 CHAPTER IX. THE FIRST STAGE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION. The question has often been asked, if man has descended from an ape ancestor, why is it that no traces of this ancestral form have been found in a fossil state? If man has gone through such an extended course of development, why has he left no remains? This question, looked upon as unanswerable by many of those who ask it, is really of minor importance. A half dozen answers each of considerable weight could easily be made to it. In the first place it may be said that the absence of remains referred to is far from a single instance but one out of thousands. It is generally admitted that the species of animals found fossil are very far from representing all the species that have existed upon the earth and probably form but a minute percentage of them. In the second place the remains of man's ancestor have not been sought for its native locality, the tropical regions. In the third place man belongs to the class of animals least likely to be preserved in the fossil state since they dwell in the depths of forests and at a distance from the lakes and streams whose muddy bottoms the remains of so many animals have been fossilized. Another answer is that of the various species of anthropoid apes that probably existed in the past, a few relics only of a single species have been found. If there were this one species alone, its number of individuals must have reached into the millions. Yet of those hosts only a few fugitive bones are known to exist. There could not well be a more striking instance of the imperfection of the geological record. Sparse remains of dyropithecus, the species in question with some few other fossils of doubterly anthropoid species save us from a total blank and open the vista to a myriad of active arboreal creatures which had their dwelling place in the old time European forests but have almost utterly vanished from human knowledge. These are not the only answers that can be made to the question propounded. Although the bones of the man ape have not been found, relics of several stages of developing man exist. Most significant among these until recently was the celebrated Neanderthal skull, which in facial aspect departs widely from the ordinary human and approaches the simian type. More significant still is the ethicantheropus cranium, indicative of an animal that stood midway between man and ape, a creature fully erect in posture as its thigh bone proves, but with a brain that had attained but the half way stage of development. In this notable find, we seem to see man in the making, the body already fully man-like, the brain advanced much beyond the stage of the ape intellect but still far below that of man. It is the remnant of a creature significantly on the dividing line between man ape and man. So much for the response to the question as hitherto made. As the case stands, we are not obliged to stop at this point. Within the latter section of the 19th century discoveries have been made which fit in admirably with our argument. Rediscoveries perhaps we should call them, for they were imperfectly known in ancient times but only recently have they fairly come within human kin. We refer to the pygmy tribes of the African forests. Not definitely offered hitherto as aids to the elucitation of this problem yet which seem to adapt themselves closely to it and certainly help essentially in filling the gap between civilized man and his ape-like ancestor. We have already said that there appear to have been two separate and distinct stages in the evolution of man, one that of his conflict with animal world ending in his mastery of the brute creation, the second that of his conflict with nature ending in his mastery of the resources of the earth. Overlapping and succeeding the second, there has been a third, that of the conflict of man with man ending in the survival of the fittest of the human race. In the discussion of this problem as hitherto made, these distinct stages of evolution with their intermediate resting stages have not been recognized. Argument being based on man as a whole and no thought directed to the possibility that existing man may represent several separate processes of development with broad lapses between. The argument we propose to offer is that man as he was at the completion of the first stage, that of the subjugation of the animal world, and before the beginning of the conflict with nature still exists, the first derivation of the man ape living in the location and possessing much of the appearance and many of the habits of this ancestral form. Great travelers in Africa have found more than trees and streams in the forest depths. They have found there a distinct and peculiar race of men, negro-like in many particulars yet differing from the negroes in others, and specially marked by their dwarfish stature, which is indicated in the name of pygmies usually given them. These diminutive beings were known as long ago as the days of Homer, and their legendary combats with the cranes are spoken of him in his poems. He was not aware of what is known now that these forest dwarfs would disdain the cranes as antagonists and are quite capable of overcoming the lordly elephant. In truth they no no equals in the forest and while destitute of any knowledge of agriculture are the most skillful considering the primitive nature of their weapons of the hunters of the earth. The forest is the home of the pygmy as in all probability it was of the man ape. He dwells in his deepest recesses its moist and sultry depths and pines when removed from his native realm in the heart of the tropic woods. In truth he is almost as fully arboreal as was his treed-dwelling ancestor and are his forest relatives. The anthropoid apes of today not inhabiting the limbs of trees indeed but living under their shade and forming the true man of the woodland, the nomad hunters of the vast equatorial forests. It must be said, however, that this is not wholly the case. There are tribes seemingly belonging to this race in South Africa who dwell in the open desert but retain there in great measure the habits of their forest kin. The first of modern travelers to see the pygmies would do shalu in his journey through the African woodlands in 1867. He describes them as averaging four feet seven inches in height, their complexion of a pale yellow-brown, the hair of their head short, but their bodies covered with a thick gross of hair as if the loss of their ancestral covering had not been completed. The tribe seen by him was known as the Obongo and dwelt in a shangoland occupying the forest region between the Gabun and the Congo. Dr. Schweinfurt, whose exploration extended from 1868 to 1870, was the next to meet these nomads of the forests of whom he has given an interesting description in his, quote, heart of Africa, end quote. He met with them in the country of the Manbuto on the well river between three degrees and four degrees north latitude. The tribe seen by him known as the Akka was made up of very diminutive individuals, none being over four feet ten inches high and some only four feet. Their bodies were in due proportion to their height so they resembled half grown boys in size. The Akkas, as described by him, have large heads, huge ears and very prognosis faces. Their arms are long in length, the chest flat and narrow, widening below to support a huge hanging abdomen. The legs short and bandy and the walk a waddling motion. They're being a sort of lurch with each step. In this latter respect they recall the Gibbon in its effort to walk. The gapping aspect of the mouth has a suggestive resemblance to that of the ape. They're also ape-like in their incessant play of countenance, twitching of eyebrows, rapid gestures of hands and feet, nodding and wagging of the head and remarkable agility. Their skin is of a dull brown color like partly roasted coffee and destitute of the covering of hair seen by Dr. Shadu on the Obongos. The hair of the head and the beard is scanty and of woolly texture. Stanley, who frequently met these forest dwarfs in his expedition for the relief of Eman Pacha, gives much more information concerning his, quote, in darkest Africa end quote. He found indeed two types of dwarfs. One the Wambudi, who were of attractive aspect having large round eyes, full and prominent round faces with broad foreheads, jaws slightly pugnacious, hands and feet small, figures well formed though diminutive and complexion of a brick red hue. The other type, the Aqa, he describes as having small, kind, monkey eyes close and deeply set. One woman described by him had quote, protruding lips over hanging her chin, a prominent abdomen, narrow flat chest, sloping shoulders, long arms, feet strongly turned inward, very short lower legs end quote. She was quote, certainly deserving of being classed as an extremely low degraded, almost bestial type of human being end quote. The language of the Aqa is of a very undeveloped type and seems a link between articulate and inarticulate speech. Stanley in his journey down the Congo heard many stories of the forest dwarfs who were described to him as a yard high with long beards and large heads. Other traditional accounts of them similarly speak of their long beards though Stanley saw none answering to this description. The first individual seen by him in this journey was four feet, six and a half inches high and measured thirty inches around the chest. He was of a light chocolate color with a thin fringe of whiskers. His legs bowed and with thin shanks, the calf being undeveloped. His body was covered with a thick fur like hair nearly half an inch long. In this respect agreeing with those described by Dushalu, the bat was seen and measured by Dr. Ludwig Wolf in the Middle Congo Basin in 1886, were of an average height of four feet three inches. They resemble the Aqa in general appearance and have longish heads, long narrow faces and small reddish eyes. They bounded through the tall herbage quote like grasshoppers end quote and were remarkably agile in climbing. For several years past there have been rumors of a race of pygmies in the interior of the Cameroons but these reports were not verified until the year 1898 when the Bulu expedition of German military force succeeded with much difficulty in seeing several individuals of this race secured through the aid of a native chief. One woman was measured and proved to be just four feet high. The color was from chocolate brown to copperish except the palms which were of yellowish white. The hair was deep black thick and frizzled. The skull broad and high the lips full and swollen like other pygmy tribes these are very shy wandering from place to place in the forest and avoiding frequented routes of travel. They are skillful hunters and collect much rubber which they dispose of to the Negro tribes. In the same year Mr. Albert B. Lloyd made a journey in Central Africa following Stanley's route down the Congo. He was alone with the exception of a few carriers and had the good fortune of passing through the country of the pygmies and that of the cannibals of the Arumie without conflict or injury entering into cordial relations with both peoples. He journeyed for three weeks