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16. The more extended and definite annual cycle of the salmon area seems to be due to the fact that each of their staple foods was available for but single short periods of the year, not unlike so many successive harvests of an agricultural people whose fields were far apart.

The area of wild seeds is often spoken of as the "acorn area," and will frequently be so designated in this work. However, it should be borne in mind that in southern California acorns are found only on the uplands and mountains and that in the surrounding parts and eastward over the Great Basin wild seeds take their place. Yet, since the most typical culture is found in central and southern California, we may consider the acorn the most characteristic food.

At the proper time acorns are stored in large basketry bins to protect them against thieving rodents. The raw acorns are not palatable, for they contain a large amount of tannic acid; however, this objection is eliminated by pounding the kernels into flour and then leeching with hot water. Good descriptions of this ingenious process may be read in the publications of the University of California. From this substance, a kind of bread or cake is made, which proves to be a very satisfactory food, but even here this is supplemented by foods from several varieties of wild seeds, roots, herbs, and grasses. The tribes on the eastern side of the mountains out on the arid plateaus are forced to get along without the acorn and in consequence eke out their living from but a scant flora. One peculiarity of the area is the rarity of berries and fruits, which is in contrast to the interior of the salmon area.

The term "digger," generally applied to the natives of this area, was suggested by their persistent gathering of roots and plants. It was also an expression of contempt due to the contrast between the scanty diet of these Indians and those of the bison area with whom travelers were more familiar. Likewise, the fauna was not particularly favorable. Deer were to be found in the mountains, but rarely in large numbers, and small game animals were not numerous. In the eastern part,

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Rh the rabbit was an important item, and as noted above, salmon were caught wherever they made "runs," and other fish were used when available. Likewise, the coast people depended to some extent upon the marine fauna. Thus, notwithstanding the popular idea of modern California as an ideal habitat for us modern Americans, it must be regarded as rather unfavorable to the development of primitive tribes, for while enough food could be found, the daily routine of gathering it in small bits was time-consuming in the extreme. Moreover, in parts of Nevada, Utah, and Idaho the margin of even this sort of food was so narrow that many species of insects were eaten.

There are just two cultivated native food plants, maize and manioc (cassava), that rise to the level of chief staples. Both take the highest rank in excellence among the world's foods, and after the epoch-making discovery of Columbus were quickly spread to other parts of the world. The uniqueness of these plants and the sharp contrast they make when compared with the cultivated staples of the Old World, is the strongest possible argument for the independent development of American culture.

In the first place, we have a distinct agricultural area in the eastern half of the United States, including a very small section of Canada. The chief crop was maize, on which account we speak of this division as the eastern maize area. Although its contact with the great agricultural area of Mexico and the South is slightly broken in Texas, we have no reason to doubt a historical connection between the two areas, and consequently we may consider them as parts of the same whole. The remaining inland boundaries of this eastern maize area mark the approximate climatic limits to its growth. These limits also define the distribution of agriculture, from which we have reason to infer that the introduction of that art did not precede the introduction of maize culture. However, this is a problem to be discussed later. We see, then, that the Indian tribes had extended agriculture in the East to its physical limits. The stretch of country from Louisiana to Maine

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18 considerable climatic variety which is reflected in the aboriginal crop lists, for though maize was grown throughout, it seems to have been more exclusively toward the north. Roughly considered, in the northern half of the area, the crops were squash, beans, and maize, all planted in the same field, while in the southern half, maize was supplemented by a kind of millet, and squashes gave way to melons, sweet potatoes, and gourds.

Tobacco, though not strictly a food, may be noted here. It was extensively grown in the South, and its cultivation carried as far north as the climate permitted.

Wild plants were also abundant and many species were used. Parker's exhaustive study of Iroquois foods shows how completely that people drew upon the contiguous flora. From the data at hand, we have reason to believe that in the South a still greater number of species were eaten. In the far North wild rice became almost a staple; but while, as Jenks has shown in his laudable investigation of this food, it was sometimes planted by the natives, it was not truly domesticated as was rice in the Old World.

Of manufactured foods, other than those made of maize, maple sugar takes first place. Practically every essential detail of the process now in use was developed by the Indians of this area before 1492. The sugar maple being a northern tree, the trait is almost peculiar to the northern half of the area, though the box elder and a few other trees have, in later times at least, permitted a makeshift extension of the art. That any kind of sugar was made in the South is doubtful.

Another food deserving mention is oil derived from hickory and walnuts. This oil was highly characteristic of the south and added a valuable element to the otherwise starchy diet. In early days the natives did a good business in supplying this oil to the colonists. In some parts of the Atlantic coast plain tukahoe (a fungus) bread was made, and in the south, persimmon bread.

Of foods and dishes made with maize there is a long list, which is in the main the same as we ourselves use. Two noteworthy studies of this aspect of maize culture by Carr and

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Rh Parker show how completely the white colonists absorbed the maize complex of the Indians.

One important characteristic of agriculture in this area is that it was woman's work, the man being a hunter. This sexual division of labor tended to give a well-balanced diet, but was not constant throughout, for in the far North where agriculture dwindled out into the caribou area, vegetable foods were decidedly in the minority, while in the extreme South, where agriculture was rather intense and the flora rich, the fruits of the chase were in the minority. The chief game was the deer. The bison of the prairies found its way as far east as the Alleghanies, but except in the open country was not an important item. The wild turkey and various small game were also abundant. Fish were taken where found by the usual methods, but in the south the use of poisons was general.

Next we turn to the great area of intensive agriculture, the only one in the New World, where work in the fields is not regarded as woman's work exclusively, and in which hunting ceases to be an occupation. As may be anticipated, it is also the home of the most advanced Indian cultures. We see from the map that it extends to about 35° on either side of the equator and is thus almost entirely within the torrid zone. On the other hand, all of this surface, except a narrow coast belt and a few intervening valleys, is the most elevated land in the New World. It is upon these highlands exclusively that maize was grown. Furthermore, there is a general tendency to aridity throughout, which, combined with the elevation, gives a very favorable climate. It is just the region where the most intensive cultures would be anticipated. As we proceed with the later sections of this book, the reader may be appalled at the complexity and variety of peoples in this area; hence it is fortunate that at the outset we are able to see one element of unity in the whole.

