REVIEW OF \V1S.<LE1!\'< ■THE AMEinCA.X JMHAX" 



6r, 



The book presents many facts of 

 conmianding interest to tlie layman, 

 while complete bibliographical refer- 

 ences to all specific contributions in the 

 discussions are given, thus enabling the 

 critical student to satisfy liiinself from 

 the accepted sources. 



Up to and including Chapter XIIT, 

 Dr. Wissler gives most successful dis- 

 cussions of the subjects of Food Areas, 

 Domestication of Animals, and Trans- 

 portation, Textile Arts, Ceramic Arts, 

 Decorative Designs, Architecture, Work 

 in Stone and Metals, Special Inven- 

 tions, Fine Arts, Social Grouping, So- 

 cial Eegulation and Ritualistic Obser- 

 vation, and Mythology. Distribution 

 maps greatly assist the reader to visu- 

 alize the areas discussed. 



In the first chapter, on Food Areas, 

 we are told that there were in the New 

 "World eight distinctive food areas, each 

 with its outstanding staple of preemi- 

 nent importance. From north to south, 

 roughly, these are as follows: caribou, 

 salmon, bison, eastern maize area, wild 

 seeds, area of intensive agriculture (to 

 the exclusion of hunting), manioc, and 

 guanaco. The layman will be impressed 

 with the extreme importance of the 

 food contribution of the aboriginal men 

 of the Xew World to the economic life 

 of today by the following partial list 

 of exclusive world staples: lima beans, 

 cocoa, maize, potato, peanut, tobacco, 

 tomato, and turkey. Because of the 

 broad sweep of view before the author, 

 he presents such summaries as that in 

 all food areas except the area of inten- 

 sive agriculture the people were sea- 

 sonal migrants, all agriculture was by 

 hand power, artificial fertilization was 

 extensively practiced, as was irriga- 

 tion, and also alternation of certain 

 crops. Most of the industrial com- 

 plexes connected with foods developed 

 by the Indians were adopted, and 

 have been retained with surprising 

 completeness, by the white immigrants 

 in America. 



Other interestincr facts brought out 



in succeeding chapters arc tliat in spite 

 of the millions of milk-producing ani- 

 mals in the Americas, the natives no- 

 where used milk or its products; they 

 trained no animals for draft, but used, 

 only hand power. Cloth was made of 

 many fibers — such as wool, cotton, and 

 hemp, yet the "tailoring art" centers 

 around skin garments instead of cloth 

 garments; it appears to have had its 

 invention in Asia and from there spread 

 to America, and to Europe relatively 

 late. 



The author's conclusion, under the 

 discussion of "Decorative Designs," is 

 that decoration is primarily realistic 

 while symbolism connected therewith 

 is derived from the completed decora- 

 tion. A personal experience of my own 

 may be illustrative here, and suggests 

 as well that we often overdo explana- 

 tions in our attempts to find definite 

 meaning in all details of primitive cul- 

 ture. I was one day photographing a 

 large collection of Pima baskets in 

 Arizona. Two very old Pima women 

 came along, and I asked them which of 

 the designs they liked best. Without 

 hesitation they selected three patterns. 

 (They were old designs, associated in 

 mind with the girlhood days of the 

 withered old women.) When I asked 

 the names and the meaning of the 

 three different patterns, the women 

 hesitated, conferred, and one of them 

 finally said, "That one is turtle, be- 

 cause it looks more like a turtle than 

 anything else." The other two they 

 would not name. They told me that 

 Pima basket makers searched over the 

 desert areas picking up the large deco- 

 rated red potsherds so common there. 

 They carried home those of which they 

 fancied the designs, and reproduced 

 them, as nearly as they could, on their 

 baskets. They sought decorative pat- 

 terns; they named them if and when 

 they had to do so. 



Dr. Wissler's conclusion that "the 

 art of making bronze was known in the 

 Xew World, although the real purpose 