in the pygmy forest and had excellent opportunities for examining its inhabitants. After entering the great primeval forest Mr. Lloyd went west for five days without the sight of a pygmy. Suddenly he became aware of their presence by mysterious movements among the trees which he had first attributed to the monkeys. Finally he came to a clearing and stopped at an Arab village where he met a great number of the diminutive nomads. Quote they told me and quote says Mr. Lloyd quote that unknown to me they had been watching me for five days peering through the growth of the forest. They appeared very much frightened and even when speaking covered their faces. I asked a chief to allow me to photograph the dwarfs and he brought a dozen together. I was able to secure a snapshot but did not succeed in the time exposure as the pygmies would not stand still. Then I tried to measure them and found not one over four feet in height. All were fully developed. The women somewhat slighter than the men. I was amazed at their sturdiness. The men have long beards reaching halfway down the chest. They are very timid and will not look a stranger in the face. Their bead like eyes constantly shifting. They are it struck me fairly intelligent. I had a long talk with a chief who conversed intelligently about their customs in the forest and the number of the tribesmen. Both men and women except for a tiny strip of bark were quite nude. The men were armed with poisoned arrows. The chief told me the tribes were nomadic and never slept two nights in the same place. They just huddled together and hastily thrown up huts. Memories of a white traveler Mr. Stanley of course who crossed the forest years ago still linger among them end quote. The discovery of these forest pygmies has directed attention to the Bushmen of South Africa. A desert dwelling race long known though comparatively little regarded in their ethylogical difference. They are now regarded as an outlying branch of the forest pygmies. The chief difference being in the shape of the skull which is rather long in the Bushmen rather short in the pygmies. These degraded wanderers inhabit an area extending from the inner ranges of the mountains of Cape Colony through the central Kalahari Desert to near Lake Nagami. Thence northwestward to the Ovambu River into these the most barren portions of the South African deserts. They have been driven by the encroachments of the Kaphirs, Hotentots and Europeans. They closely resemble the Akka tribes of the north averaging about four and a half feet in height and possessing deep set crafty eyes small and depressed nose and a generally repulsive countenance. Their complexion is of a dirty yellow. Their hair grows in small woolly tufts. In the vicinity of Lake Nagami Livingstone found them to be of larger stature and darker color while Baines measured some in this region who were five feet six inches in height. In disposition the Bushmen are strikingly wild, malicious and intractable while their cerebral development is classed by Humboldt as belonging to almost the lowest class of the human species. Close in affinity with the Bushmen and in various respects unlike the dark races around them are the Hotentots, the original inhabitants of Cape Colony, a race of herdsmen who are much superior in culture to the degraded desert nomads. They are not dwarfish being of medium stature but they resemble the Bushmen in complexion in which and in general cast of features they present some similarity to the Chinese. Their hair like that of the Bushmen grows in tufts with spaces between and they are like them in language. Their method of speech consisting largely in a series of clicking sounds. Their manner of talking has been compared to the clucking of a hen and by the Dutch to the gobbling of a turkey cock. The Hotentots present every appearance of being a developed branch of the pygmy family or the result of a cross between Bushmen and Negroes. These tribes of dwarfs now extended throughout the equatorial forests and over the South African deserts were probably once far more widespread inhabiting much of the continent and reaching as far as Madagascar where a branch of them known as the Kinos or Quinas are thought still to exist. They extended north to the Mediterranean and left their representatives in Morocco in a tribe of dwarfs about four feet high who differ widely in appearance from all other people of that country. As to their origin there is a diversity of opinion. Some anthropologists look upon them as a primeval race distinct from the Negroes who came among them later. Professor Vershao on the contrary is of the opinion that their only important difference from the Negroes is that of size and regards them as the remains of a primitive population from whom the Negroes have descended. In a preceding section a statement was made as to what was the probable general appearance of the man ape. It was based upon the physical aspect of the pygmies whom we hold to form the immediate derivative of man's ape ancestor and to have ape-like characteristics which they still present. Mentally they have made a very considerable advance and have reached the stage of men of low intellectual powers but while their brains have been growing their bodies have not greatly changed and the marks of their origin are thick upon them. There has probably been little change in the size the diminutive stature and small bodily dimensions being in accord with their incessant activity. While the difficulties of traversing the thick growth of the tropical forest may have helped to keep them small. As it is there about half the size of civilized man the weight of a full grown adult male being probably not over 90 pounds. Taking the pygmies as a whole it may be said that though many of the acas are disproportionate in shape and tottering in gait on the whole these people are well made. Their protuberant punch being probably a result of their habits of eating. Captain Guy Burrow says that a pygmy will eat twice as much as would suffice a full grown man and that one of them will devour a whole stock of bananas at a meal with other food. Some tribes are described as physically and mentally degenerate and prognosis is in many cases strongly declared. The lower part of the face having an ape-like contour and the protruding chin that feature peculiar to man being very deficient. In their great abdominal development the adult acas resemble the children of Arabs and Negroes. This therefore seems the retention of a primitive feature which has become a passing characteristic in the more advanced types of mankind. The pygmies are not destitute of intelligence and are capable of receiving some of the elements of education. Two of them were brought to Italy about 1875 who within two years time learned to read and write and to speak Italian with much fluency. They showed themselves superior in school studies to European children of 10 or 12 years of age and one of them became somewhat proficient in music. In their habits they resembled children being sensitive and impulsive, fond of play and very quick in their motions. Their readiness in gaining the elements of education is in accord with the experience in the case of other savages. It is when studies requiring abstruse thought are reached that the facility in acquisition of the savage races comes to an end. With this consideration of the characteristic and habitat of the pygmies we may proceed to a review of their habits. The weapons which they seem to have developed during their long upward progress and to which their supremacy over the wild beasts of the forest is probably due consist of two the bow and arrow and the spear. The bow and arrow are small and insignificant in appearance and would be of little value but for the poison which the pygmies have somehow learned to obtain and which makes them dreaded not only by beasts but by men. Wherever found from the deserts of the south to the forest of the well and a roomy on the north the poisoned arrow is a mark of affinity as decided in its way as their physical resemblance. It's why distribution goes to indicate that it was the general weapon of the pygmies ages ago when presumably they had all Africa for their own and ruled supreme over the animal world in that continent. It is true indeed that the use of the poison arrow is not peculiar to them but is a somewhat common possession of savage tribes in all parts of the earth. This makes it quite possible that it was not original with the pygmies but was derived by them from other tribes. On the other hand in view of its great value in giving them supremacy over the lower animals it may well have been a primeval pygmy invention and these tribes the original source of its existing wide distribution. They possess more than one poison one being a dark substance of the color and consistence of pitch which is supposed to be made out of a species of arom. It is laid in the splints of their wooden arrows or spread thickly upon their iron arrow heads when they possess these. Another poison is a pale glue color which is supposed by Stanley to be made of crushed red ants. When fresh these poisons are deadly producing excessive faintness palpitation of the heart nausea and deep pallor soon followed by death. In Stanley's experience one man died within a minute from a mere pin prick in the breast. Others lived during different intervals extending up to 100 hours. The difference in virulence seemed to have depended on the degree of freshness of the venom which apparently lost its strength as it became dry. The possession of a weapon so deadly as this together with the agility and daring and the unerring marksmanship of the forest dwarfs seemed to give them absolute control of the animals of the African wilds. The lion, the elephant, and the buffalo the largest and fiercest of the beasts of field and forest are powerless before the virulent venom of the arrows of the pygmies and doubtless for ages they have held dominion as the fearless rulers of wood and wild. Captain Burroughs says of the skill with the bow of the pygmy that quote he will shoot three or four arrows one after the other with such rapidity that the last will have left the bow before the first has reached its goal and quote the bow and spear are not their only means of attaining food they have certain of the arts of the trapper perhaps original with them perhaps borrowed from their larger neighbors they sink pits in the pathways of their game covering them with light sticks and leaves and sprinkling earth over the hole they build hut like structures and lay nuts or plantains beneath for the purpose of temping chimpanzees baboons or other apes a slight movement causes the hulk to fall on the incautious animals bow traps are placed along the tracks of civets inching moons and rodents which snap and strangle them the pygmies do not hesitate to attack the elephant spearing it from underneath and hunting it for its ivory which they trade with the settled tribes in short they are of unsurpassed agility and are the best of woodsmen and hunters their skill being taken advantage of by the settled tribes who trade with them vegetables tobacco spears knives and arrows for meat honey the feathers of birds the ivory of the