ANTHROPOLOGY: C. WISSLER 
255 
appliances for using horses. He manufactured his own saddles, bridles^ 
etc., but followed precisely a few definite patterns. Though these pat- 
terns appear to us as Indian, that is because the EngHsh colonists brought 
with them the Enghsh saddle. The Indian model is fundamentally 
like that of Southern Europe and Asia during the period of American 
colonization and still survives among the tribes of Patagonia. In gen- 
eral, the complete data will show that the greater part of the horse- 
complex of the North American Indian was borrowed first by the tribes 
in contact with the Spanish settlements and then diffused as far as the 
Plains of Canada without loss or essential modification of detail. 
The one striking Indian variation is the habit of mounting on the 
right side of the horse instead of the left as do Americans and Euro- 
peans. The comparative data on this point make it clear that if left 
to their inclinations right-handed people will mount from the right. 
Historical data show the European method to have been first introduced 
into cavalry tactics by Vespasian and to have survived to this day be- 
cause the sword is worn on the left side. The difference, therefore, is 
not due to motor differences in the Indian but, like most other culture 
differences, to historical factors. 
2. The Indian did not take the cart. Yet the Spanish colonists rarel3r 
if ever used the horse, mule, or donkey for anything but riding and 
packing; their carts were drawn by cattle. (The great abundance of 
buffalo no doubt prevented the development of an Indian cattle culture.) 
On the other hand, the Indian of the Plains had developed dog traction 
by the travois long before the horse came. When he got the horse, he 
fitted the travois to him. In any event, it is probable that the estab- 
lished use and simpHcity of the travois would have inhibited the use of 
carts. Thus, while in the travois we have an instance of the use of an 
Indian invention with the horse, the presence of the horse had nothing 
to do with its origin. 
3. The rapidity and completeness of horse-culture diffusion in America 
is a good illustration of how fully traits of borrowed culture may be 
assimilated. In this instance we have sufficient data to determine the 
general lines of diffusion but such is not often the case. For example, 
maize culture was once diffused over a large part of North and South 
America, for the wild plant is found only in one area which must have 
been the place of origin. In the Old World the spread of horse culture 
was most likely strictly analogous to its diffusion in America. Return- 
ing to our problem, it will be seen how if a non-historical people had 
