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about with'their flocks and herds in search of pasture, down to the 

 ranche life of the west to-day, the owners ot these cattle were, and are, 

 the pioneeis of civilization. The vast pastures of Australia were nibbled 

 by only a few kangaroos, till men saw their suitability for sheep. Aus- 

 tralian wool is now the finest produced in the world, and the unusual 

 fecundity of the sheep in that country was most marked. Analogy in 

 this respect to other animals was not thought of, and the rabbit, intro- 

 duced for sport, has now become such a pest as to threaten the very 

 destruction of the sheep pastures. The above examples fully sei've to 

 show how natural commodities exert the chief influence in the growth 

 or origin of centres of population and trade, whilst hundreds of other 

 facts could be cited if needed. 



In the development of man, the genei'al asjjects of nature and 

 climate exert an appreciable influence. A hot climate and bounteous 

 soil tend to enervate the body and mind, but a temperate clime, where 

 the hand and the head must be coiistantly at work, is favorable to physi- 

 cal and intellectual development or brain [)ower. The latter is that 

 activity of the mind which shows itself in the great productions — litera- 

 ture, art, architecture, conquest and civilization — and it isiuternsting to 

 trace the gradual changes from ancient times down, and see that it has 

 been from the gross to the finer idea, and from warmer to colder 

 climates. Egypt, with its civilization running beyond the records of 

 history, gave expression to its brain power in gigantic pyramids, huge 

 sculptures, and the elements only of the ai'ts and sciences. Although 

 the climate was too warm for great mental activity, the extremely dry 

 atmosphere gave the Egyptians of old advantages supeiior to many of 

 the neighbouring nations. When they ceased to possess princes able to 

 lead them to conquest, or to continue gigantic buildings, the ease with 

 which they could procure a living from tlieir valley soil caused them to 

 fall into habits of indolence, and their enervation was their downfall. 



India, with a similar temperature but moister air, produced later 

 on the fantastic civilization, and light, airy and imaginative architec- 

 ture peculiar to the Himloo race, its impofssible systems of cosmogeny, 

 deities and worship, lived its life of sensual intellectuality and then 

 passed away. Greece, with its more moderate climate, its narrow val- 

 leys, rapid streams and snow-capped mountains, with its clear sky, and 