elephant and other forests spoil so destructive are they of game that they would soon denude the surrounding forest if they stayed long in one spot so that they are compelled to move frequently schweinfirth speaks of them as cruel and fond of tormenting animals they serve the settled natives in other ways acting as scouts and informing them of the coming of strangers while still distant every forest road runs through their camps their villages command every crossway and no movement can take place in the forest without their knowledge while they are adept at the art of concealment the superior woodcraft the malicious disposition and the poison arrows and good marksmanship of these forest folks make them formidable enemies and the settled tribes hold them in dread and are glad to keep on good terms with them yet they find them much of a nuisance since their dwarfish neighbors claim free access to their gardens and plantain fields where they help themselves to fruit in return for small supplies of meat and furs in short they are human parasites on the larger natives who suffer from their extortions yet fear to provoke their enmity burrow says that they will never steal but that they pay very inadequately for the plantains they take leaving a very small package of meat in return for an ample supply of food the pygmies build their camps two or three miles away from the negro villages living in groups of 60 to 80 families a large clearing may have eight to 12 of these pygmy camps around it with perhaps 2000 inmates their dwellings are the shape of an oval cut lengthwise and are built in a rude circle the residents of the chief occupying the center the doors are two or three feet high on every track leading to the camp at about 100 yards distance is a sentry house large enough to hold two of the little folks it's doorway looking up the track from the camp while wandering in the forest they build the flimsiest of leaf shelters the intelligence of the pygmies is of a very low order in the arts which they have been developing for ages they are experts they are thoroughly familiar with the habits of animals and as hunters they are unsurpassed but in intellect they are decidedly lacking they are destitute of agriculture possess no animals except a few dogs and have none of the elements of culture the bushmen for instance can count only up to two all beyond that is many yet this low tribe of the desert nomads is as we have said skilled in the art of drawing it's sketches of men and animals being widely distributed through cape colony the pygmies seem greatly lacking in the social sentiments burrows in his quote land of the pygmies end quote says that they do not possess even the most ordinary ties of family affection such common and natural feelings of affinity as those between mother and son brother and sister etc seem to be wanting in them it is a fact of great interest that the pygmy race does not seem confined to Africa for tribes of men resembling the pygmies in stature and in various other particulars are found in widely removed localities such as milaca the adamant islands and the philippine archipelago while there are indications that they once spread widely over this island region of the earth those of the philippines known as negritos or atas have been somewhat closely observed and may be briefly described the negritos are similar in stature to the pygmies of Africa the men averaging four feet eight inches high and they are like them in general appearance they are darker in complexion some being as sable as negroes and all of them darker than the african pygmies their features are coarse and ill-shaped their nose depressed lips full hair black and frizzled in body like the pygmies they are thin and spindle-legged the calf of the leg is not developed in any of these dwarfish people the negritos possess one marked and significant characteristic the separation of the great toe this while it has not the full power of movement shown in the apes is much more separated from the others than in the whites and can be readily used in grasping by its aid the negrito can not only pick up small objects but can descend the rigging of a ship head downward holding on like a monkey by his toes it may be said that among uncivilized and barefoot people the great toe is usually very mobile the artisans of bengal can weave the chinese boatman can row with its aid and it aids much to facility in climbing the negritos wear little clothing have no fixed abodes and pass a wandering life in the forests living on game honey wild fruits roots of the erum and other forest food their weapons consist of a bamboo lance a bow of palm wood and a quiver of poisoned arrows it is certainly a striking fact that wherever found from south africa to the far east the pygmy tribes possess the art of poisoning their weapons this art is not practiced by the surrounding peoples and is the strongest evidence of a community of origin it seems to point back to a remote period when the pygmy peoples spread far through the tropics of the eastern hemisphere though in the region now under consideration they have almost vanished through the assaults of the meleis the negritos are very alert physically being remarkably fleet of foot while they can climb like monkeys they live in groups of about 50 families shelter being obtained by the simple erection of sloping poles and leaves though in their more settled locations they built bamboo huts like those of the meleis they are a short-lived race seldom living more than 40 years mentally they are stupid and apparently incapable of improvement seeming to stand at the foot of the human scale attempts to instruct them have been made but all proved failures efforts to make agriculturists of them have proved similarly futile they are hereditary hunters and hunters they are likely to remain the only eastern locality of which the pygmy race remained in full possession until recent times is that of the adamant islands this is no longer the case great britain made a penal settlement of these islands after the mutiny in india and as a consequence the many copes as their native inhabitants are called have begun to disappear these islanders are rather taller than the philippine negritos ranging from four and a half to five feet in height but otherwise there is a somewhat close resemblance between them their color is dark brown or black their hair woolly and inclined to grow in tufts like that of the bushmen the head throw large in proportion to the body is really very small and of low cranial capacity that of the men is only 1244 cubic centimeters as contrasted with 1554 cubic centimeters of a large number of male peresians measured by broca that of the women differs in the same proportion flower said that the minicopies rank lowest among the human races in this respect but it must be remembered that the brain usually decreases in size with decrease in stature small as these islanders are however their strength is relatively great they use with ease bows which the strongest english sailors cannot string though practice may have much to do with this facility and they can send arrows with a force that seems out of accord with their size their agility is remarkable travelers speak of the speed of the bullet in describing their running doubtless with some exaggeration their senses are strikingly acute it is said they can distinguish fruits by their odor when hidden in the foliage of the jungle and have wonderful powers of sight and hearing as in the case of the ages their life is short though the age of puberty is nearly as great as with us 50 is extreme old age with these people and 22 is said to be the average length of life mentally they are the low level the lowest in the opinion of oan among the races of mankind in counting they have words only for one and two but can count up to 10 by touching the nose with each of the fingers in succession saying each time quote this one also end quote their languages of a primitive type and in various aspects they manifest low intelligence yet as in the case of the acaz mentioned they can be taught to the level of other children of 12 or 14 years their mind in the opinion of dr brander seems rather to be asleep rather than incapable one child was taught to read and write and to speak english fluently and gain some knowledge of arithmetic and this was not an exceptional case it does not seem at all remarkable when we consider the ease with which monkeys can be taught many arts and acts new to them that these dwarfish men like other savages greatly superior as they are in brainpower to the apes should be capable of acquiring minor elements of education it is not what they can be taught but what they have taught themselves that we must consider in assigning them to their comparative place in intellectual development in this respect the men copes are on a very low plane they have not even acquired the art of making a fire though this is almost universal with mankind all they know is how to keep a fire alive and in this they are very assiduous it is probable that they may have obtained fire at first from volcanoes on neighboring islands they are lacking like the pygmy races in general in the art of chipping stone one of the earliest arts acquired by man their only means of shaping stone is to put it into the fire until it breaks or splinters when they can use the sharp splinters for their purposes they are quite destitute of the art of drawing and have no means of communicating their thoughts except by speech yet with these deficiencies they have made some progress in the industrial arts they make wooden vessels and can produce pottery which stands the fire and in which they cook most of their food they make nets of considerable size which they use to fish with in narrow streams they have arrows and harpoons whose points are fastened to the shaft by a long cord the fish or land animal struck unwinds this cord in trying to get away and its speed being checked by the shaft which it drags along it is easily caught the men copes possess boats and these seem to have been early possessions of the negrito populations by whose aid they were able to migrate from island to island their canoes have nautical qualities which have astonished English sailors at one time they were probably bold and daring fishermen and navigators until driven to the forests and mountains by the invasion of the melees as the pygmies were in all probability the aborigines of Africa so the negritos appear to have been the original aboriginal people of the eastern islands if not of India quadrophages in his work quote the pygmies and quote finds reason to believe that even at the present day traces of them pure or mixed can be found from southeast New Guinea to the adamant islands and from the sunga islands to japan on the continent their range extends according to him quote from anam and the peninsula of malacca to the western goats and from cape cormoran to the himalayas end quote in one part of india the negrito-like population are called the bandar lock literally man ape by the neighboring tribes the samangs of malacca are jet black in color with thick lips flat nose and protruding abdomen in regard to the characteristic of prognathism it is