complete welfare of these people depended Upon their providing favorable conditions 

 for their herds and flocks. Good water, suitable and sufficient food must be found ; the}' must 

 be protected against the rigors of climate and from the wild beasts of the region. The result 

 of this constant oversight and care, as pointed out by Miss Dopp, was to develop sympathetic 

 relations between man and his animals. When they suffered, he suffered. Individual mem- 

 bers of the flocks were sacrificed only when actually needed for food or clothing. That which 

 we voluntarily care for we soon learn to love, whether it is a house-plant, a dog, cat or only a 

 homely toad. The blood-thirsty savage of the previous age, delighting in the slaughter and 

 torture of all animal life, w r as being transformed and humanized. Gentler relations with his 

 fellows were established, the sick and agecl no longer must be murdered, or abandoned to their 

 fate, upon the march. A closer bond between children and parents sprang up because no 

 single individual could separate himself from the group and long maintain himself. The 

 maternal care of the Apache mother ceases when the child can pluck a certain kind of fruit 

 and, by its own efforts, capture a rat. So long as their most valued possessions were upon legs 

 and could be driven away there was great inducement for plunder. These pastoral people were 

 in almost constant danger of attack and must hold themselves in readiness for such an emer- 

 gency. Woe betide the group that forgot or neglected the arts of war! Bold, full of energy 

 and daring in the face of danger, but not without sympathy toward strangers whose good 

 intentions were assured. They could even afford to be generous and hospitable. Altruism 

 was being born. 



4. AGRICULTURAL STAGE. The use of plants for food had continued from the arboreal 

 stage ; first, to supplement the occasionally meager supply of game and fish and second, to 

 furnish desirable variety from the carnivorous diet. Roots, leaves, steins, berries, nuts, seeds 

 and the inner bark of trees were thus utilized. The collection of such foods was left mainly 

 to the women and children. Simple attempts at agriculture were begun by the women of the 

 hunting people and continued by those of the pastoral when they were favorably located. The 

 idea that plants, as well as animals, could be domesticated and, under favorable conditions made 

 to yield abundantly, was not entirely new. Favorite plants were probably transplanted in 

 small plats, or started from the seed, and there kept free from weeds. The advantage of 

 stirring the soil was accidentally discovered and digging-sticks and stones were made use of. 

 It would seem that the use of fertilizers was dimly understood by even the hunting people, 

 since the Indians are said to have informed the early settlers that burying a dead fish in a hill 

 of corn would increase the yield. 



With a knowledge of the simple methods and advantages of agriculture it seems likely 

 that the transition from the pastoral to the agricultural stage was brought about by the stress 

 of circumstances. It was started when the men began to turn their attention to what, at first, 

 must have seemed beneath their dignity. The life was so much more laborious and so free 

 from excitement that it does not seem that it would have been undertaken voluntarily. The 

 loss of their flocks by disease, cold or plunder would compel a group either to fall back upon 

 the chase, or to seek out a favorable location and wrest a livelihood from the soil. In certain 

 mountainous regions, where relatively few cattle, goats and sheep could be supported in a 

 given area, it was possible for small villages to spring up in the valleys, w^here conditions were 

 favorable for limited agriculture. Portions of the population would devote themselves during 

 the summer mainly to the care of the animals, while others would raise hay and grain for their 

 winter use, along with vegetables and other food stuffs. In this way the change from the 

 pastoral to the agricultural stage was a gradual one and, with the discovery that a rather lim- 

 ited area could be made to support a large population, more and more land w r ould be brought 

 under cultivation. 



In order to care properly for the crops some kind of permanent home, within easy reach, 

 was necessary. The nomadic habit must be given up and for the first time in its history the 

 race became sedentary. There was now an incentive to build a larger and a better home, pro- 

 vided with crude articles of furniture, such as beds, tables, stools and benches. The fire was 

 brought indoors and, at first, served for cooking, heating and lighting. The materials of 

 which the house was constructed varied with the people and the*region, being made of sod, 

 sun-baked clay, rough stone, bark or logs. It was quite possible and desirable often to group 

 them into small villages and the necessity for some social organization arose. Grains, berries, 

 fruits and vegetables were cultivated, along with grasses for the winter use of the few animals 



20 



