A PHILOSOPHY OF GEOGRAPHY 589 



relationship of man to the physical things of the earth is one which can 

 be traced out in the minutest detail, especially, of course, in primitive 

 communities where food is absolutely dependent upon geographic loca- 

 tion. The Esquimaux, with no forest or sandy deserts, eat of fish and 

 game. The fruits supply the tropical savage, there where the warm 

 climate supports a variety of vegetable life, so that the native has but to 

 step from his grass hut to find his daily bread. Pastoral peoples have 

 their milk foods, dwelling as they do in the sweeping plains of Australia 

 or Russia which support flocks of sheep and herds of oxen. Moreover 

 wheat, corn, maize, meat, which are all products of the physical earth, 

 of climatic and geographical conditions, go far to shape the man of the 

 temperate zone. 



Likewise, compare the leather garments of the shepherd, the fur coat 

 of the Lap, the woolen garment of the Eussian, the grass dress of the 

 Australian, and see in them the influence of geography. Or, trace in 

 the adobe hut of the plainsman, the sod homes of the tropical savage, 

 the inglow of the Esquimau, and the skin tents of the nomads, in the 

 carved stone buildings of the cave dweller, in the log hut of the forester, 

 in the cobble house of New York state, a like influence of geography 

 upon the sheltering places of man. 



As for occupations, does not one see in the hunting of the African 

 wilderness, the herding on the plains of Patagonia, the agriculture of 

 the river valleys, the mining of the mountains, the lumbering of Canada, 

 the fruit growing of California a relationship with the geographic field ? 

 When a community possesses more material than can be utilized by it, 

 peoples begin a trade, thus establishing commercial relations, with the 

 development, on a large scale, of agriculture, manufacturing and other 

 industries. Man would not have made rugs in India, for there was no 

 wool. Nor would he have made gold ornaments in England, for there 

 the gold was absent. The Persians made rugs, for wool was at their 

 door ; the Hindoos carved gems, for Indian plateaus were pregnant with 

 them ; the Chinese wove costly silks, for in their country the silk worm 

 flourished; the Norsemen built boats, for in their country lumber was 

 cheap. In short, in many places, as raw materials were present, so 

 manufactures grew — porcelain in Japan, rugs in Persia, ships in Nor- 

 way, pottery in England, steel in Birmingham, smelting at Denver, 

 cement in New Jersey. Power is needed in extensive manufacture, and 

 where power is cheap or easily obtainable there may arise immense in- 

 dustrial centers, as at Birmingham, Pittsburgh and Niagara Falls — 

 where fuel is at a stone's throw away, or where the mighty rush of water 

 furnishes energy, and where it is often comparatively cheap to bring, for 

 manufacture, raw materials produced elsewhere. Often, too, where 

 places are favorably situated along travel lines of least resistance there 

 may grow up populous centers as Buffalo, Saint Louis, London and 

 New York. 



