SECT. III.] CAUSES OF CIVILIZATION. 341 



their country. Isolated by mountains and surrounded by 

 enemies, it was too confined to furnish them a subsist- 

 ence without agriculture; its steep coasts exposed to the 

 westerly winds did not admit of fishing during a portion of the 

 year, nor was the nature of the country favourable to the chase 

 or a nomadic pastoral life. The more difficult culture is, the 

 slower is its progress, and every industry requires, as Chaptal 

 expresses it, like every plant, its own peculiar soil. 



The importance of the above conditions for the development 

 of the life of peoples is manifest. There can be no doubt 

 whatever that the variety of surface, combined with a tem- 

 perate climate, have been essential elements in the production 

 of that high degree of civilization which Europe has reached. 

 This, however, does not justify us in attributing the civilization 

 of the European, nor the barbarism prevailing in Africa and 

 Australia, to geographical conditions alone. Thus we find that 

 the difference existing in Africa between the Negroes of the 

 coast and the interior is just the reverse of what we might ex- 

 pect according to the above theory, for the latter stand, in spirit 

 and character, much higher than the former. Whilst elsewhere 

 the proximity of the sea promotes civilization, it isolates, as 

 Hollard observes, in Africa, whilst the interior is more favour- 

 able to the intercourse of peoples. 



Two points must never be lost sight of in estimating the in- 

 fluence of geographical conditions in promoting or obstructing 

 civilization. The first is the relative value of these conditions, 

 which partly depends on the degree of civilization already ob- 

 tained by a people, and thug differs in its effects ; and secondly, 

 the important distinction of positive impulses to culture 

 from merely " occasional opportunities, which may remain un- 

 used, if the former be wanting. These two points are inti- 

 mately connected. The example of Europe shows that what 

 we have termed occasional causes of civilization are the more 

 made use of, the higher the degree of civilization which has 

 already been attained by a people. A favourable geographical 

 position, the nature of the coasts, the richness of the soil, 

 either on or below the surface, become important means of 

 progressive development. It is fo* this reason tjiat Europe 