Beginning with the north, we have the pueblo-dwelling peoples of southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Besides maize, beans, melons, squashes and sunflower seed were the chief crops. In historic times, at least, onions and chili peppers were favorite garden plants; and according to

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Rh informs me that he and his brothers went along the ridge between the Hörnli and the peak until they came to the point where the ascending angle is considerably increased. This place is marked on Dufour's map of Switzerland 3298 mètres (10,820 feet). They were then obliged to bear a little to the left to get on to the face of the mountain, and, afterwards, they turned to the right, and ascended about 700 feet further, keeping as nearly as was practicable to the crest of the ridge, but, occasionally, bearing a little to the left—that is, more on to the face of the mountain. The brothers started from Zermatt, and did not sleep out. Clouds, a high wind, and want of time, were the causes which prevented these daring gentlemen from going further. Thus, their highest point was under 12,000 feet.

The third attempt upon the mountain was made towards the end of August 1860, by Mr. Vaughan Hawkins, from the side of the Val Tournanche. A vivid account of his expedition has been published by him in Vacation Tourists, and it has been referred to several times by Professor Tyndall in the numerous papers he has contributed to Alpine literature. I will dismiss it, therefore, as briefly as possible.

Mr. Hawkins had inspected the mountain in 1859, with the guide J. J. Bennen, and he had formed the opinion that the south-west ridge would lead to the summit. He engaged J. Jacques Carrel, who was concerned in the first attempts, and, accompanied by Bennen (and by Professor Tyndall, whom he had invited to take part in the expedition), he started for the gap between the little and the great peak.


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120 The other most important group of tools is that passing under the name of knife. From the Eskimo, particularly in Alaska, we have a knife for carving formed by setting a small flake in the lower edge of a bone handle. Similar knives have been found along the Upper Missouri, the significance of which is not clear. Among the Eskimo on the North Pacific Coast, and in the northern part of the eastern maize area, we find knives of slate, a material which takes a very keen edge, but does not wear well. The semilunar knife of the Eskimo is usually of slate and is found in the St. Lawrence Valley as well. In Peru, we find the same form in copper and bronze. Chipped blades were used as knives in all parts of both continents. The large, fine, obsidian blades of Mexico are the most famous.

An implement of unique character is the pitted hammerstone, the precise distribution of which cannot be stated. The stone pestle is essentially a hand hammer, and is found in all parts of the northern continent, except possibly in the heart of the bison and caribou areas. Detached stone mortars are a feature of the Pacific Coast, though in California they are usually mere holes in large boulders. In the interior and the east stone mortars are rare. Both in the Plains and in California, we find flat stones with skin and basketry hoppers, respectively. In the eastern maize area the mortars were usually of wood, as also in eastern South America.

A particularly characteristic object in the culture of the New World is the stone pipe, the forms and distributions of which have been extensively treated by McGuire. In the main, there are two types of stone pipe, the common or elbow form, and the tubular pipe. The former has a wide distribution over the eastern half of the United States, extending into Canada and northwestward to the Pacific. It does not occur with any frequency in the West Indies and northern South America, but is fairly abundant in eastern Brazil and Argentina. The tubular stone pipe, on the other hand, is found in the western part of the United States and is the exclusive form in the highland region from British Columbia to the Rio Grande; it is even occasionally met with in the Mississippi Valley. However, in Arizona and New Mexico, it begins to give way to the

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Rh tube of cane which prevails in Mexico and Central America (Fig. 8). The center of development for highly carved stone pipes is the eastern half of the Mississippi drainage.

Of special and frequently problematical stone objects we have a long list. In North America, the bannerstone (Fig. 81) and the discoidal (Fig. 82) are common on the Atlantic side. The Columbia River Valley also presents a large number of curiosities, such as stone weights, tool handles, monkey heads,

etc., perhaps a greater variety than any other region. In the Antilles we have large, curious rings or collars, and in Mexico, yokes. Central America yields carved jadeite celts and animal-shaped metates. From Ecuador come large stone seats and from Peru curious carvings in stone, suggesting appliances for a game of chance. The small area about Catamarca, Argentina, produces a curious mace-like object and in eastern South America we find a large, finely formed ax. The distribution of these forms presents many interesting problems for which the reader must turn to the special literature.

Among questions of wider interest is that of steatite work. The making of steatite vessels was a prominent industry on the Atlantic side of North America. In New England and

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122 Virginia, as well as elsewhere, aboriginal quarries are found, together with tools and vessels in all stages of completion, giving us a complete view of the industry. The art is also highly developed among the Eskimo of the east. The apparent former southern extension of the Eskimo into New England raises the question as to a possible historical relation between them and their Indian (Algonkin) neighbors, which, while not altogether probable, deserves study. Again, on the Pacific Coast, especially in California, we find large, globular vessels and other forms.

In closing, it may be noted that in the New World is the place where we get the most complete data as to the methods of hafting stone tools. While in Neolithic Europe axes were perforated, as is still the case with us, no such method was known here. It is true that a few South American forms were drilled, but not in a way to permit of similar hafting. Even the metal-using aborigines of Mexico and Peru simply set the blade into a mortise in the handle, suggesting that the hafted celt was the original and most fundamental New World ax form.

When we examine the total distribution of the stone objects we have discussed, we find them not particularly numerous in the caribou and bison areas of the North and the guanaco and Amazon areas of the South. This may, in part, be due to lack of systematic collecting, especially in the Amazon country, but in the remaining regions we have the great hunting areas of the New World where bone is the prevailing tool material. For example, the Déné tribes of Canada seem to have used stone very rarely, even their arrows were tipped with bone. Likewise, antler-tipped arrows were very common in the North Atlantic states. Among the bison hunters, bone points were also in general use, though stone was not unknown. The use of bone awls, wedges, drills, knives, and even celts was common in all these hunting areas.

Collections from excavations in Alaska and from the vicinity of New York Bay give us sufficient samples of unfinished bone and antler objects to indicate the processes by which these materials were worked. These processes were about the same

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Rh in the two areas: linear pieces were removed by grooving and breaking; cutting was by sawing or hacking deep notches, then breaking. On the whole, the art seems most intense among the Eskimo, and in comparison with North America, the southern continent appears rather weaker in bone work, particularly in the simpler culture of Tierra del Fuego. Again, in the Antilles we find the thick parts of shells used for making celts and other tools.

Of ornaments, pendants, and beads, there are great varieties of various materials from both continents. Even pearl beads were extensively used by the Ohio mound builders.