possessed in various degrees the most pronounced instance being seen in the photograph of one of the kalangs of java a tribe which has recently become extinct the face of this individual is strikingly ape-like in profile everywhere that these dwarfish people are found whether in africa india or malaysia they present the appearance of being an aboriginal race now largely annihilated by the incursions of larger and better armed people but once widespread and numerous as to their place of origin whether in africa india or the island region it is useless to speculate as the facts on which an opinion could be based are not known wherever found they are in close relation to the black races the negros of africa the papuans of polinesia and evidences of a considerable degree of mixture of races exist this is especially the case in polinesia and india where the negritos appear to shade off into the full-sized blacks through an intermediate series of half breeds yet one fact of the ethnological importance needs to be mentioned the negritos and pygmies are everywhere rocky sypholic or shortheaded with the exception of the bushmen who are dali sypholic or partially so negros and papuans are strongly diosopholic in this respect the pygmy peoples agree more closely with the shortheaded mongolian or yellow races than with the long-headed negro or black races though in general features they come near the latter in truth this race of dwarfs may be the primitive stock from which the mongolians branched off on the one hand and the negros on the other since they are in some measure intermediate between the two. Latham says of the Rajmalas mountaineers quote some say their physiognomy is mongolian others that it is african end quote quadrifoges is strongly of the opinion that the negro is of indian origin and reached africa through migration he bases his opinion on the negroid characters of existing tribes in india persia and elsewhere in asia and on the similar characters of the aboriginal Polynesians as regards the pygmies they probably spread over the whole of this section of the earth at a period of remote antiquity and very long ago developed the racial differences which appear to exist between separate tribes distinctions of this kind can be seen in the east and a marked one is pointed out by stanley between the wambudi and the akka as already stated wherever found the pygmies are hunters usually making the deep forests their home and our masters through their agility cunning and deadly weapons of the whole world of lower animals physically they are probably not far removed from the man ape the remote ancestor before they retained various ape-like characters as in aspect of face shape of body occasional hairiness diminutive size shortness of legs imperfect development of the calf occasional waddling gate and walking and other particulars above pointed out there are certainly abundant reasons for believing them to be as we have suggested the final result of the first great conflict in the evolution of man that with lower animals this assured mastery once gained the occasion for further development of this people ceased while they remained in the forest habitat which they had inherited from their ape ancestors here the problem of food getting was fully solved and there was nothing to instigate any new step in evolution the period of conflict ended a period of rest supervened and so far as the pygmies are concerned this period still continues though later races their probable descendants have left the forest and set up new stages of development through new conflicts with adverse conditions the pygmies remain in their resting state and if left to themselves might continue in this state for ages in the future as they have done for ages in the past as the case now stands however annihilation threatens some of them while educative and other influences from without may bring an end to the physical and mental isolation of the others in considering the pygmies as they exist today in fact it is impossible to say how far their habits and possessions are original with themselves and how far they have been derived from others there can be no question that they have been influenced by the customs of surrounding peoples of higher culture and that they have received implements and methods from without to get down to the pure pygmy as an outcome of evolution within himself we would need to strip off all these adventurous aids if we could distinguish them from the conditions native to the race and thus behold him as he was before he fell under the influence of men of higher grade were it possible to isolate him in this way and present his original self we should have before us an ethnological specimen of the highest interest and importance as the ultimate result of the first great stage in the evolution of man from his eight ancestor end of chapter nine recording by tom mac chapter 10 of man and his ancestor a study in evolution this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by Rita butros man and his ancestor a study in evolution by Charles mcclain morris chapter 10 the conflict with nature it has been a frequently debated question whether man comprises a single species or two or more species of animal descent if a line be drawn from the gold coast in tropical africa to the steps of tardary in central asia it will present two markedly distinct races of men at its two extremities at its southwestern end we find the most long-headed prognathus frisley-haired dark-skinned race of mankind at its northeastern end is the most round-headed orthognathus straight-haired and yellow-skinned race midway between these appear intermediate peoples with heads round oval or oblong hair straight or curly skin fair or dark faces upright or protruding men possibly to judge from their physical character a result of the amalgamation of these two distinct races these differences may be the result of original difference in species or may be due to climatic and other influences of nature some riders accept the one view some the other and neither is sustained by any great weight of facts the pygmy race presents somewhat similar differences usually round-headed these small men are in some instances long-headed while such marked distinctions appear at times that stanley classed two neighboring tribes as separate races here they present features of the mongolian there they are similar to the negro this goes to indicate that the distinction between the negro and the mongolian began far back in time but it does not prove that it is the result of original difference in species or that two distinct forms of ape separately developed into man while this is quite possible the theory of a single species has been most widely accepted the chief riders on the subject think that the differences arose during that undeveloped stage of mankind when resistance to the transforming influences of nature was still weak and when the structure of the human frame may have yielded readily to agencies which would have little or no effect upon it now of one thing we can be sure which is that there was a wide migration of the apes in remote times leaving the tropics many species spread to the north extending into europe which at that time seems to have been connected by land bridges with africa and spreading far through asia there was probably nothing at that time in atmospheric conditions to check such a migration the tertiary climate of europe is believed to have been quite mild and the ape family is by no means necessarily confined to warm regions monkeys are found today at high elevations on the mountains of india enduring the chill of 10 000 feet of altitude of the migration to europe abundant evidence exists fossil remains of monkeys have been found in many localities of that continent among these residents of early europe was at least one representative of the anthropoid apes the fossil species known as dryopithecus from the early myocene deposits of st. godin's france this species apparently most nearly allied to the chimpanzee was taller than any existing ape two or three other fossil remains possibly of anthropoid apes of smaller size have been found and europe seems to have been well supplied with apes of a considerable degree of development at a remote geological period among those may have been the form we have designated the man ape the ancestor of the human race though no fossil relic attributable to such a species has been recognized coming down to a much lower period we begin to find traces of man first in his rudely chipped and later in his polished stone weapons and tools and the bones of man himself appear extending through what is known as the quaternary or Pleistocene period nearly all these remains have been preserved by the art of burial a fact indicating some degree of mental progress though their residents in caves and the rudeness of their implements are evidence that the race was still low in culture an interesting fact in connection with these ancient human remains is that most of them indicate a small race with narrow skulls and prognathous jaws recalling the pygmies in general structure this rude and small race continued until a late period of prehistoric time it extended down from the cave bear and mammoth period through the later reindeer period as is proved by discoveries made in the caves of the belgian province of namor and there is good reason to believe that it continued into the age of bronze for the small size of the handles of bronze weapons show they must have been intended for men with small hands these diminutive people seem to have been not over four feet eight inches high they were not alone however men of normal height were in europe with them the northward migration of the pygmies seems to have been accompanied or followed by that of a full grown people yet the pygmies have held their own in europe as in africa with certain modifications in sicily and sardinia which form part of a supposed former land bridge between africa and europe a small people about five feet high still exist whom dr colman looks upon as representing a distinct race the predecessors of the tall europeans in the laps of northern europe we possess another small race possibly the lineal descendants of the quaternary pygmies everywhere the small man has been forced to retire into forests deserts and icy barons before the taller and stronger man the folklore of europe is full of traditions of a race of dwarfs and its conflict with men of larger mold and there are various indications that this race was once widespread what has been said here of the migration of man into europe and his development in that country is preliminary to a consideration of the second great stage of human development that due to the conflict with the nature the conflict with the animal world appears to have ended in the production of a dwarfish forest dwelling variety of man in the lowest human stage of mental evolution the conflict with nature ended in the development of a full-sized variety of men dwelling largely in the open country and much superior in intellect as indicated by his higher powers of thought and advanced degree of organization the conflict with nature took several forms in accordance with the