556 ETHNOLOGY 



as much also upon the complex activities that may be placed under 

 the general term of religion. The religious conceptions of a hunter 

 must necessarily differ from those of a shepherd or of an agricul- 

 turist, and the religion of desert-dwellers must find a different 

 expression from that of jungle-folk. 



Primitive men simply gathered vegetable and animal food, later 

 they became definite hunters, and hunting-folk are still the least 

 advanced of any people; they are what are termed " savages." 



Under stress of circumstances certain peoples devoted themselves 

 to agriculture, and, according to the local conditions, cultivated 

 certain plants, each of which definitely reacted on the social life of 

 the agriculturists. Other peoples became herders instead of hunt- 

 ers of animals, and they necessarily were at first very mobile. 

 Fishing-populations generally form characteristic communities that 

 gain command of the seaboard. 



These four types of societies, with their several modifications, 

 occurred in Europe in prehistoric times as well as in the early 

 historic period, and the various ways in which they reacted upon 

 one another were very marked. 



The agricultural peoples gradually brought the plains and for- 

 est lands into cultivation. As they acquired wealth, they were 

 despoiled by the herdsmen, who, being horsemen, could readily over- 

 run the country and defy pursuit. The agriculturists could not 

 well defend themselves, being unwarlike and footmen; but it de- 

 pended upon the degree of the social evolution of the herdsmen 

 how far the results of this conquest were lasting. Attila, Genghiz 

 Khan, and Tamerlane neither organized nor administered the 

 conquered populations; they passed like a hurricane, and scarcely 

 left more lasting traces of their progress. The Turks are still only 

 encamped in Europe, they are simply superimposed upon the 

 peoples they dominate, and there is practically no assimilation; 

 similarly the Manchus are aliens in China. On the other hand, the 

 early Teutonic horsemen forced themselves upon the agricultur- 

 ists of Gaul and permanently overlorded them; and the highly 

 organized, cultured, religious enthusiasts who were trained in the 

 Sahara established themselves in Spain for centuries. 



The Phoenician, and later the Greek, fishermen developed into 

 more or less piratical merchants in the Mediterranean, as have 

 the Malays in the East Indian Archipelago. In the North Sea the 

 Scandinavian fishermen raided Ireland for gold and treasure, or 

 settled in Britain and Northern Gaul, their leaders becoming aristo- 

 cratic landowners and rulers of the people. A similar history was 

 repeated in Slavia by the Scandinavian Varangians; thus it was that 

 different branches of the same race gave their names respectively 

 to England, France, and Russia. 