MINES AND QUARRIES

Under the general head of materials dug from the earth, we have an important series of archæological topics. Notwithstanding that many of these aboriginal mining operations must have survived well down into the period of colonization, none was carefully observed by explorers. In the United States and Canada, copper, cinnabar, ocher, salt, alum, clay, steatite, flint and other flakable stones, catlinite, turquoise, coal (for making ornaments), and mica were dug out. Practically all such operations were confined to the eastern maize area and the Pueblo habitat. South of the Rio Grande, gold, silver, and copper, and in the Andean region, gold, copper, tin, silver, and platinum were worked. Here also, stone-quarrying operations were extensive, but outside of the Andean highlands we have practically no evidence of mining or quarrying in South America.

Archæological interest centers chiefly in flint workings and copper mining. In the case of the former, we have sites where a large part of the surface has been dug over for quartzite and other nodular forms. Of such sites the best known is that studied by Holmes at Washington, District of Columbia. The most extensive diggings seem to be those explored by Smith in Wyoming, which appear as part of a chain reaching into Oklahoma. Other noted sites are Flint Ridge, Ohio; Mill Creek, Illinois; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and two in Pennsylvania. In some of these the pits reach a depth of twenty

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was the first Monday after the holidays. The children had taken their seats in the Old Bark School, and the master called out the roll as usual:―

Dan was a young immigrant, just out from the sod, and rolled his 'r's' like a cock-dove. His brogue was rich enough to make an Irishman laugh.

Bill was 'wagging it.' His own especial chum was of the opinion that Bill was sick. The master's opinion did not coincide, so he penned a note to William's parents, to be delivered, by the model boy of the school.

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 A solemn hush fell upon the school, and presently Janet Wild threw her arms out on the desk before her, let her face fall on them, and sobbed heart-brokenly. The master saw his mistake too late; he gave his head a little half-affirmative, half-negative movement, in that pathetic old way of his; rested his head on one hand, gazed sadly at the name, and sighed.

But the galoot of the school spoilt the pathos of it all, for, during the awed silence which followed the calling of the girl's name, he suddenly brightened up―the first time he was ever observed to do so during school hours―and said, briskly and cheerfully:

'Dead-sir!'

He hadn't been able to answer a question correctly for several days.

'Children,' said the master gravely and sadly, 'children, this is the first time I ever had to put 'D' to the name of one of my scholars. Poor Mary! she was one of my first pupils―came the first morning the school was opened. Children, I want you to be a little quieter to-day during play-hour, out of respect for the name of your dead schoolmate whom it has pleased the Almighty to take in her youth.'

'Please, sir,' asked the galoot, evidently encouraged by his fancied success, 'please, sir, what does 'D' stand for?'

'Damn you for a hass!' snarled Jim Bullock between his teeth, giving the galoot a vicious dig in the side with his elbow.


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84

mǣg wið mǣge,*syððan man-diyhten þurh hlēoðor-cwydeholdne gegrētte meaglum wordum.Meodu-scencum hwearf geond þæt heal-reced Hæreðes dohtor, lufode ðā lēode,lið-wǣge bær hælum tō handa.Higelāc ongan sīnne geseldanin sele þām hēan fægre fricgcean,hyne fyrwet bræc, hwylce Sǣ-Gēatasīðas wǣron: “Hū lomp ēow on lāde,lēofa Bīowulf, þā ðū fǣringafeorr gehogodest sæcce sēceanofer sealt wæter, hilde tō Hiorote?Ac ðū Hrōðgāre wīd-cūðne wēanwihte gebēttest, mǣrum ðēodne?Ic ðæs mōd-ceare sorh-wylmum sēað,sīðe ne trūwode lēofes mannes.Ic ðē lange bæd, þæt ðū þone wæl-gæstwihte ne grētte, lēte Sūð-Denesylfe geweorðan gūðe wið Grendel.Gode ic þanc secge, þæs ðe ic ðē gesundnegesēon mōste.” Bīowulf maðelode,bearn Ecgðīoes: *“Þæt is undyrne,dryhten Higelāc,

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AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL SERIES.

THE METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, AND DECIMAL COINAGE.

THE AUSTRALIAN LETTERING BOOK.


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124 feet. The natives usually worked out the "blanks" on the spot, leaving behind a great mass of chips among which the archæologist finds many rejects and abandoned forms.

Some fairly successful attempts have been made to trace the materials of which stone implements are made to particular known diggings, from which it appears that the natives made long journeys for this purpose. The method has, however, not been carried far enough to bring definite results. Some recent studies for the lower Hudson show that we have here a very important method from which much may be expected in the future.

Outside the regions of high culture the only important copper workings were those of Lake Superior. Free copper was gathered in many places, particularly west of Hudson Bay and in Alaska, but no evidences of extensive mining have come to hand for these sections. As just stated, very extensive workings have been noted at Lake Superior, from which stone hammers to the weight of twenty-six pounds have been collected in the ancient pits; in one instance a wooden shovel, a bowl, and a ladder were recovered. The aboriginal method of taking out the virgin copper seems to have been cracking by heat, breaking, and wedging. In one pit twenty-six feet deep a six-ton piece of copper had been worked out and raised five feet on an incline of logs by wedging; most of the supporting timbers and wedges were still in place.

Some copper may have been mined in the Pueblo region before Spanish days, but we have no data as to methods. Our knowledge of operations in Mexico and Peru are equally vague, though here they must have been prosecuted on a far larger and more systematic scale.

METAL WORK

Lake Superior copper needed but to be beaten into shape and was, therefore, an ideal primitive metal. Particularly in Wisconsin we find copper duplicates of the most important stone tools, which are less intensively distributed over the whole of the eastern maize area. However, in the immediate vicinity of the mines, we encounter a few departures from

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Talk:Proclamation 95

Change "dayof" to "day of"
This text includes a typo -- where it says "dayof". That needs to be changed to "day of". Mksword (talk) 19:41, 29 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for pointing that out. There was some sort of technical hiccup causing that, and it's fixed now. Prosody (talk) 04:30, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

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Rh stone tool models, suggesting that the copper-working art had begun a development of its own. The most curious of these is a socketed ax reminding one of certain bronze axes found in Europe (Fig. 83).

No satisfactory evidence of casting or even beating in dies has been found for regions north of Mexico. Ingenious experiments by Cushing and others have demonstrated the possibility of making all the objects so far found here with the most primitive tools. Stefánsson collected specimens from Coronation Gulf, showing long, slender rods fashioned by beating together thin sheets of copper.

A very important problem is that of tracing out the distribution of Lake Superior copper. It is generally believed that most of the copper objects found in Ohio and eastward came from this source, but the source of supply for the Gulf states is not so clear, since some copper was to be found in the Appalachian chain.