conditions of the several regions inhabited by man its result was to subdue nature to the use and benefit of mankind and the methods in the tropical localities of original man consisted in the reduction of animals to the domestic state and a similar domestication of food plants in other words one of its early stages was the development of the herding habit while a far more important one was that of the appearance of the agricultural industries in europe a third and still more vigorous influence super veined that of the conflict with cold and man's gradual adaptation to the conditions of a frigid climate if the nomad dwarfs were the aboriginal men all later races must have developed from them while remaining in the forest and retaining their primitive habits the pygmies presented an instance of arrested evolution for a new development to begin it was necessary to abandon the old locality and with it the old habits and this they probably began to do at a remote period when indeed the earth was their dominion there was no reason for their remaining restricted to a forest residence as they have been since the larger races took possession of the open country we do not need to go back far in time in the east to find the pygmy race in full control of the philippine and other islands and probably of malacca and parts of hindustan their present restriction and partial extermination have been due to the incursions of the warlike malays the andaman min copies remained undisturbed until a recent date and added fishing to their hunting pursuits and the canoes which these islanders now possess were probably the invention of their race and furnished the means by which the aborigines spread from island to island of those thickly studded seas in africa the only existing indication of a migration of the forest folk into the open country is found in the bushmen and hotentots of the far south the former confined to the desert remain nomad hunters and present no step of advance beyond the aca and other equatorial tribes the hotentots on the contrary have made an important step of progress while still nomads and addicted to hunting they have domesticated cattle and sheep and become essentially a herding people though mentally the lowest race of herders on the face of the earth with this change in habits the hotentots have significantly increased in stature while still of medium height they are considerably larger than their bushmen kindred to whom they present a close resemblance in other respects this increase in size is a common result of a change in habits which ensures a fuller supply of food with less strain upon the muscular organization in obtaining it a fact of which the lower animal world is full of illustrations the life of the forest and desert hunters is one of incessant activity and their food supply is precarious the hotentots on the contrary take life easily and are inclined to indolence their herds supplying them with food in abundance with little exertion they retain enough of the primeval strain to be fond of hunting and while thus engaged display the activity of their ancestral race but ordinarily they pursue an idle wandering life and their increase in size may well be a result of their change in habits the hotentots while still low in the human scale are mentally a stage in advance of the bushmen they having a more developed social organization and superior powers of thought the latter is indicated by their myths and legends of which they have a considerable store though they are in great measure destitute of religious conceptions such religion as they possess taking in great part the primitive form of ancestor worship under the influence of europeans they are gradually abandoning their old habits and adopting those of civilized life but while improving in social and industrial conditions there is little evidence of intellectual advance the development in method of food getting displayed by the hotentots was really but the completion of the old battle for dominion with the animal host it consisted in subjecting some of the docile herbivora more fully to human master ship the hunter has to do with hostile beasts victims but not servants of man the herder has reduced some of these animals to servitude and no longer has to overcome them through the arduous labors of the chase he is able to obtain as we have said more food with less exertion a larger population can live in a limited district and the beneficial effects upon the mind of a closer social intercourse are shown but the most important event in this stage of evolution was the subjection of the plant world to man for ages of interminable length this was not thought of fruits and other vegetable products formed part of man's food but these were the growth of wild nature and the plant world was left to its own will with no effort to bring it under human control there is nothing to show that the idea of agriculture ever entered the mind of a pygmy of the plants surrounding him far the greater number were useless for food only the few were available but the conception of favoring the few at the expense of the many apparently never occurred to him there is indeed some crude and simple agriculture pursued by a few of the negritos of luzan but evidently as an imitation of the malay agriculture or as a result of direct teaching certainly not as an original conception the conflict of the pygmies with nature has been confined to the animal world and reached its highest level in the herding industries of the hotentots where and when the subjugation of the plant world began it is impossible to say it very probably had its origin in the fertile open lands of the tropics but that it originated in the central region of africa or that the agriculturists of that region were of native origin are both subjects open to question the forest folk may have spread into the open country there developed a crude agriculture favored the growth of food plants at the expense of useless shrubs and trees and gradually advanced in this new form of industry this would be in accordance with the opinion of virtue who looks upon the negro as the descendant of the pygmy no great change was necessary to convert the one into the other the pygmy is negro like in cast of countenance and bodily formation he differs in size in complexion and in shape of head but new conditions may have given rise to these differences the fierce sons of the african lowlands may well have caused an increased deposit of pigment changing the yellowish hue of the pygmy to the deep black of the negro an increase in size is a natural result when exertion diminishes and food increases and a tendency for the head to change from the short to the long shape is shown in the bushman on the other hand certain anthropologists of whom we may name quadrophage take an opposite view and believe that the negro's migrated from asia or the eastern islands to africa being like the negro like papuans descendants of the sable or dark brown negritos of the east in this case agriculture may have originated in asia and have been brought by migrants to africa all we know historically concerning it is that the earliest traceable seats of agriculture appear to have been the fertile valleys of india babalonia and egypt but the known culture of the earth in these regions goes back only a few thousands of years while for the first crude stages of agriculture we must probably measure years by tens of thousands the degree of subjection of nature to man's needs as displayed in tropical agriculture was comparatively small and its effect on the development of the human intellect while important was limited it had the highly useful result of a great increase in population the growth of village and town life and advance in social relations and the beginning of political relations new implements were needed better houses were erected the settled condition of the people gave rise to direct efforts at education and added the important element of commerce in its earliest form to the industries of mankind the result must have been a fresh start in the development of the intellect the one that probably soon reached its culminating point in the central tropics the highest results of the development of agriculture in tropical countries unaided by secondary influences seem to have been those existing in the highly fertile regions of egypt and babalonia at the opening of the historical period the density of population in those countries due to their prolific production of foodstuffs gave rise to considerably developed political and social institutions and laid the foundations for a great subsequent advance under the influence of warfare invasion and the other more potent causes of human progress only for such ulterior influences the agriculturists of these countries would perhaps today remain dormant in the stage of mental progress they had attained 10 000 years ago in considering the existing conditions of the forest nomads and the african agriculturists it is not safe to credit them with the origination of all the arts and implements they possess the negroes for instance have been for ages in more or less close association with the pygmies and may have taught them many things which they would not have attained through their own limited powers of thought the bow and poisoned arrow are very likely original with them they possess this weapon throughout the wide range from the african hotentots to the philippine negritos while it is not a weapon of the surrounding peoples the spear is probably also original the same cannot safely be said of their traps and snares for game these seem beyond their power of invention and may well have been taught them by the negro tribes their habitations aside from the mere leaf shelters had probably a similar origin in africa the huts doubtless had their model in those of the negroes in the philippines they are pile supported bamboo huts of the pattern of those of the melees if then we take from the forest folk the arts taught them or imitated by them we reduce them to a very low level of intellect and a remarkable paucity of products from their own powers of thought similar reasoning may be applied to the settled natives of africa for thousands of years past they have been in contact on their northern borders with civilized peoples numerous immigrants have made their way into the country and a considerable degree of amalgamation has very likely taken place we cannot therefore safely credit them with all the arts and implements they possess nor with all their political and social progress no doubt much came to them from without much was taught them from within and a mixture of blood with superior races may have aided considerably in improving their stock we are justified then in their case as in that of the pygmies in believing that their stage of mental and social development is only in part original with them and is largely due to the influences of education and amalgamation the pure negro is not a very numerous element of the population of africa he stands in a measure intermediate between the nomad pygmies of the forest and the desert and the mixed races who may be called negroid but cannot strictly be called negro with their foreign blood most