for commercial supremacy, but practi-
cally never because of racial unity or racial antipathy. Yet in
our own day this motive is appealed to again and again. It did
not, to be sure, prevent England from siding against the Ger-
mans in 1 9 14, even though both nations suppose that they are
more closely akin to one another than to the French. Never-
theless, the consciousness of racial kinships is abroad in the earth.
It expresses itself in the so-called principle of nationality. In
the last century this inspired Greeks, Italians, Poles, and Mag-
yars to strive for political independence. Later it aroused Serbs,
Roumans, Bulgars, and Armenians. In our day a wave of racial
feeling has swept India, Egypt, and many other lands. As
Bryce puts it, '^Race consciousness sprang into life and became
i the core of Nationality." That this racial consciousness is fast
pervading the world can scarcely be questioned. According to
Glutton-Brock's illuminating suggestion in The Atlantic Monthly ^
many a man who knows that in his own self he has no special
superiority over his fellows takes refuge in the thought that he
belongs to a superior race. Thus the most incompetent Anglo-
Saxon often looks down upon the most competent ItaHan, be-
cause the Italian belongs to the ''Dago'' race, or upon the great-
est of Chinese savants because the wise man's skin is yellow and
his eyes aslant.

Whether the present conception of racial differences is right or
wrong, it seems destined to play a great part in the history of
the next few generations, for it has become embedded in the
world's equipment of ideas. If once a certain tenet is accepted
by the mass of the people its verity or falsity makes little differ-
ence in its potency, as Le Bon well shows in his Psychology of
Peoples. The mere fact that an idea has become the common

4 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

property of the masses as well as of the leaders means that it
cannot be eradicated for a long time. A new, and let us hope a
truer, idea must first grow up in the minds of original thinkers,
then it must spread among serious students. Next it must be
popularized among the intelligent classes, and only then can it
replace the old idea as the heritage of the whole people and be a
main determinant of history.

If racial consciousness is playing and is likely to play so great
a part in the world's progress, it is of the first importance to
understand what racial character is, and how that character has
come into existence. Is racial character something inherent, as
Bryce seems to imply when he says, After all, it is the natural
racial divisions rather than political divisions that count every-
where outside western Europe" ? (Letter in Huntington's Civili-
zation and Climate.) Or is it the result of environment, as the
same author suggests when he says in his lecture on Race Sen-
timent: "The importance of what may be called the racial
constituent in national character has been much exaggerated.
Something is due to it, but much more is due to the conditions,
physical and economic and social, under which the nation has
been developed. In the thought and imagination of every civ-
iHzed people there is an unquestionable racial strain. But the
habit of referring to this cause, practical aptitudes, such as the
merits or defects visible in a nation's political life, has been
pushed much too far."

But what is a race? Almost every intelligent person has
some idea of five major races. They are variously described as:
(i) white, Caucasian, or European; (2) yellow, MongoHan, or
Asiatic; (3) red, Amerind, or American; (4) brown, or Malay; (5)
black, Negro, or African. A glance at the faces of the people in
any cosmopolitan city discloses many of the criteria on which
this grouping of races is based. But it should be noted that in
every case one or more geographical designations accompany the
designation based on complexion. It has long been recognized,
however, that other means of classification may be quite as im-
portant as those based on complexion and geographical location.

RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION 5

The white race of Europe is now commonly divided into three
main types in which the form of the head, the stature, and the
type of hair as well as the complexion are important criteria.
The Nordics, as is now generally agreed, are a long-headed, tall,
blue-eyed, fair-haired people, generally with curly or wavy hair.
The Alpines, who predominate in the east and center of the con-
tinent, are broad-headed, of medium height, and more stocky
than the Nordics. They are typically brown-eyed and brown-
haired, and generally their hair is either straight or only slightly
wavy. The Mediterraneans, who dwell largely in the south and
southeast, are long-headed like the Nordics, but short of stature,
black-eyed, and with straight black hair. Each of the three
races is best developed in certain areas, although there is a
vast amount of overlapping and intermixture.

Sometimes the division of mankind into races goes still far-
ther and is based on still other criteria. Although the Aryan or
Indo-European race is not really a race but a group of people
speaking kindred languages, it occupies an extraordinarily large
place in history and literature. Again, we often ascribe certain
characteristics to the French as a whole or to the French of Pro-
vence, for example, and say that this is because the French are
Latins by race. It is sometimes said that the people of the
Faroe Islands are a race of hardy fishermen. The Turks are
called a race of Turanian invaders despite the fact that Greek,
Armenian, and other blood is probably as abundant among them
as is that of the original Turkish stock, the Turkomans of central
Asia. Evidently the word race is used in very various senses.
It would be better to use the word stock instead of race if only
it had an adjective corresponding to "racial.'' In the preceding
paragraphs the criteria by which one race or stock is separated
from another fall into three groups: first, inherited bodily char-
acteristics, including the form of the head, stature, complexion,
and the character of the hair; second, geographical conditions,
including position on the earth's surface and occupation; and
third, cultural conditions, such as language in the case of the
Indo-Aryans and Latins, and religion in the case of the Turks.

6

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Government might also be added, because there is a tendency to
consider the people who live under a single government as alHed
in race. Yet after all is not mental and moral character more
important than any other factor in differentiating race from
race? One race holds aloof from another largely because each
one, rightly or wrongly, believes that the other is somehow in-
ferior or perhaps superior; and these terms generally mean of
less or greater mental ability and energy. These mental differ-
ences are what we want to study.

In the strictest sense of the word, races should be defined only
in terms of heredity. But certain geographical factors, such as
climate, food, and occupations, have a distinct effect in changing
racial characteristics. They cause people to grow up with cer-
tain habits; they also select certain types for preservation and
eliminate others. Thus the fishing industry tends to eliminate
people of a timid disposition. Such people may succeed as farm-
ers, but not on the sea. Hence, in course of time, perhaps a very
long time, each environment and each occupation tends to make
its people slightly different from those in other environments and
other occupations. Moreover, social conditions such as religion,
language, government, education, and local customs have a great
deal to do with determining a people's character. They play a
part not only in controlling the training of children and youth,
but in determining what types of people shall intermarry, what
types shall have large famihes, and what types shall die out.
Thus physical and social conditions may have a great effect upon
human character both directly and through inheritance. Hence
the character of specific groups of mankind depends on inheri-
tance, physical environment, and social environment. Our task
is to attempt to show how far these two types of environment
select certain kinds of character for preservation or destruction
and thus cause certain mental characteristics to become a per-
manent part of the racial inheritance.

From the biological standpoint we are quite certain that the
inherent mental and physical differences between one race or
stock and another are largely due to three chief causes: first,
sudden mutations, or possibly small but progressive deviations

RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION 7

from the standard type in a definite direction; second, racial
mixture; and third, natural selection. No clear understanding
of mutations and deviations has yet been attained. We merely
know that they occur. Not only does brother differ from brother
and sister from sister for no assignable reason, but sometimes
certain groups of plants and animals, and presumably of men,
show persistent new traits which apparently tend in a definite
direction. As to how or why such mutations or deviations occur
we have as yet no definite knowledge. On the other hand, we
know a great deal about natural selection and racial mixture, for
we can see them in operation. They are the two great processes
to which we can thus far appeal for an explanation of the innate
differences which distinguish species from species and race from
race. Hence this book is an attempt to investigate the inter-
relations between migration, racial mixture, and natural selec-
tion. The purpose is to discover, if possible, how these three
processes co-operate with mutations or deviations in giving rise
to the character of races or of racial stocks. A parable and an
example will make the matter clear.

Here is the parable: Now it came to pass that in a certain
land there dwelt a farmer. His lands were narrow and his chil-
dren many. When his sons began to take wives unto themselves,
they were hard pressed to obtain food and raiment. So they
consulted together and said: *^What shall we do that we may
live and find comfort?'^

Pioneer was the eldest son and he was the first to speak. " I
love to travel,'' quoth he, "and fain would have adventures in
those far lands which God has made in such strange fashion.
Men say that twenty days' hard journey beyond the mountains
there is much good land. No people dwell there, or if there be
any they are monstrous strange and wild. Thither will I go and
have adventures and make a home for myself."

And his wife said: "Yea, that is good, I will go with you,
even though my woman's heart misgiveth me. But I am strong
of body, and we are set on high adventure. Our children shall
not be slaves of poverty as we have been."

Then Cityman, the second son, began to speak. "Why play

8

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

the fool and stick your neck within the noose of a land where all
is uncertainty and danger? Is not the city a better place for
him that would get much from life ? Thither will I go and amass
great wealth, and there shall I live in luxury. Always m}^ wife
demandeth silks, satins, fine jewels, and costly furniture. She
would see theaters and great people, and she wearieth my ears
with her cackle of princes and great dames, and dances and din-
ners. To the city will I go and fill her with that for which her
soul doth crave."

Now the third son was slow and timid, and was espoused to
a maid who loved the kine and the pigs and the making of golden
butter. To him and to her there was no sound so sweet as the
clucking of a hen who findeth a paltry worm for her chicks.
When Plowman, for that was his name, had talked well with his
betrothed, he came to his father and said: "The maid and I have
no love for new lands, nor yet for cities. It is enough for us that
we go once a month to market. We would stay here with you,
and keep this good old home of ours. Let my brothers go, and
I will buy their inheritance."

There was still a fourth son of that father, and Seeker-for-
Truth was his name. He was a quiet, studious lad, brave yet
shy. His mother cherished him because he understood more
quickly than his brothers and could be trusted farther. "Stay
here, my son," she said. "Our hearts have need of you." But
sadly he answered: "Nay, I have read all books that here are
found, and have become the School Master's master. Yet have
I only set lip to the goblet of knowledge. Deep must I drink.
Then must I find the fountain whence my draft was drawn; from
its depths I must raise new truth to fill the goblet for them that
follow me athirst. I must fare forth alone, to farther, stranger
realms than any that men yet have seen save in their dreams."

And it came to pass as each one had said. Beyond the
mountains in a land of plenty lay the new-made home of Pioneer.
And other pioneers settled around him, and they had many sons
and daughters. Some of the sons and daughters inherited a
richer dower than others, for they had double measure of that

RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION 9

high spirit which brought their brave fathers and braver mothers
out to the wilderness. These in their turn pressed onward to
new lands, and when their children were of age, the pioneers
among a race of pioneers moved on once more. Thus the far-
thest of the good lands beyond the mountains were peopled by a
new race — a race in which the spirit of achievement was bred in
the bone. In their very blood ran the thirst for adventure and
progress, and they became the greatest nation of their time.

With Cityman it fared far differently. He helped to build a
city full of wonderment, but "Eat, drink, and be merry'' was
the watchword of his house. Few were his children: they were
trained in luxury; and they espoused the sons and daughters of
other city m^en brought up in equal selfishness. Had they and
their children and their children's children been left alone for a
score of generations that city would have perished from the face
of the earth, for the vigor of its sons and daughters faded away.
The city lived only because new people came from the old homes
on the farms.

But Plowman's life was of another kind. Poor he was, in-
deed, and ignorant. Not even that which would have brought
him wealth seemed in his eyes desirable if it demanded aught that
was new in thought or deed. "Nay," said his wife who loved
the clucking hens, "why change? We know the old and we can
meet it, but we neither know nor want that which is new." For
"Nay" was ever the word that she loved. Now Plowman and
his wife had sons and daughters. So too did the neighboring
plowmen and their wives. And if by chance among their chil-
dren or grandchildren unto the twentieth generation there arose
a pioneer, a city man, or a seeker for truth, that son or daugh-
ter fared forth to other lands, until at last the plowmen were all
plowmen.

Worst was the fate of Seeker-for-Truth. A score of years he
wandered with never a thought of home. At length he found
another seeker and her he wed, but she had long been wandering
and her youth was gone. Two sons she bore him, but there
were no other seekers in those parts. So one of those two sons

10

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

went to his death unmated. The other wed a pioneer, but with
their son that race of seekers ended, and its genius was forever
lost.

This is the parable of the farmer and his sons. It is also the
parable of history — the parable of races. Let us put the parable
into the language of history and see its interpretation. We shall
begin with an example which illustrates the main principles as
they apply to pioneers. Examples of the other types will come
later. The details of the present example are only dimly known,
but the general outlines are unmistakable. I insert it here not
as something well proved, but as an interesting example which
follows out the spirit of our parable — some day this same example
may be rewritten with far more detail and exactness. In later
chapters we shall cite many other examples less picturesque,
perhaps, but well-known even in their minute details.

One of the world's most famous ruins is Angkor Wat. In the
dense forests of Cambodia in French Indo-China, some two hun-
dred miles northwest of Saigon, scores of wonderful ruins stand
near a desolate lake embowered in tropical vegetation. Once
Angkor Wat and its neighbors must have been great cities of
marvelous beauty. To-day the ruined temples excite the pro-
found admiration of every thoughtful visitor. The numerous
huge structures with their lofty walls, carefully carved statues,
and vast size indicate that they were built by a people not only
of great patience and industry, but of high artistic capacity and
real originality. No ordinary minds could plan such great and
compHcated buildings. Nor could any one man have designed
all parts of each of the greater structures, with their innumer-
able groups of figures carved in high relief. One scene alone
contains a thousand figures of warriors, charioteers, and all the
actors in a mighty battle. The builders must have had in their
midst many men of high artistic genius. They must have been
assisted by many others who were skilled in the arts of quarry-
ing and transporting stone, of carving it true to the line, and of
planning the work of thousands of laborers. Likewise they must
have had at their command large numbers of people who could

RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION 11

be supported by the work of others while they labored year after
year on the temples and palaces. In other words, the builders
of Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom, and the other ancient temples must
have been a people among whom there were at least a few great
geniuses and many men of much more than the average ability
and energy.

One of the strange facts about the art of Cambodia is that it
begins suddenly without precursors and comes to an end with
almost equal suddenness. In Central America, where the ruins
left by the Mayas have many qualities like those of the Cambo-
dian ruins, one finds a long series of earlier structures gradually
leading up to the most beautiful of those that now persist. In
Cambodia the most beautiful ruin is the oldest. It is a small
temple of surpassing deHcacy and great originality, and was
probably built in the seventh or eighth century after Christ.
Older ruins may perhaps be discovered when the damp recesses
of the dense forest are finally explored, but at present one must
go fifteen hundred miles to India to find a type of art like that
of Cambodia. But even there one does not find the direct pred-
ecessors of the Cambodian ruins, for Angkor and its neighbors
are unique in many respects. The builders evidently derived the
foundations of their knowledge from India, but they evolved new
ideas and a new type of art which are distinctly their own.

For four centuries or more they built according to this new
style. Generation by generation the size of the buildings in-
creased, but true beauty and dehcacy declined and originality
diminished. In Cambodia, as in modern China, the later ruins
tend toward a grandiose and highly ornate style less beautiful
than the original delicate simplicity. Yet even the latest ruins
inspire profound admiration not only by their size but by their
genuine beauty. Only men of high ability could have planned
and executed them.

Before the last temple was finished some catastrophe, or per-
chance merely a little revolution or the death of a great leader or
architect, put an end to the work at Angkor Wat, so that the last
of the main temples was left unfinished. Thus the great artistic

12

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

age of Cambodia came to an end after enduring about four hun-
dred years. Only in a few rare instances does one find so sud-
den an outburst of art, or one which rises so promptly to such
brilliancy and ends so abruptly without leaving any real succes-
sors either in its own region or elsewhere, so far as we are aware.

Little by little the outlines of the history of Cambodia are
taking form. Its builders were the Khmers, a part of the Brah-
man race, those Children of the Sun who appear to have been
the last main body of invaders to pour into India before the
Christian era. According to an unverified tradition, during the
fourth century before Christ a certain prince of Delhi strove to
make his father divide the kingdom with him. Failing that, he
moved eastward with a great band of followers. This band, it is
said, became the ancestors of the Khmers, who finally reached
Cambodia. How true this story is we do not know, but this
much we may accept with considerable certainty: The Brahmans
came from somewhere in central Asia, migrating down into
India across the western end of the great mass of central moun-
tains or through the deserts of Afghanistan and its neighbors.
Such a migration, as we shall presently see, is a strenuous process
and involves great natural selection. If the men migrate alone
there is almost invariably much fighting as they press into new
regions. The most inefficient, cowardly, and dull are left at
home or soon fall by the way. As the migrants press farther
into new lands, the ones who are less brave, less resourceful, and
less vigorous are killed in battle or die of disease. Thus such a
migration weakens the community from which it starts, but pro-
duces at the end a small body of highly picked and very compe-
tent people, the cream of the group from which it fared forth.

If the whole community migrates — men, women, and children
— as appears to have happened in most of the ancient migrations
and presumably in the case of the Brahmans, the process of selec-
tion takes place even more intensely. Imagine what it is like
for women with little children to move with their husbands into
new and perhaps hostile lands across mountains, rivers, and des-
erts; in summer or winter; in storm and flood; and at any and

RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION 13

every period of their lives regardless of whether they are fit or
not. Under such circumstances the death-rate almost invari-
ably becomes enormous: only the most vigorous and intelligent
mothers can survive, only those who have the most endurance,
initiative, and spirit of adventure; and among the children only
those who are exceptionally bright, vigorous, and attractive. As
a rule the personal attractiveness of the child, which is merely
another name for its degree of mental alertness and physical per-
fection, counts greatly; for the attractive child is carried by the
adults when it is tired, fed when it is hungry, given the best place
to sleep, and in almost every way given advantages and chances
for preservation which are denied to the stupid, crying, unattrac-
tive child. And the same is true of the women, for those who
are most attractive, which in general means those who are not
only most perfect physically but most alert mentally, are the
ones whom the men are most willing to help; and they are like-
wise the ones who do not give up and die or fall by the wayside
and allow themselves to become the captives of the enemy.
Thus a hard migration of a whole community means that the
process of natural selection is at work with great vigor to weed
out all who are weak and to preserve a remnant who are espe-
cially capable. Among the Brahmans we have no record of this,
but in later periods we shall see the intimate details of the selec-
tion which is even now altering the character of races.

It was presumably due in considerable measure to this strin-
gent process of natural selection that the Brahmans who reached
India were able to conquer the earlier inhabitants and impose
themselves as a ruling class which later became a caste. To
this may also have been due much of the unusual genius which
enabled the people of India to evolve two new religions. Bud-
dhism and Hinduism, to frame a new social system, to devise
a noteworthy type of art and architecture, and to write a series
of great poems which cause Sanskrit literature to rank among
the greatest of those developed among primitive people.

The Khmers appear to have been an offshoot of these compe-
tent Brahmans in the days when the original ability of that peo-

14

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

pie was still active. By what route the Khmers travelled, just
when they left the old home in northern India, how many differ-
ent waves of migration there were, and how many generations
or centuries each set of migrants spent upon the road we do not
know. Nor do we know the causes of the migration, the peoples
with whom the migrants fought, and the number of migrants
who were killed by the hard conditions of their journeyings.
But we do know that they must have travelled at least two
thousand five hundred miles, and that in their journey they
must have encountered enormous physical difficulties. More-
over, unless they came by sea, which is highly improbable in
view of the inland location of the ruins, they must have passed
through many regions that seem to our eyes more favorable for
settlement than the place where they finally came to rest. First
their way led across the fertile plains of the Ganges for eight
hundred or perhaps a thousand miles. On their way they must
have encountered many inhabitants, for India then appears to
have been fairly well peopled. And almost certainly they had
to fight again and again. And it is almost equally certain that
many men, women, and children — the weaker ones — ^must have
died of disease and hardship, or been taken prisoners or killed by
enemies in that first stage of the journey. Perhaps the migrants
tried to settle, just as modern migrants in western China have
tried again and again, but each time were forced to move on,
either because they chose a poor place, or because of the hostility
of their neighbors.

Beyond the Ganges plain a more difiicult country faced the
migrants. The great Brahmaputra River had to be crossed, and
one may well imagine that it delayed the wanderers many years,
and cost them many lives, because that same delay presumably
exposed them to the prolonged enmity of hostile tribes along the
river's bank. Beyond the Brahmaputra the wet plains with
their floods and fevers give place to a maze of great mountains,
an extremely difficult tract in which to wander, especially among
unfriendly people. That the people of the mountains were un-
friendly can scarcely be doubted, for that is practically always

RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION 15

the case under such conditions. Beyond the mountains lies the
fertile and pleasant plain of Upper Burmah. There, if anywhere,
one would expect a migrant people to settle. Perhaps they did
settle there for generations, although as to this we have no evi-
dence, but ultimately something drove them on. It may have
been their own restlessness, curiosity, and desire for a better land,
or the advent of hard times and famine, or the push of new in-
vaders, or a revolution among the former plains-dwellers whom
they had perhaps conquered. Or possibly the Khmers were
never able to conquer the Burman plain, and had to keep to the
rough mountains that surround it.

At any rate the Khmers moved on, and thereby inevitably
doomed themselves to new hardships, more deaths, and a still
more stringent process of natural selection. Thus they crossed
the great Irrawadi River and the Salwin in its enormous gorge
amid a maze of the wildest mountains. Then they either came
down into the fertile plain of the Menam River in the best part
of Siam, or kept near the headwaters of that river among diffi-
cult mountain ranges. But even if they reached the plain, some-
thing still drove them on. So they traversed vast somber tropical
forests, pushed their way through the jungle, climbed the tree-
clad hills, endured the fevers of the swampy lowlands, and finally
reached Cambodia. A hazardous journey of two thousand five
hundred miles or more lay behind them; decades, generations, or
even centuries had been spent among all sorts of hardships and
dangers, and an enormous percentage of all who had been born
on that long hard journey had almost certainly died before they
became old enough to be the parents of the next generation.
Natural selection, then, had presumably had an opportunity to
do its utmost. At the beginning the IChmers appear to have been
an especially adventurous and active portion of the Brahman
race which had already been highly selected, and which had
been making notable contributions to human progress. At the
end the selected Brahmans had presumably been still more
highly selected. Is it then surprising that they achieved great
things?

16

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Just why the Khmers finally settled in Cambodia we can only
conjecture, but probably it was because there they finally mas-
tered the original population to such an extent that though few
in numbers they could impose their will upon their subjects.
From time to time new bodies of migrants reached Cambodia,
the most noticeable migration being in the fifth century A. D.,
when the Khmers as a nation rose into prominence under S'ruta-
varman. When their wanderings came to an end, the energy and
ability which had hitherto been devoted to the task of preserving
life and migrating into fresh fields were presumably turned to
governing a relatively inert tropical people, subduing the tropi-
cal forest, and building up the framework of civilization. Then
came an era of architecture, and ultimately a period when the
rulers established the briUiant court which at a much later date
is vividly described by a member of a Chinese embassy. But
that was near the end of the thirteenth century, long after the
period of constructive progress had come to an end. In the
work of building up their own peculiar type of civilization the
genius of these highly selected EJimers turned especially to
architecture. For their main ideas they naturally looked back
to India, with which they may then have communicated by
sea rather than by land. But they were by no means mere copy-
ists: the process of natural selection had apparently compelled
the mating of pioneer with pioneer for generations— unusually
competent men with unusually competent women— and had left
little opportunity for degeneration through the mating of the
competent with the incompetent. This may be the main reason
why the small body of Khmers who dominated the native Cam-
bodians were exceptionally gifted. Their gifts expressed them-
selves in a sudden and briUiant burst of architecture and sculp-
ture, and, by inference, in a form of government which was
able to utilize vast numbers of the natives as workmen and yet
keep the remainder employed on the land in such a way that
there was wealth enough to maintain both the common people
and the luxurious rulers for several hundred years.

Just why the Khmers fell from their high position we do not

RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION 17

know. The immediate occasion of their faU seems to have been
an incursion of a Siamese people into Cambodia from the north-
west in the latter part of the twelfth century. At about the same
time the Khmers were at war with the people to the east of them.
A period of dechne then set in and culminated in an uprising
whereby the common people of Siam, the Thais, were freed from
the yoke of the Khmers to whom they had long been subject.
The royal race was thus expelled from Siam, probably at the
very end of the thirteenth century. This general period, it
should be noted, was a time of world-wide physical disasters,
such as floods, droughts, famine, and pestilence. For this reason,
presumably, it was also a time of almost innumerable migrations,
rebeUions, and wars. At the end of the disturbed period the
Khmers were finally ousted even from their Cambodian capital,
Angkor Tom, and disappear from history in the fifteenth cen-
tury.

The vigor of the Khmers had presumably been sapped by
centuries of life in Cambodia. The climate with its malaria and
other diseases may have been one factor in weakening them;
luxury and idleness may have been another; it is also highly
probable that little by little, in spite of strict prohibitions, there
had been more or less intermarriage with the native population.
Thus the original high inheritance may have become diluted,
and perhaps at last was so weak that even if the climate had
been good, and diseases and luxury had been absent, the ruling
Khmers might not have maintained the innate ability, energy,
and originahty which their great temples prove beyond ques-
tion that they possessed in earlier times.

We have traced the story of the flowering, fruiting, and
decay of civilization and of racial character among these old
Khmers because it is typical of what has happened hundreds of
times. Later we shall see the same thing illustrated in Greece
and in the barbarian invasions of Europe. We shall see that
China, Norway, Iceland, New England, and California, in one
way or another, are repeating the story of Cambodia. In west-
em Europe during and after the barbarian invasions, in Egypt

18

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

and Mesopotamia time after time, in India, Java, and many
other regions a similar history can be traced. Always the essen-
tial elements seem to be the same. First, in any given race there
are sure to be differences of physique and of character. Second,
some cause, perhaps war or famine, starts a migration. Third,
practically every migration is more or less selective. All types
of people are not equally likely to migrate; the pioneer type
migrates farther than others. In general, the longer and harder
the migration the more highly selected are the survivors and
the more likely are they to give rise to a race which more or
less permanently inherits the characteristics which have been
most important in causing survival. The survivors are usually
of a high type, because mental as well as physical strength seems
to be a potent selective factor.

Perhaps the most striking element in the problem becomes
evident when the migration reaches its end, and the migrants
at length become so well established that they are free from the
stress involved in mastering the new environment. Then the
energies and abilities which have hitherto been devoted to the
struggle for existence are released. At once there seems to be a
sudden impulse toward creative effort. The thing that is created
may be a new form of government, a new social system, a re-
vival of science. Often the creative spirit expresses itself in archi-
tecture. Or perhaps we should say that almost always architec-
ture is one of the forms which it ultimately assumes, and archi-
tectural structures are more likely than any others to survive
to tell the story to future generations.

Now comes the last and saddest part of the story. For some
reason every selected race seems to degenerate. Ordinarily the
growth of luxury and idleness are given as the causes. Sometimes
the cause may be the poor climate into which the migrants have
penetrated. But back of these the laws of biology indicate that
almost invariably there may be other, deeper causes. One of
those causes is the deterioration which is sure to take place in
any selected stock if active selection ceases to be effective. In
a herd of horses the ability to rim invariably declines from gen-

RACIAL CHARACTER AND NATURAL SELECTION 19

eration to generation, unless the slower colts are removed and
only the best runners are allowed to breed. Every animal which
is not of a pure strain has so mixed an inheritance that bad com-
binations of qualities as well as good are sure to be produced.
The same is true of man. Another important cause of racial
deterioration is the restriction of the birth-rate which almost
invariably becomes active among the upper classes when over-
population begins to create a condition of economic stress. A
third cause is the mixture of the competent selected stocks with
the incompetent, unselected stocks. Such intermingling may
occur through mixture with a conquered race, through the in-
troduction of slaves, through unrestricted immigration, through
the breaking down of the barriers between different classes or
castes, or in various other ways. If man is subject to the same
laws of inheritance as animals— and we are practically certain
that this is the case both physically and mentally— each step in
such dilution means a decrease in ability. If the pioneers among
pioneers, to return to our parable, are selected in each genera-
tion, it may perhaps be possible to build up a pure strain which
will ultimately breed true for generation after generation. In
Iceland, as we shaU see, this seems almost to have happened, but
certainly it is very rare. If the pioneers are selected only in a
single generation, and still more, if the selected pioneers inter-
marry with people who are not selected, deterioration is inevi-
table. The processes of selection and degeneration, and their
relation to other great processes in the development of racial
character form the principal theme of this book.

CHAPTER II

FIRST STEPS IN HUMAN CHARACTER

In the preceding chapter we seem to have been dealing with
one of the great generalizations of history. Migrations, or changes
of environment even without migration, seem to cause natural
selection. The character of races is thereby altered. Migration
also causes the mixture of races, and thus changes racial char-
acter still further. Any other cause, such as overpopulation or
famine, which kills off a part of the population at an unusually
rapid rate, may act in the same way. In other words, the bio-
logical laws which apply to animals also apply to man. The
races of mankind are plastic. They are varying on a small scale
before our eyes. They appear to have varied on a much larger
scale in the past. Let us apply the principles of variation and
selection to man's history from the earliest times and see what
we can learn.

In thus applying the principles of biology to human races we
shall begin in the dim past with the origin of man. There we
shall avowedly deal with theories rather than facts. We shall
build up a theoretical history of the evolution of the human
species. Here and there we have bits of solid fact on which to
base our conclusions, but they do not give certainty. Neverthe-
less it is worth while to begin at the beginning. When we get to
the period where written records are available we shall find that
the actual facts as to the evolution of character among races
which are now playing their part in the world are almost in-
numerable—far more abundant than we can use in this book.

It is generally agreed that early man originated somewhere
in Asia. Formerly it was supposed that he came from the warm,
tropical parts of the continent. Little by little this view has
given place to the idea that man's early home was in what are
now the central deserts and plateaus, the vast region between
Mesopotamia and the Caspian Sea on the west, and eastern

20

FIRST STEPS IN HUMAN CHARACTER 21

Tibet and Mongolia on the east. There is abundant evidence in
archaeology and history that the greatest of all human move-
ments have been from the central parts of Asia outward. One
great stream of migrants presumably went by devious routes
southwest into Africa; others went west to Europe; India has
almost always been entered from the northwest, though some
minor streams came from the northeast. Australia appears to
have been peopled by primitive men who went down the Malay
peninsula and across the islands. China has again and again
been overwhelmed by people invading from the north and
northwest, while the original inhabitants of North America are
now almost universally agreed to have come in one or more
streams from Asia by way of Alaska, and thence to have pene-
trated to South America. Moreover, man's chief domestic plants
and animals came from this same general region and its borders.
The horse is a noteworthy example. What is true of him appears
to be equally true of the sheep, camel, ox, yak, dog, goat, hen,
duck, and other animals. It is likewise true of wheat, rice, bar-
ley, and many other highly valuable plants. Although America
has supplied a few things like corn, potatoes, and tobacco, and
Europe may be the original source of some others such as oats
and rye, the contributions of all the other continents to man's
domestic plants and animals are only a fraction of those which
presumably came from the central parts of Asia. Thus the evi-
dence that man originated somewhere in what is now the plateau
region extending from Mesopotamia and Persia to west China
is strong.

This conclusion as to where man originated is supported by
another line of evidence in the form of man's relation to climate.
Matthew, of the American Museum of Natural History, in his
book on Evolution and Climate^ seems to be right in saying that
man is not of tropical origin. This common assumption, he
thinks, is only partly true.

Its general acceptance is perhaps due, among other reasons, to the sup-
posed relation between loss of hair on the body and the wearing of clothes,
the first being regarded as an earlier specialization in an environment of

22

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

tropical forests, the second as a secondary adaptation resulting from mi-
gration to a cold climate. But here, it seems to me, we are putting the
cart before the horse. We may more reasonably regard the loss of hair in
the human species as a result of wearing clothes and conditioned by this
habit, rather than attribute it to any climatic conditions. This view is
supported by several points in which the loss of hair in man is differentiated
from the partial or complete loss of hair common in tropical animals, the
following two being most clearly significant.

(1) It is accompanied by an exceptional and progressive delicacy of
skin, quite unsuited to travel in tropical forests. I do not know of any
thin-haired or hairless tropical animal whose skin is not more or less thick-
ened for protection against chafing, the attacks of insects, etc.

(2) The loss is most complete on the back and abdomen. The arms and
the legs and, in the male, the chest, retain hair much more persistently.
This is just what would naturally happen if the loss of hair were due to
the wearing of clothes, — at first and for a long, time, a skin thrown over
the shoulders and tied around the waist. But if the loss of hair were con-
ditioned by climate it should, as it invariably does among animals, dis-
appear first on the under side of the body and the limbs and be retained
longest on the back and shoulders.

According to this view the comparative absence of hair even
among tropical savages, who wear Httle or no clothing, means
that the hair on man's body was lost in the earliest human times.
It must have disappeared while man was still near his original
habitat, and before the ancestors of the present tropical races
branched off from the other races.

This conclusion as to the origin of man in a mildly warm
rather than a tropical climate is supported to a considerable
degree by recent studies of the climates to which various races
are best adapted. Numerous studies in the United States, Eng-
land, France, Italy, and elsewhere indicate that for all European
races the optimum or most favorable conditions of climate are
essentially the same. The best conditions are a temperature
which on the average for day and night does not rise above
70° F. in summer, or fall below 40° F. in winter. The extremes
may of course be greater. Physical health and activity are at
their highest when the outdoor temperature for day and night
averages about 64° F., while mental activity seems to be great-
est at a lower temperature, possibly as low as 40° F. among

FIRST STEPS IN HUMAN CHARACTER

23

people who heat their houses. A fairly high degree of humidity
appears also to be favorable at moderately low temperatures,
but not at high temperatures. Variability and storminess seem
also to be important. It is significant that not only do fair, broad-
headed Mongoloid Finns and dark long-headed Mediterranean
Sicilians have the best health at the seasons when their respec-
tive countries approach most nearly to this ideal climate, but
the same is true of the Japanese. Even the negroes of the
southern United States show approximately the same response
to climate. Their optimum temperature on the basis of the
death-rate, and of the degree of activity with which they work
does not appear to average above 70° F. In other words, while
it is higher than the optimum for the white race, it is distinctly
lower than the mean temperature of 80° F., or more in which
their ancestors lived for thousands or tens of thousands of years,
and in which they themselves still live for much of the year.
While all races have not yet been investigated in this respect,
many facts suggest that for practically the whole human race a
temperature that averages between 60° F. and 70° F. is better
than one which averages above 70°. This adaptation to moderate
rather than great warmth seems to be so universal that it may
be a primitive trait belonging to the whole human race. If this
is so, it would suggest that man did not take the greatest steps
in his evolution in a tropical climate such as that of the penin-
sula of India or Africa south of the Sahara, but in a somewhat
cooler climate. Hence our final conclusion agrees with the fol-
lowing statement of Matthew, except that in pointing out the
exact place of man's origin he has perhaps been a little more
definite than the facts yet warrant.

It will not be questioned that the higher races of man are adapted to
a cool temperate climate, and to an environment rather of open grassy
plains than of dense moist forests. In such conditions they reached their
highest physical, mental, and social attainments. In the tropical and es-
pecially in the moist tropical environment, the physique is poor, the death
rate is high, it is difficult to work vigorously or continuously, and especial
and unusual precautions are necessary for protection from diseases and

24

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

enemies against which no natural immunity exists, and which are absent
from the colder and drier environment.

This lack of adaptation to tropical climate is also true, although to a
less degree, of the lower races of man. Although from prolonged residence
in tropical climates they have acquired a partial immunity from the en-
vironment so unfavorable to the newcomer, yet it is by no means com-
plete. The most thoroughly acclimated race — the negro — reaches his
highest physical development not in the great equatorial forests but in
the drier and cooler highlands of eastern Africa; and when transported to
the temperate United States, the West Coast negro yet finds the environ-
ment a more favorable one than that to which his ancestors have been
endeavoring for thousands of years to accustom themselves. In tropical
South America, the Indians, as Bates long ago remarked, seem very im-
perfectly acclimatized and suffer severely from the hot moist weather;
much more than the negroes, whose adaptation to tropical climate has
been a much longer one.

In view of the data obtainable from historical record, from tradition,
from the present geographical distribution of higher and lower races of
men, from the physical and physiological adaptation of all and especially
of the higher races, it seems fair to conclude that the center of dispersal
of mankind in prehistoric times was central Asia north of the great Hima-
layan ranges, and that when by progressive aridity that region became
desert it was transferred to the regions bordering it to the east, south, and
west. We may further assume that the environment in which man pri-
marily evolved was not a moist or tropical climate, but a temperate and
more or less arid one, progressively cold and dry during the course of his
evolution. In this region and under these conditions, the race first attained
a dominance which enabled it to spread out in successive waves or migra-
tion to the most remote parts of the earth.

Having come to a tentative conclusion as to the place where
early man evolved and the climatic conditions of that evolu-
tion, let us now apply these conclusions to the problem of how
and why man's anthropoid ancestors became human. The change
from beast to man is generally supposed to be connected with
man's descent from the trees. That descent was presumably
accompanied by a change from a stooping, four-handed gait to
one adapted to the erect position. Such a change involves many
alterations in physical structure and in character. Modern re-
search indicates that the most primitive human types such as
the ape-man of Java, go back to the Pliocene period of geology,
while his semi-human ape-Hke precursors presumably Hved dur-

FffiST STEPS IN HUMAN CHARACTER 25

ing the preceding Miocene. Therefore we must examine these
geological ages perhaps one or two miUion years ago, and see
what kind of environment surrounded our primeval prehuman
ancestors.

During the Miocene period the climate of the earth seems to
have been distinctly warmer and milder than at present. At
that time, to judge from the fossils, the great deserts which now
extend from the Sahara to Mongolia did not exist, or at least
were small and were not located as at present. In place of most
of them there was presumably a country covered with a fairly
dense forest, not positively tropical but fairly warm and moist,
and without such severe winters as now characterize large parts
of the desert area. Moreover, many of the greatest mountain
ranges had not yet been formed, and moisture-laden winds were
therefore able to blow in freely from the oceans. A great inland
sea extended from the Mediterranean eastward to Persia, and
possibly to China, with a branch running northward from the
Caspian and Ural region to the Arctic Ocean. This in itself
doubtless had much to do with keeping the climate mild, but its
effect may have been increased by other conditions such as an
abundance of carbon dioxide in the air and a scarcity of the
cyclonic type of storms.

The relief of the land throughout most of central Asia in
those early Miocene days was probably gentle almost every-
where. Where now the Himalayas raise their great crests 20,000
feet into the air, there was an ocean in which were deposited lime-
stones that are now found on the mountain- tops. Elsewhere
there were either rolling plains or gently sloping, low mountains
such as those whose remnants are now seen on the plateaus of
Tibet and Tian Shan. As one climbs toward the plateaus one
sees to-day a curious topography. The precarious track follows
tortuous steep-sided gorges, very young, as the physiographer
counts age. This indicates that the streams which cut them
have been at work only a little while. Many canyons are so
narrow as to be impassable, and one cannot float down the rivers
because they are so young that they have not yet had time to

26

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

smooth out their falls and rapids. That is why the Brahmaputra
has never been followed from source to mouth. Even on the
Indus, although the river's whole course has been mapped, there
are many places where the gorge is so narrow that one cannot
follow the stream, but must clamber over diflScult mountains.
At the heads of these streams, however, one comes upon a coun-
try of a wholly different aspect, a country of old hills smoothly
rounded. In Tian Shan a gently rolling old upland plain, diver-
sified with beautiful green hills, sometimes forms a lofty plateau
almost surrounded by the well-nigh vertical cliffs of young
gorges.

In India I once ascended the splendid canyon of the Shyok
River, a tributary of the Indus. For many days we were hemmed
in by steep cliffs on either side of a broad, rocky flood-plain.
We longed in vain to see what lay on either side. Then one day
a final ascent of a minor valley brought us out into a different
world. We had reached the great plateau and soon were travers-
ing its gentle slopes and broad plains. Low rounded mountains
replaced the steep cliffs and sharply serrated peaks of the plateau
border. It was easy to travel anywhere. One night we made
camp at an altitude of over 16,000 feet. Next day we expected
to cross the Karakorum Pass, which is about 18,300 feet high, and
marks the divide between India and China. That night the
cook gave us a warning:

"To-morrow we are going to cross a pass where the air is
very poisonous. I advise you not to eat much, and especially
not to eat any meat."

"Oh, nothing is the matter with the air,'' I answered. "It
is merely because the pass is high."

"No," said the cook, "it's not high. You wait and see."

I insisted that it was as high as Chang La, an equally lofty
pass with a long, steep, toilsome ascent of about 6,000 feet on
each side, which we had crossed two weeks before. He was un-
persuaded and clinched his argument by saying:

"When we crossed Chang La we climbed steeply and with
great difficulty. Here we scarcely climb at all. We call a thing

FIRST STEPS IN HUMAN CHARACTER 27

high when you have to climb to it. We don't cHmb here, and so
we think the air is poison."

The old plateau whose gentle relief made the cook think it
was low represents approximately the sort of topography, al-
though not necessarily the place, in which primitive man is
supposed to have originated. But in those remote times the
plateaus presumably stood far lower than now. Nor were there
any such young, high mountain ranges as those of the Hima-
layas, Kwen Lun, Tian Shan, and Hindu Kush. The climate
was probably moist and mild, and vast regions that are now
high plateaus or low desert basins were presumably covered with
forests whose remnants are found as fossils. It was probably in
these forests that the anthropoid ancestors of man had been
gradually, but probably very slowly, evolving more and more
power of brain. There or somewhere else they had taken the
fullest advantage of the fact that their feet can be used as hands.
Perhaps they had gone so far as to use sticks or even stones as
missiles, although stones may have been relatively inaccessible,
and hence unimportant, since most of the earth's surface was
presimaably deeply covered with soil and vegetation.

At this stage of geological history there began a series of
slow changes in the earth's crust. First there was a general up-
lifting of the whole region of central Asia so that the ^inland sea
finally disappeared, while the shores of the Indian and Pacific
Oceans receded. At the same time mountain ranges began to
be slowly upheaved, thus shutting out the moist winds from the
surrounding oceans. These conditions and perhaps others grad-
ually led to the aridity which is now so extreme in central Asia.

Thus far we have been rehearsing either actual facts or con-
clusions which are widely if not almost universally accepted.
Now, in attempting to show the effect of these facts on human
development, we must venture into more speculative ground.
Long before there was anything which could be called real arid-
ity in those old Miocene days, the climate probably became dry
enough, and the dry season long enough to have a pronounced
effect on early man. As Elliot, Barrell, and others have shown,

28

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

one of the first results of the incipient dryness must have been
to make the forests thinner so that the trees were more or less
isolated instead of forming a dense, close cover. Such conditions
would obHge the anthropoid apes to come down to the ground
in order to pass from tree to tree. As the forests grew thinner,
patches of grassland or savanna must have appeared with only
a few trees scattered here and there and with what are known
as gallery forests in strips along the streams. Then the anthro-
poids must have been put to still more stress. Formerly the for-
ests had been their refuge. Carnivora larger and fiercer than those
of to-day prowled about, but the apes could take refuge in the
trees. There, too, they found a large part of their food. But
now it was not possible to swing from tree to tree except in the
gallery forests. There the more timid or less brainy types, or
those less able to walk, were forced to remain, but found their
habitat constantly diminishing. Those with quicker wits and
more adventurous dispositions and with the greatest ability to
stand upright presumably ventured to walk from tree to tree.
But at such times they were relatively defenceless against the
carnivora unless they took tools in their hands in the form of
sticks that could be used as clubs, or stones that could be hurled.
In such a critical period mental activity along almost every fine
must have been peculiarly helpful.

As time went on and the aridity became greater, the trees
in the open savannas must have disappeared almost entirely,
giving place to broad grasslands, the home of numerous animals
such as the horse, sheep, and ox. These, together with wild
grain growing among the grass, would furnish food to man in
place of the fruits and nuts of his former forest home. Thus when
primitive man left the trees he would tend to become an eater
of cereals and meat instead of fruits and nuts.

As the mountains gradually rose higher, and the sea receded
farther, the increasing dryness of the climate must ultimately
have almost destroyed even the gallery forests along the water-
courses, for these are now rare. This would mean the final ex-
tinction of the apes which for generation after generation may

FIRST STEPS IN HUMAN CHARACTER 29

have persisted where trees were still abundant. It is not im-
possible that the anthropoids which were not brainy enough to
take to the ground, or were not physically capable of doing so,
may have survived for hundreds of thousands of years after
their line of descent separated from that of the progenitors of
man. But ultimately all perished except possibly certain groups
which more or less unconsciously migrated southward and sea-
ward in the early stages of the great change, and hence remained
in the forests. Although the process of separating the erect,
small-jawed, two-handed, big-headed, brainy human type from
its bent, heavy-jawed, four-handed, small-headed, and unintelli-
gent relatives was slow, it was inexorable and irrevocable. As
the environment gradually killed off the animals which could
not walk erect, which did not know how to use their hands for
holding tools, and which were not able to take refuge in caves,
make themselves shelters, or protect themselves by fire or other-
wise, the human race may be supposed to have grown up, and
at some indefinite stage to have become man instead of beast.

Although man's descent from the trees probably depended
mainly upon mental ability there are other phases to be con-
sidered. When the anthropoids began to leave the trees and
walk upright, as Barrell points out, there took place during many
generations "a physical transformation shown in changed foot
structure, changed ratios of the limb-lengths, a changed profile
of the backbone, a shortening of the jaw and a changed denti-
tion."

As man stood more and more erect, he probably reaped cer-
tain great advantages in the freedom of his hands and head. As
long as he had to help support himself by touching his hands
or his knuckles on the ground, and still more while he used his
hands as well as his feet to help him among the trees, his hands
were useless for the purpose of carrying things any great distance.
Even though he found and shaped a good club, he could not
carry it with him. At almost the first hint of danger he had to
drop it and use his hands in climbing. Nor could he pick up
a handful of good round stones and have them ready to throw

30

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

at the enemy. Until his hands were free, the kind of brain that
could devise and fashion a rude bag of vines, such as EUiot
loves to imagine, would be terribly handicapped in finding means
of expressing itself. But once the hands were permanently free,
the clever brain would enable its owner to make a bag, fill it
with stones, and hang it aroimd his neck. Moreover, so long as
his hands were essential as organs of locomotion, they could ac-
quire only a moderate degree of the delicacy of touch and the
ability to pick up and manipulate small objects which is one of
man's strongest characteristics. In other words, although cer-
tain types among the anthropoids may have had the mental
capacity to use tools, this apparently gave them relatively little
special advantage and hence was only a minor factor in self-
preservation and in the preservation of the species until the front
limbs ceased to be needed for locomotion.

Another point which is well made by Wetzel and Elliot is
that up to the time when man walked erect the development of
his skull and brain was hampered by the heavy muscles of his
jaws and neck. Until his hands came freely into use and were
aided by tools, the teeth were the main means of rending, tear-
ing, and even carrying food. Hence the jaw had to be very
strong and large, and required powerful muscles. Moreover,
such a jaw and its use for heavy and violent work involve a
great strain on the neck, and the muscles that support the head
must be correspondingly large. This is still more the case when
the head hangs forward as it does in the apes, instead of resting
on the top of a bony column as it does in men so long as they
keep away from desks. It requires far less exertion to hold one's
head erect than to hold it bent forward. Because of the strain
of the muscles of jaw and neck, the sutures in the upper parts
of the skull of the anthropoid close early in life, whereas in man
they do not close for many years, not till about the age of forty.
Moreover, since the sides of the skull are not clamped by strong
muscles, the human skull can expand backward, forward, and
sidewise, as well as upward, which is the only free direction in
lower forms. Perhaps some reflection of this plasticity of the

FIRST STEPS IN HUMAN CHARACTER SI

human skull is found in the observation of Vern that at Cam-
bridge, England, the students whom he measured showed an
increase in breadth of skull during their university course. Be-
tween the ages of nineteen and twenty-three their cephalic index
rose from 77.9 to 79.2. Of course mere size does not mean that
a brain is necessarily of high caliber, for the largest brain ever
measured was that of an idiot. Nevertheless, it is a fact that as
we go upward in the scale of evolution, both in men and animals,
the size of the brain in proportion to the body is on the whole
closely correlated with the degree of intelligence.

As to the mentality of the ape-man who came down out of
the trees, it is hard to form any definite estimate. We have al-
ready indicated some of his qualities, and we may well conclude
this chapter with a quotation from Elliot which suggests cer-
tain higher attributes:

Most anthropologists recognize that a strictly scientific treatment must
not omit reference to those moral and spiritual instincts which are beyond
and above, though inextricably connected with, the brain. It seems to us
that especially at this critical period the Pliocene precursor of man must
have been exceedingly inquisitive. He was more or less in safety so long
as he remained an arboreal animal; but when he left the trees or only re-
sorted to them for safety and shelter at night, this involved all sorts of
moral qualities. He had to be excessively wary, and yet bold and cou-
rageous; enterprising, and yet patient; the maintenance of his young must
have required of him very hard work and an extraordinary amount of
affection.

All these qualities involve an unusual character. The moral quality of
the Pliocene ancestor was surely beyond that of the best of the animals,
even though these do possess embryonic states of both virtues and vices.
It will be seen, therefore, that at the critical moment, three lines of devel-
opment happened to coincide. For a whole geological period, perhaps, the
I power of standing, of running, of using hands and fingers had been slowly
j perfected, involving, as we tried to show, a thorough-going modification in
I the ground-plan of the body. At the same time, increase of brain had been
I accompanied by a development of intelligence; eye, ears, finger and thumb
j were being more and more directly controlled by the mind. Then, also,
j frequent crises required of the male heroism and self-sacrifice, and of the
i mother incessant daily devotion.

But at some particular moment the accumulated knowledge that he
had gathered of all the evil things in a very dangerous world, and his power
of enjoyment of what was good in it, suddenly changed into a knowledge

82

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

of Good and Evil. The change was not more sudden than the first stroke
of a complicated piece of machinery set going for the first time, nor of the
first abrupt explosion of a volcano which has been extinct for centuries.
But so far as man was concerned, it transformed everything; from being
one of the other animals, he became in posse master of all.

CHAPTER III

THE EARLIEST GREAT MIGRATIONS

It is not by accident that the chief early development of
mankind took place in Eurasia, and that it occurred during a
glacial period. These facts are in accord with two great principles
which are rapidly assuming a fundamental place in geology. One
principle is that the world contains a few great centers of evolu-
tion. These are located in the interiors of the continents in me-
dium or high latitudes. The Asiatic center far overshadows all
the others combined, while that of North America comes next.
Central Asia, as has been weU shown by Osborn and Matthew,
and more recently by Andrews's expedition for the American
Museum at New York, was the original home of many great
families of mammals such as the horse, tapir, rhinoceros, deer,
dog, sheep, pig, and giraffe. A few like the camel apparently
originated in North America.

The main reason why evolution is so rapid in the interior of
large continents is that those are the places where the physical
environment is most variable. In a warm, moist plain in low
latitudes an animal never experiences any great extremes of
either heat or cold. Very rarely does it suffer from severe drought,
and its food-supply is relatively abundant and constant. In such
an environment the animals are not likely to acquire any great
specialization. Even if they are not sluggish, they are usually
primitive. A dry rugged interior in middle latitudes produces
quite the contrary effect. The extremes of heat and cold cause
weak non-resistant animals to perish. The variations in rainfall
from one year to another are relatively great. Since the number
of animals increases rapidly when several good years come in
succession, the excess of population leads to an unusually fierce
struggle to get food or avoid being eaten. Hence among certain
species only those animals survive that are especially fleet of foot,

S3

84

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

keen of sense, quick to take alarm, or able to hide and thus avoid
their enemies. So too in other species the animals which are able
to go unusually long distances in search of food and water, to en-
dure long periods of fasting or thirst, or to persevere to an un-
usual degree in the pursuit of prey are the only ones that can
survive. If the region is rugged, still other specializations, such
as the ability to climb steep, rocky slopes, are a great help in
enabling an animal to live and reproduce its kind. Hence in the
Asiatic center there has for many ages been a tendency to kiU
off the unspecialized kinds of animals and to evolve types with
a higher and higher degree of adaptation to a severe and variable
environment.

From this there follows another important geological gen-
eralization which also applies to man. The dry interiors of the
continents, especially of Asia, have been the great centers of
migration. This is not only because new types originate there,
but because such an interior, especially if it lies at a fairly high
latitude, suffers far greater changes from one geological period
to another than does any other part of the world. Sometimes the
inner parts of continents have warm, moist, monotonous climates
such as we have already described at the beginning of the Mio-
cene before the early anthropoids left the trees. At other times
they have a desert climate like that of central Asia to-day.
When the climate is mild, the number of animals of a given
species becomes large; when it is severe, the animals either die
or migrate. In low latitudes like the Amazon or Congo basins
there is little reason to think that during any part of geological
time the climate has been greatly different from that of to-day.
In Illinois and central Russia, however, even in recent geological
times, we have had the contrast between a glacial climate accom-
panied by a thick sheet of ice on the one hand, and a climate
milder than that of to-day on the other. In central Asia the
corresponding changes have been almost equally great, and
probably even more important in promoting evolution because
they have never completely extinguished all Hfe. During or im-
mediately after the glacial epochs huge lakes hundreds of miles

THE EARLIEST GREAT MIGRATIONS 85

long filled basins that are now deserts, while the surrounding
country was covered with grass and forests. At the other ex-
treme the country became a desert even more terrible than that
of to-day. The central parts of continents have also endured
great changes due to the uplifting of mountains and the isola-
tion of the interior from the oceans. The upheaval of the Hima-
layas, Kwen Lun, Tian Shan, and other ranges in Asia, and of
the Sierra Nevada and Rockies in the United States, have in
themselves been sufficient to produce deserts where the climate
had previously been mild, moist, and oceanic.

A single illustration will show how all these changes in climate
and relief not only select certain types of animals for preserva-
tion and kill others, but how they drive the more primitive types
away from the centers of evolution. In central Asia the Andrews
expedition of the American Museum of Natural History found
the remains of a very primitive horse, which appears to be not
far removed from the type whence all other horses have sprung.
Suppose that when such a species is most numerous and most
widely spread, perhaps with its center in MongoHa but extend-
ing over a considerable area, the climate is such that broad
grassy plains extend far and wide. Now suppose that greater
aridity ensues, becoming evident first in a relatively limited cen-
tral area and then spreading outward. The number of horses in
the desiccated central area must diminish, for there is not food
enough to support so many as formerly.

This diminution takes place in two ways : first, the death-rate
becomes high, for many horses are undernourished, and many
mares cannot supply milk for their foals. Second, as the horses
wander irregularly in search of food a certain number who hap-
pen to be on the borders of the dry area stray into better regions
and never come back. The horses that remain permanently in
the dry area are likely to be a peculiar type. Perhaps they may
be ones whose toes have become elongated, thus giving the
animals greater agility and fleetness, and hence making them
better able to cover long distances in traveling back and forth
between the scattered water-holes and the places where the

36

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

scanty grasses are found. Thus in the dry area a new species
may arise, while on the outskirts the old species persists. If the
dry conditions continue long enough and become extreme enough,
the old species may be pushed thousands of miles from its original
home. Then the climate may moderate once more, but the old
species will not necessarily come back into the old home. That
region may be so completely occupied by the new and more
highly specialized species that there will be no room for the
other.

Again there comes a dry period. A still more specialized type
of horse is developed, perhaps the one-toed type, succeeding the
more primitive three-toed form. It pushes out its predecessor
and this predecessor pushes the primitive species stiU farther.
The net result is that among mammals the most primitive forms
are usually found either as ancient fossils in old strata near the
place where the family originated, or as later fossils in modern
strata or even as living species in regions far from their original
home. The places where the primitive types are most likely to
be found still living are areas of refuge such as tropical forests,
isolated peninsulas, islands, or other inaccessible regions protected
perhaps by mountains. There they are able to persist either be-
cause they have not been subjected to an extreme environment
greatly different from that in which they originated, or because
new types have not been able to drive them out.

All this applies to man quite as much as to animals. In fact,
the growth of man's intelligence seems to be a wonderful exam-
ple of the way in which evolution centers in regions of physical
extremes and is accelerated by climatic variations. The whole
of human history falls within an exceptional period in the earth's
physical condition. Ever since the time when the apes first came
down out of the trees, the continents have been unusually large,
the mountains unusually high, the climate unusually severe, and
the variations of climate unusually great. It is difficult to dis-
abuse ourselves of the idea that the conditions with which we
are familiar are those which prevail most widely. Most of the
readers of this book are doubtless residents of regions where the

THE EARLIEST GREAT MIGRATIONS S7

hills and plains are covered with vegetation, and where the grass
if left to itself, takes the form of turf. But that is not the usual
condition throughout the earth as a whole. Most of the eight
i hundred million people of Asia have never seen real turf. Nor
have most of those of Africa and South America. The same is
true of large parts of North America, Austraha, and even south-
ern Europe. It is probably no exaggeration to say that to nearly
three-fourths of the sixteen or seventeen hundred million people
in the world turfy grass does not seem normal. They are like a
Kurd and an Armenian with whom I was once riding in Asia
Minor. We came to a beautiful, green, grassy plain at the end of
a small lake. Having seen nothing really green for two or three
months, for it was August, and having seen no good turf for two
or three years, I was delighted.

"See how beautiful that is," I said. "In my country it is
like that everywhere.'* But the impression on my companions
was not what I intended; "How unhealthy your country must
be ! " was their answer. To them a place where the grass is green
in midsummer meant standing water, mosquitoes, and malaria.

Just as we who are to-day the world's leaders live in a rela-
tively unusual and restricted environment, so the human race
throughout its whole history has lived in a decidedly unusual
environment. Throughout geological times by far the most
common condition has resembled that which prevailed in early
Miocene times before the primitive ape-men came down from the
trees. At that time, it will be remembered, the lands were rela-
tively small and low, arms of the sea penetrated far inland, most
of the mountain ranges were rounded, gentle, and low, and the
climate was so mild that corals flourished far to the north, great
forests presumably throve in central Asia, and beech-trees, oaks,
planes, poplars, limes, magnolias, holly, ivy, and grapevines grew
in Greenland, Iceland, and Spitzbergen.

Then began the great change which we have pictured, the
uplifting of the lands, the upheaval of vast mountain chains,
and the progressive cooling and drying of the atmosphere. At
first the change was probably very slow and gradual, impercep-

38

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

tible in the life of any individual. Perhaps it was never rapid
enough so that even if modern man had been there he would
have been conscious of it except on the basis of records kept
from one generation to another. But ultimately the change cul-
minated m one of the most perturbed periods the world has ever
seen, the Pleistocene glacial period. During at least four epochs,
and perhaps in several earher epochs whose record is lost or not
yet known, there were great climatic pulsations which culmi-
nated in vast continental ice-sheets. To-day we are still living in
an unusual period— the last part of an ice age. It is by no means
usual for Greenland to be shrouded in ice or for the whole Ant-
arctic continent to be covered with an ice-sheet. Our great
extremes of temperature from summer to winter, as well as our
cold oceans, are quite different from the conditions which have
ordinarily prevailed. Thus from the standpoint of environment
one of the outstanding facts in organic evolution is that during
the period of strictly human development the physical environ-
ment has been unusual; the greatest advances appear to have
been made when the environment has been most extreme. The
last step in the development of the mental capacities in which
man now rejoices was taken during the last ice age, whose wan-
ing power is still seen in the glaciers not only of Greenland and
Antarctica, but even of Norway and the Alps.

The preceding outline of biological and geological principles
prepares the way for a study of the kind of events that must
have happened to early man during the various ice ages. Here,
as in the last chapter, our story must consist largely of inferences
rather than of historical facts. Only at long intervals have we
even the faintest trace of man at this time. In the whole vast
continent of Asia there has not yet been found a single authentic
trace of man before the last glacial epoch. Nevertheless, on the
basis of certain generally accepted principles of ecology and
paleontology we can sketch a rough outline of certain steps in
man's upward progress. The sketch is like some of the stories
of the Bible whose main object is to illustrate broad principles
rather than supply an exact account of what actually happened.

THE EARLIEST GREAT MIGRATIONS 39

Its value is that it enables us to view man in perspective, it
brings out the close similarity between man and other animals,
and it gives a consistent background against which to project
the definite facts that will engage our attention during the later
stages of human development.

In the preceding chapter we carried our primitive ancestors
to the point where they had permanently assumed the erect
attitude and no longer depended upon the forests either for
shelter or food. They were living, presumably, somewhere be-
tween the Caspian Sea and western China, in a region of steppes
and savannas, but not of deserts. Perhaps they had already
spread over most of this region. The limits to which they ex-
panded were possibly set by the range of the grass-eating animals
which probably formed their main source of food. In Europe the
earliest human remains are almost invariably associated with
animals such as the bison, elephant, mammoth, and rhinoceros.
The continent of Eurasia as a whole, and most of the individual
mountain ranges stood much higher than a million or so years
previously, when the first apes began to walk unsteadily on two
feet from tree to tree in the open glades. But the mountains were
apparently not so high as they became during the period of per-
haps half a miUion years which has since elapsed.

During those half-million years human evolution has been
chiefly guided by two sets of facts, namely, the mutations that
have occurred in man, especially in his skull and brain, and mi-
gration and natural selection under the influence of great pulsa-
tions of climate. Before the beginning of the first glacial period
central Asia must have reached a condition almost as dry as
now. That could scarcely happen without causing early man to
spread widely from his ancestral home. Either then or in some
later interglacial period he reached at least four main types of
environment, according to whether he traveled south or north,
west or east. Those that went southward may be represented by
Pithecanthropus erectus, the ape-man of Java, whom some au-
thorities believe to be preglacial. Probably the modern and
much mixed descendants of some group of southward-moving

40

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

migrants may be recognized in the primitive Pygmies of southern
Asia, central Africa, and the East Indies, and in the Australoid
and Negroid peoples of the torrid zone in general. In their most
primitive forms such people live largely in inaccessible tropical
forests where they are protected from later arrivals by the dense-
ness of the trees and the general unhealthfulness of the surround-
ings.

Those of the early migrants who went south would doubt-
less have congratulated themselves on their good fortune, had
they known and understood what happened to the others. But
their seeming good fortune was their undoing. By getting into
a tropical climate they almost inevitably condemned them-
selves either to stagnation or to an evolution slower than that
of their kindred who stayed in the old home or went in other
directions. One reason for this was that their new environment
did not differ greatly from that in which their ancestors lived
before leaving the trees. In fact their southward way brought
many of them into the forest environment of the apes. The pro-
fusion of trees, insects, and beasts of prey in the torrid zone en-
courages an arboreal life. Among the Pygmies there has been a
considerable development in this direction. Those little people
build their houses high among the branches, they are wonder-
fully adept at climbing, and the trees are to them a refuge, much
as they are to the apes. Moreover, in a tropical environment it
is easier to get a living than on the steppes and savannas. Less
activity and more patience in lying in wait are required in hunt-
ing. There is no pronounced change of seasons to oblige people
to adopt one method in winter and another in summer, and thus
make them adaptable. There is less likelihood of prolonged
periods without food, so that the hoarding instinct, and the
power of self-control in order to make the food last through a
period of privation are not fostered so much as farther pole-
ward. This is the more true because tropical man can find vege-
table food more abundantly than can the man in the cooler
grasslands, while at the same time the tropical food is far more
perishable than the other. Fruits and even roots are by no

THE EARLIEST GREAT MIGRATIONS 41

means easy to store for any length of time, whereas the seeds of
! grasslike grains such as wheat and barley spoil much less quickly.
Here, too, the temperature and humidity make a great difference,
for even the great tropical grains, rice, millet, and corn, which
will keep perfectly during a winter in central Asia when the
thermometer goes down to zero, are relatively hard to store in
a warm climate which averages near 80° F. Moreover, in the
cooler climate, even during its warm season, there are not so
many insects, rodents, and other creatures as in tropical lands,
nor so many moulds, fungi, and the like to destroy the food
that man attempts to save for times of scarcity.

Added to all this is the fact that even the more backward
races seem to have the best health and greatest energy in a cli-
mate with an average temperature of 70° F. or less rather than 80°.
The fact that the temperature is constantly too high seems not
only to weaken the body somewhat so that it is more easily a
prey to disease, but to make people do things in the way that
requires least effort. Great activity in a hot, moist region raises
the bodily temperature too high— so high that the cooling mech-
anism of the sweat glands and lungs cannot keep the tempera-
ture down to normal. Thus the active people are frequently
afflicted with what is really a slight fever, harmless perhaps in
itself, or in a single occurrence, but tending toward weakness in
the long run. The man who can get a living with the least effort,
that is, without heating himself or without going into places
where he will be stung by noxious insects, has a real advantage
in warm, moist countries, and his kind is likely to survive where
the active kind die out. Hence from a score of standpoints the
primitive men who followed the seemingly favorable climate
southward from central Asia, and who finally migrated into a
tropical environment were at a disadvantage compared with
those who unwittingly remained in the lands where life was
hard.

Let us go back now to central Asia, and inquire what pre-
sumably happened to the primitive men who spread westward
and eastward during early times. How far they actually mi-

42

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

grated during the period when the Asiatic mountains were ris-
ing, and the cHmate of central Asia was growing drier, we do not
yet know. If the so-called Foxhall and Red Crag flints and the
'^coprolite jaw" found in England are of preglacial age, as some
scholars believe, preglacial man must have spread into Africa
and Europe as well as Asia. He could get to Europe only by
way of North Africa. At Suez there was a broad connection be-
tween Africa and Asia, whereas Europe appears to have been
cut off from Asia by a continuous sea, which extended from the
Black Sea to the Caspian and thence to the Arctic Ocean by
way of the great Ural Gulf. On the other hand, Africa and
Europe were united at Gibraltar, and perhaps at Sicily, so that
men and animals could migrate freely. It is not here necessary,
however, to know just when man spread to various parts of the
world. We are concerned with the effect of increasing aridity
in central Asia and of corresponding climatic changes in other
parts of the world, no matter whether these occurred before the
first glaciation or during an interglacial or post-glacial epoch.
The same general sequence of climatic events occurred repeat-
edly, and in each case the general effect upon man must have
been similar.

As central Asia grew drier there must always have been on
each border of the desert a belt of moister climate, in some
places wide, in others narrow. Its inner portion consisted of
grasslands and tree-studded savannas, like those of the sup-
posed first home wherein man came down from the trees. Be-
yond this lay forests. As the dry area expanded the savanna
belt retreated and pushed back the forest. The men who for
generation after generation slowly migrated eastward or west-
ward with the savanna belt probably did not appreciably change
their type of habitat. Since they encountered few new types of
vegetation and animals, and since the climatic conditions to
which they were exposed were closely similar to those under
which their ancestors had lived, there is Httle reason to think
that the evolution of new types went on with any great activity.
In China the northern part of the country, namely Mongolia

I

THE EARLIEST GREAT MIGRATIONS 43

and western Manchuria, is not forested, and would not be cov-
ered densely with trees even if man were not there. The fact
that the rain comes only in the summer, and is often delayed
until Jime or even July, makes it impossible for forests to pre-
vail, except locally. In north Africa the treeless region is well
known to reach as far as the Atlantic. Hence both the eastward
and the westward migrants may have almost reached the ocean
without suffering any great change in environment or in char-
acter.

This does not mean that evolution came to a standstill.
Among the eastward and westward migrants and likewise among
those who went south or north, mutant types may have arisen
at any time. Moreover, the processes of sexual selection, so far
as it has any importance, and whatever advance there may be
through the struggle for existence as described by Darwin, must
have gone on at all times. Each set of people may likewise have
met certain new conditions due to movements of the earth's
crust or to the presence of plants and animals hitherto unknown,
or new combinations of mountains, plains, valleys, rivers, lakes,
and oceans. In each migrant group there may have arisen men
of imusual abiHty who made new inventions such as better traps,
more effective bows, more shapely flints, and more convenient
clubs, huts, and other devices. The people who were clever
enough to adopt these devices would be the ones who would
be most likely to survive. Thus human evolution presumably
would have made progress even if the climate had remained
constant. But all the causes of progress or change mentioned
in this paragraph would perhaps in the long run act almost as
strongly upon people who migrated in one direction as in an-
other. What we are here concerned with is the conditions which
would produce noteworthy differences in the rate of progress
among migrants to different parts of the world.

The primitive people who went north from the dry central
region of Asia or who went north from Africa into Europe, must
have encountered conditions more severe than those which con-
fronted the migrants to the south, east, or west. With the lower

44 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

temperature and longer winters the need of clothing, shelter, '
and fire would increase. Thus skill in procuring these necessi-
ties and in making the tools with which they are prepared would
be at a premium. Moreover, among people in cooler climates the |
low temperature encourages activity: it leads a man to pursue
the chase with vigor; it makes him enjoy the task of gathering
wood for a fire, or of cutting a tree with a stone axe; it puts a
premium on continued and repeated physical activity. There
would likewise be greater need for forethought in order that
fuel, clothing, and a place for shelter might at all times be avail-
able in cold and snowy weather. Any great movement toward
the north would also bring the migrants into the forest. Whether
the forest environment is as stimulating as that of the savannas
need not now concern us. It is different, and therefore those of
the wanderers who were most adaptable, and best able to cope
with new circumstances would have an advantage. In many
ways those who entered the forests to the south must have had
the same advantage, but the northern forest is more difficult
because food is harder to find. Still more important is the fact
that in the northern forest the hunter who has wandered far
from home may freeze to death at night unless careful precau-
tions are taken, whereas in the southern forest primitive man
could anywhere climb a tree and remain in comparative com-
fort and safety without clothing, shelter, or fire. Thus among
the northern migrants the selection of the most intelligent types
for preservation probably went on faster and more effectively
than among those who wandered in other directions.

But how about the remnant who remained in the original
home in spite of the steadily increasing aridity? Generation by
generation their struggle must have become harder. Like all the
other men of that ancient time they were presumably hunters
who eked out their supplies of meat with whatever vegetable
food they could lay hands on, but as yet agriculture was not
even a dream. Judging by the present deserts, just as we have
judged the other environments by what happens in them to-day,
the people who remained in the central dry area of Asia must

THE EARLIEST GREAT MIGRATIONS 45

have been subjected to the severest type of natural selection. As
the mountains rose higher throughout the long ages they had to
endure greater extremes than formerly of both heat and cold.
Game must have been scarcer than formerly; longer and harder
journeys were required in pursuit of it. Greater endurance than
ever was required not only in this respect, but in the ordeal of
himger and thirst which must have been experienced more often
than at any previous time. In many ways the factors that acted
to select certain types for preservation were the same as those
farther north, except that aridity and vast uninhabitable areas,
with their many severe trials, took the place of prolonged cold
and vast forests. The process of weeding out the human beings
who fell below a certain level must have gone on rapidly. But
an environment which in moderation tends to weed out the less
competent may be so extreme that it weeds out the more alert
types, leaving those that are able to survive through sluggish
endurance rather than through activity and alertness, as we
shall see fully in China. From the standpoint of the evolution
of human intelligence the environment of the deserts and of the
northlands was good in so far as it put a premium on activity
and alertness; it was bad when it became so extreme that it
drove out the active types, or gave the main advantage to those
which were able to survive only by means of passivity, semi-
hibernation, or lack of a keen nervous system.

We have dwelt on these early migrations and their presuma-
ble effect upon human character because the same process must
have been repeated time after time. With the growth of human
knowledge and the building up of the vast mechanism of civili-
zation which is passed on from generation to generation, the re-
sponse of man to any given environment changes somewhat,
but the principles by which certain variations in human ability
are selected for preservation or destruction remain constant. In
the first great migrations those who went to the tropical regions
subjected themselves unknowingly to conditions which presum-
ably tended toward stagnation or even toward retrogression, for
moderate activity was often more profitable than great activity,

46

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

while the abundance of resources and lack of the exigencies of
the seasons tended to give the stupid almost as good a chance of
survival as the intelligent. Among those who migrated east or
west, there was probably no great selection of one type rather
than another because there was no marked change in environ-
ment. They progressed to the extent that other causes deter-
mined, but in those respects were presumably Httle better off
than the rest of mankind. But those who went to the north,
either in Asia or from Africa to Europe, and those who remained
in the dry primeval habitat, provided the environment did not
become too extreme, seem to have been subjected to a series
of conditions which placed a maximum survival value upon the
qualities of mental and physical alertness, upon the abiHty to
persist in the chase or in the search for water, upon the kind of
mentality that takes thought for the morrow and that can pro-
vide itself with tools, clothing, and shelter, and that can utilize
that great weapon and comforter, fire. It is, then, in central and
north central Asia or possibly in the north Atlantic parts of
Europe and the Asiatic area draining into the north Pacific, that
we should expect the greatest development of human abiHty dur-
ing the period of the first dispersion of mankind.

CHAPTER IV

GLACIATION AND THE SUPREMACY OF EUROPE

The next great step in the evolution of races was the coming
of the first glacial epoch. This means much more than the mere
advance of an ice-sheet, for that is only one of many results all
springing from common causes. Those causes include in the first
place the gradual elevation of the land and the uplifting of moun-
tain chains, together with a possible decrease in the amount of
carbon dioxide and water vapor in the air. But in addition there
seem to have been other causes which acted more suddenly,
and were capable of repeatedly reversing themselves and of
varying irregularly in periods which had a length of tens of
thousands of years for the greater cycles, or of only scores or
hundreds of years for the minor cycles. Irregular upward or
downward movements of the lands are almost certainly included
among these causes, as is intermittent veiling of the sun by vast
quantities of volcanic dust.

Still more important, as it seems to me, are variations in
solar activity, as explained in Climatic Changes and Earth and
Sun, The climatic cycles of the glacial period seem on a large
scale to be almost identical with the small cycles whose extremes
are now observed at times of sun-spot maxima and minima.
One of the main characteristics of the present cycles is an in-
crease in the number and intensity of cyclonic storms at times
of many sun-spots, and especially a tendency for the paths of
the storms to lie in relatively high latitudes. The frequency
and intensity of the storms cause an unusually large amount of
warm air to be carried aloft in their centers. How this happens
is famihar to every one who has observed the way in which a
warm wind from a southerly quarter, especially in winter, is
apt to precede a storm, whereas after the storm there comes a
strong cold wind from the north and west. The cold air actually

47

48

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

blows under the warm air and lifts it up. Curiously enough, al-
though it has now been demonstrated beyond question that the
earth's surface is cooler at times of many sun-spots than at times
of few, the sun seems to give out more heat at times of many
sun-spots. This anomaly seems to find its explanation in the up-
ward movement of vast quantities of warm air in the centers of
the storms.

On this basis we interpret a glacial epoch as a time which
may begin with a certain amount of uplifting of the lands, and
an unusual degree of volcanic activity, but which is mainly char-
acterized by increased storminess and strong winds, especially
in high latitudes. The actual sunshine may be warmer than usual,
but the air on the average is unusually cool because vast amounts
of warm air are drawn away from low latitudes and carried aloft
in the centers of storms. For a considerable period, presumably
several thousand years, the accumulation of snow continues in
certain especially stormy areas, which are usually but not always
highlands. The chief areas were Canada on both sides of Hud-
son Bay and Scandinavia, as appears in Fig. i, but there were
numerous minor centers such as Scotland, the Alps, and the
Canadian Rockies. In course of time the depth of the snow in-
creased to hundreds of feet.

Because a snow-field is almost invariably cold, each large
region where snow remained permanently must have become an
area of high atmospheric pressure. Therefore strong winds pre-
sumably blew outward as they do on the borders of the ice-
sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, where the gales often reach
velocities of a hundred miles an hour. This would tend to blow
the snow continually outward toward the edges of the snow-
fields. At the same time the high atmospheric pressure would
force the storms to seek lower latitudes than formerly, and most
of them would sweep around the equatorward border of the
main snow-fields. At some stage the snow would become so deep
that it would gradually be converted into ice, and would begin
to flow outward and thereby add to the ice-covered area. Thus
at the height of each of the four glacial epochs much of north-

t

I

GLACIATION AND THE SUPREMACY OF EUROPE 49

western Europe was shrouded with ice, while much of the region
north of the Pyrenees and Alps probably had a climate as severe
as that of Lapland to-day. Farther south in the Mediterranean
region and north Africa, and extending eastward to central
Asia and northern India, there was apparently a broad belt of
cyclonic storms and highly variable weather, with abundant
rain at practically all seasons. Still farther south the great deserts
of Sahara and Arabia were apparently greatly narrowed, and
were far less dry and much more habitable than at present.

Let us now see what probably happened to the primitive
men who had become established in different parts of the Old
World when the glacial period came on. In the tropical re-
gions the coming and going of such a period would make rela-
tively little difference. The general temperature would be low-
ered somewhat, enough perhaps to make the chmate quite
pleasant. For example, the vast area within ten or fifteen degrees
of the equator may have had an average temperature not far from
70° F. instead of above 80° F., and there was probably more
variability than now from one day to another. In a general way
the climate probably tended to reproduce many of the condi-
tions which prevailed farther north, in the supposed primeval
home of man before his descent from the trees. A mild, pleasant
climate of this sort would improve the health of the tropical
people, and make them more active. It would permit a larger
proportion of the children to grow up, and thus would tend to
make the population more dense. The amount of food available
for human consumption would presumably not be altered greatly,
and the methods of getting it would not have to be changed.
The problem of getting a living would be easier than formerly
because people would be more active and vigorous, but the
problem might also be made more difficult if a lower death-rate
appreciably increased the density of population. Such an in-
crease might have an important effect in putting a premium
upon all the qualities which enable a people to make a living,
but perhaps the extra effort required because of the denser pop-
iJation would be balanced by the greater energy.

50

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Even if the climatic amelioration in tropical lands during a
glacial epoch were a real factor in raising the general level of the
people, as may well have been the case, it would apparently in-
troduce few new factors and few new types of natural selection.
Not even the most severe glacial period would apparently cause
the equatorial regions to have any great contrast of seasons in
excess of the regular periods of more or less rain which prevail
at present. In the genuine equatorial regions, with which alone
we are now concerned, the mode of life, so far as I can see, would
remain practically constant no matter how many glacial epochs
came and went. The universal evolutionary factors such as the
struggle for food, and possibly mutations, would still pursue
their courses. Migrations, likewise, would sometimes introduce
new races, but the partial isolation of the tropical regions by
deserts on either side, their relative impenetrability, the danger
to newcomers from disease, and the relatively unchanging char-
acter of the environment, all appear to have combined to make
migrations less important near the equator than farther north.
Thus while tropical man may not have been stationary in the
march of evolution, he appears never to have been subjected to
any such active evolution as has been the case in higher latitudes
and more variable climates. In this respect man merely repeats
the experience of family after family of mammals and other
animals, whose most primitive types dwell in the habitats where
changes have been least numerous, and where the environment
has demanded the least adaptation to special circumstances.

The contrast between the action of tropical and non-tropical
environments, whether through natural selection or through the
stimulation of mutations, seems to be one of the most important
causes of differences in racial character. It appears to be a bi-
ological law that a tropical environment, because of its uniform-
ity, tends to perpetuate primitive, unspecialized forms. Since
man spHt off from the apes his speciaHzation has been in the
size, complexity, and functioning of the brain. Other specializa-
tions, such as changes of complexion, stature, and hair, have
been of minor importance. In equatorial regions the mental type

GLACIATION AND THE SUPREMACY OF EUROPE 51

of specialization has apparently been slow, largely because there
j have been no really great changes throughout man^s history, not
I even during the severest glacial epochs. That, presumably, is
j one of the chief reasons why it is so difficult to impose upon equa-
torial people anything more than the outer husk of northern
government, northern religion, northern ideals, and northern
culture. Of course many tropical or semitropical people are of
highly mixed ancestry and contain elements in which mental
specialization has gone so far that they can assimilate other
forms of culture; but that is a different matter. Moreover, when
various races have first migrated to low latitudes, the new envi-
ronment may in certain respects tend to select for preservation
the individuals with certain specialized characteristics. It is not
impossible that if a few million of the most competent Europeans
were to be set down in a tropical country where they were fully
isolated from the present inhabitants, they might ultimately de-
velop into a new race of extremely high type. After their num-
bers had been cut down remorselessly by disease for generations,
the survivors might be those who possess great mental ability,
adaptability, and self-control, and are at the same time able to
take life easily but seriously, to work wisely, rest freely, and pro-
tect themselves assiduously not only from the ordinary tropical
diseases but from whatever more insidious dangers there may
be in the climate. But this does not apply to the present people
of the torrid zone. They are largely descended from stocks which
apparently experienced their main mental evolution long ago,
and have almost stagnated ever since.

In high latitudes the effect of the glacial period must have
been very different from its effect near the equator. The first
thing that the inhabitants noticed when a glacial epoch began
to come on in central Europe, for example, may have been that
they experienced more rain, more snow, and longer winters than
were indicated by the traditions of their fathers. More probably,
they became aware that whereas the traditions told of hunting
Merck's rhinoceros, the lion, the urus, or the hairless elephant,
they themselves much more frequently pursued the woolly rhi-

52 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

noceros, the lynx, the bison, or the hairy mammoth. The types
of trees likewise changed. The tulip-tree, beech, maple, elm, and
their congeners gave place to larch, hemlock, birch, and pine.
Just such transformations are recorded by fossils in central
Europe.

As time went on the conditions became still worse. The
hunting must have been so bad that many a day the wife scolded
her husband for bringing home nothing, and the children cried
from hunger. Many of the children and an unduly large number
of the older people doubtless perished each winter. An intense
selective process thus went on whereby only those with the
greatest endurance and the greatest skill could survive. But their
skill was of little use, for their environment left them few re-
sources and little opportunity, energy, and spirit for devising
anything new, or for even the most primitive art. Moreover,
when things reached this stage, or perhaps earlier, the cleverest
of the primitive families and those in whom initiative, the power
of leadership, and the love of adventure were most developed
presumably migrated. The wisest of all would deliberately choose
their direction of migration, and go toward warmer lands, more
like those described in the oral traditions of their fathers. Among
the less competent who remained in the old environment, the
hardships attendant on the long, cold, snowy winters must at
some point have begun to cause degeneration, for in the harshest
climates the mere power to endure is one of the chief character-
istics. Finally, in all northwestern Europe, the few hardy fami-
lies who still survived must have perished or else followed their
wiser and more adventurous companions who had had the wit
and knowledge to move in the right direction before the glacial
period caused them to deteriorate.

This brings us to what I believe to be another highly impor-
tant step in understanding the evolution of racial character. In
northern Asia, as well as in northern Europe, the approach of
an ice age would cause three things to happen. First, some of the
inhabitants, presumably the more adventurous and intelligent,
would migrate southward into milder regions. Second, a large

GLACIATION AND THE SUPREMACY OF EUROPE 53

percentage of the population, though not a large number as we
count population, would be exterminated from generation to
generation. Third, the remnant which survived would go through
i a process of regressive selection, whereby the survivors would be
those in whom passive qualities of resistance to hunger and dis-
comfort were most highly developed. The nervous, active types
who lead the march of human progress would be at a disadvan-
tage compared with those of a more phlegmatic constitution, as
i we shall see more fully in studying the people who went to
j America and China. This phlegmatic type is now represented
I by the Lapps, Eskimos, Chukjis, Tierra del Fuegans, Samoyedes,
I and Alaska Indians. In ancient Europe it was perhaps rep-
I resented by the late Mousterian people whose retrograding cul-
ture may be inferred from the flints and other implements left
by them during the period just before the last glacial epoch, the
so-caUed Wurm advance of the ice.