Now turning to the region of higher culture, we have the best data from Peru, where ore was smelted in small pottery furnaces into which the operator blew through copper tubes. However, some ores, particularly silver, required greater heat and for such, large hopper-like pottery furnaces were set up on high hills where the wind would create a draft. At the various intakes to these furnaces, fires were placed to heat the air, a mechanism employed by some Old World smelters.

Another question of great interest is the use of bronze in the New World. The fact that implements contain tin, but in varying quantities, has led to the theory that the appearance of bronze is merely accidental or due to the natural mixtures in the ore. This view has received its strongest support from analytic studies of Peruvian copper tools, which reveal a lack of any consistent correlation between the amount of tin contained and the use for which the object was designed. Still, the investigations of Mead have shown that the percentage of tin is often too great to be attributed to natural mixtures in the ore, and those of Mathewson suggest that there is a correlation between the difficulty of casting tools of different forms and the amount of tin they contain.

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126 According to this view, the amount of tin added was an index of the casting process and was not added to harden the tool. Microscopic studies of typical tools also show that the combination of tin and copper was often made in the melting pot and not in the smelter. We may, therefore, consider it as settled that the art of making bronze was known in the New World, though the real purpose of the process may have been the facilitation of casting.

In both Mexico and the Andean countries of South America, gold and silver were skilfully worked by casting, soldering, hammering, and inlaying. The graves and sacred lakes of the Andes still yield very fine examples of this art, most of which are melted down to be sold as bullion. From Ecuador, we have a few examples of gold objects overlaid with platinum, which shows how truly meritorious were the aboriginal metal working arts of the New World.

• 2;font-size:smaller;

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Rh earliest explorers had turned back (the Chimney), and ascended about 300 feet more. Mr. Hawkins and J. J. Carrel then stopped, but Bennen and Professor Tyndall mounted a few feet higher. They retreated, however, in less than half-an-hour, finding that there was too little time; and, descending to the Col by the same route as they had followed on the ascent, proceeded thence to Breil, down the Couloir instead of by the rocks. The point at which Mr. Hawkins stopped is easily identified from his description. Its height is 12,992 feet above the sea. I think that Bennen and Tyndall could not have ascended more than 50 or 60 feet beyond this in the few minutes they were absent from the others, as they were upon one of the most difficult parts of the mountain. This party therefore accomplished an advance of about 350 or 400 feet.

Mr. Hawkins did not, as far as I know, make another attempt; and the next was made by the Messrs. Parker, in July 1861. They again started from Zermatt; followed the route they had struck out on the previous year, and got a little higher than before; but they were defeated by want of time, shortly afterwards left Zermatt on account of bad weather, and did not again renew their attempts. Mr. Parker says—"In neither case did we go as high as we could. At the point where we turned we saw our way for a few hundred feet further; but, beyond that, the difficulties seemed to increase." I am informed that both attempts should be considered as excursions undertaken with the view of ascertaining whether there was any encouragement to make a more deliberate attack on the north-east side.

My guide and I arrived at Breil on the 28th of August 1861, and we found that Professor Tyndall had been there a day or two before, but had done nothing. I had seen the mountain from nearly every direction, and it seemed, even to a novice like myself, far too much for a single day. I intended to sleep out upon it, as


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Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3 NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011 TOP SECRET – Sensitive have been seen by Peking as a way of keeping the French "in" and the Americans out. The rapid collapse of France could create a vacuum into which the U.S. would be forced to move.

The Chinese were disturbed about the prospect of Cambodia, Laos, and the State of Vietnam becoming members of the proposed U.S. security treaty system for Southeast Asia. When, for example, Chou met with the Cambodian Foreign Minister (Nong Kimny) on 17 July, the Chinese Premier implicitly warned against Cambodian participation in a Southeast Asia pact or acceptance of foreign bases. The consequences of either move by Cambodia, Chou said, would be very serious for Cambodian independence and territorial integrity. And he specifically stated that his remarks applied equally to Laos and Vietnam. Peking was not interested in new territorial acquisitions; but neither would it tolerate an American military threat close by.

 * (4)

A final Chinese objective was to enhance China's image as an Asian power sincerely dedicated to peaceful coexistence. The policy of "peaceful coexistence" was framed in terms of the five principles: mutual friendship, mutual non-interference in internal affairs, non-aggression, equality and mutual respect for territorial integrity. The Chinese invested much time and travel in convincing their Asian neighbors of Peking's sincerity. Seen in this larger context, the Indochina settlement, for which Chou must be credited with a major share, bolstered Peking's image as a dedicated worker for peace whose voice had to be heeded in Asian councils. Not inconsequentially, China's stock in the communist bloc must have risen as well.

 * 2.

 * a.

For a variety of reasons the Soviets and Chinese found it in their respective interests to work for a peaceful settlement of the Indochina War. Although giving the impression, at first, of being fully behind the Viet Minh negotiating position, Molotov and Chou En-lai gradually moved toward accommodation with the French. The two chief communist delegates were in fact instrumental in gaining concessions from the Viet Minh and in proposing acceptable alternatives to the French. At the outset of the Conference, Molotov and Chou outwardly supported without qualification Pham Van Dong's proposal for a political settlement to be followed by a cease-fire. When it became clear that the French were not going to accept that proposal, they evidently agreed that further progress required a separation of military from political discussions. Molotov's suggestion at the first restricted session of 17 May along these lines, and Chou's remark to Eden on 20 May that a cease-fire should have priority, represented real breakthroughs and probably were the cause of Pham Van Dong's willingness to engage in private military discussions with French General Rh

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Rh the comrade. "Oh ho!" I said, "you have repented?" "Not at all; you deceive yourself." "Why then have you come here?" "Because we ourselves are going on the mountain to-morrowtomorrow [sic]." " Oh, then it is not necessary to have more than three." "Not for us" I admired their pluck, and had a strong inclination to engage the pair; but, finally, decided against it. The comrade turned out to be the J. J. Carrel who had been with Mr. Hawkins, and was nearly related to the other man.

Both were bold mountaineers; but Jean-Antoine was incomparably the better man of the two, and he is the finest rock-climber I have ever seen. He was the only man who persistently refused to accept defeat, and who continued to believe, in spite of all discouragements, that the great mountain was not inaccessible, and that it could be ascended from the side of his native valley.

