286 FARABEE— THE SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN. 



lake with no outlet to the sea. The valleys all led to the lake. 

 There was no passageway to a more congenial climate. There were 

 no forests whose timber could be used for buildings and canoes but 

 there was abundance of stone in the mountains and turf in the 

 fields for houses and reeds in the swamps about the lake for balsas 

 or rafts. Great towns developed on the shores of the lake which 

 could be reached either by water or by land. The lake exerted a 

 unifying influence for either commerce or war. Magic gave place 

 to a highly developed form of sun worship with a priestly class 

 headed by a great chief who assumed autocratic power. There was 

 soon a desire to extend the functions of this centralized government. 

 Following the command of the spirit they moved their center of 

 dominion northward across the divide to the head of a fertile valley 

 and established a city. With the advantage of organization and 

 location they easily overcame one group after another of the valley 

 peoples who were unable to unite for common defence on account 

 of their natural boundaries. Thus the city became the center of a 

 great empire with a stable government and a state religion. The 

 arts and industries were encouraged, schools and churches estab- 

 lished and a high state of civilization secured. 



The large number of tribes inhabiting the interior of the conti- 

 nent have had a very different history. The great plains of the 

 southeast have few natural boundaries to confine the people, so 

 from the beginning they have dissipated their energies in spreading 

 far and wide over the whole area without developing one single 

 great center. They have exhausted themselves in the running and 

 have left nothing of importance behind. 



In the eastern highlands of Brazil away from all migration 

 routes and cut off from the coast are found a number of tribes 

 belonging to the same stock. As a whole they are the most backward 

 people of the continent. They may be a remnant of the first tribes 

 to inhabit the plateau region who have been pushed aside into the 

 out-of-the-way corners by stronger more advanced tribes who came 

 to the plateau in later times. They occupy the only mountains east 

 of the Andes which are high enough to form a barrier or undesir- 

 able enough to serve as place of retreat. 



The rivers and vallevs north and south and the low divide on the 



