MIGRATION AKD THE FOOD QUEST: A STUDY IN THE 

 PEOPLING OF AMElUCA.i 



By Otis Tufton Mason. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 



Ill tlie struggle for existence our species lias waged a double contest, 

 the one against decay, disintegration within the human body or the 

 society; the other against destructive forces from without. 



The chief contest for the inner man has been to appease the insati- 

 able cravings of liuuger and thirst. 



The chief contest for the outer man has been to resist the blistering 

 rays of the sun, the biting frost, the pelting storm, savage beasts, and 

 still more savage men. For this latter contest man created clothing for 

 the body, the home for the family, the camp for the clan, the fortress 

 and armor and weapons against the beasts and the enemy. 



The elements of activity in this double contest were:^ 



1. The exploitation of the earth for materials and resources. 



2. The transformations of materials and the subjugation of force. 



3. Transportation and conveyance, the carrying industry. 



4. Barter, commerce, and exchange, the pursuit of wealth. 



5. The arts of consumption and enjoyment. 



The activities just mentioned divide themselves into two sorts with 

 relation to place — the stationary industries and the migratory activi- 

 ties. We shall attend now only to the latter. 



MIGRATION AND ITS MOTIVES. 



By migration is meant intentionally or unintentionally leaving a spot 

 and not returning to it. This term is frequently confounded with 

 those movements throughout the year which have been called " the 

 circle of activities," the ground covered being the sphere of influence 

 or total culture area. This sort of orbital or annual movement has 

 had much to do with those permanent migrations of which we are now 

 speaking. 



' A paper read before the Anthropological Society of Washington, May, 1894. 

 "^ See the author's Origins of Invention, Lond., 1895, Scott. 



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