The night wore away without any excitement, except from the fleas, a party of whom executed a spirited fandango on my cheek, to the sound of music produced on the drum of my ear, by one of their fellows beating with a wisp of hay. The two Carrels crept


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10 and no Jew was permitted to oppress him. He left his master just as our Northern servants leave us; we have no power to compel them to remain with us, and no man has any right to oppress them; they go and dwell in that place where it chooseth them, and live just where they like. Is it so at the South? Is the poor runaway slave protected by law from the violence of that master whose oppression and cruelty has driven him from his plantation or his house? No! no! Even the free states of the North are compelled to deliver unto his master the servant that is escaped from his master into them. By human law, under the Christian Dispensation, in the nineteenth century we are commanded to do, what God more than three thousand years ago, under the Mosaic Dispensation, positively commanded the Jews not to do. In the wide domain even of our free states, there is not one city of refuge for the poor runaway fugitive; not one spot upon which he can stand and say, I am a free man—I am protected in my rights as a man, by the strong arm of the law; no! not one. How long the North will thus shake hands with the South in sin, I know not. How long she will stand by like the persecutor Saul, consenting unto the death of Stephen, and keeping the raiment of them that slew him. I know not; but one thing I do know, the guilt of the North is increasing in a tremendous ratio as light is pouring in upon her on the subject and the sin of slavery. As the sun of righteousness climbs higher and higher in the moral heavens, she will stand still more and more abashed as the query is thundered down into her ear, "Who hath required this at thy hand?" It will be found no excuse then that the Constitution of our country required that persons bound to service escaping from their masters should be delivered up; no more excuse than was the reason which Adam assigned for eating the forbidden fruit. He was condemned and punished because he hearkened to the voice of his wife, rather than to the command of his Maker; and we will assuredly be condemned and punished for obeying Man rather than God, if we do not speedily repent and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Yea, are we not receiving chastisement even now?

But by the second of these laws a still more astonishing fact is disclosed. If the first effectually prevented all involuntary servitude, the last absolutely forbade even voluntary servitude being perpetual. On the great day of atonement every fiftieth year the Jubilee trumpet was sounded throughout the land of Judea, and Liberty was proclaimed to all the inhabitants thereof. I will not say that the servants' chains fell off and their manacles were burst, for there is no evidence that Jewish servants ever felt the weight of iron chains, and collars, and handcuffs; but I do say that even the man who had voluntarily sold himself and the heathen who had been sold to a Hebrew master, were set free, the one as well as the other. This law was evidently designed to prevent the oppression of the poor, and the possibility of such a thing as perpetual servitude existing among them.

Where, then, I would ask, is the warrant, the justification, or the palliation of American Slavery from Hebrew servitude? How many of the swulliern slaves would now be in bondage according to the


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Rh local conditions, the following wild plants were largely used: piñon nut, mesquite, bean and saguaro. Tobacco and cotton were cultivated. Fish as food was not an important factor, in fact, it was under the ban of some tribes. Game was rather scarce, rabbits being the most numerous. Turkeys were domesticated. Of prepared foods, the most unique is the piki maize bread, made in thin, paper-like sheets.

For the remainder of the North American part of the area the Nahua and Maya may be taken as the types. Here agriculture was more highly organized than in any of the areas we have discussed. With the former, maize is made into peculiar cakes called "tortillas," which, with beans and the inevitable chili pepper, constitutes the usual menu. If we add to this cacao we have the list for the Maya also. In the lower parts, especially in Central America, there were many fruits, many of which are now cultivated by Europeans, as the mammae apple, the alligator pear, the cashew nut, together with the fleshy stalk of its tree, the tomato, pineapple, etc.

The Andean region of South America is peculiar in that at almost any point one may shift from high to low valleys, thus quickly passing through several varieties of climate. Likewise, one may, by lateral shifting, encounter deserts and the most well-watered stretches in succession. All this tends to nullify the effects of changing latitude, so that the aggregate agricultural conditions in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru can be made the same. Still we find some cultural differences.

The Chibcha peoples of Colombia in the highlands raised maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes, manioc, beans, tobacco, coca, and cotton. They did not have the llama, and game was scarce, but carefully protected and conserved. The other peoples of Colombia did more hunting, but in addition still cultivated maize. Salt was manufactured in favorable localities and formed an important article of trade.

The adjoining highlands of Venezuela formerly had a hunting and maize-growing population which was exterminated by the Spaniards.

Ecuador was partly under the control of the Inca at the Spanish conquest but, no doubt, still retained its former food

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86 a bottle down to the Tiefenmatten—no sound returns for more than a dozen seconds.

But no harm could come from that side. Neither could it from the other. Nor was it likely that it would from the Tête du Lion, for some jutting ledges conveniently overhung our proposed resting-place, We waited for a while, basked in the sunshine, and watched


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22 habits. Its population was almost exclusively agricultural. Maize was the staple except on the highest levels, where quinoa was substituted. Potatoes were universal, and coca, peppers, and other plants in the lowest valleys. On the coast there was fishing.

To the south was the Inca empire with its highly organized agriculture. Here the crops were about the same as for Ecuador, but in favorable places manioc, ground nuts, beans, gourds, tomatoes, guava, and fiber plants were raised. Hunting was carried on in an organized manner, large drives being made over great areas. The game animals were chiefly the guanaco and vicuña, of which the flesh was often dried and stored for the use of the army. The familiar term "jerked meat" is believed to have come from the charqui, as this dried meat was called in Peru. Birds were taken in nets, and on the coast there was some fishing.

The great basin of the Amazon with the adjoining coast is one of the world's most typical tropical areas, but almost everywhere throughout there was some native agriculture. As a whole, the area presents some geographical variety, for the eastern part of South America also has its highlands, though far less pretentious than those of the West. Here, however, the elevation was much less; consequently, maize did not become the chief cultivated food, manioc, or cassava, taking its place. Otherwise, the range of plants was about the same as in the Andean region. Tobacco, potatoes, and cotton were common. The celebrated maté, or Paraguay tea, and the edible clay of the Botocudo peoples are the principal unique features. Yet, in no case were the tribes of these highlands so dependent upon agriculture as were those of the west coast. In this respect they present a close analogy to the eastern maize users of North America, with whom they are geographically connected by the West Indies. Further, the almost complete delegation of agricultural responsibilities to the women is in itself an indication of the large part hunting played in their sustenance.