At this point we must emphasize the distinction between
Europe and Asia, a distinction which seems to have been one
of the most vital factors in human evolution. The distinction
is that in Europe it was the cold and ice of glacial epochs which
caused the greatest weeding out of human types and produced
the conditions that most fostered migrations and mutations.
In Asia it was the drought and deserts of inter glacial epochs that
presumably produced the most intensive human evolution.
During the height of each glacial epoch most of Europe down
to southern England, northern France, central Germany, and
central Russia, was shrouded with ice and snow; another large
ice-field deployed from the Alps; and ice from the Pyrenees and
Carpathians spread far down the valleys. The rest of the con-
tinent north of the Pyrenees, Alps, and Carpathians must have
been extremely stormy and disagreeable, and was probably cov-
ered with snow well into the summer. Hence with the recur-
rence of each glaciation absolutely all the inhabitants were
driven out or exterminated north of latitude 50°. It is not to be
supposed that they were killed suddenly, but merely that they
gradually diminished from generation to generation because of

54

THE CHARACTER OP RACES

migration or an excessive death-rate especially among the chil-
dren. South of this in the tier of countries including France,
Austria, Hungary, Rumania, and southern Russia, only a hand-
ful of survivors can have remained. They must have been a
highly selected remnant, selected because of their ability to
withstand cold, hunger, long winters, and privation. During the
long process of exterminating, repressing, or driving out the
people of Europe, a considerable number of the more energetic,
intelligent, hardy, and adventurous men, with or without their
families, must have drifted southward and eastward into the
Mediterranean peninsulas, north Africa, and southwestern Asia.
These were presumably the people of greatest abihty and initia-
tive. Even among them the great majority probably died, for
only the strong survive in any primitive migration. The women
and children suffer especially from all sorts of hardships, such as
lack of food and shelter, while many of the men are killed in the
fighting which is almost inevitable when migrants enter a new
land already populated. Whole tribes and even whole racial
groups may have been practically exterminated. In other words
here we have one of those inexorable processes of selection which
weed out those who are weak in body or mind, and preserve
those who are strong, resourceful, energetic, and adaptable.
The shrouding of Europe by ice in four successive epochs car-
ried out such a selection time and again. It presumably drove
the selected remnant into southern Europe and into the neigh-
boring parts of north Africa and western Asia. During at least
the first three ice ages the Ural Gulf probably prevented mi-
gration to Asia except by way of Asia Minor or the Caucasus.
Thus the countries from Persia, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia
around by Egypt to Morocco, together with the southern penin-
sulas of Europe itself, formed a belt into which must have mi-
grated the selected remnants of the Europeans of greatest physi-
cal strength, mental ability, and initiative who survived the
migrations due to the advancing ice. There the migrants must
have encountered some of the most vigorous races of Asia. Thus
there presumably arose not only a complex mingling of races but

GLACIATION AND THE SUPREMACY OF EUROPE 55

a severe problem of adjustment whereby many of the former in-
habitants were killed or driven out. In the parts of Europe well
beyond the ice-sheet and its uninhabitable climate, and in the
neighboring parts of Africa and Asia we have the very antithesis
of the tropical regions. A semicircle of selected people who have
been through radical changes of environment and who have
made long migrations, are mingled with other races. They have
experienced almost every condition that leads to rapid evolu-
tion. They surround an empty continent, ready to penetrate it
and expose themselves again to the evolutionary processes of
migration and expansion as soon as the ice and the climate
permit.

Turn now to Asia. There the precipitation appears never to
have been great enough to cause any extensive ice-sheet. One
of the facts that geology has only lately realized is that snowy
precipitation is far more important than low temperature in
causing glaciers. The coldest part of Asia, namely the region
around Yakutsk, shows no hint of glaciation in the lowlands,
either now or in the past. In the mountains farther south, to be
sure, and likewise in the Taimir peninsula to the northwest, and
the Anadyr peninsula to the east near Bering Strait, there was
glaciation, for in these places the temperature is higher and the
precipitation greater than in the region from Yakutsk north-
ward. If by chance these far northern regions contained any in-
habitants in preglacial or interglacial times, they were of course
driven out of the glaciated portions. Elsewhere, even in the
coldest parts they may possibly have survived, although there
is no evidence as to this either one way or the other. If people
can Hve where the January temperature averages 60° below
zero F., as they do in north central Siberia, they could perhaps
survive a temperature 10*^ or 15° degrees lower, although as-
suredly on a very low plane and in very small numbers. The
point that we would make, however, is that the climatic change
in northern Asia was not nearly so great as in Europe so far as
human habitability is concerned. In northwestern Europe places
like Denmark, that now have some of the finest cHmates in the

56 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

world, were transformed into snowy regions covered with an
ice-sheet hundreds or thousands of feet thick. In Siberia the
change was merely from a dismally cold, repressive climate to
one that was still more dismal and repressive. In Europe a
large population, that is, large for primitive hunters, presumably
grew up during interglacial times. It was then subjected to an
exceedingly severe selective process whereby the most competent
people were gradually sorted out and pushed into an outlying
ring where the climate was comparatively favorable. In northern
Asia, provided there were any people there before the last glacial
advance, a similar process presumably took place, but it must
have been relatively ineffective in promoting evolution. This is
partly because the interglacial climate was not nearly so good
as that of Europe, and the population must have been corre-
spondingly smaller, and partly because the change in habitability
was not nearly so great as in Europe.

In this discussion of the effect of glacial epochs upon racial
character we have left the deserts until last. In contrast to the
relatively mild changes in the latitudes south of the great desert
belt and to the great and repressive changes to the north, the
deserts themselves must have experienced a great and most
favorable change. That is, the change was favorable from the
point of view of mere comfort, though not perhaps of evolution.
While northern Europe was being slowly gripped and choked by
the ice, the deserts were growing more and more habitable.
Storms began to sweep over them, at first in small numbers and
only at certain seasons, but later in large numbers and through-
out a far longer season. The barren sands, gravels, and clays
became clothed with grass; the places that had been grassy
began to support forests; the salt lakes expanded; new lakes
were formed; wild animals, especially those that Hve in the'
grasslands, must have increased enormously. All these condi-
tions made Hfe easy. The abundant food, the freedom from the
constant menace of famine, the stimulating climate, and the
presence of new areas ready for occupation must have caused a
rapid growth of population. Such a growth would not exert any

GLACIATION AND THE SUPREMACY OF EUROPE 57

special selective influence, for even the stupid and weak would
have plenty of opportunity. But it would allow freedom for
man's inventive genius to express itself, and for new ideas and
institutions to expand and bear fruit.

The only great drawback in such a time of prosperity and
expansion would be the influx of invaders from the northern re-
gions that were growing cold and icy. On the margins of the dry
areas there must have been constant conflict, conquest, and
racial mixture. At the same time the push from these northern
regions must have co-operated with the attraction of what had
formerly been the deserts which were now becoming more habi-
table. Thus the people dwelling between the cold northern en-
vironment and the desert would tend to move desertward. This
movement must have been greatest on the northern side of the
great desert belt, that is, in north Africa and central Asia.
Farther south the Sahara and Arabian Deserts, although more
habitable than now, were presumably not so habitable as those to
the north because less fully under the influence of cyclonic storms.
In the northern belt far more than the southern we find traces of
expanded lakes such as those which filled the basins of the Dead
Sea, the Sea of Aral, and Lop Nor in western China. Moreover,
as we have just seen, the southward migrations due to the cold
climate of the far north must have been far less important in
Asia, which was merely cold, than in Europe with its ice-sheet.
Hence during the approach and culmination of an ice age the
inhabitants of the Mediterranean region and north Africa must
have been terribly squeezed, as it were, between the desert on
the south and the European migrants on the north. Accordingly
great migrations may have taken place from that region east-
ward into the improving deserts of central Asia, and thus back
toward man's ancestral home. Such movements may have con-
flicted with the southward movements from the cold regions in
the north of Asia.

Now reverse the process. Let us see what must have hap-
pened when the glacial climate began to relax. Here we must
remember that in all probability the atmospheric conditions

58

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

which induced glaciation passed away considerably before the
ice-sheet finally melted. This is important because it means a
tremendous stress in certain areas. First, however, let us briefly
record what would happen in other areas. In tropical regions the
passing away of a glacial epoch, like its approach, would have
relatively little effect. So far as it influenced the equatorial peo-
ple it probably tended to reduce them to a lower plane of prog-
ress. In addition to this it may have driven migrants from the
deserts into low latitudes. Of course such migrations would come
mainly from the deserts north of the equator, but also from those
to the south, provided mankind had penetrated to all parts of
the world.

The amelioration of the glacial climate in high latitudes would
cause an effect the opposite of that in low latitudes. Siberia, for
example, must have become more habitable, although there, as
we have already seen, the change was apparently of only moder-
ate proportions. Where the environment had been extremely re-
pressive it became moderately repressive. This would permit
some migration from central Asia northward and northeastward.
But in Siberia, as in the tropical countries, the effect upon human
progress was probably slight.

On the other hand, consider what must have happened in
the desert belt from north Africa to Mongolia; and likewise in
the neighboring regions of Europe on the one hand, and China,
Chosen, and Japan on the other. As soon as the storminess
which appears to have been one of the main causes of glaciation
began to decHne, the interior of Asia and of north Africa appar-
ently began to return toward its desert condition. The rela-
tively large and progressive population which had presumably
become established there must have been put under great stress,
because there were too many people in proportion to the supply
of food. Large numbers doubtless perished because of recurrent
famines due to drought. Others presumably migrated. Where
would these migrations lead them ? A few, as we have just seen,
would migrate northward, but the northern lands would still be
much less able to support people than they are in our own day.

GLACIATION AND THE SUPREMACY OF EUROPE 59

Southward the lines of migration would be blocked partly by the
great plateaus and mountains from Tibet and the Himalayas
westward, partly by deserts such as those of Arabia and the
Sahara. Some migrants would break through into India and
Persia, as has happened repeatedly during historic times. A mi-
gration might follow the lofty western side of Arabia thus skirting
the desert and finding a way across into Africa at the south-
western corner of Arabia where during much of the glacial period
Africa and Arabia were connected. But the greatest tendency
would be to migrate eastward into China and adjacent countries
such as Chosen and even Japan, and westward into the relatively
well-watered border-lands of Asia such as the Caucasus, Meso-
potamia, Asia Minor, Syria, and likewise Egypt and northern
Africa. Meanwhile much of Europe would still be shrouded
in ice and could not receive many new migrants. The result
would be that in western Asia and north Africa there would be
one of the most tremendous processes of selection and racial
mixture that can well be imagined. Tribe after tribe would move
in from the desert. On the way, or before they started, they
would have lost a large share of their weaker, less intelligent
members. They would come into conflict with the picked rem-
nant of the former inhabitants of Europe. Thus there would
take place a mixture of races probably unparalleled elsewhere,
and the races thus mixed would be the selected remnant from
Asia on the one hand and Europe on the other. Small wonder
then that in the region from Persia or Transcaspia westward
into north Africa we find the homelands of most of the world's
more progressive races. In such a region, according to the com-
monly accepted principles of biology, evolution is bound to be
more rapid than elsewhere, for there we have the maximum en-
vironmental change, the maximum migration, and the maximum
mixture of different types.

In view of all these circumstances it is not surprising that
the world's greatest early civilizations arose in the region which
extends from Persia through Mesopotamia and Syria to north
Africa, with a similar but lesser development in northern India

60

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

and China. Moreover, from this same region, as the ice retreated
from Europe, came the tribes which peopled that continent after
the ice had passed away. Some moved northward from the Medi-
terranean regions, others westward by the route through Asia
Minor or north of the Caspian Sea. As they poured into the new
continent renewed by its long rest under ice and storms, the
various streams met and fought, and still another strenuous
conflict and great mixing of races took place. Thus here, even
more than in western Asia and in north Africa, we should look
for the development of highly specialized races.

Our survey of the biological effect of glacial periods seems to
lead to the conclusion that as each glacial epoch passed away,
the people in a great belt from China to Gibraltar were left with
higher abilities than had been possessed by their predecessors.
Since the effect of four successive glaciations was concentrated
in virtually the same area, the evolutionary effect of glaciation
must have been multiplied fourfold. Hence as the last ice-sheet
waned, the highest abilities were naturally concentrated in China,
north India, and especially southwestern Asia, northern Africa,
and the neighboring Mediterranean areas where migrations not
only had produced their greatest selective effect, but where there
had been little or none of the repressive selection which seems to
take place in high and low latitudes. Thus, seemingly, when man
had evolved to a certain point, it was only to be expected that
agriculture and what we know as civilization should evolve in
exactly the countries where we first find traces of them. It was
equally logical and inevitable that in Europe, as the waning ice
opened a virgin field of settlement, there should be concentrated
the selected outpourings of the progressive belt of countries
where civiHzation was beginning to grow up. Such migrants
would naturally be among the most competent of all the races
that the world has yet seen. If they found themselves in a
superlatively healthful and invigorating climate, as they appar-
ently did in Greece and Rome, and later in the North Sea
region, it would indeed be strange if they failed to dominate the
world.

CHAPTER V
THE SUPPRESSION OF AMERICA

Just as Europe has presumably been a constant gainer,
America appears till recently to have been a constant loser
through the vicissitudes of climate. Many fascinating books
have advanced the idea that America was peopled by migrants
from the Old World to the New in low latitudes. Some have
gone so far as to allow an Egyptian culture to migrate to Central
America by way of the hypothetical, a continent of Atlantis,
which supposedly foundered a few thousand years ago. Others,
less extreme in their theories, suggest that the germs of the rela-
tively high civilizations in Central America and Mexico must have
come from the Old World by ships from the Mediterranean re-
gions, or else from Indo-China across the Pacific. As time goes
on, however, these theories, fascinating as they are, seem to find
less and less support. A stray boat or two may perhaps have
been driven across the Atlantic by the trade-winds, and may
have brought certain new phases of culture which the most in-
telHgent aboriginal Americans, already well on the road toward
civilization, were able to adopt. Beyond this, however, it seems
probable that the culture of America before the days of Colum-
bus was of purely native origin, except in so far as it was brought
by the original immigrants. Those immigrants are generally
agreed to have come originally from Asia by way of Siberia and
I Alaska. Whether they came before or after the last ice age has
not yet been definitely settled. Parts of human skeletons which
are sometimes interpreted as of interglacial or preglacial age have
indeed been found in Florida, California, and elsewhere. Even as
I write, the newspapers report a PHocene skull near Los Angeles.
But the fact of any such great age is by no means established as
yet, and the supposedly ancient bones, except perhaps in this
latest case, appear to be of surprisingly modern types.

61

03

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

In spite of this, it seems probable that man came to America
before the last glacial advance, and perhaps earlier. One reason
for this view is that men with heads of practically every shape
are found in both North and South America. Such great variety j
seems to indicate a series of successive migrations from Asia.
Unless a long period is available it is scarcely probable that so
many migrations could have penetrated to the far corners of
the continents. If the aborigines came to America after the last
glaciation, the ancestors of the first migrant group can scarcely
have lived north of latitude 60° in Asia until the ice had com-
pleted at least half of its present retreat. That would be per-
haps twelve or fifteen thousand years ago. It does not seem as
if that were enough time for all that has since happened. More-
over, if these various migrations have all taken place during so
recent a period, most of the migrants must have crossed at least
fifty-six miles of open ocean at Bering Strait, or a much greater
stretch farther south. The strait is now so important a barrier
that only a handful of American Eskimos are found on the
Asiatic side, and practically no Asiatics on the American side.
In other words, no appreciable migration from one continent to
the other is now going on, and none from Asia has occurred so
recently that any Asiatic language has taken root on the Ameri-
can side. Bering Strait is a real barrier. In its present state, it
might prevent migrations for thousands of years. In earlier
times, however, there were long periods when the land stood
higher than now, and people could pass freely from Asia to
Alaska.

After crossing into Alaska the migrants of each successive
wave presumably spread widely in both Americas, driving the
preceding migrants before them, and being themselves driven
out by their successors. The migrations occurred so long ago that
fifty-five different linguistic stocks have been developed north
of Mexico, and many others farther south. Few of these stocks
have less than three or four dialects, and most are divided into
numerous dialects, or even languages more distinct than French
and ItaHan. A language does not grow up in a day— -nor even in

THE SUPPRESSION OF AMERICA

63

a century. Again, it must be remembered that it requires a
long period for a hunting race to develop the arts of agriculture,
architecture, and writing, and bring to fruition a civilization
like that of the Mayas in Central America. More than two
thousand years ago the written characters of the Mayas' lan-
guage had reached such perfection that records could be carved
upon stone in hieroglyphics which appear to represent syllables
rather than words, a system more advanced than that of either
ancient Egypt or modern China. Moreover, the Maya calendar
was extraordinarily perfect, more perfect than any ever known
until our Gregorian calendar was devised a few hundred years
ago. Such a development of language, of astronomy, and of
accurate records presumably requires thousands of years of pre-
liminary progress before people begin to leave written records
inscribed on permanent materials such as metal and stone.

Without going into further details we shall adopt the work-
ing hypothesis that the American Indians are a mixed people,
the result of several invasions from Asia by way of Alaska.
Further reasons for this will appear in a later chapter. We shall
assume that at least part of the earlier invasions took place dur-
ing interglacial times. If we put aside for the moment the possi-
bihty that some of the Asiatics came to America by sea— a pos-
sibility which we shall consider later— we may be quite sure that
the others could scarcely have come during an ice age, for ice
then covered the peninsulas on both sides of Bering Strait.
Even now the climate of northern Siberia and central Alaska is
so severe that we can scarcely believe that primitive people with
scanty protection against cold and storms would migrate thither
except under strong compulsion. Hence, unless the earhest hu-
man inhabitants date back no more than ten or fifteen thousand
years, they were presumably pushed out from central Asia during
relatively mild interglacial times, perhaps by reason of the ex-
pansion of the Asiatic deserts even beyond their present limits.
Thus we may think of America as having been peopled by wave
after wave of migrants in the same way as Europe, Africa, and
Australia. The first of these may have been pressed northeast-

64

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

ward by the increased aridity of the central Asiatic deserts dur-
ing an interglacial epoch, and may have finally trickled over into
Alaska during times when the deserts were perhaps larger than
now, and the climate of the far north more hospitable. When the
change toward a glacial climate ensued, the impulse toward mi-
gration presumably relaxed because the deserts became more
habitable and the northern regions more inhospitable. Ulti-
mately the increasing severity of the climate presumably drove
the inhabitants of the colder regions southward in both conti-
nents. This process of driving people out of the north must have
been especially active in North America, where ice covered prac-
tically all of Canada. Some of the races who are thus supposed
to have come in interglacial or even preglacial times, may have
disappeared entirely, leaving no traces except perhaps in fos-
sils such as the skull found near Los Angeles. Others who came
in the last interglacial epoch may at a later date have been re-
inforced by post-glacial migrants, and may have been among
the ancestors of part of the modern American Indians.

The point that concerns us here is not the number or date of
the Asiatic migrations to America, but the fact that no matter
when they occurred, practically all who migrated by land must
presumably have spent many generations in an extremely rigor-
ous climate. Even in the mildest interglacial epoch this was
probably true to a considerable degree, and during all other
periods for the last hundred thousand years the climate was
presumably well-nigh as severe as now, and much of the time more
so. A long migration of perhaps fifteen hundred miles in the
coldest part of Siberia, followed by another twenty-five hundred
miles, more or less, through the coldest part of Canada under
the cruel compulsion of an impending ice age, must have been a
terrible experience. The part of Siberia through which the
migrants must have passed is the coldest portion of the earth.
Even in November and March practically the whole region
averages below io° F.; in January the entire region, including a
large part of Alaska, averages lower than — io° F., wliile certain
parts average 50° F, below zero.

THE SUPPRESSION OF AMERICA 65

It must be remembered that the vast majority of migrations
take place very slowly. A rapid movement like that of the Huns
under Genghiz Khan attracts wide attention, but such movements
probably do not account for one per cent of the migrations even
during historic times. Among primitive people the tendency is
for migrations to be even slower than among the more advanced
people who are helped by their superior knowledge and by their
widespread command of the forces of nature. This is especially
the case when wholly new lands are being penetrated, and still
more when the migrants do not know what lies before them.
Most of all must it be true when the migrants are being forced
against their will into regions less hospitable than those where
they formerly dwelt. It took the British settlers more than two
centuries — at least seven generations — to advance from one side
of the United States to the other. Yet they were the most pro-
gressive and best-equipped people of their day, or of any day
except our own. Moreover, they were taking possession of one
of the most favored lands in the whole world. It may have
taken the primitive ancestors oi the American aborigines many
times seven generations to advance a similar distance, for they
had no iron tools, no beasts of burden, no compass, no highly
developed arts, and no means of making permanent descriptions
and maps of the lands that they were about to penetrate. Still
more would this be true when such primitive people were being
forced into lands which became more inhospitable as they ad-
vanced. It is almost certain that no human race would migrate
into such regions except as the more favorable regions were al-
ready occupied. If ever such people decided consciously to mi-
grate and thereby better their condition, they would surely move
backward into warmer lands, not farther north into those that
were almost inexpressibly inhospitable. Hence we believe that
the aboriginal migrations from Asia northeastward to America,
and especially the first one, must have taken many generations,
possibly thousands of years.

In The Red Man's Continent I have advanced the idea that
such a climate may be one reason for the stolid character of the

66

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Indians. It produces such stress that food is often scanty, and
starvation a frequent visitor, especially in winter when game is
hard to get. Here is what the famous explorer Wrangel tells of
the strain among the Yukagir in northeastern Siberia even
during the summer hunting season:

Summer had arrived but the reindeer had not yet come. It is difficult
to imagine the extent to which hunger prevails among the aborigines,
whose existence depends primarily on chance. Even in the middle of sum-
mer people often begin to feed on the bark of trees and on skins which have
hitherto served them as bedding and clothing. A reindeer caught by chance
is divided among all, and is eaten up in the full sense of the word. All, even
the internal organs and the crushed bones, are used, because one has to
have something to fill the empty, tormenting stomach.

During our stay here the coming of the reindeer was the only subject
of conversation. Finally, on September 12, to the joy and rehef of the
aborigines, there appeared on the right bank of the river a countless herd
of reindeer, which covered all the hills along the shore. Everyone came to
life. From all sides the aborigines pressed toward the river in the hope of
ending their sufferings by a successful hunt. Glad anticipation shone in all
faces, and everything promised abundant game. But to the horror of all,
the grievous word suddenly spread that the reindeer were leaving. And in
truth we saw that the entire herd, no doubt frightened by the crowd of
hunters, left the banks and disappeared in the mountains. Desperation re-
placed joyful hope. One's heart was torn by the sight of the people suddenly
deprived of all means of maintaining their miserable existence. The uni-
versal grief and desperation were heartrending. Women and children
moaned, wringing their hands, others fell to the ground and with howls
dug into the snow as if preparing graves for themselves. Fathers of fam-
ilies remained silent, immovable, gazing at the hills where their last hope
had disappeared. (Translation by S. Novakovsky.)

After such a summer when the herds of reindeer have been
scarce, the winter is almost unbearably miserable. The extremely
low temperature and the shortness of the days make himting
and fishing well-nigh impossible. There is little to do except wait
in misery until the pangs of hunger and the monotony of inac-
tivity cause the nerves to break, or till death claims its victims.
Under such conditions two types of natural selection appear to
take place. First, the weakest in both mind and body, especially
those in whom the power of passive endurance is not highly de-
veloped, die at a rapid rate. Second, a certain number of the

THE SUPPRESSION OF AMERICA

67

bolder, more adventurous, and more intelligent spirits break
away from their fellows and struggle back toward a better en-
vironment. Most of them perish, but some reinforce the people
in their old homes, while the loss of all weakens the people of the
north.

In the colder Arctic regions the process of natural selection
goes on apace among white men as well as aborigines. Among the
whites, as I have explained in The Red Man's Continent, it is
especially likely to drive away or kill people of a relatively ac-
tive, nervous, or mentally high-strung type. Every spring the
first boats returning to civilization from Alaska carry an un-
duly 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.

Thus the strain of Hfe in the far north tends to eliminate the
very type which is most likely to start some new idea and thereby
cause progress. If such people do not break down mentally,
they migrate to warmer climates. Only those survive whose
nerves are in perfect condition, and who are able to bear the
strain of prolonged cold, darkness, and monotony. The man of
action, the one who has ideas, generally leaves Alaska because
he is the one to whom the strain of inaction is least endurable
during the unduly long winter. For women the Arctic life is far
harder than for men, especially when they have children. Thus
the reproduction of the active type of minds is greatly handi-
capped.

Another side of the Arctic problem must not be overlooked.
The explorer Stefansson in those fascinating books. The Friendly
Arctic and The Northward Course of Empire, has strongly pro-
tested against the common idea of the uninhabitability of Arctic
regions. He believes that the view presented above does not
fairly represent the reality. According to him, the Arctic regions
are among the pleasantest in the world. People's health is good,
the cold is not benumbing, and the long dark nights are not a
disadvantage. In fact the Eskimos like the winter better than

68

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

the summer, and the same is true of many white men. It is only
a question of adapting oneself to the Arctic conditions, and
learning how to use them. It is, as he points out, necessary to
adopt a wholly new mode of life. One must learn how to clothe
oneself, how to avoid the suffering due to the condensation and
freezing of the moisture given out by the body, and accumulated
in the clothing, how to build Arctic houses, and how to find an
occupation which keeps one busy and interested through the
winter. Nervous disorders, he holds, are quite unnecessary. They
occur largely because people fear them and do not live in the
way to forestall them. But the people whom Stefansson cites to
prove his point are those who have chosen to stay in the Arctic
because they enjoy the winters. In other words they are the
selected remnant of a vastly larger group, the majority of whom
have gone back to warmer climates. Few women and almost no
children are included in the remnant. Thus while Stefansson
may be right in thinking that the Arctic regions will some day
contain enough people so that herds of reindeer and ovibos, as
he prefers to call the musk-ox, will help to feed the vast indus-
trial population of middle latitudes, his conclusions do not really
conflict with those stated above. In fact he shows most strongly,
although unconsciously, that a stringent selection is necessary
in order to find people adapted to life in the far north. To find
women and children who can stand it is far harder than to find
men in the prime of life.

But how about the Indians ? What type of natural selection
takes place or has taken place among them? One answer to
this is found in an unpublished work on the nervous disease
known as Arctic or Siberian hysteria, which the Polish geographer,
Novakovsky, has kindly put at my disposal.* This disease is a
common form of disability in the north. It often comes upon
people very suddenly, and causes them to do all sorts of strange
things. For example, in one case a man was in a boat when sud-
denly he was seized with hysteria and would have thrown him-
self overboard had it not been for the efforts of his companions.

*An abbreviated form of this work appeared in Ecology for April, 1924.

THE SUPPRESSION OF AMERICA

69

In many cases it leads people to imitate others against their will
! and to do what they are ordered regardless of the consequences.
For example, Jochelson, who spent many years in northeastern
Asia as a political exile, tells how he was in a village while the
people were fishing. His Cossack attendant, knowing of the
curious nervous ailment which prevails there, took a live fish
between his teeth and ran off with it up the hill. An old woman
immediately did the same thing, and ran after him, panting but
apparently unable either to stop or to let go of the fish. She
kept crying out "Enough, enough," meaning that the Cossack
should stop, but he persisted until he came back to the river.
The old woman ran into the river, and would have been drowned
had she not been helped. Only then did she let go of the fish.

This curious disease is closely connected with a tendency
toward suicide. For instance, among the Chukchees it is not
uncommon for a man deliberately to decide that the struggle of
life is too hard. He calmly announces his purpose to his friends,
who try to dissuade him. If he persists, they finally aid him in
his purpose. Preparations for a festival and for the funeral rites
are made by all concerned. After two or three weeks, at the end
of a great feast in which the man who is to die is fed the very
best in vast amounts, he is put to death by his friends in such
manner as he himself may select.

Another curious feature of Arctic hysteria is that while men
are subject to it, it especially affects women. Moreover, it has
its worst effect at times of pregnancy and when the reproductive
functions are most active. Whether it causes disturbances in re-
production or is caused by them matters little for our present
purpose. The important point is that it tends strongly to reduce
the number of children. It afflicts the people who are nervously
or mentally active, and who are potentially the best material for
human progress. Thus this type tends to be weeded out rapidly.

Siberian hysteria is pecuHar in its geographical distribution,
its seasonal distribution, and its distribution among different
types of people. In one form or another the disease is found in
almost all Arctic regions. In Greenland, for instance, Whitney,

70

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

in his book on Hunting with the Eskimo, tells of a woman who
began to rave during the night, and ran out into three feet of
snow and partly froze herself. Such hysteria appears to be some-
what like the insanity which afflicts the white man in Alaska.
But it is most highly developed in Siberia, where it assumes its
peculiar form. Moreover, and this is a point which Novakovsky
makes very clear, the hysteria is most abundant in the very
coldest part of the country. "The whole of northern and part
of southern Siberia is a region where the people suffer from ner-
vous diseases more than in any other known regions of the
world." So says Miss Chaplicka, a Polish scientist who person-
ally conducted some interesting investigations among the abo-
rigines of Siberia. Her conclusion is borne out by many other
investigators on the basis of great amounts of evidence. As the
"pole of cold" near Verkhoyansk, in the province of Yakutsk,
is approached, the ravages of the disease become greatest. Often
it is epidemic, and person after person, especially among the
women, falls into convulsions and indulges in all sorts of strange
and dangerous antics. Its results are apparently seen in the fre-
quency of idiots and dullards.

Another noteworthy feature of Arctic hysteria is that it is
worst in the winter and spring. In other words, it seems to be
brought on by the long cold winter. How much the low tempera-
ture has to do with it and how much the long nights is not clear.
It should be borne in mind that in these far northern regions all
parts of the year bring a great deal of nervous strain.

Another interesting fact is that Arctic hysteria is least com-
mon among the races which have lived longest in northern Si-
beria. According to Novakovsky the Chukchees and the Kor-
yaks are relatively free from the disease, and they are the most
ancient inhabitants of northern Siberia. On the contrary, among
the Yakuts, Lamuts, and Tungus the disease is more prevalent
and severe. These people are relatively newcomers. In the same
way, although Russians do not suffer from hysteria in their own
country, they are afflicted with the disease when they migrate
to the coldest parts of Siberia. Thus it appears that if a race

i

THE SUPPRESSION OF AMERICA

71

stays long enough in the severest Siberian environment, it grad-
I ually becomes acdimatized, but that happens only, it would
seem, through the weeding out of the types that are nervously
I and mentally most active.

In our own day some of the best observers maintain that the
Indians as a whole still show the characteristics of a northern
race. In Central America, for instance, it is generally recognized
that Indians do not stand the heat and moisture of the lowlands
I as well as negroes. According to Brinton, one of the greatest
j authorities on the subject: "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 be-
comes hot, and they are easily prostrated by exertion in an ele-
vated temperature. They are peculiarly subject to diseases of
hot climates, as hepatic disorders, showing none of the immu-
nity of the African. Furthermore, the finest physical specimens
of the race are found in the colder regions of the temperate zones,
I the Pampas and Patagonian Indians in the south, the Iroquois
and Algonquins in the north; whereas, in the tropics they are gen-
erally undersized, short-lived, of inferior muscular force, and
with slight tolerance of disease.'' "No one," says the famous
naturalist Bates, "could Hve 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.''

The importance of aU this in appraising the character of the
Indians is obvious. On their way from Asia to America almost
every stream of migrants, no matter what its original racial
characteristics, probably passed through the regions where
Arctic hysteria is most prevalent, and where life often depends
on sheer passive endurance rather than on energy, activity, or
inventiveness. There for perhaps thousands of years they may
have been subjected to a selective process which weeded out
those who were of the more nervous, active types, the kind who
lead, who invent, and who are largely responsible for human
progress. Thus the American aborigines, whatever their race,

72 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

may have acquired a certain uniformly dull, passive quality.
They did not, to be sure, lose all capacity for improvement, as
their achievements abundantly prove. Moreover, among them as
among any race new mutants may have arisen, and may yet
arise, possessing qualities surpassing those of the original Asiatic
stock. Nevertheless when once a certain quahty has been ac-
quired by a species or race, the laws of heredity make it very
difficult to get rid of that quality. So it would seem that the
Arctic environment may have stamped upon the people of
America a certain lack of originality, a certain tendency toward
stoicism, a great ability to endure privation; and may have
weeded out much, though not all, of the alertness, curiosity, and
inventive faculty which are so essential to progress. This may
perhaps help to explain some of the qualities which distinguish
the American race, if race it is, from the races of Europe and
Asia.

CHAPTER VI

THE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES

Up to this point we have been following the methods of geolo-
gists and ecologists. The foundations upon which we have built
have consisted of two parts: first, certain generally accepted
pruiciples as to the effect of environment upon natural selection
and perhaps upon mutations; and second, certain well-established
facts and widely accepted conclusions as to the environmental
changes through which primitive man must have passed if he
originated somewhere in central Asia in Pliocene times. On
this basis we have attempted to discover how the environment,
and especially how the glacial period must have influenced the
evolution of human character. We have found that this analysis
seems to shed important light upon the origin of civiHzation and
upon the present qualities of various races in Asia, Europe,
North America, and the other continents. We might have gone
on to show that in the most extreme deserts, and especially in
the hotter deserts such as those of Arabia, the Sahara, and those
south of the equator, the stress of Hf e is so great that a repressive
evolution seems to occur. There, as in extremely cold regions,
the conditions under which the environment acts as a stimulant
are passed, and retrogression begins.

We might also have shown that the low estate of the aborigi-
nal people of south Africa, the southern part of South America,
and especially Australia may be partly connected with the fact
that the more primitive types of humanity have, as a rule, been
the ones that were driven into these remote regions. We might
also show that the low condition of the aborigines is apparently
correlated with the fact that they were subjected first to the re-
pressive or retrogressive environment of the equator and then
to the almost equally unfavorable environment of the hot deserts
which lack the stimulating quahties of the more northern deserts
where there are strong changes of seasons. This is pre-eminently

73

74

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

true of Australia, where primitive man is at his lowest. A people
subjected to two such environments could scarcely be expected
to develop greatly, even if they were originally gifted, which was
apparently not the case, or if they were endowed with all sorts
of natural and artificial advantages such as good domestic plants
and animals, and helpful iron tools, the wheel, and the art of
agriculture, which again was not the case. Thus in a broad way,
the general distribution of racial character seems to be closely
in harmony with what we should expect from the principles of
paleontology and ecology, and from the geological facts as to
early man and his environment.

It will now be of interest to approach the problem from a
wholly different standpoint, namely, that of the anthropologist.
Perhaps the most widely accepted generahzation of anthropology
is that the degree of kinship among races can be read in the form
of their heads better than in .any other way. This is because
environmental circumstances appear to have less influence upon
the form of the skull than upon that of any other part of the
body, or than upon any mental trait or external habit. Some an-
thropologists, to be sure, question this generahzation. Boas, for
example, holds that a new environment may cause the form of
the skull to change a little. He believes that his measurements
of immigrants and their children in New York City indicate that
when broad-headed Jews from Poland come to New York the
children born in this country have heads not quite so broad as
those of their parents or of their brothers and sisters born in
Poland. On the other hand, the children of long-headed Sicilian
immigrants, when born in New York, appear to be less long-
headed than their parents or than their brothers and sisters
born in Sicily. Whether Boas made sufficient allowance for the
fact that the head-form of children and young people continues
to change until complete maturity is attained is not yet cer-
tain. Even if he is right and there is an actual change in head-
form when people migrate to a new environment, the change
appears to be slight, and the children of both the broad-headed
and the long-headed parents would be grouped in the same gen-

THE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES

75

eral categories as their parents. Moreover, there is no knowing
how greatly a few unrecognized cases of racial mixture in the
new environment may have influenced the results. Again, the
change in head-form, if change there really is, appears to occur
immediately after the arrival of the immigrants, and is prob-
ably a sudden mutation rather than a progressive tendency.
Hence the facts thus far available do not seem to disturb the
anthropologists in their general conclusion that the shape of
the head is the best measure of the relation between one race
and another.

Without committing ourselves one way or the other as to
the degree to which environment can alter the form of the hu-
man body, let us see whither we are led if we accept the general
view of anthropologists as to the importance of head-form as a
criterion of race. Curiously enough the first broad appHcation
of this criterion to the world as a whole was made by a geographer,
Griffith Taylor of Australia. His conclusions published in The
Geographical Review in 191 9 and 192 1 were so contrary to gen-
erally accepted ideas, and were also inevitably based on data
containing so many gaps, that they were received most scepti-
cally. In 1923, however, in his book on The Racial History of
Man J Roland B. Dixon of Harvard came to essentially the same
conclusion. The generalization which both men make is this:
The form of the head is the most permanent and distinctive of
racial traits. The most primitive heads are long, narrow, and
low, with small brain capacity. As man has evolved, his head
has tended first to lengthen from back to front; then to become
higher, and finally broader. Thus there has been a series of
I steps toward a roimd head. Such a head is biologically the high-
est and most specialized, because it can hold the largest brain in
proportion to its surface and weight. If the people of the world
are analyzed according to the form of their heads, we find the
\ same peculiar distribution in each continent. Even in Australia
'this is shown imperfectly, especially if we count the Pacific
'islands with the continent. The general nature of the distribu-
tion is that the most primitive types with the narrowest heads

76

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

are found in the margins of each continent, or in areas that are
protected by mountains, by tropical forests, or in some other
way. Toward the center of the continent and in the most easily
accessible of the other portions, the breadth of the heads in-
creases. Hence the central part of each continent is regularly
occupied by broad-headed people of relatively recent origin.

This condition has been sketched by Taylor in a map which
is reproduced as Figure 2. This map, as Taylor most carefully
insists, is merely a rough generalization. Flaws can be picked in
it right and left, as they can in every map which attempts to
express an extremely complex relationship in a few simple strokes.
Nevertheless, it is of high value because it presents graphically
the main conclusion to which the premises of the anthropologists
seem inevitably to lead; and which the more detailed maps of
Dixon abundantly support. It suggests that narrow-headed peo-
ple first spread over the world. They might have thought that
the world was theirs if they could have known their own distri-
bution. But even as they were advancing, new races with larger
heads were developing in central Asia, and soon began to spread
into the other continents and to displace their narrow-headed
predecessors. And so the process has gone on. The most narrow-
headed people live largely in tropical regions and on the edges
of the continents, the tips of peninsulas, the places that could
easily be defended against invaders and those that their suc-
cessors have not wanted, or could not easily get into because of
mountains, seas, deserts, or other barriers. Look at Figure 3,
also from Taylor, and see how clearly the process is illustrated.
The most long-headed people, as appears from the dark shad-
ing, occupy the mountainous peninsulas of Scandinavia, and
Siberia, and the protected and rugged western portions of Great
Britain together with Ireland. They likewise occur along the
southern coast of Italy and in rugged northern Greece where
they presumably represent a primitive race which we shall later
discuss under the name Pelasgians or ^Egaeans. In north Africa
it is the desert rather than mountains or seas that has protected
the long-heads.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES 77

In the central parts of each continent (Figure 2) the broad-
headed people are steadily pressing forward. Central Europe
I has suffered a great change in this respect even in our own day,
for broad-headed Poles, Czechs, Russians, and others have been
pressing into Germany. Figure 3 shows clearly how the people
from Asia with a cephalic index above 80 have thrust themselves
among the long-heads like a great wedge. The migration of the
English, Scotch, and Irish to America, as well as of the early
Spanish and French, was a movement of relatively long-headed
people. If it occurred in prehistoric times the anthropologists
would probably interpret it as a thrusting out of the long-heads
by the round-heads. In America the first wave of long-heads
ihas been followed by a wave of round-heads from eastern and
central Europe. These round-heads, with their high birth-rate,
are taking possession of the northeastern United States and
driving the original long-heads westward. These later phases of
migration do not appear in Figure 2, which deals only with the
1 aborigines of America, Austraha, and Africa. They merely in-
Idicate that the old process of replacing long-heads by round-
i heads is still as active as ever. One can almost feel their activity
if one studies Figure 3 in detail and notes the arrows indicating
lines of migration. All this is not pleasing to us who are Nordics,
for our heads, though long and high, lack breadth. The south
Germans, Rumanians, Turks, and Chinese approach nearer to
the supposedly ultimate broad-headed type than we do. We
hate to admit that potentially they may be the better people,
but both Taylor and Dixon agree that our present seeming racial
superiority is only an accident. But, as Taylor puts it, in many
, features the Mongolian is at least on the same level as the white
I race. The Mongols of central Asia and of the American Cordil-
j lera share with the Alpine (early Mongol) folk of central Europe
I the honor of possessing the highest cephalic index. They are of
i course farthest removed from the Negro and Negrito in this
important respect. The same order obtains as regards orbital
i and aural indices and in the cross-section of the hair. As regards
I cranial capacity the white and yellow races are ranked together

I

78

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

by Duckworth, though Clapham states that the average weight
of the Chinese brain is greater.

The present superiority of the Nordics is due to environment,
according to Taylor, and to racial mixture, according to Dixon.
I beheve that both these factors are important, and that a third
factor, natural selection, works with them, no one of the three
being any less essential than the others. Back of these lies still
a fourth factor— the mutations or progressive deviations which
may be of supreme importance; but as to whose causes we know
so Httle. Unless this factor intervenes to produce other results,
it seems probable that if the round-headed races should have an
environment as good as ours, if they should make as fortunate
mixtures with other races, and undergo as rigid selection, their
rounder heads and greater brain capacity may win the day. The
hope of the other races perhaps lies in so utilizuig racial mixture
and natural selection that the leaders will retain their environ-
mental advantages and at the same time gain that type of phys-
ique—whatever it may be— which leads to greatest progress.

It must not be supposed that the form of the head is the
only way of detecting the relation of one race to another. Other
physical conditions such as the cross-section of the hair, the pro-
portion of the limbs, complexion, and stature must likewise be
considered. The most primitive hair is flat in cross-section, and
therefore is kinky like that of the negroes, or even knots itself
into "pepper-corns." Higher than this in the evolutionary scale
comes hair that is oval in cross-section, and which therefore is
wavy or curly as among Nordics. Highest of all is the kind which
is perfectly round in cross-section, and which therefore remains
like that of the Chinese, straight. As to the proportions of the
limbs, the lowest types of men such as the Pygmies have short
legs, long arms, and long bodies, but these features are variable
and have thus far been of comparatively Httle use in determining
the relationship of one race to another. The same is true of stat-
ure and complexion, for both of these conditions appear to be
greatly influenced by environment. The Nordics, for example,
may contain an appreciable share of the blood of a bleached

THE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES

79

negroid race. Nevertheless, all these physical factors need to be
used in connection with the shape of the head in determming
how the various races have originated and how they are con-
nected with one another. One of the merits of Taylor^s presen-
tation is that he takes account of all these factors and has even
attempted to make allowance for the degree to which each may
be modified by environment.

Still another set of factors may contain most important in-
formation as to the relationships of races. These are the cultural
factors such as language, customs, implements, and the like.
Taylor has boldly attempted to correlate some ten of these with
the shape of the head.

The results are shown in Figure 4. In each of the maps there
shown, the area where a certain cultural feature is known among
primitive people is shaded or else indicated by a letter. Taylor
has added lines like those of Figures 2 and 3, showing the ap-
proximate limits within which the cephalic index generally at-
tains a certain level. For example, in the first map it appears
that deformation of the head in infancy prevails almost entirely
among broad-headed people whose cephalic index ranges from
80 to 84, but not among those with the broadest heads where the
index rises above 84. In the same way totemism is found among
people whose index is generally less than 77. The rest of the
maps are almost self-explanatory. The couvade, it will be re-
membered, is the curious custom whereby at the time when a
child is born the father takes to his bed, or at least pretends to
suffer pangs like those of the mother. In the case of kin-words
the languages of the unforked type use the same word for the
kin of both parents; just as we say "uncle" for either a father's
or a mother's brother. In the forked type, however, a mother's
brother and a father's brother are called by different words;
and so with all degrees of relationship. The Levirate is the cus-
tom whereby a man marries the widow of his deceased brother,
as among the ancient Hebrews.

These maps of Taylor's have been criticised as being too
highly generahzed. It seems to me, however, that such broad

80

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

generalization is necessary as the first step in any highly com-
plex problem. Taylor has surveyed a vast nmnber of facts; he
has had the wisdom to gather together related data from all parts
of the world, and to express them graphically in maps. He has
thus caused ethnology and anthropology to work hand in hand
with geography. It seems to me that in doing this he has opened
the way for a vast amount of more detailed and accurate studies.
Many of the details of his work will doubtless be modified, but
if their main outlines stand, they will some day be recognized
as a great contribution to human knowledge. The primary reason
for this belief is that Taylor for the first time advances a broad
anthropological hypothesis which is in harmony with the facts
of modern geography, and also with the facts proved by geology
as to the evolution of the great families of mammals. I am sur-
prised at the way in which Taylor^s conclusions accord in the
main with those to which we have been led in previous chapters
on the basis of paleontology, ecology, and geology. Another
reason for believing that Taylor's main thesis is correct is that
Willis in his remarkable study of Age and Area has demonstrated
with mathematical precision that, other things being equal,
the oldest famihes and genera of plants are also the most widely
distributed. In plants, just as in animals, an ancient type may
be missing over broad central areas, but its age is evidenced by
the fact that it is found in outlying regions. What this means,
according to the interpretation of Willis, is that the old forms
each started in some central area. From this they spread outward
in many directions, suffering slight modifications, but in general
retaining the ancestral character. The original homes of plants,
that is, the places where new species are now arising, are very
largely areas like mountain-tops where extreme conditions pre-
vail. In such areas new types originate and often drive out the
old. They may even cause the older species or famihes to disap-
pear over areas of almost continental extent. Yet the fact that
the old forms are found scattered here and there almost certainly
means that the intervening areas, so far as their environment
does not forbid, were at some time occupied by these old forms.

FIG. 4. MAPS SHOWING THE CORRELATION OF CULTURAL CONDITIONS WITH
THE CEPHALIC INDEX. (After Taylor.)

THE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES

81

The old forms must have spread from the common centre along
certain paths where now they have disappeared, as is proved by
almost innumerable cases such as New Zealand where the facts
as to the geographic distribution of plants are so clear as to leave
little room for question. Hence age is roughly measured by area.
This generalization, as Willis has shown, applies to living forms
of animals as well as to plants. It is the same generalization which
the geologists have made in respect to extinct animals, and which
Taylor has made in respect to man. The agreement of these three
lines of evidence is what we should expect in view of the increasing
evidence that nature's main laws apply equally to plants, ani-
mals, and man.

Another important confirmation of Taylor's hypothesis is
that Dixon has independently come to the same generalization,
although his methods and temperament are absolutely different
from those of Taylor, and many of his facts are drawn from
different sources. Thus it would seem that by the present form
of his head, and to a less degree by his other physical character-
istics and even by traces of certain elements of primitive culture,
man shows that like most of the great families of mammals, he
originated in central Asia, and migrated outward in successive
waves, largely under the influence of great changes of climate.

The book in which Dixon discusses the great anthropological
generalization as to the significance of head-form is a remarkable
example of what can be done by taking a single guiding prin-
ciple and working it out with absolute logic. It will pay us to
discuss it more fully. This does not mean acceptance or rejec-
tion of its conclusions, for the facts are not yet sufficient for
that. Assuming that head-form is the main criterion of racial
relationships, Dixon concludes that five main measurements of
the skull are sufficient, or at least are all that can be used in the
present incomplete state of anthropology. He shows, however,
that other measurements agree so well with these that it is fairly
certain that we cannot be led far astray if we rigidly rely on the
five which he has chosen.

The five measurements are: (i) the breadth of the skull from

82

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

ear to ear; (2) its length from the forehead to the most project-
ing part of the occiput at the back; (3) its height from the base
to the top of the head; (4) the width of the nose at the widest
part as measured on the skull, and (5) the height of the nose.
These five measurements give rise to three indexes, each of which
is arbitrarily divided into three groups according to whether it
is large, medium, or small. The first index is the ordinary cranial
or cephaHc index, that is, the ratio of the breadth of the head
to the length. This shows whether a head, when looked at from
above, appears more or less oval. An elongated oval head is
doHchocephalic or long-headed, and is normally accompanied by
a long face. A head with a medium cephalic index is moderately
oval and is called mesocephaHc, while a head with a high index
is brachycephalic, or broad-headed, andjs normally accompanied
by a broad face.

The second or altitudinal index is the ratio between the
length of the head and the height. A high index means a high
forehead and a head that approaches the circular form when
viewed from the side without regarding the chin. A head with
a high index is called hypsicephaHc, one with a medium index
orthocephalic, and a low head chamacephalic. Other things being
equal, the high head contains a larger brain than the low.

The third index is the ratio between the breadth and height
of the nose. A narrow nose is leptorrhine, a medium nose mes-
orrhine, and a broad nose platyrrhine. The three indexes, to-
gether with the degree of prognathism or projection of the jaws,
determine the shape of the face.

With three indexes and three divisions under each index,
there may be skulls of twenty-seven different types. Thus one
skull may be relatively long, high, and broad-nosed. Two others
may be equally long and high, but one may be medium-nosed
and the other narrow-nosed. Still others may all be low and
narrow-nosed, but one may be long, another short, and a third
medium in length. Among the twenty-seven types eight contain
no medium indexes of any sort. These Dixon regards as typical
of eight fundamental races from which all others are derived by

THE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES

8S

the mixture of race with race. Whether he is right in this assump-
tion is open to question, but he at least shows not only that the
other nineteen types can all be derived from the eight extreme
types by various mixtures, but also that the assumption of eight
types, which have migrated widely, fits a vast body of historical
and archeological facts, and is not contradicted by any similar
body of facts. Moreover, it explains many things which have
hitherto been unexplained. Hence, while Dixon's eight types or
primeval races may not be final, they at least suggest a helpful
means of determining the degree of relation between one race
and another. Since his method of using cranial indexes is new,
he has been obliged to study the original data for all the individual
skulls whose measurements have been published, and for many
that are unpublished. The amount of work is colossal, but the
results are highly suggestive.

Dixon names and describes his eight main races or types as
follows:

Name

Probable
Original Home

Shape

of
Head

Shape

of
Face

Shape

of
Nose

Degree
of

Prognathism

Skull
Capacity

Proto-Australoid

Southeast coast of

Long

Medium

Broad

Moderate

Small

Asia

Low

broad

Proto-Negroid

Northern and west-

Long

Medium

Broad

Moderate

Small

ern Africa

High

broad

Mediterranean

Eastern Mediter-

Long

Narrow

Narrow

None

Large

ranean and Black

Low

Sea region

Caspian

Caspian region

Long

Narrow

Narrow

None

Large

High

Mongoloid

Mongolia

Round

Broad

Broad

Moderate

Medium

Low

Palae-Alpine

Eastern central

Round

Broad

Broad

Moderate

Medium

Asia

High

Ural

South Ural (?)

Round

Medium

Narrow

None

(Largest)

Low

Alpine

Western central

Round

Medium

Narrow

None

Largest

Asia

High

Having assumed that these are the fundamental races, the
next thing is to discover the racial composition of any given set
of people. If we are Nordics, Dixon's analysis indicates that
we are chiefly of Caspian and Mediterranean origin, with some
Proto-Negroid admixture. The Proto-Negroids are not the
Negroes of to-day, but a far more primitive race whose origin

84 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

is placed somewhere in northern or western Africa. Dixon be- ^
Heves that part of this race migrated into northwestern Europe.
There they were bleached by the climate so that a race which
was originally black-haired became blond. Later the same re- L
gions were invaded by two other races. The Mediterranean race, '
coming perhaps from far western Asia, probably encircled the
Mediterranean, and then moved northward. In its purest form
it is found in Sicily, but farther north it too became somewhat
blond. The third race was the Caspian which came from some-
where near the sea of that name and migrated across Russia to
the Baltic. It hurts the racial pride of the fair, lordly Nordic to
think that he has in his veins the same blood as the himible
Negro. It also hurts his pride to think that the round-headed
Ural and Alpine races, such people as the Kalmucks and Chinese,
have brains that are relatively larger and perhaps potentially
more competent than ours. Nevertheless, if Dixon's premises are
accepted, most of his conclusions are logical.

Having estabhshed the criteria of these eight types, Dixon
assumes that all the intermediate types are derived from them
by intermixtures, which is perfectly possible. It is not our pur-
pose to discuss the vaHdity of the types nor of the assumption
as to the results of their intermixture. It is enough to say that
Dixon's method produces results which agree to an extraordinar}'
degree with the known facts of history. They also clear up a
number of hitherto insoluble racial problems, as will be illus-
trated later in the case of South Africa. They introduce, to be
sure, certain new problems which are highly perplexing, but
many of these become clear when studied in the light of geog- ,
raphy and ecology. Hence we accept his method, not as final, )
but as the best means yet devised of testing racial kinships.

In order to discover the real racial antecedents of any group
of people Dixon goes back to the individual skulls, entirely dis-
carding the use of averages. He classifies the skulls according
to his twenty-seven types, and then analyzes the mixed types
into the eight primary types. In doing this one of the most
curious results is that the cranial types among women are found

THE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES

85

to vary distinctly less than among men. In case after case the
cranial measurements of women indicate more primitive types
than those of their husbands. Often the men show a preponder-
ance of types which are known to have migrated into a region
relatively recently, while the women display a larger proportion
of types which migrated earlier. Of course at the immediate time
of a migration this is natural, for men often make invasions
leaving their women behind. They slaughter the men in the
places where they settle and take the women as wives. But after
such a migration is over, one would expect that among the chil-
dren, the girls and the boys would show an equal inheritance
of head-form from their fathers and their mothers. But such is
not the case. For many generations after the invasion the men
still show more predominantly the head-form of the invaders,
and the women that of the earHer inhabitants. Thus women
are conservative in head-form as well as in character. For the
anthropologist this conservatism is most fortunate, for it pre-
sumably preserves indications of earlier racial relationships.
Moreover, so far as it goes it suggests that Dixon's general
method is right, even though his eight races may never be firmly
estabhshed.

A single example will illustrate the curious way in which the
history of races can be read in the form of their heads. In South
Africa there are now three races, the Bantus, Hottentots, and
Bushmen, while a fourth race, the so-called Strandloopers, be-
came extinct during the early colonial period. Anthropologists
have been much puzzled as to how these various people were re-
lated to one another. Language and customs give only a few im-
portant clues, but a comparison of the skulls brings out what
seems to be a reasonable racial history. For instance, among the
Strandloopers half the women were Mongoloid, a quarter Proto-
Australoid, and a sixth Proto-Negroid. Among the Strandlooper
I men, however, the Mongoloid and Negroid elements are not
quite so strong as among the women. This seems to indicate
that the first people in South Africa were of the primitive Mon-
goloid and Negroid types and that the Australoids came later.

86

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

In all four of the South African races there is a considerable pro-
portion of Mongoloid blood. This is largest in the female Strand-
loopers and next in the male Strandloopers. Then come the male
Bushmen and the female Hottentots with approximately the
same amount, while the male Hottentots and the Zulus have the
least. All four of the races likewise contain a considerable per-
centage of Proto-Negroid blood, but this is relatively slight in
the Strandloopers, increases in the Bushmen, is still greater in
the Hottentots, and greatest in the Zulus. This would indicate
that the Negroid blood was the result of an invasion later than
that of the Mongoloid. As to the Proto-Australoid strain, it is
about equal in men and women among the Strandloopers, rises
to a large percentage among the male Bushmen and female Hot-
tentots, and is most noteworthy among the male Hottentots and
male Kaffirs, the latter being a branch of the Bantus.
On this basis, according to Dixon:

A logical theory of the racial history of the whole of South Africa may
be outlined as follows : The oldest population is represented by the Strand-
looper, who at a very early period, perhaps already in Palaeolithic times,
extended widely over the plateaus of the southern portion of the con-
tinent and reached northward, perhaps as far as the region of the
Great Lakes. Primarily Mongoloid in type, they were blended with a
considerable Proto-Austroloid factor and a lesser element of the Proto-
Negroid type. Later a southward movement of peoples, mainly of Proto-
Negroid and Proto-Australoid types, who had absorbed a small proportion
of Pigmy, Palae-Alpine folk, took place, and, passing through Rhodesia,
forced their way into the region of the southern plateaus. Of the older
Strandlooper population they absorbed a part, driving the remainder to
the coast, where they survived down to the sixteenth century. From the
mingling of the immigrants and the Strandloopers the Bushmen developed,
and these occupied all of the better lands. Again a new drift, this time of
Bantu-like peoples, forced their way over the same route from the north-
ward, and established themselves in the region south of the Zambesi.
These folk, who were pastoral, cattle-keeping people, took the better lands,
driving the Bushmen into the less favorable localities, and in time ab-
sorbed a certain proportion of them, and thus developed the Hottentot,
whose language, although possessing several clicks taken over from the
Bushmen, nevertheless shows strong Hamitic relationships. Lastly, prob-
ably about the fourteenth or fifteenth century, a last thrust of Bantu peo-
ples occurred, bringing into the region the warlike Zulu, Kafiir, and so

THE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES

87

forth."- Like their predecessors, they drove the earlier occupants from much
of the better lands, forcing the Hottentots west and north toward the
Atlantic coast, and the Bushmen into the Kalahari and other desert sec-
tions. Just as the earlier groups of invaders, these latest Bantu conquerors
mingled somewhat with the older peoples, so that when their progress was
stopped by European occupation, they had already absorbed a small
Mongoloid element, which thus differentiates them from the Bantu tribes
farther north. If this suggested theory is correct, the Strandlooper, Bush-
man, and Hottentot represent three successive stages in the racial history
of this part of Africa, the fourth and last stage of which was put an end to
by the European colonization. That the Hottentot represented a very old
Bushman-Bantu mixture has been often suggested by others; the present
theory carries this a step farther, and derives the Bushmen themselves
from the still older Strandloopers by a similar process.

We have given this example at length because it illustrates
the remarkable way in which a mathematical analysis of the
form of the head seems to bring out racial relationships. In later
chapters we shall apply Dixon's results to other parts of the
world, including our own, and shall see what they indicate as
to the relation between inheritance and environment in the
determination of racial character.

CHAPTER VII

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA

The distribution of racial character and of progress in America
before the coming of the white man seems at first sight to follow
quite different laws from those which govern the corresponding
distribution in Europe. The greatest progress was not found in
the regions with the most stimulating environment, nor was it
connected with the races whose head-form allies them with the
most advanced races of Europe. In discussing this matter I shall
in part follow The Red Man's Continent, where the culture of
the red men is considered in its relation to physical environ-
ment; but I shall add many new points of view suggested by
Taylor and Dixon and by the earlier parts of this book.

To-day the distribution of progress in America, as in Eu-
rope, is almost identical with that of health and climatic energy.
In pre-Columbian times one would expect a similar distribution,
for the climate appears to have differed httle if any from that
of to-day. Yet the most advanced American aborigines lived in
regions which rank relatively low in both health and climate.
In the tropical plateaus where dwelt the Aztecs and Incas the
climate though cool is so monotonous that it is unstimulating.
On the other hand in the bracing climate of the northern United
States east of the Rocky Mountains, the American Indians were
mere savages, living largely by hunting, while southern and cen-
tral California were inhabited by almost the lowest of the abo-
rigines. The decay of the high civilizations which preceded the
relatively degenerate Aztecs and Incas of the time of Columbus
may have been hastened by a change of climate, but cHmatic
conditions certainly do not explain why the people of the north-
eastern United States and of the Pacific coast stood so far be-
hind those same Aztecs and Incas, even in the days of their de-
cline. The contrast between Europe and America may briefly

88

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 89

be summed up thus. In practically all parts of the Old World
the degree of progress throughout the historic period appears
to have been closely in harmony with the environment, pro-
vided due allowance be made for other known factors, such as
migrations, famines, the discovery of America, the Crusades,
and the Reformation. In modern America the same is true.
Why, then, were the conditions of pre-Columbian America so
different ?

From the standpoint of racial inheritance the anomaly of
America may be as great as from that of environment. Accord-
ing to Dixon:

Singly or together . . . [the Caspian and Mediterranean] types stand
pre-eminent in the history of the Old World, yet, strangely enough, in the
New they can boast little in the way of achievement. In South America
the Caspian type appears in any importance only among the wretched
and fast-dying tribes of the [Alikaluf in the] extreme south, while in the
northern continent it apparently forms the dominant element only in the
Eskimo. It is hard to conceive of a greater contrast to the forceful, conquer-
ing, intellectual peoples of this type in the Old World, than the timid and
simple Eskimo. Is it not impossible that the one should be of common
ancestry with the other? Have our criteria and analysis in this instance
told the truth? It must be confessed that explanation of the failure of the
Caspian peoples in America to live up to the achievements of their supposed
kindred in Asia and Europe is difficult, although for the Eskimo a case
can perhaps be made. For if, instead of the strongly favoring environments
in which the Old World representatives of the type have lived, we substi-
tute the poverty of that to which the Eskimos, in historic times at least,
have been confined, we may have a partial answer. Yet we do not know
that the Eskimos have always been held within the Arctic, and for the
small groups of people of this type which reached the southern continent
no claim of the repressive influence of environment can of course be made.
The paradox therefore remains.

The same anomaly finds expression in the history of the
Proto-Australoids and Proto-Negroids as summed up by Dixon:

Not only have the Proto-Australoids and Proto-Negroids not been able
to reach out and hold any considerable portions of the world outside the
tropics, they have had to give ground within their own territory, and half
of Africa, the whole of which they seem once to have held, very early passed
out of their control. In the great struggle they have, almost from the begin-

90

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

ning, been losers. ... In the New World, where their apparent presence
is so surprising, with few exceptions the peoples showing the character-
istics of these types were of low culture, generally marginal in distribution,
and largely extinct when Europeans came to the continent. One exception,
however, is a paradox, for the Iroquois and southern Algonkian tribes
were among the first of those north of Mexico in abihty and prowess, and
neither in outward appearance nor in culture betrayed what seem to be
their affiliations.

In attempting to explain the distribution of racial character
in America let us begin with the fact that in America, if Dixon
is right, the Caspian-Mediterranean or Nordic mixture, as exem-
plified among the Eskimos and the AHkaluf, stands very low in
civiHzation. On the contrary among the Iroquois and Algon-
quins a mixture of Proto-Negroid and Proto-Australoid stocks
stands relatively high. It may be that the ancestors of all the
tribes here mentioned were subjected to a repressive evolution
during their journey from Asia to America through Siberia and
Alaska. That in itself may have retarded their mental develop-
ment as compared with the corresponding people in Europe,
but it does not explain why they differ among themselves. So
far as the Eskimos are concerned, it is quite clear that they live
in an environment which is still repressive. Not only does their
coimtry fail to provide the raw materials which are so convenient
and so helpful in the advance of civilization, but their suffer-
ings from hunger, from long cold winters, and from nervous ex-
haustion, resemble those already described among the Siberians.
If we were right in a previous chapter as to the effect of pro-
nounced and prolonged low temperature upon the people of
Siberia, it seems reasonable to suppose that the more nervous
and progressive types among the Eskimos have largely been
weeded out by nervous diseases or by migration. Hence, no
matter what race they may belong to, one would hardly expect
the Eskimos to achieve much.

As to the Alikaluf , they are a primitive hunting people who
use the bow and arrow, build large canoes, and have a reputa-
tion for treachery. They live in what most people would call a
decidedly repressive climate. Their home is near the shores of

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 91

the Pacific, among the mountainous islands of the western part
of Tierra del Fuego. There they are exposed to the full fury of
an interminable series of gales which make the weather of this
region probably the wildest on earth." (Kendrew.) About half
of the gales come from the cool Pacific and are the southern part
of the "Roaring Forties," the terrific westerly winds which the
mariner dreads ofi Cape Horn. Although no records are avail-
able in the land of the Alikaluf , the reports of the nearest mete-
orological stations to the northwest and southeast indicate that
the warmest month averages about 49° F., while the coldest
averages 36° F. The temperature in itself is no worse than that
of Iceland, whose high civilization we shall discuss in a later
chapter. But the monotonous repetition of gales with scarcely
any respite, and the tremendous rainfall make the environment
very depressing. The annual precipitation is probably well over
100 inches, being 117 inches at Evangelists Island, where about
8 inches fall even in the driest month. Worse still is the fact that
about two hundred and fifty days in the average year are wholly
cloudy, and only fifty or less are clear. As to the vegetation I
have been able to find no exact data, but Professor Roland
Thaxter of Harvard gives the following information: "As that
end of the Strait is a focus for all the winds of Heaven, I imagine
that what vegetation there may be is similar to that of the other
islands of the region which I saw, stunted and blown horizontal.
... I am glad I am not an Alikaluf and have not got to live
there. I never saw it blow so anywhere." Agriculture is impos-
sible, game is scarce, and the natives have never had any domestic
animals like the sheep. Add to this the extreme isolation of
the region and one no longer wonders that the Alikaluf are
backward. They are like the Yaghans of whom we read that
they "live imder conditions of extraordinary rigour. In order
to obtain food, they venture naked in small canoes into the
treacherous seas; their life is a constant battle with starvation
and a rude climate, and their character has become rude and
low in consequence."

The energy and ability of the Iroquois and southern Algon-

92

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

quins of the eastern United States seem to be in harmony with
their environment quite as much as does the backwardness of
the Eskimos and Alikaluf . It is true that the Proto-Negroid and
Proto-Australoid blood of these finest tribes of the primeval
United States may have given them a smaller innate endowment
of mental capacity than that of many other North American
tribes, although as to this we have no data. It is likewise true
that the experiences of their ancestors in the north may have
helped to develop the stoical, unsympathetic side of their natures
and may be one reason for their lack of the nervous energ}^ and
initiative which make men inventors and reformers. Yet one
would hardly expect them to be dull or inactive like the people
of similar racial composition in central Africa, southern Asia,
and the tropical islands. The same whirl of chance which made
the Caspian-Mediterranean blend backward in America, though
progressive in Europe, gave the Negroid-Australoid blend a
wonderful opportunity in the New World. It drove them into
a region having one of the most stimulating climates. They re-
sponded in the way that the geographer would expect. Perhaps
they never had the innate capacity of the Nordics, but the fact
that they stand out so strongly among the peoples of America,
while the seeming "Nordics" of aboriginal America stand so
low, suggests that environment may be as potent as race in de-
termining people's capacities and achievements.

Let us now turn to the question of why people with so high
a degree of activity as the Iroquois and Algonquins, and with no
mean endowment of mentality, made so much less progress than
the Pueblo Indians of Arizona, for example, and were almost
immeasurably more backward than the primitive Mayas, or
than the early Peruvians who originally developed the arts
which were later practised among the Incas. A part of the an-
swer seems to be that the Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas, as well as
the pueblo people of New Mexico and Arizona, practised agri-
culture. There has been much discussion as to the condition of
agriculture among the primitive Americans, especially in the
northeast. Com, beans, and squashes were an important ele-

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 93

ment in the diet of the Indians of New England and New York,
while farther south potatoes, sunflower seeds, and melons were
also eaten. The New England tribes knew enough about agricul-
ture to use fish and shells for fertilizer. They and their neigh-
bors 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 employed these to break the
upper part of the soil and to grub out weeds, grass, and old corn-
stalks. The regular method of preparing a field was to burn
over an old patch each year and then replant it. Sometimes the
seeds were merely dropped in holes, and sometimes the ground
was dug up and loosened, each hill being treated separately.
Clearings were made by girdling the trees with stone implements,
that is, by cutting off the bark in a circle at the bottom and
leaving the tree to die. The brush meanwhile was hacked or
broken down; and both trees and brush were burned when dry
enough.

All this gives the impression that agriculture was fairly well
developed, but such a conclusion is scarcely warranted. Before
the days when the white man had introduced iron, the primitive
Indians of the northeastern United States derived only a small
part of their living from agriculture. To cut a large tree with
an axe of stone is extraordinarily difficult. To girdle the trees
and cut down the brush of several acres, as each man would need
to do in order to support a family, is by no means out of the
question. But it takes a long time, for the American Indian not
only despises steady manual work, but is unfitted for it by the
very qualities which make him a good hunter. Moreover, in
order to keep his family alive, the Indian who is trying to make
a field must frequently interrupt his farm work to go hunting.
Then when the trees are girdled and the brush cut, another long
period of waiting is necessary until the vegetation is dry enough
to burn, and the crop can be planted, grow, and ripen. Hence
the regular method was for a man to find an opening in the

94

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

forest where the trees happened to have died and where he could
easily break down the brush. There he made his little field,
planted it, and left it to itself. Almost never could he stay near
by and let his wife tend the crop steadily, for only rarely was the
game in any one place sufficient to support people several months.

In spite of all these difficulties the northeastern Indian
might have made progress in agriculture, if only he had been
able to retain the same fields permanently. In five or ten years,
however, he was generally obliged to give up his fields. Three
causes probably co-operated in this: first, the partial exhaustion
of the soil because of repeated plantings of the same crop without
plowing or spading; second, the accumulation of toxic bacterial
material because the soil was not properly aerated by plowing;
and third, the invasion of grasses and other perennial weeds.
In the Southern States, the relative scarcity of humus causes the
soil to become exhausted more rapidly than farther north, while
bacterial infections seem to be more common. Yet the Indians
cultivated the land about their villages for long periods. Tribes
like the Creeks, Cherokees, and Natchez appear to have occu-
pied the same sites for generations. But the grass in the South
is more bunchy and less turfy than in the North, and can be more
easily uprooted with primitive tools. When a clearing is first
made in the northern forest, it is usually almost free from grass,
but little by little the grass encroaches, especially when the
fields are left largely to themselves. Any one who has cultivated
a garden knows how rapidly the weeds grow. He also knows
that almost no weed is so hard to exterminate as grass. When
once it gets a foothold hoeing seems only to make it grow faster.
Some authorities beheve that the growth of tropical grasses in
the fields of the Mayas was the chief cause of the destruction of
their promising civilization. When grass has become well estab-
lished or when the soil has become infected with harmful bac-
teria the easiest way to insure a crop is to plow the fields and
start over again. This the Indian could not do, because he had
no iron tools and no beasts of burden. Hence, even if there were
no other adverse conditions, the Indian would presumably have

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 95

obtained smaller and smaller crops from his fields until they be-
came meadows. Then he perforce either gave up agriculture or
cultivated new land. Hence we infer that in regions like New
York and New England, and still more in the prairies, the grass
joined with the bacterial infection of the soil as a main deterrent
to agriculture.

But why did the Indians not clear other pieces of forest close
to their ruined fields, and thus continue to live in the old place ?
One probable reason is that the labor of making a clearing with
stone axes and by the slow process of girdling and burning the
trees is so great that the Indians usually chose favored spots
where by accident the growth was less dense than usual. When
once a clearing became grassy or the soil became toxic, the
regular procedure was to hunt for a new site, and move the vil-
lage. This was apparently one reason why the Iroquois, although
successful in other ways, failed to establish permanent towns.
Hence their advancement not only in architecture but in many
of the most important elements of civilization was greatly de-
layed.

We have seen that two of the great disadvantages of the
American Indians were the lack of iron tools and beasts of bur-
den. Were these lacks the fault of the Indians? Would more
competent people have discovered how to smelt iron and tame
wild animals? A positive answer is impossible, but it seems to
me that even if the Indians had been far more intelligent than
they were, they might still have had no iron tools and no animals
wherewith to plow the sod. That the Indians were familiar
with copper is well known, but they could not fashion it into
hard tools with a cutting edge, nor did they learn from copper
the art of smelting iron. The discovery of this art requires at
least four important conditions. First, there must be bits of ore
which accidentally, or with intent, are heated in a very hot fire
until they melt or at least soften. When this happens there must
be at hand a man of unusual genius whose attention happens to
be directed to the results of the melting process. Thirdly, the
man who saw the capacities of iron ore and of its molten product

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

must have the zeal, the determination, and the leisure to bring
to fruition the ideas engendered by his observation. Finally, a
single mind was presumably not enough to consiunmate the
great discovery. It was necessary that the generation of men ,
who lived with the genius should have a sufficiently active men- |
taHty to assimilate and use the new process and pass it on to j
future generations. All these conditions might have occurred in
the New World as well as the Old, but as a matter of fact they
did not. It may be that the relatively duller mentality of the
Indian had something to do with the matter, but it may have
been mere accident.

Up to a certain point civilization can evolve without iron
tools. In America the Maya civiHzation of Guatemala and the
pre-Inca civilization of Peru made marvelous strides which sug-
gest that the mental handicap due to migration through the cold
north, if such there was, had been largely overcome. They
reached a point almost as high as that of the Mesopotamians,
Egyptians, and early peoples of northern India and China be-
fore iron was introduced. If iron had been available, and still
more if there had been a good beast of burden such as the horse
or ox, civilization might possibly have moved northward and
southward from its early homes in Central America and Peru.
As the climate of the glacial period gradually changed to that
of to-day and as man's ability to conquer cold regions increased,
there might have been a poleward movement of the centers of
civilization in the New World as well as in the Old.

As to beasts of burden the case is clearer than as to iron.
The earlier Indian tribes may perhaps have been less competent
in taming animals than were the people of Asia. It is far more
likely that they failed to domesticate any animals except the
dog, turkey, alpaca, and llama, because there were none of the
right kind in America. Horses existed in the New World down
to the glacial period, but were then exterminated. Our present
horses and asses are descendants of stock introduced from Eu-
rope. The camel likewise was extinct. In the ox tribe the only
available animal was the bison, but he appears to have been too

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 97

large, and possibly too stupid, to be domesticated. Nor was
there any type of sheep that could compare in value with the
one domesticated in Asia. Wild pigs or peccaries might indeed
have been domesticated, but they would have been of no value
for plowing. In South America the most available animals, the
llama and alpaca, were actually domesticated, but the alpaca is
of little use even for burdens, and the llama is useless for agri-
culture. Thus among the wild animals of America after the last
glacial epoch, there was none which man could domesticate and
use for the difficult work of plowing the sod.

Consider again how handicapped the Indians were by this
twofold lack of iron tools and beasts of burden. In the south-
eastern United States, where the grass grows in bunches and can
be pulled or dug up with comparative ease he could indeed carry
on permanent cultivation. Still more was this the case in semi-
arid and tropical areas where the grass grows in isolated clumps.
But in the parts of America which are climatically best for
human progress there was no such possibility. In the central
prairies cultivation was feasible only in the bottom-lands which
are flooded by the rivers part of the year, and which support
bushy growths rather than turf. Elsewhere the rich grasslands
waited untouched until the white man brought beasts that could
draw an iron-shod plow. In the eastern forests temporary culti-
vation was possible in chance clearings where the trees had re-
cently died, or been burned in forest fires, for there the soil is at
first free from turf. But as soon as the grass had an opportunity
to grow, the fate of the fields was sealed until plow animals from
Asia came to the rescue. Thus where man ought to have pro-
gressed most rapidly in America he was compelled to be a sav-
age hunter roaming the woods, able to tend his fields only spo-
radically and forced to move his home at frequent intervals as
his gardens became meadows.

The contrast between the effect of agriculture and of hunt-
ing upon character can scarcely be overestimated. Even the care
of domestic animals requires a certain degree of steadiness and
concentration which is not demanded of the hunter. The family

98

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

that has many domestic animals must look after them at least
to a shght extent each day. This is often done for the sake of
the milk if for nothing else. Nor can such families wander so
freely as hunters; hence they acquire a greater feeling of posses-
sion of the land. The careless type tends to be weeded out more
than among the hunters.

When agriculture begins to be practised, a far more important
selective principle appears. The qualities that make a man suc-
cessful in hunting and in farming are quite different. For the
hunter, craft, cunning, the power to glide silently through the
forest, the abiHty to detect the recent passage of an animal by
the slight breaking of the twigs, the power to find his way
through the forest in storm and snow, the capacity to endure
long periods of fasting alternating with feasts when he gorges
himself with some large slain animal, the capacity to endure
prolonged hunger, thirst, and great fatigue while pursuing a
wounded animal, and the power to recover from tremendous
exertion by long periods of rest— these are the quahties that
make a hunter successful and which enable him to bring up his
children in health. But for the farmer none of these things is
necessary. What he needs is the ability to work steadily day
after day, to come back to the same field time after time and
clean out the weeds. He must have the capacity to plan store-
houses for the winter, to foresee what difficulties the cold or
the dry season will bring forth, how much food his family will
require, and how a given supply can best be divided among
several mouths during the days when no new food can be
procured. The more completely he becomes a farmer the less
he needs the quahties which enable him to find his way in the
dark or in the forest. On the other hand, the greater becomes
his need of the ability to plan for the future, to note the kind
of food which grows best in a given place, the amount which
is produced in one soil or on one slope compared with another.
Ten thousand years of life on the farm could scarcely leave a
people with the same character as ten thousand years of the
life of a hunter. And it is the farmer's life which gives the

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 99

opportunities for progress in civilization. It holds him to the
soil; it gives him an interest in developing one special piece of
land; it enables him to lay up capital; and it puts a premium

I on foresight for the future. This perhaps explains why in early
America the agricultural people in relatively unstimulating
climates made far greater progress than did the hunters who
lived in the most stimulating environment and had the greatest

i energy.

j An understanding of the relative part played by race, cli-
mate, inventions, natural resources, and culture or folk-ways in
determining human character is so important that I shall add

I another illustration taken in part from The Red Man's Continent.
On the west coast of America the state of civilization in pre-
Columbian days was, on the whole, lower than on the east
coast. On the west the most advanced people were the Haidas,
living in the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia. Most
authorities appear to agree with the statement of the Encyclo-
paedia Britannica that they "constituted with little doubt the

■ finest race and that most advanced in the arts of the entire west

' coast of North America." According to the Handbook of the
American Indians, they displayed, for example, great skill in
canoe-building, wood-carving, and the working of stone and
copper as well as in making baskets. Canoes of uncommon size

' were hollowed out of logs of cedar with the aid of fire. Houses
which were sometimes forty by one hundred feet in size were
built of huge cedar beams and planks. The planks were first

I shaped with stone and then put together at great feasts not un-
like the "raising bees" at which the neighbors gathered to erect
the frames of houses in early New England. The totem poles

' in front of the houses represent a fairly high development of
primitive art, while the permanence and size of the villages, and
the complexity and thorough development of the social usages
indicate a high type of barbarism rather than the savagery which
prevailed among the Iroquois, for example. Another notable
feature of the Haida life was commercial activity. The Haidas
were the great traders of the west coast, and sent their wares

100

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

hundreds of miles by sea among the bays and islands of their
indented coast.

Eastward from the Haidas the character of the Indians de-
clines very rapidly. A few hundred miles away, among the Rocky
Mountains and on their east side, there dwelt some of the low-
est tribes of the whole continent. To-day, as always, these tribes
seem to be so occupied with the severe struggle with the ele-
ments that they cannot advance out of savagery into barbarism.
When the white man came they were homeless nomads, whose
movements were largely determined by the food-supply. South-
ward from the Haidas along the Pacific coast a great deteriora-
tion of the Indians is likewise noticeable, especially in CaUfornia.
Only to the north among the Tlingits and related tribes do the
standards of character and achievement show any similarity to
those of the Haidas, but even these tribes fall much below the
level of that tribe.

Several factors probably combine to explain the relatively
civilized and progressive character of the Haidas. In the first
place the Queen Charlotte Islands are located in a climate much
like that of northwestern Scotland, a cHmate which is cool,
moist, and invigorating although not especially good for agri-
culture. The average temperature and rainfall suggest, indeed,
those of the depressing home of the Alikaluf in about the same
latitude in Tierra del Fuego. But there is a great difference, as
appears in the fact that the Queen Charlotte Islands are clothed
with a splendid forest, whereas in the windy part of the Tierra
del Fuegan region the trees are mere stunted shrubs. The differ-
ence in climate depends on three facts : first, the Queen Charlotte
summers average perhaps 8° F. warmer than those of the home
of the Alikaluf; second, the winds are far less violent, being in
fact quite gentle most of the year; and third, although the north-
ern islands have about as much rainfall and cloudiness as the
southern during most of the year, they enjoy a relatively dry
summer, with just rain enough to be almost ideal. Moreover,
in winter there is relatively little snow and no severe cold such
as still benumbs the Indians of the interior, and often led to

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 101

starvation in the past. Although the Haidas dwelt where it was
perhaps never quite warm enough for the best physical devel-
opment, they lived in a climate where mental activity is stimu-
lated and where life is not unpleasant.

Fully as important as the climate is the fact that the Haidas
had a large and steady supply of food close at hand. Most of
their sustenance was obtained from the sea and from the rivers,
I in which the summer runs of salmon furnished abundant pro-
visions, which rarely failed. In Hecate Strait, between the
Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland, there were wonder-
fully productive halibut fisheries. These excellent fish were dried
and packed away for the winter, so that there was almost 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. The Haidas likewise had the advantage of not being forced
to move from place to place in order to obtain food. They lived
on a drowned shore where bays, straits, and sounds are extraor-
dinarily^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 hunting tribes were forced to do, the Haidas
and their neighbors were able without difficulty to bring their
food home. At practically all seasons the canoes made it easy
to transport large supplies of fish from places a hundred miles
away if necessary. Another advantage was that the Haidas lived
where fine forests not only furnish splendid building material
and abundant fuel, but grow close to waterways which make it
easy to transport the wood to the villages. Because of their per-
manent villages, good shelter, and abundant and assured food-
supply, the Haidas could accumulate property and acquire that
feeling of ownership and stability which is one of the most im-
portant conditions for the development of civilization. Perhaps
biological mutations, racial mixture, and natural selection had
made the Haidas intellectually superior to many other tribes,
but even without this their surroundings would probably have
made them stand relatively high in the scale of civilization.

102

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Another possible reason for the superiority of the Haidas is
that their ancestors may have come to America by sea rather
than by land. Among the islands and bays of the Asiatic coast
from Chosen and Japan northeastward there have presumably
long been fishing tribes with some knowledge of boats. Such peo-
ple would naturally spread northward along the coast, and might
reach the Aleutian Islands. The distance from Kamchatka to
Bering Island is only one hundred miles, although the island is
not in sight from the mainland. The next step to Copper Island
is easy, but then comes a stretch of over two hundred miles. If
people were constantly using boats, some of the more adventur-
ous might be blown within sight of the islands on the American
side. Later a band of savages, including women, may have de-
liberately sailed across the open water, but only the bravest and
most adventurous would be likely to do so. This may have hap-
pened during an interglacial epoch when the land stood higher
than now with respect to the sea, and the islands were more
numerous and nearer together. Even if it occurred in post-
glacial times when the climate had not yet moderated to its
present condition, it would not be very difficult to cross from
Asia to America in boats along the line of the Aleutian
Islands.

That any such migration from Asia to America ever occurred
by way of the seacoast and the islands is, of course, pure specu-
lation. Dixon, indeed, thinks that the Haidas came to their
present home from the east instead of the northwest. But if
such a maritime migration did occur, it would enable people to
come to the New World without passing through the depressing
experience of the Siberian "pole of cold." Under present condi-
tions of climate no part of their route would have a January
temperature averaging much below 15° F., or about like that of
Montreal in Canada and New Chwang in Manchuria. If the
ancestors of the Haidas, Tlingits, and their relatives by any
chance came to America this way, their freedom from the ner-
vous strain of the long land migration may have something to
do with the relatively active mentality of their descendants.

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 103

So, too, may the natural selection which presumably kept the
less adventurous people on the Asiatic coast while those with
more bravery and initiative came to America.

Southward from the Haidas, around Puget Sound and in
Washington and Oregon, we find a gradual decline in the civiliza-
tion of the aboriginal Indians. The Chinook tribe of the lower
Columbia had large communal houses occupied by three or four
families of twenty or more individuals. Their villages were thus
fairly permanent, but there was much moving about in summer
since the food-supply consisted chiefly of salmon together with
roots and berries. The Chinooks were extremely skilful in han-
dHng their large, well-made canoes, which were hollowed out of
single logs. They were also noted as traders. 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, perhaps because their food-supply was less
certain and they did not have the advantage of easy water com-
munication, which did so much for the Haidas.

As to the tribes farther south, we are told by an eminent
authority (Kroeber, in the Handbook of American Indians North
of Mexico) that:

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 at-
tained 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 in-
centive to progress.

We are likewise told that some groups such as the Hupa
had no tribal organization and no formalities of government.
Formal councils were unknown, although the chief might and
often did ask advice of his men in a collected body. In general

104

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

the social structure of the California Indians was so simple and
loose that it is hardly correct to speak of them as divided into
tribes. Whatever solidarity or cohesion they possessed was due
in part to family ties, and in part to the fact that a given group
lived in the same village and spoke the same dialect. Between
dijfferent groups the common bond was similarity of language,
as well as frequency and cordiality of intercourse. In so primi-
tive a condition of society there was neither necessity nor oppor-
tunity for differences of rank. The influence of chiefs was small
and no distinct classes of slaves were known.

Extreme poverty was apparently an important 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 devoured
all birds except the buzzard, and ate badgers, skunks, wildcats,
and mountain lions. They even consumed the bones of salmon
and the vertebrae of deer. They gathered grasshoppers and lo-
custs 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 grass-
hoppers were helpless and were collected by the bushel. Again,
of the Moquelumne, one of the largest tribes in central Cali-
fornia, 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.

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
. . . even . . . the rude and unstable kind [of government] found
elsewhere." The Yuman tribes of the mountains east of San-

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 105

tiago are 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." In other words, although the mode
of life among these poor Indians was quite different from that
of the Chinese, whom we shall study in a later chapter, the
great elemental fact was the same. Dire poverty and recurrent
famine must often have caused some of the Indians to wander
away in search of a better land. Those who went away were
presumably the ones with more initiative, originality, and energy.
Here as in the case of the Haidas, we have no definite knowledge,
but we seem to have a clear example of a common. and wide-
spread type of natural selection. The principle involved is this:
a bad environment, especially one with recurrent periods of
acute distress, seems to drive away the more capable inhabi-
tants; a favorable environment, especially one where the means
of subsistence are not only abundant but vary little from year
to year, attracts people. Thus such regions become the object
of strife among the more capable people from the less favored
regions, and are likely to be inhabited by a race in whom natu-
ral selection has concentrated a higher ability than that of the
people in the poorer districts.

