182 INDIANS OF THK SOUTHWEST. 



The nonuidic i)0()ples, j^articularly the Athapascan 

 speaking tribes, only in part partake of this southern 

 cuhure. They raise corn but not cotton. They 

 learned the use of the spindle and the loom after the 

 introduction of sheep by the Spanish. They ne\'er 

 learned or practised masonry and never lived in com- 

 munity houses. In some respects they were similar 

 in their habits of life to the Indians of the Plains. They 

 appear then to belong to the culture of the north rather 

 than of the south. Again, it is not necessary to assume 

 a migration of a large body of people into this area 

 from the north, although connections of language make 

 such a migration probable. Instead of a stream of 

 migration, the culture may have been transferred by 

 waves passing from people to people through ordinary 

 social contact. 



The fact that two cultures exist in this same region 

 has usually been interpreted to mean that the nomadic 

 people have not yet had time to adopt the culture of the 

 sedentary people. But when two peoples are adjusted 

 to the physical environment, each in their own way, 

 and to each other, there is no reason why a balance so 

 established should not exist indefinitely. Analogous 

 relations have long endured between the roving Bedouin 

 of Syria and Egypt and the agricultural Fellahin li\'ing 

 in the villages of the same region. Indeed, analogous 

 relations exist wherever there is found in the same 

 region a rural and urban population. 



While it is true that in certain main features the 

 Indians of the Southwest share in the cultures of the 