Finally, we come to the interior of the continent where high temperature, low elevation, and abundant moisture combine

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Allman, George James


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Rh to produce rank flora. Our knowledge of this area is still rather scant, but what information we have indicates that the whole interior Amazon Basin with the contiguous east coast noted above should be considered as one distinct food area. That the art of agriculture is now absolutely unknown to any of the Amazon tribes is doubtful, because far into the interior we find manioc, tobacco, coca, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, etc., growing in the village fields. Also, maize has been reported from a number of localities, though the climate is unfavorable to it. The blowgun with poisoned darts is used in hunting, the game consisting largely of birds and small tree climbing animals. No living thing is so abundant as to offer opportunity for food specialization, and the native must make use of everything he can lay hands upon. On the upper Amazon and elsewhere the taking of fish by poisoning the water is common. A very characteristic dish of this whole area is the "pepper-pot." Small game of whatever kind is cast into a pot and boiled into a thick broth made hot with peppers. The pot is rarely emptied, but the contents continually augmented.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Now that we have gained a general perspective of New World food traits, we may note some of their most distinctive characteristics. It is clear that the art of agriculture centers around maize, for almost everywhere we find it grown. Its only rival is manioc, but, as we have seen, this plant is resorted to only in spots where it is too moist for maize. In the same way, the quinoa displaces it in the highest altitudes of the Andes. But this only serves to show how maize dominates aboriginal agriculture. We can be quite sure that if we knew the full history of this plant we should have a good insight into the development of the higher cultures of Mexico and Peru, yet in spite of its obvious importance, very little attention has been given to the subject. Though this homely art of maize culture is still practised by many surviving natives, the only field studies we have approaching a satisfactory standard are those of Parker for the Iroquois, Hough for

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24 Fig. 5. The Distribution of Maize and Manioc

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Rh explosion, followed, by a second of dead quiet. A great mass of rock had split off, and was descending towards us. My guide started up, wrung his hands, and exclaimed, "O my God, we are lost!" We heard it coming, mass after mass pouring over the precipices, bounding and rebounding from cliff to cliff, and the great rocks in advance smiting one another. They seemed to be close, although they were probably distant, but some small fragments, which dropped upon us at the same time from the ledges just above, added to the alarm, and my demoralised companion passed the remainder of the night in a state of shudder, ejaculating "terrible," and other adjectives.

We put ourselves in motion at daybreak, and commenced the ascent of the south-west ridge. There was no more sauntering with hands in the pockets; each step had to be earned by downright climbing. But it was the most pleasant kind of climbing. The rocks were fast and unencumbered with débris; the cracks were good, although not numerous, and there was nothing to fear except from one's-self. So we thought, at least, and shouted to awake echoes from the cliffs. Ah! there is no response. Not yet; wait a while, everything here is .upon a superlative scale; count a dozen, and then the echoes will return from the walls of the Dent d'Herens, miles away, in waves of pure and undefiled sound; soft, musical, and sweet. Halt a moment to regard the view! We overlook the Tête du Lion, and nothing except the Dent d'Herens, whose summit is still a thousand feet above us, stands in the way; the ranges of the Graian Alps—an ocean of mountains—are seen at a glance, governed by their three great peaks, the Grivola, Grand Paradis, and Tour de St. Pierre. How soft, and yet how sharp, they look in the early morning! The mid-day mists have not begun to rise; nothing is obscured; even the pointed Viso, all but a hundred miles away, is perfectly defined.

Turn to the east, and watch the sun's slanting rays coming across the Monte Rosa snow-fields. Look at the shadowed parts, and see how even they—radiant with reflected light—are more


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Rh the Hopi, and Wilson for the Hidatsa. For the Pueblo peoples who still raise maize in the aboriginal way we have little more than the pioneer work of Cushing. With respect to Mexico and the Andean region the literature is even more fragmentary. While we do have a great deal of more or less generalized information, this has been re-stated so often that it is difficult to weigh it and even the very best of such literature can never take the place of exhaustive field studies. For example, it is only from the works of Parker and Wilson that we can form a definite conclusion as to how closely the cultivation of maize of white farmers follows aboriginal patterns.

However, the gross characteristics of aboriginal maize culture are clearly known. In the first place, no beasts of draught were employed, but all was by hand. Nowhere do we find a plowing machine drawn by men. As an independent proposition it may seem strange that the Peruvians, with all their genius, should have missed the idea of harnessing either men or llamas to a digging tool, but when we note that maize grows best in bunches or "hills," while the Old World inventors of the plow sowed grain broadcast, we find a partial explanation. The heaping up of earth around the growing plant is still one of the fundamentals in maize culture. It is a fair assumption that the hoe is an aboriginal solution of the practical problem involved here. The mere sowing of grain by the ancients of the Old World was the one great problem, for after that there was little to do until the harvest, while in the case of maize the tending of the crop was the most exacting. The former presents a much simpler mechanical problem than the latter; in fact, it is not until 1731 that we hear of a horse cultivator in England.

The aborigines dug up the ground with pointed and spade-like tools. From New Mexico to Chile, spade-like tools with foot-rests for thrusting into the ground were common, but in the eastern parts of both continents we find a simple digging stick. In Peru the digging tools were sometimes pointed with copper and bronze.

The hoe was universal in the eastern maize area and seems to have extended into the West Indies, but from New Mexico

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26

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Rh southward it does not appear in our collections. The significance of this is not yet clear. The data for the eastern maize area show us that the agricultural pattern was to hoe up hills around the plants. As stated before, maize, squashes and beans were often put in the same hill. Tobacco was planted in hills and so were the sweet potatoes of the south. The first Atlantic colonists adopted the hoe pattern of the native, especially in the south, where to some extent it still survives.

Artificial fertilization was practised from Nova Scotia to Chile. One method, widely distributed in both continents, was the placing of fish in the maize hill. Manures, both human and animal, were used in parts of the area of intensive agriculture. So particular a correspondence as planting with fish, reported for localities between New England and Peru, points clearly to a common origin, but it is the study of the maize plant itself that affords the strongest argument for diffusion from one center. The investigations of Harshberger and Collins indicate that maize was developed from a wild grass of the Maya habitat. The distribution from this center of varieties once so developed would readily account for the uniformity of maize culture we have noted. Unfortunately, no careful study of the aboriginal varieties of maize has been made, but the data at hand suggest that about all the distinct kinds we still have on our farms were in existence by 1492 and that they existed side by side in the same fields. The time required to stabilize all these forms and the subsequent precision of domestic routine that preserved their racial integrity to the present among some of the surviving natives, is one of the most impressive facts of our subject.