In the preceding paragraphs two sharply contrasted views
have been suggested. According to one view the natural environ-
ment of California is highly favorable to Indians as well as to
white men. But inasmuch as the Indians have been in an ex-
tremely low stage of progress and of mentality ever since any-
thing has been known about them, it is inferred that the environ-
ment has nothing to do with the status of the people. Accord-
ing to this view the "natural advantages" of central CaHfornia

106

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

seem almost to be "an impediment rather than an incentive to
progress/* The degree of progress, therefore, must depend
either on the absence of certain social usages, inventions, and
other cultural aids to progress, or on inherent defects of char-
acter.

According to the other view the environment of central and
southern California and likewise of Lower California is highly
unfavorable. Its direct repressive influences together with its
selective effect in causing the more energetic types to migrate
elsewhere perhaps explain why the people, especially in Lower
California, were "the lowest in culture of North America."

These contrasted views sum up the sharply defined antithesis
between what we may call the anthropological or ethnological
hypothesis that the fundamental differences between different
races are largely due to cultural conditions and historical acci-
dents, and the geographical hypothesis that they are due pri-
marily to physical environment and to the action of that en-
vironment in causing migrations and natural selection whereby
races become inherently different. Of course there is much truth
in both hypotheses. That cultural advantages are of enormous
importance and that they lead to the selection of certain types
of character for preservation I have already tried to show in
discussing the importance of iron tools, beasts of burden, and
agriculture. Each of these represents a great cultural advance,
which carried with it an almost unlimited train of consequences.
And these consequences include not only human habits, but also
human inheritance. But in the case of California and its Indians
it seems to me that we have an instance where physical environ-
ment comes first and cultural conditions second. The climate of
California may be good for health, but the absence of rain in
summer and its great variability in winter produce conditions of
vegetation and animal Hfe which kept the Indians in the direst
poverty. Such conditions subjected the Indians to what we have
called repressive evolution, and presumably led the more com-
petent Indians gradually to migrate into regions more highly
favored.

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 107

One reason for this view is found in the advanced Mohave
tribe which had its home on the lower Colorado River.

No better example of the power of environment to better man's con-
dition can be found than that shown as the lower Colorado is reached.
Here are tribes of the same family [as those of Lower California] remark-
able not only for their fine physical development, but living in settled vil-
lages with well-defined tribal lines, practising a rude but effective agri-
culture, and well advanced in many primitive Indian arts. The usual In-
dian staples were raised except tobacco, these tribes preferring a wild
tobacco of their region to the cultivated. (Hodge, Handbook of American
Indians.)

In order to appreciate the force of this quotation, it should
be remembered that, although California is famous for its agri-
culture, 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, barley, and the chief vegetables for which California
and sunilar subtropical regions are noted, were unknown in the
New World before the coming of the white man. So far as we are
aware no crops of any kind were ever cultivated by the primitive
Indians in California west of the Colorado valley. In pre-Colum-
bian America corn was the only cultivated cereal. The other
great staples were beans and pumpkins. All three are pre-emi-
nently summer crops and need much water in July and August.
In California there is no rain at that season. Wheat and barley,
on the other hand, need rain only from October to April, for
in regions as warm as California they can grow slowly during
the winter. The comparatively dry weather of May and June
is just what is needed to ripen these grains of the Old World,
and the complete drought of July and August does them no harm,
whereas it is fatal to crops which depend on rain in summer.

Crops can of course be grown during the summer in Cali-
fornia provided they are irrigated. But irrigation is far harder
for primitive people in a region of summer droughts than in one
where the winter is dry and there are summer showers. If irri-
gation is to be effective in California, it cannot depend on the

108 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

small streams which dry up almost as soon as the rains cease,
but must depend on comparatively large and permanent streams.
Most of these flow in well-defined channels; and during the sum-
mer at least, they do not afford much natural irrigation like that
of Egypt and Mesopotamia. With our modern knowledge and
machinery it is easy 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 practise a complex and highly devel-
oped system of irrigation. The lower Colorado fortunately floods
broad areas every summer. While elsewhere in Arizona and New
Mexico, that is in the old Pueblo area, summer rains cause simi-
lar floods along the rivers or on flat "fans" of sand and silt.
Along the rivers, as on the Nile, the retiring floods leave the
land so moist that crops can easily be raised. This natural
irrigation helped the Mohave Indians to practise agriculture
and to rise well above their kinsmen not only in Lower California,
but throughout the whole region. Perhaps we may look upon
them as a selected group of people who broke off from their kins-
men in other parts of California, and by reason of unusual mental
abihty and certain favorable geographical conditions were able
to utilize a new cultural method, namely agriculture. Environ-
ment, inheritance, culture— how closely the three are intertwined.

In this review of civilization in America we have considered
only a few of the primitive tribes, and have not discussed those
most advanced in civilization. We have, however, seen enough
of the continent to discover that the character of the aboriginal
Americans is not explained by any one factor. That the original
racial inheritance with which the different migrating bands
started from Asia still persists and influences their descendants,
seems probable. That certain qualities were intensified, eradi-
cated, or otherwise changed while the migrants were on their
way from Asia to the different parts of America, and while they
passed through such environments as the Siberian pole of cold,
the American deserts, the great plateaus, or the tropical forests,
seems equally probable. But on the original inherited character-

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 109

istics which have thus arisen, as described in a previous chapter,
there have presumably been grafted still other characteristics
arising from the mode of Hf e. People like the Iroquois, whose an-
cestors have depended on a precarious hunting existence for
tens of thousands of years, cannot be expected to have a character
like that of the Haidas, who have long depended on a fairly con-
stant and easily available supply of food which they can procure
without migrating. Nor can either of these be like the Pueblo
Indians, who for many generations have carried on agriculture
by means of irrigation.

Consider once more what a contrast there must be between
people who practise agriculture and those who cannot practise
it either because the climate, the vegetation, the absence of iron
tools and beasts of burden, or their own low stage of culture
makes it impossible. When a race settles down to agriculture a
great selective process takes place. It can be seen to-day in
Asiatic Russia where some of the Khirghiz and Turkomans have
taken to farming since the occupation of the country by Russia.
Practically all nomads hate farming. But some hate it worse
than others. The ones who hate it most are likely to be the most
active, adventurous spirits, whereas those who take to it most
readily are the ones who are predisposed to a sedentary life, and
who are least averse to steady work, a thing which nomads and
hunters usually find extremely irksome and often impossible.
Thus if the pressure of population and the presence of a favoring
environment cause part of a race to adopt a sedentary life, and
part to remain as hunters or cattle-raisers, there is likely to be a
clear-cut line of fission. As time goes on the line will presumably
become still clearer, for among the children of those who have
taken to farming, there is a strong tendency for some to go
back to the nomadic life. Those who thus return are almost
sure to consist of two groups: first, the more adventurous, and
second, those who are least competent to carry on steady work.
Moreover, many of those who take to agriculture are almost sure
to cultivate their fields most carelessly. The weediness and un-
kempt character of the farms of the Khirghiz in Siberia are

110

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

almost incredible. This condition also may indicate that a selec-
tive factor is at work. Those who are most careless will not only
tend to go back to the old life, but their children will in many
cases be poorly nourished, so that an unusual number will die.
At the end of a hundred generations there must apparently be
a strong hereditary difference between the people who have
taken to farming and those whose main means of livelihood has
been hunting.

Thus we would sum up the whole problem by saying that in
America, as in the Old World, the beginnings of civilization took
place in regions where the winters were warm and the summers
hot, and where by natural irrigation or by means of summer
rains it was easy to raise crops with a minimum amount of work.
These beginnings took place so long ago that the climate was
cooler and more stormy than now. Because of the difference in
the position of the various planetary belts of winds, and especially
in the southern margin of the belt of westerlies and of cyclonic
storms the area of early civilization lay about ten degrees farther
south in North America than in Asia and Africa. Then, as time
went on, early man in America developed his civilization as far
as was possible without iron tools and beasts of burden. Perhaps
he developed more rapidly in the Old World than in the New
because of a better racial inheritance. We have already seen
that Europe and its glaciations, and Asia and its deserts pre-
sumably exercised a remarkable selective effect upon the people
who in prehistoric times began the development of civilization
in western Asia and northern Africa. The racial mixture which
happened to occupy the best regions may also have been more
favorable in the Old World than in the New. Perhaps for that
reason, and perhaps for some other, the discovery of how to smelt
iron was made in the Eastern hemisphere and not in the Western.

If iron tools and beasts of burden had not become a part of
man's cultural inheritance, civilization would probably have
stagnated in both hemispheres. It would have stagnated because
there seems to be a certain level of achievement beyond which it
is impossible to rise without iron tools, or at least beyond which

THE ANOMALIES OF ABORIGINAL AMERICA 111

no race has ever risen. It would also have stagnated or perhaps
retrograded because as the glacial period passed away the cli-
mate of the places where civilization first developed became
less favorable, while the favorable places became those where
primeval forests are dense and the grass takes the form of sod.
The steps that were needed were the discovery of how to smelt
iron and make it into tools, and of how to tame and use animals
for draft purposes. The first discovery was made in the Old
World and not in the New. Perhaps this was mere accident,
and perhaps it was the result of greater intelligence in one place
than the other. Fortunate racial mixtures, the helpful selective
effect of glaciation in Europe, and the harmful selective effect of
the migration of the aboriginal Americans through Siberia and
Alaska may have had something to do with it. As to beasts of
burden the Americans were not to blame. They had no avail-
able beast, whereas the ox and horse were both at hand in Asia,
as were also the donkey, water-buffalo, sheep, goat, and camel.
These propitious circumstances helped the old civilization of
Eurasia to spread northwestward, while that of America stag-
nated and died. The aborigines of the northeastern United States
were highly energetic, but the difficulties of agriculture doomed
them to remain savage hunters almost indefinitely. Yet who
can say what might have happened had iron tools and beasts
of burden found their way to America before the white man ap-
peared on the scene?

CHAPTER Vni

THE ASIATICS WHO DWELL IN TENTS

In our attempt to understand why human character differs
from race to race and place to place, we have thus far dealt
largely with primitive people of the past. We have thereby ob-
tained some idea of the part which climatic and topographic
changes, migration, racial mixtures, human inventions, and
natural selection have played in modifying racial character. But
character is influenced not only by mutations, racial mixture,
and natural selection whereby new types of inheritance are es-
tablished, but by the direct effect of climate, food, occupations,
and diseases upon people's energy, health, and activity. Hence
we shall now consider the daily life and habits of certain chief
types among the people of Asia, and shall attempt to analyze the
effect of that life and of the other factors such as education,
government, religion, and the like upon natural selection. In
this we must Hmit ourselves to a few examples, for in this book
we can merely illustrate certain great principles.

The herding of animals is one of the most important of hu-
man occupations. It is important as a stage in the development
of civilization, and likewise as a mode of life which is still neces-
sary if man would occupy certain enormous sections of the earth.
Civilization, as we have seen, may indeed rise to a fairly high
level without the aid of domestic animals, as among the Mayas
of Central America. But its higher development and its spread
into many of the most favorable regions, such as the prairies and
temperate forests, seem to have been impossible until people
somehow obtained domestic animals able to bear burdens and
draw the plow as well as to furnish clothing, meat, and milk.
It was the good fortune of Asia, Europe, and north Africa to
have a long and important stage of pastoralism, whereas North

112

THE ASIATICS WHO DWELL IN TENTS IIS

America and Australia never had such a stage, South America
merely had a faint hint of it in its llama-raising people among
the high Andes, and Africa south of the equator probably had
few or no domestic animals until a relatively late period.

The regions where the pastoral mode of life still persists
must not be thought of as in a stage of transition. Although
pastoraHsm was probably a step in the evolution of the civiliza-
tion which now dominates the earth, it is by no means an indis-
pensable precursor of high civilization. The ancient Egyptians
may have begun to practise agriculture without first being herd-
ers. Indeed there is much to be said for the idea that farmers
could domesticate animals better than could wild hunters who
had no permanent abiding-place. Pastoral nomadism, as it ex-
ists to-day, is generally a mode of life which persists because the
environment and the stage of development of the people make
any other mode difficult or impossible. Most nomads live in
deserts or among mountains where there is an abundant growth
of grass at certain seasons, but where agriculture is for the most
part precarious. Because of drought, low temperature, or ex-
cessive moisture, the use of the grass by means of animals is the
only sure means of making the land yield a living. Where the
grass is scanty, or lasts only a few months, as in deserts, or where
it is accessible only during a short season free from snow, as in
high mountains, the people who wish to get a living from it
must be nomads, travelling from place to place with their
animals.

The great majority of pastoral nomads have many traits in
common. This is likely to be true even when such people rep-
resent reversions from a high stage of civilization. For exam-
ple, during the summer a good many sheep-herders frequent the
high plateaus of the western United States. The only one of this
kind with whom I ever stayed reminded me strongly of the
nomads of central Asia. He was overjoyed to see myself and my
companion because he had seen no one for several weeks, and
we brought news of the outside world. His equipment consisted
of one knife, one fork, one spoon, one cup, a stewpan, and a

114

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Dutch oven. He set before us a meal of roast lamb, bread,
stewed apricots, and coffee. The meat we ate with our fingers;
we took turns in dipping the apricots from the stewpan with the
spoon; and we passed the coffee-cup from hand to hand. He was
an excellent host, and took great pains to see that our horses
were properly hobbled in a good patch of grass. He likewise was
most solicitous that we have comfortable places in which to
spread our blankets on the ground. I can readily imagine that
if he and his descendants continued to practise the nomadic life
of American sheep-herders for a few generations they might be-
come much like some of the people of Asia.

Let us consider a group of people who have been nomads for
an indefinite period. One of the most noteworthy features of
Arabia is the great uniformity of the habits and character of all
its nomadic people. Because the country is so dry, nomadic pas-
toralism is the only mode of life possible in the major part of
the country. The settled inhabitants, to be sure, greatly out-
number the nomads but they occupy a relatively small space.
An account of some of my own experiences is perhaps as good a
way as any of giving an idea of certain important character-
istics which stand out strongly in the character of the nomads.

One day in April, 1909, 1 left my caravan and rode off among
the gentle hills of the plateau of Moab to visit some ruins. The
caravan leader failed to halt at the appointed rendezvous, and
my guide and I lost the trail. A few miles to the west the plateau
ended in the steep escarpment which drops 4,000 feet and more
to the bitter blue brine of the Dead Sea; eastward the sunset
light gave us a fine view of the gentle slope which descends by
insensible degrees to the great Syrian desert, a waste of gravel
and sand. The region, ten or fifteen miles wide between the es-
carpment and the desert, forms a narrow strip of grassland, whose
ownership is fiercely debated between settled farmers and wan-
dering nomads. In 1909 the nomads had the upper hand, for the
rains of early spring had failed, the grass had withered, the
springs had ceased to flow, and the Beduin had been forced to
take refuge in any and every place w^here they could find a

THE ASIATICS WHO DWELL IN TENTS 115

scanty bit of herbage for their flocks and camels, and a Uttle water
to assuage their thirst. An hour or two after sunset the barking
of dogs guided us to a Beduin encampment, a group of about
twenty long, low tents of black haircloth set in an ellipse a hun-
dred yards long, and lighted by small fires at which the evening
meal had been cooked. With the practised eye of the traveller
my guide, an Arabic-speaking soldier in the Turkish service,
picked out the tent of the chief or sheikh. One end of the tent
was devoid of any front wall, and was readily recognizable as
the men's quarters or guest-room. It was crowded with Arabs
muffled in woolen cloaks and clustered around a fire of dry weeds
whose intermittent flames lighted up a slab of limestone bearing
the rudely scratched insignia of the tribe of Beni Sakr.

We dismounted silently, as men do in a land where no man
knows whether the stranger is friend or mortal enemy. The
Arabs, grouped cross-legged or asquat around the blaze, received
us without a word, although the chief men rose and motioned to
us to seat ourselves in places of honor. A quilt was brought to
spread on the coarse woolen rugs where the rest were seated;
since I was a foreigner and hence a guest of distinction, another
was rolled up so that I might rest my left elbow upon it. Only
when we were comfortable did conversation slowly begin. At
first the subject was roads and villages, but soon we touched
upon the Arab's perennial topic, his quarrels with the govern-
ment. As the sheikh told how he and his people had fought with
the Turkish soldiers not many years ago his eyes grew so fierce
and his gestures so violent, that I should have feared we would
be murdered had I not known that an Arab never does violence
to his guests.

"Why do you wear that uniform?'' he said to my guide.
"You are a good man, but how I hate your clothes ! Why does
the government take taxes from poor Arabs who come from the
desert in times of drought? Have not the Arabs the right to
feed their flocks wherever there is grass? Some day soon the
Turks will see what my people will do."

It almost seemed as if his eyes shot fire. He little thought

116

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

that in his hatred of the government he was simply reflecting
his environment. Almost all nomads are hard to rule and are
often at enmity with their government. One reason is that when
they have made a raid or otherwise incurred the displeasure of ||
the officials, they can easily slip away into the desert and dis-
appear. Moreover, they live in such small groups that it is im- j
possible for the government to maintain officials among them.
So they have their own patriarchal form of self-government, |
and bitterly resent any attempt to force anything else upon
them.

While we conversed, green coffee-beans had been roasted on
a long-handled iron spoon. Now they were vigorously and rhyth-
mically pounded in a large wooden mortar. The grounds were
then boiled in a copper coffee-pot, poured into another and
boiled again, then back into the first, and so on. After about
half a dozen boilings a strong black decoction was poured into
a little china cup from which the host drank first, to show that
it was good— unpoisoned. Then this cup and another circulated
among the guests who now numbered about twenty. Next the
evening meal was served, a tender lamb freshly killed and boiled
for our benefit. We pulled it to pieces with our fingers, as the
custom is in the desert. With it were thin sheets of unleavened
bread, good not only as food but as scoops wherewith to ladle
up sour milk and soft butter. This was no ordinary Arab meal
such as is commonly eaten in times of drought, but a feast for
guests; so we were offered still another dish, cracked wheat
boiled with a little fat, and eaten with the hands. In all essen-
tial details this meal was remarkably like the one with the
sheep-herder in Utah.

When the sheikh was not excited he was an admirable host.
Thinking that I might be chilly that April night, with the tem-
perature close to forty, he thoughtfully threw over my shoulders
a thick Arab cape of wool. When we went to bed he took great
pains to see that we were warmly covered, especially our heads.
Not till he had seen the guide and myself, together with two
Beduin guests, comfortably stretched on the ground around the

THE ASIATICS WHO DWELL IN TENTS 117

ashes of the coffee fire and apparently asleep with our heads
resting on saddles, did he retire to his own part of the tent.

As the fire faded the beauty of the clear moonHt night was
more and more apparent. The occasional faint bleat of a young
lamb or the suppressed bark of a dog only emphasized the still-
ness. Then, suddenly, the sound of guns rent the air, dogs began
to bark wildly, men shouted, children screamed, and the shrill
cry of women arose. The camp jumped to its feet in a moment;
the men flung their striped white and brown cloaks over their
shoulders, slipped their feet into low shoes, if they had any,
and gun in hand hastened away on foot or on the camels and
horses which had been tethered near the tents. Before I could
put on the clumsy boots evolved by our type of civilization, they
had gone off toward the southeast, followed by a crowd of women.
Then there was silence once more; almost before I understood
what had occurred the excitement had subsided. In the bright
moonlight the women, with queenly gait and haggish tatooed
faces, streamed back down the hillside in their trailing garments
of dark blue. Nothing unusual had happened; it was merely a
"ghazzu,'^ or raid. The Howeitat Arabs, enemies of the tribe of
Beni Sakr, and likewise suffering from the drought, had come in
from the desert to the region where water and grass were to be
found. That night they raided their neighbors and drove off a
herd of a hundred or more camels which had been rounded up
at a little distance from the tents.

To me that raid was exciting, even though it was not my
first experience of the kind. I felt that the raiders were guilty
of a great crime. Not so the Arabs. Nothing about the raid im-
pressed me so much as the attitude of the two gray-bearded
Beduin who were my fellow guests that night. When awakened
by the guns, they merely sat up, realized what had happened,
and lay down once more to sleep. What was a raid to them? A
mere part of the day's work. It was nothing to them if other
people's camels were stolen. Perhaps their own tribesmen had
done the deed. But anyhow, here was no matter of right or wrong,
nothing demanding redress. If they should help recover the

118

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

camels, they might themselves incur enmity and even become
involved in a blood-feud with the raiders. Perhaps it would be
their own turn to be raided to-morrow; then they would exert
themselves. Since raids were in progress, they doubtless had
their minds on some in which they themselves might take part.
Neither their help nor ours was expected nor wanted by our
hosts.

Next morning in the chill, damp air that precedes sunrise we
four guests caught and saddled our hobbled horses and rode
away without washing or eating, or speaking to any one. All the
men of the camp were gone, and the women have naught to do
with guests. Yet even in Arabia, the very heart of Moham-
medanism, the nomad women are not secluded like their sisters
of the oases. They cannot be, for who can wear a veil while
milking sheep, managing a camel, or taking down a tent? They
have their separate part of the tent, to be sure, but most of their
work is done unveiled and out of doors. This helps to make them
more self-reliant than the village women. Still more important
is the fact that when their husbands go off on raids or in pur-
suit of raiders all the responsibility for children, tents, and
animals falls on the women. Those who are not self-reliant are
not wanted as wives by the bolder men. They fall to the men
who shrink from raids, the stay-at-homes, who ultimately be-
come villagers. Hence it is not strange that when a nomad girl
is taken to a harem in a village or city, she and her children are
generally dominant. Often such a woman dominates not only
the other wives and their children but her husband. From such
stock came Zenobia, the famous queen of Palmyra.

Let us return to the spring of 1909. Five times that season I
came directly in contact with Arab raids on the border of the
Syrian desert. Once in Jebel Druze I was walking on foot, un-
armed, with two companions. Two men on horseback with
rifles suddenly appeared from behind a great pile of stones and
demanded our money. Seeing that I was the leader they con-
centrated on me. I argued the point and laughed, which seemed
to puzzle them. For a couple of minutes one robber silently

THE ASIATICS WHO DWELL IN TENTS 119

pointed his rifle at my head, while I looked up the barrel. Then
they rode off. I judge that they could not understand our tac-
tics, for they were used to dealing with villagers. Three raiders
had recently held up sixteen villagers and stripped them of prac-
tically everything in that very region, so we were told. The vil-
lager is a coward compared with the son of the desert.

Another time we were returning to Homs from the ruins of
Zenobia's home at Palmyra in the desert. We were driving in a
carriage which easily traversed the smooth expanses of gravel
even although there was no road. At one place we turned aside
for some miles into the mouth of a mountain valley. After ex-
amining the ruins of a village, once well-watered, but now abso-
lutely waterless, we were ready to proceed. It appeared that if
we could get the carriage over a spur a mile or more ahead, a
detour of six or eight miles could be avoided; and accordingly one
of our two soldiers was sent forward on horseback to reconnoitre.
Two hours and a half passed and he did not return, so finally
the other soldier was sent to find him. At length the two horse-
men returned after another hour or more. The first soldier looked
much disturbed, and there were empty spaces in his cartridge-
belt. At first he was uncommunicative, but finally he told his
tale: "When I reached the ridge, I found that the carriage could
cross, but there was another ridge a little farther on. I went to
look at it, and found the path too rocky for wheels. When I
turned back I saw ten or twelve Arabs down in the valley. I
knew they were raiders. So I hid among the rocks. Then I was
afraid that they had seen me and would climb up another way
and catch me; so I got behind a safer rock and fired eleven shots
at them. I did not hit anybody and they went off. I dared not
leave my hiding-place tiU I saw my companion on the other
ridge."

The Arabs were raiders, as the soldier thought, for later we
heard of their depredations, but his action in shooting at them
was idiotic. Luckily they did not know how many of him there
were, and so did not attack him. If he had killed any one a
blood feud would have arisen, which would probably have cost

no

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

the soldier his life and might have cost ours. His conduct illus-
trates the bitter hatred which prevails between the wandering
Beduin of the desert and the settled peasants of the same stock
and language who live in the fringe of verdure.

I could tell of other raids that I have experienced among other
kinds of nomads. Once, for example, I was eating lunch under
the mulberry-trees at Pertag beside the upper Euphrates River.
A party of mountain Kurds drove off the sheep of the village in
broad daylight, and all the men went out to recover them.
Times were hard, and the chief of the Kurds had died. So every
man did what was right in his own eyes. I have heard the Turko-
mans tell of their raids before the Russians stopped them, and
I have been warned of Afghan tent-dwellers, and have had them
draw their guns on me. Such raids are an estabHshed part of
the mode of life in many regions. They differ from the stage-
coach raids of the frontier days in America or from banditry in
China in that they are practised by the best of the community,
men who are looked upon as the ideal type, whereas the modern
highwayman and bandit are looked upon with contempt. In
other words the camel-lifting raids of the desert nomads, like
the warlike forays of the American Indians, are an estabHshed
part of the "mores'^ or tribal customs of those who practise
them, and hence do not go counter to the moral standards of
the community as do the acts of stage-coach robbers, burglars,
or bandits in settled communities.

Let us consider for a moment how such mores have grown
up and how they in turn influence not only the culture and train-
ing of a people, but its inheritance. Picture to yourself the main
events in the life of an Arab nomad during the course of a year.
In the spring when the camels, goats, and sheep are giving
abundance of milk he lays up a store of sour cheese and curds,
dried hard as the toughest hardtack. Then when the summer
comes he exchanges his surplus animals, chiefly the young males,
for dates, wheat, and rice grown in the oases or in the border-
lands around the desert where agriculture is possible. A few
animals may be saved for future use as food, but only the most

THE ASIATICS WHO DWELL IN TENTS 121

wealthy can afford to eat meat often. In good years the ordinary
Arab can lay by enough food to last himself and his family until
the following spring. Yet even in good years many of the nomadic
Arabs are unable to provide enough to last later than perhaps
February, the time when the rains ought to come and when the
young sheep and camels begin to be born, and milk is normally
abundant. But if all goes well it is possible to live through the
spring on nothing but milk. The Arabs do this frequently, al-
though they do not enjoy it. Doughty, in his vivid account of
Arabia Deserta, tells how the Arabs who have long been living
on milk pine for something else. " Give us bread,'' is their cry.
"For two months we have drunk this vile milk. Our stomachs
are empty and we cannot fill them. Let us have something we
can set our teeth into, something that has substance."

Suppose now that when the time comes for the young animals
to be born and for abundant milk to supplement or replace dates
and bread, no rain has fallen. No wonder the Arabs are anxious.
No wonder the first question of the tent-dweller whom Doughty
met was: "Where is the rain? Have showers fallen anywhere?
Is there grass in the land ? How far to the place of the shower ?
Did it extend wide over the country ? Why does Allah withhold
the rain so long?" Imagine the mental state of people who
eagerly pack their tents and all their crude belongings upon
camels and travel one or two hundred miles simply because they
have heard that a little shower has fallen over an area no larger
than that watered by a single summer thunder-storm. Yet this
is a common occurrence in Arabia. Often, indeed, the showers
are so scanty that the pools are not filled, and the grass springs
up so sparsely that to the eye of any but the son of the desert
it is almost invisible; and even to him it becomes invisible as
soon as its scanty spears, two or three inches high, wither in the
scorching sun. When such years come, as they often do, the
mother animals can find no fresh pasturage; they may subsist
themselves, but they have no milk for their young. Animal after
animal dies. The Arabs see that they can lay by no curds and
cheese for the winter; but that is far from the worst. They see

122

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

also that the price of dates and wheat will be high because of the
drought, and that they will have no surplus animals to exchange
for food of any kind. And worst of all they see their children
hungry and crying for food. This is no overdrawn picture. It is
what happens when two or three dry years come in succession.

What is an Arab to do when his camels, his sheep, his wife,
his children, and himself are all suffering the pangs of hunger ?
He cannot go off to some other land and get work. In the first
place the better adapted he is to the nomadic life the more he
hates the thought of steady work, and the less adapted he is to
it temperamentally. In the second place there is rarely any work
to be had, for when he is in distress the settled regions near him
are also usually suffering from drought. And finally, unless he
absolutely gives up his old life he cannot abandon or sell what
animals he has left, but must care for them as the basis of any
prosperity for which he may hope in the future. The only re-
source under such circumstances is plunder. The man who is
starving has little thought of right or wrong. To have such
thoughts would seem to him fatal. If considerations of humanity
or any other moral ideas prevent him from engaging in raids
upon the tribes around him, the doom of his family may be
sealed, for his children may die of hunger. Thus through the
thousands of years since nomads first lived in Arabia the hard
conditions of climate have steadily forced the Arabs to frame a
moral code which condones violence, and have at the same time
weeded out those who withheld their hands from violence or
were incompetent in robbery and raids.

The man who would succeed and who would keep his chil-
dren in health must not only be ready to commit depredations
and be utterly dishonest according to our standards, but must
also be strong in the endurance of heat, thirst, and the weariness
of long rides. Unfortunately he has little need of steady in-
dustry, or of strength to endure long physical labor. Laziness,
according to our definition of the word, is no great disadvantage
provided a man is able to summon up his powers in a crisis
when the camels have strayed far away, when they have been

THE ASIATICS WHO DWELL IN TENTS 123

driven off by raiders, or when the man himself goes on a foray.
Hence the Arab is lazy as well as disregardful of what we call
common honesty. Just as he thinks of raids as a part of the or-
dinary routine of life, so he thinks of steady work as something
scarcely to be demanded even of women and as fit only for
slaves. Shame enters the family with the plow." Thus do the
Tuaregs, or Berber nomads of Algeria, sum up their idea of agri-
culture, as Gautier tells us in The Geographical Review (January,
192 1). To them the towns are "nauseating.'' Nevertheless, a
great many nomads are gradually drawn away from the life of
the wanderer and become peasants. But "a nomad tribe ruined
by losing its camels and consequently its mobility enters on
sedentary life with rancor in its heart. It is the supreme humilia-
tion, an irretrievable loss of caste." (Gautier.) The great his-
torian Ibn Khaldun speaks of the degenerate descendants of an-
cient nomad tribes as "so abased that they pay the impost."
The true nomad levies impost and pockets it.

Natural selection is very effective in this process of differen-
tiating the nomads from the villagers. Some nomads may go to
the well-watered lands as conquerors, but the ones who become
peasants are generally those who either fail in the struggle as
nomads or who have a particular aptitude for agriculture. It
may be that they have not enough endurance and that the
thought of having plenty to eat outweighs their dislike of steady
work. Or it may be that by reason of physique or temperament
the work itself is not so distasteful to them as to some of their
comrades. So they leave the nomads and go to the oases or to
the fringes of verdure surrounding the desert. Thus through the
ages there goes on a steady process whereby one type of char-
acter becomes fixed in the desert and another is encouraged in
the places where agriculture prevails.

The completeness with which the activities of the Arabs are
controlled by the dry cKmate is illustrated by the fact that their
raids, like the majority of human actions, are timed according
to the earth's rotation and the inchnation of its axis. As a rule
the Beduin make raids upon one another rather than upon the

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

sedentary population who are protected by their villages. On
long raids the plunderers sometimes ride three or four hundred
miles to the scene of operations. To be most successful they need
camels to endure thirst and to travel hard on little food, and
horses to use in the final dash when speed and docility are re-
quired in order to round up and drive off the camels or other
animals selected as prey, or to ride down escaping victims. The
mares, however, which are the only horses kept by the Arabs in
any numbers, cannot endure long marches without drinking.
Accordingly each pair of Beduin in a well-equipped party takes
a milch camel and a mare which has been taught to drink camePs
milk. They ride the camel on the long marches, and where water
is scarce use its milk to supply themselves and their horse with
both food and drink. Only when the camel foals are several
months old can the mothers safely be taken from them. Since
the young camels are mainly born in February and March, the
months of May and June are the great season for raids. Earlier
than this not only do the Arabs hesitate about taking away the
mother camels, but the business of taking care of the young
animals is too engrossing to permit of many raids. Later, during
the hot, rainless summer, many springs and wells dry up, and
this not only makes it hard to travel across the desert, but
obliges the Arabs, both the plunderers and the plundered, to
concentrate around the larger supplies of water. Raids thus be-
come more difficult because many people are together and be-
cause the distance to be traversed from water to water is great.
In dry years, however, the season for raids is greatly lengthened,
and they occur almost everywhere.

Wherever we turn among the Arabs we find habits and traits
which have either originated because of the desert environment
or have been preserved by it through the process of natural
selection. In addition to predatory habits, dishonesty, and lazi-
ness, other traits, such as democracy, as I have shown elsewhere,
are dependent upon climatic environment. The utensils, orna-
ments, and dwellings used by the different kinds of nomads are
very much alike. No one who packs up all his household goods

THE ASIATICS WHO DWELL IN TENTS 125

every two or three weeks and carries them on horses or camels
can have large pieces of furniture. Bedsteads, bureaus, tables,
chairs, and similar paraphernaHa are out of the question. The
way to sleep is on a thin mattress, quilt, or felt, spread on the
ground. The way to pack one^s belongings is in soft bags or small
boxes that can be slung on the backs of animals. A piece of crock-
ery is a continual nuisance for it has to be packed with great
care at each migration, and ten to one it will be broken before
long when some animal runs away. Iron pots, pans, and kettles
are reduced to a minimum because of their weight.

Because life is so simple and because people must carry all
their paraphernalia with them at each migration the outward
difference between the rich and the poor is reduced to a mini-
mum. The tent of the richest man may be two or three times as
large as that of the poorest, but in general style the two are
identical. It is utterly impossible to have any such contrast as
that which exists between the palaces of our multimillionaires
and the hovels or tenements of the poor. This tends to make the
nomad democratic. So, too, does the fact that the encampments
are small, rarely more than a dozen or twenty tents, so that
every one is thrown into intimate contact with every one else.
Moreover, the rich and the poor alike realize that at any time
they are likely to lose everything. In a raid the poor man who
has three camels and the rich man who has three hundred both
may lose them all. This complete loss of property, this levelling
of all grades of society to the plane of direst poverty is so common
that there has grown up among the Arabs a peculiar kind of
generosity. When a man has been robbed it is the common cus-
tom for all of his immediate clan to contribute camels accord-
ing to their means and thus start him once more toward pros-
perity.

Among pastoral nomads there is likewise great uniformity in
the dominant types of art. In the business of life the things that
the nomad needs are wooden bowls, skins in which to store milk,
bags, saddles, rugs, quilts, and similar small, soft, or unbreak-
able articles. Hence the art of all those people turns primarily

126 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

to the making of clothing and of ornamental rugs and felts for
the floor and walls of the tents, and ornamental leather-work
for bags, saddles, and the sides of boxes. Practically everything
in the way of art and handicraft employs wool and leather as
the chief raw materials. Even wood takes a secondary place.

Another almost universal trait of nomads is hospitahty. Even
where the nomads and the people of the irrigated villages are
of the same race, there is an almost incredible difference in their
attitude toward strangers. The tent-dweller receives every one
who comes, gives him of the best, and sends him on his way re-
joicing. The villager looks upon the traveller with suspicion,
tries to send him somewhere else, and at best gives him a grudg-
ing hospitality. All this is the inevitable result of the fact that
the nomad has to wander and that his life often depends on the
hospitality of other encampments. Suppose the animals stray
away. The man who starts in pursuit of a stray animal rarely
goes back to the tents for a supply of food, or for an extra gar-
ment, in spite of the bitterly cold weather which is common in
many Asiatic deserts. It is his business to pursue the animal as
quickly as possible, even if he has to go a score or more miles.
At nightfall he makes for the nearest encampment, whether it
be his own or some other. Every one knows that he may be in
dire need of hospitality himself at any time, and those who fail
in this respect are quickly made to suffer in their own hour of
need. The habit of hospitality has now become almost instinc-
tive, if such an expression is allowable.

Among the Arabs and among pastoral nomads in general few
qualities are more important than the capacity either to lead or
to be led. East of the Caspian Sea, for example, before the Rus-
sians put an end to such habits, the regular mode of starting a
Turkoman raid was for some one to drive his spear upright into
the ground and say: "I am going on a raid. Who will go with
me ? " Others came forward, thrust in their spears, and said that
they too would go. When a raid is once under way three condi-
tions are absolutely essential to success: Some one must lead;
the rest must obey; and each man must have implicit confidence

j THE ASIATICS WHO DWELL IN TENTS 127

I

in his comrades. Failure in any one of these respects may spell
not only disaster but death. To the hunter or farmer it makes
little difference whether he can lead other men or not. Nor is it
essential that he should obey on the instant. He usually works
alone and depends almost entirely on himself. But when an en-
campment of the desert people is raided, the only chance of re-
covering the animals is for some one immediately to issue orders
I and all the rest to obey. The farmers of the oases and elsewhere
are sometimes subject to raids, but not nearly so much as are the
nomads. It is far harder and more dangerous to raid a village
than to raid a camp. Then, too, animals — not grain — are gen-
erally what the raiders want.

Again, during the course of a raid it may happen time and
again that the raiders are in sore straits. Often two men ride a
camel. Or if each has his own camel one man may care for sev-
eral animals while the rest are busy in other ways. If the one
who has the camels flees at sight of danger his comrades may
perish. If they escape, the man who failed them is fiercely hated
and driven from the camp. So necessary is it that the comrades
in a raid or in the chase after stray animals hang together that
a nomad scarcely dares come home alone if some accident has
befallen his companions.

We have spoken chiefly of the Arabs, but in practically all
desert regions and among mountain nomads, such as many of
the Khirghiz, almost the same habits prevail. Let us sum up
the qualities which make a nomad successful and which thereby
enable him to marry the finest girls in the community, and to
bring up many healthy, sturdy children. First and foremost
stands the ability to exert himself strenuously and without stint
in an emergency. It matters little whether the animals have
strayed, have been attacked by wild animals, or are threatened
by a sudden storm or flood. Or it may be that the man himself
is going on a raid or his encampment is being raided. In any
case he must not spare himself. He must not think of food,
drink, or his own sufferings. For a while he must do and dare
everything, and exert every ounce of his strength. After the emer-

128

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

gency is over he may be absolutely idle. In fact he generally is.
His wife and children can do the milking and care for the animals
so long as there is no emergency. Hence, as already stated, lazi-
ness in the ordinary sense of the word is no disadvantage. In
fact the man who is good at steady industry is very likely to be
weeded out of the community either because he does not suc-
ceed or because he finds the sedentary Hfe better adapted to
him. A second great quality of the nomad is the power of lead-
ing, and a third is the power of being led. These are perhaps as
essential as the capacity for sudden and violent exertion. With-
out them a nomad camp would quickly disintegrate and its
members would perforce take to agriculture or become mere
hangers-on in other camps.

Another fine quality of nomads is self-reliance. The nomad
meets sudden emergencies far oftener than does the farmer.
Coupled with this is the necessity of self-reliance on the part of
the nomadic women. Little by little the type which is not bold
and self-reHant tends to disappear from among the tent-dwellers.
Either their children meet with accidents, or they themselves
are not wanted as wives by the bolder and more energetic men,
and hence are likely to drift with the less adventurous men into
the sedentary life. Still other qualities, such as hospitality and
faithfulness to one's comrades, are at a greater premium among
nomads than among those who live in settled villages, for failure
in these respects is much more likely to spell disaster to the
nomad than to the farmer. Thus through thousands of years, in
north Africa, Arabia, central Asia, and to a less extent in certain
other deserts, there has grown up a type of bold, forceful, active,
dominating wanderers who nevertheless are lazy and have little
skill in the handicrafts. They are inherently different from
their patient, timid, and submissive cousins who have become
inured to the quiet life of the villages, but who are also indus-
trious and skilful. The interplay between these two types,
and the repeated conquest of one by the other have been
among the dominant factors of history.

CHAPTER IX

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS

If the ideas advanced in this book are correct, racial char-
acter is plastic. Not only has it changed repeatedly in the past,
but in many cases it is still changing and may alter greatly in
the future. The character of the Jews, for example, seems to
have passed through a gradual evolution. Old traits still remain,
but new ones have been developed or at least have sprung into
prominence. The first Jews of whom we have record were Israel-
ite nomads not greatly unlike the Arabs discussed in the last
chapter. Jacob's fear of a raid on the part of Esau was almost
identical with the fear of the modern Arabs during periods of
scarcity, such as 1909. In the book of Job not only was the hero
a rich nomadic chief, but he was raided repeatedly under cir-
cumstances not essentially different from those of to-day. Al-
though some, at least, of the Israelites stayed for a while in Egypt,
they had not lost the nomadic character when they departed
from that country. The forty years in the wilderness were appar-
ently merely the normal wanderings of a tribe of Beduin. We
are told that Joseph and his brethren settled in Egypt because
famine drove them from a dry region into lands that were better
watered.

Without going further into this question it seems fair to con-
clude that when the Hebrews first appear in history their char-
acter was much like that of the modern nomadic Arabs. For
example, Caleb was one of the spies sent by Moses from Kadesh
in southern Palestine to spy out the land of Canaan. He and his
brother Jerahmeel are called sons of Hezron, which signifies " the
nomadic life." In the same way we are told that Caleb's first
wife was Azubah, which means "an abandoned desert region";
Jerioth or "tent curtains" is mentioned as a second wife, which is

129

130

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

probably another way of expressing the desert origin of the Jews.
During the period of the Judges several stories reflect the habits
and characteristics of a desert people. When Sisera fled to the
camp of Heber he probably hid in the women's part of the tent,
for in no other part would he be screened from the view of the
passers-by. There he was killed by Jael, perhaps because no
strange men may with impunity enter the women's quarters.

How far there was a tendency for those IsraeHtes who pos-
sessed the more strictly nomadic character to drift back into
the desert during the days of the early Judges, when they were
not yet well established as farmers, we cannot say. At an earher
date Ishmael, who "dwelt in the wilderness," almost certainly
represents the type of nomad who cHngs to the desert. He was
"as a wild ass among men; his hand was against every man and
every man's hand against him; and he dwelt to the east of all
his brethren." Lot, on the other hand, apparently stands for the
type to whom settled life made the strongest appeal, for he chose
the cities of the plain of Jordan, "well watered everywhere."
Presumably this same tendency toward a differentiation in char-
acter between the adventurous, active, nomadic type and the
more conservative, industrious, agricultural type continued dur-
ing the long period when the Hebrews were conquering Palestine
and driving out or mingling with the older Canaanite popula-
tion.

Then there began another selective process which is one of
the main themes of large sections of the Bible. In the books of
Kings, Chronicles, and the prophets it is described as the lure
of strange gods and strange women. To the geographer it is the
lure of the great highways, the lure of fertility and prosperity,
and the menace of accessibihty, that is, the danger that arises
when people are unduly exposed to the influence of the chance
passer-by and of the great routes of travel. In most parts of
Palestine the lure and the menace went so far that the Israelites
disappeared. Only in the rocky, isolated little plateau of Judea
was there an environment which enabled two tribes to resist the
lure and face the menace, so that a remnant of "God's chosen

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS

131

people" stood fast. Hence, there and there alone, in a tiny-
plateau no more than a day's walk in width, and two days' walk
in length, the Hebrews as a race persisted and gave rise to the
people who later were called Jews. The rest of the IsraeHtes are
the "lost" ten tribes. It was the tribe of Judah and its little
adjunct, Benjamin, that held their own in the relatively infertile
plateau and thus gave the world many of its noblest ideas.

The disappearance of the ten tribes took place partly because
they mingled with other races whom they did not completely
exterminate, as is so vividly described in the Bible. It also oc-
curred partly because they were in lands that were open to
invasion. East of the Jordan in periods of stress the nomads of
the desert swept in again and again. The record of this is pre-
served in vivid accounts of raids in the land of Moab. Elsewhere,
as in GaHlee and Samaria, the IsraeHtes were in close and easy
contact not only with the great road from Egypt to Syria and
Assyria, but with the Phoenicians of the Syrian coast and the
PhiHstines of the plain of Sharon.

The importance of caravan roads is rarely understood by-
Westerners. To us who travel on fast trains most of the villages
through which we pass are wholly unknown. Thousands of peo-
ple in scores of trains may pass through a village each day, and
yet the only ones who affect its Hfe may be the handful who get
on or off the one or two local trains which stop there. But in a
land where every one travels on horses, camels, or donkeys, or
else on foot, a great road has a very different effect on the people.
Every caravan must stop each night, and must frequently rest a
day or two. The average distance traveled by a camel caravan
is not more than fifteen miles per day, and even with horses
a twenty-mile march in one day is the usual limit. So every
village on or near a caravan road is frequently called upon to
provide for the wants of great caravans. Often the traveling
merchants turn aside a few miles to avoid the crowd at certain
points, or in the hope of finding cheaper food or more abundant
grazing. Every villager with aught to sell, if he cannot find ready
sale in his own home market, bethinks him of the caravan sta-

132

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

tions. He loads his donkeys with panniers of grapes, rope crates
of melons, coarse bags of barley, or sheaves of half-dried hay,
and wends his way to the great highroad. A day's journey
thither and a day's journey back is no great matter. No part of
Lower Galilee or of Samaria north of Shechem lies farther from a
great caravan road than a man might drive a slow donkey in a
day. The Oriental, even more than his Occidental brother, must
gossip and get the news when he waits for buyers or sits idle of
an evening. Thus in the days of active caravan traffic the low
portions of Palestine between the plateaus at either end were
permeated through and through by outside influences. They
could not remain secluded. Therefore the prophets wailed over
"the wickedness of Samaria"; and the northern province was
''GaHlee of the Gentiles."

Judea, unlike Samaria and Galilee, lies off the main routes of
travel. It is rugged, hard to traverse, infertile, and relatively un-
desirable. Hence the people of Judea were like children living in
a retired house among the woods, near a great road, but far back
out of sight and sound of it. Those of Samaria were like children
whose home stands close upon the busy turnpike, whose friends
are the teamsters and hucksters, and whose playground is the
dust of the street or the vacant lot across the way. Sheltered
among the rounded hills of their plateau, the Judeans were close
to the other parts of their Httle country, and yet apart in safety.
They felt the influence of the highly varied districts round about
them but retained their individuahty. The traffic of the world
passed on the west and north, and even on the south, giving them
some knowledge of the busy Hfe of the great world, but not really
entering into the daily routine which is the heart of human exist-
ence. They shuddered as hordes from the eastern desert pressed
over Moab on the east, or the Negeb on the south, but their
isolation saved them from the scourge. So for over a millennium
they dwelt in seclusion and developed noble ideas of God and
truth and justice, until the greatest of men, a Judean in ancestry
and birth, came up from Galilee, and, taking the truths which
had been fostered and preserved in the rocky plateau, trans-

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS 133

formed them into the peerless rules of conduct which form the
basis of Christianity.

But why did the Judeans develop such lofty ideals, such a
stern moral fiber, such great strength of purpose ? It was partly
because the ruggedness and aloofness of the plateau isolated them
just enough to permit natural selection to work with great effec-
tiveness. Because of the physical character of their homes the
Judeans did not mix freely with the followers of strange gods
who surrounded them. Yet always from the beginning of their
settlement in the land there was a tendency for some to leave
their rugged home and seek their fortunes in the richer regions
round about. Samson is a good example. It was the PhiHstine
women who tempted him to come down into the plain which
was his undoing. The prophets are full of denunciations of the
Israelites who married heathen women, followed strange gods,
and took up heathen practices. It must be remembered that
although Judea seems a great and potent center to us, it was not
a center of any importance in the ancient world. It was a mere
little backwater in the ebb and flow of the great civilized nations
of Egypt, Syria, Assyria, the Hittites, and others. It was too
poor to be greatly desired by its neighbors, too rugged to be
easily conquered, and too difficult of passage and too far away
from the main routes to be crossed by armies or caravans. Hence
it was left to itself like the highlands of Scotland, or like the
Alleghany plateau in Kentucky and Tennessee. The regions
around it including Samaria and the Philistine plain would by
ordinary standards have been counted much more advanced,
progressive, and prosperous.

So the Judeans were constantly tempted to go out into the
civilized world around them, a world which was within sight from
hundreds of the roofs on which the villagers sit every day toward
evening in the long, dry summer. The thing which drove them
out was the desire for gain, ease, pleasure, luxury, and culture.
The thing which kept them in Judea was love of home, a fond-
ness for their mountains and hills, the lure of a shepherd life,
and especially the strong promptings of religious and racial

184

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

loyalty. If we may judge by the Bible, the religious element
was of uncommon importance in holding some Jews in Judea
while others drifted away. So it seems that here in this stony
little plateau a great process of selection went on which picked
out for preservation the people who were tenacious of their race,
tenacious of their homes, and, above all, tenacious of their re-
ligion. Thus Judah and Benjamin gave rise to a chosen people,
while the other ten tribes were lost in the great maelstrom of
migrations, wars, and surrounding civilizations.

During the course of Jewish history the selective processes
did not always work in one way. For example, when the king-
dom of Judah was finally conquered by the Babylonians there
were several deportations. In each case the tendency was to
carry away the most influential and able parts of the community.
This may have markedly weakened the moral and intellectual
fiber of the people who remained in Judea, but some compensa-
tion was perhaps found in further selection that occurred in the
lands of the captivity. While the Jews were in Mesopotamia a
great many doubtless gave up their old religion and amalgamated
with the Assyrians. The book of Daniel is a vivid account of an
attempt by the Assyrian authorities to force four young men to
eschew their old religion and accept that of the people among
whom they dwelt. The book of Esther presents a similar pic-
ture of unyielding racial loyalty in the face of strong compulsion.
To yield would have been the easy course. Such a course was
presumably pursued by all except those who were most strong-
minded and most tenacious of their racial and religious inheri-
tance. Thus when a brighter day arrived and there was finally
a chance to go back to Judea, the people who were still called
Jews were a highly selected remnant. But the process of choosing
a certain type as ancestors of the later Jews went still farther.
When Nehemiah called for volunteers to return to the land of
their fathers, it was the most religious, the most earnest, and
those most proud of their race who flocked around him. Like the
Puritans of a later time, those who fared back across the desert
had been picked because of their religious as well as racial

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS 135

zeal. How far their return made up for the deterioration due to
the earlier deportations it is impossible to say. This much, how-
ever, seems clear: the whole episode of the captivity tended to
reinforce the previously strong selective process which made the
Jews a pecuHar people intensely devoted to their race and re-
ligion, disregardful of the sneers and buffets of the people around
them, and ready to go their own way and stick to their own
faith no matter what happened.

It would be interesting to trace the development of the Jews
still farther. Throughout their whole history they have been
subjected to indignities and persecutions largely because of the
very traits which make them Jews, the traits which were first
selected by the environment of the rocky plateau, and were later
intensified by captivity. Simply because the Jew has been either
forced or self-impelled to migrate so widely, the temptation to
give up his old faith and his racial identity has been peculiarly
strong. At the same time because the Jew has such pronounced
characteristics and looks with such disdain on other religions
the tendency to persecute him has been great.

Without taking time to trace Jewish history, let us consider
what happens in persecutions such as the pogroms which have been
so frequent in Russia even within our own memory. According
to common report two types of people are likely to suffer. In
the first place the authorities are likely to connive at or even
cause the death or exile of any Jews who stand out as leaders in
war or politics. To-day, of course, this tendency is passing away,
but we are talking of what has happened in the past. In those
times a Jew who achieved eminence in either miUtary or politi-
cal affairs was particularly an object of enmity. On the other
hand, if he distinguished himself in medicine or science, or in
his own rabbinical lore, he incurred no special hatred among
the Christians and Moslems who Hved around him. In fact, if
he were a physician, for example, he might be highly revered.
Oftentimes such men were so deeply respected that they were
carefully shielded at times of persecution. Between the political
and military leaders on the one hand and the scientific leaders

136

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

on the other stood the merchants. They were hated because of
their power and extortion, but were also feared for the same
reasons. Moreover, they were pecuHarly able to purchase pro-
tection. Thus the first kind of selection during Jewish persecu-
tions has been to weed out the active, aggressive leaders who
tried to give the Jews military power or political unity, while
the capable merchants have suffered far less and the leaders
who have benefited mankind by the arts of healing or by scien-
tific knowledge have had a still better chance for preservation.

Consider now what persecution has done to the Jewish rank
and file, as contrasted with the leaders. All over the world it
seems to be the rule that the mobs who engage in massacres are
largely a rabble of the baser sort intent on revenge, plunder, and
excitement. Such people live in the poorer sections of the cities,
which usually means that they are near neighbors of the poorer
Jewish quarters. Those poorer Jewish quarters as a rule are the
first to be attacked. For that reason and because of the relative
poverty and incompetence of the inhabitants, the Jews in those
parts of the cities suffer more than do those of the more prosper-
ous quarters. Not only are they less able to escape death, but
those who survive often lose home, property, and friends, and
have nothing to fall back on. Inevitably many of the people who
are weak in mind and body are weeded out, as are those of less
tenacious spirit who under the stress of persecution give up their
faith. Moreover, certain types of Jews have a great advantage
under persecution. One such type consists of people who can
skilfully dissemble; another of those who can wheedle their per-
secutors into leniency; and a third of those who know how to
place attractive bargains before their oppressors. The farther
we go in studying the way in which oppression and persecution
have weeded out some types of Jews and preserved others, the
clearer it becomes that in general the Jews who possess the sup-
posedly typical traits of that race are the type best able to
weather the storms of persecution. Doubtless the training of
the Jews enters into the matter, but that does not alter the case
appreciably. What we are here concerned with is the fact that

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS 137

persecution, oppression, and the indignities to which the Jews
have been subjected from time out of mind tend to place a handi-
cap on certain inherent types of character and a premium on
the kind of character which is typically Jewish.

Let us turn now to another race. The Armenians are often
spoken of in the same breath as the Jews. For thousands of years
their ancestors appear to have been settled villagers who culti-
vated the plateaus and basins among the mountains of Armenia.
There they acquired something of the tenacity of spirit which
is so often ingrained in highlanders like the upland Scotch and
Swiss as well as the Jews. Among them the traits that were
most valuable as a means of preserving the race were the ability
to cultivate the fields, to work steadily, and to carry on the
common handicrafts.

Let me tell some of my experiences among the Armenians.
One day in company with an Armenian sheep-dealer I was riding
on horseback across a fertile plain set among the great moun-
tains of Armenia. My host that night was a Turk of the more
prosperous village type. While the sheep-dealer was tending the
horses my host and I fell to talking of the massacres in the years
from 1895 to 1897 in which perhaps 200,000 Armenians per-
ished. "What kind of people are these?'' said the Turk.
"Three years ago we killed half of them in this village, and
took everything away from the rest. And now,'' as the Turkish
idiom puts it, "they eat better than we do. What can we do
about it?"

Unconsciously that Turk was asking why the inexorable
process which Darwin called natural selection has given these
people such remarkable unity and such clearly defined traits.
The answer is suggested in such experiences as this: During the
four years that I lived and taught in Turkey I several times
visited the little plain of Bermaz south of Harput. The people
of its dozen villages are fanatical Moslems who are sometimes
spoken of as Kurds and sometimes as Turks. They have the curi-
ous custom of making the sign of the cross before their meals.
Why? Because once Bermaz was inhabited by Christian Ar-

138

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

menians. During a period of massacres and persecution many
generations ago, the majority of the surviving villagers gave up
the struggle and "turned Turk." Those who would not become
Mohammedans fled or were killed. The renegade Armenians
who remained in the villages tried to pattern their Hves after
the surrounding Mohammedans, but the habit of years persisted
in the sign of the cross. Perhaps at first they clung to it in the
secret hope that some day they might again become Christians.

I have known other Armenians who gave up Christianity.
One was a professor in the American college where I taught.
To save himself and his family from outrage and death he agreed
to become a Moslem, but after the massacres were over he
turned back to his old faith. He was a good man, a friend of
mine, and lived thereafter a useful and honored life until he was
foully murdered during the massacres of the World War. But
he had less tenacity of purpose, less power of passive resistance
than most of his fellow professors of the Armenian race. He was
not lost to his race, for he had the courage to return to the faith
of his fathers even while it was still dangerous to do so. But
many others who "turned Turk" failed to re-enter the Armenian
fold. Thus it has been for centuries. During massacre after
massacre a certain portion of the Armenian race has separated
itself from the remainder and gone over to the Turks. Not all
kinds of people have done this, but only those who had less will-
power than the average. A strenuous process of natural selec-
tion has gone on whereby those Armenians who have less te-
nacity of purpose, less devotion to their race and their religion,
less ability to endure hardship and obloquy, and even to face
death, have gone out from among the Armenians and become
part of the Turks. Always the bargain has tended to raise the
average level of determination, will-power, and perseverance
among the Armenians who remained true to their race.

The qualities which have thus been concentrated in the Ar-
menians by hundreds of years of persecution sometimes have a
disagreeable as well as a good side. An Armenian boy once came
to a friend of mine who teaches in an American school in Turkey.

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS 139

The boy wanted not only to be admitted to the school but to
get some help in defraying his expenses. He did not appear
promising and my friend sent him away unsatisfied. A month
or so later he came again, with the same result. A third time he
appeared with his plea, and was so persistent that not only did
he have to be shown the open door, but to be given a little push
to get him out. A Turkish boy in the same situation would have
hesitated about asking help, he would have been polite and agree-
able, and after one refusal would never have been heard from
again. But what finally happened? The Armenian boy came
again; he got what he wanted because of his much speaking.
And more than that, he made good. Crude as he was, there
was sterling stuff in him. He was laughed at by the other boys,
and his teachers were alternately vexed and amused by his lu-
dicrous blunders, but he worked intently, and finally won the
respect of his mates and teachers, and proved that it was worth
while to educate him. He was the normal product of a process
of natural selection which puts a tremendous premium on per-
sistence.

Still another kind of natural selection has helped to give the
Armenians their peculiar character. It is estimated that about a
million Armenians were driven south into the Syrian desert
during the World War. I have heard a high-bred Armenian girl
tell the story of that deportation to a committee of Congress.
She brought tears to the eyes of those seasoned politicians.
With superb self-control she related how she was driven from
home at the age of twelve by a band of rough Turkish soldiers;
how her father had already been carried off and presumably
killed by the Turks; how her brother and uncle were taken from
her; and she and her mother were left unprotected. Some of the
few remaining Armenian men were shot almost within sight of
the women and children who heard the screams of the wounded.
Then the helpless survivors were forced onward over rough
mountain trails until their bodies ached with weariness, hunger,
and thirst; their limbs sank under them, and they fainted from
utter exhaustion. After a week of such travel the girl was sold

140 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

for sixty cents (I think that was the sum) to a Kurdish chief,
and was taken to his harem along with other girls. They tried
to make her become a Moslem, but she would not renounce
Christianity. They tortured and killed another young woman
in her presence to make her yield, but she would not. Then,
when she was unconscious from blows, they tattooed her face
with great blue marks and said: "We have made a Moslem
of her." At last there came a day when she could stand it no
longer. Jumping from a window, she fled along a mountain
path. But she miscalculated her time; some one saw her, and
a band of horsemen gave chase. With shouts and jeers they
tied her by a rope to the tail of a horse and dragged her back,
bruised into unconsciousness. And still she clung to Christianity
and to her race, until at length a British force arrived and freed
her. If a girl between the ages of twelve and fifteen can have
such tenacity and courage, is it any wonder that the Armenians
are one of the most tenacious races on the face of the earth?
She was only one of thousands who suffered similarly. It was
the ones most strongly endued with her quahties who escaped
from captivity and came back to their own people to be the
mothers of the Armenians of the future. And this same thing
has happened not only within the present decade, but time after
time in the past.

We have spoken of the selection of moral quahties which is
a feature of persecutions, massacres, and deportations, but there
is likewise a physical and mental selection. Among the milHon
Armenians, more or less, who were driven into the Syrian desert
during the World War, about a quarter drifted back, chiefly
through Aleppo. There they were cared for by the American
Red Cross. Doctor Lambert, who was at Aleppo two years and
who had charge of the medical work for a year, has written a
significant report on post-war medical conditions among the
refugees. The returning sufferers had been half starved and half
frozen; they had suffered ahnost intolerably from the heat of
summer and the unmitigated attacks of vermin. Many were
not only weak but sick. Yet the physicians were continually im-

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS 141

pressed by the organic soundness of the stricken refugees. The
' weaklings had been relentlessly picked out for destruction.
Although no exact figures are available, it seems almost certain
that the mentally weak were destroyed or otherwise lost to the
Armenian race even more effectively than the physically weak.
When the Armenians were driven from their homes almost
without warning, those who were mentally most alert went
out best prepared. They knew how to wheedle their captors
into giving them a chance to procure food and shelter, while
the stupid merely angered their savage herdsmen and brought
blows and violence upon themselves. The mentally dull were
likewise the easiest to persuade into giving up their religion.
Having once become Moslems they were less likely than their
more quick-witted kinsmen to return to their old faith and
race when better times at length arrived. Among the children
and especially the girls who were carried to Moslem houses, it
was the quick-witted, the resourceful, and the tenacious who
ultimately escaped. By processes such as these, during one
dire massacre after another, the dross has been consumed and
the gold refined. Thus natural selection, combined with other
circumstances, has produced in the Armenians a character
closely similar to that of the Jews.

But mark another feature of this process in both Jews and
Armenians. Almost on the very day when the Congressmen
shed tears over the story of the bravery of an Armenian girl, I
heard some young Americans berate a highly educated and
highly competent young Armenian, an American citizen, be-
cause he alone of a group of a dozen associates had failed to
i enter the army during the World War. No ties of family or kin-
dred held the Armenian back, he was physically fit, and the fate
of his own people was at stake. He stayed at home, as all his
comrades believed, because he was afraid. Is this consistent
with the character of the race as illustrated by the girl? I think
it is. Both the girl and the man had an unusual tenacity and
capacity for passive resistance. But the man, and perhaps the
girl, lacked the sort of aggressive boldness which is character-

142

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

istic of the soldier. This is in harmony with all the later history
of the Armenians and Jews. Both races seem to be deficient in
mihtary quahties, and especially in the power of military and
poHtical organization. As a leading Armenian professor once
said to me: ^^We want our own government, but I am not sure
how long we could run it unaided. We do not trust each other."
What he really meant was that, although the Armenians are un-
usually competent in certain Hnes such as business and many
scientific and Hterary pursuits, they have relatively Httle capac-
ity for pohtical as well as mihtary leadership. The reason, in
part at least, seems to be that for a thousand years the mihtary
and pohtical leaders have been the first to suffer at times of
persecution.

Now contrast the Turks with the Armenians. Almost every
one who knows the two races intimately agrees that the Turk,
so long as he is under control, is far easier to get along with than
the Armenian. He is more hospitable, more courteous, more
suave, less assertive, less likely to make a sharp bargain. Most
of the time he is a mild, gentle sort of person, a dehghtful host,
who seems never to have anything to do except look after the
interests of his guests. But there is another and more important
phase of the matter. If one wants a good carpenter, a good
mason, a good accountant, or a good business man, only rarely
does one employ a Turk if an Armenian is available. And if
one makes a bargain with the Turkish Government, one may be
almost sure that nothing but constant watchfulness and prod-
ding will cause it to be carried out. Moreover, the Turkish peasant
is by no means industrious in the fashion of the Armenian. Put
the two side by side and soon there almost inevitably arises the
condition already expressed in the Turkish idiom: "The Ar-
menians eat better than we do."

Compare this with a case which, though perhaps extreme, is
in many respects typical of the Turkish peasant. Before the
World War a German company was installing an irrigation sys-
tem whereby to bring the water of Lake Bey Shehr to the plain
of Konia. The Turkish peasants looked askance at the work of

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS 143

the foreigners, but one day one of them was impressed by the
arguments of a German engineer.

"When we turn the water onto your fields," said the engineer,
"you won't have any more poor crops and hard times. You'll
get four times as much grain as now."

The peasant thought deeply for a few minutes. Then he
stood up, adjusted his fez, and gave voice to a brilliant idea:

"Do you know what 111 do when that day comes? I'll sell
three-fourths of my land, and cultivate only a quarter. Then
I'll only have to work a quarter as hard as I do now."

If the Armenians are really so much more competent than
the Turks, why have they for hundreds of years been so com-
pletely at the mercy of these ruthless masters? The answer, I
believe, lies largely in the selective power of the original modes
of life of the two races, plus the further selection that has gone
on through massacres and otherwise since they have been in
contact. The Armenian has for untold centuries been a tiller
of the soil and a villager. For him the qualities that have made
it possible to bring up large families in health and comfort have
been steady industry, skill in agriculture, good artisanship, and
business acumen. Since there has been little restriction of fami-
lies, success along these lines has meant that parents have brought
many children to maturity, whereas lack of success has meant
poverty and poor health so that great numbers of the children
have died in childhood.

Among the Turks, on the contrary, there has been no such
premium on the substantial qualities which tend to develop a
strong, capable middle class. From time immemorial until they
finally settled in Asia Minor the Turks were nomadic keepers of
sheep, camels, and horses. They had no special need of steady
industry, of skill as artisans, of ability in agriculture, or of ca-
pacity for business. Those quahties did not help in supporting
wives and children. If a nomad had the capacity to lead a raid
successfully, and to direct the pursuit when wolves stampeded
the herds, or if he obeyed his leader implicitly at such times, he
had a far greater chance of success than if he was steadily in-

144

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

dustrious, or had the qualities which make a good carpenter
or a good trader. The nomad must be able to ford mountain
streams, face the leopard, or endure hunger, thirst, and fatigue
during a raid or a hunt for stray animals. The rest of the time
he may be utterly idle and yet be successful and prosperous.

In Elliot's Turkey in Europe, one of the most penetrating
books ever written on the races and problems of the Near East,
a striking passage sets forth the idea that the Turk is still a
nomad. He never seems to feel that he is permanently settled.
At least he acts as if that were the case. If he wants a sheet-
iron stove in his house, he does not take the trouble to build a
chimney, or even to carry the pipe to a window. He simply knocks
a hole in the wall, sticks the pipe through, stuffs the cracks with
rags to keep out the wind, and lets it go at that. What is the use
of bothering to do more ? To-morrow it may be the will of Allah
that we move on.

All through the Turkish mentality there can be traced the
old nomadic life. For instance, the Turk, as I have said, is a
mild, pleasant man at most times, but push him beyond a cer-
tain point and he becomes a fiend incarnate. When aroused to
attack his Christian neighbors, or to fight, he does it with a
complete abandon which makes him most terrible. This is per-
haps merely a remnant of the old spirit whereby the nomad
would sit idle for day after day, and then undergo almost in-
credible exertions and privations during the short period of a
raid, or more often a search for stray animals.

Again, there is no middle class of Turks comparable in size
or quahty with that of the Armenians. One reason is that
when the Turks came to AnatoHa from central Asia they spHt
into three strongly contrasted sections: a smaU ruling class;
those who continued to be nomads; and those who became
farmers, which happened largely because they were not suffi-
ciently competent to maintain a position in either of the other
classes. Another reason for the absence of a strong Turkish
middle class is that in receiving people from other races, includ-
ing the Armenians, the Turks have generally gotten either the

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS 145

worst or the best of the bargain, but have rarely exchanged on
equal terms. It has been the weaker and more incompetent
Christians who have succumbed to the urge of Mohammedanism,
but it has been the finest and most attractive girls who have
been taken permanently into the harems of the Turkish leaders.

At first thought it might be said that the strong middle class
of the Armenians ought to have given them the upper hand.
But here appears another factor. Not only have leaders of the
poHtical and mihtary type been killed off unmercifully among
the Armenians during massacres, but the farming mode of life
does not tend greatly toward the production of such leaders.
Thus the Armenians were relatively weak in this respect before
the arrival of the Turks, and have grown weaker with the lapse
of time. Among nomads, on the contrary, as we saw in an earlier
chapter, success and even preservation depend largely upon the
quality of leadership. And that is where the Turks are strong.
They came to Turkey as bands of nomads, the leaders and the
led. The leaders became the rulers, they took to themselves
wives from among the best of the native races, they strengthened
their racial stock. Their main road to success and thus to large
harems and many children was through mihtary and political
leadership.

The poUtical leadership often takes merely the form of play-
ing off one party or one power against another, but nevertheless
it is very real. Consider the events of recent history. The sultans
have often been inefficient, but it is surprising to see how fre-
quently they have had quahties like those of the crafty Abdul
Hamid which somehow kept them on top when by all the ordi-
nary laws of the game they ought to have sunk. Turkey has
been called the Sick Man of Europe until we are tired of the
phrase. But that sick man has kept the upper hand for a cen-
tury. After the World War he defeated the Greeks, kept all
Europe at bay, and for a time at least made himself the only
one of all the v/arring nations which came out a marked gainer
by reason of a decade of war. All through the period after the
war, just as in the earlier years, the Turks have had leader after

146

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

leader— not great men^ perhaps, but competent enough to hold
their people together, outwit the statesmen of Europe, and main-
tain armies in the field when any other nation would have been
likely to give up in absolute bankruptcy. The Armenians, on
the contrary, have had no real leader for many generations.

Here then is where the matter stands to-day. When fighters
like the Turks who know how to lead and how to be led, and
who are temporarily capable of enormous exertion, meet men
Hke the Armenians, accustomed to steady industry, but unused
to being led, not given to surges of sudden activity, and lacking
military leadership, the result is certain. The side which is usu-
ally counted the more valuable from the standpoint of civih-
zation goes down before the side which is pecuHarly adapted
to primitive war. Ever since the first encounter of the two races
the disadvantage of the Armenians has increased. During or-
dinary times the Turk, because of his nomadic nature, neglects
the details of government, business, and every other occupation.
The Armenian gradually gains power. Then the Turk rouses
himself and tries to regain by violence what he has lost by sloth.

The much-persecuted Armenians are peculiarly homogeneous,
peculiarly distinct in racial character, and peculiarly strong in
racial coherence. They are extraordinarily persistent, patient,
and tenacious even to the point of being disagreeable. They have
great capacity in business and in the handicrafts and arts. They
have no mean standing in the more intellectual pursuits. They
are conspicuously free from criminal inclination and the ten-
dency to become a public charge. And with all this they are of
a strong, tough, enduring physique. These high qualities have
been bred in the race by centuries of agricultural life and of the
most cruel persecution that can well be imagined. But unfor-
tunately by reason of lack of one special type of genius this sturdy,
self-reliant, middle-class people are a prey to the Turks with
their capable military and political leaders and their relatively
stupid, docile lower class who can easily be aroused to fight like
their nomadic ancestors. So the Armenians, who under a wiser
government might have been the soHd backbone of Turkey, her

JEWS, ARMENIANS, AND TURKS 147

essential middle class, are wanderers on the face of the earth,
seeking a home in which they can rally under the leadership which
is their sorest need. If the Turks and Armenians were of one
religion and could form a single race, that race would apparently
possess a peculiarly strong combination of qualities. It would
have a docile peasantry, partly Armenian but containing a larger
proportion of Turks, a peasantry not highly intelligent or ex-
tremely active, but good-tempered and easy to get along with
so long as it was treated justly. There would likewise be a strong
middle class, largely Armenian, very industrious and with good
mental capacities. And there would be strong leadership furnished
by Armenians in the lines of business, science, and most of the
professions, and by Turks in military and political lines. To-day,
by their expulsion of the Armenians, the Turks seem definitely
to have put an end to the prospect of such a race, at least for
a long time.

CHAPTER X

CYCLES OF CHINESE HISTORY

The history of China consists of a repeated and dramatic
cycle of invasion, migration, progress, decay, anarchy, and again
invasion. The invaders practically always have come from the
northwest or north, that is, from the deserts of Turkestan and
Mongolia, or from Manchuria. The first invaders may have been
the original Chinese, but as to that we have no certain knowledge.
The later invaders have been Hiung-nu, Mongols, Tartars, and
Manchus, and have been either nomadic keepers of animals, or
the descendants of such nomads. "There is excellent ground,"
as Parker says in his vivacious history of China, "for believing
that the Scythians, Huns, and Hiung-nu were practically re-
shuffles of one and the same assemblage of people— the Turks
and Mongols of later date." The Manchus belong to this same
group.

As Parthians, Mamluks, Mongols, Seljuk and Ottoman Turks, to leave
the lesser breeds unnamed, the distant congeners of the Manchus have not
only invaded but repeatedly controlled all the civilized nations of the con-
tinent. The history of China cannot be properly understood unless due
notice is taken of the impact of her northern neighbors from the period of
the great Ch'in [249 B. C], to recent times, nor can we afford to neglect the
fact that her own great dynasties and governing element have come from
those northern provinces which are chiefly peopled by descendants of a
Tartar-Chinese intermixture. (F. W. Williams.)

In spite of great walls and armies the settled Chinese have
never been able to keep these competent barbarians of the desert
out of China for more than a few hundred years. Time after
time they have swooped down upon the agricultural Chinese
and overwhehned them. The greatest of such disasters (or were
they blessings?) have occurred at times when unusually severe

148

CYCLES OF CHINESE HISTORY

149

and prolonged periods of increasing aridity appear to have pre-
vailed in central Asia; for example, in the third century before
Christ, the fourth and fifth of the present era, and again in the
twelfth and thirteenth. Thus the stress of economic want and
the capacity for leadership which we have found to be character-
istic of nomads have combined to cause the desert peoples to
conquer China.

In China itself the periods of invasion appear to have been
times of internal chaos. Droughts there as well as in the deserts
apparently co-operated with floods and other natural disasters
and with internal degeneration due to other causes to reduce the
Chinese to a state of almost hopeless anarchy. At such times the
Chinese of the north have been under the twofold compulsion
of foreign invasion and economic distress. The natural result
has been that many have migrated southward or southeastward.
Sometimes, without doubt, such migrations have also been im-
pelled by the desire to obtain new and more fertile lands or to
acquire the wealth of more prosperous people. But on the whole
the outstanding fact is that when famines and barbarian in-
vaders have afflicted north China, the Chinese have streamed
out toward the south. Wave after wave of migration has surged
outward, first from the original Chinese centres far up the
Hoang-ho near its great southwestward elbow in eastern Shensi,
and later from all the northern provinces. Not till almost the
time of Christ, perhaps two thousand years after the beginning
of recorded Chinese history, did these waves finally reach the
coast near Canton.

In the north the places left vacant by the migrants were
filled by barbarian invaders, who promptly adopted the ad-
vanced culture of the Chinese and soon mingled with them to
form a new and more virile race. Most of the Chinese dynasties
have either been genuine foreigners or else of mingled Tartar-
Chinese stock. For instance, "from 309 to 439 A. D., there was
a bewildering succession of Hiung-nu, Tungusic, Tibetan, Tibeto-
Tungusic, migrated Tungusic, and rebel Chinese ^Dynasties'
ruling in various parts of the north.'^ (Parker.) Only in 581

150

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

A. D., did a pure Chinese dynasty rule both the north and the
south and it almost certainly had a large admixture of Tartar
or Hiung-nu blood from earlier migrations. Again for three hun-
dred years prior to the Ming dynasty (1368 A. D.) the Peking
plain was in Tartar hands. The Mings were the first native
Chinese dynasty to rule north China for four hundred and fifty
years. Counting all these foreign dynasties together, it appears
that the northern part of China has probably been ruled by
avowed foreigners for longer periods than by real Chinese, while
most of the so-called Chinese rulers have probably had a good
deal of the blood of the northern deserts.

Coincident with the early stages of barbarian rule in north
China, the Chinese migrants to the south and southeast have
advanced into regions peopled by primitive aborigines. At first
this happened in the Yangtse valley, and then farther and farther
south until Canton, Yunnan, and the island of Hainan were
reached. In later times this same process of migration has car-
ried the southeastern Chinese to Formosa, Indo-China, Java,
and the Malay peninsula, where their type of culture would
probably have become dominant had it not met the equally ac-
tive culture of Europe. In the southerly migrations the Chinese
have intermarried relatively little with aborigines and often have
exterminated them. Nor have the invaders adopted anything of
importance in the culture of the aborigines upon whom they have
forced themselves, thus reversing the conditions in regions where
the northern barbarians forced themselves upon the Chmese. It
is not strange, therefore, that time after time "the true Chinese
were not ... to be found in Old China, but in all those parts
which, as immigrants, their ancestors from Old China had pop-
ulated." (Parker.)

After a cycle of Chinese history has passed through the stages
of invasion, anarchy, and migration, it generally enters a stage
of progress. Again and again this has happened under the bril-
liant leadership of an invading dynasty as in the case of the Mon-
gols and Manchus. One of the most significant facts in Chinese
history is the extent to which the regions and periods where in-

CYCLES OF CHINESE HISTORY 151

vaders have been dominant have been characterized by new
ideas, inventions, and noteworthy steps in the progress of civiUza-
tion. It seems not improbable that the selective action of mi-
gration has helped to bring into north China successive groups
of unusually competent people who have been important agents
in producing the upward swing in the successive cycles of his-
tory.

The Manchus furnished an excellent example of such in-
vaders. Their "decadence — apparently an inevitable result of
their contact with a higher culture — should not bHnd us to the
extraordinary success of their great performance." (Williams.)
They conquered not only all Manchuria and China proper, but
MongoHa, Turkestan, Tibet, and Korea. They were accepted
as suzerains in Nepaul south of the great mountains on the north-
ern flank of India, and in Indo-China where Siam listened to
the authority of Peking, while Burmah and Annam were among
the tribute-bearers. They even crossed the sea and took posses-
sion of Formosa.

As a land power — the Manchus [were] even more solidly established
than the Mongols; — for although the immediate successors of Jenghiz
commanded the personal attendance before their desert throne of Russian,
Armenian, and Persian princes, the most powerful Mongol Emperor, Kublai,
really ruled in an effective sense over the Eighteen Provinces alone, and was
at perpetual loggerheads with his vassal relatives of Persia, Mongolia, and
Manchuria; moreover, the Mongols were not the intellectual or literary
equals of the Manchus, and never had either the same prudence or the
same financial grasp of the country's resources. (Parker.)

Even in their latest days the Manchus produced truly great
personages like the famous Empress Dowager, in whose old age
and weakness the dynasty finally collapsed. No thoughtful per-
son can view the new summer place, built by this empress after
the inexcusable destruction of the old summer place by the
English and French in i860, without feeling that people who can
plan and execute so magnificent a piece of landscape-gardening
are extremely capable. The workmanship, to be sure, is in many
places shoddy, but parts are fine and the general conception is

152

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

splendid. In the same way the old Chinese literary examinations
may be a poor way in which to choose officials, but success in
those examinations certainly required an unusual power of con-
centration, unusual determination, and many other high mental
qualities. If the Manchus had not possessed those qualities in
considerable measure we should scarcely find large numbers of
them holding high Chinese literary degrees. Yet in 1910, at the
end of the old regime, among 410 major officials who held such
degrees, 50 are recorded as Manchus and 3 as members of the
Imperial Clan.

The history of the Manchus suggests that they acquired their
unusual ability at least in part through natural selection. Of
course, it must be recognized here, as in every other case, that
before there can be selection there must be differences among
which to select — ^mutations or deviations from the normal, to
speak biologically. And those mutations or deviations may
trend in a specific direction so that evolution pursues a definite
course, or they may be induced by environmental conditions as
to which we are still ignorant. That, however, Hes beyond the
scope of our present inquiry. We simply accept the fact that
the people of any given group may differ widely, and hence
some may be selected by their physical or social environment
or by their mode of life for preserv^ation and others for destruc-
tion.

The first that we hear of the Manchus is in the begiiming of
the seventh century. Under the name Kitans, which is appar-
ently the origin of Marco Polo's Cathay, they invaded north
China. At the beginning of the tenth century these same Kitans,
although driven out after their first inroad, estabhshed them-
selves as a ruling dynasty. Two centuries later they were over-
thrown by another alHed dynasty, the Nuchin or Nuchens, the
direct ancestors of the Manchus. A century or so later the Nu-
chens were expelled from China by the Mongols under Genghiz
Khan. Then for three centuries they remained ahnost unknown
in southeastern Manchuria, a wild barbarous people, but pos-
sessed of great vigor and ability. In the middle of the sixteenth

CYCLES OF CHINESE HISTORY

15S

century a chief named Nurhachu came into power and rapidly
established a Manchurian kingdom which eventually conquered
China.

For our present purpose the most significant fact about the
Manchus seems to be the long period of struggle and migration
during which they necessarily underwent a rigid natural selec-
tion. The Tartar ancestors of the Manchus appear to have
been pastoral nomads for thousands of years. Their wandering
life, with its sudden calls for exertion and co-operation, as ex-
plained in a previous chapter, apparently gave them full measure
of that power of leadership which we see so strongly in Arabs,
Mongols, and Turks, as well as Manchus, and which may have
been evolved in the ancestors of the Nordics under similar con-
ditions. When the ancestors of the Manchus invaded China as
Kitans and Nuchens they again apparently suffered selection,
especially when they were ejected under the Mongols. Just how
they migrated back to their old home in Manchuria we do not
know, but judging by modern examples it was quite surely the
ablest and most energetic who returned. Many of the leaders
were doubtless killed, but on the other hand it is almost uni-
versally true that in such cases the weaker, less efficient, and
more submissive among a conquered people remain in their old
homes. It is the people with initiative and individuality, as well
as with physical and mental vigor, who refuse to endure humilia-
tion, and are willing to suffer the loss of their property and the
hardships of migration in order to escape from their conquerors.
It was probably such people who retired to Manchuria after the
Mongol conquest. And it was the most competent and active
of their descendants who founded the great Manchu dynasty.
Nurhachu, their great leader,

though he never entered China, stands as an exponent of the highest quali-
ties of his race, a creative genius not only in strategy but in politics, the
founder of a great tradition capably maintained for two centuries by his
descendants, the establisher of a line of monarchs which have been surpassed
by no other ruling house during an equal period in China. Yet they suc-
ceeded through sheer force of character, as the Ottomans have succeeded

154

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

during a much longer period in western Asia, in dominating a people that
were superior to them in every important quality except that of leader-
ship. (F. W. Williams.)

In the case of the Manchus, as in that of other similar con-
querors, we find an interesting interplay between ability on the
part of the invaders and natural disasters acting upon them and
upon the people whose lands they invade. We also find an inter-
play with more strictly human causes such as the degeneracy of
the rulers by reason of luxury and dissipation, and the weaken-
ing of the people by internal dissensions and rivalry. Here is
what F. W. Williams says of the period of the Manchu invasion :

The internal condition of the Chinese empire had become desperate
under a long series of famines and rebellions which had utterly paralyzed
its economic resources and brought about a general anarchy. It is impos-
sible to decide whether under such loosely organized agencies as that of
China the general prevalence of distress is a cause or a consequence of
political disturbance. When thickly populous agricultural communities are
reduced to starvation the people will inevitably break up into robber bands
and prey upon each other to the confusion of all civil administration. No
government can reduce the disorder unless provisions can be obtained to
satisfy the needs of those made desperate by want; but a bad govern-
ment may by its inefficiency aggravate the starving people and succumb
to the forces of disruption thus let loose. It is notable that in the history
of China no great upheaval has occurred without its concomitant of famine.
In the third decade of the seventeenth century the northern provinces were
visited by an unusually severe drought which was so badly met by venal
officials that multitudes took to the mountains and attacked the roads
and villages. In addition to these natural causes weakening authority in an
imperfectly articulated domain, increased taxation and recurring levies of
troops to meet the Manchus began in 1621 to arouse angry opposition in
the western provinces. Revolts broke out which were painfully and only
partly subdued. By 1631 the robber bands throughout all the inland prov-
inces had swelled to great armies under redoubtable captains, whose suc-
cesses encouraged the able-bodied to enlist under their banners and live
upon the spoil of captured cities. At the end of another decade Li Tsu-
cheng, a Shansi leader, after many vicissitudes, had become the greatest
of them all, and with an army composed of nearly a million needy adven-
turers he was swarming, in 1641, over the famine-stricken province of
Honan toward Peking. Despite the impotence of the imperial government
in this score of years of carnage it is remarkable that the various rebel
armies met with obstinate resistance in many cities. There was no s}^te-

CYCLES OF CHINESE HISTORY

155

matic opposition, yet owing to the indomitable spirit in defending their
own which characterizes the Chinese people, as well as the lack of organiza-
tion among the rebels, the agony was long continued. The contrast between
the Chinese rebel Li and the Manchu Nurhachu is suggestive as typical
of the differing genius of two races. It has often been said that the Chinese
were conquered because they were unwarhke. They showed, on the contrary,
a persistent fighting eagerness both before and after the Manchu irruption
that ranks them among the martial people of the world. They failed both
in rebellion and in defense because they could produce no leader capable
of consolidating and fixing an orderly system of control. The Manchus
succeeded, though they had to borrow and adapt the system of their
enemy, because they know how to make themselves obeyed.

