PRIMITIVE AMERICAN ARMOR. 651 



The coat of thick skin which has appeared at all times and places- 

 may have arisen independently, following the prime idea of the con- 

 comitance of weai)on and autiweapon, but — 



(3) Plate armor in America is a clear case of the migration of inven- 

 tion, its congeners having been traced from Japan northeastward 

 through the Ainos, Giliaks, and Chukchis, across Bering Strait by the 

 intervening islands to the western Eskimo. Here the armor spread 

 southward from the narrowest part of the strait, passing into the slat 

 armor of the Northwest Coast, which is possibly a development of the 

 plate idea. The plate armor also may have spread to the eastern coast 

 of l!^orth America. Hence it appears to be conclusive that plate armor 

 in America had Asiatic origin. The date of this introduction is not 

 considered. 