So brief a review as this must needs pass over in silence many interesting points, but we should give passing notice to the evidence for the local adaptation of these widely distributed varieties of maize. Wilson has shown that the Hidatsa of the upper Missouri have trained certain varieties to ripen early and within the limits of the short season, a characteristic the maize of our eastern farms does not manifest. Collins makes clear that the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and Arizona have developed varieties with long,

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Rh warmth; the wind had fallen; the way seemed clear, no insuperable obstacle was in sight; but what could one do alone? I stood on the top, chafing under this unexpected contretemps, and remained for some time irresolute; but as it became apparent that the Chimney was swept more frequently than was necessary (it was a natural channel for falling stones), I turned at last, descended with the assistance of my companion, and returned with him to Breil, where we arrived about mid-day.

The Carrels did not show themselves, but we were told that they had not got to any great height, and that the "comrade," who for convenience had taken off his shoes and tied them round his waist, had managed to let one of them slip, and had come down with a piece of cord fastened round his naked foot. Notwithstanding this, they had boldly glissaded down the Couloir du Lion, J. J. Carrel having his shoeless foot tied up in a pocket handkerchief.

The Matterhorn was not assailed again in 1861. I left Breil with the conviction that it was little use for a single tourist to organise an attack upon it, so great was its influence on the morals of the guides, and persuaded that it was desirable at least two should go, to back each other when required: and departed with my guide over the Col Theodule, longing, more than before, to make the ascent, and determined to return, if possible with a companion, to lay siege to the mountain until one or the other was vanquished.


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28 root habits to reach the moisture in their very arid fields. These are, no doubt, but suggestions of many other adaptations awaiting discovery and which present very interesting chronological problems.

The art of irrigation was known from Arizona to Chile, and in Peru was carried out on a scale scarcely equalled by modern nations. The remains of aqueduct systems in the Andes show such genius and organization that our respect for the native American rises to a high point.

The alternate of maize, cassava, or manioc, deserves special consideration. Though requiring a more tropical habitat than maize, it also requires a fairly dry, sandy soil. At the period of discovery it was found in the West Indies, Central America, and even in Florida. The poisonous nature of the juice leads to a mode of preparation described fully in the special literature. The essential procedure is to grate the pulpy parts and squeeze them in a basketry press called a tipiti. The pulp is then made into cakes and heated to drive out the remaining volatile poison, finally giving cassava bread, which is a staple food.

If we now take a general view of the data at hand it appears a fair assumption that the prevailing type of agriculture was developed by a centrally located highland people and thence diffused, without essential modification, both to the north and to the south. While our experience shows that the art could have been extended farther to the extremes of the continent, it is doubtful if the aboriginal type could have been greatly extended without fundamental changes. In other words, the more primitive hunting tribes of the north and south borrowed the trait one after the other, so far as their habitat permitted.

In connection with this discussion of cultivated plants some note should be made of aboriginal narcotics. The best known are tobacco and coca, both extensively cultivated in aboriginal times, as shown on the distribution map (Fig. 8). The narcotic element in coca is cocaine, a modern derivative.

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30 The native, however, simply chewed the dried leaves mixed with lime or other alkalis. Such coca chewing still prevails in the area indicated on the map and has spread to the natives of other parts of both continents, as well as to the whites themselves.

As will be noted, the chewing of tobacco is found in South America contiguous to the coca-chewing area, but it also occurs on the Pacific Coast of America. One peculiarity of the latter habit is that the tobacco is taken with pulverized shells or ashes, ground fine in mortars; in other words, after the coca method. The appearance of this trait in these two disconnected areas and its analogy to the betel nut culture of Melanesia and southeastern Asia is truly puzzling.

The taking of snuff is also largely correlated with chewing, since we find it in both the chewing areas, though it extended rather well over the Amazon country and even to the West Indies. However, the usual substance for making snuff powder is said to be the Acacia niopo berry. Along with chewing tobacco go various forms of eating, drinking, licking, etc.

Yet, the most widely distributed method of using tobacco was smoking, of which three aboriginal forms can be localized. First, we have the true pipe found in the greater part of the United States and Canada and in the lower Atlantic side of South America; secondly, the cigar in the West Indies and the greater part of the Amazon country; and lastly, the tubular pipe in western United States, Mexico, and Central America. The usual form of this last is a small section of cane stuffed with crushed tobacco to which the name cigarette is applied. These methods of smoking are not so exclusively localized as the map would imply, but grade one into the other.

The map indicates the approximate extent of smoking in 1492, but as we all know, the custom was quickly carried to all parts of the world, both savage and civilized. The Asiatic peoples have a distinct type of pipe and a different method of smoking, which in late times has reached the Eskimo of Alaska from Siberia.

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Althaus, Julius


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4 the countries of the Upper Oxus, for the purpose of meeting the first mission into Eastern Turkestan at Kashgar, he had already rendered several valuable services to the cause of geographical research and to the Indian Government by journeys to Cabul and its northern dependencies. In September, 1865, he had travelled by the Abkhana pass route to Jellalabad and Cabul; and thence, via Bamian and Balkh, had gone on to Bokhara, Samarcand, and Tashkent. On his return journey he had explored Gusar, Shirabad, and the eastern parts of Karshi; and, crossing the Oxus, he had, after visiting Kundus and Badakshan, taken the route over the Khawak pass to Inderaub, Charikar, and Cabul. He arrived in India in Novem- ber, 1867, having been absent more than two years. Almost immediately after his return from this journey he visited Cabul again, and remained there for six months. In July, 1869, he repeated his first journey to Samarcand, apparently in consequence of the pohtical changes which had just taken place in Central Asia. He was back again in India in February, 1870, ready for fresh work. In the month of May he was deputed to undertake the task of which an interesting narrative will be found in the volume for 1872 of the "Journal of the Royal Geographical Society." The following is a summary of that narrative.

Faiz Baksh gives an interesting table of routes both in Afghan Turkestan and Bokhara; but it is neces- sary to test these in some details with those furnished by other authorities. The most interesting portion of his narrative is undoubtedly that describing Kundus


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20

The following list enumerates the most important plants originally cultivated by the several Indian tribes before the discovery of the New World in 1492.