In the normal cycle of Chinese history the stages of anarchy,
invasion, and migration, which we have just been discussing,
are followed by a stage of progress. In the case of the Manchus
we shall say no more about this latter stage because we have
already dwelt on it for the purpose of emphasizing the great
capacity of that northern dynasty. There remains for discussion
therefore only the stage of decay. The facts as to the recent de-
cay of China are too well known to need repetition. When the
Manchus first ascended the Dragon Throne in the middle of the
seventeenth century, China felt a wave of energy; this seemed
to culminate toward the end of the eighteenth century when
Chinese sway had reached its greatest modern expansion. China
was then "The Middle Kingdom,'* the center of the Chinese
world. But even at that time degeneration was already under
way. I shall not dwell on it, for every one knows that it has
now gone so far that China is politically impotent. Worse than
this, she is, or at least has seemed to be, almost asleep. To-day
the constant questions among the well-wishers of the Flowery
Kingdom are : When will China wake up ? Does the old ability
still exist ? It certainly seems to be still existent among the Chi-
nese leaders, for intellectually they compare favorably with those
of other races. Moreover, many of those leaders are actively and
wisely trying to awaken China. In some lines, such as education,
they are certainly succeeding, for in few countries is the desire
for modern learning keener than in China. Yet, somehow, it
still seems to the sympathetic foreigner that there is stagnation.

156

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

The China of to-day, to be sure, is by no means the China of
fifty years ago. But the Japan of to-day, the Europe of to-day,
and the America of to-day are perhaps still less the same as those
of fifty years ago. Has the change in China been as great as in
the other countries? How much real change in fimdamental
character, regardless of external appearances, has there been in
any of these regions? Are the other great nations progressing
so rapidly that in spite of some progress on her part the differ-
ence between them and China is increasing rather than dimin-
ishing ?

I cannot answer these questions. The answer depends partly
upon whether China is still in the stage of degeneration which
has often formed so sad a part of her historic cycle. It is a com-
mon habit to attribute China's retrogression, and that of almost
every other country, to a decline in the caliber of her rulers and
leaders by reason of wealth, luxury, bad training, and vice. That
these factors played an important part among the Manchus can
scarcely be doubted, as is made clear by Backhouse and Bland
in their Annals and Memoirs of the Court of Peking.

It seems to me, however, that certain great biological facts
are of even deeper import. The significance of the intrusion of
able people from the north has been realized by many thought-
ful students of China; but few have appreciated the fact that
after a process of selection has given a country an unusually
able dynasty, the absence of further selection and the prevalence
of intermarriage with stocks less highly selected causes a ten-
dency toward reversion to the normal type. Still fewer reahze
that under certain conditions which frequently prevail in China
there may be a rapid elimination of the more able people, espe-
cially where overpopulation and famine prevail. One of the great-
est factors in the decline of China seems to have been the gradual
deterioration of the people of north China as a whole and the
increasing premium placed by famine and overpopulation upon
passive quahties of economy, industry, patience, and endurance
rather than upon active leadership. When a cycle of Chinese
history cuhninates in especially severe famines, internal anarchy,

CYCLES OF CHINESE HISTORY

157

and barbarian invasions an enormous extermination of the less
competent parts of the population takes place. The remnant
who survive or who migrate back into the depopulated areas^
and whose descendants repeople the country, are apparently
of distinctly greater ability than the mass of people who swarmed
in every corner during the stages when degeneration was grad-
ually taking place. Moreover, because the population is rela-
tively scanty, these capable people have unusual opportunities—
the opportunities that are characteristic of a new land. They
likewise tend to be relatively well-fed and healthy, for over-
population usually means poor food and poor health. When at
last a cycle turns full swing and the land settles down under new
leaders selected for their ability, the relative competence of the
masses of the people and the opportunities due to freedom from
the curse of overpopulation make it possible for the genius of
the leaders to inaugurate a period of progress.

Thus the cycles of Chinese history run their course. Again
and again they are interrupted by minor cycles and by all sorts
of accidental events such as the birth of men of genius, the in-
troduction of foreign ideas, or contact with new people. Never-
theless, the cycle seems to be a fundamental fact in Chinese his-
tory, and likewise in that of many other countries, although of
course in greatly modified form. It seems to be so important,
and also to be so little understood that I shall explain it in de-
tail as it applies to China. The part that especially requires ex-
planation is the decline of abiHty which begins even while prog-
ress is still being made, and which culminates in anarchy and
wholesale depopulation.

CHAPTER XI

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH IN CHINA

At the present stage in the last cycle of Chinese history one
of the most notable features is the anomalous contrast between
the north and the south. This contrast seems to show the results
of degeneration in north China under the influence of adverse
natural selection so clearly that I shall attempt to explain it
fuUy. In the course of the explanation we shall find facts that
bear on the whole course of the historic cycles. One of the
strangest facts about China is that the northern and southern
parts of that country invert the usual roles. In most parts of the
world a region in low latitudes is less progressive than a corre-
sponding region in higher latitudes, provided the high latitudes
are not so cold that life becomes difficult. This is true in Europe,
western Asia, India, and North America. It is equally true in
the southern continents, where Argentina and Chile lead South
America, and South Africa leads Africa. But in China the op-
posite is true: the south is progressive and the north backward.
Except where Europeans have recently settled, no region within
twenty-five degrees of the equator probably shows so much real
progress as south China, a fact which goes far to show that the
Chinese are one of the world's most able races. But between
thirty-five degrees and forty degrees from the equator there is
perhaps no region save central Asia so backward as north
China.

The Chinese themselves have long recognized the difference
between the south and the north. The people of the south, they
say, are fond of travel, quick to grasp new ideas, eager to learn,
easy to persuade, ready to change their habits, fiery in action,
and prone to adopt radical ideas in poHtics. Those of the north
are fond of home, slow to accept new ideas, steadfast of purpose,

158

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH IN CHINA

159

hard to convince against their better judgment, tenacious of
old habits, slow to act but very sure, and prone toward conser-
vatism in politics. Those who are not so friendly to the Chinese
say that the southerners are clever, but unstable, unrehable,
and likely to lose their heads, while the northerners are imutter-
ably slow and stupid, but relatively honest.

No one can study China with care without seeing that there
is much truth in these statements. It was the south which led
the revolution in 191 1, and forced the retirement of the emperor.
In its radical zeal the south imposed a republican form of govern-
ment upon a country which is supremely unfit for such a form by
reason of its almost complete absence of any feeling of public
responsibiHty. Yet so far as there is any such feeling of respon-
sibility, it is largely found in the south, or at least among people
of southern origin. On the other hand, it was the north which
supported the old regime. The northerners tried to put the em-
peror back on the throne, and failing that they converted the
republic into the most conservative type of oligarchy. Of course
the south, also, is highly conservative according to Western stan-
dards, but here we are speaking in relative terms in order to bring
out the contrast between the two sections. Speaking in those
same terms the south is rich, extravagant, pleasure-loving, gen-
erous, and immoral; while the north is poor, frugal, serious-
minded, miserly, and moral. But these words must not be
interpreted in terms of our civilization but of that of China.

This contrast between the two sections shows itself in many
ways. For example, the southerners, especially the people of
Canton and the surrounding coastal districts as far as Fuchow
and even Chekiang are prone to travel. In the aggregate miUions
of them have gone to foreign countries and are found in Singa-
pore, the Malay States, Java, Formosa, America, and many other
parts of the world. The northerners migrate somewhat, to be
sure, but only to Manchuria and Mongolia, where they are still
practically in their own country and can return home at frequent
intervals. Moreover, the southerners engage in large business
aSairs both at home and abroad, which is rarely true of the

160

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

northerners. In the Malay Peninsula, Java, Formosa, and other
parts of the East Indies many of the leading business men are
Chinese who own plantations of sugar, rubber, tea, coffee, and
the like, and who often have large interests in tin mines, sugar-
mills, and other profitable ventures.

A conversation which I had at Shanghai with a Chinese busi-
ness man illustrates one phase of the matter. He was born near
Canton, lived there till the age of fourteen, and then went to
Australia with one English pound in his pocket for spending
money. For twenty-five years he did business in AustraHa, but
did not like it because no matter how successful he might be, he
was still a Chinese and was not treated with respect or on terms
of equality by other business men. So he came back to China
and established a large store which has a high reputation among
foreigners. It sells all sorts of goods, both foreign and Chinese,
at fair prices and of standard quahties. When this merchant
started his store his more important assistants, such as heads of
departments, were picked indiscriminately regardless of where
they came from, and consisted about equally of men from the
Shanghai and Canton districts. But little by httle a change has
taken place, and the great majority are now Cantonese. The
reason? Simply because the Cantonese, so the merchant says,
are more competent and at least as reliable as the others, although
honesty is not a strong point in either group. So far as that par-
ticular quality is concerned, the people of Shantung are more
honest than either the Canton or Shanghai people. But why
are none employed here? They are too slow and stupid. And
then this merchant, who is successfully employing European
standards of fair dealing and uniform quahty of goods, went on
to deplore the fact that none of the Chinese seem to care for
anything except what they personally can get. They do not even
think far enough into the future to reahze that strict honesty
and devotion to pubhc as well as private good would pay them
personally in the long run.

Another evidence of the greater activity of the southerners
than of the northerners is seen in the Chinese leaders whom I

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH IN CHINA 161

was fortunate enough to meet. I tried to meet as many as pos-
sible, but it did not at first occur to me to make an analysis of
where they came from. Among seven Chinese leaders with whom
I dined or otherwise spent considerable time in Peking, one was
from that city, but was a Manchu, five were from the coastal
regions south of the Yangtse River, and one I am not sure about.

A much better method of testing the matter was suggested
to me by Mr. Price of the American Embassy, who lent me an
oflicial list of the higher metropolitan and provincial ofiicials in
October, 1910, just before the revolution. From this list I have
taken all the men who held the Chinese degrees which are trans-
lated as "licentiate," "provincial graduate," and "metropolitan
graduate." This of course excludes most of the mihtary officers
who were appointed by favor and not by means of the rigid
old-fashioned Chinese examinations.

In addition to Manchus (50), Mongols (15), and Chinese
Bannermen (14), who were surprisingly numerous among the
degree-holders, there were 324 from the eighteen provinces of
China proper. The distribution of these 324 is extraordinarily
uneven in proportion to the population of the various districts
whence they originally came. In Kansu, for example, there was
only one high officer for every 10,000,000 inhabitants, whereas
in Chekiang, the coastal province south of Shanghai, there were
39.7. A glance at the accompanying map (Figure 5) shows that
among the six northern provinces only Chihli, in which Peking
is located, gave rise to more than 7.1 of these highly educated
officials per 10,000,000 people. Among the six southern provin-
ces, on the contrary, none had less than 9.6, while among the
central provinces the three on the coast had very high per-
centages of leading officials, while those in the interior had low
percentages. Chihli is probably somewhat abnormal because
many able men from other provinces have come to Peking from
time to time during the course of the centuries, and thus have
given that city a group of competent people such as do not ex-
ist in the outlying parts of the province. Barring the exceptional
case of Peking, Figure 5 seems to suggest that in general the kind

16f

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

of ability which enables men to pass the severe Chinese examina-
tions of the old style, and then to obtain high official positions in
the face of keen competition, is least conmion in the northwest
and increases toward the southeast. Of course a much larger
body of facts is needed before this can be regarded as proved,
but inasmuch as the place of origin of the officials agrees with
a vast amount of evidence of other kinds, we may feel fairly sure
of our ground.

The difference between the south and north of China is ob-
vious in many other ways which are detected much more easily
than is the distribution of men of ability. For example, in the
streets of Canton one sees many women of all ages. At certain
hours the streets are crowded with school girls as well as boys.
Very pretty they look, with their loose white waists, black divided
skirts coming a little below the knee, and white stockings and
low shoes. Their fair round faces, only faintly yellow under the
smoothly combed black hair which hangs down in a long braid
behind, are often pretty, and show quite charming dimples when
they smile. As they walk along and talk together one notices
that they smile frequently. Among the older women, also, the
majority are quite light in complexion, unless tanned by the sun,
and have on the whole the appearance of leading lives that are
by no means wholly unhappy. Many, though not all, of the older
ones toddle along on the pitiful stumps of what would have been
feet if they had not been cruelly bound in childhood. Among
women perhaps thirty to forty years of age many have remark-
ably small feet, but not the little stumps of the older women.
They were fortunate enough to have their feet unbound while
still girls. But among the younger women not one has unnatur-
ally small feet.

Look now at the Cantonese men. How many have queues ?
You will have to hunt some time to find one, although a few still
survive. How about rags? Practically none. Beggars? Only a
few, and those not especially persistent or disagreeable. The
great majority of the people look relatively well fed, comfortable,
and happy — at least according to Chinese standards. They walk

FIG. 5. BIRTHPLACES OF HIGH OFFICIALS IN CHINA.
Number of holders of high literary degrees among officials in 1910 per 10,000,000 inhabitants.

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH IN CHINA

163

alertly compared with most of the people who live in equally
low latitudes, for Canton is within the tropics. And, although
they work slowly and spend much time in sitting down and
waiting, and still more in apparently deliberating how they shall
work, they are a remarkably industrious people in view of their
climate. The women, as in so many tropical countries, seem to
work harder than the men, and one sees them manning the in-
numerable boats, rowing hard against the tide, or walking under
heavy loads balanced at the ends of poles across their shoulders.

Now come to Tsinan, the capital of Shantung. Scarcely one
woman is seen where ten were visible in Canton. No such groups
of pretty school-girls go laughingly along the narrow streets.
The women of Shantung are kept secluded : the home is still con-
sidered the place for them by the conservative men of Shantung.
Those whom one sees on the streets, whether rich or poor, are
generally of darker complexion than are the Cantonese, as is
true of the men also. And the women and girls are not so pretty
or bright-looking as their Cantonese sisters. The American ladies
in the missionary schools at Peking say that on the whole the
fairest, prettiest, and most alert Chinese girls, although not
necessarily those with the best minds, come from the south, or
at least from families which have migrated to the capital from
the south. Moreover, the women whom one sees in Tsinan prac-
tically all have tiny feet, and many of the girls, even the little
ones, are still being tortured in this old-fashioned way. As for
queues, as soon as I thought of the matter I began to count.
Among the first hundred men whom I met exactly half had braids
down their backs or coiled under their hats, while the other half
had short hair. If I had gone into the villages, so I was told, I
should have found 90 per cent of the men wearing queues. They
are certainly conservative, these people of Shantung. And yet,
curiously enough, they are physically far finer people than those
of the south. They are big men and women with fine sturdy
frames and with the appearance of strength and vigor. No, not
vigor, for only a part appear vigorous. One sees in the northern
streets many more signs of disease and suffering than in the south.

164

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Rags, too, become a noticeable feature, and beggars a perfect
pest. Go to a place like the famous Sacred Mountain of Tai
Shan, where is the temple of Confucius, a few score miles south
of Tsinan. The beggars swarm like flies : they follow one for miles
up the great rocky road that leads to the mountain- top; they
crowd upon one, displaying their sores, pressing their stomachs
in a ghastly fashion to indicate their hunger.

It certainly seems anomalous to find these conservative peo-
ple in a province that once was the very heart of Chinese progress.
Previous to perhaps 300 B. C, Shantung was the home of Con-
fucius and Mencius, the center from which culture radiated in
all directions. So far as climate, diseases, and man's physical
health and vigor are concerned. Shantung, with its cold ^bracing
winters, seems to have a distinct advantage over Canton with
its many months of damp heat during the summer. The foreign-
ers who live in the northern parts of China sometimes have hard
things to say of the dust-storms in winter and the damp heat in
summer, but on the whole they rarely complain much of the cli-
mate, while those who live from Shanghai southward are always
talking about its debiHtating effect.

Another curious fact about China is that although the southern-
ers are more progressive than the northerners, the northern cities
have become more Europeanized than the southern. Tientsin
and Peking not only have large areas where the streets are quite
European in aspect, but enjoy the advantages of electric tram-
lines. Most of the other northern cities have a considerable net-
work of modern roads where jinrikishas and automobiles can ply
freely. But in the south some ports as important as Fuchow and
Swatow have only a few miles of streets fit for motor-cars or even
jinrikishas. In Amoy, up to the time of my visit in 1923, there
was not a single wheeled vehicle except a few garbage-carts.
One reason for this difference between north and south is said
to be that southern officials have come to the north and have
been open to foreign influence. It is certainly true that southern
officials have held most of the important positions in the north
aside from those held by the Manchus and Mongols, but that

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH IN CHINA 165

has also been the case in the south. I am incHned to think that
the north owes its more rapid Europeanization in part to the
fact that China is to-day undergoing an invasion which in some
respects is like the old barbarian invasions. The invaders possess
much more than the average abiHty of their respective races,
and they enjoy better health and hence have more energy and
initiative in the north than in the south. In other words, among
these chosen invaders the conditions are just as one would ex-
pect on the basis of climate; the north progresses more rapidly
than the south. But among the main mass of the people other
factors cause the south to go ahead of the north.

The chief of these other factors is commonly said to be the
longer contact of the south than of the north with Europe. Al-
most every one whom I asked in China expressed this view, and
one can find it in books by the score. I doubt its truth, however,
for several strong reasons. First, if the duration of contact with
Europe were the cause of the relatively progressive character of
the southern Chinese, why did those same Chinese spread into
other lands and show their present spirit of enterprise long before
they ever came in contact with Europe, as we learn from many
old Chinese sources ? Again, the people of Ceylon have been in
contact with Europe far longer than have the southern Chinese,
but they are not so progressive and competent and do not travel
so widely and actively. On the other hand, the Japanese have
not been in contact with Europe nearly so long as the southern
Chinese, but they are far more progressive. Again, in Man-
churia, especially the northern part, the Chinese are said to be
the most progressive and active in any part of China. Even at
Mukden I felt an atmosphere of life and activity such as I did
not feel in any other Chinese city. Harbin is said to show the
same thing to a still higher degree, and the regions north of that
most of all. But these regions have had little contact with
Europe aside from Russia, and Russian influence amounted to
little until the Manchurian section of the Trans-Siberian railway
was completed in 190 1. If we compare the progressiveness of
Ceylon, the Malay peninsula, south China, north China, Japan,

166

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

and Manchuria with the length of time they have been in con-
tact with Europe, we find no consistent relation between the two
conditions. European influence can scarcely account for the
difference between the north and the south of China.

When I persuaded people in China that this last statement
is true, they generally tried to explain the pecuHarities of the
two parts of China by racial mixture, the southerners being
supposed to have Malay blood and the northerners more Mongol
and Manchu blood. There is certainly some truth in this so far
as the facts of racial mixture are concerned. In the south one
sees many Chinese with broad, flat noses and an almost negroid
appearance. Many also are quite dark as if with Malay blood
or perhaps an admixture of Dixon's Proto-Negroid or Proto-
Australoid races. But nobody has produced any evidence to
show that such a mixture causes mental alertness. The Chinese
in whom these departures from the normal type are strongest
are the peasants and coolies. The upper classes, those who give
character to the country, are quite light, lighter than the people
of the north. As I looked at them, especially the clerks and the
women and girls who had not been tanned by the sun, I repeat-
edly said to myself: "These people are not really colored. They
are scarcely even yellow. Look at that pale face and those
cheeks with pink in them." Apparently the part of the popula-
tion which gives southern China its distinctive character is the
most purely Chinese.

On the other hand, it is undoubtedly true that the northern
Chinese contain more Mongol and Manchu blood than do their
southern cousins, and the amount of such blood may be consid-
erable. But even if there is much Mongol and Manchu blood
there is no assurance that this would make the northerners dull
and stupid. On the contrary, the invading Mongols and Manchus,
as we have already seen, are relatively capable and vigorous peo-
ple, as appears, for example, from the number who have received
the literary degrees among the officials in the Hst discussed
above. Even at the supposedly Chinese game of studying and
remembering ancient Hterature the Mongols and Manchus are

I

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH IN CHINA

167

by no means to be despised. Hence, while 1 do not question the
importance of racial mixture in altering human character, I do
not see any clear proof that this is the reason why the south of
China is relatively progressive, the north backward, and the
far north in Manchuria again progressive.

Another strong argument against the idea that southern
China owes its peculiar character either to European influence
or to racial mixture is found in the Hakkas. The Hakkas are a
peculiar people, purely Chinese as that term is now used. They,
live to the number of 10,000,000 or more in the rugged moun-
tains one or two hundred miles northeast of Canton and west
gf Fuchow. Their name means "guest people" or "strangers."
They are also sometimes called by a term which means "wild
old women," the word wild being used in the sense of barbarous.
If you ask a coolie or even a merchant in Canton or Swatow
about the Hakkas he will probably say that they are a barbarous,
degraded set of people, little better than bandits, who take no
care of their women and who are a danger to every one else.
But inquire further, and you hear that in Singapore, Siam,
Formosa, and the Dutch East Indies the Hakka coolies are con-
sidered especially competent. In Canton the native coolies fear
them because they come down from their upland home and
supplant the less competent Cantonese. The Hakka merchants
come down likewise. In Swatow there are said to be about
15,000 Hakkas, and this number includes many of the most
prominent business men. A similar condition prevails in Can-
ton. Across the seas the same is true, for they are great wander-
ers. The leader of the great Taiping rebellion was a Hakka, as
the general who seems to be squeezing Sun Yat Sen out of
Canton while these words are being written is another Hakka.
The fact is that the Hakkas are an uncommonly able people
who little by little are moving out of their mountain home and
displacing the coastal people to the south and east of them. That
why they are feared and reviled.

Talk to the Europeans who have lived among the Hak-
kas. It was my privilege to hsten to several missionaries who

168

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

have been among them — and missionaries are ahnost the only
foreigners who really know the Chinese in their own homes.
All these missionaries were essentially agreed. One of them was
Mr. Spiker, who has lived among the Hakkas and also in Swa-
tow and Shantung, and has travelled widely. "The Hakkas,"
said he, "are the cream of the Chinese people." He and the
others back up this opinion with good reasons. For instance, the
Hakkas are almost the only real Chinese who take daily baths
and have never practised foot-binding. Their women not only
are unusually pretty, but are held in unusual respect. The free-
dom which they are allowed is presumably interpreted by the
Cantonese as lack of care for them. This does not mean that
their standards of morality are like ours, for that is true nowhere
in China. Moreover, in south China there is much greater lax-
ity than in north China, which seems to accord with the con-
ditions of climate. Among the Hakkas, the point to be empha-
sized is merely that the women are comparatively free and
influential, and are not ground down by the terrible laws of
custom so strenuously as in other parts of the country.

Another notable fact among the Hakkas is the prevalence
of education. In their central district it is said that about 80
per cent of the men can read and write, a greater percentage
than in any other part of China. At the present time in their
main town of Kia-Ying, which is only a little place with 10,000
or 20,000 people, there are, if I remember rightly, some 3,000
pupils in what are known as middle schools, that is, above the
primary grades. At any rate they gather there from the Uttle
villages for many miles around to such an extent that almost
nowhere else in China do so many pupils come from so small
a population. Again the Hakkas,

more fearless and self-reliant than the town dwellers, have all the love of
liberty which characterize mountaineers the world over. They were the
last to surrender to the Manchus and twice strove to throw off their yoke,
first under the Taiping chief and again [in the present century]. — It would
not be easy to find an inland district where the people are as well housed
as they are in Meichau (Kia-Ying). The artisans of Hing-Ning are as
skilful as any in China. (Campbell.)

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH IN CHINA 169

The Hakkas, as we have seen, are a purely Chinese race,
practically unmixed with other elements, unless it be with an
early Mongolic element long ago in north China. They live re-
mote from the sea and far from European influence. Yet among
them, more than among almost any other group of Chinese, one
finds the highest development of those qualities which cause
south China to be more progressive than north China. Since
neither racial mixture nor contact with foreigners can be called
upon to explain the high development of these qualities, it seems
illogical to call upon those conditions to explain the lesser de-
velopment of the same qualities in Canton and other coastal
regions a few hundred miles away. Moreover, in northern Man-
churia among people who originally came from backward Shan-
tung and Chihli we again find a remarkable development of these
same progressive qualities. There, too, neither racial mixture
nor foreign contact seems to offer an explanation. In the next
chapter we shall consider the one great factor, a beneficent
natural selection, which appears to explain the qualities held
in common not only by these two sets of people, but by the other
progressive people of south China, and perhaps by the Chinese
of Shantung in the golden age of Confucius, six or seven centuries
before Christ.

CHAPTER XII

THE SCOURGE OF FAMINE

The part played by famines and economic distress in Chinese
cycles of progress and decay has been suggested in a previous
chapter. These same conditions appear to play a dominant part
in the contrast between the progressive south and Manchuria
on the one hand, and the backward north on the other. The
famines and distress have apparently played their part by select-
ing certain types of people for destruction, preservation, or
migration, thereby leaving an incompetent residue in many parts
of the north and sending competent people to the cities where
they die off, and to Manchuria, south China, and other outlying
but relatively progressive provinces. In this chapter, let us see
how the famines exert their selective influence, leaving their
effect upon character to the next.

Terrible famines are common in north China, but rare in
Manchuria and almost unknown in south China. In north China
the rainfall is concentrated largely in a few summer months; a
delay in its arrival means that crops can begin growth only in
fields that are irrigated. If growth is delayed till July, as often
happens, and if July is dry, practically nothing can be reaped
from the unirrigated fields. This practically never happens in
the south, where the rainfall is less strictly concentrated in the
summer months, and only rarely in Manchuria, where the tem-
perature is lower so that evaporation is less, while the chance
of showers in the spring and autumn is greater than in north
China.

In north China great floods are another common cause of
famine. They are likely to occur in the same regions and at the
same general periods as droughts, for a dry climate commonly
has torrential rains when the long droughts finally break. The
high barren character of the mountains, their denudation of for-

170

THE SCOURGE OF FAMINE

171

ests, the torrential nature of the rains, and the extraordinary
flatness of the vast plains all combine to increase the ravages of
floods. Nowhere, during many years of travel, do I recall a
more vivid impression of the absolute levelness of the plains.
For hundreds of miles scarcely a billow breaks the dead mo-
notony. When the rain falls heavily day after day, as often hap-
pens in midsummer, the water may form a vast sheet a foot or
so deep even without the help of the rivers. But the rivers are
likely to break loose and add to the disaster. They are heavily
loaded with mud because of the steepness and barrenness of the
mountains, and many of them flow on a level with the plain or
even above it, being kept in place by dikes. Only a moderate
flood is needed to cause them to spill over and carry devasta-
tion and famine for scores of miles on either side.

Sometimes human selfishness makes the floods still more
disastrous. North of Tsinan in Shantung, for example, some
roughly parallel canals have been built at intervals of perhaps
ten miles to carry surplus water from the Grand Canal to the
sea during floods. In normal times the canals are not needed
and their heads are closed. Such strips of good soil are very
valuable, for farm land is worth perhaps two hundred gold dol-
lars an acre, which is as much as one or two thousand dollars
would be with us. Naturally the officials do not overlook such
an opportunity for filling their pockets. They cultivate the
canal bottoms, and make a very good thing of it. When a flood
comes, they are not at all disposed to give up so great a source
of profit, especially as other sources are sure to diminish. So for
centuries they have done what they did in 192 1, namely, keep
the heads of the canals closed. The inevitable result is that the
Grand Canal overflows its banks in many places and floods the
surrounding plain. Thus within the canals the official fields are
protected by dikes, while in the broad surrounding areas, a hun-
dred times as extensive, vast shallow lakes are formed which
kiU the crops of hundreds of thousands of wretched villagers.
Such an event is thoroughly Chinese, for one of the greatest
weaknesses of China is selfishness: yet curiously enough that

172

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

same selfishness, as we shall see, seems to be an inevitable means
of self-defense against the famines.

Where the rivers break loose, the floods not only spoil the
crops but ruin the mud villages. One would think that in areas
liable to flood all the houses would be built on mounds high
enough to be safe no matter how much the water might rise.
But that is not the case even in our own country, and even less
in China. Consider the circumstances. Floods are frequent.
When the people come back after a flood they are desperately
poor, the land must be restored as we shall shortly see, the crops
must be planted, and new houses must be built. Every moment
is precious. There is no time to build mounds for houses; that
would take much labor, especially as the famine-stricken people
rarely have any beasts of burden to help them. Doubtless they
tell themselves that when a happier day arrives they will build
new houses safely perched on mounds, but that day never
comes; and after a year or two without another flood a false sense
of security begins to prevail.

Another little item deserves mention in this connection.
The Chinese plains are so densely populated and the people are
so near the brink of starvation even in ordinary years that few
of the peasants can afford to lose a single square yard of their
fields. To build mounds for houses would involve stripping the
fields of soil or else digging holes so deep that they would be
filled with water much of the time. In either case good land
would be wasted, and that would mean hungry mouths. We
who live in a land where there is always a large surplus, have
not the faintest idea of the miseries and the constant anxiety
that result from overpopulation and a low standard of living.

Let us picture what happens when the rains descend, the
plains become water-logged, and the rivers burst their banks.
Little by little the water rises around the villages. By the time
it is a foot or two deep all hope for the crops is gone. Then the
houses begin to be in danger. Made, as they generally are, of
mud bricks that have merely been dried in the sun, the walls
soon become soft. Then it is only a matter of days before the

THE SCOURGE OF FAMINE

173

heavy, thatched roofs press the mushy walls out of shape and
the whole house — the whole village — collapses. Such utter de-
struction of villages is ahnost the rule in most of the areas sub-
ject to floods by the rivers. Dikes around the villages sometimes
help for a time, but the inertia of the Chinese allows such dikes
to fall into disrepair. Moreover, that selfishness which is so
strongly developed among them makes it difficult to secure co-
operation in the attempt to keep the dikes in repair when there
is no immediate threat of flood. Thus in flood after flood, for
hundreds of years, millions of people have lost their crops, while
hundreds of thousands have also lost their homes and all their
worldly goods. Practically all of them ultimately lose also their
animals, for they have to sell them to buy food.

Many of the millions who are thus in danger of starvation
become "wanderers." That word looms large in China to-day,
as it has for two thousand years. Those who have lost houses
as well as crops become wanderers at once. Those whose houses
are safe may have some store of food remaining and may also
be able to salvage a little from the drowned fields. Hence they
stay at home at first, although winter sees many of them also
on the road. In many cases the wandering is prolonged. After
the fields have been flooded they do not dry quickly. Many
remain wet until the dry season is well under way in the autumn,
and then of course it is too late to plant any crop, even cabbages,
before cold weather sets in. In this fact Hes one of the reasons
why famines are so much worse in the north than in the south.
From the Yangtse valley southward some kind of crops can be
raised even in winter.

Even when spring arrives the sufferers from flood in north
China are often unable to raise crops. In many cases the stand-
ing water dissolves the large percentage of alkali which the soil
contains. When the water finally dries up, this is left as a whit-
ish deposit on the surface. People with higher skill might devise
a way to wash it out, but to the Chinese it is an insuperable
obstacle. The only remedy is to wait until nature redistributes
the alkali and once more makes the land fit for cultivation.

174

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Hence the people whose land becomes alkaline may be forced
to remain as wanderers for years. Still another group shares the
same fate. These are the people whose lands happen to lie in
the main path pursued by a river as it breaks its way through
the dikes and flows off in a new course. After the flood has
abated, such a course is often marked by a broad band of newly
deposited fine sand which may have a width of several miles
in the case of the Hoang Ho. Sometimes the sand is only inches
deep, but elsewhere there may be feet. In no case is it fit for
the great majority of crops. If the sand is only a few inches
deep it may be turned under and mixed with the old soil. That
is a very laborious process, especially for people without domes-
tic animals. Moreover, when it is completed the soil is not so
rich and productive as formerly, and hence can feed fewer mouths.
In other cases a greater depth of sand forces the returning peas-
ants either to dig it off bodily from part of the fields and deposit
it upon other parts, or else to plant fruit-trees or some other
relatively unproductive crop which will grow in the sandy silt,
but which yields relatively little food. Hence some mouths are
unprovided with food, and people must still wander unless they
have already died. Such injury to the fields by floods is by no
means confined to China, although elsewhere it rarely produces
such dire results. For example, Mr. R. V. P. Coleman tells me
that in the potato-growing Kan valley, in which flows the
Kansas River west of Kansas City, the spring floods sometimes
deposit a layer of sand so deep as to spoil the potato-fields for
two or three seasons. The sand may cover the bottom-lands to
a width of five or ten miles.

The great scourges of overpopulation and famine seem to
have prevailed in China intermittently for over two thousand
years. A Httle tale told by Doctor Wilder of Peking may give
some inkling of how the pressure of population weighs China
down to-day. Not far from Peking a considerable number of
villages do not expect to raise food enough to support themselves
more than perhaps nine or ten months even in good years.
Their land is not sufficient, or, to put it in another way, they

THE SCOURGE OF FAMINE

175

have allowed their numbers to increase too rapidly. After the
crop is harvested in the autumn these wretched people complete
all the preparations for the agriculture of the next year and then
prepare to leave home. In each house is placed enough grain for
seed, and enough to support life while the spring work is being
done and before the earhest crops can be relied upon for further
food. When all the rest of the food is consumed, the houses are
sealed up with mud bricks filling the doors and windows. Then
the houses are simply left unguarded. The villagers fare forth
in the bitter winter weather to other more prosperous towns
and villages. They would work if they could, but there are
twenty men in China during the winter for every job, no matter
how trivial or disagreeable. They have no alternative except to
beg, steal, rob, and even commit raids, or else to migrate. But for
this last alternative they seem to be too conservative. Hence
they eke out a miserable existence until spring, and then go back
to their villages, sure that they will find the houses unopened.
That is the most curious feature of the story. So common is
this degree of poverty, and so well recognized is the need of wan-
dering, that it is a point of honor in all that region not to break
into a sealed house. You may steal on the road, you may enter
a house that is occupied, you may dig through walls in other
places, and you may commit banditry, but you must not enter a
house that is sealed. I tell the story as it was told me by Doctor
Wilder, a man who knows China as only a missionary of many
years* standing can know it. He adds that an investigation dur-
ing a recent famine made it seem probable that the people of
these villages are as a whole subnormal mentally. They are little
more than morons, apparently. This is not surprising. Even
without the adverse selection which I shall shortly mention,
the constant underfeeding from earliest infancy must stunt them
in mind and body.

Such conditions are nothing new. Here is a quotation from
one of the many authors, cited in her Economic History of China
by Miss Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, who, by the way, is one of the
few Chinese women who have taken the degree of doctor of

176

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

philosophy in America. The following passages are given sub-
stantially as they occur in her excellent doctor's dissertation.
The first one dates from the year 1530 A. D., as nearly as I can
ascertain, and was written by an official in Shensi who made a
journey to Anhwei a hundred or more miles west of Shanghai,
and then to Yunnan in the far southwest. From the seventh
month onward, he says, that is, from the time when the early
crop is usually harvested,

I saw that the rice [millet?] crop had been almost entirely eaten by
worms, especially in such places as Shensi and Honan. When I passed
through Tung Kwon (in Shensi) I noticed that there was no late rice left
for harvest. The wandering people filled all the roads. Once in a great
while I saw people who were harvesting something. Quite delighted, I
made inquiry, but found that they were simply harvesting a kind of grass.
There are two kinds of grass, one called Mein Poon (soft grass) and the
other Tzu Poon (thread grass). Both can be used to make noodles, and the
hungry people have depended upon these grasses as food for five years
already. I tasted them myself, and found that the grass stung my mouth,
upset my stomach, and caused discomfort for days. How can we possibly
describe all the bitter and exhausting conditions which the poor (literally,
the small people) have to endure !

The famine here referred to was presumably due to drought
rather than flood. That is the commonest cause of famine in
Shensi. Moreover, as a rule, it is only the dry famines which
last year after year. The famines due to floods are much more
complete and severe while they last, but the same district is
rarely afflicted two years in succession. Moreover, during such
years the fields in the neighbormg areas too high to be flooded
are likely to produce good or even unusual crops. On the other
hand, the famines due to drought are rarely so complete as the
flood famines and do not destroy the houses or injure the land.
But they often come year after year and affect vast areas, as
in the case cited above, where the famine had already lasted five
years. The most unfortunate places are those where famines
due to drought and flood alternate, and that unfortunately has
been the fate of considerable portions of north China. That is

THE SCOURGE OF FAMINE

177

why China has probably suffered more from famine than any
other country in the world, not even excepting India.

In order to appreciate the effect of famines upon racial char-
acter it is necessary to realize how numerous and how devas-
tating these terrible scourges have been. One of the worst series
of early famines occurred about two hundred years before Christ.
At the beginning of the Han dynasty, according to Miss Lee's
translation:

One load of rice was sold for 5000 (cash?). Human flesh was eaten and
more than half the population perished. Then Kau-tso (the first Han Em-
peror) allowed the people to sell their sons in order to go and get food at
Tso Hou (Szechuan).

A hundred years later, after various other famines, the arable
land had largely passed into the hands of rich landowners, just
as happened in Italy at the same time for the same reasons.
Each period of famine caused many of the poor to mortgage
their land, and ultimately the rich "ate it up."

As a result the rich possess land from field to field, while the poor have
not even enough to accommodate the point of an awl. — ^At this time Shan-
tung suffered famine from the Yellow River trouble, the harvest being poor
for several years. Sometimes the people even ate one another. This was
prevalent over an area of two or three thousand li (700 to 1000 miles).
The Emperor pitied them and permitted the hungry people to travel to
get food from places along the Kiang and Wai Rivers. And they might
stay in these places if they so desired. There was a great flood, and the people
who died from starvation in Kwang Tung (Shansi, Shensi, Chihli) amounted
to thousands. So an edict was issued ordering the transport of grain (millet)
from Pah Sauh (Szechuan) to Kiang Ling (Hopeh), and the hungry people
were allowed to go to get provisions in the region of Kiang Wei (Yangtse
and Wei Rivers — Kiangsu, Anhwei, Kiangsi, Honan, Hupeh, etc.).

Half a centuiy later, that is, about 48 B. C:

On account of a poor harvest, the suffering people were exempted from
taxes. Also ponds, lakes, gardens, reservoirs were lent to the poor. [This
suggests that the famine was due to drought.] On account of a great flood
in Kwan Tung (Shansi, Honan, Shantung, Chihli) grain and money were
transported from other countries to save the people in Kwan Tung.

178

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

The accounts of what happened about i6o A. D. throw an
interesting Hght on the conservatism which by that time had
begun to be prominent among the Chinese peasants.

There was a famine in the state of Tsi (Shansi and Chihli) and the peo-
ple ate human flesh. So the different states and counties were ordered to
relieve the poor and weak.

A government adviser at that time said:

At present in the states of Tsing, Hsu, Yen, and Chi the population is
dense and the fields are narrow, so that the people cannot get sufficient
provisions. But [in certain other regions] the population is sparse and many
fields are left vacant and uncultivated. As a rule the natural tendency of
the small (poor) man is to be satisfied with his native land, and to weigh
carefully the advisability of moving. He prefers to suffer hunger where he
is, rather than go to some more happy land. So the government ought to
remove to the unoccupied country those poor people who cannot make a
living by themselves.

This little comment on the unwillingness of the Chinese peasants
to change their homes should be remembered. It helps to
explain their present poverty and backwardness.

Time and again in the old records one finds accounts of other
hideous practices as well as cannibalism. About 297 A. D.:

There was a famine in Kwan Chung (Shensi) and the price of rice was
as high as 10,000 cash per load. So an edict was issued that those wishing
to sell their relatives would not be prohibited by the government.

The pitiful thing about it all is that the same troubles keep
recurring. In one of the hundreds of accounts of famine we read
that about 575 A. D.:

Many people, carrying the young and supporting the old, wander
around with grass shoes. Having already lost their own occupation [pre-
sumably because they have sold their land under the stress of famine],
they have fallen into the class of people without work. And with the com-
ing of famine and plague, they cannot but wander and leave their native
places.

THE SCOURGE OF FAMINE

17Q

Shortly afterward, in 6i6 A. D., a brief period of prosperity
and of increase in population came to an end, and

people began to leave their work and flock to the cities, and so were
unable to provide for themselves. At first people took the bark of trees
for food. Then gradually they used leaves. When both of these became
exhausted, they cooked soil and bran into flour. Finally they ate human
flesh.

Elsewhere we read that when bran, chaff, bark, and leaves
were exhausted, the people stayed their stomachs with a kind of
clay. For a few days the clay gave a feeling of comfort, but
soon those who ate it fell dead. At the end of this period, about
620 A. D., two-thirds of the population had perished (or per-
haps migrated) in the areas infested by famine. This, too, like
the second century before Christ, was a time when the countries
around the Mediterranean also suffered terribly from famine.

Throughout the long and painful record of Chinese famines
there is constant evidence of an attempt on the part of the
government to combat these dire disasters. Often, but not always,
the attempt was prompted largely by the desire to improve the
curtailed revenues. For instance, about 700 A. D.:

The wandering people left their native places for a long time; so public
income and savings are lacking. The land is left barren and uncultivated,
so we must immediately establish relief work to help the farmers to restore
their farms. In case there is any unoccupied property which was formerly
taxable, or any deserters and fugitives from military stations, all are to be
excused and not investigated, and all are to be relieved from taxes. Those
who ought to go home but are so poor that they cannot afford to do so will
be given provisions for the trip so that they can reach their native places.

No matter what the government might do, however, the
rich constantly "ate up'^ the poor, for every famine gave them
a new opportunity. About 990 A. D.:

The shoots of the millet grew several feet long this year, but for a great
many previous years many crops did not give good harvests. Rich people
speculated, while the poor had to pay double the amount of their debts.
Even though there be occasionally a rather good harvest [this seems to have
been a comparatively prosperous period], the rich collect their loans urgently.

180

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Thus the earnings of the poor are gone before they can pay their rent and
taxes. The government therefore prohibited the rich from charging more
than ICO per cent interest on loans of wheat, rice, or money.

If loo per cent becomes the legal maximum for interest dur-
ing a relatively prosperous period, imagine the conditions during
a time of frequent famine.

Within a century or two after this comfortable period there
came another bad period, the worst apparently in Chinese his-
tory. About 1050 or 1060 A. D.:

South of Kiang Wai there was great drought in the spring. In some
places even the wells and springs were dried up; oxen and other animals
died from thirst, and no chickens or dogs were left. As a result all nine
kinds of farms (that is, all kinds) lost their occupation and the people are
all complaining of hardship.

Again:

Even parents, sons, and brothers cannot protect one another. And all
the widows, widowers, orphans, and single persons cannot support them-
selves. All the strong have wandered and moved away; and the weak
have died. The reason why conditions are so bad is because of floods and
drought; and the reason why there are so many floods and droughts is
that the Yin and Yang are not in harmonious relations.

The Yin and Yang are the two great principles of nature,
which, according to the Chinese, control all natural events.
When they are in harmony the world is at rest; when they are
out of harmony all sorts of disasters occur.

From this time onward the conditions in China grew worse
and worse for nearly two centuries. The worst is summed up
in what seems to be rather a harmless statement dating from
about 1 185 A. D.:

The strength of the people in the southeast has broken down and de-
teriorated, and even in the families of the middle class there are no savings
for more than a few months ahead. . . . The states of Su, Hu, Shen, and
Show (Kiangsu and Chekiang) used to have floods only once in a while,
but now they frequently suffer disasters.

The significance of all this lies in the fact that hitherto the rec-
ords of famine have all come from northern regions, chiefly in

THE SCOURGE OF FAMINE

181

the Hoang Ho valley; now the famine area has expanded, and
both drought and flood afflict the provinces around the mouth
of the Yangtse and even as far south as Fucho^/.

Because of these conditions an imperial officer in 1206 re-
ports that:

The escaping and deserting families have become more and more
numerous, and the return of the land tax has become shorter and shorter.

And then follows one of those strangely short-sighted com-
ments with which the pages of history fairly bristle:

Both the government officials and the conunon people all feel the grav-
ity of the situation more and more each day, and no one seems to know
what has actually been the source of the trouble. Some district officers,
who are well aware of the general alarming conditions, have the idea of
correcting the boundaries of the fields. This of course would make the
small families feel somewhat relieved, but the huge (rich) families would
feel very agitated about the process.

The government actually tried to restore the fields to their
rightful owners, "correcting the boundaries," as they put it.
But seven years later we read that:

In case the harvests are very good we might be fortunate enough
not to have much trouble. But if the year should be bad, several dozens
of the tenants would group themselves together to rob the merchants and
farmers in the neighborhood. Sometimes they even murder people, and
some such cases are already on record. So I am afraid that these are the
great sources of trouble in the years of famine. If we (the government)
can clear up these places so as to give them no room to gather together,
it will be one of the best poHcies to stop the evil of robbery and theft in a
quiet way.

In a certain sense this official was right. What China needed
then and now was room. She has far too many people. But in a
country which is subject to recurrent natural disasters, it is the
common practice to attribute the difficulties to the system of
land-tenure. That has been done in ancient Italy, in Ireland,
in Mexico, and in many other countries. But so long as hard
times and famines recur, and so long as there are many years

182

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

when the actual products of the farms are insufficient to main-
tain the accustomed standards of Hving, no form of land-tenure
will ever bring prosperity. Under such conditions the poor
inevitably mortgage their lands, their services, or their own
selves to the rich, and no amount of lawmaking will prevent
it. The only remedies are to overcome the vagaries of nature
by means of irrigation, drainage, roads, and ultimately the pre-
diction of the seasons far in advance, and especially to limit the
population, so that in good years it may lay by a large surplus
to tide it over the bad years that are sure to come. Where a
trouble is due to the irregularities of nature, mere changes in
land-tenure and taxation are only temporary pain-killers, not
fundamental remedies.

How bad the conditions became in China, in spite of all the
laws, is obvious from this account of the period from 1208 to
1234 A. D.:

Although there were natural disasters (floods, etc.) and serious drought
in the previous periods, the conditions in those days were never so bad as
to-day. At present the granaries and treasuries are empty and the pro-
visions are not enough for a month's supply. One sen is sold at 1,000 (cash?)
and the price is still increasing without limit. Even the rich have been de-
stroyed; nine out of ten families have died from starvation; and some have
gathered to drown themselves in the Yangtse. In the villages and lanes
people gather to criticise the government officials, and the complaints among
the soldiers are too severe to be heard. The condition is serious. And it
appears right in the heart of the city of great crowds (the capital) [which
was then at Nanking, or Hangchow, both being royal residences]. The
territory of Chehsi (Chehkiang) is the region where rice is supposed to be
collected [it is one of the most productive regions in all China], but now the
red land (that is, dry, untilled fields) covers 1,000 H. The people in the Wei
region (Anhwei, along the Wei River) are wandering away and deserting
their homes continuously, carrying their babies and wandering on the
roads. They wish to find homes, but there is no such place for them; so
they simply wander until, tired out and exhausted, they wait for death.

I have dwelt on these famines because they are one of the
greatest of all facts in Chinese history. But I have not men-
tioned a tithe of those that are recorded. At no time does China
ever seem to have been free from them for more than a few

THE SCOURGE OF FAMINE

183

score years, unless it be in the very early periods, the golden
age. The worst periods seem to have been (i) the third and
second centuries before Christ, (2) the fourth and fifth cen-
turies after Christ, (3) the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
and (4) the sixteenth century. Other periods, however, have been
almost equally bad, and it is not yet possible to speak positively.

Each great period of famines, as was stated in a preceding
chapter, seems to have been accompanied by another great
affliction, due probably to the same climatic cause. This other
affliction took the form of barbarian invasions from the north.
In the first of the periods mentioned above, the invasions were
so serious that the Great Wall was built, bit by bit, and finally
joined into a single magnificent structure about 214 B. C. In
the fourth and fifth centuries the Tartars invaded China again,
and swarmed over all the northern portion. During the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries the same thing happened once more,
ending in the Mongol domination. Finally in the sixteenth cen-
tury there began a movement of the northern barbarians which
culminated in the conquest of China by the Manchus. Appar-
ently each of the great movements of nomads from the north
was stimulated if not actually caused by repeated periods of
deficient rainfall and consequent distress in those northern
regions. Needless to say the southward raids of the fierce desert
tribes added enormously to the sufferings which China was al-
ready undergoing by reason of its own floods and droughts.
Small wonder that in China there have almost always been hun-
dreds of thousands of wanderers, while at frequent intervals
miUions have suffered for lack of food.

CHAPTER XIII

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE

In every Chinese famine thousands, or often millions of
people perish. They may not die of hunger, but they die of
something else. During the famine due to the flood of 192 1,
Mr. Torrey of Tsinan was distributing reHef.

"Have any people died of hunger?'' he asked in a village
where there were at the time perhaps 300 people.

"No," was the answer, "we have food here."

As a matter of fact they had for months been subsisting
largely on chaff mixed with just enough grain to support life,
but they had "food" according to their definition. Then the
missionary put his question in another way.

"How many people died during those ten cold days that we
had a week or two ago?" That had been a very bitter period,
with high winds and the thermometer near zero.

"Sixty," was the answer. Those people had not actually
died of hunger, but they had died of other diseases and of ex-
posure because prolonged undernourishment had sapped their
vitahty. That is the way it is in every famine. Our problem is
to determine what kind of people die under such circumstances.
Do any special qualities of character tend to cause death, or to
prevent people from dying ?

Two other similar questions must be answered. Innumerable
people, as we have seen, wander from their homes in every
famine. Some die, some settle elsewhere, and some finally come
back to the old homes either the year after the famine if they
are fortunate and the famine is mild, or many years later if the
famine is severe or if their lands have been injured. What kind
of people belong to each of these groups? What effect does
natural selection have in differentiating the character of those

184

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE 185

who ultimately remain in the old home and those who perma-
nently find homes elsewhere?

It needs no demonstration to show that the first effect of a
Chinese famine is to kill the people who are physically weak.
Any organic disease is almost sure to be intensified and ulti-
mately to prove fatal under the stress of insufficient food, ex-
posure, and mental strain. Hence we should expect to find that
the Chinese are a pecuHarly sound and sturdy race. Such seems
to be the case by general consent, especially in the north where,
as we have seen, the people of Shantung and the other famine
districts are physically much superior to the quicker and more
alert people of the south, where famines are rare or unknown.
Nevertheless in the north one sees more sores, more deformity,
and more minor defects than in the south. At least that is how
it appeared to me, and physicians whom I consulted seem to
think likewise. This, however, may merely be the result of the
malnutrition which is so common, and which must have a most
serious effect upon many of the young children.

Another selective effect of the famines would obviously seem
to pertain to the qualities of thrift and economy. The family
which consistently denies itself in order to lay by a little surplus
is far more likely to survive than is the one which uses up all
its resources as fast as they become available. During two thou-
sand years of famine it seems safe to say that the ancestors of
practically every Chinese now living must, time and again, have
passed through crises when habits of thrift, economy, and even
parsimony gave them a decided advantage over their neighbors,
in whom such habits were less strongly developed. The wasteful
and extravagant must have been killed off so relentlessly that
to-day wastefulness is almost eliminated in China. Even in the
south this is true, for the Chinese ancestors of the southerners
all came from the north, and apparently had been subjected to
many famines before they finally reached a land where famine no
longer troubles them. Yet in them the elimination of extrava-
gance would scarcely be as complete as in the north. Moreover,
since there has been no such severe elimination of the extrava-

186

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

gant in later times, it is scarcely to be expected that the spirit
of economy and frugality should be as highly developed in the
south as in the north. And that is just what we find. Yet accord-
ing to our standards even the southerners carry their economies
to a senseless limit. Chinese business men who have been trained
abroad criticise their own selves because they are so anxious to
save that they often fail to invest their earnings as profitably as
they might, and thereby retard their own success.

This same quality of providing for a rainy day accounts in
part for the constant "squeeze" which is so disagreeable a part
of life in China. So anxious are the Chinese to lay hold of some-
thing to ward off the evil day of scarcity that they cannot wait
for the legitimate fruits of their labor. Therefore they extract
their percentage from everything that passes through their
hands, regardless of the fact that if they did not do this their
trustworthiness would tend to bring them much higher and more
profitable positions. In the same way the officials begin to feather
their nests the moment they assume office. In them, as in the
vast majority of Chinese, the tendency to save for a rainy day
appears to be an inborn trait which they cannot withstand ex-
cept with painful struggles. Moreover, throughout the long cen-
turies of famine, there has been a premium on the capacity to
grab what can be gotten at once, regardless of consequences.
Never can one be sure when a famine will come, and only among
a few of the extremely rich is there any assurance that they,
too, may not be plunged into the ranks of the hungry and
empty.

Economy and thrift are virtues, but they easily pass into
parsimony and selfishness. Now selfishness and self-centeredness,
which perhaps are the same, are among the most prominent and
most regrettable quahties of the Chinese. And they too, like a
strong physique and the spirit of rigid economy, seem to have
become inherent in the race, ingrained qualities innate in the
germ plasm. They are innate because in the past those who
showed the spirit of altruism and self-sacrifice have often paid
the penalty with their lives. Let me explain this more fully.

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE

187

Here is a family, or rather a household, of fifteen souls. At its
head is the grandfather, and it includes three sons and their
wives and children. That family has food enough to last for a
hundred days, but it will be a hundred and fifty days before any
large amount of food can again be hoped for from nature. Sup-
pose that several other households are in the same plight. If
any one of those famiUes gives anything to the others it merely
diminishes its own chances of living. If it gave largely it would
doom itself to prompt destruction. It is not as though one could
give at one time and one at another. That happens in a com-
munity where the disasters are limited to individuals or to small
groups, and not where whole provinces suffer at the same time.

This is not all that can be done by sheer selfishness and sheer
indifference to the sufferings of others. Another important re-
source lies in seUing the children, especially the girls, and also
the young wives. So the elders in families such as we have de-
scribed look over the family and decide that if the prettiest young
wife and the pretty eleven-year-old daughter are sold they will
yield enough to tide the rest of the family through the famine.
But one family, being kind of heart, yields to the entreaties of
the girls, and they are not sold. A few weeks or months later
that family has reached the limit of its endurance. The beams
from the house have been sold, for they are the only part that
will bring anything. The bedding has been sold even from under
the children, and the air is already showing the nip of winter.
A few more clothes can be sold, a little more food can be ob-
tained by begging, but that is all. Only three possibilities re-
main, provided the girls are not sold. One is for the whole family
to take to the road as beggars or bandits; the others are death
and cannibaHsm. If such a family is gifted with a little more
than the usual degree of sensitiveness it may decide to follow
the example of a family whose tale I heard from a missionary.
When the last scanty meal had been eaten, the father tied all
the family together with a rope, including himself and even the
dog; then all threw themselves into the river and perished. In
another case, the head of the house sold the last rags of bedding,

188

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

bought a little food and some poison. "One last good meal/'
said he, " and then we will wander forth/' But he put the poison
in the food and they all died together. These are not imaginary
instances: they are things that actually happened in a recent
famine. That famine was by no means so severe as hundreds
that have preceded it, and it was greatly mitigated by the fact
that now there is a railroad in the district, while organized rehef
on a large scale was administered by the Red Cross. Yet two
such instances and many more cases of suicide came to the knowl-
edge of a single missionary. How many other such cases there
must have been that he did not hear of, and how vastly many
more in the hundreds of past famines !

But the family which was callous to the entreaties of its
daughters and young wives survived. The ruthless sacrifice of
the flower of the family saved the rest. Thus it has ever been.
For more than two thousand years the sale of children, some-
times boys, but chiefly girls, has been one of the well-recognized
means of survival in famine. Often it has been declared legal
by imperial enactment. And in every such famine complete
selfishness appears to have been one of the qualities that have
given people the greatest prospect of survival. In the last anal-
ysis the man who fends for himself alone has been most likely
to survive. But here another factor enters into the matter. Sel-
fishness may go too far. By utter renunciation of all claims upon
him a man may insure his own survival, but if he abandons wife
and children he also goes far toward insuring that his kind shall
perish from the face of the earth. Of course he may marry again,
but unless he is unusually competent his poverty is likely to
prevent it for some time. Moreover, even if he marries again,
his family as a whole and hence his type in future generations
is not likely to be so numerous as is that of the family where the
whole household sticks together and the majority are saved by
the ruthless sacrifice of a few. It is even possible that rutliless-
ness may go so far that one member of the family is not sold
but is actually used as food by the others. Certain it is that can-
nibahsm has occurred again and again. The outstanding fact is

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE 189

that utter selfishness helps to cause a family to survive in times
of famine, provided a man makes his family and not himself the
unit.

As I write this I wonder whether it can be possible that the
selective power of famines can be so potent and can have given
an hereditary impulse toward such a complex group of character-
istics. But this much is quite clear, the characteristics which
we actually find in the Chinese, especially the northern Chinese,
seem to be precisely the ones that ensure survival in times of
famine. The selection of such people for survival during two
thousand long years in generation after generation can scarcely
fail to have had a strong influence upon the hereditary complex
of the people. A certain type of temperament must have tended
to become fixed among the Chinese, even though social customs
may have determined the details of how that temperament would
act in a given crisis.

Let us return a moment to the children and young women
who are sold. It may seem to the reader that I have exaggerated
the importance of this. But recall how often it is mentioned
in the records. Note also what happened in the last famine.
When the foreign reHef workers finally checked up the popula-
tion which survived after the famine they found that the number
of young girls as compared with the rest of the population indi-
cated a shortage of something like 40,000 or 50,000. In other
words, at least that number appear to have been disposed of
so that they had been removed from the famine area. During
the famine they could be bought anywhere. A missionary who
bought some in order to save them, paid from $2 to $5 per head
in Mexican money. A homely girl could be bought for a dollar
in American money, and ordinarily attractive ones for $2.50;
while the prices of really pretty girls ran up as high as a hundred
dollars in gold. Inasmuch as this happened in a famine where
relief was supplied on a large scale, what must have happened
in far worse famines in the past? It is obvious that during the
hundreds of famines the number of girls who have been sold
must have been miUions.

190

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

What kind of girls are these, and what happens to them?
In the first place they are the prettiest, brightest, and most at-
tractive, which means that they are the ones who combine the
best physique with the best minds. Of course I do not mean
that they are absolutely the best in these respects, for those who
most excel belong to the most successful and well-to-do families
which do not have to sell their children. But among the ordinary
peasants, which often means all save an exceptional few, it is
these prettier, brighter girls who are sold. How do we know that
this is so ? Partly because mere observation shows it, and partly
because girls are so cheap that there is no market for the ugly,
stupid ones, and partly because the prices of pretty girls run so
far above those of the common ones that the self-centered Chi-
nese heads of families cannot resist selling those that will bring
the highest prices.

The effect of the sale of girls on the famine-stricken villages
is obvious. Among the prospective mothers of the next genera-
tion those who are best in mind and body are removed. Is it
any wonder that the north Chinese have gradually become
more and more dull, and that pretty women and girls are far
rarer among them than in the south ? And is it any wonder that
women are despised in north China to an almost unbelievable
degree? Read Doctor Smith's Chinese Characteristics and his
book on Village Life in China, His tale of the way in which
Chinese brides are subjected to every possible indignity and
treated as if they were the sciun of the earth is most pathetic.
The lot of women, especially in north China, is so miserable that
every year great numbers commit suicide. And it is presumably
miserable in part because in the famine areas many of the girls
who might have had the force of character to make themselves
respected and to uphold a certain degree of dignity have been
mercilessly sacrificed. Even when there are no famines the sale
of girls and wives is by no means uncommon. Perhaps this may
be one of the great reasons why the people in some of the vil-
lages where famine is chronic appear to be little more than
morons. Take away the finest girls from any community for half

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE 191

a hundred generations, and that community is sure to become
degraded and stupid and to hold women in low esteem. These
quaUties become not merely a social but a physical in-
heritance.

But are these girls wholly lost to the Chinese race? Not
wholly, but very largely. A part, and in some districts a consid-
erable part, are bought as wives by men in regions where there
is no famine, but the purchasers are likely to be the poorest and
least competent. The families which have these cheap purchased
wives are the kind who are most likely to be wiped out when
famine attacks the region of their new homes. The more attrac-
tive girls may meet either of two fates. The most attractive are
likely to be bought as secondary wives or concubines by the richer
men in the larger towns and cities. They henceforth become part
of the city population and never return to the country districts.
Hence so far as rural China is concerned, they are utterly lost;
and rural China is probably 85 per cent of all China. What be-
comes of them as city people, I shall discuss in a moment. As
for the other girls, they are bought by the owners of houses of
ill fame. Many of the prettiest and brightest as well as some
who are less attractive meet this fate. So far as the future of
the race is concerned they are as good as dead. Thus the sale
of girls and young wives tends at all times to weed out the better
types from the Chinese villages, and in times of famine this
tendency rises to large proportions.

Thus far we have taken no account of the wanderers who
form so large a proportion of the sufferers from Chinese famines.
Even in a mild famine like that of 192 1, great numbers of vil-
lagers take to the road. At first it is only the poorer people who
do this, unless a village happens to have been wholly destroyed,
as is not infrequent. But if a famine continues long, practically
all except a few of the most wealthy may ultimately be on the
road, and often the whole countryside is deserted by rich and
poor, as we read again and again in the old annals. In the last
famine the missionaries say that they saw bands of from twenty
to thirty people, and sometimes fifty or more, wandering far

192

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

from their homes, sometimes a hundred, two hundred, or even
three hundred miles in the case of some who went to Manchuria.
Picture the hardships of such a forced migration. The migrants
rarely start until their food is exhausted. Then they travel from
town to town, moving out from their own region into parts of
the country where the famine has been less severe. If the famine
is due to flood it is easy to find such places, but if drought is the
cause, they may have to wander hundreds of miles.

At first it may not be extremely difficult to move from one
village to another each day or at frequent intervals. And at
first the villagers who are not famine-stricken may give fairly
freely, although always in extremely small amounts. A mis-
sionary who observed many such wandering bands said that
when one looks into the bowls of the beggars one usually finds
nothing but tiny scraps of bread, for each person who gives any-
thing throws into the bowl no more than a mouthful from the
meal which he is eating when the beggar passes by. As time goes
on it becomes harder and harder to get a living through beg-
gary, for the wanderers grow weak, the other villagers become
less and less inclined to give, disease breaks out, some of the
beggars become footsore or otherwise incapacitated, and cold
weather comes on with all its terrors. Then death runs riot, and
there is a tremendous selection whereby not only the weak in
body but those who are weak in spirit are pushed to the wall.
Suicide is common, and the women have been known to throw
themselves into wells until the wells were choked with dead
bodies. But still the little band moves on. It is losing in numbers
and losing in physical strength, and yet it is gaining in strength
as a source of new generations.

As time goes on the wanderers divide into two groups. One
set consists of those who keep trying to go back to the old homes.
They are the ones for whom the old home has the strongest
call, partly because they have lands there, and partly because
their temperament is such that they feel the influence of their
ancestral cult and love the old ways even though they be miser-
able. In a word, the more conservative type tends to go back

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE 193

home, just as it is the last to leave home. Hence the economi-
cal, thrifty disposition, the utter selfishness, the callousness to
suffering, the conservative temperament, and the physical en-
durance of those who have stayed at home all through the
famine find their counterpart in the similar characteristics of
those who return. Like marries like as the years go on, and the
famine centers become the focus of these traits.

The other group of wanderers consists of those who have
more energy and initiative. They set themselves to do some
definite thing in order to escape from the toils of hunger. Some
take up brigandage, but they are a relatively small percentage.
A larger number undertake a distinct migration either to the
city or to some part of the country where they can find land and
settle down. Doubtless most of them plan originally to return
home in course of time, but that purpose often fades as time
goes on. It is most likely to fade among those who are most suc-
cessful. And those who are most successful are Hkely to be those
who have some special qualification. The man who is quick and
alert is more likely to make a successful coolie in the city than
is the man who is dull. But all coolies have a hard time and are
likely to return home if they have a bit of land which may by
now be fit for cultivation. The man who is clever enough to be
a good carpenter, mason, baker, maker of images, coppersmith,
or other artisan is much more likely to find profitable work in
the city, and the call of the country village appeals to him less
strongly. So, too, with the man who has a clever brain and can
live by one of the more intellectual pursuits. Thus whenever a
famine drives great numbers of people to the cities, the more
brainy, the ones with more skilful hands, and the ones best com-
petent to take care of themselves are, in general, those who de-
part. The country districts are thereby drained of their best
men as well as of their brightest, prettiest girls. In a certain
way this same process is going on in other countries, but the
Chinese famines greatly accelerate it.

This loss of the best would not be so bad if it were certain
that the city people would continue to multiply as rapidly as

194

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

those in the country. But this is almost never the case. In all
parts of the world the birth-rate appears to be lower in the city
than in the country, while in the past and in backward countries
the death-rate appears also to be systematically higher in the
cities than in the country. Indeed, it is often stated that in
Oriental cities the death-rate is so high and the birth-rate so
low that the cities would gradually die out if not replenished
from the country. No exact statistics are available, but a study
of the number of children per family by Doctor Lennox at the
Peking Union Medical College Dispensary, and by Doctor Gray
at the British Charitable Hospital of Peking indicates that the
birth-rate among all the Chinese of the Peking district is much
smaller than has generally been supposed. About a quarter of
the city famihes appear to have no children, apparently due in
considerable measure to venereal diseases. Counting these as
well as the others, the average number of children appears to
be only about 2.6 per family. Inasmuch as the death-rate is
very high, it seems probable that in Peking the deaths apprecia-
bly exceed the births. If this is true, it means that when people
migrate to the city they doom themselves to gradual extinction.
In that case the constant draining of the more active and ener-
getic parts of the population from the rural districts to the cities
is slowly but surely lowering the general cahber, not only of the
country districts but of the cities.

The most hopeful side of this dark picture seems to be the
wanderers who migrate into the rural portions of new regions.
The competent Hakkas of south China, previously referred to,
are migrants of this sort. Their history affords a good example
of the way in which people from the famine areas of north China
have moved into other parts of the country. During the process
they have apparently suffered natural selection in such a way
that the weaker or more conservative elements have been left
behind, while only the most able and energetic have finally set-
tled in the new home. There has been much misapprehension
as to the history as well as the character of the Hakkas. The
most reliable account that I have found was prepared by Mr.

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE 195

George Campbell, a missionary who lived among the Hakkas
many years. It was printed as a ten-page pamphlet for private
distribution, after having been read at a conference of the Eng-
hsh Presbyterian and American Baptist Missions at Swatow
in 191 2. It illustrates the way in which many missionaries have
done most scholarly and valuable scientific work, much of which
has never been made generally available because the time of
the missionaries has been so occupied in their daily work.

One of the first facts to be noted about the Hakkas is that
they speak a Mandarin form of the Chinese language, unhke
the tonal languages of their neighbors, but much like that of
parts of Honan, thus indicating their northern origin. Accord-
ing to Campbell's account, derived directly from old Chinese
sources, the present Hakkas are the result of three migrations.
First, in the fourth century after Christ north China suffered
a period of terrible distress, due partly to famine and partly to
invasions by the Tungus tribes, and especially the Huns. Ac-
cording to an old chronicle quoted by Miss Lee: "The popula-
tion of to-day [in an unspecified area about 300 A. D.] is only
one-tenth of that of the Han Dynasty. ... At present the
people who are not engaged on farms are innumerable." And
again, "Good fields have been growing weeds and the people
have been staying in swamps [presumably because those were
the places where there is water or else as a refuge from invaders].
Both the dry and wet fields have lost their fitness for agriculture,
pasturage has put an end to the raising of grain [which prob-
bably means that because grain could not be raised, the former
grain-fields had been used for pasturage], and the trees and
woods have all become dry at once."

At about the same time the invading Huns captured two
successive Chinese emperors, the second of whom was com-
pelled to act as servant to the leader of the Huns, until that
rough bandit became tired of seeing him around, and put him
out of the way. "These insults and humiliations [together, we
infer, with the famines] seem to have broken the spirit of the
people. When the founder of the Eastern Tsin made Nanking

196

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

his capital, many left their homes and took their families across
Hhe Great River' [the Yangtse]. This was to them a very seri-
ous step/' (Campbell.)

Beyond the Yangtse, which at a much later date was regarded
as the main barrier against the Mongol invaders from the north,
the migrating Hakkas of the fourth century drifted southward,
some trending southeasterly toward the coastal provinces of
Chekiang and Fukien, and others south toward the province of
Kiangsi. Their further history has not yet been traced, but the
ones who went to the seacoast probably became the so-called
Hoklos of the maritime sections, while the others may be rep-
resented by the Hakkas of Kiangsi, who apparently drove out
the primitive Lau or Laos.

The next Hakka migration took place in the ninth century.
At that time the condition of China was most distressing. Ac-
cording to Boulger as quoted by Campbell, the country was
"desolate, the towns ruined, the capital reduced to ashes. Not
a province that had not been visited by the horrors of civil war,
not a fortified place which had not undergone a siege, and which
might not be estimated fortunate if it had escaped a sack. With
confusion in the administration, and the absence of all public
spirit, it was not surprising that each governor should strive
to make himself independent and fight for his own hand."

At this same time we have the usual accounts of famines of
great severity. Whether they were worse than usual is not quite
clear, although they seem to have been, for we hear that famine
occurred several times in the province of Chekiang, where as a
rule it is rare.

One effect of all these disasters was that a band of 5,000 men
migrated from Honan. After much fighting and wandering they
finally settled in the province of Fukien among the mountains
back of Fuchow, about 885 A. D. That their famihes went with
them is proved by the presence of the old mother of two of the
leaders on a special expedition, when orders had been issued
that no weak or infirm persons should be taken along, as the
way was dangerous and provisions scarce. This is the foundation

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE

197

of one of those tales of filial piety so dear to the heart of the
Chinese. The sons are called to account by their chief in these
words :

"All soldiers have rules, there are no soldiers without rules.
You have disobeyed my command. If I do not punish you dis-
cipline is broken."

The elder son replied: "All sons have mothers, there are no
men without mothers?"

When the general ordered the mother to be beheaded, the
son made answer: "We brothers serve our mother as we serve
our general. Having slain their mother, how can you use the
sons? Please let us die first."

Of course the faithful sons are saved by the intervention of
the soldiers, and ultimately the elder of them replaces the gen-
eral in the supreme command.

In the early part of the reign of Wang Chau, the faithful son,
"there was undoubtedly frequent communication between his
followers and their relatives in Honan. Doubtless his armies
were largely recruited in this way. The sufferings of the people
in Honan would dispose them to emigrate to the new kingdom,
dominated by those of like blood with themselves." (Campbell.)
Thus the Hakka settlements grew as did those of early
America.

For nearly four hundred years after this migration the Hakkas
kept themselves distinct from the surrounding people, whereas
the Hoklos on the coast mingled with the earlier inhabitants.
Campbell considers that the two cases are comparable to those
of the Puritans in New England and the Spaniards in Mexico.
The Hakkas, like the Puritans, found a few savages whom they
drove out or exterminated, but with whom they did not mingle.
The coastal Hoklos, like the Spaniards in Mexico, found a more
numerous and more civilized people with whom they intermar-
ried, and thereby probably lowered their innate ability.

At the end of four long quiet centuries a great disaster over-
whelmed the whole Hakka region in the form not only of famines
but of the Mongol invasions, about 1276 A. D. A large part of

198

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

the population was exterminated. It is recorded that a Hakka
named Tsok raised a regiment of nearly a thousand men among
his own clan, and only one of them survived. The region in which
the Hakkas now display their highest development became a
wilderness. A native writer of that period speaks of the deserted
houses and fields and asks if the people have all turned into
foxes and birds. The chosen remnant whose skill, bravery, and
endurance enabled them to survive this terrible period gave
rise to the last migration. This involved merely a change of
residence of a hundred miles or so from the Ning-hua district,
in Fukien, which had not been completely devastated, to the
Mei-chau district of Kwantung, where the devastation was
complete. Some settlers also appear to have come from the sur-
vivors of the fourth-century migration to Kiangsi. In Mei-chau,
the central area of the most progressive Hakkas, the new migra-
tion was probably very smaU. Even as late as 1390 the country,
if so we may call it, is reported to have contained only 1,686
famihes, and 6,989 persons. In 1848, in spite of large emigration
to other provinces, the descendants of these original settlers
are reckoned as 268,193 persons. Thus the present Hakkas,
especially those in the central area, appear to be the descendants
of a small number of people from Honan, who in the fourth and
especially the ninth century migrated southward. The later
migrants settled in the mountains of Fukien and kept them-
selves unmixed with any other race for four centuries. Then
they were again subjected to a terribly drastic process of selec-
tion by famine, war, and migration, and finally a small number
settled in a new district which had been practically depopulated.
There they have since maintained themselves almost unmixed.
To-day, as Campbell well says, "the Hakkas are certainly a
very distinct and virile strain of the Chinese race. The circum-
stances of their origin and migrations go far to account for their
pride of race and martial spirit. It is safe to predict that the
Hakkas will play an increasingly important part in the progress
and elevation of the Chinese race."

In the Hakka district some movement is still going on, for

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE 199

not all of the mountainous country is yet occupied. Ofttimes,
so the missionaries say, it is the most progressive and most rad-
ical who move. As population increases, the fields are too small.
Part of the men go to Canton, Swatow, and other cities. Others
start new villages. Those who thus move to new villages are
often, according to Mr. Spiker, the ones who want to adopt
new methods, and hence are looked upon askance by their
fellows.

The history of the Hakkas deserves careful study. Recall
the fact that in the opinion of many good judges they are to-day
"the cream of the Chinese.'' Their energy and cleanliness, their
respect for women, and their high degree of education are almost
unique. They differ markedly from the Chinese of earher migra-
tions who surround them, and the difference is the same kind
as that which differentiates those same surrounding Chinese of
the south from the less progressive and active Chinese of the
north. The quahties of the Hakkas are in many respects like
those of the energetic barbarian invaders of Tartar, Mongol,
and Manchu stock from the dry northern regions to whom north
China owes so much of its historic dominance. In the case of the
Hakkas we have written evidence that they were impelled to
leave their northern homes under the stress of famine and in-
vasion. We get glimpses of the way in which hardship and war
inexorably cut down their numbers and left only a chosen rem-
nant of unusual capacity. We also find that this process of
selection took place three successive times. Finally, when the
Hakkas, especially those in the central and most typical area,
were free from the difficulties and hardships which induced
migration and natural selection, they kept themselves aloof
from their neighbors and thus preserved their inheritance. The
competent, wide-awake, progressive Hakkas, on the one hand,
and the incompetent, dull, conservative people of the villages
near Peking where the houses are left sealed while the villagers
beg for bread, on the other hand, seem to represent the two ex-
tremes due to natural selection and migration in China. In the
one case we have migrants in whom a high degree of ability has

200

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

been concentrated; in the other we have the stay-at-homes
from among whom most of the more able elements have gradu-
ally been eliminated.

Let us look at another and still more recent example of the
selective progress here outlined. In Mukden, as I have said,
there is more activity and life than in any other Chinese city
that I have visited. Activity and progressiveness are said to
be still more evident in Harbin, and most of all in the far north,
where the town of Aigun on the Amur River, opposite Blagoves-
chensk, is reported to be inhabited by Chinese who seem quite
unlike their countrymen in their modern spirit of progress and
in their bustling activity. It is sometimes affirmed that this is
because the Chinese have become Russianized by contact with
the relatively large Russian population. In a certain way this
is true. But why has not contact with the British at Hongkong
done still more to give a British quality to the Chinese there?
Nothing of the kind has happened, although Hongkong had a
considerable British population for a generation or two before
the Russians had much contact with the Chinese in Manchuria.
The answer seems to be a recent and drastic selection in Man-
churia, and only a mild selection in Hongkong.

Manchuria is inhabited almost entirely by Chinese who have
recently come from the conservative provinces of Shantung and
Chihli. In general the merchant classes and city people are from
Chihli, and the farmers from Shantung. Here is what happens.
Owing to the constant economic pressure, people from those two
provinces migrate more or less at all times, but especially when
there are famines. They go to Manchuria not only because that
province is near and is under Chinese rule, but because until
the nineteenth century it was only sparsely populated. The
regular proceeding is for the Chinese men to go first without
their families. A man newly come from Chihli works for a while
for some one in Manchuria. Then if he is successful he starts a
little business for himself. Once in three years, as a rule, he goes
back home, usually staying five or six months. From time to
time he brings with him other men from his village. For a while

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE

201

they live together as a single big family. But at last the mer-
chant who succeeds, decides to have his family with him rather
than several hundred miles away. He can afford to set up a
house, and he does so. Because he is competent and successful
— ^because he is the best man out of twenty, or fifty, or a hun-
dred— his family comes to Manchuria and his children become
permanent parts of the population. Of course he still calls
Chihli his home, but the EngHshman who settles in Australia
calls England home. In due time the merchant's sons grow up.
The more adventurous among them go farther north, just as
their father did before them. When they succeed they likewise
bring their famiHes to the north, and still another stage in the
selection of competent types is accomplished.

The same thing happens among the Shantung farmers.
Each year toward the end of winter they come by the hundred
thousand to Manchuria, some by rail, but many tramping hun-
dreds of miles on foot. Spreading out into the country they are
ready to work for the farmers as soon as spring breaks. In the
autumn they go back to their families, only to swarm north once
more at the end of the winter. But some are not content to be
merely hired laborers. The more ambitious and energetic get
hold of small pieces of ground. At first they cultivate these and
at the same time work for others. But in a year or two they get
enough land to support a family. Then a shack is built. Next
year at the time of the northward migration there is a wheel-
barrow on the road. On it sits the grandmother surrounded by
a promiscuous heap of bedding, boxes, bags of rice, cooking-pots,
and all the simple paraphernalia of a Chinese household. The
proud owner of the Manchurian shack sways between the shafts
of the wheelbarrow, his oldest son bends low in front, tugging at
a rope over his shoulder to help his father with the heavy barrow.
The wife walks behind bearing on her shoulder a bamboo pole
with a basket on each end and a baby in each basket. And with
her trudge one or two other children. Thus they toil along the
snowy path to that new home, unconscious that they have been
selected by their innate ability to people a new land. If the father

202

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

is competent and ambitious his work soon makes his land in-
crease in value. Then he sells out, moves north once more, this
time in a cart drawn perhaps by two horses and a mule. Once
more he succeeds, and then sometimes moves on a third time.
Thus northern Manchuria is being peopled by the most compe-
tent of the inhabitants of Chihli and Shantung. The old, old
process which apparently gave to the Hakkas their relatively
good abihties is being repeated before our eyes. It is one of the
most hopeful phenomena in all China, for it shows that even in
provinces like Chihli and Shantung, where the ravages of famine
have been especially bad, they have not weeded out all abiHty.
Proper selection, free opportunity, and freedom from the de-
pressing effect of overpopulation seem to be all that is needed
to build up even in those regions a Chinese race of high
abihty.

In summing up this discussion of China one of the dominant
facts in the history of the country seems to be the way in which
each cycle has been characterized by the incursion of selected
types from the north, especially from the deserts, the outward
migration of the more able of the previous inhabitants, and the
degeneration of those who remain in the areas where famines are
most numerous. Thus in the early days we see the Hiung-nu
breaking into northern China during the third century before
Christ and bringing in a strong virile element. At about the
same time other Chinese who had been pushed out from northern
China were penetrating south of the Yangtse and ultimately
reached the coast at Fuchow, Canton, and elsewhere. Although
no records are as yet available it seems almost certain that
these migrants went through a process of selection like that which
later concentrated so much ability in the Hakkas. Thus it ap-
pears probable that the relative activity and progressiveness of
south China had its origin in selective migrations of these first
Chinese inhabitants of the lands south of the Yangtse.

In the fourth century after Christ another period of unusually
severe famines coincided with new inroads of Tartar peoples
on the north and new movements of the Chinese toward the

THE SELECTION OF THE CHINESE 203

south. These latter movements brought the first of the Hakkas
and likewise seem to have carried other similar people called the
Hoklos onward to the coast to reinvigorate the people already
there and give them a new spirit of progress. Passing over the
intervening periods we find in the twelfth and thirteenth cen-
turies another example of the same kind. The able Mongols
came in on the north, the Hakkas again suffered selection and
moved southward. Even now they are still pushing coastward
and thus maintaining in the southern cities that spirit of energy
and progressiveness which distinguishes the southern Chinese
from the northern. Meanwhile the Manchus have come and
made their contribution to progress in the north, and are now
in decline. At the same time there has occurred in the north a
process of adverse selection whereby the abler people under the
compulsion of poverty and famine move cityward and are even-
tually exterminated, or else go to other parts of China such as
the relatively new provinces of Manchuria and likewise far
Szechuan on the upper Yangtse.

Even among the abler people of the north there is presumably
a tendency toward innate conservatism because many of the
village girls, bringing with them their village inheritance, are
taken into wealthy homes as concubines. Thus in the north we
see a great antithesis : at one stage of the historic cycle a sudden
inroad of able barbarians who in due time amalgamate more
or less completely with the former inhabitants. Then comes a
period when the impulse thus gained is lost through the natural
selection due to overpopulation and selective migration to the
cities or to other provinces. These contrasted events in the north
are the central fact of Chinese history. Elsewhere, especially in
the south, there is the same alternation between the invigorating
inroads of new people, and the deterioration which almost in-
evitably follows. But because nature is more uniform and there
is no such severe economic pressure as in the northern provinces
where famine is most common, this deterioration in the south is
far less rapid than in the north. To-day we seem to be at the
stage in an historic cycle when the north has deteriorated to the

204

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

point where it is more backward than the south. But akeady it
is beginning to forge ahead under the influence of a new kind of
selective migration whereby able foreigners — ^picked men in
their own countries — as well as able Chinese from the south are
peacefully assuming the direction of future progress.

CHAPTER XIV

THE THREE GREAT RACES OF EUROPE

Having considered the nomads of the dry parts of Asia, and
likewise the Jews, Turks, and Armenians of the West, and the
Chinese of the East, it would be natural at this point to consider
also the Japanese and the people of Indo-China and India. I
shall omit these, however, for lack of space and because it seems
advisable to pass on to our own ancestors in Europe. Moreover,
I wish to retain space for the especially unique and clear-cut
case of Iceland where the principles of natural selection are illus-
trated with a sharpness found ahnost nowhere else. Japan, to
be sure, illustrates the same principles, but not so clearly. India
resembles China in many ways, but is vastly more complex,
so complex that I hesitate to discuss it without again visiting
the country.

Turning now to Europe, we have already seen that during
each glacial epoch mankind must have been driven from a large
part of Europe. When the ice retreated, however, vast areas
which had previously been uninhabitable became highly attrac-
tive and hospitable. At the same time the dry regions of north
Africa, and especially Asia, which had been comparatively well-
watered and habitable while Europe was shrouded in ice, tended
to assume their present condition of deserts. Thus the history
of Europe for the last twenty or thirty thousand years, more or
less, has been profoundly influenced by three great conditions:

First, we infer that previous alternations of glacial and inter-
glacial epochs had rigidly weeded out the weaker human ele-
ments and mixed one selected race with another to a remarkable
degree. Hence the tribes who dwelt in the Mediterranean lands,
and in western Asia from Palestine and Asia Minor around
through Mesopotamia to Persia and the Caspian region may be

205

206 THE CHARACTER OF RACES

presumed to have been peculiarly competent, probably the most
competent in the world.

Second, the change in climate from the rigors of the ice-age
to the mildness of the present must have exerted a push and a
pull upon these competent people. The push from behind was
doubtless due not only to increasing drought and growing density
of population, but to raids and invasions by less fortunate people
nearer the centers of the great deserts. The pull from in front
was due to the attraction of the new and unoccupied lands which
were, little by little, passing out of the grip of the glacial climate
in Europe. Whether the push or the pull was stronger we can-
not tell, but probably the push often led to violent and rapid
migrations, whereas the pull may have been especially effective
in causing slow, quiet movements which, in the long run, may
have been highly effective.

In the third place, the passing of the glacial period presum-
ably caused migration into Europe to follow different paths at
different times. This is well illustrated in Taylor's map of head-
form and migrations. (Figure 3, page 76.) The earliest post-
glacial line of approach was probably northward across the
Mediterranean, for the Sahara desert, lying relatively near the
equator, probably felt the pinch of aridity sooner than its Asiatic
counterparts. Moreover the southern peninsulas of Europe were
then the most habitable parts of that continent, and presumably
became more and more habitable during the early stages of the
amelioration of the glacial climate. Another path of migration
to Europe traverses Asia Minor and crosses the Hellespont, the
Bosphoms, and the ^Egean Islands. Movements in this direc-
tion presumably began later than those from the south not only
because the highlands of Armenia, Asia Minor, and the Balkans
even now are relatively cold, but because their fairly northern
latitude presumably delayed the amelioration of their climate,
while the deserts east of them probably did not become extremely
dry so quickly as did those farther south. The third line of inva-
sion from the Mediterranean-Asiatic belt of competent people
to Europe rims north of the Black and Caspian Seas. Since the

THE THREE GREAT RACES OF EUROPE 207

Caucasus mountains form an effective barrier, this route was
probably little used until the glacial climate had so far passed
away that Russia in latitudes forty-five degrees to fifty degrees
was moderately attractive to nomads, while the deserts to the
east and south were dry enough to give an appreciable push.

