440 TRADITION AND HEREDITY 



of culture was such as we may compare with that attained shortly 

 before the opening of the third period in Eur- Asia. It is possible 

 that at this time the evolution of culture was on the verge of 

 making a great step forward similar to that made in Eur-Asia 

 in the third period. But in any case progress in America had 

 fallen behind progress in Eur-Asia by some thousands of years, 

 and it is thus interesting to compare the endowment of America 

 with that of Eur-Asia. 



It may first be noticed that the area is a large one and that it 

 is diversified in that it contains within it many types of geogra- 

 phical and climatic environment. Nevertheless the shape of the 

 area as a whole, and more especially perhaps the absence of rela- 

 tively fertile areas in proximity differing sharply from one another 

 such as we find in Eur-Asia, renders it less favourably disposed to 

 facihtate contact than are parts of Eur-Asia. In this connexion 

 it may be observed that the Isthmus of Panama is a barrier 

 rather than a means of communication. Apparently the civihza- 

 tions of Mexico and Peru had no knowledge one of the other. 



The differences in respect of fertility are more remarkable. 

 Generally speaking America is not notably less fertile than 

 Eur-Asia, relative to skill in hunting and fishing. The north- 

 west coast of North America is possibly more fertile relative to 

 this type of skill than is any other area in the world. But when 

 we come to examine the endowment of America as a whole 

 relative to skill in the lower forms of agriculture and in the 

 domestication of animals, we find that America is poorly endowed 

 compared with Eur-Asia. Maize and rice are the only important 

 indigenous cereals. All the other valuable cereals were absent 

 from America. This is a very important fact because cereal 

 culture is in many ways a far more profitable art than either 

 root-culture or arboriculture. But America is poor not only in 

 cereals ; many plants which play so important a part elsewhere 

 in primitive agriculture are absent — the plantain, yam, banana, 

 breadfruit, and date-palm, for instance. Among the important 

 plants we may note the potato, coco-nut palm, manioc, arrowroot, 

 and the cocoa plant. Brazihan arrowroot is, it may be observed, 

 very easily propagated. ' Even if the plant is left in the ground 

 when the root has been taken, new tubers grow from its joints after 

 the first shower of rain.' i Some such plant as this in America 



1 Payne, History of the New World, vol. i, p. 311. 