of these have obtained foreign arts and elements of culture and stand at a distinctly higher physical and mental level than the unamalgamated negro for the pure or nearly pure negro we must seek the lowlands of the guinea coast the seat of the most pronounced existing negro type other localities are in the region of the gaboon along the lower zambizi and in the benio and shari basins here we find the true native african a race strikingly uniform in aspect and next to the pygmies the lowest in physical characteristics of mankind the features of structure in which the negro appears to occupy a position intermediate between the white man and the man ape lower than the former and approaching the latter are the following first his abnormal length of arm which averages about two inches longer than that of the Caucasian and when in the erect position sometimes reaches the knee pan being little shorter proportionately than that of the chimpanzee second his prognathism or projection of the jaws his index of facial angle being about 70 as compared with the Caucasian 82 third his weight of brain average european 45 ounces negro 35 highest gorilla 20 fourth his short flat snub nose deeply depressed at the base wide and with dilated nostrils at the extremity fifth his thick protruding lips sixth his high and prominent cheekbones seventh his great thickness of cranium which resists blows that would break the skull of an average european eighth the weakness of his lower limbs the broad flat foot and low in step the projecting heel and somewhat prehensile great toe these characteristics the negro's possess in common with the pygmies and the negritos others of less significance could be named one important character is that of the cranial sutures which close much earlier in the negro than in higher races thus checking the development of the brain while the body is still growing to this many ascribe the mental inferiority of the negro race a close observer records as a result of long observation on the plantations of the southern united states that the negro children were sharp intelligent and full of ovacity but on approaching the adult period a gradual change set in the intellect seemed to become clouded animation giving place to a sort of lethargy briskness yielding to indolence this is very probably the case with the pygmies who similarly reached a mental limit beyond which they cannot advance but this limit is set in the adult period in other words the adult pygmy is on the mental level of the negro child if the african pygmy is as short lived as his eastern congener he does not survive as a rule many years beyond the age of adolescence and continues in a stage of childhood mentally considered until death the conclusion to be derived from this interesting fact would appear to be that the negro has made a distinct and important advance mentally beyond the pygmy reaching at adolescence the limit of mental evolution which the pygmy reaches at death but the negro stops here or goes little beyond this limit his cranial sutures close the growth of the brain is arrested and the development of his mind comes to an end in the white the brain continues to expand and the closing of the sutures takes place later in life probably the latter is a result of the former mental development having overcome the tendency of the sutures to close in early life it may be further said of the negro that mentally he is emotional far more than intellectual and un-moral rather than immoral he being apparently incapable of comprehending the moral conceptions of advanced man if we seek the malaysian and australasian region of the eastern seas we find there another branch of the negro race similarly in contact with and apparently derived from a pygmy stock this papoan race of blacks covers a wide island region but like the african race has become greatly modified by mixture with alien peoples largely of malay origin its purist type is to be found in new guinea where it approaches the negro in general character though with distinctive features of its own the papoan is of medium height fleshy rather than muscular color a sooty brown forehead high but narrow and retreating nose sometimes flat and wide at nostrils but often are hooked with depressed point lips thick and projecting high cheekbones prognathism general hair black and frizzy he is negroid in appearance and is said to resemble the african of the coast region opposite aden we need not pursue this subject further it will suffice to offer the general conclusion that the negroid race while through its change of habits from the hunting to the agricultural status it has made an advance both mentally and physically beyond the pygmy aborigines does not appear to have advanced greatly in either particular the negro reaching a mental limit at a low level and being arrested physically while still possessing marked characteristics of the man ape for the higher development of man under the stress of a more energetic conflict with the conditions of nature we must seek the continent of europe whose human inhabitants had not only to subdue the wild beasts and teach the earth to bring forth wholesome food in place of useless plants but also to battle with wintry climates and overcome the adverse influences of cold sterility of soil and other hostile conditions of the northern zones one of the chief problems of biology has long been that of the production of new varieties and species of animals as an effect of gradual variation in structure this is believed to be ordinarily due to changes in the conditions of nature animals and plants which have made accordant changes in structure being preserved those which have not changed in accordance with the new conditions perishing where the conditions of nature remain uniform species may persist for long ages unchanged though even in the latter case changes in structure are apt to occur since variation in species is not wholly dependent upon external changes to a considerable extent it is due to causes existing within the organism itself fortuitous variations being occasionally preserved when not out of harmony with the state of affairs prevailing in the external world or variation may occur through the establishment of new relations between the species inhabiting some locality while inanimate nature remains uniform or through migration into new inanimate or animate surroundings variations in short may arise under the influence of any change in the general environment which renders necessary adaptive changes in structure but this adaptation in some cases takes place in the mind new actions or methods of meeting the contingency being adopted which render physical changes unnecessary the problem is a highly complicated one and no doubt many causes have to do with the multiplicity of effects there have very likely been many occasions where the changes in structure took place rapidly in consequence of sudden variations in natural conditions such rapid changes in conditions necessarily exert a severe stress or strain on organisms either destroying them or causing an equally rapid adaptation physical or mental in such instances it is likely that many species perish the change demanded being too great others escape by migration to better fitted localities and others more mobile or less affected by the change survive through adaptive variations of such periods of strain upon organic nature we know of only one in recent geological times that known as the glacial age the vast variation in climate which took place when the ice of the far north flowed down in mighty billows over northern europe and america burying everything beneath its crushing weight and bringing many forms of life to a sudden and untimely end no doubt a considerable number of species of animals and plants perished before this frightful invasion a noble instance among these was perhaps that of the american horse which disappeared at about this period other species survived by a retreat to more tropical regions to return after the invasion had spent its force still others may have survived by adapting themselves to the changed conditions emerging as new species or well marked varieties among the beings which passed unscathed through this extraordinary change in climate was apparently man and it seems safe to affirm that man's contest with the glacial conditions whose force was exerted upon his mind instead of on his body was one of the most potent influences in the evolution of the human race man entered the contest at a low level of mental development he emerged from it at a comparatively high level no one today questions that man was an inhabitant of europe during the glacial age the proofs of this are too numerous and positive to be doubted he may have inhabited america in the same period though of this there still remains some doubt claims have been made of the discovery of evidences of man in europe long before the glacial epoch reaching as far back as the pliocene and even the myocene age but these claims have not been established beyond question and the earliest generally acknowledged traces of man are confined to glacial europe yet we are forced to acknowledge that if man existed in europe during the prevalence of the ice age he or his ancestor must have been there before that period it is absolutely certain that no animal accustomed to tropical conditions would have chosen this period of extreme cold to migrate from the warm tropics to the frozen north the fact that man was in europe during glacial times is the very strongest evidence that he reached there during the milder preceding period when a genial and uniform climate is believed to have prevailed throughout southern and central europe if we could accept as fact the seeming very ancient evidences of man's handiwork we would be obliged to consider him an inmate of europe long before the glacial epoch if as there is reason to believe the man of africa at that remote period was the ancestor of the forest dwelling pygmy of today lower in mental level and more bestial in aspect than any of his descendants yet much advanced in mind beyond the man ape of earlier ages then we may with some assurance accept this as the type of the primitive man of europe he could have reached there by the land bridges which are thought to have connected europe and africa at that time one closing the straits at gibraltar the other extending south from italy by way of sicily these were the routes by which the apes are supposed to have entered europe and by which man may well have followed in a later age it is possible indeed that man reached the northern continent from another locality the habitat of the negrito race in southeastern asia and the malaysian islands the fossil man ape of java pythicanthropus is a strong argument that this was the region or one of the regions in which the development of man took place however this be we can be assured that primitive man was far more likely to widen his field of occupation through migration than any other animal and may conjecture that he spread over europe and asia in the mild pre-glacial times and perhaps even reached america giving rise to the early man of that hemisphere the advent of man in europe was not probably followed by any considerable