This discussion of physical features and climate suggests
that we should expect three main waves of post-glacial migra-
tions into Europe. The first and most southern wave would be
expected to start in Africa or east of the Mediterranean and
spread into the Mediterranean peninsulas. It might likewise
spread along the seacoasts to parts of western Europe, like
Brittany and Ireland, for people who could cross the Mediter-
ranean must have had some skill in boats, and the west coast
of Europe, even as far north as Ireland, has a relatively mild
climate. Our expectation seems to be fulfilled in the so-called
Mediterranean race. People of that race were apparently among
the first to practise agriculture in Europe.

In similar fashion, but somewhat later, we should look for an
invasion of plateau people, whose route would take them from
the Asiatic plateaus to those of Europe. The first waves of the
great Alpine race may perhaps satisfy this expectation, although
many people of related stocks have come in later times by more
northern routes. In the rugged plateaus where the Alpines first
dwelt the keeping of sheep has long been a main industry. Farther
north, and perhaps somewhat later as befits the climate, the third
great migration would be that of the people of the plains, keep-
ers of horses and cattle. And the first stage of this seems to cor-
respond to the fair Nordics, or to Dixon's Caspian folk. Thus
the division of the people of early Europe into three great types
of which the Mediterranean is the oldest is fully in accord with
what the geography and climate would lead us to expect.

Of course the history of the great migrations into Europe is
by no means so simple as the preceding paragraphs would
seem to indicate. There have been all sorts of marchings and
counter-marchings, and people of different races have moved
over the same track, while race has mingled with race again and

1

208

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

again. Moreover, the migrations out of Asia have continued
till our own day, when Armenians and Greeks have been the
last to move, pushed out by the broad-headed Turks during
the World War; while those from Africa persisted as late as the
days of the Arab invasion of Sicily and Spain. But this, too, is
wholly in accord with the physical environment. It is almost
universally agreed among geologists that since the height of the
glacial period there has been a complex series of glacial stages.
Sometimes the climate has rapidly become milder, again it has
grown more severe. These changes, as I have shown fully in
other places, appear to have continued to our own day. During
historic times the general tendency of the cUmate seems to have
been toward aridity in the deserts of Asia and in the lands of
the eastern Mediterranean, but the tendency has been interrupted
again and again by pulsations which have carried it back toward
the glacial type, or toward a degree of aridity even greater than
that of to-day. These stages and pulsations in themselves would
be enough to cause innumerable movements of races both back-
ward and forward. The complexities thus introduced are still
further complicated by the varying character of the mountains,
valleys, plains, and forests in different parts of Europe. More-
over, purely human causes like the racial fervor of the Turks are
extremely important. Again, one racial movement interferes
with another, and the effect of a movement in one place may be
to displace tribe after tribe, so that the commotion extends
thousands of miles, and endures for generations. The result is
bound to be an extraordinarily complex series of migrations which
give almost unlimited opportunity for natural selection and racial
mixture, and thus for the creation of racial stocks with highly
diverse characteristics.

It would be profitable at this point to undertake a general
analysis of the post-glacial racial movements of Europe, but
that would take us beyond the limits laid out for the present
book. Accordingly we shall merely attempt to gain a general
impression of the qualities of the three great races of Europe,
and shall then take up certain specific problems pertaining to

THE THREE GREAT RACES OF EUROPE 209

individual stocks. In studying the character of the Mediter-
ranean, Alpine, and Nordic races I shall set forth the opinions
of two of the most recent investigators, Dixon and McDougall,
and shall then express my own opinion. Dixon approaches the
matter from the purely anthropological standpoint; McDougall
is a psychologist. With neither do I agree entirely, but both
present views that are well worthy of thought. Dixon, it will be
remembered, has a new classification of races. Here is what he
says:

Whereas the Proto-Australoid and Proto-Negroid types seem to have
had their origin in the tropics, and the Mongoloid and Palae-Alpine upon
the great central Asiatic plateaus, the Caspian and Mediterranean types
seem to be traceable to the Eur-Asiatic steppes surrounding the Caspian
Sea and the regions adjacent to it, north of the plateaus. If the Proto-
Australoid and Proto-Negroid types have been, except in the very earhest
period, the most stay-at-home of types, the Caspian and Mediterranean,
especially the former, have been of all the most adventurous. In late Palae-
oUthic times spreading westward into Europe, and almost as early moving
northeastward into America, in Neolithic times they forced their way
across the eastern plateaus into the borderlands in China and Japan, and
thence southward into Indonesia and far into the Pacific. Southward, also,
across the eastern plateaus they made their way early into Arabia and north-
eastern Africa, driving from the whole northern part of the continent its
older Negroid population, and infusing themselves along the East African
plateau far to the south. Later yet they moved southward across the Iranian
plateau to India. The Palae- Alpines were on the whole content to be led;
the Caspian and Mediterranean people were, on the other hand, leaders,
the former perhaps, if one may venture so far in attempting an analysis,
more in the affairs of the body, the latter in those of the mind. The Caspian
was more a conqueror, the Mediterranean a thinker and artist. Each type
had in it great latent possibiHties, and when the two were blended, a people
of great capability was the result. It was thus, among a Mediterranean folk
in whom was a minority of Caspian, that the striking Minoan civilization
of Crete arose, out of which grew more or less directly and among a largely
I kindred people the "glory that was Greece"; that, in a population where
I the two elements were perhaps more equally blended, there were evolved
1 the great systems of Indian philosophy, whose influence has been so pro-
I found upon all the Orient; that among another people, mainly compounded
I of these same factors, that most militant of religions, Islam, arose, whose
adherents have carried it with fire and sword into Europe, throughout
northern Africa, almost the whole of Asia, and far out into the Pacific;
and that in a related group of similar origin in Palestine we have the source

210

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

of that faith which missionaries have carried to every land. Blended also
of these two types, but with considerable elements of the older Proto-
Australoid and Proto-Negroid, were the Baltic peoples, that "Nordic"
race which wrecked the power of Rome, as their Caspian-Mediterranean
kindred, the Hyksos, had conquered Egypt, or the Kassites had plundered
Babylon, or the Persians had overthrown Assyria. Lastly, in modern times,
it was largely the adventurous daring, the genius and the hardihood of
these breeds which were responsible for the discovery, conquest, and coloni-
zation of America by Europe, an event which, in the development of the
human race as a whole, was destined to be of great significance. . . .

If, in the history of the race as a whole, the Mediterranean and Cas-
pian peoples have played a great part, that of the Alpines seems hardly less
impressive; and there is not a little reason to beheve that only where these
types have met and mingled have the highest achievements been attained.
Perhaps the idea is fanciful, certainly many, many other factors are like-
wise concerned, yet one may point to various cases in history which seem
to bear it out. Thus Babylonian civilization grew out of the blending of
the supposedly Alpine Sumerian with the Mediterranean-Caspian Semitic
peoples who seem long to have been in occupation of the Mesopotamian
plains; in Greece, before the florescence of Hellenic culture, the earlier
Mediterranean population was reinforced by the immigration of the prob-
ably Alpine Dorians [elsewhere said to have been probably under Caspian
leadership]; Rome rose to greatness only after the older Mediterranean-
Caspian people of Latium had been half dominated by Alpines coming south-
ward from the valley of the Po and the region where the older Etruscan
culture had its centre. [But elsewhere we read that the Patrician aristocracy
of Rome was Caspian in type.] In the East Chinese civilization had its rise
in an area where strong Caspian elements were absorbed by the incoming
Alpine folk; lastly, the marvellous development of modern European civili-
zation has occurred in that region in which Alpine, Mediterranean, and
Caspian have been more completely and evenly fused than elsewhere in
the world. Is it perhaps more than mere coincidence that the reawakening
of culture in Europe after the Dark Ages began at a time when, after a
period of centuries during which wide shif tings of peoples had occurred,
the new fusion of the elements had been begun? Is it mere chance that
it was in the north of Italy, in Tuscany and the valley of the Po, where the
influence of the Caspian-Mediterranean immigrants was strongest, that
the Renaissance began; that in Germany it was in the south where the
Baltic peoples had in large numbers blended with the older Alpine and
Palae-Alpines, rather than in the north where such amalgamation was less
clear, that the revival of culture had its start; that many of the forerunners
and leaders of the Reformation, such as Huss, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, all
came from regions where the fusion of types must have been vigorously
going on ? The complexity of the causes underlying all such great movements
is, it need hardly be said, very great, yet I cannot but feel that, among the
many potent factors which have detern:]dne4 or directed the rise of mod-

THE THREE GREAT RACES OF EUROPE 211

em European civilization, this one of the fusion of Alpine with Mediter-
ranean-Caspian elements has an important place. That the contact of
two different peoples often produced a stimulating effect upon culture has
of course often been noted; the point which I would make here is that this
stimulation seems to be at its maximum when the peoples belong to the
Alpine and to the Caspian or Mediterranean types. In the years before
the war, Teutonic scholars were proving, to their own satisfaction, that
most of the great names in the history of the European and Mediterranean
world were those of men of Nordic race, and even Christ himself was
claimed by some of the more daring as of "Germanic" blood. To no one
race or type, however, can the palm be thus arrogantly assigned, rather to
the product of the blending of those types which seem of all the most gifted
— the Mediterranean-Caspian and the Alpine.

In the history of mankind there have been, from earliest times, many
places, many occasions when amalgamations between two or more of the
great fundamental types have occurred: and from these blendings, I am
tempted to believe, have arisen again and again the cultures or civilizations
which mark the progress of the race. From the fusions between types less
dowered have come the feebler cultures; from those of types with larger,
more richly endowed brains have come greater achievements; from those
of the Alpine and Mediterranean types, whose brains in size surpass all the
rest, have grown the greatest of them all.

This long quotation is inserted here not only because of its
intrinsic value, but because it is well to remind ourselves that
the mixture of races is one of the most important ways of produc-
ing new racial types. I do not agree with all that Dixon says,
for in his enthusiasm over racial mixture as a cause of racial
ability he almost disregards natural selection and environment.
Nevertheless, there can be little question that some racial mix-
tures far excel others in providing a new, varied, and competent
assortment of human types from among which natural selection
has been able to choose, and which the environment has then
helped or hindered.

Now let us turn to a wholly different line of thought. In his
little book called Is America Safe for Democracy? McDougall
gives a most interesting analysis of the mental characteristics
of Nordics and Mediterraneans, together with some hints as to
the Alpines. His discussion centers around five qualities: (i)
curiosity, (2) individualism, (3) introversion, (4) self-assertion,
and (5) acquisitiveness. In all of these he believes that the Nor-

212

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

dies tend to go to the positive extreme, while the Mediterranean
people are more negative, and the Alpines generally intermediate.
Of course he deals only with the typical specimens of each race,
and recognizes that the majority of Europeans are of mixed
origin even though they may in their general character tend
toward one type or the other.

Curiosity [says McDougall], with the emotion of wonder which enters
as an essential element into all such emotions as awe, admiration, and
reverence, may without exaggeration be called the mother of philosophy
and of science. Now modern science is very largely a product of northern
Europe, of those countries where the Nordic blood predominates; not ex-
clusively so by any means. But note this fact: the Greeks who founded
philosophy and science were probably, in their great age, compounded of
the Nordic and Mediterranean races. The Romans were almost purely
Mediterranean.* They produced great men, great lawyers, soldiers, ad-
ministrators, and poets; but no philosophy and no science. For four hun-
dred years they ruled absolutely the fairest part of the world, in a high state
of civilization, but they invented nothing, discovered nothing, made no
progress in science. Otto Seeck, the historian of the classical world, has drawn
a vivid picture of this scientific stagnation. He points out how, even in
the art of war, on success in which their whole empire was founded and
maintained, the Romans made no progress, invented no new weapons, but
fought with the same old weapons throughout the centuries of predomi-
nance. Note another evidence of the weakness of their curiosity. In spite
of their supremacy, their navy and mercantile marine, they remained a
Mediterranean power: their sailors penetrated hardly, if at all, beyond the
pillars of Hercules; while the barbarous Vikings in their smaller ships sailed
to Iceland, Greenland, and America, and perhaps landed on the banks of
the Charles River. Here, then, is further evidence that in the Mediterranean
race the instinct of curiosity is relatively weak.

IndividuaHsm, the second of the peculiar Nordic quahties
according to McDougal, is diametrically opposed to sociabiHty
or the herd instinct.

The Southern Europeans are more sociable than the Northern. They
delight in conversation, in coming together in large masses, in expressing

* Dixon does not agree with this. He holds that in the early ages of Rome, although
the Mediterranean type was most numerous, the Caspian type formed the dominant
aristocracy. By the time of Christ the Caspian ingredient had greatly diminished and
the Alpine had become prominent. In this case, as in many others, Dixon's conclusions
are based on a very small number of skulls, and hence cannot yet be considered
conclusive, but they cannot be disregarded.

THE THREE GREAT RACES OF EUROPE 213

their emotions collectively, in great collective outbursts of applause, of
admiration, or of execration. In all ages their civilization has been essen-
tially urbane; the city has always been their natural habitat. Men of Nor-
dic race, on the other hand, are taciturn; they take part in social gatherings
only with difficulty and hesitation; they are content to live alone in the
seclusion of the family circle, emerging from it only in response to the call
of duty or ambition or war. The isolated home is their invention, their
dearest possession; and the individualized home is one of their peculiar con-
tributions to the culture of the world. The facts are all summed up in the
phrase — "An Englishman's home is his castle."

The next contrast between Mediterraneans and Nordics is
expressed as follows:

The Mediterranean peoples are vivacious, quick, impetuous, impul-
sive; their emotions blaze out vividly and instantaneously into violent
expression and violent action. The Northern peoples are slow, reserved,
unexpressive; their emotions seem to escape in bodily expression and
action with difficulty. . . . [These two types correspond with what the
psychologist calls extroverts and introverts.] The extroverts are the vivid,
vivacious persons who charm us by their ease and freedom of expression,
their frankness, their quick sympathetic responses. They are little given
to brooding; they remain relatively ignorant of themselves; for they are
relatively objective, they are interested directly and primarily in the
outer world about them. — If they break down under strain, their trouble
takes on the hysteric type — in spite of which they may remain cheerful,
active, and interested in the world. — The introvert, on the other hand, is
slow and reserved in the expression of his emotions. He has difficulty in
adequately expressing himself. His nervous and mental energies, instead
of flowing out freely to meet and play upon the outer world, seem apt to
turn inward determining him to brooding, reflection, deUberation before
action. And when he is subject to strain, his energies are absorbed in in-
ternal conflicts; he becomes dead to the outer world, languid, absorbed,
self-centered, and full of vague distress.

Physicians who have studied nervous diseases in Europe
say that in general the southerners suffer from the hysteric
type and northerners from the neurasthenic type. McDougall
shows that this psychological contrast is what would be expected
from the extrovert and introvert types and may have much to
do with the fact that while homicide is common in the Medi-
terranean parts, suicide and divorce are common in the Nordic
parts of Europe. The southerner becomes quickly angry and

214

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

vents his rage in violent physical action directed against the
person who has wronged or insulted him. The northerner broods
over his wrongs, and kills himself rather than face what he be-
lieves to be intolerable, or obtains a divorce when he has thor-
oughly thought over the matter. And the northerner likewise
tends to become a Protestant because his curiosity leads him to
investigate and his introvert temperament leads him to rumi-
nate over what he learns.

The quality of self-assertion manifests itself in the Nordics
in a highly developed capacity for self-assertion or leadership.
An Englishman likes to work things out for himseK, and is glad
when an emergency throws him on his own resources. The
Mediterranean and Alpine people, on the contrary, are much
more docile, more wilHng to be led even when it is ultimately
to their own disadvantage. It is not at ail likely that Napoleon
could have led the Norse as he led the French, or that the Brit-
ish would have let any one impose upon them the absolute obedi-
ence which the Nordic junkers imposed upon the Alpine remain-
der of the Germans.

McDougall believes that docility and self-assertion are rooted
in two distinct and opposed instinctive tendencies, which he
calls the instincts of submission and self-assertion. He thinks
that the instinct of submission is

the root of all docility and suggestibility, that is, it is the principal factor
in all those social phenomena which some authors have erroneously ascribed
to the herd instinct. [On the other hand] the instinct of self-assertion is
the most essential, the all-important factor, in what we call character,
that complex organization from which spring all manifestations of will-
power, all vohtion, resolution, hard choice, initiative, enterprise, and
determination.

This instinct, he holds, is strongest in the Nordics, whereas
the instinct of submission is strong in the Alpines.

It is this greater dose of self-assertiveness in the Briton which leads other
peoples to complain that he goes about the world as though it belonged
to him; it is this which, in spite of his lack of method and organization,
lias enabled him to muddle through the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean

THE THREE GREAT RACES OF EUROPE 215

War, the Indian Mutiny, the South African War, and, lastly, the Great
War, It is this which, in spite of his lacks, enabled him to subdue and gov-
ern the 300,000,000 of India. And it is this, in combination with his other
quaHties, that has rendered him the successful colonist par excellence.

Let us note in passing that the addition of this quaUty to the picture
of the Nordic race completes, or makes more adequate, our explanation
of the distribution of the Protestant religion in the world; for it shows us
that the men of this race are by nature Protestants, essentially protesters
and resisters against every form of domination and organization, whether
by despot, church, or state.

The final quality ascribed by McDougall to the Nordics is
acquisitiveness:

The strength or weakness of this tendency is, I suggest, the main factor
in determining that a man or a race shall be provident or improvident.
And it is very easy to see how natural selection may have developed this
quahty in peoples inhabiting cold or arid regions. It seems, in fact, to be
present in the principal races in proportion to the demand for it made by
their habitat. It seems to be strong in the Alpine and the Nordic race and
in the Chinese; less strong in most branches of the Mediterranean; but
strong in the Semites, in the Jews and Arabs and the Phoenicians, who long
inhabited the dry, desert regions. Its strength seems to be a quahty essen-
tial to any people that is to build up a civiHzation based on the accumula-
tion of wealth, on commerce and industry, as every higher civilization has
been. Owing to this necessity, every communistic or sociaHstic scheme
which would aboHsh private property is an empty dream, an unrealizable
ideal, a Utopia. The strength of this impulse seems to vary widely even
in nearly related peoples, and also from one family to another. It would
certainly seem to be stronger in the lowland Scotch than in the Irish; and
it is, I think, not improbable that its variations are a principal ground of
social stratification which tends to arise in all acquisitive societies, that is
to say, in all civilized peoples.

We have found reason to believe that, though the Nordic race has no
monopoly of genius, though it does not excel, and perhaps does not equal,
other races in many forms of excellence (as so extravagantly claimed by
the race-dogmatists), it yet has certain qualities which have played a great
part in determining the history, the institutions, the customs and tradi-
tions, and the geographical distribution of the peoples in whom its blood
is strongly represented.

This last sentence brings us face to face with the central
problem of this book. Do the innate qualities of a race deter-
mine its geographical distribution, or do the geographical, eco-

216

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

nomic, and social conditions pick out certain types of character
for preservation, and thus determine their distribution? In a
certain way both are true. Unquestionably, other things being
equal, a race with an innate acquisitive instinct, for example, will
be better able to survive in a cold country or a desert than will
a race without that instinct. But if we go back far enough in hu-
man or pre-human history we presumably come to a time when
races had not yet been differentiated, and there were only in-
dividual differences. If a group of individuals wandered into a
cold or dry climate the quality of acquisitiveness at once gave
some of them an advantage. The children who inherited ac-
quisitiveness would tend to survive, and ultimately that quahty
might become characteristic of the race.

Such reasoning leads one to believe that the qualities dis-
cussed by McDougall are not so much characteristic of races as
of regions. Take the Norse and the SiciHans as extreme types
of the Nordics and Mediterraneans. What differences in their
history are likely to have given rise to differences of character?
One of the most obvious facts is that the ancestors of the Norse
were presumably hunters, cattle-raisers, and migrants for thou-
sands of years after the ancestors of the Sicilians had settled
down to agriculture. The Norse apparently could not practise
agriculture in most parts of their present home much more than
two or three thousand years ago. They occupy one of the latest
parts of the world to be freed from a cap of ice. Even during the
Christian era their home has been so stormy that times of cU-
matic stress and repeated failures of crops have caused many of
them to wander away, or else to depend on cattle-herding and
seafaring. This seems to be one reason why the Norse have
spread so far and so widely, for they settled Iceland, came to
England, made a home in Normandy, ruled Sicily, and intruded
themselves in many other places. Moreover, in order to get a
living under the harsh conditions that prevail in Norway it has
been necessary to cultivate little isolated tracts of land, herd
cattle in small and almost inaccessible mountain valleys, and
venture forth over some of the stormiest seas in the world.

THE THREE GREAT RACES OF EUROPE 217

Nevertheless, the environment is decidedly healthful and has
no such terribly repressive conditions as seem to be found in
the extreme cold of Siberia, the extreme dryness of the desert,
and the malaria of Sicily.

In the pastoral migrations preceding their arrival in Norway,
and in the stress of estabhshing themselves in such a land, it
seems clear that the Norse must have experienced an especially
strong dose of the kinds of selection which we have found char-
acteristic of nomads and of migrants. That is probably one reason
why the Nordics make such good colonists. Curiosity as well as
boldness, initiative, individuality, and the power of leadership
all seem to be among the prominent traits that cause men to
migrate to new regions, and make them successful when they get
there.

In later times the sea has acted as a strong selective factor,
for the death-rate among the young men is very high when they
first go to sea. This puts a premium on the quick minds and
strong bodies which are needed to cope with sudden storms,
high winds and waves, and long exposure. The scarcity of tillable
land in Norway and its division into small and isolated par-
cels, and the fact that water can be procured practically every-
where, give an advantage to the people who have the tempera-
ment that can live alone; the introvert is at a premium. Self-
reliance and the capacity to do things alone and on one's own
initiative are especially valuable in a land where a large percent-
age of the families must live by themselves and must depend
entirely on their own ability and initiative during the long periods
when darkness and snow keep them isolated. Self-assertion is
equally valuable, for a successful trip in a fishing-boat during a
storm, or a journey across a snowy pass at a season when dark-
ness may overtake one in the middle of the journey take much
more of that quality than is needed by the man who lives in a
Sicilian village and never goes to sea. The need of acquisitive-
ness is equally obvious, for the Norse winters are very long;
and food, fuel, shelter, and clothing must be prepared in advance,
or some of the family will perish. Most of these qualities are

218

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

as necessary for the women as for the men, especially in view of
the frequent and long absences and all-too-common deaths
which the seafaring life and the care of the cattle in the moun-
tains impose on the men. In fact the Norse families where the
women lack these qualities are likely to suffer seriously. Hence
no matter what the original character of the race which migrated
into Norway, it seems as though the process of natural selection
would tend to preserve to a high degree the qualities of curi-
osity, individuahsm, introversion, self-assertion, and acquisitive-
ness. It is quite possible that some races, such as the Negroes,
would be exterminated under such circumstances because they
have already acquired opposite qualities under another environ-
ment. Or an incompetent race might find the environment
repressive where the Norse find it stimulating. Hence we infer
that if some non-Nordic race had migrated to Norway its char-
acter would, to-day, be markedly different from that of the mod-
ern Norse. Yet in comparison with its near relatives who mi-
grated to other regions I am convinced that such a race would
show a marked tendency toward many Norse characteristics.

The Sicilians, on the contrary, have been permanent farmers
since an indefinite time far in the past. Greeks, Arabs, Normans,
and others have indeed settled in Sicily at various times, but
judging by the modern inhabitants, these stocks, or at least the
northern elements of them, have died out, as we shall see more
fully in Greece. The great bulk of the present Sicilians seem to
be descended from ancestors who for thousands of years have
cultivated their little farms and tended their few sheep and
goats almost as their descendants do to-day.

Even if the original Mediterranean people who first settled
in Sicily possessed a considerable degree of the kind of curi-
osity, initiative, and self-assertion which led men to move on
into new lands, the long agricultural life has presumably allowed
these qualities to grow weak. The introvert capacity and fond-
ness for living alone have presumably been a handicap in many
cases, for Sicily and most Mediterranean lands have so long and
dry a summer that the vast majority of the inhabitants are forced

THE THREE GREAT RACES OF EUROPE

219

to live near the main suppKes of water. But in a compact village
the sociable extrovert family gets along much better than the
self-centered introvert. Likewise the man who is mild and easily
led has an advantage, for he gets along without friction. This is
especially true if a region is governed by strong intruders from
outside, as has been the case during long periods of SiciHan his-
tory. Again, in a country so warm and mild as Sicily the acquisi-
tive instinct is not nearly so necessary as in regions where the
winters are long and severe, but where agriculture is, nevertheless,
the main mode of life.

In addition to this it must not be forgotten that for a long
period Sicily, far more than Norway, has been densely populated,
and hence has suffered from poverty and even famine. Thus
there, as in China, there has been a slow but perhaps important
outward movement which in almost every generation may have
taken away a considerable number of the SiciHans who had most
of the pioneer quaHties which are so strong in the Norse. And
finally the climate of Sicily with its mild winters and long, hot,
monotonous summers does not stimulate activity as does that of
Norway, with its coolness, its storms, its variabihty, and yet its
freedom from really severe extremes of temperature. It is not
improbable, although we cannot speak positively, that the
climate itself and diseases like malaria have a certain direct
selective influence so that the less strenuous types have an ad-
vantage in southern Europe and the more strenuous active types
in the northwest. WTiether this is true or not, the facts here
given suggest that natural selection has been one of the main
factors in differentiating the Nordic and Mediterranean races
and in making the Alpines more or less intermediate between
these two. That racial mixture and other factors have also
played a part, I do not doubt. The emphasis on selection in
this book does not in the least mean that other causes of racial
differences are ignored or minimized.

CHAPTER XV

THE CHARACTER OF MODERN EUROPE

We have looked at the character of Europe from the point
of view of the three great races. Let us next attempt to get a
composite idea of the character of the various countries in quite
a different fashion. Let us get away from the subjective method
where we deal with our own impressions and opinions, and let
us look at the matter objectively in such a manner that our own
opinions have no weight. One way to do this is by means of a
consensus of opinion such as is found in a book like the Encyclo-
pedia Britannica. The eleventh edition of that famous publica-
tion contains biographies of about 8,600 Europeans who were
born since 1600 A. D. I have classified these men according to
the country of their birth and the lines in which they distin-
guished themselves, as appears in the table at the end of this
chapter. For simplicity let us employ only the five major groups
there given: (i) religion, philanthropy, philosophy, and educa-
tion; (2) science of all sorts, both natural and mathematical, to-
gether with invention, and engineering; (3) history and economics;
(4) literature and art; and (5) politics, government, and war. In
addition to these there are a number of people whom we have
omitted, but who are included in the Encyclopaedia Britannica
because of their success in business, because they were freaks, or
because they inherited high positions but were otherwise insig-
nificant and would not have been included simply on their own
merits.

We do not yet know how far the real character of a nation is
expressed in its men of genius. It seems, however, that such
men to a large degree not only guide the activity of a nation, but
are themselves more or less controlled in their choice of work
by certain definite tendencies belonging to their country and
epoch. For example, the Swedes, as a whole, or at least the mid-
dle and upper classes, are reported to be unusually scientific

220

THE CHARACTER OF MODERN EUROPE 221

in their tendencies. A Swedish geologist and a Swedish geographer
who have worked in other countries have both told me that
Sweden is a peculiarly easy country in which to work. When
the investigator crosses a farmer's fence he has only to explain
what he is doing in order not only to be given permission to go
where he will, but to be urged to investigate further. Except in
the busy seasons, a farmer will often put off his own work and
tramp around with the scientist, eager to help and eager to learn.
He seems to do so for sheer love of scientific knowledge. Even
in Norway this is by no means so true as in Sweden, and in Den-
mark much less so. On the other hand among the Swedes the
interest in religion is remarkably slight. The vast majority of
the educated people look upon religion as something for the
ignorant, but of no real use in the world. Even among the lower
classes there is an extraordinary degree of indifference. With
this, though perhaps as neither cause nor effect, there goes what
seems almost to be a real deficiency in the qualities of sympathy
and affection. In view of these facts it is not surprising to find
that twenty-six of the ninety-one eminent Swedes mentioned
in the Encyclopaedia Britannica were scientists. This is a larger
proportion than in any other European country except Switzer-
land. On the other hand, only a single Swede was sufficiently
famous as a leader in religion and philanthropy to be included in
Britannica. This is a much smaller percentage than in any
other European country for which we have data enough to draw
any reliable conclusions. Thus it would seem that both among
the Swedish people as a whole and among the leaders there is
a tendency toward a type of mind that is cold, clear, irreligious,
and relatively unsympathetic, but at the same time highly sci-
entific.

Among the 107 modern Swiss in our five Britannica groups,
40 per cent are scientists as against 29 per cent in Sweden, 17
per cent in Germany, 13 per cent in France, and only 2 per cent
in Spain. Switzerland likewise has had a strong religious tendency,
for 15 per cent of her leaders have been eminent in the domain
of religion and philanthropy, which is a larger percentage than

222

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

in any other country. The reader may suggest that the rehgious
prominence of Switzerland is due to the fact that people who were
persecuted in other lands have fled to the free republic. This
does not alter our conclusion, however, for we are dealing with
men born since 1600 who did not become prominent until re-
hgious persecution was almost at an end. We are also classi-
fying these men according to the country of their birth, not of
their residence. Perhaps the fact that 15 per cent of the Swiss
leaders and only 4.5 per cent of the French leaders have belonged
to the religious and philanthrophic group may be due partly to
the migration of French Huguenots to Switzerland during times
of persecution. An investigation of this matter would be most
interesting.

Scotland with 14 per cent of its eminent men as religious
leaders, and 20.2 per cent as scientists, closely resembles Swit-
zerland, while even in England and Germany the same tendency
is seen in the fact that the percentage of the leaders who have
been eminent in religion amounts to 11.8 per cent in England,
and I I.I in Germany, whereas for Europe as a whole the per-
centage is 9.2, for Italy 6.8, for France 4.5, and for Sweden
only I.I. It seems generally to be accepted that among the
rank and file of the people of all these countries the tendencies
are much the same as among the leaders. Hence we believe that
the character of the leaders reflects the general character of the
people, although it is equally true that the character of the lead-
ers in turn guides the progress of the people as a whole.

If it be true that the lines of endeavor in which the leaders
of a country distinguish themselves are an index of the char-
acter of the people, we may gain some idea of the geographical
distribution of different types of ability from Figures 6 to 10.
These show the percentage of eminent men in each country who
have distinguished themselves in the various lines. For some
countries, of course, the total number of eminent men is too small
to be significant. Nevertheless, eighteen European countries
have more than twenty-five men among the eminent persons
born since 1600, and listed in Britannica, while in fifteen coun-
tries the number rises above sixty. In each map there are four

FIG. 7. PERCENTAGE OF EMINENT EUROPEANS ENGAGED IN RELIGIOUS,
EDUCATIONAL, AND PHILOSOPHICAL WORK.

FIG. 9. PERCENTAGE OF HISTORIANS AMONG EMINENT EUROPEANS.

I

THE CHARACTER OF MODERN EUROPE 223

types of shading, to which a fifth exceptionally dark type is
added in some cases to emphasize peculiar conditions in the Bal-
kans, Switzerland, and elsewhere. The lightest shading indicates
regions much below the average in the special lines of eminence
shown in the map in question; the next shading denotes regions
somewhat below the average; the third somewhat above the
average; and the fourth and fifth much above the average. Figure
6 shows the degree to which scientists have been produced among
the eminent men in each country. In Switzerland, as we have
seen, 40 per cent of the eminent men have been of this type, and
I in Sweden and Norway the percentages are 27 and 21 respectively.
Scotland and Germany likewise have produced a high percent-
age of scientists. In the rest of Europe the percentage has either
been about the average, as in France and England, or less than
the average, especially in the east and south. Of course a high
percentage does not necessarily mean a large number of scientists,
but merely that among the eminent men, whether they be few or
many, the scientists hold a relatively important position. We
shall consider the absolute number of eminent men a little later.

Now compare Figure 6 with Figure 7, showing the leaders in
religion, education, and philosophy. Here again Switzerland,
Germany, and Scotland stand high, but Poland outranks them
all, while England is also prominent. But note the change in
Scandinavia; Sweden falls into the lowest group. She is neither
religious nor philosophical in her contribution to human progress.
In art and literature. Figure 8, we come to quite a different type
of distribution. Highest of all, not in actual numbers, of course,
but in proportion to the total number of great men, stand Bel-
gium, Austria, and the Netherlands, with Portugal, Finland,
Spain, Hungary, and Italy following not far behind. England,
Scotland, and Sweden are among the countries which have spe-
cialized relatively little in art and to a less degree in literature.
Germany, Poland, Russia, and Austria fall into the same group.
Here, as in each of the two preceding maps, the countries of
southeastern Europe show no appreciable development.

Turning to history, Figure o, we find a curiously spotted dis-
tribution. Men of this craft have been relatively most numerous

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

in Finland, but Norway, Germany, and Hungary have likewise
stood high, while the Netherlands, France, Italy, Portugal, and
Austria stand above the average. In this group for the first
time we find a southeastern country, Greece, rising above the
average. Ireland, on the other hand, like Russia and Spain,
seems to have taken Httle interest in recording its own history.
Lastly we turn to Figure lo, which shows in what countries men
have had the greatest tendency to distinguish themselves in war
and politics rather than in more peaceful and more productive
pursuits. Scandinavia, central Europe, and Portugal have had
singularly few leaders of this type. In England and Scotland the
average has been about like that for Europe as a whole, while
in France, Denmark, Spain, Bohemia, and Hungary the number
has risen a little higher. But note eastern and southern Europe.
In Russia, Poland, and all the Balkan countries, including Greece,
at least half of the eminent men have put forth their efforts in
these two lines. In Servia nine out of the ten who are included
in Britannica belong in this group, and eight of them were po-
litical leaders.

Let us now see if we can discover any reasons why the various
countries have distinguished themselves in different lines. The
task is extremely difficult and we are not sure of the value of
our analysis. One thing stands out clearly. In the largest coun-
tries, or rather in those with the most persons in Britannica, the
relative numbers of eminent men in each of the various branches
of achievement show the smallest departures from the average
for the rest of Europe as a whole. England is pre-eminent in this
respect. This is partly, but probably not wholly, because the
number of Enghshmen mentioned in Britannica, 2,790 in our
selected categories, is far larger than the number from any other
country. Among the Enghsh, however, it may be that the able
men have had such varied tastes that the different lines of
endeavor are unusually well balanced. Scotland, with 604 people
in our five main groups, seems to indicate pretty clearly that the
differences from country to country are not accidental. The
number of eminent Scotch is large enough so that accidents which

THE CHARACTER OF MODERN EUROPE 225

might cause one group or another to predominate without any
real cause are largely eliminated. Yet Scotland stands well
above the average in men who have achieved fame either in
religion or in the sciences. It is almost exactly average in Htera-
ture, and in war and politics combined, while it falls distinctly
below the average in historians, and has had only half the aver-
age percentage of artists. Inasmuch as the Scotch born since
1600 have had practically every opportunity that is open to the
English or any other people, and have had no special handicaps
as to the lines to which they could devote themselves, it seems
j as though it must be their racial character which leads them for-
I ward in science and religion, and keeps them back in history and
art.

This seems the more probable when we consider Ireland.
That country has 292 eminent men in our five groups. In spite
of certain disadvantages, it is difficult to see any reason save
their own character which should cause the Irish to have only
two-thirds of the average proportion of scientists and half the
average percentage of historians, whereas they have shown about
the average tendency toward religion, art, and literature. Their
strong tendency toward war and especially politics may be due
to circumstances quite as much as to racial character, although
it is hard to determine which is cause and which effect.

The high development of art and literature in certain coun-
tries is particularly interesting in its relation to racial character.
In Belgium, for example, 48.7 per cent of the seventy-eight men
in our five groups were artists, and 14. i per cent distinguished
themselves in literature. In Bohemia the figures are almost the
same, though a trifle lower, while in Holland 39.5 per cent were
artists and 13.7 per cent literary men. In Portugal, on the con-
trary, there has been a relatively strong development of literature,
57.7 per cent of the twenty-six men in Britannica belonging to
that group, while only 3.8 have taken the lead in art. If we in-
terpret Figure 8 in terms of both art and Hterature, we may say
that in Europe the relative tendency toward literature has been
particularly strong in three places, namely the far southwest, in-

22C

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

eluding both Spain and Portugal; the far north, including Iceland
and Finland; and the south central part, Hungary. It would be
hard to find three places that are racially more distinct, for the
people of the southwest are primarily of the dark, long-headed
Mediterranean type, those of Hungary are broad-headed intrud-
ers of Alpine stock, while in Finland we have an upper class of
Nordic tendencies, especially in the west, and a lower class with
broad-headed Alpine or Mongoloid characteristics. From the
point of view of art Belgium, Bohemia, Holland, and Italy are the
leaders, that is, they are countries where the proportion of artists
compared with other eminent men has been greatest. In these
countries the Belgians are relatively broad-headed, although with
considerable Nordic admixture in the northern parts; the Dutch
are more Nordic than the Belgians; the Italians are broad-headed
Alpines in the north and long-headed Mediterraneans in the
south; and the Bohemians are primarily broad-headed Alpines.

Perhaps there is some guiding principle in all this, but I can-
not find it. Race, as we have just seen, does not seem to explain
the presence of the artistic and literary temperaments. The size i
of the different countries does not seem to be of any particular I
significance, for Spain and Italy rank as large countries, while
Belgium is small. Nor does there seem to be any emdronmental
condition which would cause one part of Europe to tend to pro-
duce literary men and another artists. The distribution of people
who attain eminence in religion and philosophy is equally puz-
zling. What common factor causes the Nordic Scotch and the
Alpine Swiss to have a very strong religious tendency, while the
Nordic Swedes and the Alpine Belgians have a minimima interest
in religion? In most of the other maps the conditions seem
equally puzzling. The only exception is the map of persons who
distinguished themselves in war and poHtics, Figure lo. Here it
appears clearly that in eastern Europe these have been the two
branches in which there has been by far the most opportunity
to rise to distinction. This may be explained partly on the basis
of the backwardness of those countries, for in a backward coun-
try it is the warrior and the political leader who come to the
front. It is also due in part to tJie fact that eastern Europe, even .

THE CHARACTER OF MODERN EUROPE m

in the last three centuries, has felt the rough tide of invasion
I from the deserts of Asia. Only in 1683 was the Turkish conquest
of Europe finally checked at Vienna, and the surgings due to the
coming of the Turks and Tartars in Russia and the Balkans have
scarcely died away even now. In such disturbed and backward
countries the scientist, the religious leader, and the artist have
little opportunity. But this explanation of the prevalence of
warriors and politicians in eastern Europe does not help us in
regard to the center. Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Norway,
I and Portugal, being small countries and more or less protected
by nature or by pohtical agreement, may not have afforded
I much scope for political and military genius. Possibly the fact
that Germany long consisted of a great number of little states
had the same effect there. But why have Denmark, Sweden,
Bohemia, Austria, and Ireland had such a large percentage of
soldiers and political leaders among their great men ? Ireland's
percentage vies with that of Austria, and is thus above that of
any country of Europe save Russia, Poland, and the states of
the Balkan Peninsula. So far as political leaders are concerned,
Ireland has had almost the same number as Scotland, 81 against
85, although it has but 292 men in our five groups compared with
604 in Scotland. We are again and again told that Ireland has
been suppressed politically. Has such suppression bred political
leaders? I think not, for the great majority of Irish political
leaders since 1600 have not been representatives of little Ireland,
but of imperial Britain. Moreover, in free America the Irishman
tends to be a politician quite as much as in unhappy Ireland.
Political genius seems to be born in him just as it is in the Turk,
and just as a scientific temperament is born in the Swiss and
Swedes, the artistic temperament in the Belgians, and literary
proclivities in the Spaniards. Or would it be fairer to conclude
that a series of historic accidents has given each country an im-
petus in one direction or another— an impetus which persists for
generation after generation?

I am well aware that the preceding paragraphs fail to give any
clear idea of the distribution of racial character. This is because
no definite laws appear to be detectable in the distribution of

228

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

types of eminence. One country certainly differs from another,
but not according to any definite plan that can yet be recognized.
If racial tendencies play a part in determining the lines in which
genius manifests itself, as presumably is the case, those tenden-
cies do not seem to manifest themselves as one would expect on
the basis of the distribution of Nordic, Alpine, or Mediterranean
blood. Nor do they conform to the distribution of racial kinship
as denoted by the form of the head. So far as environment is
concerned, it is equally hard to see any relationship, except in
the tendencies toward war and politics, in the backward countries
of the east and southeast. Perhaps historic development is the
key to the problem, but that key would apparently have to be
turned many times before it would unlock the door. The fact
probably is that in its higher manifestations the pecuKar quali-
ties which we call racial character depend upon such complex
and varied causes that for the present their analysis is beyond
our power.

The character of a race, as of an individual, depends upon the
energy, strength, concentration, and steadiness with which it
pursues its aims quite as much as upon the elusive factors which
determine what those aims shall be. In discussing that phase of
our subject I shall recapitulate certain things which I have said
in Civilization and Climate. The European ideal of civilization
may be stated somewhat as follows: Civilization is the stage of
development which results when men display to the highest de-
gree the power of initiative, the abiHty to dominate nature, the
capacity for formulating new ideas and for carrying them into
effect, the power of self-control, high standards of honesty and
morality, the power to lead and to control other races, the capac-
ity for disseminatmg ideas, the ability to express themselves in
high types of art and Hterature, and other similar quaHties.
These qualities find expression in high ideals, respect for law,
inventiveness, abihty to develop philosophical systems, great
works of art and Hterature, stabihty and honesty of government,
a highly developed system of education, the capacity to dominate
the less civiHzed parts of the world, and the abiHty to carry out

THE CHARACTER OF MODERN EUROPE 229

far-reaching enterprises covering long periods of time and great
areas of the earth's surface.
I On the basis of approximately this definition fifty-four geog-
I raphers, anthropologists, historians, travellers, and others have
classified the various regions of the world. These men represent
fifteen countries, and the opinions of each of the following groups
have received equal weight in the final classification : twenty-five
Americans, seven British, six Germanic Europeans, six other
Europeans (chiefly Latins), and five Asiatics. They rated the
various countries on a scale in which lo stood for the nearest
approach to the ideal as expressed in the preceding definition,
while I stood for the greatest divergence from that ideal. The
average opinion of the five groups into which the fifty-four men
were divided is shown in Figure ii. By giving America and Asia
equal weight and by dividing Europeans into three groups ani-
mated by different ideals and different sympathies, we are able
largely to eliminate the effect of racial prejudice. Fortunately
the classification was made before the World War, so that it
represents a far truer estimate of racial character than will again
be possible until the hatreds and antipathies of the war have dis-
appeared. The close agreement in the opinions of all five groups
makes it almost certain that any other cosmopolitan group of
eminent men would come to approximately the same conclusion.
Hence Figure ii appears to be the best available estimate of the
geographical distribution of civilization and progress.

Let us compare this map with another. Figure 12, showing
the number of persons mentioned in the Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica compared with the population of various parts of Europe
in 1800. The estimates of the population at that time, as given
in the table at the end of this chapter, are merely approximations
in many cases; indeed, in certain instances, such as Greece and
Turkey, they are little more than guesses controlled by the
known facts of later times. Nevertheless they give a fairly true
picture of the actual conditions in 1800 A. D. The reason for
choosing that year is that it gives a fairly close approximation
to the relative number of people in the various countries from

230

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

1600 to 1850 A. D., that is during the period when the men in
our list were born. Previous to 1800 the data as to population
are very unreliable. At that time, however, the rapid increase of
population due to the introduction of machinery, raihoads,
steamships, and manufacturing had not begun. Hence the data
for that year are fairly representative of the conditions during
the two preceding centuries.

In the Encyclopaedia Britannica the British Isles are of
course represented by an unduly large number of names, and the
same is perhaps true of France to a less degree. Moreover, a
large country with a language in which many books are pub-
Hshed may have some advantage over a small country. I doubt,
however, whether this last source of error is significant, for in
Figure 12 the numbers for Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, and
Iceland compare very favorably with those for Germany and
France. The mere fact of distance and of the degree to which
the language of a country differs from English may also have
something to do with the number of people who are included in
the Encyclopaedia. It is doubtful, however, whether even the
fullest allowance for this would materially alter the appearance
of Figure 12. "Ideas are light baggage" (Semple), and the edi-
tors of Britannica have for a century been on the qui vive to
find new names appropriate for their book. In encyclopaedias in
other languages it is surprising to find that aside from persons
hving in the country where the book is pubHshed there are rarely
any names which are not included in Britannica. Hence it ap-
pears that if the undue preponderance of the British Isles were
toned down, and if the peripheral parts of the continent were
given somewhat greater weight, we should have a fairly rehable
map of the general distribution of eminent Europeans who have
really influenced the world's progress. But such changes in
Figure 12 would not materially alter its general appearance.
The main feature of the map would still be an area around the
North Sea where great men have been produced in relatively
large numbers during the last three centuries. From this center
the percentage of eminent men decreases in all directions except

I

i
I

FIG. 11. DISTRIBUTION OF CIVILIZATION IN EUROPE.

FIG. 13. DISTRIBUTION OF HEALTH IN EUROPE.

THE CHARACTER OF MODERN EUROPE 231

toward Iceland, where highly exceptional conditions prevail, as
we shall see later.

Now compare the map of great men, Figure 12, with the
map of civilization, Figure 11. The general aspect of the two is
quite similar, and becomes still more so when allowance is made
for the fact that we are following an EngHsh publication. In
other words, it seems that the number of men of genius in pro-
portion to the population agrees fairly closely with the relative
position of the various parts of Europe in the scale of civilization.
Note in each case the peculiar way in which there is not only
an area of dark shading around the North Sea, but a projection
toward the east in the Italian region and another in the Baltic
region. Note also how Greece rises above the level of its neigh-
bors in both maps. In one respect, however. Figure 12 contains
a peculiar feature which is contrary to Figure 11. This is the
belt of unexpectedly low achievement, which includes Belgium,
Bohemia, Austria, and Hungary. Yet even in Figure 11 a hint of
it can be seen in the relatively low position of Belgium, Bohemia,
and the Austrian Alps. I shall not attempt to explain this, but
it may possibly be significant that in general the central Euro-
pean belt of relatively few men of eminence coincides more or
less closely with the belt where the broad-headed Alpine type
of head is most common, as appears in Taylor's map, Figure 3,
page 77. On the other hand, it must not be overlooked that in
Switzerland, where the people are broad-headed, the propor-
tion of eminent men is high.

The maps of the distribution of civilization and of men of
eminence may both be regarded as illustrating the distribution
of character. They do not indeed represent all phases of charac-
ter, but they are based on the factors which are most vital in
promoting human progress. In spite of the peculiar belt of low
achievement in Belgium and Bohemia, the resemblance of the
two maps is so great that we apparently must infer that they
are related. But which is cause and which is effect, or are both
the effects of some other cause? The answer is perhaps found
in Figure 13, representing the distribution of health, and in

232

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Figure 14, representing the distribution of climatic energy. The
map of health is based on the average mortality statistics of the
various countries of Europe, for it is generally agreed that the
death-rate is the best available measure of health. The years
1 909-1 9 13 have been used in order to get normal conditions,
such as prevailed before the World War. All the data have been
reduced to what is known as a standard population, so that the
differences in the death-rate due to a larger or smaller percentage
of children or old people in the various countries are eliminated.
Moreover, the deaths of infants have been eliminated, since the
methods of recording these vary greatly from country to country.
The deaths of people over seventy years of age have likewise
been omitted, but these are too few to produce any appreciable
effect. Even so the map is not perfect, for the mortality data in
eastern and southern Europe are not very accurate, many deaths
being unrecorded. But if these unrecorded deaths were included,
they would simply increase the contrast between the more
healthful countries, which are heavily shaded, and the less
healthful, which are lightly shaded.

The map of cHmatic energy (Figure 14) is based on the way
in which people's work, both physical and mental, varies from
day to day and season to season among people of European
origin in the United States. The amount of work done by piece-
workers in factories and the marks obtained by students on days
with different kinds of weather give a fairly accurate measure of
people's energy during a day or month with any given tempera-
ture, humidity, and degree of storminess. Records of health show
variations almost identical with those of work. On this basis,
knowing the average monthly conditions of the weather in each
part of Europe, it has been possible to construct a map of cli-
matic energy.

The similarity of the maps of civilization, genius, health, and
climatic energy is so clear that it speaks for itself. In each map
there is the same dark area around the North Sea, the same ten-
dency toward a diminution in intensity in all directions, except
that the maps of genius and health do not diminish toward Ice-
land. In all there are likewise projections in the regions of Italy

FIG. 14. DISTRIBUTION OF CLIMATIC ENERGY IN EUROPE.

900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1100 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 A.D.

FIG. 15. APPROXIMATE VARIATIONS OF RAINFALL IN CALIFORNIA
DURING THE CHRISTIAN ERA.

Note: This curve differs somewhat from those that I have generally published. It
is taken from "Maya Civilization and Climate," Proc. 2d Int. Cong. Americanists,
Washington, 1917. It has been adjusted to conform to th(^ levels of the strands of
Owens Lake. The part from 600 A. D. onward agrees closely with the curve of the
Big Trees as corrected both by the author's method as described in "The Climatic
Factor," Washington, 1915, and by the method of Doctor Antevs described in "Post-
glacial Climatic Changes," publication No. 352 of the Carnegi(^ Institution of Washington,
1924. The part before 600 A. D. awiiits further revision, but that docs not materially
affect tliis book.

THE CHARACTER OF MODERN EUROPE 233

and the Baltic Sea. That the four maps are intimately related
can scarcely be doubted. The relation can be of only one kind.
No one of the other three maps can have any effect on the map
of climatic energy. That depends on nature, not man. Therefore
it must be the foundation. Apparently climate influences health
and energy, and these in turn influence civilization. The reverse
is also true, for the stage of civilization has a great effect upon
health.

But how is genius related to the other factors? Assume, for
the moment, that the people in all parts of Europe are endowed
with exactly the same degree of hereditary ability, and that the
state of progress is everywhere the same, politically, industrially,
socially, and otherwise. Would the proportion of men who rise
to eminence be everywhere the same? I doubt it. The regions
around the North Sea would probably always excel eastern and
southern Europe. This is mainly because on an average the men
of genius in the North Sea countries would be more energetic
than those of other regions because they would enjoy better
health, even though the medical service were everywhere equally
good. They would be continually stimulated by their cool,
bracing climate, and would feel like working hard all the year,
whereas their southern and eastern colleagues in either hot
weather or cold would be subject to periods of depression which
are a regular feature of the less-favored parts of Europe. Be-
cause of their strength and energy the men of genius in the
North Sea region would cause civilization to advance and inci-
dentaUy would improve the conditions of health more than would
their comrades of the south and east, even though the degree of
innate abihty was the same in all countries. Thus from what-
ever point of view the matter is approached, we seem forced to
conclude that the phase of racial character which expresses itself
in differences in energy, initiative, and the power of achievement
is closely correlated with differences in the physical environment.
This by no means indicates that inherited traits do not likewise
have a great effect upon these quaHties. It merely means that no
bodily trait such as head-form, complexion, or other supposed
indication of racial affinity has thus far been found to display a

234

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

geographical distribution like that of men of eminence, or like
human energy, initiative, and the power of achievement. On the
other hand, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the type
of activity which prevails in different parts of Europe seems to
be strongly influenced by inheritance. An artist presumably
retains the artistic temperament no matter where he is or how
great his energy or lassitude. A typical Irishman is a good poH-
tician and the Jew a merchant wherever he may be. Thus racial
inheritance is presumably a strong factor in directing men^s lines
of effort. It is likewise a strong factor in determining the pro-
portion of men of genius produced in any country. On the other
hand, the degree of energy with which each race pursues its
chosen lines, and the percentage of its men of genius who use
their capacities so fully that they become eminent, seems to de-
pend largely on physical environment.

Thus at least two of the fundamental reasons why Europe
leads the world seem apparent. First, during the glacial period
the ancestors of the present European races presumably suffered
an extremely severe process of natural selection by reason of the
alternate expansion of the ice-sheets on the one hand and of the
deserts of Asia and Africa on the other. To this perhaps is due
the superiority of the Mediterranean-Caspian blend as set forth
by Dixon. Second, ever since the last glacial epoch had suffi-
ciently passed away, some part of Europe or of the neighboring
regions of western Asia and north Africa has enjoyed a climate
unsurpassed in the quaHties that give health and energy. As the
climate has changed and as man has learned more fully to pro-
tect himself against the cold, civilization has advanced north-
westward almost as if Scandinavia, Scotland, and Iceland were
its goal. At every stage people of unusually good inheritance
have been naturally selected to colonize those regions and have
experienced the stimulus of an unusually good climate. Thus
they have acquired another asset of enormous value, namely,
the power to profit to an unparalleled degree by the knowledge,
the institutions, and the ideals handed down from former genera-
tions.

THE CHARACTER OF MODERN EUROPE 235

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CHAPTER XVI

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GREEKS AND IRISH

Having finished our general survey of Europe, we are ready
to turn to certain specific cases where natural selection may help
to explain the character and history of nations. Among the few
that we can here consider, Greece and Ireland are especially
puzzling and present a remarkable contrast. In Greece we are
puzzled as to why there was so sudden and magnificent an out-
burst of genius in a limited area. It is true that from 700 to 400
B. C. Greece seems to have enjoyed an unusually favorable
climate, together with comparative freedom from malaria and
other diseases. Nevertheless, the extraordinary concentration of
genius in Greece as a whole, and especially in Athens, still remains
unique and unexplained. In the same way the increasingly
troubled and desperate condition of Ireland does not seem in
harmony with the physical environment, nor is it adequately
explained by the common views as to land tenure, absentee land-
lordism, and lack of home rule.

In spite of the wealth of legend, the early history of Greece
is not clear. For example, there has been a violent discussion as
to what part the Pelasgians played in old Greece, as to the
reality of the Achaean invasion, and as to the connection between
the Achaeans and the culture of Mycenae. After long controversy,
however, the doubts as to the Pelasgians seem to be clearing
away, while the work of such men as Ridgeway and Leaf is fast
leading to conviction as to the Achaeans. Hence without further
explanation I shall recount the early history of Greece substan-
tially as given by these latest authorities.

The earhest-known inhabitants of Greece appear to have
been a people known as Pelasgians, or, as some prefer to say,
iEgeans. They were apparently a Mediterranean race, and were
probably short, dark, and straight-haired. Presumably they

£36

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GREEKS AND IRISH 237

came from the south or east by sea. We do not know what con-
tributions they made to human progress during the early days,
when they were still under the stimulating and selective influ-
ence of migration and a new country. In later times, however,
they seem to have settled down into a rather inert peasantry
which did little worthy of note. They appear to have been largely
serfs or helots, as in Sparta. In Homer the chiefs speak to them
in the roughest and rudest manner, and do not hesitate to beat
them on smaU provocation. In later times they continue to be
despised, especially in Sparta, while in Attica we are told by
Hecataeus that they were expelled by the Athenians. They were
least important in the very places where later races displayed
the greatest vigor and made the greatest progress.

Yet in the long run the Pelasgians appear to have gotten the
better of each of the succeeding races. As Myers puts it in his
lecture on Greek Lands and the Greek People :

Broadly speaking, the history of Man in the ^gean, as in the Medi-
terranean world of which it is the microcosm, has been the resultant of two
groups of forces. On the one hand, it has been the history of the attempts
of non-Mediterranean men to penetrate from elsewhere into the Medi-
terranean coast lands, and of the earlier occupants to keep them out,
almost always unsuccessfully. On the other, it has been the story of the
attempts of the successful invader to acclimatize himself to Mediterranean
nature, to learn her ways, and through conformity with them, to conquer
her and survive. And these attempts also, in general, have failed. No
type of non-Mediterranean invader has ever yet learned so quickly how to
live under Mediterranean conditions, as to escape extinction in the process.

There is clearly something in the physique of "Mediterranean" man
which fits him in a peculiar way for life on the Mediterranean seaboard;
for, once established there, in days of which we still know nothing, he has
succeeded, in a remarkable way, in maintaining himself against all rivals
within very rigid limits. A recent piece of work by Mr. Hawes illustrates
well the rigidity of this physical control. Crete, during the centuries from
the thirteenth to the seventeenth A. D., was a political appendage of Venice,
and, hke all Venetian dependencies, endured a copious inflow of settlers
and functionaries from Venice itself and its home-colonies on the Dal-
matian coast, a markedly "Alpine" region. Many Cretan famihes retain
Venetian surnames today, particularly in certain provinces. It was there-
fore natural to suppose that if physical types could be implanted perma-
nently by colonization extending over three or four centuries, these fam-

238

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

ilies would retain physical traits characteristic of the region from which
their ancestors came. But, province by province, the Venetian-named
Cretans today are of precisely the same physique as their Greek-named
neighbors; in the more "Alpine" provinces they are "Alpine," in the
"Mediterranean" districts they are "Mediterranean." Either, therefore,
well-marked physical types of men are so unstable as to be modified by
local conditions within a dozen generations, or they are so sensitive to a
strange environment as to die out like exotic seedUngs among indigenous
weeds. Between these two alternatives we can hardly hesitate to choose,
when we remember the deadly selection which is exerted in the South by
infantile diseases; for it is believed that hardly one in three of the children
who are born in Greek lands lives to its first birthday. With an infant
mortahty like this, and with a further steady drain on adults from malaria
and other regional diseases, it is not surprising to learn that intruders
must be very persistently reinforced from the outside, if they are to main-
tain their race alive under Mediterranean conditions. . . .

Outside the Mediterranean limits, however, the Mediterranean man is
apparently as powerless to establish his race, in competition with the men
of the Alpine and Anatohan highlands, as they are to displace him within
sight of the sea which is his home. We reach, therefore, this notable con-
clusion, that in these apparently favored lands there is yet a physical con-
trol so efficient as to make acclimatization exceedingly difiicult and slow;
so that, though exotic types of man make their way from time to time
either tumultuously or in persistent driblets into the Mediterranean world,
their independent existence is destined to be brief; and after a very few
centuries, their presence is difficult to detect. The physical evidence, how-
ever, is already sufficient to show that slow infiltration of foreign types
has taken place nevertheless; that it has had its maxima at ascertainable
periods; and that the types which alone show any ability to accHmatize or
to amalgamate with the indigenous "Mediterranean race" are of the
"Alpine" group, not the blond giants of "Northern" stock.

It may be that Myers goes somewhat too far in his conclusion
as to the rapidity with which all traces of invading stocks dis-
appear. Nevertheless, there seems to be overwhelming evidence
that his general proposition is correct. Hence it would seem that
the fundamental fact as to the Greeks is that the basis of the
population consists of a Mediterranean race, the Pelasgians, or
iEgeans. These people have made httle or no contribution to
history, and appear to have changed very Httle throughout the
five thousand years during which we have more or less evidence
of their existence. Their importance lies not in their relation to
the briUiant epochs of Greece, but in the fact that after immigra-

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GREEKS AND IRISH 239

tion has given rise to brilliant progress the Pelasgians have in-
variably ousted the invaders. They have not done this by war
or violence, but by intermarriage and the absorption or dilution
of the new blood, or else through natural selection. They have
been able to endure the long, hot summers and the malaria and
other diseases of Greece, while the invaders have been less re-
sistant. Hence we may think of Greece as a country whose his-
tory would have been relatively placid, uneventful, and of little
importance to the rest of the world if it had been inhabited only
by Pelasgians. But because it received invaders and because
migrations so regularly pick out the especially able types, Greece
has risen to greatness at several epochs.

The first such rise was due to the coming of the Minoans or
Cretans. The Cretans, it will be remembered, developed a won-
derful civilization which dawned some three thousand or more
years before Christ, and was in its prime a thousand or fifteen
hundred years later. The Minoan palaces with their labyrinths,
which gave rise to the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, have
become widely familiar in recent years. So, too, have the remark-
ably modern clothing of the early Cretans and their high ability
in commerce and the arts. The record of the early relations be-
tween Cretans and Greeks consists mainly of ruins upon the
iEgean Islands and at the heads of many bays which open south-
ward on the Greek mainland. Whether the Cretans first came
as merchants, pirates, or warriors, or as colonists escaping from
trouble at home, no one yet knows. But in Homer, where first
we have mention of the Minoans, they are leaders, even after
Greece has been conquered by the Achasans. ^Xolonists on a
large scale,' ^ as Leaf well says {Homer and History) "go as con-
querors—they are conscious of their own worth, and confident in
the future before them." In other words, if the difficulties which
they overcome are great enough, such colonists are usually a
selected people, who hand down their ability by inheritance.
That such was the case with the Minoans appears from the fact
that they imposed upon the Pelasgians a rule which apparently
lasted many centuries. Moreover, they not only introduced

240

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Minoan art, but developed it along lines of their own until it
became the famous Mycenaean art which prevailed in Argos and
other parts of Greece at the epoch of the Trojan War about
1 200 B. C. Homer gives minute descriptions of the products of
this first outburst of genius in Greece, an outburst due largely, it
would seem, to the coming of selected invaders from Crete. Yet
in the days of Homer, Mycenaean art was deteriorating. The
Minoans had reached a splendid climax, but through intermar-
riage with the Pelasgians or for some other reason were begin-
ning to decline.

The next step was further migrations, Achaean, Dorian, and
Ionian. These probably began far north of Greece, perhaps in
the fifteenth century B. C, and ended in the eighth or ninth.
The three migrations were closely connected, and apparently
involved only one race— the Greeks who gave Greece its glory —
although different tribes were concerned. The fact that there is
some doubt as to how distinct the Achasan migration may have
been from the Dorian makes no difference in our general argu-
ment. The Achaeans, to follow Leaf, were apparently the van-
guard of a flood of blond incomers from the north, whose first
wave overwhelmed Greece in the fourteenth century B. C, and
passed on to Crete, where its ravages are seen in the destruction
of the famous palace of Knossos, the most noteworthy of the
labyrinths. In Greece itself, however, the conquerors did not
destroy the old civilization. On the contrary, like the Norsemen
in Normandy and their Norman descendants in Sicily, they
appear merely to have seized the castles and strongholds and
ousted many, though by no means all, of the old Minoan rulers.
Then they assimilated the Minoan or Mycenasan art and even
encouraged its practise by the survivors of the old dominant class.

Like all people who have migrated far or traveled widely,
the Achaeans, and likewise the Dorians who followed them, ap-
pear to have been a highly adaptable people, able easily to
assume new customs and a new culture. Their long migration
presumably from the grassy plains of the north, may have fos-
tered this spirit of adaptability and of hospitahty to new ideas,

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GREEKS AND IRISH 241

but it seems to be still more true that it was the innate posses-
sion of this spirit or temperament which made the Achaeans will-
ing and able to keep on migrating. Those of their original num-
ber who lacked this spirit presumably tended to stay in the old
homes or to give up the onward movement long before the sea
was reached in Greece.

In later times [as Leaf says] the people who most markedly of all the
Greeks showed this readiness to imitate and adopt foreign manners, even
after the distinction between Greek and barbarian was fully developed,
were the Asiatic lonians. Whatever the real origin of the lonians may
have been, it is hardly to be doubted that the Achaeans had a large share
in their formation. In this almost excessive adaptability we may fairly
see an inherited type.

The Trojan War is an illuminating episode in the develop-
ment of the Greece of classical times. The leaders were largely
Achaeans with a few Minoans, while the common people, although
called Achaeans, were presumably in large measure Pelasgians.
The Greek expedition from the mainland across the ^gean may
in some ways be counted as the beginnhig of the Ionian migra-
tion which later gave to the western shore of Asia Minor a thor-
oughly Greek character. Many of the greatest Greeks, including
Sappho, Alcaeus, and presumably Homer, came from that region.
The real reason for the Trojan War is unknown. It may have
been a conscious desire to conquer the lands across the ^Egean
and hold the control of the Hellespont, but it is doubtful whether
the Greeks of that day thought in such broad terms or could get
together so many independent princelings for any such endeavor.
It seems more likely that an ambitious leader was able to crys-
tallize a general state of unrest and commotion, and thus to lead
an army to a region where there were possibilities of plunder and
settlement. The reason for this unrest may have been the later
heavings of the Achaean migration, or the first waves of the
Dorian migration which broke in full force a little later.

There is a constant tendency for the historian to crystallize
migrations into a single clear-cut event. As a matter of fact,
primitive migrations usually consist of a long series of move-

242

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

ments, a few of which involve the sudden inrush of a fairly large
number of people, but most of which consist of the far slower
infiltration of small groups. Viewed in this way the Achaean,
Dorian, and Ionian migrations are all parts of a single move-
ment whereby the Greeks finally gained control of Greece proper,
the iEgean Islands, and the western shores of Asia Minor. First
came the Achaean tribes, chiefly, we may suppose, by filtration,
but perhaps with a sudden onrush at one time which took some
of them across to Crete. The pressure of those who kept wander-
ing down from the north presumably helped to induce some of
those who had come earlier to attempt conquests east of the
iEgean. Thus perhaps arose the Trojan War, which may be
counted as the beginning of the Ionian migration. Two or three
generations later another somewhat sudden and violent incursion
of new tribes from the north is known as the Dorian invasion.
This and the influx of new people which followed during the
next two or three centuries made such commotion in Greece and
disturbed the earlier comers so much that many of them, to-
gether with some of the old Minoan leaders, migrated across the
sea to the Asiatic coast. This seaward movement is known as
the Ionian migration. It produced famous Greek settlements
like Chios, Ephesus, and Miletus. But in reality it was merely
the outflow of the Achaeans and Minoans who were displaced by
the Dorians or retired in disgust because of the political and
social confusion.

In this connection a passage from Thucydides is most illu-
minating. He is evidently talking about the centuries of migra-
tion and disturbance which we have just been describing. He
not only states the general conditions clearly and forcibly, but
indicates that the settlement of Attica was largely due to the
Ionian migration, even though Attica lies west of the ^Egean.
Moreover, he gives an important hint as to one reason for the
greatness of Athens.

The country that is now called Hellas was not regularly settled in an-
cient times. The people were migratory, and readily left their homes

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GREEKS AND IRISH 243

whenever they were overpowered by numbers. There was no commerce
I and they could not safely hold intercourse with one another either by land
i or sea. The several tribes cultivated their own soil just enough to obtain
a maintenance from it. But they had no accumulations of wealth, and did
not plant the ground; for being without walls, they were never sure that
an invader might not come and despoil them. Living in this manner and
knowing that they could not anywhere obtain a bare subsistence, they
were always ready to migrate; so that they had neither great cities nor
any considerable resources. The richest districts were most constantly
changing their inhabitants; for example the countries which are now called
Thessaly and Bceotia, the greater part of the Peloponnesus, with the excep-
tion of Arcadia, and all the best parts of Hellas. For the productiveness
of the land increased the power of individuals; this, in turn, was a source
of quarrels by which communities were ruined, while at the same time they
were more exposed to attacks from without. Certainly Attica, of which
the soil was poor and thin, enjoyed a long freedom from civil strife, and
therefore retained its original inhabitants. And a striking confirmation
of my argument is afforded by the fact that Attica through immigration
increased in population more than any other region. For the leading men
of Hellas, when driven out of their own country by war or revolution,
sought an asylum at Athens; and from the very earUest times, being ad-
mitted to rights of citizenship, so greatly increased the number of inhabi-
tants that Attica became incapable of containing them, and was at last
obliged to send out colonies to Ionia.

In ancient times both the Hellenes, and those barbarians whose homes
were on the coast of the mainland or in islands, when they began to find
their way to one another by sea had recourse to piracy. They were com-
manded by powerful chiefs, who took this means of increasing their wealth
and providing for their poorer followers. They would fall upon the un-
walled and straggling towns, or rather villages, which they plundered, and
maintained themselves chiefly by the plunder of them; for, as yet, such an
occupation was held to be honorable and not disgraceful. On land also
neighboring communities plundered each other — all Hellenes carried
weapons because their homes were undefended and intercourse unsafe;
like the barbarians they went armed in their everyday life. And the con-
tinuance of this custom in certain parts of the country indicates that it
once prevailed everywhere. (Bk. I, par. 5.)

Even in the age which followed the Trojan War, Hellas was still in
process of ferment and settlement, and had no time for peaceful growth.
The return of the Hellenes from Troy after their long absence led to many
changes; quarrels, too, arose in nearly every city, and those who were ex-
pelled by them went and founded other cities. (Bk. I, par. 12.)

This quotation is interesting not only because it shows that
during and after the period of migrations Greece long suffered

244

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

from a state of chaotic confusion, but because it states that the
people who were forced to migrate, or who chose to migrate, were
the leaders. The common people, the old Pelasgians, remained
in their homes; the Minoan, Achaean, and Dorian leaders were
the ones who chiefly migrated. The case was like that which
we have seen suggested in connection with Cambodia and which
we shall see unmistakably in Norway. From among a people
already highly selected by the nomadic life of the grasslands of
Asia and by prolonged and strenuous migrations continued prob-
ably for hundreds of years, there was yet another selection where-
by Ionia and especially Attica received a peculiarly large pro-
portion of the ablest leaders, those who thought it well to seek
new homes rather than yield to the invaders or endure an end-
less struggle.

It seems to me that this concentration of able people in Attica
goes far toward explaining the preeminence of that region. If
the Pelasgians had been expelled, as stated by Hecataeus, the
"original inhabitants'' mentioned by Thucydides must have
been Achasans. Therefore Attica had no helots and was one of
the few places, perhaps the only one of any size, where the popu-
lation was almost purely Greek. Certain other conditions tended
to intensify and perpetuate this group of unusually capable peo-
ple. For example, the very poverty of Attica led the leading
families to concentrate in Athens, which probably increased the
chances that the upper classes would marry in their own group
and not among the groups below them. Again, after the earlier
period of colonization, that is the Ionian migration, Athens "took
no prominent part in these later colonizing movements, prefer-
ring to concentrate her resources at home.'' (Edwards.) More-
over, her citizens J as distinguished from the lower classes, kept
out of commerce and devoted themselves largely to affairs of
state. Commerce was carried on by slaves and by the metics, or
ahens. This again helped to prevent the upper classes from wan-
dering to other regions. Much the same was true in Sparta,
where also the display of genius was unusually great.

Another important condition was that in Attica, as in Sparta,

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GREEKS AND IRISH 245

the cleavage between the aristocracy and the lower classes wa^
unusually sharp. The Athenian serf, as Abbott puts it in his
History of Greece^ ^Vas degraded to a position in comparison to
which the Helot of Sparta was happy." Hence intermarriage
was less likely than in places where the separation was not so
great. Thus the less competent Greeks were excluded from con-
tributing their weaknesses to later generations of the dominant
classes. This was the more true because the Athenians were very
proud of their descent and very jealous of any admission of the
children of women of the lower classes into the upper classes, no
matter who the father might be. "To you, men of Athens, who
are citizens by descent," says Demosthenes, "it is fitting that
no sum of money however great should be preferred to respecta-
ble birth," but for freemen who have no pride of birth the case
is quite otherwise. A further limitation against the loss of the
pure Athenian inheritance is found in the law that an heiress
must marry her eldest paternal uncle or eldest cousin who is the
son of one of her father^s brothers. Again, intermarriage be-
tween famihes of different states or cities continued down to
the early fifth century, but at that time Athens became too ex-
clusive to permit this. Here again is another of the many evi-
dences that the Athenians of the upper classes guarded their
inheritance with pecuHar care. If Athens were unique in this
respect, we might conclude that her care had nothing to do with
her greatness. But inasmuch as we find many other cases, like
the Parsis of India, where selection seems to give unusual ability
and the ability persists as long as the inheritance remains unim-
paired, it seems as though the greatness of Athens might be
connected with the fact that her people were almost purely
Greeks, not Pelasgians; they were the sifted remnants of a long
and hard migration; they were to a large degree the leading
families among the early migrants from other parts of Greece;
and they preserved their inheritance unmixed to a peculiar degree.

In spite of their inheritance, Greece and Athens fell into
decay. No doubt this arose partly and perhaps largely from
poHtical and social causes unconnected with inheritance. Yet

246

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

there was apparently a change of inheritance. We have aheady
quoted from Myers a widely held opinion that the Mediterranean
climate and its diseases, especially malaria, tend strongly to
weed out the non-Mediterranean types, especially the blond
northern races. It seems quite clear that the upper classes of
ancient Greece were a fair-haired people, for otherwise it is al-
most impossible to explain their ideals of beauty as disclosed in
literature and in the blond shades in which their statues were
painted. But to-day the blond element has practically disap-
peared from Greece. I am not one of those who thinks that all
the world's ability is concentrated in any one race, but in this
case it happens that such a race has experienced a pecuHarly
strong natural selection. The process by which the blond race
died out seems to be indicated in some statistics which have
been collected by Mayor in A Companion to Greek Studies,
Judging by the statements of Thucydides and the figures as to
the distribution of grain in 445 B. C., the number of Athenian
citizens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (431 B. C.)
was about 35,000 in the three upper classes, and 20,000 Thetes
of the lower class, together with 10,000 or 15,000 metics or ahen
residents who did not enjoy citizenship. A century and a quar-
ter later the census of Demetrius Phalerus (317-307 B. C.) shows
a reduction to 21,000 citizens of all classes, but the number of
metics, 10,000, does not seem to have fallen nearly so much.
Part of this great loss among the citizens was due to the plague
in 430 B. C, part to the Peloponnesian War, and part to other
causes. At Sparta in early days there are said to have been
9,000 lots or portions for fully privileged citizens, and 30,000
for lower citizens. Herodotus says there were 8,000 full citizens
at the time of the Persian War (490 B. C), but Xenophon in-
dicates only about 1,500 at the time of the battle of Leuctra
(371 B.C.); Aristotle, before 300 B.C., gives the number as
1,000, while in the days of Cleomenes (240-220 B. C.) there
were said to be 700. In the first century after Christ the whole
of Greece is reported to have been able to produce only 3,000
heavy-armed hopHtes.

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GREEKS AND IRISH 247

Whatever may be the exact figures, it is obvious that from
about 400 B. C. onward there was an ominous and increasingly
rapid decHne in the Greek population. So far as figures are
available they suggest that the upper classes suffered most. The
present Greeks suggest the same thing: they are almost univer-
sally brimets of the Mediterranean type; the blond type, which
seems to have predominated in the upper class of ancient times,
is practically gone. Elsewhere I have shown that one reason for
this may be an apparent change of climate. During the great
age of Greece the climate appears to have been stormier, a trifle
cooler, and decidedly more bracing than now. Malaria likewise
appears to have been relatively scarce and to have done little
harm. These conditions were presumably an important element
in allowing the selected Greek migrants to rise to such heights
of achievement. When the climate changed for the worse, espe-
cially from about 300 to 200 B. C., a great adverse selection
seems to have taken place whereby the fair Greeks of the intel-
lectual classes died out, thus leaving only the old Pelasgian stock
as progenitors of the modern Greeks. In other words, Greece
apparently agrees with many other parts of the world in show-
ing that rigid selection produces a competent race, but the de-
gree of achievement of that race and the permanence of its
virility depend largely upon the amount of mixture with other
races and the kind of climate.

Now let us cross Europe and glance for a moment at Ireland.
Because that island lies on the extreme margin of Europe, one
might expect that it would have been a terminal area into which
many migrations would have poured, thus giving it a peculiarly
selected and competent population. But this has been the case
to only a moderate degree. At an early date Ireland received
Mediterranean migrants who were presumably quite capable
when they first came, but whose capacity may have diminished
because, like the Pelasgian Greeks, they have not been subjected
to the stronger types of natural selection. In later times other
migrants have come to Ireland; but only in the case of the
Scotch-Irish of Ulster have they become a permanent and dis-

248

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

tinct element of the population. It seems to me that much of
the difference between Ireland and England is attributable to
two geographical facts : first, Ireland lies farther from continental
Europe than does England and is separated from the continent
by the larger island; second, although Ireland has a fairly good
climate, it is too damp, the crops are limited, famines occur now
and again, and the difficulties of getting a living are much greater
than in the neighboring island. In neither case is the differ-
ence between Ireland and England great, but both are im-
portant.

England has been the final resting-place of large groups of
competent migrants— Kelts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Danes,
Normans, Huguenots from France, and various others. These
newcomers have in most cases been much more competent than
the average of the countries or races from which they have come.
Therefore England has been greatly stimulated. In many cases
these same migrants have spilled over into Ireland, but generally
that has been all. Because Ireland is more remote than England
and because the force of migration has been broken by England,
and also because Ireland is on the whole less desirable than
England, the Emerald Isle has received Kttle more than the
splashings of the migrations.

But something else has likewise happened. Ireland's cloudi-
ness, dampness, famines, and remoteness from the centres of
Europe have constantly tended to drive away the most able of
her sons. The chances for a career have been far greater in Eng-
land or France than in Ireland. Life in those other countries has
been pleasanter, and the rewards of success much greater. So
the young leaders have made the easy journey across the water,
while the less competent peasants have stayed by the "stuff" at
home. In later years the same process has taken place on a still
greater scale. For several decades or generations during the
late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a comparatively
dry period and the absence of summer frosts, such as that which
ruined the potato crop in 1739, seem to have given Ireland ex-
cellent crops most of the time. Hence the population increased

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GREEKS AND IRISH 249

rapidly. In 1845, in spite of six seasons of dearth which almost /
led to local famines between 1831 and 1842, the population
reached a maximum of 8,300,000. Then came a series of damp, \
rainy years with such complete failure of the potato crop that |
200,000 to 300,000 people died of starvation and fever. The
British Government provided work for over 700,000 people at
one time, but this was not enough. Then food was distributed in
enormous quantities, and over 3,000,000 people were at one
period supplied with rations. Nevertheless such great discontent
arose that in 1848 a rebellion was attempted.

Perhaps the most important result of the over-population of
Ireland coupled with the distress due to famine was that it set
the Irish to talking about migration. The talk was not idle, for
a rapid migration to America began in 1846. In five years the
population had diminished to 6,600,000, or about 20 per cent.
During succeeding years the climatic conditions were fairly dry
and favorable and migration declined rapidly, as is shown in the
following table. In the eighties, however, another prolonged wet
period with poor harvests again brought home to Ireland its
great handicaps of over-population and a poorly organized social
system. People again flocked to America. This Irish migration
is one of the most wholesale known to recent history.

POPULATION IN IRELAND

Date

Population

Decrease in
Population

Percentage of
Decrease

1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
1911

8,200,000
6,600,000
5,800,000
5,400,000
5,100,000
4,700,000
4,500,000
4,400,000

1,630,000
770,000
390,000
240,000
470,000
240,000
80,000

There can be little question that the migration was selective.
Doubtless many competent Irishmen still live in the Old Coun-
try. But there is equally little doubt that on the whole it was

250

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

the more energetic, wide-awake, adaptable, and industrious
Irish who left their old homes and fared forth across the sea.
That is perhaps one of the chief reasons why Ireland has had
only about one-sixth as many eminent men in proportion to the
population as have its two EngHsh-speaking neighbors, England
and Scotland, as appears in Figure 12. For hundreds of years
England has been getting the cream of Ireland, and during the
past century America has scooped off most of the top milk. On
the blue liquid which still remains some cream may rise, but it
would be contrary to the lesson of history to expect that a coun-
try which has been so depleted shall thrive as does a country
into which fresh, creamy milk has just been poured. The pros-
pects would be sad, indeed, were it not that a race like the Irish
possesses so highly mixed an inheritance that high types con-
tinue to appear now and again in spite of the constant removal
of such types by migration. With proper selection there is little
doubt that Ireland could again possess a large body of compe-
tent leaders.

England, like Ireland, has suffered from migration, as have
most of the countries of Europe. But England has had a great
safeguard in her aristocracy and her system of primogeniture.
Gibes at the British aristocracy are common, but in proportion
to its numbers that aristocracy has probably produced more men
of genius than almost any similar group except the Athenians, the
Jews, the Icelanders, and a few others. To-day, in spite of all
that may be said in comic operas and novels, I would rely on a
hundred average British aristocrats with more certainty than upon
an average hundred picked at random from almost any other
group of men. These aristocrats, simply because they belong to a
ruling class, have largely remained in England. Many younger
sons have indeed gone to new lands, but, thanks to primogeniture,
the oldest sons, and the heirs when those sons have died, have
ahnost invariably made England their permanent home. Thus,
although England has been sadly drained of her middle classes,
a fact which perhaps aggravates her present difficulties, she still
has a large, strong body of gentry who inherit not only a social

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GREEKS AND IRISH 251

tradition of public service, but a physiological capacity for honest,
painstaking, and often brilhant leadership. That is her salvation.
It is Ireland's misfortune to have lost practically all of that type
together with a large share of her middle class.

CHAPTER XVII

THE DISPERSAL OF THE NORTHMEN

If the reader reviews the Hne of reasoning pursued thus far
in this book he may be surprised, as I have been, at the concen-
tration of advantages around the North Sea and southern Scan-
dinavia. The northern location of those regions and the preva-
lence of westerly winds from the Atlantic keep the summers cool
and invigorating. In winter, however, those same winds come
from an ocean which is warmed by the Gulf Stream and Atlantic
Drift, so that its waters are not much colder in winter than in
summer. Hence harmful extremes of temperature are rare.
Again, in this northwestern section of Europe cyclonic storms are
especially abundant. Therefore, not only is there plenty of rain
and atmospheric moisture at all seasons, but stimulating varia-
tions of the weather are frequent. These conditions of climate
produce two highly desirable results: First, they make it possible
for people to get a good living by agriculture, but do not make
this easy unless people are highly industrious and have a strong
spirit of thrift. Second, they tend to make the inhabitants healthy
and active to a degree almost unparalleled elsewhere.

The North Sea region and especially Scandinavia have still
other advantages. They were among the last parts of the world
to be freed from ice; hence their cooler parts, at least, have been
inhabited only a few thousand years. Again, this part of the
world is remote from regions whence it could be repopulated
after the last ice age. Accordingly its inhabitants had to migrate
far and undergo strong natural selection before settling in their
final homes. Inasmuch as most of the Scandinavian and North
Sea people reached their homes quite late, their inheritance has
as yet been relatively Httle impaired by adverse selection or by
the mere cessation of the selective action of migration. More-
over, the earliest of the selected migrants found in their new

252

THE DISPERSAL OF THE NORTHMEN 253

homes no inefficient aborigines. Even the latest invaders found
a population which was presumably fairly competent, and which
did not usually tend to replace the newcomers because of its
numbers or because it was better adapted to the climate.

Another significant fact arises from the climatic vicissitudes
of the glacial period, together with the relation of Europe to the
African and Asiatic deserts. Because of these conditions the
races which invaded northwestern Europe had presumably been
subjected to an almost unprecedented degree of racial mixture
and natural selection before they experienced the final renewal
of these processes during the repeopHng of Europe.

As a result of these advantages the people of northwestern
Europe have been able to assimilate and utilize new ideas and
inventions while still in the freshness and vigor of racial youth.
Hence it has been their privilege to rise especially high in such
matters as the use of bronze and iron, the Christian religion, rep-
resentative government, and many other modern ideas and in-
stitutions. From such conditions of environment and selection,
then, arises in considerable measure the present undoubted su-
premacy of the Nordics. From this also arises the groundless
fiction that practically all progress everywhere is due to Nordic
infusion.

Having seen how the Nordics reached their high racial level,
let us inquire what lessons may be learned from the history of
one of their most typical branches, the Northmen or Norse who
lived in Denmark, southern Norway, and southern Sweden in
the eighth century. At the end of that century they appear to
have been Hving in relative quiet for some three centuries, with-
out any special migrations or wars other than the ceaseless local
struggles which are almost universal among energetic barbarians.
Then something happened, and the Norse suddenly began mi-
grating in all directions. In their open boats they swarmed along
every coast, plundering, ravaging, pillaging, burning, enslaving,
and killing. At first they merely landed on the coast, commonly
using an island as a base, and making a swift dash upon the
inhabitants. Then they made camps where they stayed a few

254

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

weeks while part of them made forays up the rivers. Next they
spent the winter and made more extensive raids, harassing the
country for hundreds of miles. Finally they estabHshed them-
selves permanently. In Ireland they founded Dublin and there
set up a kingdom which lasted about three hundred years, or
from about 851 A. D. to the Norman invasion from England in
1 1 55. In Scotland and northern England they did Ukewise, and
finally in 1015 Canute became king of all southeastern Britain.
At the mouths of the Elbe, Rhine, Somme, Seine, Loire, and
Garonne the Norsemen also estabhshed themselves more or less
permanently. In northern France they actually forced the French
to cede to them the territory of Normandy to which they gave
their name. Farther south these Norse Vikings made predatory
raids around Spain, upon the African shore, and along the Medi-
terranean coast to the mouth of the Rhone and North Italy. In
another direction, eastward from their home, they migrated into
Russia under Rurik and his brothers. Rus they were called, and
thereby Russia received its name after the Norse had estabHshed
a kingdom at old Novgorod. From there wandering bands went
down the Dnieper and reached Constantinople, where for genera-
tions the Byzantine emperors had a famous Varangian Guard of
Norse soldiers. Thus Europe was almost encircled by these wild,
bold, barbarous adventurers. One other migration took place at
this time, westward to newly discovered Iceland. This, unlike
all the others, was peaceful, for there were no inhabitants in Ice-
land aside from a few Irish monks.

