﻿ACADEMY 
  OF 
  SCIENCES. 
  395 
  

  

  many 
  centuries. 
  Witness 
  the 
  Fellahs, 
  who 
  are 
  supposed 
  to 
  be 
  descended 
  di- 
  

   rectly 
  from 
  the 
  ancient 
  Egyptians. 
  China 
  itself, 
  with 
  all 
  its 
  va^^t 
  populations, 
  

   has 
  stood 
  still 
  ibr 
  twenty 
  centuries 
  ; 
  and 
  a 
  colony 
  from 
  it 
  wandering 
  into 
  a 
  new 
  

   land, 
  where 
  the 
  abundance 
  of 
  nature 
  and 
  the 
  genial 
  climate 
  invited 
  them 
  to 
  re- 
  

   lax 
  the 
  efforts 
  which 
  a 
  crowded 
  community 
  had 
  necessitated 
  for 
  the 
  mainte- 
  

   nance 
  of 
  life, 
  might 
  degenerate 
  to 
  a 
  low 
  point 
  without 
  difficulty. 
  When 
  the 
  

   Chinese 
  of 
  to-day 
  come 
  to 
  this 
  land 
  of 
  plenty, 
  how 
  poor 
  are 
  the 
  dwellings 
  and 
  

   implements 
  they 
  construct 
  for 
  themselves, 
  compared 
  with 
  those 
  they 
  used 
  in 
  

   China. 
  How 
  poor 
  are 
  our 
  own, 
  compared 
  with 
  those 
  we 
  made 
  in 
  the 
  East 
  ! 
  

  

  I 
  do 
  not 
  forget 
  that 
  the 
  Indians, 
  almost 
  with 
  one 
  accord, 
  attribute 
  these 
  supe- 
  

   rior 
  stone 
  implements 
  to 
  a 
  race 
  older 
  and 
  other 
  than 
  their 
  own. 
  There 
  is 
  also 
  

   a 
  Neestenaw 
  legend 
  which 
  cannot 
  be 
  very 
  well 
  explained, 
  except 
  on 
  the 
  supposi- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  a 
  reference 
  to 
  an 
  earlier 
  race 
  of 
  cannibals, 
  from 
  whom 
  their 
  forefathers 
  

   suffered 
  grewsome 
  damage. 
  On 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  they 
  all 
  insist 
  that 
  their 
  pro- 
  

   genitors 
  were 
  created 
  from 
  the 
  soil 
  where 
  they 
  now 
  live 
  (to 
  take 
  all 
  their 
  ac- 
  

   counts, 
  there 
  must 
  have 
  been 
  a 
  hundred 
  of 
  these 
  "special 
  creations" 
  in 
  California) 
  ; 
  

   so 
  that 
  their 
  legends 
  are 
  not 
  consistent. 
  

  

  The 
  theory 
  of 
  degeneration 
  above 
  advanced, 
  is 
  quite 
  in 
  accord 
  with 
  the 
  cli- 
  

   matic 
  changes 
  and 
  the 
  deforestation 
  which 
  have 
  taken 
  place 
  on 
  this 
  coast, 
  even 
  

   within 
  the 
  historical 
  period. 
  We 
  know, 
  from 
  the 
  statements 
  of 
  Biscayno 
  and 
  

   other 
  early 
  Spanish 
  explorers, 
  that 
  extensive 
  forests 
  were 
  flourishing 
  near 
  San 
  

   Diego 
  and 
  Monterey, 
  three 
  hundred 
  years 
  ago, 
  where 
  now 
  there 
  are 
  none. 
  Bis- 
  

   cayno 
  says 
  the 
  natives 
  of 
  Santa 
  Catalina 
  Island 
  had 
  large 
  wooden 
  canoes, 
  capable 
  

   of 
  sea 
  voyages, 
  whereas 
  that 
  island 
  is 
  now 
  comparatively 
  treeless. 
  Fossil 
  remains 
  

   have 
  been 
  discovered 
  in 
  Southern 
  California 
  and 
  Arizona, 
  which 
  indicate 
  that 
  

   there 
  were 
  once 
  heavy 
  forests 
  where 
  now 
  are 
  barren, 
  wind-swept 
  plains. 
  Ruins 
  

   of 
  great 
  walled 
  cities, 
  and 
  large 
  systems 
  of 
  irrigating 
  ditches, 
  in 
  Arizona 
  and 
  

   New 
  Mexico, 
  on 
  the 
  Gila, 
  Little 
  Colorado, 
  De 
  Chaco, 
  San 
  Juan, 
  and 
  other 
  

   streams, 
  plainly 
  show 
  that 
  these 
  regions 
  once 
  contained 
  an 
  agricultural 
  popula- 
  

   tion, 
  who 
  were 
  ultimately 
  driven 
  out 
  by 
  the 
  ever-increasing 
  drought 
  and 
  the 
  

   failure 
  of 
  the 
  streams. 
  The 
  great 
  sequoias, 
  on 
  the 
  high 
  Sierra, 
  may, 
  perhaps, 
  

   be 
  the 
  last 
  lingerers 
  of 
  a 
  gigantic 
  race 
  of 
  forest 
  trees, 
  which 
  the 
  changed 
  cli- 
  

   matic 
  conditions 
  of 
  California 
  have 
  destroyed 
  from 
  the 
  plains. 
  

  

  We 
  know 
  that 
  the 
  deforestation 
  of 
  Babylonia, 
  Assyria, 
  Palestine, 
  and 
  Greece, 
  

   has 
  been 
  accompanied 
  by 
  a 
  corresponding 
  deterioration 
  of 
  the 
  inhabitants, 
  and 
  

   it 
  may 
  have 
  been, 
  also, 
  largely 
  the 
  cause 
  of 
  it. 
  

  

  While 
  there 
  is 
  nothing 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  the 
  present 
  race 
  of 
  California 
  Indians 
  are 
  

   descended 
  from 
  an 
  agricultural 
  people, 
  like 
  the 
  New 
  Mexican 
  Pueblos, 
  there 
  is 
  

   much 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  their 
  predecessors 
  were 
  superior 
  to 
  them, 
  and 
  that 
  their 
  pre- 
  

   decessors 
  were 
  also 
  their 
  ancestors. 
  The 
  California 
  Indians 
  are 
  simply 
  a 
  poor 
  

   copy 
  of 
  the 
  people 
  whom 
  we 
  usually 
  call 
  pre-aborigines 
  ; 
  but 
  the 
  copy 
  follows 
  

   the 
  original 
  so 
  closely 
  that 
  there 
  can 
  be 
  little 
  doubt 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  a 
  copy 
  made 
  by 
  

   transmission. 
  

  

  In 
  New 
  Mexico, 
  there 
  is 
  a 
  lirge 
  and 
  powerful 
  tribe 
  called 
  the 
  Navajoes. 
  

   There 
  are 
  good 
  evidences 
  that 
  they 
  are 
  descended 
  from 
  the 
  Hoopaws 
  of 
  this 
  

  

  