intellectual development the mild and equitable climate which at that time seems to have prevailed was not likely to make a stringent demand on his mental resources food was very likely abundant and easily obtained animals of the chase being plentiful and edible roots and fruits by no means lacking thus he could readily obtain the means of subsistence by aid of the arts and weapons employed by him in the tropical forest it is not unlikely that some changes both physical and mental took place but these were probably not great there may have been some change in color and form a first step towards the distinctions which separate the white from the black man and a degree of mental adaptation to certain exigencies of the new situation but in neither direction were the variations likely to be very decided such as we conceive it was the man of early europe in great measure a counterpart of the forest nomad of the tropics of africa and the east the monarch of the animal kingdom but not the lord of the earth he may have made some progress in the contest with inanimate nature vegetable food in his new home was less abundant than in his old and the instigation to agricultural pursuits was stronger and though europe was thickly wooded it probably presented more open land than africa both the incitement to agriculture and the facilities for its exercise were in all probability greater than in africa and man may have begun to cultivate the earth here at an earlier date than in his native realm we are free at least to speculate that european man gained some slight knowledge of agriculture in the pre-glacial period but this is doubtful and the relics of early man yield no evidence in its favor mentally it is questionable if he was advanced beyond the level of the least developed negro tribes and perhaps not beyond that of the forest pygmies but at length the shadow of a mighty coming change began to fall upon the fair face of europe year by year the winters grew colder the ice sheet which was in time to bury half of europe under its chilly mantle had begun its slow movement towards the south it advanced very slowly centuries elapsed during its deliberate march had it moved with rapidity few animals could have survived its effects some of them found time for changes in structure to fit themselves to the new conditions others perished as the wintry chill increased constituted for tropical warmth they were unable to endure severe cold the apes and monkeys may have been among the early victims today the apes of gibraltar are the only ones existing in a wild state in europe and it is doubtful if they are of an original stock there is good reason to believe that escape by migration southward was cut off by the sinking of the ancient land bridges so that the animals north of the Mediterranean had no choice between adaptation and annihilation among the animals thus taken prisoner by the glacial chill was european man he could not escape and was forced to remain exposed to the alternatives of perishing from cold and hunger or fitting himself to endure the new conditions which were coming upon his northern home perhaps the most adverse to animal life that had ever been known man was about to be subjected to an extraordinary strain which he could only meet by an extraordinary adaptation the changes by which he met these new conditions were in a very small degree physical there were almost wholly mental in all animals of the higher orders adaptive variations are apt to be in a measure of this character the body being relieved from the need of structural change through some new activity of the mind in man this was undoubtedly the case in great probably in very great measure there may have been an increase in size and strength some variations in color in the breathing organs in power of resistance of the cuticle to cold etc but the principal physical change was in a growth of the brain an expansion of the cranium giving rise to a less bestial physiognomy and an advanced mental power one physical change that would seem necessary to enable an animal to endure severe cold the development of a thick protective covering of fur or hair did not take place in man the change was more likely in the other direction since the hairy cover which is possessed by many of the forest folk has disappeared this loss of hair by man has been referred by Darwin to sexual selection that powerful influence to which animals seem to owe so many physical structures of no apparent use and some of them seemingly disadvantageous in the case of man in the circumstances now under consideration exposed without natural covering to the growing chill of the advancing ice sheet the influence of sexual selection would certainly have found a strong counteracting force in natural selection had not some other means of escaping the influence of the cold been found as it was the difficulty was undoubtedly overcame in great measure by the adoption of artificial clothing the mind came to the aid of the body the man who could chip a stone into the shape of an axe or spearhead was sufficiently advanced mentally to conceive the idea of covering his body with leaves fastened together in some way with some vegetable fabrics or with the skins of slain animals protection from the cold was also sought in caverns and rock shelters and for a very long period man remained a cave dweller there is hardly a cavern in western europe in which he has not left some trace of his residence where caves were not available rude artificial shelters were probably built even the orang builds a shelter of this kind and we can readily conceive of man at a very early period making himself a shelter of leaves and boughs from which as the cold increased he might easily evolve a hut composed of a wooden framework covered with skins such as he used for clothing when and where the most important of discoveries that of fire was made it is impossible to say fire arising from natural causes such as conflagrations started by lightning no doubt early taught man the advantage of this agency as a protection from cold but the artificial production of fire was a process too intricate to be arrived at by undeveloped man except as a result of accident it has never been achieved as we have seen by the andaman mincopies the rudiments of the fire making art were possessed by primitive man in chipping flints into arrow or lance heads sparks must frequently have been struck from the hard stone and at times these may have fallen upon and kindled inflammable material the rubbing requisite in shaping and polishing war clubs may have yielded a heat occasionally causing fire in boring the holes necessary to make the needles found among primitive implements a process resembling that of the fire drill must have been employed in short it is not difficult to conceive of more than one way in which the fire making art could have been gained by accident though it may have been late in coming since some perhaps all of the arts described were not attained until the glacial age once possessed this important art would scarcely have been suffered to disappear with its aid man could defy the effects of the glacial chill so far as its direct action upon his body was concerned and with it he also gained a new and efficient means of defense against carnivorous animals which have ever since feared fire more than weapons the discovery of methods of artificial fire making was perhaps preceded by a utilization of the flames caused by lightning and other natural causes the fire being conveyed by torches from hearth to hearth and kept alive with sedulous care even after artificial methods of fire making were invented our savage ancestors were exceedingly careful to keep their fires alive as the mincopies are today and this heedful attention left its traces until very recent times so important was the apparatus for kindling of flame deemed that in india the fire twirl was made a god and became one of the chief deities of that polytheistic land in many other places especially in persia the element of flame was raised to the dignity of a deity and worshipped among the higher gods among the semi-civilized americans the peril of the loss of fire gave rise to a serious religious ceremony at certain set intervals all the fires within the limits of a tribe or nation were extinguished and a period of gloom despondency and dread of the malignant powers succeeded then the new fire was kindled on the temple altar and the flame was conveyed by swift messengers from hearth to hearth throughout the land this done the period of gloom was followed by one of general joy and festivity the malignant deities were banished the gods of light and warmth were dominant again happiness and security had returned to man the beginning of the use of clothing of artificial shelter and of fire formed one of the most vital periods in the history of human evolution coincident with them was the production of a much greater variety of implements than had been previously possessed and many of these much superior to the older and ruder forms the struggle with the glacial cold had roused man's mind out of its old sluggishness and brought it actively into operation in devising means of counteracting the perils of his situation and fitting him to the new conditions of existence among the important steps of progress was very likely a considerable advance in the use of language enabling the men of that period more readily to consult with and advise one another to give adequate warning of danger to aid in the chase or in industrial pursuits to educate the young and impart new ideas or teach new discoveries to the old the mental powers of the best trained individuals then as now served the whole community and nothing of value that was once gained was likely to be lost discovery and invention at that early period probably went on with internable slowness as compared with the progress in later ages yet even then new ideas one by one came into men's minds and step by step the methods of life were improved one important effect of the glacial chill needs to be adverted to the severity of the weather was not the only thing to be provided against the discovery of fire and the invention of clothing and habitation were not enough to ensure man's preservation for the severe cold must have greatly changed the conditions of the food supply and the man of the period founded a difficult matter to obtain the first necessaries of life the easygoing man of the earlier age living amid an abundance of fruits and vegetables and surrounded by numbers of game animals or dwelling besides streams which were filled with easily taken fish probably found the question of subsistence one of minor importance the coming on of the glacial age made this question one of major importance the supply of fruits and vegetable substances was greatly decreased by the biting chill and the number of food animals was correspondingly reduced while through much of the year the effects of frost drove the fish from the streams and cut off effectively this source of food man was brought into a situation in which only the most active exertion of his powers of thought could preserve him from annihilation he now found the exercise of the art of hunting more