The degree of permanence in the Norse settlements varied
greatly, as did the extent to which the Norse retained their racial
inheritance. In Iceland practically all the settlers were Norse,
and they have remained unmixed for a thousand years. In Nor-
mandy the Norse exterminated many of the former inhabitants
and took a considerable area for their own possession. Neverthe-
less, being a highly adaptable people they adopted the French
language, religion, and customs, and in due time became so amal-
gamated with the surrounding people that they are now almost
indistinguishable, as is also the case farther north in Belgium and

THE DISPERSAL OF THE NORTHMEN

255

Holland. This was easy and natural, because many of the people
of northern France were closely allied to the Norse in race. Nev-
ertheless, before the Norman Norse had wholly lost their racial
individuality they sent out two sets of migrants who have played
an important part in history. One set established a Norman
Kingdom in Sicily and South Italy; the other followed William
the Conqueror to England.

In England itself, two centuries more or less before the Nor-
man conquest, the Norse — partly Danes and partly Norwegians
— had settled in such numbers that they not only established a
kingdom, but imposed their speech upon certain small areas, for
example, in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Nevertheless, in Britain,
as in France, the Norse ultimately adopted the language, religion,
and customs of their fosterland, and amalgamated with the
former inhabitants, especially the upper classes, who were their
close racial kin. Since England received a second important
Norse addition when the Normans came in 1066, and since it
had no large outward migrations like those from Normandy, it
owes more of its blood and its character to the Norse than does
any other country except those of Scandinavia and Iceland.

In Ireland along the north and east coasts the Norse were an
important element for a while, but like every other upper class
they tended to move away from that country. Many migrated
to Iceland within a generation or two after coming to Ireland,
while others at later dates went to England and the continent.
Thus the Norse inheritance has played a relatively minor part in
Ireland. In Russia much the same is probably true. Although
the Rus may not have migrated from Russia so quickly as many
of their kinsmen did from Ireland, they were absorbed in the
great mass of Slavs around them and soon lost their individuahty.
Elsewhere except on the Swedish border of Finland, the Norse
appear to have been a more or less ephemeral element.

But note one important fact. Wherever the Norse went they
were dominant. This is not strange, for we have already seen
how rigid had been the selection by which the pioneer qualities
had been evolved in them. Moreover, it was the best of the

256

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Norse who went on Viking raids. Even before the great period
of migration it was the common thing for young Norsemen to go
"a- viking," much as the eighteenth-century young man in Eng-
land took a year of travel. But it was only the young men of
relatively good birth and position who could afford to do this.
Even the retainers who accompanied them were "trained war-
riors, chosen for their high spirit" (Enc. Brit., vol. IX, p. 468).
When Canute's great army went to England in 1015 it was a
picked host which contained "not a thrall or a freedman." Many
of that particular army returned to Denmark, but the other
Viking hordes which settled in foreign lands were also largely of
the upper classes.

When the Norse first began to spread abroad over the coasts
of Europe, their homeland contained three chief classes of peo-
ple, Thralls, Karls, and Jarls. The first or typical Thrall is thus
described in the Elder Edda known as Rigsmal:

"Edda a child brought forth, whose swarthy skin
With water then was sprinkled, and its name was ThraU.
And as it grew, it throve, but on its hands
Were fingers thick, a shriveled skin, and knotted knuckles.
A hideous face it had, a curving back.
And sharp, protruding heels. As it gained strength.
It proved its might by binding bast in heavy loads;
And carrying faggots home unwearied all day long."

The Thralls, we are told, "erected fences, manured the fields,
tended swine, kept goats, and dug turf." Perhaps they represent
the bleached Proto-Negroid element which Dixon beHeves that
he finds among the Nordics.

The Karl stood higher than the ThraU. The Rigsmal does
not tell much of his personal appearance except that when the
first Karl was born his eyes twinkled and his mother swathed
his ruddy head in linen. When he grew up,

"He learned to tend the oxen, make a plow.
Build barns and houses, fashion carts, and turn the furrows."

His occupation was not very different from that of the Thrall,
but he owned land, and in those days that was everything. The

THE DISPERSAL OF THE NORTHMEN

257

Karls perhaps were the Mediterranean and Alpine elements of
the population.

Highest in the social scale were the Jarls or Earls, whose de-
scription suggests that they were pure Nordics, or possibly of
Dixon's Caspian race. Of the first JarFs noble parents we are
told:

''The husband sat and twisted strings and bent his bow,
And arrow shafts prepared; but his good wife
Glanced down at her fair arms, smoothed out her flowing veil,
Fastened her sleeves and made her headdress straight.
A clasp was on her breast, holding her ample robe.
Her sark of heavenly blue seemed dull, for her bright brow
And neck and breast were whiter than the driven snow.'*

When this fair wife brought forth a boy,

"In silk they wrapped him; then with water sprinkled,
And named him Jarl. Light was his hair, bright were his cheeks,
And his young eyes gleamed keen as any serpent's.
In his own home he grew, learning to hold the shield.
To draw the twanging bow string, bend the bow,
And shape the arrow with a smooth and deadly shaft.
He likewise learned the javelin to hurl,
The spear to brandish, the fleet horse to ride apace.
Dogs, too, he managed, and he learned to wield
The sword, and boldly swim through fierce and boisterous waves."

A little later he was taught the ancient runes, given a new name,
and told that he was now of age to possess his own lands and the
dwellings of his fathers. Then his nobles went forth to a hall
where dwelt a great chief.

"There they found a slender maiden,
Fair and most elegant. Erna her name.
Her they demanded and soon led her home.
So Jarl espoused her."

It was the Jarls who went a-viking, taking with them the
best Karls and only a few chosen Thralls. Thus it was the ablest
of the Norse who spread themselves abroad over the coasts of

258

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Europe. After the first preliminary raids they took their wives
with them, although many, of course, married the women of the
conquered countries. They were a prolific race, and the most
successful leader had the most children. Harold Fairhair, a king
of Norway of whom we shall shortly hear more, divided his
kingdom among "about twenty" sons at his death in 933 A. D.

Almost everyone who has studied the Norse migrations with
any care is puzzled to account for the comparatively sudden way
in which the Norse in all three of the Scandinavian countries
began to move outward at the same time. Two political events
have been suggested as the cause, namely, Charlemagne's con-
quest of the Saxons and advance into Denmark, and Harold
Fairhair's taxation in Norway. It appears to me, however, that
movements so widespread and so prolonged cannot have been
due to these causes alone, although they unquestionably were
important. Charlemagne's war on the Saxons lasted from 772
to 785, and immediately preceded the first great Norse raid on
England, 787 A. D. But it is scarcely probable that the effect of
Charlemagne's intermittent and relatively unimportant war on
the extreme southern edge of the Norse territory could last a
century and a quarter and could lead to a widespread and pro-
longed disturbance in all three of the Scandinavian countries.

Harold Fairhair's reign (860-933) did not begin until the
Viking raids had been in progress nearly a century, nor can his
taxation have had much, if any, effect on countries other than
Norway. Nevertheless, it is interesting as illustrating how a
poHtical cause may combine with other causes to produce migra-
tion and natural selection. It is likewise important because it
had much to do with determining the kind of selection which
differentiated the Icelanders from the Normans.

The whole social organization of the ancient Scandinavian
communities rested upon the possession of land. If a man had
no land he was inevitably a Thrall. If he held land but owed
rent or tax to any other, even the community, he was a Karl. If
he held his land in his own right, free and untaxed, he was a Jarl
or Earl. Now it happened that in the ninth century there was a

THE DISPERSAL OF THE NORTHMEN

259

great movement in Europe toward kingship. Charlemagne is the
outstanding example, for it was he who made the kingship real
in central Europe. In England in the ninth century the West
Saxon Ethelbert likewise secured the supremacy of the whole
island. In Denmark Gorm established a monarchy. In Sweden
Eirik Eymundsson, king of Upsala, was strengthening the tot-
tering ^^overkingship" which then existed into a regular sov-
ereignty. In Norway this consolidation of small independent
states into a strong monarchy was carried out by Harald Harfagr
(Harold Fairhair). He subdued the petty kings of Norway and
after a hard struggle made himseK sole ruler over the whole
country. The new king needed revenue. One of his early acts
was to appropriate to himself the lands which had formerly been
the common property of the whole community. Thus the Karl
who had formerly paid rent to the community became a tenant
of the king. Harold also levied a poll tax, but this was no inno-
vation and raised no complaint. But when the king levied a
tax on the land of Jarls, the free proprietors who from time im-
memorial had lived on their own estates free from all impost,
then indeed, as Coneybeare says, "there arose a universal cry
of indignation which it is not difficult to sympathize with. Not
only was an invasion thus attempted of the most cherished, nay,
sacred rights of those who were free born throughout the land,
but it swept away the only distinction which raised the allodial
lords above those who were tenants either to the state or to
private freeholders. For in those early times it was the free
possession of land that conferred social and poHtical distinction;
and the loss of such property necessarily entailed loss of condi-
tion. Long after our present social system had grown up, did
the same idea linger in the minds of the old landed gentry of
England.''

One result of Harold's taxation was to increase the migration
from Norway which had already been in progress for a century.
Many of the proud Jarls who might not have left Norway as
raiders now went as settlers; some to England, but most to Ice-
land. So great was this migration that Harold Fairhair, fearing

260

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

that his reahn would be left barren, imposed a tax on all who
wished to leave the country.

In addition to political causes, such as Charlemagne's wars
and Harold's taxation, three others may be suggested as reasons
for the outburst of the Norse at the end of the eighth century.
One is the inherent character of the Norse, their curiosity, bold-
ness, initiative, physical vigor, and ability to fend for themselves.
But there is no reason to suppose that this was any more marked
in 900 A. D. when viking raids were at their height than in 600
or 700, when the raids were of a mild character and involved
merely a little plundering instead of wholesale destruction of
towns and permanent occupation of distant territories. Another
possibility is over-population. Although no exact data are avail-
able, it may well be that the population of the Norse territories
had been increasing, and had reached such a point that some
relief was necessary. It hardly seems probable, however, that a
mere gradual increase would cause so sudden an outburst unless
supplemented by some other event which would serve to bring
matters to a crisis.

It appears to me that such an event is probably found in
vagaries of climate, and hence in changes in the capacity of the
land to support population. Unfortunately, no direct evidence
is available as yet from Scandinavia, but there is considerable of
an indirect kind. The rings of growth of the great Sequoia trees
of California, as I have explained in The Climatic Factor ^ give an
approximate record of climatic changes which is fairly reliable
for two thousand years. Archaeological and historical evidence
shows that the California curve of tree growth can be used as a
key to the climatic changes in other parts of the world. Only in
certain places, to be sure, do the changes appear to have been of
the same type as those of California, while in others they seem
to have been of a directly opposite type, and in still others inter-
mediate. Now in Iceland, Ireland, England, and Scandinavia
there is considerable evidence that since about the twelfth cen-
tury the main fluctuations of climate have been essentially the
same as in California, although they may have varied consider-

THE DISPERSAL OF THE NORTHMEN 261

ably in details. The evidence is particularly strong in respect to
a period of diminished storminess and rainfall in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, and another of increased rainfall in the
fourteenth, as I have explained in Climatic Changes. As to earlier
times the data are very scanty, but there seems to be reason to
think that the same degree of agreement has prevailed.

If the California curve of climatic changes really applies in a
general way to Scandinavia, it may help to explain the raids of
the Vikings. From the time of Christ until the middle of the
seventh century, in spite of certain distinct exceptions, there was
presumably a general tendency for the climate to become less
stormy, drier, and more mild, as may be seen in Figure 1 5. Scan-
dinavia lies so far north and has so many storms that such a
tendency is highly advantageous, for it increases the produc-
tivity of the soil, and makes it easier to get a living. Thus from
before the middle of the seventh century until after the middle
of the eighth, Scandinavia probably enjoyed one of the most
favorable climatic periods in its whole history. Presumably
there was a general condition of prosperity, and the population
increased until there was Httle or no room for more, according
to the standards of production which then prevailed.

In the latter part of the eighth century a change apparently
set in and the climate became more stormy, so that there was
more danger that the crops would fail. Whether the change was
of the same general magnitude as is indicated in Figure 15, we
do not yet know. Even if it were no larger than appears in the
diagram, it might cause grave difficulties if the country were near
the limit of population, and especially if there were a few espe-
cially wet years when the crops did not ripen well. The hypoth-
esis, then, which I would advance is that the combination of
Charlemagne's wars upon the Saxons and of a series of poor crops
together with the normal increase in population led to a strained
situation. In accordance with the innate character of the Norse,
this suddenly reheved itself in a series of unusually severe raids.
The first of any magnitude reached England in 787, France in
789, and Ireland in 795. When once the Norse had undertaken

262

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

such distant raids and had discovered how exciting and profitable
they were, and how easily they could be carried out because of
the fear which the Vikings inspired, they continued them. Thus
they ravaged the Frisian coast of Holland in 808, harried Ireland
unmercifully in succeeding years, raided the French coast in 841,
and appeared in Russia in 859.

All the Norse movements thus far described were mainly
plundering expeditions. Not till after 866 did real settlement of
the Danes begin in England. Then followed a period of about
sixty years, 870 to 930, when the Norse from Denmark settled
in considerable numbers in England; those from Norway, to-
gether with a considerable number from Ireland, went to Ice-
land; while many from Sweden went to Russia. The maximum
migration especially to Iceland, took place in the forty years
from 880 to 920. Now this, it will be noticed, was the time of
Harold Fairhair^s taxation, but that applied only to Norway.
It was also a time of unfavorable cHmate, if we may judge by
Figure 15. Therefore it seems reasonable to suppose that at this
time, just as had happened about a century earlier, economic
distress due to unfavorable seasons combined with political
exigencies to cause migration in addition to the raids that had
previously taken place. By 940 A. D. the last movements of this
particular period seem to have died away in some minor Danish
raids in England. Then for a generation or two the Norsemen
left the rest of the world in peace. But in the last decades of the
tenth century the poHtical and economic causes again combined.
Judging by the conditions in California, it would seem that the
period from 990 to loio must have been very unfavorable in
Scandinavia. If that is so, it may help to explain why the Norse
again began making raids in England in 991. At the same time
political events were moving in such a way as to culminate in the
conquest of England by Canute and his picked army in 1015.

In this dispersal of the Norsemen, as in their earlier migra-
tion into Scandinavia, we seem to find that many causes, physi-
cal, social, and political, have probably combined. All appear
to have exerted a more or less selective effect, so that the Norse

THE DISPERSAL OF THE NORTHMEN 263

who went out from their homes during the period from 797 to
1015 A. D. were not only a picked group, but were divided into
two distinct types whose fortunes we shall follow in the next
chapter.

CHAPTER XVIII
WARLIKE NORMANS AND PEACEFUL ICELANDERS

The Norse who migrated to other lands fall into two general
classes. One class migrated primarily because they were warriors
in search of plunder. Only incidentally did they become colo-
nists. Such, in the main, were the earlier raiders upon the coasts
of England, Scotland, Ireland, the Low Countries, France, and
countries even more remote. Their most typical settlement was
Normandy, which came into their possession because the French
feared their further depredations. The other class of Norse mi-
grants went out primarily as colonists. Some of this type doubt-
less went to Normandy, more to Ireland, and many to England,
but the greatest number, or at least the most compact and
homogeneous group, went to Iceland. Of course there is no
sharp line of cleavage between the two groups, but the difference
is real and important. One group, intent on plunder, selects a
goal that is rich, prosperous, and not too well defended. The
other, determined to escape from political and economic trouble
at home, selects a remote goal with scanty resources, but where
there will be no need of fighting. Distinctly different types are
attracted in each case. How far this difference explains the
obvious differences in the history of the two groups we cannot
tell, for many other factors enter into the matter. Nevertheless,
it will be instructive to compare the history of the Normans with
that of the Icelanders.

One of the most conspicuous facts about the Normans is
their conquests. Almost everyone knows that in 1066 William
the Conqueror, a Norman at the head of an army whose leaders
were largely Normans, and whose rank and file were probably one
third Norman, came to England and made himself king. He
and his army settled in England, and other Normans followed.
They at first exterminated great numbers of the Saxons, but later
amalgamated with them and were soon almost indistinguishable

m

I WARLIKE NORMANS AND PEACEFUL ICELANDERS 265

from their Danish and Norwegian kinsmen who had come to
England in the earher Norse migrations and who had already be-
come more or less mixed with the older Saxon aristocracy. Less
I familiar, but no less important from our point of view, is the
Norman conquest of the two Sicilies, that is, South Italy and
Sicily. This began in 1017 and in a generation or two gave rise
to a kingdom "second to none in Europe for wealth and mag-
nificence. . . . This Norman conquest of Sicily forms the most
romantic episode in mediaeval Italian history. " (Enc. Brit.)

In the articles on Normandy and Sicily in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica the historian Freeman gives a vivid picture of the
achievements and character of the Normans. When they went
to England they had already abandoned their Norse religion,
language, and national traditions, and had adopted those of their
Gallic neighbors. They apparently had no sense of kinship with
the Nordic Saxons, and it is even doubtful whether they knew
that their name meant Northmen. The war-song which Taillefer *
chanted as they marched to battle was not a Viking saga, but
the song of Roland and the peers of Charlemagne. They had
adopted the art of their French home so completely that though
they developed the Romanesque style more fully, there is no
evidence that their coming caused any recognizable break in
English architecture. Yet they brought much to England in the
way of language and of the spirit of feudalism. Even in these
respects, however, the steady progress of England along lines
already established was scarcely interrupted. This is not strange,
for the Angles, Saxons, Danes, Norse, and Normans all appear
to have been closely related branches of a single great stock.
Hence both the Viking and the Norman invasions of England
merely represent an accretion of new and able people to strengthen
the old stock. Since the newcomers experienced no great change
of environment either physically or socially they simply mingled
with their more or less warlike kindred and helped to give the
England of to-day its strength. Much of the old Nordic inheri-
tance still survives and is perhaps one great reason why England
has been the greatest of colonizing nations and likewise has never

266

THE CHARACTER OP RACES

lost a war except when it fought with a chosen band of its own
children in America. Even now it is especially the Norman type
both in body and spirit which surges forth to the ends of the
earth. It was perhaps the latest Norse warriors whom Gibbs
describes in Now It Can Be Told. During the Great War, as he
watched the soldiers in the old cathedral at Amiens, the Aus-
tralian soldier boys with "their clean-cut hatchet faces, sun-
baked, tanned by rain and wind, their simple blue-gray eyes, the
fine strong grace of their bodies, as they stood at ease in this
place of history, struck me as being wonderfully like all that one
imagines of those English knights and squires — ^Norman-EngHsh
— ^who rode through France with the Black Prince. It is as though
Australia had bred back to the old strain."

The spirit which in modern times makes the AustraHan and
New Zealand soldiers rank so high caused the Normans to con-
quer southern Italy and Sicily nine hundred years earher, and
made them extremely vigorous and enterprising as Crusaders.
The career of the Normans in Sicily throws an interesting light
on their character. They did not adopt either of the two lan-
guages of the island, Greek or Arabic, but in other respects they
adopted Sicilian habits instead of imposing their own. Since most
of the Sicilians were Christians, there was no need of change in
this respect, but one would at least expect that the newcomers
would impose some traces of themselves upon literature, art, and
architecture. But when the Normans came to Sicily the Saracens
had already been in possession for two hundred and thirty years.
Their advance in civilization was so great and their style of ar-
chitecture so good that the Norman kings simply studied and pro-
moted Saracen literature, and always called in Saracens for any
special work of engineering or architecture. The Normans, as
Freeman puts it, came into the inheritance of the two most
civilized nations of the time, the Greeks and Arabs, and allowed
the two to flourish side by side. Sicily's most brilliant period be-
gan with the coming of the Normans. Yet the Normans did noth-
ing new; they simply maintained order, and let the Saracens
build their palaces and churches. So completely was this the

WARLIKE NORMANS AND PEACEFUL ICELANDERS 267

case that if we judged solely by the architecture, we should never
know that the Normans had set foot in Sicily.

As to the character of the Norse we are told by Keary that
they were filled with an immense joy in battle, a kind of mad fury
which made them proof against everything, including even super-
stition. They had need for such courage, for more than most
men they attempted every kind of adventure. They went to sea
in little ships that would now be considered quite unseaworthy;
they also made long expeditions inland, using horses and the other
paraphernalia of warfare on land. Cruelty and faithlessness were
almost as characteristic of them as was boldness, at least among
that portion of the Vikings who became famous as raiders.
Nevertheless, these same men had an uncommon capacity for
government and for peaceful organization. That is why Sicily
was so prosperous, while Keary calls Normandy the best-governed
part of France in the eleventh century. In this connection Free-
man points out that even in their most unbridled acts the Norse
and the Normans had a peculiarly high respect for the forms of
law. In Iceland we shall see this fully exemplified. In England
it led William the Conqueror and his followers to make the most
elaborate attempts to find legal justification for dispossessing
the former owners of the soil. Among all the qualities of the Norse
none is more noticeable than their adaptability. It was this which
made them adopt Saracenic art in Sicily, the French language and
the Christian religion in Normandy, and British customs and
modes of thought and speech after they reached England. This
same quality is emphasized by MacDougall in his discussion of
the Nordic race, as we have already seen; it is one of the chief
reasons why Japan rivals many European nations in no small
number of ways.

The quality of adaptability upon which Freeman lays so
much stress has also come to our attention as pre-eminently char-
acteristic of the Greeks. The reason is probably the same;
namely, that only the most adaptable people can or will persist
to the end of a long and arduous migration. Leaf seems to be
right when he points out in Homer and History that "the Nor-

268

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

man invasion of Italy is in fact a type of a whole class of inva-
sions—the conquest of a decaying civilization by a comparatively
small number of warlike adventurers." He might have added
that the Normans did not necessarily lack originality as Freeman
seems to imply. It is more likely that they were so busy adopting
and adapting to their own use the new things that they found, and
were so engrossed in the business of governing, that they had no
time for new inventions. It took the Greeks and the Khmers at
least a century or two before they began to display the great
originality for which they are renowned. But in Sicily the Nor-
mans were swamped before they reached that stage. It was their
misfortune to be a relatively small band, and to migrate to a
country farther south than Greece. They went to an unfavor-
able climate at a time when it appears to have been deteriorating
to perhaps its worst level, and when malaria is known to have
been a most terrible scourge. They appear to have intermarried
freely with the Christian part of the population. All these con-
ditions presumably tended to cause the richly endowed inheri-
tance of the Normans to be extinguished within a few genera-
tions. Their fate was like that of the Greeks, the Khmers, and
many other similar invaders. It was remarkable chiefly because
it came upon them so soon. A small minority of uncommon
abihty was quickly swamped in a large majority, presumably
because the selective processes which had sorted out the ability
ceased to be effective. Constructive evolution through migration
was superseded by racial mixture and destructive selection
through climate and disease.

Now turn to Iceland. There we are confronted by a slightly
different initial selection and by an almost diametrically differ-
ent later evolution. Here is what Coneybeare says about the
original movement to Iceland:

It was indeed a migration en masse, and that, too, not of the meanest of
the population; ... on the contrary, the noblest and worthiest of the
land, the most peaceably disposed, and the most cultivated, formed the
bulk of the migrant host. While the most warHke of the nation sailed
southward and founded a new Norman kingdom in Gaul, the richest land

WARLIKE NORMANS AND PEACEFUL ICELANDERS 269

owners eventually settled in Iceland; which fact, coupled with the neces-
sity imposed upon them of trading with the British Isles for the supply of
many of their wants, accounts for the peaceable and even mercantile
spirit which characterized the Icelanders.

It must not be supposed, however, that the Norse who mi-
grated to Iceland were peaceable according to our standards.
They are called by Bryce a people whose chief occupation was
to kill one another." But in those days all men who amounted
to much had to fight. The Jarl, by his very position, was a fighter,
and the Karls who followed them were doubtless in many cases
chosen for their abihty to fight. Nevertheless, Coneybeare is
almost certainly right in saying that the Norse who went to Ice-
land were more peaceful and more inclined to mercantile pur-
suits than were those who harried the countries farther south.
Thus the original Icelanders were a highly selected group of
people. In the first place, the Norse as a whole appear to be one
of the world's competent races. Second, the Jarls were Jarls be-
cause their ancestors had shown unusual ability to fight, to
organize, and to hold their conquests, and they themselves main-
tained their position largely by virtue of an inheritance of abihty.
Third, from among this most gifted group in an uncommonly
able race there were selected first those who loved freedom more
than the favor of kings, and second those who were inclined to
try their chances in a new and difficult land rather than gain a
living by fighting and plundering. Thus it was the best of the
best who founded Iceland, and they created there what Bryce
calls "an almost unique community whose culture and creative
power flourished independently of any favoring material conditions
and indeed under conditions in the highest degree unfavorable."

The migrants to Iceland included a fair sprinkling of Swedes
and Goths, and some from the Norse settlements in Scotland and
Ireland, but apparently not a single Dane. Among the others, as
among those from Norway, there was an unusually large per-
centage of high-born Jarls. For example, Queen Aud, the widow
of Olaf the White, the Norse king of Dublin, was preceded and
followed by a large number of her kinsmen and relations, many

270

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

of whom like herself were Christians. Some of the other migrants
were also Christians, but the great majority were heathen. Many
of the Norse chiefs had Hved for a long time in foreign lands.
Thus while there was remarkable uniformity of race, abihty, and
social condition, there was some diversity of ideas. This uni-
formity deserves notice, for it is unique. Other migrations, such
as that of the Puritans, have perhaps comprised an equally uni-
form body of people, but in most such cases there has soon been
much diversity through further immigration or through mixture
with previous inhabitants of the new country. In Iceland noth-
ing of the kind took place. By 930 A. D. the population of that
island appears to have amounted to 30,000 to 50,000, a number
which probably was not much exceeded down to the census
of 1823. Practically no immigrants have gone to the island since
the first migration. Thus for a thousand years Iceland has been
the home of a peculiarly homogeneous people.

In almost every respect the new Icelandic home of the Norse
was less favorable than their old home. Both Norway and Ice-
land are highly mountainous, with only a few plains here and
there, chiefly in the south. Both regions likewise have depressed
coasts where the ocean penetrates far into innumerable pic-
turesque fiords. Deep sheltered harbors, steep cliffs, sparkling
waterfalls, grim canyons, and cold glaciers are also numerous,
but give to neither country any special advantage. But the
Icelandic mountains are a much greater handicap than those of
Norway in one respect, for they are volcanic. Time and again
Iceland has suffered terribly from eruptions and earthquakes,
especially in the last part of the thirteenth century. In 1362
Oeraefa JokuU, the loftiest mountain in Iceland, 6,424 feet high,
swept forty farms, together with their inhabitants and livestock,
bodily into the ocean. In 1783 an eruption of Laki spread so
much dust over the island that it occasioned the loss of 53 per
cent of all the cattle, 77 per cent of the horses, and 82 per cent
of the sheep which form the main source of livelihood. After
that the island was visited by a famine, which destroyed 9,500
people, or one-fifth of the total population.

WARLIKE NORMANS AND PEACEFUL ICELANDERS 271

Sometimes the volcanoes cause destruction in more indirect
ways. For example, many of the Icelandic volcanoes during
their periods of quiescence are covered with ice and snow. When
an outbreak occurs these melt and give rise to sudden floods.
Katla has caused serious damage in this way by converting sev-
eral cultivated districts into barren wastes. Earthquakes, like-
wise, are a frequent menace. In the southern lowland in 1784
some 92 farmsteads were totally destroyed by an earthquake,
and 372 farmsteads and 11 churches were seriously damaged.
Again in 1896 a series of earthquakes destroyed 161 farmsteads
and damaged 155 others.

Although earthquakes and volcanoes figure largely among the
disasters chronicled by the historian, they seem to exert no seri-
ous check upon progress. They are temporary accidents, and if
people are energetic, the material damage that they do is usually
soon repaired, as in Japan, southern Italy, and California. In
the famine and distress which follow such disasters, the more
provident, industrious, and intelligent inhabitants, to be sure,
are least likely to die, but such conditions last so short a time
and recur so infrequently that they probably have little effect
upon racial character. Yet in one important respect they have
probably had an important effect on Iceland. They have joined
with other factors in rendering the island relatively unattractive,
thus helping to prevent immigration and thereby preserving the
purity of the original Icelandic blood. At the same time they
have presumably encouraged some Icelanders to migrate back
to the old country. During the Middle Ages many able Iceland-
ers went to Norway, and some of them became bards and ad-
visers at the courts of Scandinavian kings. We are told that
among 230 bards practically all were Icelanders. Most of these,
however, returned to Iceland. Nevertheless, some remained in
Norway and Denmark. The memory of the volcanoes can
scarcely have been an incentive to go back to Iceland. At any
rate, we know that in modern days volcanic eruptions have played
a not inconsiderable part in stimulating migration to Canada.

Another marked feature of the geographical environment of

272

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Iceland is isolation. Distances of six hundred miles from the
Norwegian coast and five hundred from the nearest part of Scot-
land may not be great for ocean liners, but they were very great
for the small vessels of more primitive times. Only a bold, ad-
venturous spirit would brave a journey between Europe and
Iceland in one of the low, half -open boats of the early Norse; for
the voyage lies across one of the stormiest seas. Iceland's isola-
tion presumably kept the timid and weak at home when the
island was settled. In later days it has probably been much
more effective than the volcanoes and earthquakes in preventing
either immigration or emigration, and thus has been a factor in
preserving the original inheritance and making the Icelanders
one of the most homogeneous peoples on the face of the earth.
How homogeneous they are is illustrated by the fact that even
as late as 1920 there were only 710 foreigners in Iceland out of
95,000 people, and of the foreigners 507 were Danes and Norse.
The Icelanders are equally homogeneous in religion, for in 1920
only 463 were dissenters from the Lutheran Church, which has
long been the established form of religion.

Mineral resources are another of the respects in which Ice-
land, according to conamon standards, is even worse off than
Norway. There are, to be sure, some deposits of the peculiar pure
form of calcite, called Iceland spar; and sulphur from the vol-
canic deposits was exported to England as early as the thirteenth
century; but there is no coal, no petroleum, no iron, no copper,
no gold or silver; none, in fact, of the mineral resources whose
importance in our day is so much emphasized. This may have
been a disadvantage in early times, and it has probably retarded
modern Iceland somewhat in the domain of manufacturing.
Even now the island sends most of its abundant wool to Europe
instead of making it into cloth at home. But the countries that
have developed manufacturing in the last century are likely to
pay dearly for the privilege*, rThey have herded their people into
great and unhealthful cities; they have in some cases introduced
vast numbers of immigrants whose racial inheritance is none too
high and who as individuals appear to be much below the aver-

WARLIKE NORMANS AND PEACEFUL ICELANDERS 273

age of their respective races. To-day in far northern Spitzbergen
the presence of coal is drawing a group of laborers who are igno-
rant, rough, and unprincipled. They appear to be mostly men
who do not succeed well at home but who have some love of ad-
venture and so take a chance in the far north. If Iceland had to
receive ten or twenty thousand such men to work coal mines, her
racial inheritance would at once be greatly altered for the worse.
But she can easily get coal from England. Moreover, she has nu-
merous waterfalls which are already beginning to be developed and
which in time will probably supply her cheaply with power, light,
and heat, without introducing a great number of low-grade miners.

The greatest disadvantage of Iceland compared with south-
ern Norway, whence came most of the Norse settlers, is the cli-
mate. In no other country has a genuine center of civihzation
grown up in such high latitudes. This does not mean that Ice-
land is really cold, for its shores are washed by the relatively
warm Atlantic Drift, so that the average January temperature at
Reykjavik, the capital, is about 30° F., or essentially the same as
that of New York City and central Denmark. In summer, how-
ever, Iceland is cool. Even in the warmest places the average
temperature of July is only about 50° F., or the same as that of
the northern coast of Alaska, the mouth of the Lena River, and
the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego. Elsewhere such summer
temperatures are associated with people like the Eskimos, the
Lapps of northern Europe, and the degraded Indians of Tierra
del Fuego. Only among the Incas of Peru does any people ever
seem to have risen to a high degree of civilization or maintained
such a civilization for any length of time where the summer tem-
perature was so low. Cuzco, the Inca capital, 11,400 feet above
the sea, has an average temperature of only about 52° F. in
November, the warmest month. Its coldest month, July, how-
ever, averages 46° F., so that the growing season is far longer than
in Iceland. The Icelanders, like the Incas, present the remark-
able spectacle of a race where a unique inheritance seems, for a
while at least, to have overcome the almost incalculable disad-
vantages of a cold summer.

274

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

The real importance of temperature to Iceland is seen in its
effect on agriculture and forests. Agriculture in the sense of
raising crops is almost impossible. Potatoes, turnips, and cab-
bages can indeed be raised in fair quantities in the southern part
of the island, but there are only a few hundred gardens all told.
The raising of grain is practically impossible, although occasion-
ally an attempt is made to raise rye or barley. Forests are like-
wise lacking. There are, to be sure, many trees on the island,
but most of them are little birches three to ten feet high.
Only in a few areas do the birches reach a height of twenty
feet. Willows, too, are fairly abundant, but are generally only
seven to ten feet high. The largest trees are a few moimtain ash,
some of which attain a height of thirty feet. None of the trees
are large enough to be of any appreciable value for lumber, and
even as fuel they are of small use.

One reason why vegetation and agriculture are so hampered
in Iceland is the extreme variations in the temperature of the
same month from year to year. If the winds blow from any
direction between southwest and east they come from relatively
warm parts of the Atlantic where the Gulf Stream, after ceasing
to move as a distinct current, spreads out and forms the Atlantic
Drift. If, on the other hand, the winds blow from the west and
north they cross an arctic current and may bring great fields of
polar ice against the Icelandic coasts. Thus from year to year
there may be enormous differences in the temperature of the
same month. In 1856 at Stykkishohn the average temperature
of the month of March was 40.1° F., for the winds blew from the
southwest; but in 1866 when the winds blew from the north or
northwest the same month averaged 12.4° F., while in 1881 the
month of March averaged only 7.6"^ F. In few parts of the world
are there such great differences in the same month from year to
year. If the ice closes in and cold winds blow in summer, the
season may be so wet and cool that the hay cannot be dried.
The grass may grow abundantly under such circumstances and
generally does, and the cattle and sheep grow fat, but when win-
ter comes there is little for them to eat. An unusually waraa

WARLIKE NORMANS AND PEACEFUL ICELANDERS 275

and rainy summer may produce the same result, as in 1870.
Even though the grass is cut and tended most carefully it rots.
In 1759 conditions such as these caused a famine in which 10,000
people died. This was followed in 1762 by a disease which caused
280,000 sheep to die or be slaughtered.

Because of the climate the only important resources of Ice-
land are grass and fish, and these determine how perhaps nine-
tenths of the people live. A fine, dense growth of grass covers
all the lower parts of the island, especially in the south. It is
rich and nutritious and admirably adapted to animals. Horses
and cattle thrive fairly well and sheep admirably. In 192 1 Ice-
land had 49,300 horses, or as many as Iowa in proportion to the
population; its 23,700 cattle were proportionally rather less
numerous than in most parts of the United States, but its 554,000
sheep, or six for every inhabitant, gave it relatively more than in
any State except Nevada and Wyoming. In proportion to the
population Iceland has more horses than any other country ex-
cept Argentina and Canada. It has relatively about as many
cattle as Austria, Germany, and Great Britain, while its sheep
are proportionally more numerous than those of any countries
except New Zealand, Uruguay, Australia, and Argentina. Few
countries are forced to depend upon animals more completely
than Iceland.

The truth of this last statement becomes more apparent when
it is realized that aside from domestic animals the other great
resource of Iceland is fish. According to the Census of 19 10 the
population of Iceland depends upon the following sources for a
living :

Agriculture 43,400

Fishing 15,900

Day laborers and domestic ser-
vants 10,103

Industry 6,031

Commerce and transport 3, 940

Immaterial production 2,602

Relieved by public assistance... 1,660

Pensioners and capitalists 902

Profession not stated 644

Among the agriculturists, however, a great many follow the
sea part of the time, so that fishing is much more important than

276

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

would appear from this table. In 191 5 the exports of fish prod-
ucts amounted to about 70,000 tons or three tons for every man
over twenty years of age.

Such, then, was the unfavorable environment in which the
relatively peaceable, thoughtful, and mercantile group of Norse
settlers found themselves after their migration to Iceland. Ac-
cording to all the ordinary standards, the volcanoes and earth-
quakes of Iceland, its isolation, its lack of minerals, its cold simi-
mers and consequent lack of practically all resources except ani-
mals and fish, and worst of all its severe and recurrent famines,
make that island a far less favorable place than the old Norwe-
gian home from which it was settled. Compared with Normandy
and England it is hard to find any respects in which the Icelandic
environment is superior. Even Sicily, in spite of its malaria,
would be counted much better than Iceland by the vast majority
of mankind. Yet the Norse migrants to Iceland, although greatly
handicapped, have rivaled England in their achievements, and
have far surpassed Sicily. What ground there is for this asser-
tion we shall see in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XIX

THE PERSISTENCE OF A SELECTED INHERITANCE

Iceland is an astonishing country. In spite of its physical
disadvantages it has stood in the forefront of civihzation for a
thousand years. It may almost claim that in proportion to its
population its contribution to human progress has been greater
than that of any other region except ancient Greece and Palestine.

If this seems extravagant, consider the facts. A real though
crude measure of the influence of a country is the extent to which
the country and its doings are discussed. The Library of Yale
University has no special interest in Iceland, but its catalogue
contains approximately 326 cards imder that heading. About haK
deal with the geography, history, and general description of the
island, 120 are devoted to the Icelandic language, and 50 to Ice-
landic literature. Ireland, with a population approximately forty-
five times that of Iceland, has only about 1,440 cards, and no
section devoted to literature. Again, Mexico is almost twenty
times as large as Iceland and has about one hundred and sixty
times as many people. It speaks a language which is more easily
understood by Americans than Icelandic, and which is known to
literally hundreds of thousands, while Icelandic is known only
to scores. Yet that country, so large, so populous, so near, so
rich, and so intimately connected with the commercial progress
of the United States, has only about 1,200 cards in a great rep-
resentative library— one-fortieth as many as Iceland in propor-
tion to the population.

Another rough measure of the importance of a country is its
men of eminence. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, as we have
seen, furnishes perhaps as good a summary of the world's opinion
as can be found in any single source. It gives accounts of nine
Icelanders, bom since 1600, while many others are discussed in

277

278

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

connection with the golden Icelandic age when the Sagas were
written. In proportion to the population in 1800 this gives Ice-
land three times as many eminent authors as Ireland, France, or
Switzerland, three and one-half times as many as Germany, six
and one-half times as many as Belgium, and twenty- three times
as many as Austria. Iceland's representation in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica during the last three centuries is proportionally greater
than that of any other country outside England and Scotland.

A third measure of the importance of a country is the opinion
of men of sound judgment. Lord Bryce perhaps sums up such
opinions as well as any one. Here is what he says:

Iceland is a country of quite exceptional and peculiar interest, not only
in its physical but also in its historical aspects. The Icelanders are the
smallest in number of the civilized nations of the world. Down till our own
days the island has never had a population exceeding seventy thousand,
yet it is a Nation, with a language, a national character, a body of tradi-
tions that are all its own. Of all the civilized countries it is the most wild
and barren, nine-tenths of it a desert of snow mountains, glaciers, and vast
fields of rugged lava, poured forth from its volcanoes. Yet the people of
this remote isle, placed in an inhospitable Arctic wilderness, cut off from
the nearest parts of Europe by a stormy sea, is, and has been from the be-
ginning of its national life more than a thousand years ago, an intellectually
cultivated people which has produced a literature both in prose and in
poetry that stands among the primitive literatures next after that of
ancient Greece if one regards both its quantity and its quality. Nowhere
else, except in Greece, was so much produced that attained, in times of
primitive simplicity, so high a level of excellence both in imaginative power
and in brilliance of expression.

Not less remarkable is the early political history of the island. During
nearly four centuries it was the only independent repubhc in the world, and
a republic absolutely unique in what one may call its constitution, for the
government was nothing but a system of law courts, administering a most
elaborate system of laws, the enforcement of which was for the most part
left to those who were parties to the lawsuits.

In our own time Iceland has for the student of poHtical institutions a
new interest. After many years of a bloodless constitutional struggle be-
tween its people and the Danish Crown, Denmark conceded to Iceland a
local legislature, and an autonomy under that legislature which has greatly
improved the relations between the two countries and furnished another
argument to those who hold that peace and progress are best secured by
the application of the principles of Uberty and self-government.

PERSISTENCE OF A SELECTED INHERITANCE 279

One more important fact needs to be emphasized in order to
appreciate Iceland. Not only did that country stand remarkably
high nearly a thousand years ago, but it has sturdily maintained
an enviable place among the nations in spite of periods of de-
pression. In the sixteenth century, for example, printing was
introduced into Iceland and soon became common. In Europe
the first book was printed in Mainz in 1455. During the next
half century the art of printing spread slowly to Italy in 1465,
France 1469, England 1476, and Denmark and Sweden 1482-
1483. In 1490 a book was printed in Constantinople, but even
in Scotland 1507 was the date of the earliest book. All these are
European countries, easy of access, and with populations num-
bering millions or at least many hundred thousands. Iceland
was far away across a stormy sea, and had a population of only
perhaps 50,000. It had been through a period of terrible depres-
sion and was only weakly in touch with the rest of the world.
Yet in 1530 a printing-press was introduced, and between 1540
and 1600 at least forty-six books were published. In Norway it
was not till 1651 that the first book was printed.

That the old ability has not been lost is evident from the
fact that even during the last century Iceland had four native
sons sufficiently eminent in literature to find a place in the En-
cyclopaedia Britannica and others of the same sort, such as the
sculptor Thorwaldsen and the explorer Stefansson, who were
born of Icelandic parents in other countries. Nor are its great
men Iceland's only claim to fame. Iceland to-day is highly pro-
gressive politically and socially. For example, it is one of the few
countries which have a well-managed system of old-age pensions.
Judging by the figures for 1 908-1 91 3, which are the last for a
normal period, the death-rate in Iceland, 14.8 per thousand in-
habitants, averages lower than in any country in Europe except
England, the Netherlands, and the three Scandinavian countries.
Such advanced countries as France, Germany, and Switzerland
have distinctly higher death-rates than Iceland. Still more sig-
nificant is the fact that in Iceland the reduction in the death-rate
between the decades 187 6-1 885 and 1906-19 15 was greater than

280

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

during the corresponding period in all but one of the seventeen
regions of Europe for which data are available. In Iceland the
death-rate in the later period, when reduced to what is called a
standard population, was only 58 per cent of the rate in the
earher period; in Saxony the corresponding figure was 56, but in
Prussia it was 69, in France and England 75, and in Ireland 84.

Another evidence of the progressiveness of modern Iceland is
its large number of learned institutions. Remember that we are
talking about an island whose poor and widely scattered inhabi-
tants are about as numerous as those of the three northern coun-
ties of New Hampshire, and are scattered over an area one-fourth
larger than the combined area of Vermont, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Remember that
the island is as hilly as those three New Hampshire counties,
which contain the White Mountains, and that its largest city is
about the size of their largest city, Berlin. Remember, too, that
in July the temperature even in the warmest places is only about
2° F. above that of the top of Mt. Washington. Yet Iceland
has a university with schools of theology, medicine, law, and
philosophy. At the university Denmark, France, and Germany,
at least until the World War, maintained lecturers to give instruc-
tion in their respective languages and literatures. Iceland has
also a normal school, a school of navigation, and two agricultural
schools, as well as all sorts of scientific societies, a Bible Society,
a national picture-gallery, and an archaeological society which
has published dozens of volumes.

Still another evidence of Iceland's present position is the
literacy of its people. Only a few countries like New Zealand
and Finland have so small a percentage of illiteracy. For a long
time legal marriage was forbidden to a girl until she could read
and write. Schools are scarce because the population is extremely
scattered; often a community consists of only a few widely
separated families. Yet so highly do the Icelanders appreciate
literacy that almost every mother is a schoolmistress and well-nigh
every child is taught at home. It is significant that the age when
attendance at school is required is from ten to fourteen years.

PERSISTENCE OF A SELECTED INHERITANCE 281

In many places the younger children cannot go to school because
of their isolation. Nevertheless education is compulsory. So
interested are the Icelanders in their books that the favorite rec-
reation is reading aloud during the long winter evenings. A
'traveler reports a boy of twelve who was studying botany from
a Latin text-book while he was tending his flock of a thousand
sheep. In another place a girl of fourteen had the duty of carry-
ing the milk to the creamery every day. She carried it on horse-
back, two cans tied together and slung over the back of each
horse. She tied her horses together in a string, nose to tail, as is
the custom, and rode ahead on her own horse, reading as she went.

Books are a necessity in every family, even in the isolated
northern island of Grimsey,

whose sorely isolated people look out upon the boundless boreal seas be-
yond the Arctic circle. They form the northernmost indigenous little com-
munity of our Germanic race — living by fishing in the most frigid of waters,
and by capturing, at the peril of their lives, the stormbirds which build
their nests on the almost inaccessible cliffs bounding the eastern shores of
their tiny home. Dwelling on a dozen sterile farms, they maintain, with
difficulty, three or four score of sheep, and half a dozen cattle and ponies,
whose existence, like that of their owners, is one of perennial hunger. Yet
they have a little church and an intelligent pastor, and a much-read island-
library of a few hundred volumes (many of them on birds and fishes).
(Mimir.)

Another extraordinary fact about Iceland is the high moral
standards which seem to prevail. According to Hygeia (Decem-
ber, 1923), a journal pubHshed by the American Medical Asso-
ciation, syphilis has never been common in Iceland.

Block states that syphilis was not observed in Iceland until 1753, when
it was recognized among certain employees in a manufacturing establish-
ment at Reykjavik. It appears that even then this disease did not gain a
foothold on the island, and soon it disappeared altogether. Finsen, who
practised medicine in Iceland for nine years in the twenties of the last cen-
tury, stated that the disease was introduced for a second time in 1824, but
that he saw only five cases and these were confined to foreigners. Finsen
remarks that it is strange that notwithstanding the fact that Iceland is
visited annually by the men from hundreds of trading and fishing boats,

282

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

the disease has not spread among the natives. If this is true, there can be
but one explanation, and that is that sexual promiscuity does not prevail
among the natives of Iceland as it does in Europe and America.

In reply to this it may be said that about thirteen per cent
of the Icelandic births are illegitimate. In all probability, how-
ever, this merely means that in about one case out of fifteen
or so, young couples consummate marriage without waiting for
the wedding ceremony. This is a common practice where clergy-
men are scarce and the people are isolated. It does not mean
immorality.

Perhaps the most surprising fact about Iceland is that this
high development of culture and ability exists among a people
whose mode of life is not merely humble, but arduous, monoto-
nous, and in certain respects almost repulsive. Most of the Ice-
landers, as we have seen, are of necessity either farmers or fish-
ermen. The majority dwell in one-story houses with enormously
thick walls of stones stuffed with moss and turf. To get into the
house one must pass through a long, low, dark passage, where
the newcomer is almost sure to bump his head. This leads into
the combined kitchen and living-room, which is often also a
sleeping-room. Only in that room is there a fire. Ventilation is
almost lacking, for the windows are very small and are rarely or
never opened during eight months of the year. The stench is
intolerable to those who are not used to it, for not only do the
Icelanders rarely bathe, as is usually the custom in such cool cli-
mates; but aside from black bread made of imported rye or bar-
ley, their food is largely fish which are often half-decayed, milk
which is usually sour, and butter which is purposely allowed to
become rancid. Their woolen clothes are often wet with rain,
their boots are foul from walking among the sheep and cattle.
The combination of smells is almost indescribable, especially
when it is mingled with smoke from the fire and from poorly
trimmed kerosene lamps.

The work of the Icelanders is as humble as their dwellings.
In February the fishermen begin to go out on the stormy sea,
and a large share of the men from the farms go with them. In

PERSISTENCE OF A SELECTED INHERITANCE 283

little boats manned by four to ten men they brave the storms
and fogs, catching many kinds of fish, but especially the cod,
which is one of their main sources of food. Often the weather is
so bad that the fish rot even when properly cleaned and salted.
In May the farmers usually go back to the farms. One of their
first tasks is to cut the peaty turf, which is almost the only fuel.
But by July a much more weighty task is before them, for the
winter's supply of hay must be cut and cured. The cutting in
itself is a heavy task, but the part which occasions trouble is the
drying, for Iceland is a rainy, foggy country. All too soon the
short summer nears its close. While the warm weather lasts the
farmers must collect the sheep which have been wandering wild
among the mountains. The wool must be plucked off, for it has
become loose as the new growth begins to make the animals ready
for the ensuing winter. To shear the sheep would remove the
long, coarse hair which is needed as a protection against the rain.
During this same busy season the houses must be repaired, the
cracks must be stuffed once more, the turf which has been slowly
drying during the cool summer must be brought home, and the
precious hay-fields must be manured as soon as the hay is re-
moved. Perhaps the women make a gay excursion into the
interior to gather the lichen known as Iceland moss, but their
chief work is to care for the animals, milk them, make butter,
and tend the home. Supplies, too, must be laid by against the
winter, when snow-storms may hold the people at home for weeks
at a time. That may mean a long trip on horseback to the near-
est town, where imported food and manufactured goods are for
sale. Aside from the weekly church services and the occasional
weddings, such trips are almost the only break in a life that is
peculiarly monotonous.

Then comes the early winter, for Iceland has neither spring
nor autumn. That is the most demoralizing part of the year,
for there is little to do, and the tendency is to sit idle day after
day. Perhaps that is why the Icelanders have obtained among
some travelers the reputation of being lazy. This is far from the
truth, for though the Icelander is physically slow and is not

284

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

quickly aroused, he is wonderfully persistent and competent
when once he bestirs himself. The long winters when there is
little or nothing to do except feed the animals are often called
the cause of the great love of books among the Icelanders. They
are a condition rather than a cause, for the cause lies in Icelandic
character. But the long winter evenings certainly give an oppor-
tunity for the expression of that love, and the habit of reading
aloud is almost universal. Perhaps the love of books would wane
if the Icelanders could enjoy themselves out of doors at almost
all seasons as freely as do the people of Italy. While one of the
family reads, the rest are usually busy making ropes and saddles,
knitting stockings and mittens, or embroidering bed-covers.

In spite of the seemingly unfavorable conditions under which
the Icelanders live, they appear still to retain much of their old
ability. Yet they do not seem to be quite the same as their an-
cestors. They are more peaceful, slower, more cautious, less
vivacious, and perhaps less ready to take the initiative, although
by no means backward in attempting new things when once they
are persuaded to try them. And possibly they are more honest.
At least the habits of robbery and piracy which stand out among
their ancestors are no longer noticeable, while almost every trav-
eler is impressed with the extraordinary honesty of the Icelanders
of to-day. They are indeed well able to drive a sharp bargain,
and do not hesitate to charge a good price to the superciKous
foreigner who looks down upon them and makes disagreeable
comments upon their poor food and ill-smelling houses. But let
a foreigner go among them in a spirit of appreciation and good-
will, and they not only give him their best ungrudgingly, but
guard him from discomfort wherever possible. Russell, for ex-
ample, in his book called Iceland, reports that he lost a riding-
belt, but did not think it worth while to go back and hunt for it.
Three weeks later it was handed to him, having been passed from
hand to hand and from farm to farm along his route.

According to the hypothesis of this book, the original cause
of Iceland's greatness was the repeated selection to which its
people were subjected. When the last selection had brought to

PERSISTENCE OF A SELECTED INHERITANCE 285

the island a peculiarly homogeneous, sober-minded, and com-
petent group of people, there ensued within a century or two a
wonderful outburst of genius which produced the famous sagas
and sent Icelandic bards and advisers on more or less temporary
pilgrimages to the courts of northern Europe. In our own day, a
thousand years later, Iceland still has the right to boast of her
people's character and achievements. A selected inheritance,
when isolated, protected, and kept up to the mark by further
selection, seems to be able to persist indefinitely.

CHAPTER XX

■"TIE DIRECT EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON CHARACTER

In trying to explain the character of a race, we must con-
stantly remind ourselves that character as it displays itseK be-
fore our eyes is the complex result of three great factors. One of
these, as we have seen again and again, is inheritance; a second
is physical environment, with its multitudinous effects upon
nutrition, health, occupations, and modes of life; and the third is
social environment and the vast mass of ideas, habits, inven-
tions, and discoveries which are handed down from one genera-
tion to another. Even in a country like Iceland, where the im-
portance of inheritance is especially clear, the other factors have
also been highly important and may even have changed the
biological inheritance to a certain extent.

An example of the effect of environment is the fact that be-
cause of the dangers of seafaring, the death-rate among the young
men of Iceland is very high. Although only about a sixth of the
islanders are classified as fishermen, a large part of the farmers
also engage in this occupation part of the time. Figure i6 shows
the effect of this occupation, together with that of the dangers
due to herding sheep and cattle in a rough and foggy land full of
bogs and cliffs. The solid curved line indicates the number of
deaths among Icelandic men and boys for every hundred deaths
among women and girls. In infancy about 125 boys die for every
100 girls, partly because more boys than girls are born and
partly because boys are less resistant. By the age of four or five,
the deaths among the two sexes are practically equal, while at
the age of ten there are more deaths among girls than boys.
Then the normal sequence of events is completely shattered, for
in spite of the dangers to young women incident to the bearing
of children, the deaths among young men enormously exceed
those among their wives and sisters. The dotted line in Figure

286

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON CHARACTER 287

1 6 shows the conditions in Switzerland, where the men are en-
gaged in ordinary farming, and in relatively healthful industrial
occupations. There the number of deaths among men is less
than among women, up to the age of thirty. This is the normal
condition in most parts of the world. If Iceland were a normal
country it would presumably have about 95 deaths among young
men between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four for every 100
deaths among young women. As a matter of fact, for the forty
years from 1876 to 1915 the ratio of deaths at those ages was 169
for young men, compared with 100 for young women. Put in
another way, this means that as soon as the boys become old
enough to go out in the fishing-boats upon the stormy Atlantic
or to tend the sheep upon the remoter mountains they begin to
be killed in large numbers. In no other country where accurate
records are available is there any such enormous killing off of the
young men in early manhood. Even in Norway, where seafaring
is more prevalent than in almost any country except Iceland, the
excess of deaths of young men over young women at the ages
from fifteen to twenty-four is only 25 per cent, as appears in the
dash line in Figure 16.

What effect has aU this on racial character? It must have
some effect, and it may have much. Although the excessive
death-rate of men compared with women continues to old age, it
is greatest among the young lads when they first go to sea. Many
boys who in a few years would be married and become the fathers
of the next generation are killed, and many young fathers are killed
before their families are complete. This ruthless slaughter of the
young men does not happen occasionally, like the destruction due
to a volcanic eruption. It happens every year, and it has hap-
pened every year for ten centuries. It is a steady, inexorable,
selective factor which affects every generation and practically
every part of the Icelandic population. No demonstration is
needed to show that in general the careless, the rash, the slow-
witted, those who do not get on well with their fellow boatmen,
and those who lose their heads in an emergency are the ones
most likely to lose their lives.

288

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

The total number killed in any one year is not large, but think
what happens when a process of selection like this goes on for a
thousand years. Every year takes from among the people a cer-
tain group who have the qualities described above. Remember
that those who are thus picked out are chiefly young men who
in many cases are not yet fathers. Thus the fathers of the next
generation tend constantly to be those whose lives have been
spared because they are cautious, careful, level-headed, and at
the same time quick, alert, and strong, able to co-operate with
their fellows, resourceful, observant of winds and waves, and
able quickly to draw correct conclusions in the face of danger
and death. Read a book like Stefansson's The Friendly Arctic,
There one sees a concrete picture of those quahties and their re-
sults. In the whole reakn of exploration few books exemplify a
greater capacity for careful, accurate observation, for caution
combined with daring, and for correct inferences from natural
phenomena. Not all the Icelanders have these quahties to such
a degree as Stefansson, but on the whole they are the quahties
which stand out in Icelandic character. Doubtless something of
this character had already become part of the Norse racial inheri-
tance before the migration to Iceland, but it seems probable that
these qualities have steadily become more and more ingramed
through the natural selection due to a fisherman's life in those
far northern waters. The shepherd's hfe too has had a similar
effect. When a boy is lost in the mist and is in danger of falling
over a precipice or stumbling into a bottomless bog, he needs not
merely a sturdy body but a clear, cool head, and the faculty of
observing carefully and then cahnly deducing accurate conclu-
sions. If he has those qualities, he may survive and pass them
on to his sons and daughters. If he has not, he perishes and his
weaknesses perish with him.

The climate of Iceland probably plays a direct part in deter-
mining Icelandic character, as well as an indirect part through
inheritance. On the whole the climate appears to be healthful.
This is presumably one of the reasons why the death-rate in Ice-
land has for many years been nearly as low as that of the most

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON CHARACTER 289

advanced countries of western Europe, in spite of uncleanness
and poor sanitation. The climate itself may also be largely re-
sponsible for the lack of cleanliness. So far as I am aware, this
lack prevails among every people who live in a cool, moist climate
where the water is always cold and where animals are the chief
means of support. This is true of the present Norse as well as
the Lapps, of the mountain Swiss as well as the Tibetans, and of
Eskimos, Kirghiz, Tunguses, and a host of others. The cleanest
people in the world are the inhabitants of warm, moist countries,
where the state of culture requires clothing, and where there is
plenty of water. The Malays of Asia and the Mayas of Yucatan
are extraordinarily clean because in their climate frequent bath-
ing is a pleasure and also a necessity if the people would be free
from insects and other afElictions. Their case is not at all like
that of the Icelanders at the time when Christianity was intro-
duced. That conversion, it might be noted incidentally, was a
good example of the sane way in which Iceland has always done
things. After a group of missionaries had preached for some
time the Icelanders met in their Althing, or general assembly, to
consider whether the new religion should be adopted. The mat-
ter was finally left to the Speaker of the Law, as the head of the
Althing was called. He deliberated by himself for two days.
Then he decided that Christianity was the religion of the future.
Therefore Christianity was adopted, but there was no compul-
sion. Those who wished to worship the old gods could still do so.
The amusing part of the story is that one great objection to
the new religion was that it required baptism. The people of
northern Iceland objected especially, because they did not want
to be plunged into cold water. They were not used to bathing.
Finally it was agreed that they should be baptized in the hot
springs at Reykir, and everything was harmonious. To-day the
descendants of these early Christians rarely learn to swim be-
cause the Icelandic waters are too cold, especially in the north.
This doubtless tends to increase the death-rate among the fisher-
men.

The climate of Iceland is not only healthful but stimulating.

290

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Among European races physical activity appears to be greatest
when the temperature averages not far from 65° F., whereas
mental activity seems to be greatest at a lower temperature,
averaging perhaps 40°. The ideal is a climate like that of Eng-
land, which ranges from the physical optimum in summer to the
mental optimum in winter. While Iceland cannot rival such a
climate, its temperature fluctuates about the average which
seems to be best for mental activity. Another highly important
element in stimulating mental activity seems to be variabiHty.
Here again Iceland is much favored. It hes close to the path
where storms are most numerous. One of the things which are
especially noticeable in Iceland is the clear skies following rain or
snow. Since most of the people Hve near the coast, they rarely
experience extremely low temperatures, such as prevail in con-
tinental North America; yet they pass through a great number
of stimulating changes. In this respect Iceland is far better off
than Sicily or than the cool home of the Incas in Peru, where the
temperature resembles that of Iceland, but the changes from day
to day are negligible.

One of the most interesting facts about Iceland is that the
climate seems to have fluctuated back and forth near a certain
level above which the conditions are quite favorable, while below
they are repressive. When the cHmate has become repressive, an
actual change in Icelandic character seems almost to have oc-
curred. The racial inheritance has presumably remained un-
changed, but the stress of the environment has inhibited it from
expressing itself in progress. Let us briefly review the history of
Iceland with this in mind. When the Norse Jarls with their
attendant Karls migrated from Norway the climate, as we have
seen, was probably unusually cool and rainy (Figure 15, page 232).
After 930 A. D., however, the climate in Californ-'a appears for a
generation or two to have returned part way toward the condi-
tions of the seventh century, which were apparently favorable
for Iceland and Norway. In Iceland it is probable that the miti-
gation of climate was greater than appears in Figure 15, for grain
seems to have been cultivated, and that is now almost im-

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON CHARACTER 291

possible. It was during this favorable epoch, although by no
means because of it, that the Icelandic constitution took form.
After an early period of discord and broils the leading islanders,
being an unusually sensible set of men, agreed that some central
government was necessary. They sent one of their number,
Ulflgot, to Norway to report on the system there in vogue. The
result of his report was the establishment of the Althing. This
national assembly is highly peculiar. Its members were chiefly
the heads of the various local districts. Its chief was caUed
Speaker of the Law. The Althing met once a year in the latter
half of June on a green, grassy plateau almost surrounded by the
rocky cliffs bordering a small lake. There they decided what the
existing law was, and occasionally framed new laws. One of the
Speaker's main duties was to recite the whole body of law, section
by section, completing it in three years; if any one asked the law
it was also his duty to give the needed information. Neither the
Althing nor the Speaker had any authority to enforce the law.
They decided the cases that were presented, but enforcement
was left in the hands of the people. It is marvelous that the
law was so well respected. Many times, indeed, the legal deci-
sions were enforced by violence, or even ignored. Usually, how-
ever, a defendant who was declared to be in the wrong yielded
simply through the force of public opinion. Until Iceland passed
under the rule of Norway in 12 62-1 2 64 this same system con-
tinued with only slight modifications. The island was ruled by
law, not by a government. In a weakened form the Althing con-
tinued to sit until 1800, and was revived in a modified form in
1843. So great was the respect of the Icelanders for the law that
even the ghosts of dead men were believed to respect it. One of
the old sagas, as quoted by Bryce, contains a most instructive
story.

A chief named Thorodd, living at Fro d in Breidifjord, on the west side
of Iceland, had just before Yule-tide been wrecked and drowned with his
boat-companions in the fjord. The boat was washed ashore, but the bodies
were not recovered. Thereupon his wife Thurio and his eldest son Kjartan
bade the neighbors to the funeral feast; but on the first night of the feast,

292

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

as soon as the fire was lighted in the hall, Thorodd and his companions
entered, dripping wet, and took their seats round it. The guests welcomed
them: it was held that those would fare well with Ran (the goddess of the
deep sea) who attended their own funeral banquet. The ghosts, however,
refused to acknowledge any greetings, and remained seated in silence till
the fire had burnt out, when they rose and left. Next night they returned
at the same time and behaved in the same way, and did so, not only every
night while the feast lasted, but even afterwards. The servants at last
refused to enter the fire-hall, and no cooking could be done, for when a fire
was lit in another room, Thorodd and his companions went there instead.
At last Kjartan had a second fire lit in the hall, leaving the big one to the
ghosts, so the cooking could now be done. But men died in the house, and
Thurio herself fell ill, so Kjartan sought counsel of his uncle Snorri, an
eminent lawyer and the leading Godi of Western Iceland. By Snorri's
advice Kjarten and seven others with him went to the hall door and for-
mally summoned Thorodd and his companions for trespassing within the
house and causing men's deaths. Then they named a Door-Court (Dy-
radomr) and set forth the suits, following all the regular procedure as at a
Thing-Court. Verdicts were delivered, the cases summed up, and judg-
ment given; and when the judgment word was given on each ghost, each
rose and quitted the hall, and was never seen thereafter.

Ghosts have given much trouble in many countries, but it is only the
Icelanders who have dealt with them by an action of ejectment.

Another extraordinary example of respect for law occurred in
1006 A. D. That year there occurred an indecisive duel between
the poet and viking Gunnlaug Ormstunga (Snake's Tongue, as
he was called from his satirical powers) and another poet, Hrafn.
Gunnlaug had been betrothed to Helga the Fair, one of the most
famous Icelandic heroines, but had been detained by King Ethel-
red II and had returned to Iceland to find her married to Hrafn.
So the two men fought for Helga. As the duel was indecisive
Gunnlaug wished to renew the fiight and Hrafn was willing. But
next day the Althing passed a law prohibiting formal duels. The
duellers obeyed the law, but went to Norway to avoid it. There,
years later, they fought again, and killed each other.

After the establishment of the law Iceland was fairly prosper-
ous for a few years, but by 1000 A. D. a period of decay had set
in. Then, according to Burton:

A mighty change came over the island mind when Olafr Tryggvason
(Olaf I, Trustyson) induced the Althing to accept Christianity as the

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON CHARACTER 295

national religion. The old pagan creed had become age-decrepit. . . . The
great Sire of gods and men" was dying or dead, a gloomy fate which equally
awaits superhuman and human nature. The dechne and fall of Odinism
only repeated the religious histories of Palestine, Egypt, and India; of
Greece and of Rome, whose maximum of effeteness has ever been at the
period of the Christian invasion.

How great a degeneration there really was at this time it is
difficult to determine. It is interesting to note that what Burton
calls "the maximum of effeteness came at a time when Figure 15
suggests that the climate may have been quite unfavorable. This
does not mean that it was worse than that of to-day, for as to
that we are not certain. In fact the tale of Burnt Njal seems to
speak of grain-fields about 1000 A. D., although now there is
practically no such thing in the whole island. But perhaps these
were merely hay-fields. At any rate it seems probable that about
1000 A. D. the climate was colder and stormier than in the pre-
ceding and succeeding centuries. Whether this caused degenera-
tion we cannot say, but it may well be that then, as at a later
time, discontent and poverty were so great that the people were
ready for a change.

After the introduction of Christianity there followed a won-
derful period of two or three hundred years diuring which Iceland
rose to its highest level. This was the age of the great sagas,
when Iceland almost rivaled Greece in its literary ability and in
the versatility and vigor of its writing. During this halcyon
period the first school was established in the middle of the elev-
enth century; a little later hospitals were endowed and about a
half dozen monasteries and nunneries were established. The
people, according to Burton, became "less crafty and cruel." It
can scarcely be doubted that Christianity was an important cause
of this great outburst of intellectual activity, economic prosper-
ity, and moral improvement. There may also be much truth in
the idea that this was the normal flowering of Iceland's racial
genius. Perchance also, as some would say, we are dealing here
with a mere historic accident.

In addition to all this it may be pointed out that the golden

294 . . THE CHARACTER OF RACES

age of Iceland not only followed the introduction of Christianity
but was also a time when the climate was becoming more and
more favorable, as is suggested in Figure 15. According to Pet-
tersson and others the temperature in the twelfth century was
such that large trees grew in several parts of the island and were
used for building houses. Such areas are specifically named in
the Landnamabok, which gives a minute account of Iceland com-
parable to the account of England in the Domesday Book. Fruit-
trees were raised, and grain was cultivated. Communication be-
tween Iceland and Europe was relatively easy, for there was lit-
tle ice even on the north coast. Presumably because of the higher
temperature, prosperity was the rule. The change in character
noted by Burton may mean merely that being more prosperous
the Icelanders were in better temper, less prone to fight with one
another, more ready to be friends with the rest of the world, and
hence ^^less crafty and cruel."

Toward the end of this prosperous period Iceland was annexed
to Norway in 12 62-1 2 64. This was partly due to the fact that
many Icelanders were at the Norwegian court, a condition which
may have been accentuated because the favorable cHmate not
only made it easy to travel across the ocean, but helped to pro-
vide products for export. After the annexation a flood of troubles
overwhelmed the island. First there was a series of terrible
eruptions and earthquakes. Then epidemics began, one of the
worst being in 1306, while the worst of all was the Black Death
in 1348 and again in 1402. During the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries the Icelanders were reduced to a "low dead level of
poor peasant proprietors careless of all save how to Hve by as
little labour as possible, and pay as few taxes as they could to
their foreign rulers." (Powell.) This depression is commonly
ascribed to the union with Norway, but an interesting sidehght
is thrown on this conclusion by the fact that during this same
period "all spirit seemed to have died with the commonwealth;
even shepherding and such agriculture as there had been sank
to a lower stage; wagons, ploughs, and carts went out of use and
knowledge; architecture in timber became a lost art, and the

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON CHARACTER 295

fine carved and painted halls of the heathen days were replaced
by turf -walled barns half sunk in the earth; the large decked lug-
gers of the old days gave way to small undecked fishing-boats.
. . . The early falling off of the Norse trade threatened to de-
prive the island of the means of existence; for the great epidemics
and eruptions of the fourteenth century had gravely attacked its
pastoral wealth and ruined much of its pasture and fishery."
(Powell.)

All this is merely the normal picture of what must inevitably
happen in Iceland if the climate becomes cold and stormy. In
Figure 15 it appears that in the fourteenth century such a cli-
matic change actually occurred in California; abundant local
evidence indicates a similar occurrence in Iceland. The ancient
records tell us that ice began to crowd against the north shore so
that communication was very difficult. After the Black Death
there followed a winter so long and cold that it destroyed nearly
all the cattle and nearly ruined the country. In Norway the
summer rains were so frequent and the summers were so cold
that the crops failed year after year. In England similar condi-
tions produced the greatest of all English famines from 1308 to
1321, with others in 135 1 and 1369. In Iceland the same thing
seems to have happened. We have already seen how a slight
change in the direction of the wind and in the icepack may
greatly alter the temperature. Even as late as 1866 and 1882
Iceland suffered severely because cold summers and the conse-
quent impossibility of curing hay led to the destruction of vast
numbers of sheep and cattle.

From 1300 onward, the trade of Iceland markedly declined
and changed. The first noteworthy change was a decline in com-
merce with Norway; then there was a transfer of trade from
Norway to England, and an increase in the importance of fish
compared with wool as an Icelandic export. Finally by 1440
there was almost no commerce with Norway, and very little with
England. In those days there was no salt, no cloth, no bread in
Iceland, nor any liquor except milk and water. The change from
architecture in wood to the building of turf houses, the giving up

296

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

of the use of the plough and the cart, the change from large-
decked luggers to small undecked fishing-boats, the decline in
trade with impoverished Norway, the substitution of fish for
wool, and the final abject poverty and absence of foreign trade
in Iceland— all these are what would be expected during a pro-
longed period of cold summers. Doubtless Norse oppression
helped at first to impoverish Iceland, but that was scarcely the
reason why Iceland fell to the lowest ebb in its history. The
very isolation of the island, and the ice and storms which then
prevailed, must have tended to prevent intercourse between Ice-
land and Norway. Moreover, Norway herself in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries was in dire straits from repeated failures
of the crops, and political confusion was her lot partly on that
account. She had to leave Iceland to its own misery. All things
considered, it appears that the climatic stress of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries was one of the chief factors in the con-
trast between the twelfth century with its great intellectual
activity and the fourteenth with its collapse of civihzation. The
inherent character of the Icelanders probably did not change,
but a repressive environment held them down.

When this time of climatic stress came to an end there was a
new awakening in Iceland. By 1475 A. D. trade had begun to
revive; in 15 18 some three hundred and sixty British merchants
were in Hafna Fjord alone; and trade continued brisk during
the first half of the sixteenth century, although it declined in the
second half. It would be unwarranted to say that the more
favorable climatic conditions which are indicated in Figure 15
at the end of the fifteenth century were the cause of the renewal
of relations with Europe and of the coming of the Icelandic
Reformation. Nevertheless it is a fact that when the cHmate
appears once more to have become relatively favorable, though
perhaps not so good as in the earlier days, Iceland once more
revived and took up the march of progress. Printing was intro-
duced, the Bible was translated, and printed books began to be
common.

Then came another change.

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON CHARACTER 297

The progress of the seventeenth century is principally marked by ad-
verse events, physical evils, and the rapacious violence of men who united
to waste this miserable island; while the wretched inhabitants, long un-
accustomed to the use of arms, could offer no resistance even to a small
band of pirates. The oppression they suffered from these marauders was
extreme, no part of the coast being for a moment secure from their attacks.
It is a melancholy fact, that the majority of them were French or English,
as if the two most powerful and civihzed of the European nations had com-
bined to oppress the poorest and most helpless, and to visit on their de-
scendants the evils which had been endured from the ancient Northmen.
In 1627 some Algerine corsairs, too, who found their way to that remote
region of the ocean, spread universal dismay round the whole coast.

The last part of the seventeenth and the whole of the eigh-
teenth century are described as a period not only of physical
disasters but of increasing superstition. From 1660 to 1690 Ice-
land like other parts of the world became excited over witches,
and sixteen persons were burnt alive. In 1707 smallpox killed
18,000 people, a third of the population. This may almost be
called a direct result of isolation, for when a people is long iso-
lated it loses the power to resist epidemics. In the middle of the
eighteenth century the seasons, as we have seen, were so inclem-
ent that in 1759 a famine swept away 10,000 people, while vast
numbers of sheep perished in 1762. A volcanic outbreak in 1765
and the terrible eruption of Skaptaa in 1783 spread destruction
far and wide. After the eruption,

The noxious vapors that for many months infected the air were equally
pernicious to man and beast, and covered the whole island with a dense
fog which obscured the sun, and was perceptible even in England and Hol-
land. The steam rising from the crater, or exhaled from the boiHng waters,
was condensed in the cooler regions of the atmosphere, and descended in
floods that deluged the fields and consolidated the ashes into a thick black
crust. A fall of snow in the middle of June, and frequent showers of hail-
stones of unusual magnitude, accompanied with tremendous thunder-
storms tearing up huge fragments of rock and rolling them down into the
plains, completed the scene of desolation. The grass and other plants
withered, and became so brittle that the weight of a man's foot reduced
them to powder; and even where the pastures seemed to have recovered,
the cattle refused to touch them, dying of actual starvation in the midst of
the most luxuriant herbage. Small unknown insects covered many of the
fields, whilst other portions of the soil formerly the most fertile were changed

298

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

by the ashes into marshy wastes overgrown with moss and equiseta. A
disease resembling scurvy in its most maHgnant type attacked both men
and cattle, occasioned in the former no doubt by the want of food, and the
miserable, often disgusting, nature of that which alone they could obtain.
Many lived on the bodies of those animals which had perished from hunger
or disease, whilst others had recourse to boiled skins, or substances still
more nauseous and unwholesome. The numerous earthquakes, with the
ashes and other matter thrown into the sea, caused the fish to desert many
parts of the coast, whilst the fishermen seldom daring to leave the land,
enveloped in thick clouds during most of the summer, were thus deprived
of their usual stock of winter provisions. We cannot better conclude this
frightful catalogue of evils than by the foUomng summary of the numbers
of men and cattle more or less immediately destroyed by it in two years.
The most moderate calculation makes these amount to 1,300 human beings,
19,488 horses, 6,801 horned cattle, and 129,937 sheep. . . . The smallpox
also added once more its fatal influence, and in a few years 11,000 indi-
viduals fell victims to these combined attacks. The destruction of the
fisheries on the southern coasts was an evil of a more lasting character, and
one from which the country was long in recovering." (Nicoll.)

The last great recovery of Iceland has come since 1850. This
apparently has been helped a little by an amelioration of climate,
but it is largely the result of modern means of communication.
Steam has partly broken down the isolation of the island. Thus
contact with other countries has given a new impetus to Htera-
ture as well as commerce.

The history of Iceland may be summed up as the resultant of
three main factors — race, climate, and isolation. A thousand
years ago Iceland began its historical career with a picked group
of immigrants. Only in a few places like New England and New
Zealand has the population of a country been so rigidly selected.
Nowhere else, so far as we are aware, has such a body of people
been so nearly isolated for a thousand years, as in a great experi-
ment, and thus allowed to show what happens to a picked racial
stock when left almost unmixed and undepleted. Does tliis ex-
periment suggest that races develop to a certain point and then
inevitably decay? Does it indicate that racial mixture is neces-
sary in order to maintain the vitality and power of a race ? Does
it show that a race must in the long run conform to the type of
physical environment in which its lot is cast? Does Icelandic

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON CHARACTER 299

history support the view that the introduction of new poHtical
and social institutions is the main basis of human progress as
many historians seem to beheve ?

The answer to all these questions seems to be negative. The
one clear lesson of Iceland appears to be that no one theory
accounts for the history and character of a people. From first
to last three great facts stand out in Icelandic history. The first
is the persistence of racial character. The earHest Icelanders
were above the average of their race or almost any other race in
intellectual abiHty: the modern Icelanders still stand above the
average of their race. But there has been a change, for the
second great fact is that the Icelander to-day is different from
his ancestors. The difference is hard to define, but it seems to
lie in greater caution, greater deliberation, greater seriousness,
less activity, less initiative, perhaps greater power of self-pres-
ervation, and probably a stronger tendency toward purely in-
tellectual as opposed to physical activity. The change may be
partly the result of a complete minghng of Jarls and Karls so
that the Icelanders are extraordinarily uniform in inheritance
and hence in character. In larger measure, however, it is prob-
ably the result of natural selection whereby the more daring,
adventurous, and rash young men have been killed off in every
generation. The more nervous, vivacious types seem likewise to
have been weeded out, perhaps because they are less able to
endure anxiety and uncertainty.

The third great fact is that in Icelandic history we seem to
see a constant repetition of expansion and repression in response
to a changing environment. When the Icelandic climate has
been mild, life has been comparatively easy, and men's minds
have been free from the constant repression and discouragement
which are inevitable among a thoughtful people who are con-
tinually on the verge of starvation and economic ruin. A people
with lower mentality can endure such conditions with much less
mental strain than can so alert a people as the Icelanders. Dur-
ing mild epochs the people have also been better nourished than
during the cold periods, for in the worst periods they are almost

300

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

restricted to fish and Iceland moss, whereas in the good periods
the islands themselves furnish plenty of milk and meat and even
a little grain and fruit, while an abundance of flour, salt, and
other necessities can be and have been imported. Thus during
the periods of good climate the diet of the people has presumably
caused their health and energy to be better than in the periods
of repressive climate, while at the same time the direct effect of
the climate in stimulating health and mental activity appears
to have been not inconsiderable. In addition to all this, inter-
course with the outside world has been relatively easy during
the periods of good climate and of expansion, and difficult dur-
ing the periods of poor climate. This is not merely nor even
primarily a question of storms and ice and fog. The main factor
in restricting communication with the rest of the world has ap-
parently been poverty. When people are too poor to keep their
boats in repair, and when they have nothing to sell to the' rest
of the world and no means of paying for what they would like
to buy, commerce must decay, no matter how smooth the seas
may be. Thus the environment co-operates with natural selec-
tion, and the effects of both are profoundly modified by inter-
course with other peoples and the introduction of new ideas.
Racial character, or that which we commonly suppose to be
racial character, arises from extremely complex causes.

CHAPTER XXI

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS

Much of the story of Iceland is repeated in that of the early
white settlers in America. To tell the American story in such
detail as that of the northern island is not feasible in this book.
We can merely show the relation of two noteworthy examples to
our general theme. We shall discuss the early New Englanders
and their descendants farther west in the prairies and California.
We might with almost equal profit consider the French and Eng-
lish in Canada, the plantation owners and negroes of the south-
ern United States, or even the Spaniards and Portuguese of
Latin America. In each case we should find the same great prin-
ciples at work, but with an almost infinite variety of absorbing
details.

For reasons which are but dimly understood, the sixteenth
century saw in England a great awakening. It expressed itself in
intellectual leaders like Shakespeare and Bacon, in a ruler like
Elizabeth, in explorers like Drake, and in men like Raleigh, who
was soldier, explorer, historian, poet, and gentleman. Among
men of a certain type the awakening took the form of questions
as to moral duties, the Bible, and man's relation to God and to
spiritual authority. In some it led to strong convictions as to
duty toward their fellows, and as to the worship of God accord-
ing to the dictates of their own consciences, or according to their
interpretation of the Bible.

In the first forty years of the next century this same spirit
produced a period of constitutional conflict at home in England,
and

was marked by an outburst of romantic activity that sent hundreds of
Englishmen out into the western seas in search of adventure and profit.
Coincident with the later days of these half-piratical expeditions and or-

301

302

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

ganized commercial enterprises were the migrations of those who, moved
by impulses that were partly religious, partly political, and partly economic,
sought independence of worship and permanent homes in the New World.
Though differing widely in purposes and results, these journeyings into the
unknown West were often closely related in origin, and were supported by
groups of men, aristocrats, commoners, merchants, and adventurers, who
were ready to promote any undertaking, whether commercial or religious,
that promised a profitable return. It is difi&cult to grasp the full signifi-
cance of the settlements of Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Say-
brook, without a knowledge of the circumstances under which the colonies
of Bermiuda, Barbadoes, and Old Providence were estabhshed; for all rep-
resented in different forms and propositions the influences at work in the
motherland which were arousing in men of all classes the spirit of adven-
ture and revolt. No single motive governed the men who voyaged over
seas during this romantic period. The zeal of the viking and the lust of
the capitalist were inextricably interwoven with the hopes of the godly in
the task of opening and occupying the great frontier which stretched west-
ward from the maritime states of Europe. (Andrews.)

For our present purposes the most important of these British
adventurers were the Puritans, especially the more daring among
them who fared forth across the sea.

The English Puritans formed a veritable clan, intimately bound together
by ties of blood, marriage, and neighbourhood, and they acted together in
all that concerned colonisation on one hand and autocratic rule on the
other. (Andrews.)

They attempted to found colonies not only in New England,
but in and around the Caribbean Sea.

The founders of both wished to provide a refuge for the oppressed vic-
tims of Laud's ecclesiastical regime, each was to be a sanctuary where the
Puritans might worship God after their own fashion, each was to be a
society ordered according to the dictates of religion and governed with jus-
tice and equity, but upon the strictest Puritan pattern. (Newton.)

Before we follow these people across the seas, turn back a
moment to their origin. The majority of them came from East
Anglia, that is, from the part of eastern England north of Lon-
don and the Thames and south of The Wash. Now this region,
as Havelock Ellis discovered in his Study of British Genius^ is
one of three great foci of intellectual ability in England. In pro-

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 303

portion to its population the East Anglian focus appears to have
made the greatest contribution to British genius. Ethnologically
it is

the most recent of the three. East Anglia is a region very open to invasion:
Brythons, Romans, Angles, and Normans all seem to have come here in
large numbers [this was the place where the Danish Viking landed in great-
est numbers] and it differs from every other English district (except to
some extent Kent, a country closely allied to it) in continuing to welcome
foreigners — Dutch, Flemish, Walloon, French — all through mediaeval times
down to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes at the end of the seventeenth
century. . . . East Anglia is productive of great statesmen and great
ecclesiastics; it is also a land of great scholars. At the same time nearly
half the British musical composers and more than a third of the painters
have come from this region. It has no aptitude for abstract thinking, for
metaphysics, but in concrete thinking, in the art of treating science philo-
sophically, it is easily supreme. Its special characters seem to be its hu-
manity, its patience, its grasp of detail, its deliberate fiexibihty combined
with a profound love of hberty and independence. The characteristic Eng-
lish love of compromise is rooted in East Anglia. . . .

It may be noted that the founders of New England, both on the politi-
cal and the religious side, were largely produced by East Anglia. The
Washingtons came from the related county of Northamptonshire; the Em-
ersons were from Suffolk; Winthrop, who, it has been said, more than any
other man moulded Massachusetts, which moulded New England, belonged
to Central Suffolk. (EUis.)

Judging by these quotations, the Puritans were a selected
migrant group derived from a long line of earlier migrations and
selections. Only a certain type of strong-minded, thoughtful,
self-controlled, and self-sacrificing people accepted the new doc-
trines and had the courage and determination to live up to them.
Out of the whole English people they comprised a small percent-
age who were selected because they possessed certain highly val-
uable qualities. In the case of the Pilgrims who eventually came
to Plymouth the first selection was followed by a second. Perse-
cution and contempt weeded out the Puritans who were less
steadfast, and then led some to migrate. One group went to
Holland. A migration to a new country, as we have seen again
and again, is never a light matter. This is especially true when
the migrants leave home because they are persecuted, when they

S04

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

go to a new country without special invitation, and most of all
when the journey is long and dangerous. From among the peo-
ple who had the courage and temperament to become Puritans
only a small and highly selected nimiber went to Holland. Those
who went were in general the ones with unusual courage and
determination, strong convictions, and great initiative.

