48 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



with the use of metals, or by a people who practised agricul- 

 ture, but were entirely iguoraut of metals, or only used them 

 as ornaments. 



When the Spaniards overran their countries the Mexicans 

 and Peruvians subsisted almost exclusively by agriculture, 

 having few animals in domestication. They were skilful 

 workers in gold and silver; unacquainted with iron, they 

 manufactured implements of bronze, similar in its composi- 

 tion to the compound metal used in the Old World previous 

 to the discovery of iron. Scattered over respective countries 

 were populous towns and cities adorned with stately build- 

 ings, and connected by well-formed roads over which mails 

 were regularly carried. They had ascertained with wonderful 

 accuracy the length of the solar year, and had divided time 

 accordingly. In many of their laws and institutions they 

 compared favourably with the most advanced European and 

 Asiatic peoples. 



Long before any nation of the Euro-Asiatic or African 

 Continents had progressed thus far in the march of civilization, 

 the inhabitants generally had so far emerged from the savage 

 state, only a very small proportion, residing in rigorous 

 climates, were entirely dependent on the products of the 

 chase. In the colder regions of the north the hunter had 

 developed into the pastoral nomad ; m the warmer zones 

 agriculture was everywhere understood, plants adapted to 

 the various countries having been brought into cultivation. 



The absence of the pastoral industry and the complete 

 ignorance of the use of milk for food amongst the inhabitants 

 of the New World cannot be attributed to physical conditions, 

 for it has been well proved that no parts of the world are 

 better adapted for the raising of flocks and hej'ds than the 

 vast prairies of the North and the pampas and savannahs of 

 South America. Nor were animals suitable for domestication 

 wanting. Over the great prairies the bison roamed in countless 

 numbers ; on the mountain heights sheep and goats ran wild ; 

 and in the frozen region of the North the reindeer existed. 

 The domestication of the alpaca by the Peruvians within the 

 tropics showed that it was not to the want of opportunity the 

 wide difference between the New-World and the Old- World 

 peoples was due. Besides the absence of the pastoral in- 

 dustry, there were nowhere on the American Continent those 

 evidences of the origin and development of art found in Asia 

 and Europe. No cromlechs or dolmens showing architecture 

 in its embryo state, no traces of how the civilized nations of 

 Central America had been evolved. Isolated like a tree grown 

 from a chance - dropped seed, these civilized communities 

 existed, surrounded by peoples alien to them in spirit if not 

 by blood. Amongst the ruder nations civilized arts were 



