PAPERS OX GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 205 



To the student'of geography these facts are interesting 

 and vital, for this means that the progress evolved in the 

 New World has been, very probably, as distinct from any 

 Old World development as though it had originated on 



another planet. The Indian is a product, therefore, of the 

 American environment, and the differences in advance- 

 ment can be explained only by the differences in the nat- 

 ural conditions which made certain advan 

 study in this field ought to be productive in working out 

 fundamental geographic relationships, which here should 

 be found in their simplest forms. 



The held of investigation, however, is not an easy one, 

 for much is still unknown. The student of geography 

 Is to know, rather definitely, how much of the de- 

 velopment of this culture was accomplished under the 

 Asiatic and how much under the American environment. 

 What cultural elements did this migrant bring with him 

 on which to start ! Have all the cultural elements of both 

 continents come from the same or from different groups, 

 or migrations ! After their arrival on these shores, did 

 their dispersal come at once before a local development 

 had taken place, or was the dispersal due to slow spread- 

 ing from the periphery of the group ! Can certain simi- 

 lar elements of culture originate simultaneously in far 

 distant places, or when such are found, may they have 

 been transmitted by contiguous groups and may they be 

 traced to an original center? These and a host of other 

 questions must be answered before the Geography of the 

 American Indian can be written. 



The non-Anglo-Saxon sections of the Xew World offer 

 by far the best conditions for such study. Even in the 

 ions north of the Rio Grande much still can be found 

 out concerning the life relationships of the American 

 Indian, but it is to be regretted that so little attention is 

 paid along lines of investigation where facts readily at- 

 tainable now will disappear most probably in this 

 tion. However, in South America the general lack of 

 white development in many sections off -ibilities 



of study entirely unknown here, for even now some of 

 the countries are more Indian than white. 



When one speaks of the American Indian in South 

 America, it becomes necessary to explain the term used. 



