THE HUMAN SPECIES. 211 



or species, occur on the skirts of the same central region, some 

 thriving at more than 10,000 feet of elevation in the Himalayas 

 and in China, with buckwheat and oats on the plains of the 

 north-west, and onions, turnips, &c, growing wild in many 

 places ; wild flax and hemp on the northern plains ; and, in 

 Cashmere, the valleys even possess edible gourds, pumpkins, 

 and melons, whereof one or two species flourish in the arid 

 deserts ; even the lotus, celebrated in Egypt, was derived from 

 some part of India. 



It would be vain to look for so many primitive elements of 

 human subsistence, in a social state, in any other portion of the 

 globe. Nearly all of them were originally wanting in the 

 western Caucasus, and the civilized development of Egypt 

 could nof have occurred without the possession of wheat, bar- 

 ley, flax, the leek, garlic, onion, and many other objects, all 

 foreign to Africa.* These can have been brought westward 

 only by colonies practically acquainted with their value. In 

 the devious course of the nations moving westward, the mul- 

 berry, apricot, and the date palm, may have proved an early 

 resource to the traveller; and, further on, the olive, fig-tree, 

 and plum, were, no doubt, luxuries; but the sorbus, and, more 

 certainly, the citron, were a later importation from beyond the 

 Indus, as well as the orange, which came from China last of 

 all. Rice was, most probably, a substitute for corn, first per- 

 haps cultivated in China, or Indo-China, where the requisite 

 heat and watery soil naturally present themselves.! 



On the west side of Thibet is the huge table land of Pamere, 



* Triticum sativum ; Triticum spelta, still wild near Hamadan ; Hor- 

 deum vulgare, in Northern India and Tahtary ; Allium cepa, &c, wild 

 in various places. 



t In Egytian representations of tribute, brought by subjugated nations 

 from "far countries," it is pleasant to remark, among many objects, liv- 

 ing plants and shrubs, carefully transported for replanting, and, by those 

 accompanying them, are evidently from an eastern region. These figures 

 likewise bear the Swasteca, or a similar cross, indicative of a symbolical 

 creed. 



