ARISTO CRA C Y AND E VOL UTION 



Book I 

 Chapter 2 



All the con- 

 quering races 

 came from 

 fertile and 

 bracing 

 regions. 



There were 

 other regions 

 yet more 

 fertile, but 

 these were 

 enervating ; 

 and here the 

 inhabitants of 

 the former 

 enslaved the 

 weaker inhabi 

 .tants of the 

 latter. 



perament, which will not suffer them to devote their 

 leisure to idleness, but will make it the starting- 

 point for some further activity. Now this energetic 

 temperament is the special gift of climate. So, to 

 a great extent, is the ease with which necessaries 

 are obtained from the soil ; but whilst the fertility 

 of the soil is dependent on the climate being hot, 

 the requisite energetic temperament is dependent 

 on the climate being dry. " The evidence" says 

 Mr. Spencer, "justifies this inference. . . . On 

 glancing over a general rain-map of the world, there 

 will be seen an almost continuous area, marked 

 'rainless district,' extending across North Africa, 

 Arabia, Persia, and all through Thibet and Mon- 

 golia ; and from within, or from the borders of this 

 district, have come all the conquering races of the 

 Old World." 



But the full operation of climate on human pro- 

 gress is not intelligible till a further climatic fact is 

 considered. Though in hot and dry climates the 

 production of necessaries is easy, in climates that 

 are hot and moist their production is still easier. 

 It is these last that are really the gardens of the 

 world, and that offered to primeval man the easiest 

 and most attractive homes. The original inhabitants, 

 however, of these favoured localities not only 

 profited by their conditions, but also ultimately 

 suffered from them. Whilst the fertility of their 

 habitat pampered them, its moisture destroyed their 

 energy ; and in process of time they were subjugated 

 by other races, who, cradled in drier climates, 