Again there occurred a third selection, and the Pilgrims were
the result. When the Pilgrims left Holland, the ones who braved
the dangers of the long, hard voyage were in general those most
strongly imbued with the Puritan temperament and the spirit
of adventure, and likewise highly endowed with physical vigor,
initiative, and courage. The man who was conscious of physical
weakness dared not go. The woman who was timid kept back
her husband. The family with an ailing child was also deterred.
Thus there occurred a rigorous selection on the basis not only
of mental and moral character, but of health. As a rule it was
the motor-minded, determined, conscientious, religious, adven-
turous, and physically strong who embarked in the Mayflower.
Even yet the selection was not ended. Before the voyage was
finished death had set its hand upon the little band. During the
first winter 44 of the 102 who composed the original Mayflower
passengers died of diseases which found an easy prey because of
exposure, hunger, and weariness. At the end of a year, when
new recruits arrived, half had succumbed. Here again it was
the weak who perished, especially those who were weak in spirit
as well as body and therefore gave up in discouragement.

The experiences of the Pilgrims are more or less typical of
those of all the early Puritans who came to America. Through-
out the whole period of migration, from the time the emigrants
first left England until they had become comfortably estabhshed
after some years in America, the women and children suffered
most. For them a migration is always harder than for the men,
partly because they are by nature more conservative, partly for
purely physical reasons, and partly because the responsibility for
the children and the pain of their birth and death fall on them
far more than on the fathers. Hence we may be confident that

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 305

in many a case the men of a family were ready to go, but the
women deterred them. After the new land was reached it was
still the women among whom the selection was greatest. During
the first sad year at Plymouth thirteen of the eighteen married
women were laid in unmarked graves, and most of them were
young. In cases where famiHes returned from America to Eng-
land we may be certain that far more went at the instigation of
the women than of the men, for that is human nature. To live
in early America as well as to go there required a higher, stronger
type of body, mind, and spirit among the women than among
the men.

Those early Pilgrims and the Puritans who followed them for
a century more or less may have been too stern and too oblivious
of the value of joy and beauty, but they had marvelous quali-
ties. Because they were practically all selected for certain re-
ligious and moral qualities plus physical strength, hardihood,
independence, and the spirit of adventure and because like mated
with like, their various characteristics, their racial characteristics
we may almost say, were handed down for generations. They
brought to America certain new ideas and those ideas helped to
mold the society of early New England, but I beheve that the
selection of the migrants rather than the ideas was the main
reason for the great progress of the American colonies.

Although the Pilgrims and the Puritans of New England were
the most outstanding example of the process of selection in early
America, something similar occurred on a different scale in all
the colonies. The Huguenots of the South, the Quakers of Penn-
sylvania, and various other groups represent the same type of
selection as the Puritans. In some of the Southern States, espe-
cially Virginia and South Carolina, there were many immigrants
derived from the best famiHes of England, younger sons who
came to the New World because they were animated by a spirit
of adventure and enterprise. Their case was very different from
that of modern immigrants. It is one thing to go to a new coun-
try under the guidance of a paid agent in a great comfortable
steamship and find a job ready at the other end, and quite an-

306

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

other to go to a new country in a small sailing vessel and es,tablish
one's self in the face of naked savages. Thus to a greater or less
degree the colonists along the whole Atlantic seaboard from
Maine to Georgia were a selected people.

When a race is selected in this way certain results may be
expected. The history of the American colonies illustrates them.
As soon as the period of fierce struggle for existence was over,
the high inheritance of the colonials began to assert itself in new
institutions. It was not the institutions which made the people,
as is so often imphed and even asserted. It was the people who
made the institutions. One of the things done by those selected
Americans was to develop a remarkable system of universal edu-
cation at public expense, a system which all the world is to-day
copying. They also devised or at least remodelled the town
meeting, and made it an astonishingly effective and educative
institution of government.

When the time was ripe the Puritan race in conjunction with
the Quaker race, the race of younger sons from farther South,
and other sons of the same kind fought the Revolutionary War
on the basis of an old English doctrine to which the Americans
gave a deeper meaning: "No taxation without representation."
In later days that doctrine has spread in every direction and is
still spreading. The next step was to form a new kind of govern-
ment. Among students of poHtical history it is almost universally
agreed that the American constitution is one of the masterpieces
of human invention. It stands to-day unshaken and is being
copied all over the world because its authors, descended from
Southern aristocrats as well as Northern Puritans, were men of
uncommon insight who were likewise versatile and adaptable,
and therefore gifted with that strong quahty which makes a man
see the other side and concede something for the sake of a great
result. This same versatility, together with a high degree of that
curiosity which we have seen to be so strong a factor in producing
pioneers, presumably had much to do with the great outburst of
inventive genius which has sent American machinery, telephones,
telegraphs, and automobiles all over the world.

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 307

Many other ideas and institutions were evolved in early
America and to-day are still potent. For example, one of the
greatest differences between Old England and New England in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was the position of
women. The women of America had far greater freedom than
their sisters in Europe. They occupied a more important place
in society, they had a higher degree of education, they were ac-
corded a greater freedom in choosing their husbands, and they
became the teachers of both boys and girls not only at home but
at school. To-day women are probably more free to follow what-
ever career they may choose in America than almost anywhere
else. We are told again and again by foreigners that we spoil
our women, partly by submitting to them and partly by pamper-
ing them. But Europe and the rest of the world are more or less
emulating our example. All this, I believe, is in part the result
of the great selection whereby the women who were the mothers
of the first American generations were peculiarly strong both in
body and mind. They were more highly selected than the men;
thus they rose rapidly toward a position of equaHty with their
husbands. A similar tendency to elevate the position of women
seems to occur in almost every difficult migration. We have seen
it among the Hakkas, the Norse, and the women who teach their
children in the Icelandic homes; and now we see it even more
clearly in America.

Another great social change which occurred in early America
was the abolition of class distinctions. Here again it seems to
me that the cart has often been put before the horse. Class dis-
tinctions were not abolished in America because some one intro-
duced a new idea. On the contrary they came over to America
in full force. The idea of abolishing them arose out of the actual
conditions of life. Only in rare cases has so large a group of peo-
ple displayed such great equality of ability. Of course there were
weaklings and servants, and even in the North there were a few
slaves before the Revolution. Nevertheless, in those days, in a
general way, all men in New England were "free and equal."
The framers of the constitution did not give expression merely

308

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

to an empty aspiration when they penned those words. They
put into writing a fact of observation which was approximately
true. It was true because the people whom they represented were
descended from a highly selected ancestry and were themselves
of such high average quality that the vast majority were really
fit to take some part in solving political and social problems of
great complexity. To-day the same idea of universal equaHty is
abroad in the world. It was expressed in that one of President
Wilson's fourteen points which states that all peoples have the
right to self-determination. The President beheved what he said,
perhaps because of his engrossing study of early American his-
tory. But what was true in early America may not be true to-
day in the world as a whole, for other countries have not been
through the same process of rigid natural selection.

After the American Revolution the United States entered
upon a new phase of development. Because of the high average
abihty of her sons and daughters there ensued a wonderful growth
in transportation, commerce, manufacturing, and science, a rapid
expansion westward, and a truly marvelous utilization of the
great resources of a new country. Here again there is often a
curious misapprehension. Coal, iron, harbors, and broad wiieat
lands did not make America great. They were merely tools
which were effective because they were in the hands of unusually
competent people. How much would they have amounted to in
the hands of the sub-normal Chinese whom we have seen in some
of the famine areas ? But gradually a great change, perhaps a great
decline, begins to appear in America. Old ideals are shattered in
many places and there is a more insistent search for mere plea-
sure and excitement. Is this the result of wealth and luxury ?
Partly, no doubt, but I beheve that it is due still more to a defi-
nite and rapid change in the quality of the people. The idea that
America was the refuge of the oppressed and the land of the free
gradually gave place to the idea that America was the land of
the dollar where the poor foreigner could live in comfort and the
competent American could make a fortune, provided labor were
cheap and abundant.

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 809

Thus there occurred a most significant change in the type of
immigrants. Whereas at first the strongest incentives were the
dictates of conscience and the love of adventure, the dominant
motive later became the desire for personal prosperity. At the
same time the growth of steam communication made it more and
more easy for even the incompetent to reach America. With
steamship agents all over Europe urging people to come to the
land of promise and making it easy to come, the selection of
immigrants became less and less stringent. Many able people
still came, but the average steadily fell. How could it be other-
wise when the factors which had formerly exercised such rigid
selection became more and more inoperative ?

In this connection a little table prepared by Clarke is worth
reproducing. Among the thousand leading American men of let-
ters born in the United States prior to 185 1 the number who were
born in each decade per million of the white population is as
follows:

Before 1771 10

1771-1780 IS

1781-1790 15

1791-1800 23

1801-1810 20

1811-1820 22

1821-1830 13

1831-1840 II

1841-1850 7

This table furnishes a good example of the way in which the
same facts are susceptible of diverse interpretations according to
whether one places more emphasis on nature or nurture, on in-
heritance or environment. Clarke is inclined to see in the table
an evidence of nothing except a change in the social environment.
He believes that the pronounced way in which the births of emi-
nent literary men reached a maximum from 1790 to 1820 is due
to the opportunities which arose after the Revolutionary War.
The decline from 1820 to 1850 is attributed to the fact that after
the middle of the last century, that is, during the time when the
men born between 1820 and 1850 were making their reputations,
the temper of the American people was rapidly changing so that
the demand for many of the higher types of literature greatly

310

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

diminished. Still more important, as it seems to me, is the fact
that during that period almost boundless new opportunities pre-
sented themselves for achievement along commercial, industrial,
and scientific lines. Many men who in an earher era might have
become authors actually became railroad men, bankers, chem-
ists, and the like.

My own work, as illustrated in Civilization and Climate^ for
example, has dealt so largely with the influence of environment
that I am naturally inclined to accept an environmicntal explana-
tion whenever possible. Nevertheless, I cannot help raising the
question whether even in the present case inheritance may not
play a part. In the year 1820 the white population of the United
States numbered 7,867,000; that same year only 8,385 immi-
grants were admitted and very few had come for at least two
generations. During the next thirty years a great change took
place. In 1850 the white population numbered 19,553,000, of
whom 2,245,000 were foreign immigrants. On the basis of the
censuses from 1870 onward, for which alone the data are avail-
able, these foreign-born immigrants together with their Ameri-
can-born children are estimated as forming at least one-quarter
of the white population in 1850. But it is well known that the
immigrant stocks that have come to this country since 1820 have
made relatively little contribution to American literature, even
though they came from the same countries as the earlier colonial
stocks. They apparently were not so highly selected as the
earlier migrants or were selected on another basis. Hence the
inclusion of about 5,000,000 immigrants and their children would
automatically cause us to expect the figures in Clarke's table to
drop from 22 in 1820 to about 17 in 1850.

During this same period another factor may also have dimin-
ished the inherent tendency of the Americans toward literary
achievement. That influence was the decline in the birth-rate
which is now so noticeable among the more competent parts of
the American people. It first became evident in America at
about the time we are discussing and among the very type of
people from whom a large part of our literary men have origi-

THE SELECTION OF MODERN A^VIERICANS 311

nated. The decline in the size of famihes at this time is no fig-
ment of the imagination. Here are the figures as given in a most
illuminating census bulletin entitled A Century of Population
Groivth in the United States , 1 790-1900.

Number of
Children
Under i6
Years of Age
per Thousand

of WTiite
Population in
1790

Decline in the Nujnber of Such Children
per Decade

Number
of Such
Children
in 1900

1790 to
1820

1820 to
1850

1850 to

1880

1880 to
1900

New England

Middle States

Southern States

470
494

502

9.0

3-7
2.0*

28.3
26 . 7
14.7

16.3

15-7
II .0

9.0
II .0
14-5

291
326
402

♦Increase.

The great decHne in the number of children in New England
and the Middle States between 1820 and 1850 is especially re-
markable. Its significance is increased by the fact that the pres-
ence of the immigrants \^ath their large famihes would tend to
keep the proportion of children at a high level. Nevertheless, in
the three decades from 1820 to 1850 that proportion fell 19 per
cent in New England, i6}4 per cent in the ^Middle States, and
12 per cent in the countr}^ as a whole. ^\mong the old colonial
families it can scarcely have fallen less than 25 per cent. But the
decHne in the birth-rate was more rapid among the cultured peo-
ple of the towns than among the farmers, and it was from the
townspeople that the literar}' men were derived for the most
part, as will soon appear more clearly. Hence on the basis of the
birth-rate, that is, from the point of view of inheritance alone,
we should expect that the proportion of eminent hterar}' men
per million of the white inhabitants would have fallen off not
merely to 17, as already indicated on the basis of immigration,
but to a decidedly smaller figure, perhaps as low as 12, by reason
of the changing birth-rate. I confess that I am much surprised
at this result, for when I began to study Clarke's table I supposed
that the en\ironmental causes of the decline in American literary
achievements were stronger than the biological causes. Now,

S12

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

however, I am forced to conclude that while both sets of causes
are operative, the biological cause, that is, the actual decHne in
the proportion of people carrying a high inheritance, is probably
the more important of the two.

Since 1850 the further lowering of the inherited mental and
moral fiber of the United States through unselected immigration
has apparently accelerated the tendencies which have already
come under our attention. Take, for example, the scientific men
of the country. Among the one thousand most eminent scientists,
as indicated by asterisks in the third edition of American Men of
Science, Visher finds that the nationalities forming the bulk of
our recent immigration do not furnish nearly so large a propor-
tion as do those whence the earlier immigrants were derived.
The first column of figures in the accompanying table shows the
actual number of starred scientists born as natives in each coun-
try and living in the United States; the second column shows the
number of men over twenty-one years of age who were born in
each country and lived in the United States in 1900; while the
third column shows the number of such foreign-born men per
starred scientist. Immigration from the countries of Group I
seems really to help American science, for they excel the standard
of native white Americans among whom there is only one starred
scientist for about 21,000 men over twenty-one years of age in
1900. Notice that four of the countries — Belgium, Holland,
Scotland, and England — encircle the North Sea and lie in the
center of the most favored part of Europe. Japan has a special
advantage in this classification because immigration from that
country is limited to the higher callings; Switzerland leads Europe
in its general scientific aptitudes, as we saw in an earHer chapter;
Canada is almost like part of the United States; while the eminent
Russians are practically all Jews. Thus there is some special
and obvious reason for the supremacy of each group.

Group II is composed largely of the countries of central
Europe. Whatever may be the innate quality of the people of
those countries, they certainly have not made a large contribu-
tion to American science, for in proportion to their numbers they

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS SIS

rank only one-fourth as high as Group I. Group III, on the other
hand, contributes only one scientist where Group I contributes
thirty-five. The showing of Poland, Ireland, and Italy with their
large immigration to America in recent decades is truly pitiful,"
as Visher well says.

Country of Birth

Number of
Starred
Scientists

Number of Men
Over 21 Years
of Age in U. S.
in 1900

Number of Such
Men per Starred
Scientist

Japan

Belgium

HoUand

Scotland

Canada

Switzerland

England and Wales . .
Russia (mostly Jews)

Total. Group I . .

Denmark

Bohemia

Austria

Hungary

Sweden

France

Germany

Norway

Total. Group II.

Poland

Ireland

China

Mexico

Italy

Total. Group III

3
I

4
II
47

5
33
II

IIS

28,000'*
10,000'*
46,000
116,000
505,000
63,000
463,000
173,000

1,404,000

9,300
10,000
10,500
10,550
10,700
12,600
13,000
15,600

12,200

3
2

4
2
6
I

23
2

43

82,000

70,000
143,000

73,000
294,000

55,000
1,327,000
173,000

2,217,000

27,300
35,000
35,600
36,500
49,000
5 5, 000
57,600
86,500

51,500

183,000
722,000
78,000
45,000
253,000

1,281,000

183,000
361,000

427,000

• Estimate: One-third of all persons bom in these countries. Data for men over's i years of age not given
separately.

Facts like these might be multiplied indefinitely. They sug-
gest that unselected immigration has already brought the United
States to the point where over-population and the radical lower-
ing of the standard of living seem to be imminent ; it has presuma-
bly accelerated the tendency toward small families among the
most competent; and it has apparently increased the tendency
for young people who have a fine inheritance to marry those
whose inheritance is not so good. Of course this danger has al-

314

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

ways existed, but it has been intensified by the widespread min-
gling of the older and newer types. I recognize that some of the
recent immigrants are of as high a type as the early colonials,
but I am talking about the average, and that is what determines
the general quahty of a people. Education may raise the indi-
vidual enormously, but no amount of education will give the high
inheritance which existed abundantly in the Puritans, the Quak-
ers, the Huguenots, and the aristocratic colonial planters of the
South, and which is relatively scarce in the later immigrants.
What America and every other country needs is an abundance
of fine minds in sturdy bodies and a diminution of the incompe-
tents.

Many studies of eminent Americans leave little room for
doubt that in spite of their relative dechne in numbers the old
American stocks whose ancestors were in the country before the
Revolution still inherit a degree of ability which makes them
dominant. The preponderance of these early stocks among men
of eminence is evident from Figure 17, which is based on the
21,579 persons who are included in Who^s Who in America for
1922-1923, and who were born in the United States. The map
shows the number of eminent persons who were born in each
State per million of the average white population at the time of
their birth. Among 310 consecutive names selected by chance
where the book happened to open, the numbers born in succes-
sive decades were as follows:

1826-1835 I 1866-1875 no

I836-I845 15 I876-I885 51

1846-1855 43 1886-1895 7

1856-1865 83 1896-1905 o

Inasmuch as very few persons in this edition of Who^s WJw were
born before 1845 ^^ter 1885, only the censuses of 1850, i860,
1870, and 1880 have been employed in calculating the average
population. Since about twice as many eminent people were
born in the decades from 1856 to 1865 and 1866 to 1875
in the decades before and after, the census figures for i860 and

FIG. 17. PERSONS IN WHO'S WHO (1922-1923) BORN IN EACH STATE PER
1,000,000 OF MEAN WHITE POPULATION 18.-50-1880, GIVING
DOUBLE WEIGHT TO 18G0 AND 1870.

r

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 315

1870 have received double weight. In order not to put the South
at a disadvantage the colored people have been omitted. It would
have been equally fair to omit the foreign-born, which would
have caused the figures for the Northeastern States to be appre-
ciably higher than is now the case. Thus the map errs on the
side of giving the Southeastern States an advantage and the
Northeastern States a disadvantage.

In spite of this disadvantage the extraordinary way in which
the New England States, especially Massachusetts, with 1,456
eminent persons per million population, and Connecticut with
1,245, surpass all other sections of the country is brought out
most clearly by the dark shading. The other dark areas in
Figure 17 likewise seem to point to the value of inheritance in
producing leaders. The District of Columbia with a ratio of
about 2,600 eminent sons per million of the population surpasses
even Massachusetts. The reason is obviously that the population
of Washington contains an extraordinarily large number of per-
sons chosen for their ability, and naturally a considerable number
of the children follow in their fathers' footsteps. In Virginia and
again in South CaroHna many more eminent men have been born
than would be expected from the conditions in the surrounding
States, and this again seems to find no satisfactory explanation
except in inheritance. Moreover, in the Western States of Utah
(1,036), Montana (1,000), the two Dakotas (938), and Wyoming
(923), we seem to have an area where an unusually large propor-
tion of able men were born between 1840 and 1885. At that time
the population of those States was very small and consisted
largely of pioneers. If the general hypothesis of this book is
right, those pioneers produced an unusually large number of emi-
nent sons because the difficulties of early settlement kept away
the less efficient type of settler.

On the other hand, the extremely low position of New Mexico
seems to be due largely to the fact that in the period under dis-
cussion the greater part of the people whom the census reckons
as white in that State were actually Mexicans, often with a large
Indian admixture.

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

It must be clearly understood that Figure 17 does not show
where the eminent people of the United States now live. It
does not even show where they were born, but merely how
many were born in each part of the country in proportion to the
total population. The actual proportion of eminent residents
who were included in Who^s Who in 1922 appears in Figure 18,
which shows the number of eminent persons in Who^s Who per
million of the white population in 1920. The contrast between
this map and Figure 17 indicates that many men and women of
ability are moving away from their old homes and settling else-
where. If these more prominent people are moving in this way,
other people of more than average ability are presumably mov-
ing in the same way. Note that the District of Columbia, as
might be expected, has a far greater proportion of eminent peo-
ple than any other region, its ratio being about 4,450 per miUion
inhabitants. Nevada appears to come next, but this is probably
because that State has so small a population that the mere inclu-
sion of certain officials and others who fall in fixed categories in
Who^s Who gives it an undue representation. Next to Washing-
ton as a place of real concentration of persons of abihty comes
New York City and its vicinity, thus giving a figure of 521 for
New York State while Connecticut follows closely with 510. The
rest of New England still holds its own fairly well, although
Massachusetts, largely because of its great foreign population, is
faUing behind.

In the West, although eminent people were born in large pro-
portions in the States from Utah to North Dakota, as showTi in
Figure 17, they were too few in number to give those States any
specially large proportion of eminent people to-day, or else most
of them have moved away. Colorado and CaHfornia, on the
other hand, perhaps by reason of their climate, appear to exert a
strong attraction upon persons of abihty, as do the other South-
western States and Illinois to a less degree. Texas, Oklahoma,
Arkansas, and Florida, on the contrary, seem to be places wliich
people of unusual abihty avoid as permanent homes, even though
they may go there for business or pleasure.

127 117 107 97 87 77 07

117 107 97 87

FIG. 18. RESIDENTS INCLUDED IN WHO'S WHO (1922-1923) PER 1,000,000

POPULATION IN 1923.

127 117 lv7 97 ST 77 07

li7 107 87

FIG. 19. INCREASE (OR DECREASE) (1912 TO 1922) IN PROPORTION OF
EMINENT PERSONS BORN PER 100,000 OF POPULATION.

The figures in the map show the differences between the percentage of each State in 1912
and 1922, the percentage being reckoned on the basis of
Massachusetts as 100 in both cases.

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 817

What we are mainly interested in, however, are the people who
pass on to their children the kind of inheritance that leads to
eminence. In order to determine not only where these people
resided in the past but where they are moving to, I have pre-
pared Figure 19. This represents a comparison between two
maps of the same kind but different in date. One of these is
Figure 17, showing the proportion of persons born in the various
States according to Who^s Who for 1922; the other is a similar
map pubHshed in Civilization and Climate and showing the cor-
responding proportions in 191 2. Since the two maps cannot be
j directly compared, the number of eminent persons born per mil-
I lion persons in Massachusetts has been reckoned as 100 in each
! case and corresponding values have been given to the other
States. On this basis New York had a rank of 51 in 19 12 and 56
in 1922; that is, as the birthplace of eminent persons New York
is gaining on Massachusetts, although still far behind. The dif-
ference between the New York percentages in 191 2 and 1922
amounts to 5, which is the figure given for that State in Figure
19. On the other hand, the percentage for Rhode Island has
changed from 79 to 73, so that it appears on the map as — 6.
Figure 19 indicates that during the course of ten years, that is,
when the period from 1830 to 1875 is compared with the period
from 1840 to 1885, the migration of strong stock out of Massa-
chusetts and the immigration of weaker stocks from Europe
caused that State to decline in its relative production of men of
unusual ability when compared with all other States except
Rhode Island, Vermont, and Oregon. The large area which is
lightly shaded in Figure 19 gained only slightly if at all over
Massachusetts, but in the heavily shaded areas of the Northwest
and West aside from Oregon the gain was great. That was the
part of the country into which settlers were then bringing their
famiHes. The Rocky Mountain section from Arizona to Mon-
tana, and also the Dakotas, were in the stages of development
where the successful pioneers first begin to bring their wives and
build up famiHes. That apparently is one reason why the pro-
portion of eminent sons increased so rapidly.

318

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Opportunity, as well as birth, doubtless enters into this mat-
ter. The relative increase in the birth of children who attained
to eminence in Virginia, the Carolinas, Florida, and Mississippi
may be largely the result of the new opportunities which came
after the Civil War. Likewise in the Rocky Mountain States the
growth of opportunities for education, travel, and the like doubt-
less played a part. Other factors also need to be considered to
explain such anomalies as the very low position of Oregon and
the surprisingly high position of Virginia, but we cannot enter
into their discussion in detail.

Let us turn back once more to the question of the Puritans
and their descendants. On the basis of replies from 18,400 per-
sons whose names appear in the 1922-1923 edition of Who^s Who
in America J Visher has made a study of the occupations of the
fathers of the eminent people of America. The first column in
the following table shows the total number of fathers reported
as belonging to each main group of occupations. From this it is
easy to calculate that on the basis of the census of 1870 only one
unskilled laborer in approximately 48,000 was a father of an
eminent son included in the persons for whom data are available
in Who^s Who, Among other professions, the number of sons
for each 48,000 was approximately as appears in the second col-
umn of the table.

Number of
Fathers of
Persons Reporting
in Who's Who,
1922-1923

Number of
Eminent Sons per
Approximately
48,000 Men

49

?

94

I

1,165

30

4,310

70

6,473

600

4,265

1,035

Clergymen

2,036

2.400

These figures are very significant. It needs no demonstration
to show that clergymen, as a body, especially those of fifty }'ears
ago, possess the Puritan spirit to a greater degree than almost
any other part of the community. They are the spiritual, if not

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 319

the physical descendants of the Puritans. As a matter of fact,
however, the clergymen whose sons are most likely to attain
eminence are the physical descendants of the Puritans, as we
infer from the next table, where Visher gives details as to the
various professions.

Total Number

Reporting Their

Fathers as

Eminent Sons per

Belonging to

48,000 Men

Specified

Professions

24

298

480

460

150

495

625

923

210

1,105

76

1,140

Presbyterian clergymen

570

4,325

Episcopal clergymen

270

5,56s

Congregational clergymen

360

6,000

Notice how completely and decisively the Presbyterian, Epis-
copal, and Congregational clergymen excel all others. Among
these three the Congregationalists stand decidedly in the lead.
B,ut Visher's data, so he informs me, suggest that the Unitarians
rank even higher than the Congregationalists. They are not in-
cluded in the table merely because their numbers are small. An
almost identical result was reached by Clarke in his study of an
earlier generation. Among a thousand leading American men of
letters born before 185 1 he finds that

in respect to absolute numbers the Congregational body stood far above
its nearest competitor, the closely related Presbyterian Church. If relative
numbers are considered, however, the Unitarian body apparently had the
greatest proportion of literary persons born within its ranks, and the Con-
gregationalists, Friends, and Universalists followed in order. All four had
a relatively large number of men of letters born to their members. On the
other hand, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, and Roman Catholic families
possessed relatively very few hterati.

Clarke's explanation of these conditions is interesting as in-
dicating the variety of factors which must be considered in any
fair discussion of our problem.

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

The fact that there were born within the ranks of some denominations
relatively more men of letters than in others is of interest, but standing by
itself it cannot be considered particularly significant. Odin found that, in
proportion to the numbers in each rehgious division, many more French
men of letters had been brought up as Protestants than as CathoHcs. He
thought that there had been a number of reasons for this superiority, but
beheved the most important to be that, on the whole, Protestant children
received superior educational opportunities because of the superior wealth
of their parents. Possibly both economic and educational factors may
serve to explain the differences discovered in America. It is a well-known
fact that, during the period studied, the Unitarians and Friends, for in-
stance, were on the whole in comfortable circumstances, while the Roman
CathoHcs were relatively poor. The resulting differences afford at least
partial explanation of their differences in literary productivity. On the
other hand, it must not be forgotten that Protestants enjoyed greater free-
dom of thought than Roman CathoHcs. This factor may be only less im-
portant than poverty and lack of education. Data are not now available,
however, on which to base studies which would indicate the relative im-
portance of these various factors. At present one can simply conclude
that without question religious training has played some part in the pro-
duction of American men of letters.

It seems to me that while Clarke is right in assigning great
weight to environment and training, he attaches too little im-
portance to inheritance. It must not be overlooked that environ-
ment and training depend largely upon inherited ability. Every
one knows that people of unusual strength of character generally
create for themselves and their children a relatively good en-
vironment, both social and economic, no matter what their
origin may be. They are also more likely than others to give
their children proper training, even though the so-called '^ad-
vantages" may be lacking. Again, it seems to me that environ-
ment and training are not sufficient to explain the extraordinary
differences disclosed by Visher's data. Consider once more the
remarkable fact that among the famiHes of the Congregational
ministers who were in active life from 1850 to 1880 one out of
every eight, on an average, produced a son or daughter of suffi-
cient distinction to be included in Who's Who. At that period
the son of a Congregational minister was 6,000 times as likely
to attain eminence as was the son of an unskilled laborer, and

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 821

approximately 86 times as likely as the son of a farmer. In a
country like the United States it seems impossible that such
great differences can arise unless inheritance as well as environ-
ment plays an important part.

The effect of inheritance seems to become still more clear
when persons of a single profession are taken. Selecting the
clergymen from the preceding table and adding an estimated
number on the basis of the partial returns for sons of Univer-
salist and Unitarian clergymen, we find the following number of
eminent sons per loo fathers:

Methodists i.o

Baptists 2.3

Universalists 7.0

Presbyterians 9.0

Episcopalians 11. 7

Congregationalists 12.5

Unitarians 15.0

Here we have a group of people among whom the ideals are very
similar. Aside from the Methodists and Baptists, whose eco-
nomic condition and degree of education are somewhat lower
than those of the others, the mode of life, methods of training,
and general environment of all the rest are extremely similar.
Yet we find highly significant differences in the production of
men of notable abihty.

Taken as a whole the extent to which the clergymen of the
various denominations have been the fathers of eminent sons is
almost directly in proportion to the degree to which the denomi-
nations have suffered persecution and selection. The Methodists
are the latest of the sects here considered. Not until about 1 740
did John Wesley establish what may be called a genuine Metho-
dist church. While the church represented some new ideas, it
suffered no special persecution and only a little ridicule and op-
position. Therefore there was no great selection, such as took
place among the Puritans. In the United States the growth of
the Methodist church was even more gradual than in England,
and never involved any appreciable opposition or contempt on
the part of other sects like that which the Universalists and

322

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Unitarians had to face. The Baptists, as we know them to-day,
originated in England soon after 1600, when they separated from
the Brownists, who ultimately became the Congregationalists.
In America the Baptists were relatively few in number up to the
Revolutionary War. Under the leadership of Roger WiUiams
and Mrs. Anne Hutchinson they were bitterly persecuted by the
Congregationalists. The main growth of the Baptists, however,
did not come until after the Revolutionary War. Hence it in-
volved no persecution, while such selection as took place both
among the Baptists and Methodists was on the whole emotional
rather than intellectual. This seems to be one of the important
reasons why these two sects have produced a smaller proportion
of eminent leaders than have some of the others. Both of these
churches, by reason largely of that same emotional appeal, have
grown far more rapidly than the denominations whose appeal is
more intellectual. The degree of selection among their members
has been correspondingly less rigid.

The Universalis ts are a sect of relatively recent origin derived
in considerable measure from the Congregationalists. They have
been conspicuous for their emphasis upon the guidance of each
man's own inner light somewhat like the Quakers. When they
severed their connection with their former churches a considera-
ble degree of courage and perseverance was required, for they
were frowned upon and ostracized as practically never happens
in these later generations. The selection due to this cause, how-
ever, was probably less important than the selection due to the
insistence of the Universahst church upon individual thought
rather than upon emotion as among the Baptists and Methodists,
or upon external authority as among the Roman Cathohcs.

Turning now to the Presbyterians, we find that in the early
days in Great Britain they suffered some persecution. This did
not result in a violent severing of old ties like that which marked
the birth of the Congregationahsts. On the Continent, however,
the Presbyterians suffered such great hardships that man}^ of
the most determined among them fled to England. Thus the
early Presbyterian churches contained not only a large Scotch

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 823

element, which imparts strength ahnost everywhere, but also a
considerable element of chosen people who had fled from other
lands. From the very beginning the Presbyterian church ap-
pealed to the intellectual rather than the emotional side of man's
nature, and therefore attracted a type of people different from
the Methodists and Baptists.

Coming to the Episcopalians we find a communion which as
a whole has not suffered any very strenuous persecution since
the early period of conflict with Roman CathoHcism which re-
sulted in its establishment as the State church of England. Be-
cause of its official character both in England and in many of the
early American colonies, the Episcopal church has always been
aristocratic. Its clergymen, more than those of almost any other
sect both in England and America, have been selected from
among the upper classes. Among them, and presumably among
their sons, the capacity to maintain a dignified place in society,
using the word in its broader sense, has been quite as important
as intellectual keenness and has presumably had an appreciable
effect upon the type of leaders which the church has produced.

The Congregational church furnishes an example of a selec-
tion more rigid than that of the preceding churches. We have
already seen that practically the whole of the early members of
that church were people whose moral convictions lead them to
separate themselves from the dominant Episcopahans and make
the hard migration to the new world.

The original Unitarians were almost wholly Congregational-
ists. Their leaders were an unusually intellectual and thought-
ful group who separated from the Congregational church because
a century ago they had arrived at certain convictions which now
have become the common property of most scientific men and
of a large number of the more thoughtful people in all the more
intellectual denominations. The emphasis of the Unitarians
upon pure intellect and the repression of appeals to the emotions
or to external authority have caused them to remain a relatively
small body, but have at the same time acted as selective factors
to keep within the denomination a high proportion of unusually

THE CHARACTER OP RACES

intellectual people. Therefore it is not surprising that in pro-
portion to their numbers the Unitarians and especially their cler-
gymen have contributed a greater number of eminent leaders
than has any other group of Americans for whom we have sta-
tistics. Here is a list of a few of the many Unitarian leaders.
Those whose fathers were clergymen are indicated by asterisks :
Charles Francis Adams, father and son, diplomatists and
historians.

Henry Adams, and his brother, Brooks Adams, historians.
The fact that the^six members of the Adams family men-
tioned in this list and in that which follows represent
four generations of the same family is typical of many
cases where inherited talent appears for generation after
generation.
Louisa M. Alcott, author.
James Freeman Clarke, historian.
Richard H. Dana, author of Two Years Before the Mast,
Dorothy Dix, philanthropist and author.
Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard College.
*H. H. Furness, Shakespearean scholar.
*Edward Everett Hale, author and clergyman.
Thomas W. Higginson, author, philanthropist, merchant.
Helen Hunt Jackson, author.
Sarah Orne Jewett, author.
David Starr Jordan, college president.
Henry C. Lodge, senator and author.
Theodore Parker, theologian.
John Randolph, statesman.
Laura E. Richards, author.
William H. Taft, President of the United States.
Impressive as this list may be, it by no means shows the full
quality of the contribution of Unitarians to the Hfe and thought
of America. The University of New York contains what is known
as the Hall of Fame. The sixty-three names thus far recorded
there have been selected with great care by a jury of one hundred
eminent people after prolonged and thoughtful study. They

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS S25

represent the matured judgment of a group of people from whose
deliberations the question of rehgious affiliation was rigidly ex-
cluded. Yet here is the reply that I received when I asked a
prominent Unitarian for a list of the persons of his denomination
included in the Hall of Fame:

It is always somewhat difficult to define a Unitarian. Ours is a Church
of the Spirit rather than of the Letter. Our church membership is less dis-
tinctively marked than in better disciplined organizations. A man is some-
times justly claimed as a Unitarian whose habits of mind and principles of
conduct obviously ally him with that fellowship, but who has no definite
membership in any Unitarian church or congregation.

In reviewing the list of names in the Hall of Fame it may safely be said
that twenty are the names of men and women who had a fairly definite
allegiance to the Unitarian fellowship, and there are in addition the names
of several persons whose sympathies were evidently with that fellowship
though they were probably never actually or actively connected with a
Unitarian church. The names of the Unitarians are:

*01iver Wendell Holmes.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
*James Russell Lowell.
Horace Mann.
John Lothrop Motley.
*Francis Parkman.
Joseph Storey.
Daniel Webster.
Charlotte Cushman.
Maria Mitchell.

In addition the Unitarians may not unreasonably claim Thomas Jeffer-
son (who lived where there was no Unitarian Church in which to worship
but who wrote: "I trust there is not a young man now in the United States
who will not die a Unitarian"), John Greenleaf Whittier and Lucretia Mott,
who were born Quakers but who recognized their connection with the Uni-
tarian habit of mind and often attended Unitarian churches.

There is one name in the list whose denominational connections I cannot
identify. It is that of George Peabody. His family connections in Salem
were all in Unitarian churches but whether he maintained that connection
or not I do not know.

This discussion of the Hall of Fame brings out two remarkable
facts. First, out of the sixty-three people thus far adjudged worthy
of a place among America's most useful leaders at least one-third
are Unitarians. Second, among the twenty whose Unitarian

John Adams.

John Quincy Adams.

Louis Agassiz.
*George Bancroft.

WiUiam Cullen Bryant.

William EUery Channing.

Peter Cooper.
*Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Benjamin Franklin.

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

326

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

connections are positive no less than five were the sons of minis-
ters. Among the entire forty-three names mentioned in connec-
tion with our two Hsts of Unitarians seven were the sons of min-
isters. The remarkable quality of these facts can best be appre-
ciated by realizing that there were no Unitarians as a distinct
denomination until the early part of the nineteenth century.
The denomination has never been large, and to-day numbers only
about 100,000 adherents, or one in 1,000 of our population. At
present the Unitarians have less than 600 ministers, or perhaps
one for every forty adult men among their nominal parishioners.
At the time when the people who are enrolled in the Hall of Fame
were born, the relative nimaber of Unitarians was probably larger
than now, perhaps one in 300 of the total population, but the
proportion of ministers was presumably not greatly different.
In that case the productivity of the Unitarians in supplying lead-
ers of the first rank has been about 150 times as great as that of
the remainder of the population, while that of Unitarian min-
isters has been nearly 1,500 times as great.

The eminent sons of Unitarian ministers seem to represent the
final result of a long process of natural selection. Many centuries
ago there came to East Anglia some migrant Saxons, Danes, and
Normans, selected groups of people, uncommonly intelligent and
competent. At a later date many of their most thoughtful descen-
dants became Puritans, a second selection. Then from among the
Puritans a third selection separated those with special earnest-
ness, determination, and adaptability, and led them to migrate
to America. In the fourth place, among their descendants an-
other group characterized by unilsual intellectual activity and
high moral purposes became Unitarians. Finally, among these
intellectual people a fifth selection during the first half of the
present century picked out many of the most earnest and thought-
ful as clergymen. These Unitarian clergymen, more than any
other group in proportion to their numbers, have been the fathers
of the recent leaders of America. Their case resembles that of
the Khmers of Cambodia, the Hakkas of Cliina, the ancient
Athenians, the Normans in Sicily, and the Vikings in Iceland.

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 327

If such a stock as this, or any other similar stock, should be
isolated in a good environment and should become the sole
ancestors of the inhabitants of some great state, what heights
of attainment might be achieved.

I have devoted much space to the Puritans because they ap-
pear to be the most notable instance of natural selection in
America. But there are many other cases which will well repay
study. Let us select one as far removed from New England as
possible. Up to 1849 California was a distant Mexican province.
Then it suddenly began to grow into one of the greatest States
in the Union. I have studied all sorts of statistics again and
again in order to discover how the various States compare with
one another in real progress. Time after time I have been struck
by the fact that in a great variety of activities California ranks
higher than the States immediately east of it and finds no rivals
until the Northern States to the east of the Mississippi are
reached. This is true in education, in literary achievement, in
commerce, in manufacturing, in religious activity, and in other
ways. Take the universities and scientific institutions of the
country, for example. Among the universities California has two
that are famous all over the country. The University of Cahfor-
nia is probably better known than any other west of the Missis-
sippi, and there is perhaps none south of Baltimore to compare
with it. Leland Stanford also is one of the most famous univer-
sities in America, while the new California Institute of Technol-
ogy at Los Angeles seems to be achieving remarkable things in
proportion to its age. Among scientific institutions Cahfornia
has several which are becoming famous all over the world, for
example, the Lick Observatory, the Mount Wilson Observatory,
and the Scripps Institute, and others are beginning to arise. No-
where else to the west of the Mississippi River does one find any-
thing equally well known of similar kind. Again in politics Cali-
fornia has become one of the pivotal States not so much because
of its size, but because its people vote independently, and send to
Washington men who command attention. In many other ways
the whole country is conscious that Cahfornia is a State to be

328

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

reckoned with. Neither its area nor the size of its population
cause this, for few people have the same feeling about Montana,
or New Mexico, which almost rival it in area, or about Georgia,
which is almost as populous, or about Texas, which far exceeds
California in both respects. Mere size counts for almost noth-
ing, for Massachusetts, although only one-nineteenth as large as
California, is one of the States that has to be reckoned with most
fully. San Francisco, like Boston, is known all over the country
as a place where things are done, a city of achievement. The
way in which the city rebuilt itself after the earthquake and fire
of 1906 is admired all over the world. And Los Angeles likewise
has an extraordinarily wide reputation for wealth, culture, and
progress, as well as for esoteric sects and moving pictures.

One reason why California stands out so pre-eminently is
doubtless its good climate, but on the basis of climate alone it is
probable that Oregon and Washington should stand equally high
or higher. California, however, seems to have another reason
for its eminence. Like New England it had a good start because
of natural selection. The first important group of Enghsh-
speaking people in California was the Forty-niners. They came
rushing to the State when gold was discovered. In one sense
they were a wild lot, for they were adventurers, but in another
sense they were highly selected. It was a long, difficult journey
to California in 1849. Overland it took three months or more of
hard and dangerous travelling. By sea it took about as long, for
even if one went by Panama instead of Cape Horn it was often
necessary to wait for a ship on the Pacific side. And the ships
in those days were sailing vessels. The trip to the gold mines
took money as well as time. Only rarely did a genuinely poor
man get there. Courage and the spirit of adventure were also
highly necessary. Hence the Forty-niners were on the whole a
group of young and vigorous men, well-born, fond of adventure,
fairly well-to-do, and animated by the desire to see the world as
weU as make a fortune. An uncommonly large number were
college graduates. In other words, the early Californians were
selected for qualities somewhat like those of the Puritans, except

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 329

that the religious and moral element was lacking, but there was
no lack of ability.

Many of the Forty-niners went back to their old homes, but
a fair percentage stayed in California. Some sent for their wives
or sweethearts; many went home, found wives, and returned to
raise wheat, which in the long run was more profitable than min-
ing gold. In this case, as among the Puritans, the women exer-
cised the strongest selective influence. Only when a man with
the spirit of daring, adventure, and initiative was mated to a
woman of good physique and of the same spirit was a family
likely to estabHsh itself in California in those early days. For two
decades the journey to California continued to be especially diffi-
cult and dangerous — more so than to almost any other part of the
United States where settlement was then taking place at all
rapidly. Until the railroad was completed in 1869 the majority
of the settlers in CaHfornia, especially those who brought up
families and were not mere floaters, were rigidly selected. Even
after that time the distance to California and the expense of
settling there exerted a distinct selective effect. Thus San
Francisco and the neighboring cities were first peopled by an
unusual proportion of families who were selected because of the
spirit of adventure coupled with comparative prosperity. Of
course many people of other kinds came even in the earlier years,
and still more have come later. But that does not alter the fact
that because of its early inaccessibility coupled with the attrac-
tiveness of its gold, its climate, and its crops, the part of Cali-
fornia around San Francisco attracted more than the normal
proportion of able people.

In southern CaHfornia the course of events was much the
same except that the attraction of gold was replaced by that of
climate. The early settlers were families who had the courage,
the resources, and the adventurous spirit to make the long, hard
journey across the deserts and mountains or to sail the difficult
route by Cape Horn, with its storms, or by Panama with its
malarial fevers. In later days the pleasant, equable climate has
attracted a great number of people of the more prosperous classes.

330

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Los Angeles has not been a poor man's retreat. It has been a
place to which have gone many prosperous people in search of
health, and many other prosperous people in search of pleasant
homes. Those people carried an inheritance of abihty— a physi-
cal inheritance— and they have passed it on to their children.
Just as San Francisco is notable for its great activity, so Los
Angeles is notable for its general air of high culture, its large
number of scientific people, its artists and religious colonies, its
love of pleasure, and its moving-picture colony. All these selected
types have come largely because of certain quahties of climate.
They have brought with them certain ideals and customs, cer-
tain mores, and they have modified these somewhat to fit their
new environment and their new neighbors. But for our present
purpose the outstanding fact is that a vast number of the settlers
in California came because they inherited special aptitudes or
mental tendencies differing somewhat from those of the average
of their race. For that reason a detailed study of the type of
migration and natural selection may be expected to throw a
flood of light on the present and future state of society in Cali-
fornia. The people of California, as well as the early New Eng-
landers, have been unconscious agents in causing certain distinct
types of racial character to be accentuated in definite geographi-
cal regions.

It seems to me that this chapter may well be concluded with
a quotation from Adventures in Journalism by Sir Philip Gibbs.
His summing up of American character brings out the kind of
quahties which have apparently resulted from the various t}pes
of selection that have operated in giving the United States its
present population. He does not, to be sure, dwell on the less
commendable quahties which are now growing strong among us,
but one can see that he has them in mind.

I was and still remain convinced that the United States will shape, for
good or ill — and I believe for good — the future destiny of the world, for
these people, in the mass, have a dynamic energ}^, a clear-cut quality of
character, and a power not only of material wealth, but of practical ideal-
ism, from which an enormous impetus may be given to human progress,

THE SELECTION OF MODERN AMERICANS 331

in the direction of the common well-being, international peace, liberty,
decency, and average prosperity of individual life. I was not unconscious
of a strong strain of intolerance; a dangerous gulf between the very rich
and — not the very poor, there are few of those — but well-paid, speeded-up,
ugly-Hving, dissatisfied labor; something rather hysterical in mass emotion
when worked up by the wire-pullers and the spell-binders; and the noisy,
blatant, loud-mouthed boasting vulgarity of the mob. I saw the unloveli-
ness of "Main Street," I met ''Babbitt" in his club, parlor car, and private
house. But though I did not shut my eyes to all that, and much more
than that — a good deal of it belongs to civiHzation as well as to the United
States — I saw also the qualities that outweigh these defects, and, in my
judgment, contain a great hope for the world. I met, everywhere, numbers
of men and women who have what seems to me a clean, sane, level-headed
outlook on life and its problems. They beheve in peace, in a good chance
for the individual, in a decent standard of hfe for all people, in honesty and
truth. They are impatient of dirt, however picturesque, of ruin, however
romantic, of hampering tradition, however ancient. They are, in the mass,
common-sense, practical, and good-natured folk, who, in the business of
life, cut formaHties and get down to the job.

But behind all their common sense and their practicality they are
deeply sentimental, simply and sincerely emotional, quick to respond to
any call upon their pity or their charity, and when stirred that way enor-
mously generous. I agree with General Swinton, the inventor of the
"Tanks," who, after a tour in the United States, told me with a touch of
exaggeration that he thought the Americans, as a nation, were the only
idealists left in the world. Europe is cynical, remembering too much his-
tory and suffering too much disillusionment. The United States, looking
always to the future, and not much backward to the past, is hopeful, con-
fident of human progress, and strangely and wonderfully eager to find a
philosopher's stone of human happiness, for which we, in Europe, have
almost abandoned search.

I think that, as a people, they are more ready than any other to do
some great work of rescue for humanity (I have told how they fed ten
milUon people a day in Russia), and to adopt and carry out an ideal on
behalf of humanity in the way of peace and reconstruction, at some per-
sonal sacrifice to themselves. That is possible at least in the United States,
and it may almost be said that it is impossible in any other nation.

CHAPTER XXII

THE RACIAL TENDENCIES OF CIVILIZATION

We have now examined many of the main factors through
which in past times man's physical and social environments have
selected certain types of human character for preservation or
destruction. We have seen in detail how these factors cause the
people of some regions to differ markedly from others. We have
likewise concluded that in spite of the extreme persistence of
heredity, certain races have acquired new characteristics almost
in our own day. Is there any reason to think that the mutations
and selective processes through which racial character has been
evolved are acting more slowly than formerly? We are some-
times told that although society may evolve indefinitely, man as
an animal has become so highly speciaHzed that the next step
must be degeneration. The only hope of mankind, it is said, Hes
in creating a social system far more complex and perfect than
that of to-day, a system in which each individual is fully utiHzed
for the general good, and all are as dependent upon one another
as are the ants and bees.

That man's future will depend largely upon his capacity for
social organization and his ability to work for the common good
regardless of himself seems certain. But this does not necessarily
mean that either physical or especially mental evolution has
come to an end, or that the next step will be degeneration. Ac-
cording to the general opinion of geologists a few thousand years
of a severe climate, such as a glacial epoch, have more effect than
millions of years of monotony in destroying some forms of hfe
and bringing others to the front. The last glacial epoch appears
to have been an essential factor in man's latest great stride in
mental evolution whereby he reached the plane where civihza-
tion became possible. That such evolution would have taken

THE RACIAL TENDENCIES OF CIVILIZATION 333

place at a slow rate even without the glacial period is highly
probable, but the stress of climate seems greatly to have has-
tened it.

Suppose another glacial epoch were to overwhelm the earth.
Unless man is wholly different from the other animals, racial
evolution would be decidedly accelerated. We have, to be sure,
no reason for predicting another glacial epoch, but we are equally
without reason for predicting the contrary. If it occurred, man-
kind would be subjected to tremendous stress. Most of the re-
gions now in the forefront of progress would become uninhabita-
ble. In North America agriculture would probably be out of the
question except from the southern and southwestern United
States equatorward. Parts of the United States and Canada
where perhaps seventy million people now live would actually be
covered with ice. In Europe a similar fate would overtake the
homes of two or three times as many; only the Mediterranean
and Caspian regions would be good for farming. In China the
dry winter might be so long and cold and the summer rains so
irregular and torrential that half the country would be untillable
and much of the rest by no means favorable.

If all this happened, as well it may, half the world's popula-
tion might be forced out of its present homes. Millions upon
millions would either perish by slow degrees, or be forced to
migrate into regions that now are deserts or tropical forests.
Such a change in the location of population would almost in-
evitably cause tremendous stress and strife. Nation might be
pitted against nation, race against race in a terrific combat in
which victory would depend on many complex conditions. One
race would have an advantage through the individuality and in-
itiative of its common people, as in the United States; another
through the submissiveness of a competent people to their lead-
ers, as in Germany; a third through its ability and willingness not
only to cajole its stronger rivals but ruthlessly to exterminate
those that are weaker, as in Turkey. Other races, such as the
English and Dutch, would have a great advantage through their
commercial prowess. The tough fiber of the Chinese and their

334

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

ability to live economically and with any kind of food would
be a tremendous asset. In such a strife of races the victory might
go to the race which had best learned to combat disease. But
would such a race be able permanently to compete with a race
which had acquired an inherent resistance to disease through a
long process of selection? Which would be a greater asset, the
abihty of the common people to submit their wills to the pubHc
good, or the capacity to produce great leaders? It would be
interesting, but futile, to speculate further as to what might
happen if another glacial period should occur. The point is that
there are endless possibilities for the development of races with
powers far superior to any that the world has yet seen. It seems
to me that we are nowhere near the limits of profitable spe-
cialization.

We have used a possible glacial epoch as an example of the
kind of crisis which may overwhelm the world, but other im-
portant crises are much more imminent. The growing density
of population bids fair within a generation or two to bring a state
of stress almost as great as would glaciation, as East well shows
in Mankind at the Crossroads, The exhaustion of metals and
mineral fuels may have a similar effect. Unless radical measures
are soon taken the exhaustion of the soil and of our stock of
mineral fertilizers may produce distress and hence natural selec-
tion far beyond anything that now is dreamed. So, too, may the
spread of new forms of disease, not only among men but among
plants and animals. Civilization is still so young that these pos-
sibihties have not yet had time to manifest their importance.
We do not appreciate what they may lead to because we think
in terms of days, months, years, and decades. But races must
think in generations, centuries, millenniums. Perhaps the ability
to think in these large units, and act accordingly, may be a pri-
mary factor in enabling one race or another to survive and
flourish.

It may still seem that we are dealing merely with remote pos-
sibiHties, and not with any real problems of the immediate future.
But there is another change to be considered. During the last

THE RACIAL TENDENCIES OF CIVILIZATION 335

few centuries the great racial evolution of hundreds of thousands
of years has suddenly borne strange fruit. Throughout the suc-
cessive glacial and interglacial epochs the winnowing of the
future races of Europe by alternate pressure from* expanding
deserts in Asia and expanding ice in Europe was presumably
producing a group of races with unusually keen active minds.
Five to ten thousand years ago, in western Asia and north Africa,
those races began to build up civilization. Babylonia, Egypt,
Syria, and Palestine made their contributions; they were fol-
lowed by Greece and Rome, and then by the countries of west-
ern Europe. In India and China a similar evolution of civiliza-
tion went on, although not quite so rapidly. But suddenly,
under the stimulus of a marvelously favorable combination of
racial mixture, physical environment, new ideas, and mechanical
inventions the European type of civilization has flared up almost
incredibly. Modern transportation, manufacturing, and the
growth of cities have altered man's environment and transformed
life in a single century more than it was previously altered by
ten thousand years of civilization and barbarism or half a mil-
lion years of savagery.

LTniversal education, modern medicine, the democratic or-
ganization of society and of government, the adoption of new
moral and religious standards, the emancipation of women, and
the partial substitution of altruism for egoism are producing
equally revolutionary results. These changes are substituting an
indoor for an outdoor life; they are putting desks, pens, push-
buttons, and levers in place of the plow, hoe, axe, and scythe;
the creamery and flour-mill in place of the churn and grinding
stone that once occupied so large a share of women's time. They
are preserving weak children as well as strong. They are sifting
good minds from poor and dooming many of the good to die
childless. They are leading to suicidal movements like modern
war and feminism. The moral, social, poHtical, and industrial
revolution in Europe and North America during the last few cen-
turies is so great that its effect on the evolution of racial char-
acter may well be compared to that of a glacial epoch.

836

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

In what direction is this epoch-making revolution carrying
us? No one yet knows, but some hints may be obtained from a
brief r6sum6 of some of the present evolutionary tendencies in
western Europe and especially the United States. In order to
appreciate the magnitude of the cultural revolution, consider
again the great contrast between the modern factory hand in the
United States and of his farmer ancestor in Central Europe. In
the old home an active outdoor life, shared by the women as well
as the men; pure, fresh air for both sexes many hours out of the
twenty-four; frequent exercise of kinds that employ all the mus-
cles and especially the abdominal muscles so important in diges-
tion and childbearing; an occupation varied enough to demand
the exercise of at least a moderate amount of judgment and initi-
ative; and with all this the ever-present necessity of planning far
ahead for the winter^s supply of food, clothing, and fuel. In the
factory of America scarcely an hour of outdoor air each day for
months at a time; unduly warm, dry, stagnant indoor air day
and night for half the year, and dusty germ-laden city air the
rest of the time; a cramped position involving the maximum
harm to the vital abdominal muscles and the internal organs;
an occupation which develops one limited set of muscles and of
mental responses at the expense of all others, and which demands
little exercise of the high faculties of judgment and initiative;
and with all this an almost complete release from the necessity
of forethought, for the grocery store is around the corner, the
Union or the Associated Charities will feed the himgry and
clothe the naked, and the Lord will provide a job.

In addition to all this, racial mixture is now proceeding in
the United States at a probably unprecedented rate. In one
place the white and the black are crossing on a large scale; in
another the English and Italian; elsewhere the Jew and Gentile,
for recent statistics show that Jews are marrying outside their
own race and faith to an astonishing degree. The more diverse
the mingling of races, the greater the number of extreme t}ipes
of people, and the greater the opportunity for the selection of
new quaHties for preservation and the formation of new racial

THE EACIAL TENDENCIES OF CIVILIZATION 337

characteristics. If the presence of these new types and the stress
of a new environment and of new occupations do not cause some
change in racial character, the people of America would seem to
be breaking an immutable law of nature. But they are not
breaking this law, for it is a matter of common observation that
new types of character— several of them— are actually develop-
ing in the United States.

Is this a good thing? In the course of centuries will this
country and the world be stronger because of these new types?
A conclusive answer is impossible. The whole matter is too com-
plex, and there are no reHable statistics. The only thing we can
do is to suggest certain probable tendencies. Take factory work
in America. What kind of people can best stand it ? Here are
two men of equal abihty otherwise, but one is phlegmatic and
the other nervous. Neither has brains enough to be more than
an unskilled worker. The phlegmatic man would seem to have
an advantage, for he can endure the endlessly monotonous task
of sticking a million bits of metal into the same machine, day
after day for years. The other cannot stand it more than so
long. Then he throws up his job, loafs a while, looks for work,
lets his family be cared for by charity, finds a new job, moves
on again, and finally drifts away and leaves his family. Such a
man, it would seem, is likely to have fewer children than the
other, and in spite of philanthropic assistance his children are
more likely to die than are those of the steadier, more phlegmatic
man. Thus one tendency of modern manufacturing may be to
increase the proportion of dull, phlegmatic, unenterprising peo-
ple at the bottom of the social ladder. Perhaps our mechanical
inventions are helping to give part of our people a certain Chinese
quality. But factory work does not put any such premium on
industry, economy, and endurance as does the life of the Chinese
farmer. In fact, the methods of many modern unions and the
invention of automatic machinery go far toward removing all
advantages from the laborer who is industrious, thrifty, and per-
sistent. The union likewise joins with public and private charity
in diminishing the selective value of economy. So it may be that

338

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

our occidental factory system favors the preservation of a type
of people less valuable than the common Chinese farmer.

Let us carry our investigation into other fields. From the
standpoint of racial evolution which is better off, war-ridden
Europe or peaceful America? The biological effect of war has
been much discussed. The question is not so much the number
as the kind of people who are killed, and not so much the kind
who are killed as the kind of children who are born compared
with those who might have been born had there been no war.
The direst indictment of war has always been its effect on the
babies. The great mistake of miHtarists is their failure to recog-
nize this. All wars tend to take from home a large percentage
of the strong, the brave, the adventurous; they leave at home a
corresponding percentage of the weak, the cowardly, and those
who lack that fine spirit of adventure which is one of the great
roots of human progress. Of those who are taken away a con-
siderable number die and leave no children, while among those
who come back some are wounded and crippled, while many
must wait before estabhshing new homes and having children.
On the other hand, the undesired remnant who stay at home
often enjoy unusual prosperity because of the scarcity of labor,
and succeed in marrying sooner or in marrying better women
than would normally be the case. Hence they bring to maturity
more children than would otherwise be their share, while the
number of high-grade children is lessened.

In war the mental selection is probably greater than the
physical. In ancient days the man with brain as well as brawn
wore armor and rode a horse. He doubtless fought more than
the common soldier, but he was less likely to be killed. In battle
he might hew down scores of unprotected peasants, and himself
come through unscathed. Even when attacked by his fellow
knights, his armor often saved him from death when wounded.
On the other hand, he was far more likely to be killed than was
the stupid yokel who was left at home on the farm because he
was too dull and cowardly to make a good soldier. With the in-
troduction of gunpowder the partial immunity of the upper

THE RACIAL TENDENCIES OF CIVILIZATION 839

classes largely disappeared, for armor was no longer a real pro-
tection. Then the bravest and most competent were in more
danger of death than the more cowardly and the incompetent.
The born leader, the young officer who led the charge was the
one most likely to be shot. Thus war lost whatever beneficial
selective action it may have had in more primitive ages.

Modern war has not changed all this. The officers, to be
sure, are now protected as far as possible, but it is the higher and
older officers who profit by this, the ones whose families in many
cases are already complete. The younger ones, the lieutenants
and the non-commissioned officers who are in line for commis-
sions, are more likely than ever to be killed. They lead the
charge; they go out between the firing lines to obtain informa-
tion ; from their ranks are recruited the men who take their lives
in their hands for special missions. Moreover, we have lately
seen the development of a new type of warfare more deadly than
any that ever preceded it and at the same time demanding higher
qualities. In the whole realm of human ingenuity aerial warfare
is one of the most effective methods ever devised for killing the
unusually able young men. In the Air Service the common sol-
dier stays safely on the ground far behind the lines; the highly
selected, highly trained, and exceptionally skilled aviator flies
high in the air, assails the enemy, and dies.

Of a piece with this biological iniquity is the modern labor
battalion. What is the biological meaning of such a battalion?
Among a hundred recruits perhaps twenty are of unusually poor
mental caliber. Let us pick these out for the labor battalion;
that will permit them to stay behind the lines; it will prevent
most of them from being killed; and it will let them go home to
become the fathers of the next generation. But here are five
youths of exceptional ability. Let us make aviators of them and
kill them.

In addition to all this, modern war calls from home a large
share of the most able of the men above thirty years of age, the
ones who are most likely to be the fathers of valuable children.
These men take up the burden of supplying arms and munitions,

340

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

of running the transportation system, of gathering information,
dealing with other countries, controlling the supphes of food and
clothing, and a hundred other occupations which formerly were
allowed to take care of themselves. The more able a man is, the
more likely he is to be taken away from home. He may not be
killed, but he is not likely to have children while the war lasts.
On the other hand, his less competent neighbor stays at home
and brings up a family. Whatever may have been the case in
the past, it is hard to see any important way in which modern
war tends to improve the inheritance of the succeeding genera-
tions. It is easy to see scores of ways in which it lowers that
quality. A few decades of war like the World War might injure
the inheritance of the western world almost irretrievably. If
war is followed by wholesale execution and expulsion of the most
competent parts of the population, as in Russia, it is almost im-
possible to estimate the degree to v/hich the general caliber of
the people may be lowered.

Sad as are the effects of war on the racial inheritance of the
western world, the effect of peace seems to be almost worse.
Religion and its modern sister philanthropy have perhaps rivaled
war in lowering the biological caliber of the human race. We
have here one of the strange contradictions which are so com-
mon in this whole subject. An agency which works almost incal-
culable good to the individual and to the social organism appears
to work equally great harm to the race. In this I do not refer
mainly to the fact that religion and philanthropy with the aid of
modern medicine are preserving a larger and larger share of the
weak and incompetent. This is probably a minor matter com-
pared with the diminution of the competent. What have rehgion
and philanthropy to answer for in this respect ? As far back as
the days of the early Christians, and indeed in still earlier times
groups of unusually religious men separated themselves from the
world. They assumed vows of celibacy; they planned to honor
God by breaking away from what they called the world, the
flesh, and the devil. Even so wise a man as Saint Paul was him-
self unmarried and urged the Christian priest and minister to

THE RACIAL TENDENCIES OF CIVILIZATION 341

follow his example: "I would that ye also were as I am." And
hundreds, thousands, millions, have followed that example,
women as well as men. How many monks, nuns, and celibate
priests there have been since the beginning of the Christian era
cannot be estimated even approximately, but there have almost
certainly been millions. To-day the Roman Catholic Church is
estimated to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500,000
persons vowed to celibacy. Galton expresses himself so force-
fully on this subject that I am impelled to quote him at consider-
able length.

. . . The long period of the dark ages under which Europe has lain is
due, I believe, in a very considerable degree to the celibacy enjoined by
religious orders on their votaries. Whenever a man or woman was possessed
of a gentle nature that fitted him or her to deeds of charity, to meditation,
to literature, or to art, the social condition of the time was such that they
had no refuge elsewhere than in the bosom of the Church. But the Church
chose to preach^and exact celibacy. The consequence was that these gentle
natures had no continuance, and thus, by a poHcy so singularly unwise
and suicidal that I am hardly able to speak of it without impatience, the
Church brutaHzed the breed of our forefathers. She acted precisely as
if she had aimed at selecting the rudest portion of the community to be
alone the parents of future generations. She practised the arts which
breeders would use, who aimed at creating ferocious, churlish, and stupid
natures. No wonder that club-law prevailed for centuries over Europe;
the wonder rather is that enough good remained in the veins of Europeans
to enable their race to rise to its present, very moderate level of natural
moraUty. . . .

The policy of the religious world in Europe was exerted in another direc-
tion, with hardly less cruel effect on the nature of future generations, by
means of persecutions which brought thousands of the foremost thinkers
and men of pohtical aptitudes to the scaffold, or imprisoned them during a
large part of their manhood or drove them as emigrants into other lands.
In every one of these cases, the check upon their leaving issue was very
considerable. Hence the Church, having first captured all the gentle na-
tures and condemned them to celibacy, made another sweep of her huge
nets, this time fishing in stirring waters, to catch those who were the most
fearless, truth-seeking, and intelHgent in their modes of thought, and there-
fore the most suitable parents of a high civilization, and put a strong check,
if not a direct stop, to their progeny.

. . . The extent to which persecution must have affected European
races is easily measured by a few well-known statistical facts. Thus, as
regards martyrdom and imprisonment, the Spanish nation was drained of

342

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

free-thinkers at the rate of i,ooo persons annually, for the three centuries
between 1471 and 1781; an average of icq persons having been executed
and 900 imprisoned every year during that period. The actual data during
those three hundred years are 32,000 burnt, 17,000 persons burnt in effigy
(I presume they mostly died in prison or escaped from Spain), and 291,000
condemned to various terms of imprisonment and other penalties. It is
impossible that any nation could stand a poUcy like this without paying a
heavy penalty in the deterioration of its breed, as has notably been the
result in the formation of the superstitious, unintelligent Spanish race of
the present day.

Italy was also frightfully persecuted at an earlier date. In the diocese
of Como, alone, more than 1,000 were tried annually by the inquisitors for
many years, and 300 were burnt in the single year 141 6.

The French persecutions, by which the Enghsh have been large gainers,
through receiving their industrial refugees, were on a nearly similar scale.
Three or four hundred thousand Protestants perished in prison, at the
galleys, in their attempts to escape, or on the scaffold, and an equal number
emigrated. Mr. Smiles in his admirable book on the Huguenots, has traced
the influence of these and of the Flemish emigrants on England, and shows
clearly that she owes to them almost all her industrial arts and very much
of the most valuable life-blood of her modern race. . . . (Galton.)

The Protestant church is better off than the Roman Catho-
lic because it permits its ministers to marry. How important
this is we have already seen in our study of the eminent sons of
clergymen. We are led to a similar conclusion by the fact that
according to Cattell's data in American Men of Science, 1921,
each thousand of the members of the various professions in 1850
produced the following numbers of sons who rank among the
885 leading American men of science for whom the facts are
available :

Clergymen 3.3

Lawyers 2.5

Teachers 2.4

Physicians 16

The relative preponderance of clergymen's sons among scien-
tific men is the more remarkable when it is remembered that
when these scientists were born there was supposed to be a bitter
conflict between science and religion. In other lines of eminence
the sons of ministers seem to stand equally high, as we have

THE RACIAL TENDENCIES OF CIVILIZATION 343

already seen, and this is especially true of the ministers of early
New England stock who preserve the biological as well as the
social and religious heritage of the Puritans more fully than
almost any other group in America.

Of late, however, the Protestant church has fallen into bad
ways so far as heredity is concerned. Religious orders with vows
of celibacy are indeed rare among Protestants, but there has
grown up in many quarters the idea that both men and women
can do better service to God and their fellows by remaining un-
married than by having homes. I listened to a missionary about
forty years of age. She was sweet, strong, finely built, and most
attractive; she had the subtle quality of charm and no small
share of mental ability. That fine thing called character showed
itself in her earnestness, her clearness, and above all in her de-
termination. I know nothing of her personal experiences. Yet I
feel quite sure that if she were asked why she was not married,
she would say that she was serving God better by engaging in
Christian service than she could by bringing up four or five
children of her own. Hundreds of our finest young women say
that and believe it, little recking that by cutting off the supply
of strong personalities they may hurt future generations infi-
nitely more than they help the present generation.

Consider the meaning of the age-long procession of monks,
nuns, celibate priests, unmarried clergy, and religious and philan-
thropic workers who give up marriage and children. It means
that for hundreds of years there has been a steady tendency to
eradicate from the human race the qualities that make people
religious and philanthropic. There are some weaklings in every
group, but the vast majority of this great body of religious and
philanthropic workers stand far above the average not only in
reverence, love of man, humility, and devotion to duty, but in
strength of will, capacity for leadership, and power of initiative.
Remember too that so far as such people marry they tend to
marry their own kind, and to have children who by both hered-
ity and training resemble themselves. The number of mission-
aries' children who become missionaries is extraordinary. It does

844

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

not seem possible that this great process of exterminating the
religious stock of Europe can have persisted one or two thou-
sand years without lessening the innate religious tendencies of
the people as a whole. Perhaps the fact that this has gone on
so much more in countries like Italy and Spain than in Scotland
and Switzerland has something to do with the fact that the Latin
countries where priests and monks have been most numerous are
by no means the countries where the people display the strong-
est tendencies toward personal and effective religion. On the
contrary, religion is most vital and influential where the min-
isters have had large families. That the monasteries kept alive
the spark of learning; that organized religion at all times, and
organized philanthropy in our own day have been among the
greatest benefactors of mankind, I do not question for a mo-
ment. But how about the price?

The whole argument which applies to religion applies also to
education. From time immemorial there has been a tendency
for the scholar to abstract himself from the world, and to rid
himself of the ties of family. This has been partly because of his
absorption in his work, but quite as much because the world has
not recognized the value of original thought. Many a thinker,
many an inventor has remained impoverished, unmarried, and
childless because the world has not been able to see the value of
his ideas and hence has not been willing to pay even a Hving
wage. It has laughed at such seekers-for-truth, and has per-
mitted the source of such personaHties to dry up.

According to the census of 1920 some 635,000 women are
teaching school in the United States. They may not be so
highly selected as they were before other occupations were open
to women, but nevertheless they are far above the average.
Otherwise they could not have completed their education in
high school, normal school, or college. The mere fact that they
are teachers makes it certain that the percentage of marriages
among them will be low and that those who marry will on the
average marry late and have few children. They have chosen
an occupation which more or less isolates them from men, and

THE RACIAL TENDENCIES OF CIVILIZATION 345

which in other ways withdraws them from the ranks of mother-
hood. Theirs is a noble and indispensable occupation, but in the
process of building up the social structure of education, they are
cutting ofif the supply of the kind of children who are best worth
educating. Their occupation adds another to the many selective
agencies which in the last few generations have begun rapidly
to lower the innate character of the races that are most advanced.

CHAPTER XXIII

A RACIAL TEST OF CITIES, DEMOCRACY, AND
FEMINISM

In the last chapter we discussed some of the evolutionary
agencies which are especially active in highly civihzed modern
communities. We did not examine many statistics, however,
and hence our results were merely suggestive rather than conclu-
sive. In the present chapter we shall look at certain other agen-
cies statistically, and shall see that there is little question as to
their highly selective activity.

One of the greatest of these agencies is the attraction which
draws the young people from the country to the city. On an
average it is the more enterprising and versatile who go to the
cities; whereas the less competent, generally although by no
means always, stay in the country. It is almost universally
agreed that among people of the same race and social position
the birth-rate is lower in cities than in the country. Thus there
is to-day a strong tendency, first, to remove the brighter young
people from the country districts, and then to reduce the num-
ber of their descendants so drastically that they by no means
maintain their due proportion among the population as a whole.
This general idea has become familiar through the writings of
men like Stoddard, Humphreys, and others, but it is by no
means universally accepted. For example. President EHot voices
the contrary view: "The country breeding gives a vigor and an
endurance which in the long run outweigh aU city advantages,
and enable the well-endowed country boys to outstrip their city-
bred competitors."

Let us examine the actual facts and draw our own conclu-
sions. From a study of 885 scientists whom the votes of their
fellows had picked out as leaders, Cattell puts the cities far

346

A RACIAL TEST

847

ahead of the country districts. His method was to ascertain
how many of the scientists were born among famihes where the
fathers pursued various occupations, and then to compare these
numbers with the number of men in each occupation. He makes
his comparisons on the basis of the census of 1850, since the
best-known leaders in science, as in most professions, are fairly
advanced in years. His results show that if the number of fami-
lies were the same in all occupations, the relative numbers of
eminent scientists in each of three great groups would have been
as follows:

Farmers i . o

Manufacturers and merchants 2.2

Professional men 29.0

These figures mean that where a given number of American
farmers' famihes in the middle of the last century produced only
a single scientific leader, the same number of famihes of persons
engaged in manufacturing and trade produced 2.2, while an equal
number of professional families gave rise to 29.0. This seems to
be due partly to greater opportunities and better training in the
professional families than in the others, and partly to greater
inherent capacity. Whatever may be its cause, it seems to indi-
cate a great difference between rural and urban communities,
for the farmers are mainly rural, while the manufacturers, mer-
chants, and professional men live largely in towns and cities.
Moreover, Cattell states specifically that in proportion to their
population, regardless of occupation, the cities have produced
twice as many scientific men as the rural districts, and the ten-
dency in this direction is growing.

The recent investigation by Visher, already referred to, sup-
pHes even more conclusive evidence to this same effect. By com-
paring 18,400 persons in Who's Who for 1922-1923 with the
census for 1870 he finds that among the Americans born in dif-
ferent types of communities the relative numbers who were suffi-
ciently notable to be included in Who^s Who vary approximately
as shown in the last column of the following table.

848

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Type of Birthplace

Total Nvimber
Reporting

Percentage of
Population in
1870

Relative
Value

Rural districts

Large cities of over 50,000 inhabitants —
Small cities of 8,000 to 50,000 inhabitants
Villages and small towns up to 8,000 in-

4,750
3,789
4,571

4,488
758

69.9
10. 0
10.9

8.2

I.O*

1 .0
5.6
6.1

8.9^
10.9*

Suburbs of large cities

•Approximate.

The rural parts of America, in proportion to their population,
have supplied only about one-sixth or even one-tenth as many a
of the present leaders as have the portions where people congre-
gate more closely. Part of this deficiency is undoubtedly due to
lack of opportunity and training, and part to the fact that most
of the negro population is rural, but the depletion of the rural
stock by migration to the villages and cities is almost certain!}'
another cause of the rural deficiency in the production of lead-
ers. A second significant fact in Visher's table is that although
the cities, both large and small, stand far ahead of the rural dis-
tricts in the production of leaders, their relative values (5.6 and
6.1) are decidedly below those of the villages and small towns
(8.9), and likewise of the suburbs of the large cities (10.9). The
cities are generally considered to be the places of greatest oppor-
tunity; but they present unusual opportunities for evil as well
as good; the suburbs and small towns are better in this respect.
Those are the places whence come the leaders in greatest num-
bers, and they are also the places where able, home-loving, sober-
minded people tend most to congregate, and to be least inter-
mixed with the duller rural types, on the one hand, and the plea-
sure-loving as well as the degraded city types, on the other
hand.

The effect of cities upon the distribution of persons of emi-
nence has been much discussed. Ward, in his Applied Sociology '
and Cattell in his work on American Men of Science have em-
phasized the importance of the urban environment in pro\dding
opportunities and incentives and thus in bringing out latent
genius. Davies, in A Statistical Study of the Influence of Ewoiron-

A RACIAL TEST

349

ment, has presented a large number of correlation coefficients
which seem at first sight to show convincingly that density of
population is the main factor in bringing men into prominence.
That there is much truth in the position of these authorities I
do not question for a moment. But Ward takes no account of
natural selection, Cattell is so engrossed in the admirable task
of improving the educational system that he sees almost every-
thing in terms of education, while Davies overlooks the im-
portant fact that great cities as a rule are numerous in stimulat-
ing climates. Such climates, as we saw in the case of Europe
and as I have shown for the United States in Civilization and
Climate, have the same general effect as education; they tend to
bring out whatever abihty a man may have. The activity which
they stimulate also tends to cause people to engage in manufac-
turing and commerce to a high degree. Hence great cities and
an abundance of eminent men would often occur in the same
States even if climate were the only factor to be considered. In
the same way education alone would cause the number of emi-
nent people in some places to be large and in others small, pro-
vided all other factors remained constant. And the same is true
of natural selection. In other words, the proportion of eminent
people produced in a given community depends first upon the
presence of good material, which means inheritance; then upon
the presence of a stimulating physical environment with good
conditions of climate, food, and health; and third upon the pres-
ence of a good social environment which includes the right con-
ditions of education, religion, and social habits.

The interplay of these three main factors in causing people
to achieve something unusual is well illustrated by Clarke in his
study of the thousand most eminent Hterary men born in Amer-
ica prior to 185 1. Here is one of his tables which I have recalcu-
lated in such a way that it shows the number of eminent literary
persons per 10,000 of the average white population from 1781 to
1850. I have included all places whose average population was
over 5,000.

350

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

Average
Popvilation
1781-1850

Eminent
Literary
Persons Bom
1781-1850

Eminent

Persons per

10,000
Inhabitants

S,ooo

9

18.0

Portland

7,500

13

17-3

*Newburyport

6,000

9

I5-0

New Haven ,

7,900

9

II. 4

6,250

7

II. 2

11,200

12

10.7

Hartford

6,600

7

10.6

51,500

53

10.3

10,000

. 7

7.0

6,750

4

S-9

9,000

5

5.6

14,600

8

5-5

9,250

5

5-4

17,400

9

5-2

New York

168,000

80

4.8

Utica

5,250

2

3-8

130,000

49

3.8

Buffalo

8,900

3

3-4

52,500

16

3-4

13,900

4

2.9

7,500

2

2.7

Rochester

8,400

2

2.4

Troy

*New Bedford

9,250

2

2.2

6,600

I

1-5

Brooklyn

34,250

S

1-5

7,500

I

1-3

10,000

I

1 .0

11,900

I

0.8

26,800

2

0.8

24,900

0

0.0

Newark

9,100

0

0.0

*Lynn

5,400

0

0.0

Look first at the nine cities that are starred. All of them he
m eastern Massachusetts, and most are suburbs of Boston. Cam-
bridge (18.0), Boston proper (10.3), Charlestown (5.9), and Rox-
bury and Dorchester (5.4) are now parts of one continuous city,
and Lynn (0.0) lies only fifteen miles away. It is clear that ch-
mate can have nothing to do with these differences. It is equally
clear that food and mode of life can account for only a small
percentage of them. Opportunities for pubhc education and
other benefits which come from life in a city can scarcely play
more than a minor role. The only things that can account for
the differences seem to be inheritance and the immediate en-
vironment of the home. But the home environment depends so
intimately upon the innate temperament and mentaUty of the

A RACIAL TEST

S51

parents that the two can scarcely be separated. The importance
of inheritance becomes still more clear when we go a Httle farther
afield. Newburyport, with 15.0 eminent literary persons per
10,000 inhabitants, and Lynn with none are near neighbors north
of Boston; but Lynn has an advantage over Newburyport in
nearness to Boston, Harvard, and all the influences that radiate
from a great city. Nevertheless, up to 1850 Lynn had not given
birth to a single person among the one thousand most eminent
literary people of America, whereas Newburyport, with an average
population only about 12 per cent greater than that of Lynn, pro-
duced nine. This seems to be expHcable only on the supposition
that during the first half of the nineteenth century there was
greater inherent ability in Newburyport than in Lynn. New-
buryport at that time was an especially pleasant place of resi-
dence and attracted many fine famiHes. Lynn has long been a
relatively unattractive manufacturing town from which the most
successful people are likely to move to Salem, Boston, Cam-
bridge, Newburyport, and similar places.

Turning again to our table, it may be that New Orleans (0.8)
stands almost at the bottom, because its climate is relatively
debilitating. I feel quite certain that one of the important factors
in causing the South in general to be backward in producing per-
sons of eminence is the climate and the diseases which it fosters.
Nevertheless Charleston, South Carolina (7.0), stands well toward
the top of our list, coming next to Boston, in spite of having a
climate which is by no means so stimulating as that of Brooklyn
(1.5), Pittsburgh (0.8), and Cincinnati (0.0). The low position of
Pittsburgh and Cincinnati may have been due to their newness
and to the fact that their able men were engrossed in building
up a new country. But this explanation can apply only in small
measure to Brooklyn, Lowell, New Orleans, and Newark. The
type of inherent ability that expresses itself in Hterature seems
simply to have been deficient in those cities; for one reason or
another they have not attracted and have not retained people of
that particular type. They may have produced other types of
ability; Cincinnati, for example, has produced an unusual

352

THE CHAEACTER OF RACES

number of eminent scientists, according to Visher. In the cities
at the head of our Kst (Cambridge, Portland, Newburyport,
New Haven, Portsmouth, Salem, Hartford, and Boston), and
likewise at Charleston, which probably would stand well above
Boston if allowance were made for the adverse effect of climate,
we seem to have instances of what Thompson, the author of
Outline of Science, has called "the virtuous circle." The migra-
tion of able people to attractive centers creates a good environ-
ment; unusually able children are born there, and the good en-
vironment stimulates them to achievement; such achievement
attracts other able people, and thus still further improves both
the inheritance and the environment.

The sum and substance of the whole matter seems to be that
in the long run a good inheritance, on the one hand, and a good
social environment and good training, on the other hand, are
inseparable. Which is more important in causing a community
to send out able men no one can say, for both are essential. Be-
cause the able young people press into the centers of population,
and especially because now even more than in 1870 those of
them who have families tend to take up their residence in the
suburban parts of metropoHtan areas, those are the places where
the proportion of children with a high inheritance is largest, and
where the social environment and the training are best. Hence
they give rise to the largest proportion of eminent people.

The depletion of the innate capacity of the rural population
by migration to the cities may help to explain one of the most
serious economic problems which now confronts the United
States. That condition is the chronic depression and dissatis-
faction among the farmers. The early farmers of the United
States, quite unlike the peasants of Europe, were the backbone
of the country and produced a large share of leaders. This con-
dition continued more or less vigorously so long as there was
new land to be taken up in the West, so that there was an in-
centive to men of ability and initiative to remain on the farms.
But now, even in our Western States, the more able sons of the
farmers tend to flock to the cities. They are full of ambition to

A RACIAL TEST

353

go to college or to work their way up in business. And thou-
sands of them succeed. If boys of that kind stayed on the farms,
while those with less ability and initiative went to the cities,
would the farmers now be at the mercy of the city people ? May
it not be that what the farmers need is constructive leaders and
organizers rather than laws, loans, and tariffs ?

Having satisfied ourselves that the more able people drift
from the farms to the cities, and that they transmit at least a
portion of their ability to their children, let us inquire how
numerous are the children in the cities compared with the rural
districts. It might be supposed that for such information we
would turn directly to the reports of the census on birth-rates in
our two types of regions. That, however, would be misleading,
for the census does not show how many children are born per
family in the cities versus the country. It does, however, give
exact data as to the size of famihes among persons of various
occupations. Farming, fishing, lumbering, and mining are good
representatives of rural occupations, while manufacturing and
trade are largely urban. Among the families in the United
States where children were born in 1920 the followmg conditions
prevailed in these great groups of occupations:

Total Number
of Children
Born in 1920

Average
Number of

Children,
Both Living
and Dead,
per Family

Average
Number of
Living
Children

Farming, fishing, and lumbering

365,27s

3-7

3-3

51,693

4.1

3-5

Manufacturing and industry

686,062

2.9

2.4

Trade

117,922

2.5

2.2

In large groups like these there is no reason to think that
the average age of one set of parents differs materially from that
of the others. It is well known that the proportion of foreign-
born immigrants engaged in manufacturing is very large. For
example, in 1920 about 49 per cent of all the foreign-born men
engaged in gainful occupations were employed in manufacturing

854

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

and mechanical industries, whereas only 36 per cent of those of
mixed native and foreign parentage and 28 per cent of those of
native white parentage were so engaged. On the farms, on the
other hand, the corresponding percentages were: foreign-born 14,
mixed 21, native white 36. Among the foreign-born population
of America it is well known that the birth-rate is high. For ex-
ample, among the mothers to whom children were born in 1920,
the Poles and Italians had had an average of 4.5 children, the
Germans 4.4, Austrians 4.3, and Hungarians 4.2, compared \\ith
^ only 3.0 for the white women born in the United States. More-
over, if we take account only of surviving children, no large
foreign-born group of women had so few children as the Ameri-
can-born women, 2.7, while the German-born women had 3.9
and the Italians 3.8. Such conditions are normal.

On this basis we should expect that the famihes in the manu-
facturing industry where the foreign-born are numerous would
be larger than among farmers where native whites predominate.
Quite the contrary is actually the case. The average farmer's
family into which a child was born in 1920 had up to that time
produced 3.7 children, including the newcomer, while 3.3 of the
children were still alive. But among the people engaged in man-
ufacturing and industry, the average family into which a child
was born had produced only 2.9 children, of whom 2.4 survived.
In the same way the mining population had an average of 4.1
children per family, with 3.5 survivors, while the average family
engaged in trade had given burth to only 2.5 children, of whom
only 2.2 still lived in 1920. Race and social position, as well as
the contrast between rural and city Hfe, probably have some-
thing to do with causing the miners' famihes to be sixty per cent
larger than those of the merchants and clerks. A large percen-
tage of the miners are poor foreigners, while the merchants com-
prise a great many middle-class native Americans. Neverthe-
less, the great contrast between the two groups is presumably in
part due to the difference between city and country. On the
other hand, the contrast between the rural farmer and the urban
manufacturing population would presumably be still greater if

A RACIAL TEST

355

the racial and social composition of the two groups were similar
and if both contained the same proportion of recent immigrants.
In other words, the mere fact of city life, with its mercantile and
industrial conditions, seems to reduce the size of famiHes. Those
who stay in the country, although they are less competent than
those who migrate to the cities, are selected by nature to be the
parents of many children, while those who go to the city are
selected to be the parents of few. If this process continues for
several generations, our farmers may deteriorate into dull peas-
ants, while our cities become largely the home of the descendants
of people from southern and eastern Europe.

