88 SAVAGE SUBVIVALS 



that human beings had not existed on the earth 

 more than five or six thousand years. But the 

 more man is studied and the more the earth is 

 rummaged, the further back into the past is the be- 

 ginning of things known to be. It is kno'wn posi- 

 tively that there have been living beings on the 

 earth for a good many millions of years. It is es- 

 timated that life has existed on the earth for fifty 

 or one hundred million years ; that is, that the an- 

 imal kingdom is fifty or one hundred million 

 years old. But during most of this time there 

 were no human beings in the world. Man is a re- 

 cent species. But it is believed that man has ex- 

 isted on the earth for as much as five hundred 

 thousand years. 



7. The Spread of Mankind. 



The human species probably originated some- 

 where in the Indian region of southern Asia. And 

 from this as a center it has spread pretty thor- 

 oughly over the land surfaces of the globe, not 

 only over the continents but to most of the islands. 

 One branch moved westward and formed the dark 

 people of Africa. Another moved north and 

 northwest and became the white or Caucasian 

 race. Another moved north and east and devel- 

 oped into the yellow or orange race, that is, the 

 Chinese, Japanese, etc. And a branch of the or- 

 ange race probably moved on over from Asia, 

 past the Behring Strait region, into what is now 

 called America, forming a modification of the or- 



