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CHAPTER XVII 
INTERACTION OF INDIANS AND WHITES 
Over and over again in the course of the world’s history great 
changes and occasionally advances in civilization have resulted from 
the clashes of peoples who previously had inarched along separate 
roads. Such an advance occurred in Japan during the nineteenth 
century after she threw open her doors to European commerce, and 
a similar change is taking place in China to-day. In these countries 
the clash has perhaps benefited materially and mentally both the 
white race and the yellow, for no one can question their equality 
in mental endowment, or their ability to assimilate whatever most 
appeals to them in each other’s cidture. Very different, however, has 
been the result of the impact of civilization on many primitive 
peoples throughout the globe, peoples wlio, though perhaps not 
inferior mentally, had lagged so far behind in material progress that 
they seemed unable to make any far-reaching contributions to Euro- 
pean social or economic life. Tlie civilized world is intolerant of 
these peoples, whom it has neither the time nor the patience to 
protect and train for three or four generations until they can bridge 
the gap between the old conditions and the new. So the world is 
strewn with their wreckage, in Australia, in Alelanesia, and in parts 
of Africa and the two Americas. Yet here and there some alleviating 
factor has intervened for their protection. Geographical isolation, an 
extreme climate, some sj^jecial trait of character or culture, or immun- 
ity from certain diseases has guarded them from too sudden an 
onslaught, permitted their gradual adjustment to the altered environ- 
ment, and enabled them to participate in the march with the rest 
of mankind either as independent units for a time, or assimilated in 
blood, language, and culture with the invaders. The Canadian 
aborigines have experienced both these effects. Some tribes have 
been wrecked beyond the possibility of salvage; others, after the 
first disasters, have courageously stopped the leaks and are begin- 
ning the voyage afresh ; and many are still struggling, with the 
breakers looming not far ahead. 
Whatever their fate has been, whether thej^ have weathered the 
storms or foundered, they have not failed to leave a permanent 
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