142 



The National Geographic Magazine 



4*?'% 



" Plains still mantled with herbage and grazed by herds of deer as in pre-Columbian tinaes " 



that of the Old World in superior vital- 

 ity ; with corresponding conditions of 

 chinate and soil, a peculiar flora of leaf- 

 less, thorny, waxy-skinned, light-utiliz- 

 ing forms, and a distinctive fauna take 

 the place of lifeless sand, and the char- 

 acteristics of fauna and flora combine 

 with several lines of geologic evidence 

 to prove that the arid provinces grew 

 slowly during several periods, running 

 at least from the early Neocene to the 

 present. It was during these periods 

 that the unparalleled solidarity of our 

 desert life was graduall}^ developed ; * 



*As pointed out elsewhere, this solidarit}- 

 matured on certain lines in agriculture and 

 concomitant zooculture in the very province 

 traversed by the ancient route. Cf. " The 

 Beginning of Agriculture," American Antliro- 

 pologist, vol. VIII, 1895, pp. 350-375 ; " The 

 Beginning of Zooculture," ibid., vol. x, 1897, 

 pp. 215-230. 



from age to age the forms and forces of 

 animal and vegetal life cooperated in 

 common strife against sun and sand, 

 and were forced by the hard environ- 

 ment into a harmonious interrelation in 

 which none could dominate without risk 

 of .starvation, none yield unduly with- 

 out certainty of extinction. Into this 

 complex mechanism the prehistoric for- 

 bears of the Papago insinuated them- 

 selves so genth^ as scarce to disturb the 

 relations of parts ; into the same mech- 

 anism the Papago themselves pushed 

 their way harmlessly when driven into 

 the outer deserts ; but the natural inter- . 

 relations were too delicate to withstand 

 the violent entry of the Anglo-Saxon, 

 and the weaker organisms withered be- 

 fore him. Other provinces have suffered 

 from the brash vigor of Caucasian con- 

 quest ; forests have been sacrificed and 



