154 EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH 



nomadic hunters and to remain in the lowest stage of civiliz; 

 tion. 



Turn now to the Pueblo region. A rainfall of six or eighl 

 inches in the three summer months seems insignificant. Yei 

 it made all the difference between savagery and barbarisi 

 In Its absence the Utes and the California Indians wei 

 as much below the Hopis and the other Pueblo tribes as th^ 

 Pueblos are below modern Europeans. The one great cere; 

 of the New World is Indian corn. The two other staple 

 crops capable of being raised In the dry regions of pn 

 Columbian America were beans and pumpkins. All of thesj 

 can grow where there Is moisture In summer, but not otherwis( 

 To raise them by Irrigation In places like Utah and Californii 

 is practically impossible for primitive people. On all excel 

 the larger streams, whose control is beyond the power 

 beginners, the floods come to an end long before the time whej 

 the crops most need them. Where the Pueblos live, howevei 

 the summer rains produce floods just when the corn, beanj 

 and pumpkins are most eager for water. Hence these cro] 

 provided the early Americans with the basis for a well 

 developed system of agriculture, and progress was assurec 

 Even if the Utes and the Indians of California had been mod 

 inventive than the Pueblo Indians and had produced men witl 

 minds of unusual brilliancy, the lack of material resources 

 adapted to the early stages of development would probabl] 

 have kept them permanently In savagery. 



The material resources thus far mentioned depend upoi 

 climate. In this they are like nine-tenths of the world's re^ 

 sources. All kinds of food, all kinds of clothing, and a largj 

 part of the materials used for shelter depend absolutely upo^ 

 climate. Perhaps there Is some exception to this statement 

 but I have searched for it in vain. The fish of the sea, thi 

 fowl of the air, and the beasts of the field, even though the] 

 may prey upon other animals, are In the last analysis wholl] 