difficult than ever before one that needed a new development of courage cunning alertness and endurance the scarcity of animals obliging him to make long journeys and attack the strongest creatures whether or not he possessed the poisoned arrow which the pygmies now find so effective cannot be said but in all probability he was forced to invent new and more destructive weapons a necessity that gave fresh exercise to his powers of invention so far as our actual knowledge goes the art of chipping stones into weapons and implements was not possessed before this period and it may have been the result of the severe exigencies of the situation and the mental stimulation thence resulting this art is not possessed by any of the pygmies the nearest approach to it being the splitting of stone by fire and using the splinters as weapons very likely pre-glacial men was similarly destitute of this art under the severe strain of the glacial conditions the weak and incapable doubtless succumbed to the cold and deficiency of food the strong and capable survived gained superior powers devised new weapons and implements and became adapted to a new and decidedly adverse situation from long-dependent and considerable measure on his physical powers man came to trust more fully than before in his mental faculties the result being a much greater variation in the size and activity of his brain than in other portions of his physical structure while it had become more difficult to find and capture food animals he was at the same time in greater danger from carnivorous beasts which were forced by partial starvation to overcome their dread of man he was thus obliged to become as alert and ready in defense as he was in attack to associate himself more fully with his fellows in his hunting excursions and his other labors and to adapt the forms and forces of nature still more to his needs his career as a toolmaking animal being greatly stimulated by the necessities of his situation it is conceivable that the art of agriculture may have been one of the outcomes of the situation in which man now found himself the decrease in the food supply must have put all his powers of invention to the test and the probable diminution in number and productiveness of food plants may have served as an instigation to the cultivation of useful plants and the preservation of their products where possible for winter supply it is not unlikely that in this way and under this stimulation agriculture began and that it made its way subsequently from this locality to more southern regions in this however we cannot go beyond conjecture it seems useless to pursue this topic further since the absence of facts forces us to confine ourselves largely to suggestions and probabilities we have arrived at two definite hypotheses first that the original stage of man's progress upward from the apes was completed when he gained dominion over the animal kingdom and attained the condition of the forest pygmies second that an advanced stage was reached when he achieved the conquest of nature so far as overcoming the exceedingly adverse conditions of the glacial age was concerned at the close of this period of frigid cold man emerged as a higher being than the forest nomad or the agricultural people of the tropics possessed of much superior arts and implements and with largely enhanced mental powers the long and bitter struggle for existence through which he had passed had lifted him to a much higher level in the upward progress of life he was a savage still and at the close of the struggle he settled down into a second stage of stagnation the conflict was at an end he was the victor in the fight he could rest upon his laurels and take life easy in addition to his mechanical gains man had advanced much in social and political relations and continued to advance until his primitive form of organization was perfected at the end of it all we find him existing under two conditions depending upon differences in the character of the country in which he lived in the steppes and deserts of asia and the deserts of africa he was a nomad herdsman his life being spent in the care of his flocks and herds his political organization the patriarchal his possessions few his needs small his mind at rest his progress largely at an end thus he still lives and this organization and motive life still persist little affected by the long centuries that have passed and not greatly modified by the many wars in which he has been engaged mentally the man of the steppe and the desert is today little advanced beyond his predecessors of thousands of years ago in the more fertile regions of the earth man had become an agriculturalist each clan holding its section of the earth as common property a different though primitive form of political organization arose here that of the village community in which there was no distinction of rich and poor all men were equal in rights and privileges all were content with their situation and the mental condition was largely that of stagnation this political condition we find to have been widespread over the earth alike in the eastern and western hemispheres as the one into which all developing agricultural communities emerged and in which they persisted unchanged until forced to adopt new relations through a new influence still to be described as the patriarchal clan is persistent on the asiatic steps and deserts so is the village community on the russian plains and among the areas of hindustan it has been generally overcome in other localities but it was broadly extended until within comparatively recent times and traces of it may still be found in many parts of the earth the political organization of these primitive communities of herders and farmers was of the simplest over the herding clan a patriarchal chief presided his authority based on his position as representative of the ancestor of the community the head man of the agricultural clan was elected by the free choice of his fellows his equals in rank and station but the supposed most direct descendant from the clan ancestor was apt to be chosen in both cases the political organization was of the family type being but an extension of family government and the widely prevailing system of ancestor worship had much to do with the reverence in which the chief was held and the authority which he exercised the development of this phase of human progress did not stop here kingdoms and empires arose as direct resultants of this condition of affairs in some localities such as Egypt and Babylonia the great fertility of the soil in the time gave rise to a dense population largely gathered in towns and villages where industries other than agriculture developed and closer social relations existed the simple organization of the village or the clan was not sufficient for such a population and a more intricate governmental system arose but it seems to have been simply an extension of the older system of chieftainship based on the family or paternal relation and on the growth of religious influence and priestly control it seems in fact to have been through the influence of religious ideas that men first rose to power and became supreme over their fellows we have no concern here with the development of religious systems other than to say that in the primitive agricultural community a succession of ideas of man's relation to the unseen arose yielding in addition to the widespread ancestor worship a system of shamanism or belief in the presence and power of malignant spirits and one of fetishism which developed into mythology or worship of the great powers of nature what we are concerned in is the fact that from these religious conceptions a priesthood everywhere arose beginning in the simple conjurer or the healer by spells and incantations and developing into a priestly establishment whose leading members had a vigorous control over the people through their beliefs fears and superstitions this priestly system was the basis of the first imperial organization kingly authority was not gained at first through power over men's bodies but through influence over their minds there is much reason to believe that the chief of the clan or tribe who led in its public worship and was looked upon as the representative of its divine ancestor retained the influence thence arising as the tribe developed into the nation adding the power and position of the high priest to that of the tribal chief there is abundant evidence that in this simple and direct manner the imperial organization everywhere grew out of the primitive village and patriarchal systems in the early days of Egypt before its era of conquest began the pharaoh was the high priest of the nation weak in temporal strong in spiritual power and the political organization in general probably grew out of the sacerdotal establishment very likely the Babylonian kingdom was organized in the same manner though wars and changes of dynasty have obscured its early state in china the patriarch of a nomad horde became emperor of a nation retaining ancestor worship as its chief religious system he held and still holds the position of father of his people the representative of the original ancestor and high priest of the nation in India the priestly establishment was differently organized it was a democracy instead of an aristocracy there was no high priest to seize the reins of government as a result no empire arose in India a simple outgrowth of the tribal system developed each tribe under its chief while the priesthood as a whole remained the real rulers of the people if we come to america we discover a similar condition of affairs the head of the religious establishment becoming everywhere the head of the nation this was the case in mexico where the montezuma was high priest and derived his power largely from this position it was the case in Peru where the Inca was the direct representative on earth of the solar deity it was the case with the agricultural communities of the southern united states whose miko was at once high priest and autocrat it was doubtless the case with the mound builders of whom these communities were probably the descendants such seems to have been the final outcome of the contest with nature where permitted to develop in its natural and unobstructed way a series of empires of a simple type of organization arose their rulers uniting temporal and spiritual power and becoming autocrats in a double sense supreme lords of body and soul it was in its nature a persistent type once reached it tended to continue indefinitely stagnation following the era of growth but war and invasion have broken it up everywhere except in china a country largely defended by nature against invasion and inhabited by an innately peaceful people as the forest pygmy group represents today the completion of the first stage of human evolution so the patriarchal empire of china represents that of the second stagnation there long since succeeded development for several thousand years china has almost stood still it comes down to us as the fossilized representative of an antique system physically active but mentally inert its organization rigidly fixed and not to be disturbed unless the empire itself is rent two pieces end of chapter 10