HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



improbable, but their possibility is demonstrated in the Plains and 

 particularly in the Pueblo area itself. Such an interpretation would 

 be consistent with the facts we have cited in this paper. There is 

 thus no a priori improbability for the assumption that the first tribes 

 in the Columbia basin, for instance, did not speak Salish. 



Yet the real problem in the case remains unsolved. What became 

 of the culture brought into an area by the first settlers? That the 

 new environment was harsh enough to stamp it out promptly is 

 beyond belief. The idea that all initial cultures were uniformly simple 

 at the first dispersion is equally unsatisfactory. No doubt part of our 

 trouble arises from the fact that we are dealing with the northern 

 part of the New World. If we had fuller knowledge of Mexico, for 

 example, it may be expected that different underlying cultures would 

 come to light. It is impossible to guess what insight will thus be 

 gained into the early history of the Americas. But waiving this 

 question of initial origin, we conclude that the environment is an 

 important determining factor in the correlations we have noted. 



American Museum of Natural History 

 New York City 



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