186 THE MAMMALIA. 



t 



can bison might be disputed as belonging to America. 

 This naturally touches upon extremely important 

 points in anthropology and the history of civilisa- 

 tion, particularly in connection with the other cir- 

 cumstance that the line of horses was broken off 

 precisely at the point where the American Man first 

 appeared on the scene ; and moreover when he was 

 still in so rude and helpless a state that he could 

 not have brought either one or the other of his 

 fellow- workers with him from his Asiatic home, to 

 aid him in his further advance in civilisation. 

 Hence the same phenomenon, as was shown above 

 to have occurred in Australia, has been repeated 

 here, even though in a less striking manner. Even 

 at the beginning of our century, buffaloes (Bison 

 americanus) crossing the prairies were to be counted 

 by hundreds of thousands. Nothing points to the 

 fact that the American aborigines ever made any 

 attempt to tame these wild creatures. It would 

 seem rather that throughout the whole of North 

 America the Indian was, in a manner, chained to 

 the buffalo, and that from year to year he had to 

 pass from one pasture to another with the animal. 

 Hence it was impossible that the higher civilisation 

 of a settled life could take the place of a huntsman's 

 career. Only those tribes which wandered from 