It seems almost ridiculous to say that modern democracy as
well as migration to the city may be exerting a harmful biologi-
cal effect upon the human race, but that seems to be the truth.
By democracy I mean not merely a political system, but a social
system which allows the utmost freedom of movement from one
social class to another. We pride ourselves on the facihty with
which an enterprising boy or girl can break away from old sur-
roundings and make good anywhere and in any station, no mat-
ter how high. Is this an advantage biologically? The common
answer is that it is the best possible thing, because it utilizes
human ability to the fullest extent and also brings new blood into
the effete upper classes. The first part of this answer is probably
true, but what is the biological effect of our modern democratic
form of society? When a bright boy is born among the lower
classes, he is helped to go to college, separated from his early
environment, and probably marries some one from a social group
above that of his origin. Almost inevitably he passes on to his
children a mixed inheritance. He bequeaths to them something
of his own ability, but likewise something of the low degree of
abihty which belongs to the general class from which he
sprung.

If an unusually able man of the lower classes is held in his
own social group by a rigid social system he fails to achieve the
self-development and usefulness which are within his capacity,
but his children raise the general biological level of his group.

S56

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

If he is raised to a higher social plane his children lower the
biological level of the new group, unless by some happy chance
he and his children marry persons whose inheritance happens to
overcome their weaknesses. That, alas, is rare. But being raised
to a higher group, the man from the lower classes tends to have
fewer children than would have been the case had he remained
in his own class. Thus, as a rule, although by no means always,
the man^s inheritance is applied in such a way that it takes away
relatively strong elements from the lower class and tends to in-
crease the numbers of that part of the middle class which though
temporarily efficient may at any time revert to the "shirt-sleeve"
stage. Moreover, because of the lack of scientific control of mar-
riage, the building up of a numerous group of pure-bred and
highly competent leaders is checked.

What the final effect of thus depletmg the ability of the lower
classes and at the same time diluting the more capable classes
will be, no one can yet tell. This much is certain, the animal
breeder is very slow to permit his blooded stock to become mixed
with mongrel stock, no matter how good a few individual animals
from the mongrel herd may be. Yet on the other hand, the
blooded stock originally was produced by selecting just such
animals from the mongrel herd. Hence we are left in doubt
except as to one thing: by raising the promising young man and
young woman from the lower ranks of society we almost incAdta-
bly reduce the number of their children, and their children are
likely to be above the average of the group from which the
parents were derived.

Putting aside these somewhat speculative considerations, let
us look at certain evidence which shows how rapidly the lower
classes of society are increasing compared with the upper classes.
Here are some figures from Birth Statistics for the Birth Registra-
tion Area of the United States for 1920. They show the number
of children in the famihes of men in various pursuits to whom
children were born in 1920. The figures take no account of dif-
ferences between the professions as to the age of the fathers, the
number of men who are not married, and the number who, al-

A RACIAL TEST

357

though married, had no children. They simply show the actual
size of the families in which children were born in 1920.

OCCUPATIONS OF FATHERS AND SIZE OF FAMILIES IN WHICH
CHILDREN WERE BORN IN 1920 IN THE REGISTRATION
AREA OF THE UNITED STATES

Average

Number of

Average

Cmlaren to

Number of

vi uixiucr yjL

Occupa.tioiis

Children

per Pair of

Children per

Bom in 1920

Parents,

Pair of

Including

Parents in

Children Who

1920

Have Died

Mining

Mine operatives (young)

45,544

4-3

3-6

Mine foremen, overseers, and inspectors . . .

1,022

4.6

3-9

Mine operators, officials, and managers

584

3.2

2.9

1,692

1.9

1.8

Manufacturing

Factory laborers (young)

244,365

3.7

3.1

Factory foremen and overseers

9,534

3-3

2.9

Factory managers, superintendents, owners,

14,142

2-5

2.3

Technical engineers (civil, electrical, me-

5,971

2.1

1.9

Trade and Inventions

Laborers in coal and lumber yards, and

1,165

3-4

2.9

Retail dealers

63,840

3-1

2.8

5,045

2.3

2.1

2,886

2.0

1.8

Personal Service

454

3-9

3.3

2,228

4.1

3.4

Barbers

9,000

3.2

2.8

Lawyers, judges, and justices

4,338

2.4

2.2

Public Service

Garbage men, scavengers, and other labor-
ers (young) . . .

1,744

3.4

2.9

Guards, watchmen, doorkeepers

1,502

4.1

35

3,752

3-2

2.8

Officials and inspectors (city and county) . .

3,752

3-2

2.8

Officials and inspectors (State and U. S.) • • •

2,690

2-3

2.1

In each section of the table the occupations which require
least skill are placed at the top and those requiring most skill
at the bottom. In most cases there is a regular gradation from
families averaging three or four among the unskilled to families

358

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

averaging not far from two among the highly skilled. In each
group of occupations I have added the word "young'' to the
upper line because the men in that particular occupation average
younger than the others, and therefore their families are not so
near completion as are those of older men, such as foremen,
bankers, officials, and the other higher categories. It seems safe
to say that at least six children, and perhaps more, are born to
the average mine operative, and that not less than five of these
live well beyond infancy. On the other hand, it is very doubtful
whether the chemists, assayers, and metallurgists in our table
will have an average of as many as three children, so that not
much over two and a half will survive far into childhood. After
infancy is past the chemists' children may have nearly as high
a death-rate as the children of the miners. Snow, in a paper on
The Intensity of Natural Selection in Man, has confirmed Pear-
son's conclusion that if the death-rate is high in the first year of
life, as it is among the children of mine operatives, it is relatively
low in succeeding years. On the contrary, a low death-rate in
infancy means that the later death-rate is higher than it would
have been under the same conditions of environment if the weaker
infants had perished.

The case of the chemists appears still worse when we remem-
ber that even though the proportion of married men (91 per
cent) among a picked body of leading scientists has been found
by Cattell to be as large as in the population as a whole, the
proportion among Harvard graduates over fifty years of age is
only 72 per cent. Moreover, in both groups the number of child-
less marriages is large because of the relatively advanced age of
the wives. For example, among leading men of science whose
famihes were presumably complete, 22 per cent of those who
were married were childless. Again among these scientific men
the average completed family amounts to only 2.23 children.
As the death-rate among the children up to the usual age of
marriage is about 120 per thousand, the average number of
children reaching that age is 1.96. This, however, takes no ac-
count of the scientists who are not married. If they are included,

A RACIAL TEST

359

the average number of children who live to maturity is approxi-
mately 1.75 per scientist among people who have passed the age
when they are likely to have more children.

Among graduates of Harvard the case is even worse. In 1902
the average Harvard graduate, both married and unmarried,
who had been out of college twenty-five to thirty years had only
1.43 children, as reported by President Eliot. The figures for
other men's colleges are similar, while for women's colleges they
drop as low as an average of only about one child per graduate.
In the same way Kuczynski is reported by Cattell to have found
that among the native white population of Massachusetts the
nimiber of children who survive to maturity was only 1.92 per
family as long ago as 1900. The conditions among all these
groups are probably still worse to-day. In other words, these
competent portions of the community are simply dying out.

The net result of all this is that when allowance is made for
people who are not married, for childless marriages, and for
deaths before maturity, the mine operatives appear to be at least
doubling their number in each generation. On the other hand,
it is extremely doubtful whether the chemists and the kind of
people whom they represent are reproducing themselves, for they
appear to bring to maturity less than one child for each potential
parent. Among persons engaged in manufacturing, trade, per-
sonal service, and pubHc service the general conditions are the
same as in the mining group, as is obvious from the preceding
table. The inefficient people are reproducing themselves very
rapidly, while the more efficient groups are certainly not increas-
ing in proportion to the population and are probably dying out.
Bootblacks, janitors, garbage men, and watchmen are not in the
least danger of becoming scarce, but scientific men, lawyers, and
high officials are producing so few children that their descendants
will probably be less numerous than the present generation. If
our conclusions as to natural selection and the evolution of racial
character are anywhere near correct, it would appear that Amer-
ica is suffering a very rapid and harmful type of selection. It is
a selection similar to that which appears to have made northern

360

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

China so inert, so lacking in public spirit, and so averse to
progress.

The position of women and the status of the family appear
to represent another important selective factor. Here, as in most
cases, sociological advantages must be set over against biological
disadvantages. In fact, throughout our comparisons we find the
same contrast almost everywhere. Even in war there are some
social advantages through the stimulus to patriotism and to the
spirit of bravery and devotion. In religion, education, and in-
dustrial life; in our modern democratic organization of society;
and in the cultural progress represented by cities the world reaps
great advantages through the development of the individual and
the building up of a splendid body of social, poHtical, religious,
scientific, industrial, and other usages for the benefit of future
generations. But at the same time there seems to be a terrible
biological disadvantage through the withdrawal of many of the
finest people from parenthood. Feminism of the right sort, like
religion, education, and democracy, is an admirable thing in
itself, but to an almost greater extent than the others it harms
our racial inheritance and thereby defeats its own end. It is
truly pathetic to see how rapidly the feminists are killing their
own movement. Of course, there are all kinds of feminists, rang-
ing from the confirmed man-hater to the mother of six children.
But the mothers are rarely strong in the faith. They are will-
ing to help their sisters to gain a freedom of which they them-
selves feel little need, but very few would sacrifice a single year
of their children's love for all the women's rights m the world.

I sympathize with the desire of women for full freedom to
have their own careers. Until I realized the biological signifi-
cance of the movement, I was willing to aid it. Now I am still
willing to do so, for true feminism, like religion, philanthropy,
education, and democracy is of fundamental value. But it needs
modification to eliminate its harmful biological aspects. The
truer and nobler feminists believe strongly in marriage, mother-
hood, and home. They merely contend that a woman as well
as a man should have her own career, and should not be bound

A RACIAL TEST

361

to give it up because of children. That sounds reasonable, and
perhaps it is. In actual practice, however, the woman who has
a career rarely has more than one child even if she is married,
and generally she is not married. She puts her career first, and
it usually becomes both the first thing and the last in her life.
The practical result is that whether they wish it or not, the
women who stand strongly for women's rights are rarely the
mothers of the next generation. The mothers are women of a
less independent spirit, those whose love of home, husband, chil-
dren is their strongest motive. They are the ones who are pass-
ing on their qualities to the next generation, and who have in
their hands the early training of that generation. Let the pres-
ent rapid process of selecting the strong-minded women for de-
struction and the gentler, less aggressive ones for motherhood
continue a few generations, and the banner of feminism will have
to be hung on the wall— an interesting trophy. No type can
persist long if it is rigorously picked out for destruction when-
ever it appears.

In this connection divorce has an interesting bearing on the
evolution of racial character. For a long time I viewed with deep
alarm the rapid increase of divorce. One divorce for every 14.3
marriages in the United States in 1896, i for every 11.8 in 1906,
and I for 9.3 in 191 6. This is a terrible record of incompatibility
and unhappiness. But look deeper and see what it means. In
former days when divorce was not so easy, married couples in-
evitably made more effort than now to adjust their differences.
The presence of children helped greatly in this. So too did the
disfavor in which divorce was then held. Now all this is changed;
divorce is common in many circles, although fortunately not in
all. What is the result? Unhappiness? Yes. The breaking
down of the home? Not at all. The contrary will probably be
the result in the long run. Among people who are divorced, the
number of children is inevitably smaller than among those who
are happily married. Even when divorce was rare, the number
of children per family among happily married couples averaged
larger than among the unhappily married. The present freedom

362

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

of divorce greatly increases this disproportion. In other words
it tends to reduce the proportion of children born of the type of
parents who through jealousy, bad disposition, hasty marriage,
infidelity, incompetence, or other causes of discord are not able
to maintain happy homes. Thus here, as in the case of feminism,
we probably have a rapid process of selection whereby the home-
loving, faithful, self-sacrificing type of people are more and more
allowed to be the parents of most of the children. Thus in each
new generation these qualities presumably tend to become more
wide-spread.

Look now at the future of the countries which to-day are
leaders of civiHzation. The great outstanding fact is that the
industrial revolution, the growth of facilities for transportation,
the development of science, the spread of good government, and
many other new conditions have permitted an enormous increase
in population. So long as that increase does not exceed the in-
crease in man's capacity for making a living it is not dangerous.
Already, however, we have practically exhausted the easily avail-
able new land which was one of the chief reasons why such rapid
growth of population was possible. We have also quite surely
passed the stage of most rapid increase in our capacity for trans-
portation, for the development of new and more productive t>pes
of plants and animals, for improvements in other agricultural
methods, and for the exploitation of undeveloped resources.
Hence, as is well shown by East in Mankind at the Crossroads
and by Carr-Saunders in The Population Problem, the present
rate of increase in population must speedily be checked.

Nature's blind way of checking increase at the present stage
of human progress happens to be through a natural selection
which begins at the top, where it works painlessly through vol-
untary restriction of families, late marriages, celibacy, and the
Hke. Then it works down into the less competent classes through
increasing poverty, agricultural distress, industrial stagnation,
famine, war, pestilence, and other disasters. The particular phase
of nature's method which is operating among us resembles in
many ways the selection which has produced such disastrous

A RACIAL TEST

363

effects in the famine-stricken portions of China. In China the
best stock has largely been lost through migration, while the
poorer stock has remained and multiplied until dire famines
were almost the only means of getting rid of the surplus popu-
lation. With us the best material is being selected for destruc-
tion by war, by religious zeal, by education, by a democratic
social system with free opportunities for all, by industrial devel-
opment, by feminism, by celibacy, by late marriages, by birth-
control, by imhealthful occupations, and in numerous other ways.
Moreover, the upper classes are being constantly diluted by mix-
ture with less competent stock from every other class, so that
there is no chance to build up anything at all similar to the pure
strains which among animals are always the ones that can be
steadily relied on for great achievement. Thus our upper classes
decline both in numbers and efficiency. At the same time we are
constantly culling out the best material from the lower classes, and
partially steriHzing it by making it part of the upper classes.
Hence the lower classes grow lower while the upper receive Httle
permanent benefit. Joined with this steady adverse selection is
the ominous growth in the numbers of the lower classes. Unless
a change occurs promptly there is genuine danger that within
the lifetime of our children this country may be so densely popu-
lated that it will be face to face with problems as serious as those
of Europe, while Europe may be confronted by problems almost
like those of China.

If this book carries any lesson to the people of to-day it is
this: A race or a nation can apparently be made or marred by
natural selection. Mere numbers count for nothing: in many
cases a dense population is the greatest of curses, as it has been
in Ireland, China, Japan, and Germany. QuaHty is what counts,
and quahty can be obtained only by diminishing the number of
people who inherit low moral and mental capacities and in-
creasing the proportion who inherit the high qualities which lead
to racial dominance. In the past, without man^s conscious in-
tervention, natural selection has been actively at work, some-
times for good and sometimes for ill. The only question is

364

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

whether a race or nation will control such selection so that it
will always act beneficially as in the first and greatest days of
ancient Greece and Iceland, or will permit it to continue to work
haphazard and perhaps toward great unhappiness, as in China
or in the Greece of later days.

America has gone far on the way toward racial impoverish-
ment, so far that the country already feels that it is slipping.
Historical examples show that the danger is real and great.
Many thoughtful people are already considering how we may
get back to safety; history points out the road. We must set
ourselves diligently to limit and control the future growth of
population. Such conscious control of natural selection may
perhaps be nature's own next method. One aim must be to insure
that all newcomers to our land are of a quaUty above the average
of our own people; then they will do us good, not harm. Another
aim must be a low birth-rate and a low death-rate, so that our
population may increase less rapidly than does our command
over natural resources. Thus we shall be able not only to main-
tain, but raise our standard of living. But a low birth-rate is
of little advantage unless it is differential; and the differences must
be of the right sort. To-day, as we have seen, the people of highest
ability largely fail to reproduce themselves; the garbage men
double themselves in every generation. Unless such differences
are reversed, the future is dark. The ideal condition would be
large families among the tenth of the population having the
soundest combination of physical health, good intellect, strong
wills, and fine temperaments. Among persons standing lower in
the scale there should be progressively fewer children until the
lower tenth has none at all. In the Middle Ages, according to
Carr-Saunders, an imperfect approximation to such a system
actually prevailed in western Europe. In the future a better
approximation is entirely possible. We may reasonably hope
that some day the average family among the most competent
people will consist of perhaps four to six children, while the
numbers among those of less ability will diminish to such a
point that the population as a whole will increase only at the

A RACIAL TEST 365

slow rate which accords with the growth of man's control over
nature.

Of course there are innumerable objections to any such sys-
tem. What incentive will ever induce the lower classes to limit
their famiHes? Is it possible to check the present feminist ten-
dencies so that all of the finest women will unhesitatingly choose
motherhood ? And how can we make it economically possible for
persons engaged in intellectual, religious, and philanthropic pur-
suits to support and educate half a dozen children ? These ques-
tions must be answered by future generations, but they are no
more difficult than a hundred others which mankind is success-
fully answering.

Meanwhile we must ascertain with more certainty the exact
biological effect of a differential birth-rate. Here is a sample of
the kind of problem that must be faced. It is generally agreed
that the interval between one child and another ought to be two
or three years. Hence if the more competent people, as a rule,
are to have families of five or six children, marriage should take
place while the men are under thirty years of age and the women
in the middle twenties. But according to Redfield these ages are
much too young; the human race would be greatly benefited if
the birth of children were delayed till the parents are not far
from forty years of age. He bases this conclusion on many in-
teresting facts as to the relatively high competence of the prog-
eny of old parents among dogs, cows, horses, and men. Here is
a little table which sums up his findings as to the average age of
fathers at the birth of their sons. The degree of capacity increases
as one goes down the table. According to Redfield, "the average
quality of the men in the different groups is well represented by
the attached figures.

AVERAGE AGE OF FATHERS WHEN CHH-DREN WERE BORN

Chicago, all births registered 1111913 31.2 years

Persons born in New England in the i8th and 19th centuries 33.8 years

865 living American men of science 35.0 years

100 eminent English men of science, per Galton 36.0 years

299 eminent British men of genius of all sorts, per Ellis 37.1 years

366

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

39 eminent men of the i8th and 19th centuries in whole world,

Yoder 37.8 years

1,028 cases in pedigrees of 571 great men of all times and countries,

Redfield 40.7 years

The consistent increase in the ages of the fathers as the degree
of eminence increases evidently means something. Redfield
thinks that it means that parents transmit to their offspring the
ability which they acquire through their own efforts. Hence the
older the parents the more they are Hkely to have children of
unusual ability.

But what does the table really mean? If Redfield is right,
the youngest son or daughter in any group of brothers and sisters
ought on an average to show more ability than the eldest. Ac-
cordingly I asked a dozen friends to classify their acquaintances
who belong to large families, basing the classification on general
competence and influence. Brothers and sisters were classified
separately in groups of three; a few cases were taken from refer-
ence books. If a person's achievements have no relation to his
birth-rank, the averages given below ought to be exactly 2.00.
If the first-born is always the most competent and the youngest
least competent the averages should be i.oo, 2.00, 3.00. Here is
what we actually find:

AVERAGE RANK IN GENERAL COMPETENCE AND INFLUENCE

Oldest

Second

Third

1-93

2.02

2.05

1.94

2. 10

1.98

Average of 187 cases

1.93

2.05

2.02

This suggests that the oldest son or daughter is a trifle more
influential than those born later, but the differences are so slight
that they are probably accidental. The youngest person who made
this classification, a man of about twenty-four years, placed the
oldest brother or sister relatively higher than did any other of my
collaborators. This is natural, for among his young acquaintances
the oldest in any group has had most chance to show what is
in him. On the other hand, among twenty cases that I estimated

A RACIAL TEST

367

from books, the rank of all three sons was identical. The people
classified in the preceding table belonged largely to professional
families or to those of successful business men— just the ones
among whom Redfield's supposed inheritance of acquired char-
acteristics ought to be most prominent. The average difference
in age between oldest and youngest was at least seven years and
probably more, or approximately as much as the difference be-
tween the highest and lowest groups in Redfield's table. But the
results show no hint of superiority in the youngest child, and the
faint hint of superiority in the eldest is probably mere accident.

In order to test the matter in another way I have selected from
the genealogical memoirs of the Adams, Churchill, Lincoln, Ly-
man, and Huntington families a group of persons whose bio-
graphical sketches show that they were leaders and possessed
unusually high moral and intellectual qualities. Of course it is
impossible to pick out all such leaders, but the persons here
chosen certainly average far above the general level of those who
have borne these five family names, and likewise above their
brothers and sisters. To each person thus chosen two birth-ranks
were assigned, one counting from the eldest child and one from
the 3/oungest. If there were five children in a family, for exam-
ple, the second would have a birth-rank of two, counting from
the eldest, and of four counting from the youngest. The average
of each rank for all five children would be three. Now if the age
of the parents has any appreciable effect upon the ability of the
children, the three hundred unusually competent and valuable
persons here chosen ought to show at least a slight tendency to
fall in the younger rather than the elder halves of their respective
families. In other words, the birth-rank reckoned from the
oldest child ought to be greater than from the youngest, but here
is what we find:

BIRTH-RANK OF LEADERS

Reckoned from

Oldest child

Youngest child

88 Churchills

30

4-6

4.2

4-4

4.2

4-4

368

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

I do not feel sure that there is any biological significance in
the uniform, though slight, tendency for the leaders here and in
our previous comparison to fall among the older rather than the
younger members of their families. The important point is that
all the evidence is adverse to the idea that the age of the parents
is in itself a factor in determining the ability of the children.

As a final test we may investigate the age of the seventy fathers
of the members of the Adams family who were used in the pre-
ceding comparison. All these fathers were born previous to 1780,
for in this particular case I wished to avoid comphcations due to
the decline in the size of families during the past century. We wiU
compare their age when their notable sons were born with that
of the 420 fathers whose 2,850 children form the group from
which the 70 leaders were chosen. FamiHes with one child, two
children, three children, and so forth, were treated separately in
order that there might be no error because large families pro-
duce an absolutely greater mnnber of leaders than small famihes.
The net result is that at the time of the birth of their first child
the fathers of the leaders were 0.2 year yoimger than the average
father at the birth of the first child; at the birth of the last child
they were correspondingly older than other fathers of equally
large families by 0.4 year. At the birth of their notable children
these same seventy fathers averaged 33.7 years, which is o.i
year older than the estimated age of the other fathers at the
birth of corresponding children. Here again there is no evi-
dence that the age of the parents makes any difference in the abil-
ity of the children. Eminent men undoubtedly tend to be the
sons of relatively old fathers, but that presumably is not be-
cause of the fathers' age. The reason may be that the type of
parents who produce eminent children tend to marry late; or per-
haps unusual vigor in the parents causes them to have children
late in life and helps to give the children the physical vigor which
is one of the greatest aids to eminence.

Although this study of the age of parents lends no support to
the hypothesis of the inheritance of acquired abiHty, it re-enforces
a conclusion which Galton emphasizes, but which is only half

A RACIAL TEST

S69

appreciated. The conclusion is that when one member of a
family displays unusual ability there is a strong tendency for
his near relatives, especially his brothers and sons, to do likewise.
Thus the important thing is not to be born of old parents or
young parents, but to be born in the right family. The great
biological danger is not from early marriages, but from the fact
that in our day families which might produce eight or ten un-
usually talented children usually produce only one or two, while
those which cannot produce a single competent child produce
eight or ten incompetents.

This brings us back to our main problem of selection. What
do the precedmg facts indicate as to how our modern system of
late marriages and birth-control influences natural selection?
The answer seems to be implied in the following fact: If the Anglo-
Saxon families of the United States up to about 1850 had been
limited to three children, about half of the leaders in the various
family groups discussed above would not have been born. In
other words, one of the main things done by the modern system
of smaU families is to prevent the birth of more than about
three children to parents who are strong physically, mentally,
and morally, and who under a wiser social system might have
produced numerous children with more than the usual capacity
for leadership. Although we have no statistics, it is highly
probable that among people who would have had only two or
three children under the old system the number of children has
not diminished in anything like so large a ratio as among the
people who might have had a dozen. Among the incompetents,
no matter whether they are physically strong or weak, the num-
ber of children has probably not yet declined much, if at all,
in America, while the proportion of survivals has increased.

This whole line of reasoning adds another to the many types
of evidence which show that our present system of marriage and
birth-control is acting as a strong adverse selective factor. There
seems to be no remedy except a gradual, but deep-seated social
revolution whereby society shall impose new, drastic, and thor-
oughly scientific criteria as to what kind of people shall have many

S70

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

children and what kind few. It seems imperative that we devise
social rather than legal incentives to persuade one kind of people
to refrain from having large families and another type to have
such families. We must teach the physically weak and the men-
tally and morally incompetent to say: "Why should we be
burdened by having many children?" But those w^ho have
an unusually good inheritance must be persuaded to say: "To
us has been given strength of body and mind. Our children are
almost sure to be above the average. Society stands in imperative
need of such children; they are its salvation. Therefore we must
have children, even although it means sacrifice."

Long before society as a whole has decided what kind of
people shall increase in numbers and what kind shall diminish,
there will probably be significant progress in one of those great
processes of selection which have been the theme of this book.
Already we see not only a beginning of the restriction of the
birth-rate among the lower as well as the upper classes, especially
in France, but in England and America the tide of restriction
among the upper classes is beginning to turn. A compact group
of thoughtful, conscientious, progressive, and strong-minded
people are acquiring a new sense of the value of the home as the
center of progress and a new sense of responsibility for the produc-
tion of leaders for the next generation. They are the kind of
people who leave the conveniences of city apartments, and move
to the suburbs for the sake of the children. They put up with dis-
comforts and annoyances in order to have homes where the chil-
dren will thrive. They gladly curtail parties, travel, the thea-
ter, and the club because they feel that the home and their chil-
dren are of infinitely greater value. They hkewise watch over
their children as never before, not only to train them aright, but
to insure marriages free from taint and full of promise of children
who will be bold and noble leaders.

This ends our interpretation of the parable of races. The full
interpretation is so complex and vast that perhaps the greatest
of libraries will not suffice to contain all the books that will some

A RACIAL TEST

871

day be written about it. Those books will doubtless explain the
great mystery which now underlies all our studies, the mystery
of the origin of new characteristics and of the curiously divergent
types which we call mutants and variants. A knowledge of these
will vastly help in understanding the process of natural selection.
Yet even now, although we are so ignorant as to how new types
arise, we understand something of the way in which the survival
of certain types is fostered by various factors of physical environ-
ment such as the relief of the earth's surface, climate, mineral
resources, vegetation, parasites, disease, food, and many other
conditions. We see that human inventions, social customs, re-
ligious practises, forms of government, the progress of science,
modern industry and transportation, and a host of other cultural
conditions play an enormous part in picking out one type for
slow destruction and another for preservation. The more we
study this process of selection, the more we realize why one race
differs from another in temperament and mentality as well as
in physique, and why the spirit of one age is diverse from that of
the next.

Throughout the course of human history the pioneer, cityman,
plowman, and seeker-for-truth have always been important types.
In the earliest days the anthropoid ape who first essayed to walk
across a broad clearing was a pioneer; the one that lost his life
because in eager search for fruit he failed to scent a tiger was a
primeval cityman; the plowman breed of apes clung closely to the
trees; while the seeker-for-truth picked up a crooked stick, han-
dled it curiously, swung it aimlessly, and discovered that with it
he could strike a blow that would hurt his enemy. Thus it has
been all through the ages. At frequent intervals some crisis has
sent out pioneers to found an empire in India or China, to mingle
with other pioneers and form new races in the belt surrounding
the Mediterranean, or to people new continents in post-glacial
Europe, America, Australia. With equal frequency men of a
certain type have flocked to the market-places and cities in hope
of gain. Those cities have been the graveyards of racial progress,
for luxury, ease, excitement, vice, and lack of good air and exer-

372

THE CHARACTER OF RACES

cise have sapped the strength of their inhabitants. The plowmen
who have remained in the old homes have not perished as have
the city men, but often they have been scarcely more than the
dregs from which the better portions have been drained, as in
parts of north China. All through the ages the seekers-for-truth
have been ruthlessly exterminated because they sacrificed them-
selves for the good of others, because they would not conform
to strict archaic laws, and because out of sheer love of knowl-
edge, or dissatisfaction with things as they are, they ruined
their health by overwork, put off marriage imtil it was too late,
or sought asylum in monasteries.

From many points of view this eternal drama of nature's
choice of some types for destruction and others for preservation
seems unutterably sad. It has been a powerful factor in the decay
of almost every fallen nation from ancient Eg}^t to modem
Spain. Yet the drama has also its encouraging aspects. The pro-
cess which left certain Chinese villages almost subnormal has
helped to give the Chinese community of northern Manchuria
an almost American progressiveness. The persistence of a chosen
inheritance in Iceland and the high quality of that inheritance
after a thousand years are veritable messages of glad tidings. It
is inspiring to realize that prolonged selection could cull out
pioneers from the rough peoples that invaded England one or two
thousand years ago, and later could cull from the descendants of
those same pioneers a group of seekers-for-truth such as the fa-
mous New Englanders in the Hall of Fame. If such things can
happen under Nature's seemingly haphazard regime, why should
they not happen ten times more often under the sane direction
of the science that is gradually evolving?

Ever since the discovery of America the world has been in the
throes of a colossal revolution whereby man has increased his
dominion over Nature almost incredibly. This era of material
progress seems to be nearing its cKmax. What more can we expect
now that we can travel in the air, the ocean, and the earth as
well as on the ocean and the earth ? Can we not see and hear that
which is happening thousands of miles away? Shall we not soon

A RACIAL TEST

373

send power wheresoever we will without pipe, belt, or wire ? We
are learning to transmute metals, to contend on victorious terms
with minute parasites, and to break the atom into its electrical
components. Much more that is wonderful is doubtless yet to
come, but we may well question whether any material invention
for many a long century, not even the harnessing of the power of
the Sim, will change human life so much as have modern trans-
portation, communication, and manufacturing, modern medicine
and chemistry, and the discovery of vast continents untouched
by the main streams of progress. So great has been the change
that mankind is dazed, perplexed, and seems to be hurrying to-
ward self-destruction.

But while the material revolution thus whirls madly to its
climax, we faintly see the beginnings of another and greater
revolution. It is the biological revolution. Thus far modern sci-
ence has scarcely touched man's own self. It has, to be sure,
made marvelous strides in healing the sick and preventing dis-
ease, and in improving the breeds of domestic animals and plants,
but man as a biological species is not appreciably different
from what he was at the beginning of civilization. Our aim for
ten thousand years has been the mastery of things rather than the
mastery of ourselves. Yet already the revolution is at hand.
Whether we will or no, it seems probable that the advanced na-
tions will attempt to control their own physical evolution, and
that the rest of the world will follow suit or perish. This attempt
is sure to create terrific rivalries, dissensions, revolutions, and
even wars; no man can foresee all that will happen. To timid
souls the prospect is appalling. To the true pioneer and still
more to the seeker-for-truth it is as the cry of battle to the war-
rior. Behold what natural selection seems to have done in the
past, in Greece, in Iceland, in colonial America 1 Dare we at-
tempt to do the same once more in a grander, better way ? And
can we succeed ? These are the questions which centuries of
struggle will answer during the biological revolution whose
dawn even now reddens the eastern sky.

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A History of China. New York, 1901.

The Manchu Conquest of China. The Journal of Race
Development, vol. 4, no. 2, 1913.

Unpublished manuscript on China.

Age and Area. A Study in Geographical Distribu-
tion and Origin of Species. Cambridge (Eng.), 1922

Man and Culture. New York, 1923.

INDEX

A

Abbott, E., cited, 245, 374
Abdul Hamid, 145

Aboriginal America, anomalies of, 156 jf.
Achseans, 236, 244; migrations of, 240 ff.
Acquired characteristics, inheritance of,
365/.

Acquisitiveness, racial trait, 215
Adams, B., cited, 324, 374
Adams family, 324, 367 ff,
Adams, Henry, 324
Adams, John, 325
Adams, J. F., 324
Adams, J. Q., 325

Adaptability, of Greeks, 240 /. ; 267 /. ; of

Norse, 267
Adaptation to environment, 34
Aegeans, 236, 238
Aerial warfare, 339
Afghans, raids among, 120
Africa, aborigines, 73; migrations in, 21,

59; Norse in, 254; pastoralism in, 112;

Proto-Australoids in, 89; Proto-Ne-

groids in, 89
Agassiz, L., 325

Age, and area, 80; of fathers, 365 ff.
Agriculture, in Arizona, 108; Icelandic,

274 /., 283; origin of, 60; primitive

American, 92
Aigun, 200
Air Service, 329

Alaska, 62 ; climate of, 63; Indians of, 53;

insanity in, 67
Alcseus, 241
Alcott, L. M., 324
Aleppo, 140
Aleutian Islands, 102
Algeria, nomads of, 123; pirates of, 297
Algonkians, 90, 91 ff.
Alikaluf, 89 /., 92

Alpine race, 83/., 207, 210 ff.; achieve-
ments of, 231; in Crete, 237/.; defined,
5; genius of, 228; racial position of, 77

Althing, 291 /.

Amazon River, 71

America, causes of greatness, 308 ff. ; con-
trast with Europe, 161; early culture

of, 61; early immigrants, 61; eminent
men in, 349; migrations in, 77; natural
selection in, 301 ff. ; political leaders in,
227; racial character in, 90; racial im-
poverishment in, 364 ; scientists in, 342 ;
suppression of, 61 ff.

American Indians, origin, 63 ff.

American Museum, 33, 35

American Revolution, 306

Americans, character of, 330 /. ; selection
of modern, 301 ff.

Amoy, vehicles in, 164

Anadyr Peninsula, glaciation in, 55

Andrews, CM., 302, 374

Angkor Tom, 1 1

Angkor Wat, 10/.

Angles,^ 248, 265, 303

Anhwei, famines in, 177, 182

Animals, during famines, 180; in glacial
Europe, 51; origin of domestic, 21

Anomalies of aboriginal America, 88 ff.

Antarctica, winds of, 48

Anthropoids, as human ancestors, 27

Anthropology, generalizations of, 74

Ape-man, 31; of Java, 24

Arabia, migrations in, 59; nomadism in,
114 ff.; deserts of, 57

Arabs, character of, 115 /.; leadership
among, 153; migrations of, 208; in
Sicily, 266

Aral, Sea of, 57

Arcadia, 243

Architecture, Norman, 265 Jf. ; relation to

selection, 18
Arctic hysteria, 68 ff.
Arctic problem, 67
Area, and age, 81

Aridity, in Central Asia, 27; and Chinese
migrations, 149; and human dispersal,
24; and natural selection, 44

Aristocracy, in England, 250; in Greece,
245

Aristotle, 246

Arizona, 92; agriculture in, 108
Arkansas, eminent men in, 317
Armenians, character of, 137 ff., 146; de-
portations of, 139 ff.; physique of, 140;
migrations of, 208

380

INDEX

Armor, effect on natural selection, 338

Art, in Belgium, 225/.; Bohemia, 225/.;
Cambodia, 11; Europe, 223; Holland,
244/.; Italy, 226; among nomads, 125/.
of Normans, 265 /.

Artists in Europe, map, 223

Aryans, 5

Asia, aridity in, 42; centre of evolution,
23/.; contrast with Europe, 53; deserts
of» 63; glacial period in, 52 ff.; migra-
tions from, 77; original human home,
20 ff. ; nomads in, 112 ff,', original home
of man, 20 ff., 81

Asia Minor, 54; Greeks in, 241 ff.; migra-
tions in, 59

Asiatic languages, in America, 62

Associated charities, and natural selec-
tion, 336

Athelred II, 292

Athens, natural selection in, 244 ff. See

Attica
Atlantic Drift, 274
Atlantis, 61

Attica, serfs in, 237; settlement of, 242 ff.
Australia, aborigines, 73; early migrants

in, 21; Norse type in, 266
Australoids, in South Africa, 85
Austria, achievements of, 231; political

leaders in, 227; birth rate in, 354
Aural index, 77
Aviators, 329
Aztecs, 88, 92
Azubah, 129

B

"Babbitt," 331

Babylonia, deportations to, 134 ff.
Bacon, Sir Francis, 301
Backhouse, E., 156, 374
Balkans, 227
Baltic Sea, 233

ancroft, G., 325

anditry, in China, 175, 193
Bantus, 85 /.
Baptism, in Iceland, 289
Baptists, eminence among, 319, 321 ff.;

natural selection among, 322
Barrel!, J., 27, 29, 374
Bashford, J. W., 374
Bates, H. W., 24, 71, 374
Bathing, among Chinese, 168; relation to

climate, 289
Beans, 92
Beduin, 114 ff.

Beggars, in China, 162, 164, 175

Belgium, 254; achievements of, 231; art
in, 225; political leaders in, 227; scien-
tists from, 312

Beni Sakr, 115

Benjamin, tribe of, 131

Berbers, 123

Bering Island, 102

Bering Strait, 62 /. ; glaciation near, 55

Bermaz, 137

Bey Shehr Lake, 142 /.

Bible, 129/.

Biographies, 235

Birthplaces of eminent persons (maps),

223, 225, 227, 229, 286
Birthrate, American, 310 /., 354, 356;

urban, 194, 346, 353; restriction of,

365, 370
Bishop, C. W., 374
Bland, J. O. P., 156, 374
Block, cited, 281
Blondness, in Greece, 238, 246
Boas, F., 74
Boeotia, 243

Bohemia, achievements of, 231; art in,

225; political leaders in, 227
Boomerang (map), 79
Boulger, cited, 196, 374
Brahmaputra River, 14, 26
Brain, evolution of, 30, 50; size of, 31
Breidifjord, 291
Brides, in China, 190
Brigandage, in China, 175, 193
Brinton, D. G., 71

British, character of, 214/.; contact with
China, 200; as settlers in U. S., 65;
See also England and English

British Charitable Hospital, 194

British Isles, in Britannica, 230

Broad-heads, location, 77

Brothers, relative ability of, 365 ff.

Brownists, 322

Bryant, W. C, 325

Bryce, James, 2 269, 278, 291, 374

Brythons, 303

Burmah, 15

Burton, R. R., 292 374
Bushmen, 85/.
Byzantine Emperors, 354

C

Caleb, 129
Calendar, Maya, 63

California, 88; agriculture in, 107 /.;
genius in, 316; gold in, 328; human
relics in, 61; Indians of, 100, 103 jf.;

INDEX

S81

leadership in, 327; natural selection in,
329

California Institute of Technology, 327
Cambodia, ruins in, 10 ff.
Cambridge University, cephalic index at,
31

Campbell, G., 168, 195/., I97/., 374
Canada, ice in, 63; scientists from, 312
Canals, in Shantung, 171
Cannibalism, in China, 177 ff., 188/.
Canton, 199, 202; first Chinese in, 149;

Hakkas in, 167
Cantonese, character of, 160
Cape Horn, 91

Caravan roads, importance of, 131
Caribbean Sea, colonization schemes in,
302

Carr-Saunders, 362, 374
Caspian race, Dixon's, 83/., 89, 207, 209,
257

Caspian-Mediterranean blend, 90, 92
Cathay, 152

Catholics, eminence among, 320. See

Roman Catholic Church
Cattell, J. McK., 342, 346, 358/., 374
Caucasus, migrations in, 59
Celibacy, 340 #•

Central America, civilization in, 61;
ruins in, 11

Central Asia, decline of glacial period in,
58; migrations in, 57; upheaval of, 27

Central Europe, migrations in, 77

Cephalic Index, 77 (map); 79 (map).
See Head form. Broad-heads, Long-
heads, and Round-heads

Chang La, 26

Channing, W. E., 325

Chaplicka, quoted, 70

Character, of Americans, 333; of Dutch,
333; of English, 333; and environ-
ment, 286 ff.\ geographical distribu-
tion of, 215 ff.; of Germans, 333; of
Indians, 65; of Turks, 333

Charity, among Chinese, 192; and na-
tural selection, 336

Charlemagne, 258 /., 261

Chehsi, 182

Chekiang, 180, 182; famines in, 196;

Hakkas in, 196; officials from, l6l
Chemists, children of, 358
Chi, 178

Chicago, age of fathers in, 365

Chihli, famines in, 177 /.; migrations

from, 200 ff.; officials from, 161
Children, 357; effect of migrations on, 13,

304; per family, 194, 353 mortality

of, in Crete, 238; sale of, m China, 177,
187/.
Ch'in, 148

China, early migrations in, 21, 58; Eu-
ropean contact with, 164/.; famines ixi,
170/.; history of, 148, 179, 203/.;
leaders in, 155, 160/.; progress in, 60;
rainfall in, 170 ff.; selection in, 362;
social origins in, 60

Chinese, vs. Americans, 337; brains of,
78; head form of, 77; as invaders, 148;
in Manchuria, 200; natural selection
among, 184 ff.; officials (map), 161;
physique of, 185, 333/.; warlike quality
of, 155

Chinese Bannermen, 161

Chinook Indians, 103

Chios, 242

Chosen, 58

Christianity, in Iceland, 269, 289, 292/.;
origin of, 133 /.

Chronicles, book of, 130

Chukchees, 53; hysteria among, 70; sui-
cide among, 69

Churchill family, 367

Cities, birth rate in, 346; effect on selec-
tion, 193/.; leadership in, 346/,, 348,
352; Mediterranean, 213; test of, 346 ff.

Cityman, 7, 371

Civilization, defined, 228; European, 335;
and glaciation, 332 ff. ; localization of,
59; map, 225; origin, 60; racial ten-
dencies of, 332 ff.

Clapham, 78

Clarke, E. L., 309 349, 374

Clarke, J. P., 324

Class distinctions, in America, 307

Clay, as food, 179

Cleanliness, relation to climate, 289

Clergymen, children of, 318 ff., 321, 342jf.

Cleomenes, 246

Climate, of California, 328/.; China, 164,
170; Greece, 247; Iceland, 273; Ireland,
248 ff.; North Sea region, 252/.; Nor-
way, 219; Sicily, 219, 268

Climate, effects of, on civilization, 88; in
cold regions, 65; evolution, 34; famines.
183; health, 289/.; human character,
92, 288^.; human origins, 22; leader-
ship, 329; migrations, 349

Climatic changes, 55, 206; in Iceland,
293 ff' ; and migrations, 205 ff. ; in Nor-
way, 260 ff.

Climatic cycles, 47

Climatic energy, 88; map, 232

Clothing, 21

382

INDEX

CIutton-Brock, 3, 374
Coffee, among Arabs, 116
Coleman, R. V., 174
Colonists, qualities of, 215, 217
Colorado, leaders in, 316
Colorado River, Indians on, 107 /.
Como, persecutions at, 342
Communism, and natural selection, 215
Complexion, 78

Coneybeare, C. A. V., 259, 268, 374
Confucius, temple of, 164
Congregationalists, eminence among,
319; natural selection among, 321 ff.
Connecticut, eminence in, 315/.
Conservatism, in China, 177
Constantinople, 254

Constitution, of Iceland, 291; of U. S.,

306 ^ ^

Continents, distribution of headform in,

75; evolution in, 34
Cooper, Peter, 325
Copper Island, 102
Coprolite jaw, 42
Corn, 92
Cossacks, 69
Couvade (map), 79
Cranial capacity, 77
Cranial types, among women, 84
Crete, civilization of, 239 ff.; settlers in,

237

Cross, sign of, 137/.
Cultural conditions, 79 (map)
Curiosity, racial trait, 211 /.
Cushman, C, 325
Customs, racial, 79 (map)
Cycles, in history, 148, 203
Cyclonic storms, 47
Czechs, migrations of, 77

D

Dakotas, eminence in, 315 ff.
Dana, R. H., 324

Danes, 248, 326; in England, 255, 265;

among Vikings, 303
Daniel, Book of, 134
Davies, G. R., 348/., 374
Dead Sea, 57

Death rate, in cities, 194; in Europe,
279 /.; in famines, 184; in Iceland,
279/., 286 (map); among infants, 358

Deformation, of heads, 79 (map)

Delhi, Prince of, 12

Demetrius Phalerius, 246

Democracy, 346 ff.; among Arabs 125,
biological effect of, 355 ff.

Demosthenes, 245

Denmark, 55; political leaders in, 227
Denominations, natural selection among,
321 #.

Deportation, of Armenians, 139 jf.

Deserts, effect of, on evolution, 58, 73;
map, 48; migration, 206; racial char-
acter, 56

Deterioration, of races, 18

Diagrams. See Maps

Diet, in Iceland, 300. See Food

District of Columbia, eminent persons in,

Divorce, in Europe, 213; effect on racial

inheritance, 361
Dix, Dorothy, 324

Dixon, R. B., 75/., 77/., 81, 85, 88/.,
102, 166, 209, 212, 234, 256/., 374

Dnieper River, 354

Docility, racial trait, 214

Domestic animals, and civilization, 112;
in Iceland, 275

Domestic plants, origin of, 21

Door court, 292

Dorians, 240/., 244

Doughty, C. M., 121, 374

Drake, 301

Drought, in Arabia, 121 ff.; in China,
154, 170/.; as cause of famines, 176 ff.;
effect on raids, 117/.; in Sicily, 218

Dublin, 254

Duckworth, 78

Dutch, character of, 333

Dyradomr, 292

E

Earthquakes, in Iceland, 271, 294, 298
East, E. M., 334, 362, 375
East Anglia, 326; home of Puritans, 302
Eastern Tsin, 195

Economy, relation to famines, 185 ff.
Eddas, 256 ff.

Education, in America, 306; in Europe,
223; effect on inheritance, 314, 320;
effect on leaders, 349; effect on selec-
tion, 344; leaders in, 223 (map)

Edwards, H. J., 244, 375

Egypt, 54; domestic animals in, 113; re-
lation to America, 61 ; migrations to, 59

Eirik Eymundsson, 259

Elbe, Norse at, 254

Eliot, C. W., 324, 346, 359, 375

Elizabeth, Queen, 301

Elliot, G. F. L., 27, 375

Elliot (Odysseus), 144, 375

INDEX

383

Ellis, H., 302 /., 365, 375

Emerson family, origin of, 303

Emerson, R. W., 325

Eminence, distribution of, 228, 303, 309,
312, 314, 347/.

Emotional selection, 322 /.

Empress Dowager, 151

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 220 jf., 230,
235, 277, 279 ^

Energy, and genius, 233

Engineers, eminent children of, 319

England, character of, 222, 333; genius
in, 220 ff., 302/.; immigration to, 248,
342; versus Ireland, 248/,; migrations
from, 250; Normans in, 265/.; Norse
in, 261 /., 264; persecutions in, 342;
scientists from in U. S., 312; in six-
teenth century, 301 /. See British,
and English

English, in Iceland, 295^.; migrations of,
77, See British, and England.

Environment, adaptation to, 34; and
character, 286 ff.; and genius, 228; in
Iceland, 299; and inheritance, 309^.,
320; and leadership, 348^. ; potency of,
92; and social position, 78

Ephesus, 242

Epidemics, in Iceland, 294
Episcopalians, 321 ff.; children of, 319
Erna, 257
Esau, 129

Eskimos, 53, 67, 89 /., 92; cleanliness
among, 289

Esther, Book of, 134

Ethelbert, 259

Euphrates River, 120

Europe, celibacy in, 341 ; character of,
220^. ; in China, 165 ; center of civiliza-
tion, 60; contrast with America, 88;
contrast with Asia, 53 ; glacial period in,
49, 51 /m 56, 58; evolution in, 336/.;
land connections of, 42; leadership in,
234; migrations in, 206 ff.; races of
(map), 76, 77; type of civilization, 325

Europeans, classification of, 235; in
tropics, 51

Evangelists Island, 91

Evolution, centers of, 33; human, 36 ff.;
mental, 332 #.

Examinations, Chinese, 152, 161

Extroverts, 213

F

Factories, effect on character, 337
Family, in China, 188/.; rural vs. urban,
355; size of, 310, 354, 357, 366/.; size

according to occupation of fathers, 357 ;
status of, 360

Famine, in Chekiang, 196; in China, 154,
156, 170 ff., 176 ff.; deaths in, 184; in
England, 295, 297; in Iceland, 270, 274,
295, 297; in Ireland, 248 /. ; and migra-
tion, 199; relief of, 189

Farmers, birthrate among, 353 ff. ; chronic
depression of, 352; leaders among, 347,
352

Fathers, of eminent men, 357; age of,

365 ff. See also Eminence
Feet, of Chinese women, 162/.; of Hakka

women, 168
Feminism, 346^., 360 ff.
Fidelity, among raiders, 127
Filial piety, 197

Finland, health in, 23; literature in, 226;
Norse in, 255

Fishermen, birth rate among, 353 ff.;
death rate among, 286 /.; among
Haidas, loi ; in Iceland, 298

Flemings, as migrants, 303, 342

Floods, in China, 170 ff., 176 ff.; in Ice-
land, 271

Florida, eminent persons in, 316, 318;

human relics in, 61
Food, among Arabs, 116, 120; in China,

179, 184; in Iceland, 300; of primitive

man, 28; of shepherds, 116
Forbes, C. S., 375
Foreign-born, in U. S., 353
Forests, Miocene, 28
Formosa, Chinese in, 150
Forty-niners, 328 /.
Foxhall man, 42

France, migrants in, 77, 303; Norse in,

254, 261, 264; persecutions in, 342
Franklin, Benjamin, 325
Freeman, E. A., 265 375
French, in Iceland, 297
French Indo-China, ruins in, 10^.
Friends, eminent people among, 319
Fr6 d, 291 f

Fuchow, 202; migrants from, 196; ve-
hicles in, 164
Fukien, 198; Hakkas in, 196
Furness, H. H., 324
Furniture, among Arabs, 124

G

Gaelic belt, map, 79
Galilee, 131 /.

Galton, F., 341 /., 365, 368, 375
Ganges River, 14

384

INDEX

Garonne, Norse in, 254

Gautier, cited, 123, 375

Genius, distribution in England, 303; in
Europe, 233; maps of, 223, 229, 286,
316. See also Eminence and Leaders

Geographical distribution, of character,
215/

Germans, birth rate of, 354 ; character of,
214, 222, 333; head form of, 77; migra-
tions of, 77; political leaders in, 227;
relation to Turkey, 142

Gibbs, Philip, 266, 330, 375

Gilfillan, S. C., 375

Girls, in China, 162 /., 187 /.

Glacial period, 38, 47 ff., 58, 63; causes,
47; effect on evolution, 49, 332 ffr, in
Europe, 53, 205/.

Glaciation, map of, 48

Gobineau, A. de, i, 375

Goodwin, J. A., 375

Gorm, 259

Government, relation to famines, 177/.,

180 ff.; among nomads, 115/.
Grand Canal, 171
Grant, M., i, 375

Grass, distribution of, 37; as food, 176

Gray, Dr., cited, 194, 375

Greece, achievements of, 231 ; advantages

of, 60; population of, 246
Greeks, character of, 236^.; migrations

of, 208; racial feeling of, 2; science

among, 212; in Sicily, 266
Greenland, hysteria Arctica in, 69; winds

of, 48
Grimsey Island, 280
Grinnell, G. B., 375
Gulf Stream, 274
Gunnlaug Ormstunga, 292

H

Haidas, character of, 109; civilization of,

99/,; origin of, 102
Hainan, settlement in, 150
Hair, as racial trait, 77/.; loss of, 21
Hakkas, 167, 194 ff.
Hale, E. E., 324
Hall of Fame, 324 /.
Han dynasty, 177
Hands, evolution of, 29 ff.
Hangchow, 182
Harbin, 165, 200
Harems, 140, 145
Harold Fairhair, 258 ff., 262
Harvard graduates, children of, 358 /.
Hawes, cited, 237

Hawthorne, N., 325

Head, deformation of, 79 (map); evolu-
tion of, 29/., 75; form of, 62, 74, ff;
77 (map), 228

Head-form, criterion of race, 75; inheri-
tance of, 85; relation to genius, 228

Health, in Iceland, 300; map of, 225, 231
ff.; and progress, 88

Heber, 130

Hebrews. See Jews

Hecate, loi

Hecataeus, 237, 244

Helga, the Fair, 292

Hellas, settlement of, 242 ff.

Herd instinct, 212, 214

Herding, 112. ^ee Nomads, Nomadism.

Herodotus, 246

Hezron, 129

Higginson, T. W., 324

Himalayas, effect on migrations, 59; in
Miocene period, 25

Hing-Ning, 168

Historians, in Europe, 223 (map)
Hiung-nu, 148, 202
Hoang-Ho, 174, 181
Hodge, F. W., 107, 375
Hoklos, 196 /., 203

Holland, 255 ; art in, 225 ; migrations into,
303; Norse in, 261 ; political leaders in,
227; Puritans in, 304; scientists from,
312

Holmes, O. W., 325

Homer, 237, 239, 241

Homicide, in Europe, 213/.

Honan, famines in, 176 /.; migration

from, 196-198
Hongkong, 200
Hopeh, famines in, 177
Horses, among Arabs, 124; evolution of,

35/.

Hospitality, among nomads, 126

Hottentots, 85 /.

Houses, in China, 172

Howeitat Arabs, 117

Hrafn, 292

Hsu, 178

Hu, 180

Huguenots, 222, 248, 342; in America,
305

Human character, first steps in, 20 ff.
Human evolution, abnormal environ-
ment of, 36 jf.
Human remains, 39, 61, 64
Humidity, 23

Humphreys, S. K., 346, 375
Hungarians, birth-rate of, 354

INDEX

S85

Hungary, achievements of, 231 ; literature

in, 226
Huns, invasions of, 195
Huntington family, 367 Jf.
Hupa Indians, 103
Hupeh, famines in, 177
Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne, 322
Hysteria Arctica, 68

I

Ibn Khaldun, 123

Ice Age, 63. See Glacial Period

Iceland, 264. ff. ; agriculture in, 274/., 283,
294; architecture in, 295 /,; books in,
284; changes in character in, 284;
Christianity in, 289 ; cleanliness in, 289 ;
climate of, 273 28g ff., 300; com-
pared with New Hampshire, 280; con-
stitution of, 291; death rate in, 279/.,
286; diet in, 300; domestic animals in,
275; earthquakes in, 294, 298; educa-
tion in, 280 /. ; eminent men in, 279;
environment of, 270^., 300; epidemics
in, 274, 295; fisheries in, 275 /., 284,
298; foreigners in, 272; health in, 300;
illegitimacy in, 281; isolation of, 272;
library references to, 277; literature of,
226, 2'j8ff. ; migrations to, 211/.; mode
of life, 282/.; natural selection in, 284,
299; Norse in, 254^., 262; Norwegian
relations, 294^.; pirates in, 297; print-
ing in, 279; population of, 270; racial
character in, 299; Reformation in, 296
/.; religion of, 272; ship-building in,
296; selection of settlers, 268; small-
pox in, 297; summary of history, 298
ff.; syphilis in, 281 /.; trade of, 2gsff.;
trees in, 274, 294; temperature of, 91;
volcanic eruptions in, 294, 297 /.;
witches in, 297

Iceland moss, 283

Iceland spar, 272

Illegitimacy, in Iceland, 281

Illinois, eminent men in, 316

Immigrants in U. S., character of, sogff. ;
factory work of, 353 ; head-form of, 74

Imperial clan, 152

Implements, racial relations of, 79 (map)
Incas, 88, 92, 273

India, 205; migrations in, 12, 59; moun-
tains of, 26; racial origins in, 60

Indians (American), character of, 66, 71,
88; natural selection among, 68; of
South America, 24

Individualism, racial trait, 211 ff.

Indo-China, Chinese in, 150; ruins in,
10/.

Indo-European race, 5
Indus River, 26

Industry, and birth rate, 353 ff.

Inheritance, and achievement, 352; of ac-
quired characteristics, 365^. ; Athenian
laws of, 245; vs. education, 314, 320;
vs. environment, sogff., 320; of head-
form, 85; persistence of, 2'j'j j.

Intellectual awakening, in England, 301
ff-

Intellectual selection, 322 /.

Interest, rate of, in China, 180

Introversion, racial trait, 213/.

Invasions, of China, 183, 195; and migra-
tion, 199

Inventions, and birth rate, 357

Ionian migrations, 225

Ireland, eminent persons in, 225; land
tenure in, 181; library references to,
277; migrations from, 77; Norse in,
254 /., 264, 261 ; political leaders in,
227

Irish, character of, 215, 236, 247 ff.\ in

Iceland, 254
Iroquois, 90 109
Irrawadi River, 15

Irrigation, primitive, 107/.; in Turkey,
142

Ishmael, 130

Isolation, of Iceland, 271; factor in re-
ligion, 133/.

Israelites. See Jews

Italy, birth-rate in, 354; celibacy in, 344;
land tenure in, 177, 181; Normans in,
265/.; Norse in, 254/.; persecutions in,
342

J

Jackson, H. H., 324
Jacob, 129
Jael, 130

Japan, 205; effect of ice age in, 58
Japanese, adaptability of, 267; scientists

in U. S., 312
Jarls, among Norse, 256 /.
Java, apeman of, 39; Chinese in, 150
Jaw, evolution of, 30
Jcbcl Druze, 118
Jcrahmcel, 129
Jerioth, 129
Jesus, 132/.
Jewett, S. O,, 324

Jews, character of, i2gff.; head-form of,
74; natural selection among, 135 ff.;

386

INDEX

racial feeling of, 2 /. ; scientists among,

in U. S., 312
Job, 129
Jochelson, 69
Jordan, D. S., 324
Joseph, 129
Judah, Tribe of, 131
Judaism, 133/.
Judea, isolation of, 130, 132
Judges, Book of, 130
Junkers, 214

K

Kaffirs, origin of, 86
Kalahari, 87

Kansas River, floods of, 174
Kansu, officials from, 161
Karakorum Pass, 26
Karls, among Norse, 256/.
Katla, volcano, 271
Kautso, 177
Keary, C. F., 267, 375
Keith, A., 375
Kelts, 248

Kendrew, W. C, 91, 375
Kent, migrants in, 303
Khirghiz, 127; agriculture of, 109; clean-
liness among, 289
Kiang Ling, 177
Kiang River, 177

Kiansi, 198; famines in, 177; Hakkas in,
196

Kiangsu, 180; famines in, 177

Kiang Wei, 177, 180

Kia-Yian, 168

Kin words, 79 (map)

Kings, Book of, 130

Kingship, in Europe, 259

Kitans, 152

Kjartan, 291

Kneeland, S., 375

Konia, 142

Koryaks, hysteria among, 70
Kroeber, A. L., 103, 375
Kublai Khan, 151
Kuczynski, 359

Kurds, Armenian origin of, 137 /., 140;

raids among, 120
Kwan Chung, 178
Kwang Tung, 177
Kwantung, 198

L

Labor battalion, 329
Laki, volcano, 270
Lambert, R. S., 140, 375

Lamuts, hysteria among, 70

Land, Norse ownership of, 256, 258 /.;

tenure in China, 177, 181 /.; value in

China, 171
Landnamabok, 294
Language, relation to race, 79
Laos, 196

Lapps, 53; cleanliness among, 289

Latin countries, celibacy in, 344

Latitude, and progress, 158

Latourette, K. S., 375

Law, enforcement in Iceland, 291 /.

Lawyers, eminent children of, 319, 342

Laziness, among nomads, 128; among
Turks, 144

Leaders, among Jews, 135 /.; among
nomads, 126 ff.\ among Turks vs. Ar-
menians, 143, 145

Leaf, W., 236, 239 /., 375

Le Bon, G., 3, 375

Lee, Miss M. P., 175 i95, 375

Leland Stanford University, 327

Lennox, W. G., 194, 376

Levirate, 79 (map)

Lick Observatory, 327

Limbs, of Pygmies, 78

Lincoln family, 367^.

Linguistic stocks, in America, 62

Literacy, among Hakkas, 168

Literary men, map, 223

Literature, pursuit of, in America, 309/.,
349 Jf.; in Europe, 223; in Iceland, 226;
in Portugal, 225/.; in Spain, 226

Li Tsuchung, 154

Lodge, H. C, 324

Loire River, Norse at, 25J.

Longfellow, H. W., 325

Long-heads, location, 76

Los Angeles, 328 /.; skull at, 61, 64

Lop Nor, 57

Lot, 130

Low Countries, 264

Lowell, J. R., 325

Lower California, Indians of, 104 /.

Lowie, R. H., 376

Lumbermen, birth-rate among, 353 Jf.
Lull, R. S., 376
Lyman family, 367

M

MacDougall, W., 209, 211, 267, 376
Maichan, 168
Maidu Indians, 104
"Main St." 331

Malaria, 219, 246 /.; in Crete, 238; in
Sicily, 268

INDEX

387

Malay Peninsula, Chinese in, 150
Malays, in China, 166; cleanliness of, 289
Malnutrition, in China, 185
Mamelukes, and Mongols, 148
Mammals, origin of, 33
Man, origin in Asia, 20
Manchu Dynasty, 150 ff.
Manchuria, Chinese in, 200; invasion of,

148; progress in, 165, 169; rainfall of,

170/.

Manchus, 183, 203; in China, 148, 166;

leadership among, 153; literary degrees

of, 161
Mann, Horace, 325

Manufacturing, and birth-rate, 353 jf.,
357; and character, 272; and leader-
ship, 347

Maps and diagrams: artists in Europe,
223; birthplaces, of Chinese officials,
161; of eminent Americans, 286; of
eminent Europeans, 223, 229; boom-
erang, 79; cephalic index, 76, 77, 79;
civilization, 229; climatic energy, 229,
232; couvade, 79; cultural conditions,
79; customs, 79; death-rates in Iceland,
Norway, and Switzerland, 286; deserts,
48; educational leaders, 223; European
races, 76, 77; Gaelic belt, 79; genius, in
America, 286, 314, 316, 317; in Europe,
223, 229; glaciation, 48; head deforma-
tion, 79; health, 231; historians,
223; kin words, 79; levirate, 79; lite-
rary men, 223; migrations, 76, 77; mili-
tary leaders, 229; monoliths, 79; phi-
losophers, 223; political leaders, 229;
pressure zone, 48; rainfall, 231 ; races of
Europe, 76, 77; religious leaders, 223;
residence of eminent Americans, 316;
scientists, 223; snake and sun cults, 79;
swan-maiden tales, 79; tattooing, 79;
tree growth, 231

Marco Polo, 152

Marriage, among leaders, 358; among
nomads, 127; postponement of, 343,
365, 368/.; among teachers, 344

Massachusetts, children in, 359; eminent
persons in, 515 Jf.

MasF xres, of Armenians, 137 jf.] of Jews,
13 /.

Ma' hew, W. D., 21, 23, 33, 376

Ml as, 92; cleanliness of, 289; hiero-

/phics of, 63; ruins of, II
M yflower, 304
M yor, R. J. G., 286, 376
M Curdy, G. G., 376

Meat, among nomads, 121

Mechanical inventions, and human char-
acter, 337

Mediterranean-Caspian blend, 234

Mediterranean race, 5, 83, 89, 207 /.,
237 /.; character of, 209 ff.; genius
among, 228; in Ireland, 247

Mediterranean region, 60, 205 ; history of,
237

Mei-chau, 198

Menam River, 15

Mental evolution, 332 ff.

Mental selection, in war, 338

Mentality, of apeman, 31

Merchants, birth-rate among, 354; lead-
ers among, 347

Mesopotamia, 54; civilization in, 59;
Jews in, 134; migrations in, 59

Methodists, eminent children among,
319; natural selection among, 321 ff.

Mexico, civilization in, 61; land tenure
in, 182; library references to, 277

Middle Kingdom, 153

Middle States, birth-rate in, 310

Migrations, to America, 62 ff.; in China,
148 ff.; concentration in West Asia, 60;
in Europe, 206 ff.; and glaciation, 58;
hardships of, 54; maps of, 76 ff.; and
natural selection, 12, 18, 151, 203,
303/. ; nature of, 65, 241 ; primitive, 20,
33; tropical, 58

Miletos, 242

Military leaders, 223 (map), 227
Milk, among Arabs, 121
Mimir, 376

Miners, birth-rate among, 353 ff., 357
Ming dynasty, 150

Ministers, eminent sons of, 326, 342 ff.
Minoans, in Greece, 239 ff., 244
Minotaur, 239
Miocene period, 25, 37
Misgovernment, causes of, 154
Missionaries, 192, 199; children of, 343;

in China, 1S7 ff., 189; wide knowledge

of, 168, 175
Mississippi, eminent persons in, 318
Mitchell, Maria, 325
Mixture of races, 19
Moab, 114; raids in, 131
Mohammedanism, converts to, 137/.
Mohave Indians, 107 /.
Mongol dynasty, 150/.
Mongolia, after glacial epoch, 58
Mongoloid race, 83 /,, 209; in South

Africa, 85

388

INDEX

Mongols, in China, 148, 166, 197; leader-
ship among, 153; literary degrees
among, 161; social position of, 77

Monoliths, 79 (map)

Montana, eminent persons in, 317

Moquelumne Indians, 104

Moral code, among Arabs, 122; in Ice-
land, 211 /.

Morocco, 54

Mortality, among children of Crete, 238;

in Europe, 232
Motley, J. L., 325
Mount Wilson Observatory, 327
Mousterian people, 53
Mukden, 165, 200
Mutations, 6, 78
Mycenae, 236; art of, 240
Myers, J. L., 237 /., 246, 376

N

Nanking, 182, 195
Napoleon, 214

Natural selection, i jf.; in America, 301
ff.; and acquisitiveness, 215; in Cali-
fornia, 328; among Chinese, 184^.; in
Europe, 253; in Greece, 246/.; in Ice-
land, 299; among Indians, 68; in Ire-
land, 249/.; among Jews, 133/.; among
Manchus, 152; among nomads, 123;
among Pilgrims, 303; and racial posi-
tion, 78; among religious bodies 321
ff. ; in tropics, 50. See Selection

Nature vs. nurture, 309 ff.

Negrito, racial position of, 77

Negro, 24, 218; optimum temperature
for, 23; racial position of, 77

Negroids, in South Africa, 85

Nehemiah, Book of, 130

Nervous diseases, in Europe, 213

Nevada, eminent persons in, 316

New England, age of fathers in, 365;
birth-rate in, 310; colonization of, 302
ff.; eminent persons in, 315 racial
stock of, 343

New Hampshire, compared with Iceland,
276

New Mexico, agriculture in, 92, 108; emi-
nent persons in, 315; people of, 92

Newton, A. P., 302, 376

New York City, eminent persons in,
316/.; head-form of immigrants, 74

New Zealand, distribution of plants in, 81

Nicoll, J., 298, 376

Ning-hua, 198

Nomads, and agriculture, 109; Asiatic,
112 ff. See also Arabs, Khirghiz.

Nomadism, eflfect on character, 144
Nordics, 5, 77, 90, 92; brains of, 78; char-
acter of, 207, 210 ff.; genius among,
228 ; hair of, 78 ; leadership among, 1 53 ;
racial composition of, 83
Norman Conquest, 255, 264 /.
Normandy, Norse in, 254, 264
Normans, 248, 264 ff., 326; character of,
265/.; in England, 265; as migrants,
303

Norse, 253^.; character of, 216, 260, 267
/.; in England, 265; migrations of,
258 J.

North Africa, early civilization in, 59;
glacial period in, 58; racial origins in,
60

North America, early migrations to, 21;
ice in, 63

Northmen. See Norse and Vikings

North Sea, advantages of, 60; cultural
center, 233, 252 ff.

North South, in China, 158, 185/,, 203

Norway, death-rates in, 287; environ-
ment of, 216; and Iceland, 294 ff.; po-
litical leaders in, 227

Norwegians, in England, 255

Nose, measurement of, 82

Novakovsky, S., 66, 68, 70, 376

Novgorod, 254

Nuchins, 152

Nurhatchu, 153, 155

Nurture vs. nature, 309 ff.

O

Occupations, of fathers of notables, 318,
357

Odin, A., 320, 376

Odinism, in Iceland, 293

Oersefa Jakul, volcano, 270

Officials in China, 186; birth-places of,

161 ; degrees of, 152
Officers, protection of, 339
Oklahoma, eminent persons in, 316
Olafr Tryggvason, 292
Optimum climate, 22
Orbital indices, 77

Oregon, 328; eminent persons in, 317;
Indians, 103

Osborn, H. F., i, 33, 376

Ottoman Turks, 153

Over-population, 181 /., 203, 219; in
China, 156, 171, 174 ff.; in Scandi-
navia, 260

INDEX

389

P

Pah Sauh, 177
Pale-Alpine race, 83 /., 209
Palestine, 129 ff.
Palmyra, 119

Parable, of races, 7, 370 f.
Parker, E. H., 148 376
Parker, T., 324
Parkman, F., 325
Parsis, 245

Parthians, relation to Mongols, 148
Pastoral migrations, of Nordics, 217
Pastoralism. See Nomads, Nomadism,

Arabs, etc.
Peace, effect on racial inheritance, 340
Pearson, cited, 358

Pekin, birth-place of officials, 161; mod-
ernness of, 164; vital statistics of, 194

Pekin Union Medical College, 194

Pelasgians, 243

Periodicity, of famines, 183

Persecution, of Armenians, 137 ff.; effect
on character, 341 ; among religious de-
nominations, 321; effect on selection,
135

Persia, 54, 59

Persians, racial feeling of, 2 /.
Personal service, and birth-rate, 357
Pertag, 120
Peruvians, 92
Petersson, O., 294, 376
Pfeiffer, Ida, 376

Philanthropy, and racial inheritance, 340

Philistines, 133

Philosophers, 223 (map)

Philosophy, and curiosity, 212; distribu-
tion in Europe, 223

Phoenicians, racial feeling of, 2 /.

Physical environment, and racial char-
acter, 233

Physicians, eminent children of, 319, 342
Pilgrims, origin of, 303 ff. See Puritans
Pioneer, in parable, 7, 371
Piracy, in ancient Greece, 243; in Iceland,
297

Pithecanthropus erectus, 39
Plague, 178; in Greece, 246
Plains, of China, 171 ff.
Plants, age of, 80
Pliocene man, 31, 61
Plowman, in parable, 8 ff., 371
Pogroms, 135

Poland, birth-rate in, 354; movement

from, 77
Pole of cold, 70

Political causes of migration, 258 ff.

Political leaders. In America, 227; in Eu-
rope, 224, 227; map of, 225

Population, of Europe in 1800, 235; of
Iceland, 270; of Ireland, 248 /.; of
Greece, 246; increase in, 362/.; stress
of, 334

Portugal, political leaders in, 227; litera-
ture in, 225 /.
Potatoes, in Ireland, 228
Powell, F. v., 294/., 376
Preglacial man, 42

Presbyterians, eminent children of, 319;

racial selection among, 321 ff.
Pressure zone, 48 (map)
Price, Mr., 161

Primogeniture, in England, 250
Printing, in Iceland, 279
Professional men, children of, 342/., 347
Progress, relation to health, 88
Protestants, leaders among, 342 ff.; in

France, 320, 342; origin of, 214/.
Proto-Australoid race, 83/., 90, 92, 166,

209; in Africa, 89
Proto-Negroid race, 83 /., 90, 92, 166,

209; in Africa, 89; among Norse, 256
Public service, relation to birth-rate, 357
Pueblo Indians, 92, 108
Puget Sound Indians, 103
Puritans, descendants of, 318, 326, 343;

migrations of, 302 ff.; selection among,

303/.
Pygmies, 40, 78

Q

Quakers, 305, 322

Quarrymen, birth-rate among, 353 Jf.
Queen Aud, 269
Queen Charlotte Islands, 99 ff.
Queue in China, 162 /.

R

Races, birth-rate among, 354 ff. ; classi-
fication of, 73; defined, 3; Dixon's
83 /.; genius among, 228; kinship of,
74; mingling of, 54/.; plasticity of, 20;
relation to environment, 92

Racial character, i ^. ; in early America,
90; in California, 330; distribution of,
227; in Iceland, 299; and physical en-
vironment, 233; and natural selection,
287

Racial feeling, 2 /.

Racial inheritance, 234

Racial mixture, 7, 78; in China, 166; in

Europe, 253; and glaciation, 59; in

U. S., 336

390

INDEX

Racial superiority, 77

Racial tendencies of civilization, 332

Racial test of cities, 346

Rags, in China, 162, 164

Raids, 115, 117 ff.; in China, 175; season

of, 123; of Vikings, 2^6 ff.
Rain, in Arabia, 121; in China, 170 ff.
Rainfall, in California, 227 (diagram)
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 301
Ran, goddess, 292
Randolph, John, 324
Red Crag, 42
Red Cross, 140, 188
Redfield, C. L, 365 376
"Red land," 182
Reindeer, 66

Relief, in famines, 179, 189

Religion, distribution in Europe, 223; and
environment, 132/.; and natural selec-
tion, 341; and persecution, 222; and
racial inheritance, 340

Religious denominations, eminence
among, 321 /.

Religious leaders, 223 (map)

Residence, of American leaders, 316 (map)

Revenue and famine, 179, 181

Reykir hot springs, 289

Rhine, Norse at, 254

Rhode Island, eminent persons in, 317

Rhodesia, 86

Rhone, Norse at, 254

Rich vs. poor in China, 177 182

Richards, L. E., 324

Ridgeway, W., 236, 376

Rigsmal Edda, 256

Roaring Forties, 91

Rocky Mountain region, Indians of, 100;
eminent persons in, 317

Roman Catholic Church, 322/.; celibates
in, 341; eminent persons in, 319/.

Romans, as migrants, 248, 303; science
among, 212

Rome, advantages of, 60

Roundheads, in U. S., 77

Rumanians, broad heads of, 77

Rural districts, birth-rate in, 353; leaders
in, 348; natural selection in, 194

Rurik, 254

Rus, 254 /.

Russell, B., 377

Russell, W. S. C, 377

Russia, 227; contact with China, 165,
200; Jewish persecution in, 135; migra-
tions in, 77; Norse in, 254 ff., 261 ; sci-
entists from, 312; selection in, 340

Russians, hysteria among, 70

S

Sacramento Indians, 104

Sagas, 293

Sahara, 57, 206; migrations in, 59
Saigon, ruins near, 10 ff.
Saint Paul, 340
Salwin, R., 15

Samaria, accessibility of, 132; Israelites

in, 131
Samoyedes, 53
Samson, 133
San Francisco, 328 /.
Sand, in Chinese fields, 174
Sappho, 241
Saracens, in Sicily, 266
Savanna belt, 42

Saxons, 248, 326; conquest of, 258/.; in
England, 265; relation to Normans,
264/.

Scandinavia, center of culture, 252 ff.

School teachers in U. S., 344

Science, and curiosity, 212; among mis-
sionaries, 195

Scientists, age of fathers, 365; distribu-
tion in Europe, 223 (map); origin, in
America, 312 ff., 342, 346

Scotch, character of, 215, 222; migra-
tions of, 77

Scotch Irish, 247

Scotland, celibacy in, 344; eminent per-
sons in, 220 ff., 22$; Norse in, 254, 264;
political leaders in, 227; Presbyterians
in, 322; scientists from, in U. S., 312

Scripps Institute, 327

Sea captains, children of, 319

Sea route, to America, 102

Sea, selective power of, 217

Seeck, O., 212

Seeker-for-Truth, in parable, 8, 371

Seine, Norse at, 254

Selection, in Crete, 238; among de-
nominations, 321; postglacial, 59.
See Natural selection

Self-assertion, racial trait, 214/.

Self-determination, 308

Selfishness, in China, 171, 186 ff.

Self-reliance, among nomads, 128

Semites, racial feeling of, 3 /.

Semple, E. C, 269, 377

Sequoia trees, 260

Serfs, in Greece, 244

Sergei, G., 377

Shakespeare, 301

Shanghai, character of people, 160
Shansi, famines in, 177/.

INDEX

391

Shantung, character of people, i6o, 163
/.; famines in, 177; migrations from,
200 ff.; official greed in, 171; physique
in, 185

Sheep herders, in U. S., 113
Shen, 180

Shensi, famines in, 176 ff,; migrations

from 149
Show, 180
Shyok River, 26
Siam, 15

Siberia, 66; changes of climate in, 56, 58;
climate of, 55, 63 ; environment of, 217;
hysteria in, 70

Sicily, 84, 216; character in, 218; environ-
ment of, 217; health and seasons, 23;
head form of immigrants from, in U. S.,
74; Normans in, 265^.; Norse in, 255

"Sick Man of Europe," 145

Sissera, 130

Size of families, 357

Skin, of man vs. animals, 22

Skull, evolution of, 30, 74; measurements
of, 81

Small-pox, in Iceland, 297 /.
Smiles, Mr., 342
Smith, A. H., 190, 377
Snake and sun cults, 79 (map)
Snorri, 292

Snow, E. C, 358, 377

Snow-fields, effect on winds, 48

Sociability, racial trait, 212

Social environment, and achievement,
352 ; and birth-rate, 354 /.

Socialism, racial effect of, 215

Soil, and Chinese floods, 173/.

Solar activity, 47

Somme River, Norse at, 254

South Africa, races in, 85 /.

South America, Caspian type in, 89;
early migrants to, 21

South Carolina, eminent persons in, 315,
318; immigrants to, 305

South vs. North, in China, 158, 185/., 203

Spain, celibacy in, 344; literature in, 226;
migrations in, 77; Norse in, 254; perse-
cutions in, 341 /.

Sparta, helots in, 237; natural selection
in, 244^.; population of, 246

Speaker-of-the-law, 289, 291

Specialization, and environment, 34

Species, origin of, 80

Spiker, Mr., 168, 199

Spitzbergen, 273

Squashes, 92

"Squeeze," in China, 186

S'rutavarman, 16

Stature, 78

Stefansson, J., 377

Stefansson, V., 67, 279, 288, 377

Stoddard, T. L., 346, 377

Storey, J., 325

Storminess, 23

Storms, 47

Strandloopers, 85 /.

Su, 180

Suburbs, leadership in, 348, 352
Suicide, in China, 187/., 190, 192; among

Chukchees, 69; in Europe, 213
Sultans, capacity of, 145
Summer Palace, Pekin, 151 /.
Summer rain, value of, 108
Sun cult, 79 (map)
Sunspots, 47
Sun Yat Sen, 167
Swan maiden tales, 79 (map)
Swatow, 199; Hakkas in, 167; vehicles

in, 164

Sweden, political leaders in, 227

Swedes, character of, 198

Swimming, in Iceland, 289

Swinton, General, 331

Swiss, character of, 220 /.; cleanliness
among, 289

Switzerland, achievements of, 231; celi-
bacy in, 344 ; death-rate in, 287 ; political
leaders in, 227 ; scientists from, in U. S.,
312

Syphilis, in Iceland, 281 /.
Syria, civilization in, 59
Syrian Desert, 114 ff.; deportations to,
139

Szechuan, 177, 203

T

Taft, W. H., 324

Taimir Peninsula, glaciation of, 55
Taiping rebellion, 167/.
Taishan, 164
Talifer, 265

Tartars, 183, 227; invasions of China,
148, 202; leadership among, 153; racial
feeling of, 3 /.

Tattooing, 79 (map)

Taxation, in Norway, 258 ff. See
Revenue

Taylow, Griffith, 75/., 77/., 79, 81, 88,

206, 231, 377
Teachers, eminent children of, 342; and

marriage, 344
Temperature, in Iceland, 91 ; and natural

392

INDEX

selection, 44 ; optimum, 22 /. ; of Siberia,
55, 90

Tents, dwellers in, 112 ff.
Texas, eminent persons in, 316
Thais, 17
Thaxter, R., 91
Theft, in China, 175
Theseus, 239
Thessaly, 243
Thing court, 292

Thirteenth century, disasters of, 17
Thompson, J. A., 352, 377
Thorodd, 291
Thorwaldsen, 279
Thralls, among Norse, 256 /.
Thrift, and farming, 185^.
Thucydides, 242, 246
Thurio, 291

Tibet, uncleanliness in, 289; migrations

in, 59, 149; plateaus of, 25/.
Tientsin, modernness of, 164
Tierra del Fuego, 53, 91
Tlingits, 100
Tools, first use of, 28
Torrey, R. A., 184
Totem poles, of Haidas, 99
Totemism, 79
Town meeting, 306

Trade, relation to birth-rate, 353 357
Trade unions and character, 336
Training, relation to achievement, 352
Transcaspia, races of, 59
Trees, diagram of growth, 227; in glacial

Europe, 52; in Miocene era, 37
Trojan War, 240 /.

Tropical environment, effect on human

evolution, 23, 40/., 49, 51, 58
Tsi, 178

Tsinan, compared with Canton, 163
Tsing, 178
Tso Hou, 177
Tsok, 198
Tuaregs, 123

Tungus, uncleanliness among, 289; hys-
teria among, 70; migrations of, 149,
195

Turkestan, invasions from, 148
Turkey, character of races, 333
Turkomans, agriculture of, 109; raids

of, 120, 126
Turks, 208, 227; and Arabs, 115; char-
acter of, 142 ff.', head form of, 77;
leadership among, 153; massacres by,
137; and Mongols, 148; political lead-
ers among, 227
Tyler, J. M., 377

U

Ulflgot, 291
Ulster, 247

Unitarians, eminent persons among, 319,
321 ff., 324 ff.; origin of, 324

United States, British settlers in, 65;
census of, 378; character of people,
330 ff; 333/-; divorce in, 361; evolu-
tionary tendencies in, 336^.; Indians
of, 88; racial mixtures in, 336; round-
heads in, 77; school teachers in, 344;
size of families in, 357

Unionism, effect on character, 336

Universalists, eminent persons among,
319, 321 origin of, 322

University of California, 327

University of New York, 324

Upsala, 259

Ural Gulf, 54

Ural race, 83 /.

Urban environment, 348 ff.

Urban vs. rural birth-rate, 353

Utah, eminent persons in, 315/.

V

Vanden Bergh, L. J., 377
Varangian Guard, 254
Variability, 23
Venereal diseases, 194
Venice, colonies of, 237 ff.
Venn, J., 31, 377
Verkhoyansk, 70

Vermont, eminent persons in, 317
Vienna, 227

Vikings, 212, 254 ff. See Norse

Villages, leaders from, 348

Virginia, eminent persons in, 318; immi-
grants to, 305

Visher, S. S., 312 ff., 318 347, 352,
377

Volcanoes, in Iceland, 270/., 294, 297/.
W

Wai River, 177
Waller, L. F., 377
Walloons, 303

Wanderers, in China, 173, 184 ff., 190 ff.
Wang Chau, 197

War, biological effect of, 338 ff.; Eu-
ropean leaders in, 224
Ward, L. F., 377

Washington, city, eminent persons in,
315

Washington Family, origin of, 303
Washington State, climate of, 328; In-
dians of, 103

INDEX

393

Webster, D., 325

Wei, 182

Wei River, 177

Wesley, John, 321

Wetzel, cited, 30, 377

Whites, children of, in Massachusetts,

359; racial position of, 77
Whitney, H., 69, 377
Who's Who in America, 314 #.
Wilder, Dr., 174/.

William the Conqueror, 255, 264 /., 267

Williams, F. W., 151, 154 /•» 377

Williams, Roger, 322

Willis, J. C, 80/., 377

Wilson, W., 308

Winthrop family, origin of, 303

Wissler, Clark, 377

Witches, in Iceland, 297

Wives, purchase of, 190/.

Women, among Arabs, 117/.; in China,
162, 175; cranial types of, 84; "of the
Gentiles," 133; among Hakkas, 167/.;
hysteria among, 69; and marriage, 343;
and migrations, 13, 304; number of
children of, 354; Norse, 218; at Plym-
outh, 305/. ; position of, 307, 360; quar-
ters of, in tents, 130; sale of, 187, 189
ff.; self-reliance among nomads, 128;
128; in South China, 166; as teachers,
344

Wrangel, cited, 66
Wurm ice age, 53

Wyoming, eminent persons in, 315/.
Y

Yaghans, 91

Yakuts, hysteria among, 70
Yakutsk, in glacial period, 55
Yale University Library, 277
Yang, 180

Yangtse River, 181 /., 195, 202; settle-
ment of valley of, 150

Yellow River, floods of, 177. See Hoang
Ho

Yen, 178

Ying, 180

Yoder, cited, 365

Yucatan, cleanliness in, 289

Yukagir, 66

Yuman Indians, 104/.

Yunnan, settlement of, 150

X

Xenophon, 246

Z

Zambesi River, 86
Zenobia, 118
Zulus, origin of, 86

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