HUMAN CULTURE. 339 



ments of early man's advancement are only within those temperate 

 areas or elevations where neither heat nor cold was excessive, and where 

 the food-quest was not exhausting. 



Interesting here also is it to note the length of day in culture areas, 

 especially for out-of-door men. The following table gives nearly enough 

 the duration of the longest and of the shortest day for the different 

 latitudes : 



70° the sun is visible from May 16 to July 27. 



60° longest sunlight, 18h. 53', shortest sunlight, 5h. 52' 



Culture areas of the New World. 



The Western Hemisphere offers the best field for studying culture 

 areas and primitive life in relation to sex. The two extremities furnish 

 a striking contrast between a sterile and a bi-sexual area. In Fuegia, 

 with climate like that of Labrador, the conditions of living are such 

 that beyond merely holding their own there is little to upUft either men 

 or women. 



On the contrary, along the arctic border are the cunning Eskimo, 

 living in an environment that is both virile and f eminal ; but it is solely 

 zootechnic. There the women are housekeepers, tanners, clothiers and 

 embroiderers. 



The men have the sinew-backed bow, the retrieving harpoon, and 

 the skin kaiak, in each of which you see the maximum result of skill 

 with the minimum of material. During the long winter the aesthetic 

 faculty was exercised in carving and etching upon hard animal tissues. 

 The underground ceremonial house and the snow dome are models of 

 construction. Dogs were traction beasts, rapid transit over snow and 

 ice was installed; harness, sleds of uniform width, economic food and 

 packing sharpened the wits. The boundaries of the environment rich 

 in animal life seemed unlimited, so that many hundreds of miles of 

 shore country were exploited by a people speaking the same language. 

 Inland, about the Yukon drainage, women were among the most for- 

 lorn pack beasts and slaves on earth. 



The hirch-barJc area. 



Eastward from the Eockies and throughout Alaska is the birch-tree 

 country, quite poorly furnished for men, far better for men than women. 

 The snow-shoe is at home here, and also the birch-bark canoe. Here 



