Asia, The Cradle of Humanity 



289 



ened to the insect stages of ovum, larv^a, 

 pupa, imago ; they maj^ succeed more 

 swiftly or linger longer in coming, but 

 under natural conditions thej^ vmst fol- 

 low their established order of growth, 

 unless interrupted by the extinction of 

 the stock. Nor is it to be supposed that 

 the stages are hypothetic or uncertain ; 

 for their definition rests on the sum of 

 observed facts not only of Asian peoples 

 but of those of all the world. 



THE RISE OF NATIONS 



Now the hill tribes of Asia at first de- 

 veloped faster than those of the shore- 

 lands, and sent branches or isolated colo- 

 nies in all directions ; one of the earliest, 

 and in all respects the most noteworthy, 

 of the human streams trickled westward 

 through the passes of the Caucasus and 

 over the sands of Suez, to grow gradu- 

 ally into the world's greatest peoples ; 

 another branch apparently crept around 

 the western flanks of the Pamir, and 

 theti filtered eastward to form the tribes 

 of the Middle Kingdom, to displace the 

 earlier comers bj^ more easterly routes, 

 and to grow at last into the world's most 

 populous empire ; still other rivulets 

 flowed northward even unto the shores 

 of the Arctic ; while some of the strong- 

 est streams of blood and culture ebbed 

 again toward the Indian lowlands, 

 sweeping the most sluggish indigenes 

 westward to the Dark Continent (where 

 they doubtless foregathered with local 

 groups) and eastward into Malacca and 

 the great archipelago stretching thence 

 to Australia. Yet not all of the indig- 

 enes were displaced ; enough still re- 

 main to form that stratified series of 

 peoples and cultures described by Pro- 

 fessor Morse Stephens and defined by 

 the world's most striking examples of 

 race-sense— for, in spite of the economic 

 factors, the castes of India find their 

 roots in racial antipathies. 



The story of the growth of intertribal 



commerce, of the Alexandrian invasion, 

 and of the pushing of Asian influence 

 into Europe has already been told by 

 one of us ; ^' the story of the welding of 

 Mongolian tribes into a nation and em- 

 pire, and of the westerly crusade aimed 

 for Christianit}^ but content to stop at 

 Buddhism, has been told b}^ another ; f 

 the story of slow confederation among 

 the tribes of India, and of more rapid 

 national assimilation under the influence 

 of alien empire, has also been told ; ]: 

 while the story of the absorption of 

 those northern tribes occupying the 

 world's greatest woodland and tundra 

 by one of the foremost world-powers 

 is still fresh in mind.§ So these events 

 and episodes of Asian development, im- 

 portant though they be, may be passed 

 over. 



* HUMAN ANTIQUITY IN ASIA 



The developmental outline of human 

 Asia would be incomplete without some 

 intimation as to the relative antiquity 

 of mankind on the great continent and 

 elsewhere. Fortunately the geologic es- 

 timate is made definite for Asia, and for 

 other lands as well, by the finding of the 

 fossil prototype, Pithecanthropus , in late 

 Pliocene deposits ; and so far as definite 

 knowledge goes this forms the geologic 

 and archeologic datum-point for the 

 world. The archeologic record is con- 

 sistent with that of geology, in so far 

 as the time-measures of the two sciences 

 are commensurate ; the partly tradi- 

 tional history of China runs more than 

 fifty centuries into the past, yet begins 



* Dr. Talcott Williams on Western Asia ; 

 printed in this volume as ' ' The Link Rela- 

 tions of Southwestern Asia." 



t Hon. John Barrett on Eastern Asia; printed 

 in this volume under the title ' ' China : Her 

 History and Development. ' ' 



i Prof. H. Morse Stephens on Southern Asia ; 

 soon to be printed. 



§ Prof. Edwin A. Grosvenor on Northern 

 Asia ; also soon to be printed. 