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Amos, Sheldon


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98 I was more surprised than discouraged by this report by Bennen. One half of his assertions I knew to be wrong. The Col to which he referred was the Col du Lion, upon which we had passed a night less than a week after he had spoken so authoritatively; and I had seen a place not far below the "Chimney,"—a place about 500 feet above the Col—where it seemed possible to construct a sleeping-place. Bennen's opinions seem to have undergone a complete change. In 1860 he is described as having been enthusiastic to make an attempt; in 1861 he was dead against one. Nothing dismayed by this, my friend Mr. Reginald Macdonald, our companion on the Pelvoux—to whom so much of our success had been due, agreed to join me in a renewed assault from the south; and, although we failed to secure Melchior Anderegg and some other notable guides, we obtained two men of repute, namely, Johann zum Taugwald and Johann Kronig, of Zermatt. We met at that place early in July, but stormy weather prevented us even from crossing to the other side of the chain for some time. We crossed the Col Theodule on the 5th, but the weather was thoroughly unsettled—it was raining in the valleys, and snowing upon the mountains. Shortly before we gained the summit we were made extremely uncomfortable by hearing mysterious, rushing sounds, which sometimes seemed as if a sudden gust of wind was sweeping along the snow, and, at others, almost like the swishing of a long whip: yet the snow exhibited no signs of motion, and the air was perfectly calm. The dense, black storm-clouds made us momentarily expect that our bodies might be used as lightning-conductors, and we were well satisfied to get under shelter of the inn at Breil, without having submitted to any such experience.


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100 and one quarter of an inch thick. The bolts were then inserted, and the two pairs of poles were set out (and fixed up by a cord), to the proper dimensions. The roof was then put on. This was made of the rough, unbleached calico called forfar, which can be obtained in six-feet widths, and it was continued round for about two feet, on each side, on to the floor. The width of the material was the length of the tent, and seams were thus avoided in the roof. The forfar was sewn round each pole; particular care being taken to avoid wrinkles, and to get the whole perfectly taut. The flooring was next put in and sewn down to the forfar. This was of the ordinary plaid mackintosh, about nine feet square; the surplus three feet being continued up the sides to


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102 Sunday, the 6th of July, was showery, and snow fell on the Matterhorn, but we started on the following morning with our three men, and pursued my route of the previous year. I was requested to direct the way, as none save myself had been on the mountain before; but I did not distinguish myself on this occasion, and led my companions nearly to the top of the small peak before the mistake was discovered. The party becoming rebellious, a little exploration was made towards our right, and we found that we were upon the top of the cliff overlooking the Col du Lion. The upper part of the small peak is of a very different character to the lower part; the rocks are not so firm, and they are usually covered, or intermixed, with snow, and glazed with ice: the angle too is more severe. While descending a small snow-slope, to get on to the right track, Kronig slipped on a streak of ice, and went down at a fearful pace. Fortunately he kept on his legs, and, by a great effort, succeeded in stopping just before he arrived at some rocks that jutted through the snow, which would infallibly have knocked him over. When we rejoined him a few minutes later, we found that he was incapable of standing, much less of moving, with a face corpse-like in hue, and trembling violently. He remained in this condition for more than an hour, and the day was consequently far advanced before we arrived at our camping-place on the Col. Profiting by the experience of last year, we did not pitch the tent actually on the snow, but collected a quantity of débris from the neighbouring ledges, and after constructing a rough platform of the larger pieces, levelled the whole with the dirt and mud.

Meynet had proved invaluable as a tent-bearer; for—although his legs were more picturesque than symmetrical, and although he seemed to be built on principle with no two parts alike—his very deformities proved of service; and we quickly found he had spirit of no common order, and that few peasants are more agreeable companions, or better climbers, than little Luc Meynet, the hunchback of Breil. He now showed himself not less serviceable as a scavenger, and humbly asked for gristly pieces of meat, rejected by the others, or for suspicious eggs; and seemed to consider it a peculiar favour,


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104 the night, and we started again, with these two men and a porter, at 8 on the 9th, with unexceptionable weather. Carrel pleased us by suggesting that we should camp even higher than before; and we accordingly proceeded, without resting at the Col, until we overtopped the Tête du Lion. Near the foot of the "Chimney," a little below the crest of the ridge, and on its eastern side, we found a protected place; and by building up from ledge to ledge (under the direction of our leader, who was a mason by profession), we at length constructed a platform of sufficient size and of considerable solidity. Its height was about 12,550 feet above the sea; and it exists, I believe, at the present time. We then pushed on, as the day was very fine, and, after a short hour's scramble, got to the foot of the Great Tower upon the ridge (that is to say, to Mr. Hawkins' farthest point), and afterwards returned to our bivouac. We turned out again at 4, and at 5.15 started upwards once more, with fine weather and the thermometer at 28°. Carrel scrambled up the Chimney, and Macdonald and I after him. Pession's turn came, but when he arrived at the top he looked very ill, declared himself to be thoroughly incapable, and said that he must go back. We waited some time, but he did not get better, neither could we learn the nature of his illness. Carrel flatly refused to go on with us alone. We were helpless. Macdonald, ever the coolest of the cool, suggested that we should try what we could do without them; but our better judgment prevailed, and, finally, we returned together to Breil. On the next day my friend started for London. Three times I had essayed the ascent of this mountain, and on each occasion had failed ignominiously. I had not advanced a yard beyond my predecessors. Up to the height of nearly 13,000 feet there were no extraordinary difficulties; the way so far might even become "a matter of amusement." Only 1800 feet remained;


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 him except his own, he must needs take note even of small things, for he cannot afford to throw away a chance; and so it came to pass, upon my solitary scramble, when above the snow-line, and beyond the ordinary limits of flowering plants, when peering about noting angles and landmarks, that my eyes fell upon the tiny straggling plants—oftentimes a single flower on a single stalk—pioneers of vegetation, atoms of life in a world of desolation, which had found their way up—who can tell how?—from far below, and were obtaining bare sustenance from the scanty soil in protected nooks; and it gave a new interest to the well-known rocks to see what a gallant fight the survivors made (for many must have perished in the attempt) to ascend the great mountain. The Gentian, as one might have expected, was there, but it was run close by Saxifrages, and by Linaria alpina, and was beaten by Thlaspi rotundifolium, which latter plant was the highest I was able to secure, although it too was overtopped by a little white flower which I knew not, and was unable to reach.


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108 intervening between the Val Tonrnanche and the Val Barthelemy: Mont Rouss (a round-topped snowy summit, which seems so important from Breil, but which is in reality only a buttress of the higher mountain, the Château des Dames), had long ago sunk, and the eye passed over it, scarcely heeding its existence, to the Becca Salle (or, as it is printed on the map, Bec de Sale),—a miniature Matterhorn—and to other, and more important heights. Then the grand mass of the Dent d'Herens (13,714) stopped the way; a noble mountain, encrusted on its northern slopes with enormous hanging glaciers, which broke away at mid-day in immense slices, and thundered down on to the Tiefenmatten glacier; and lastly, most splendid of all, came the Dent Blanche (14,318), soaring above the basin of the great Z'Muttgletscher. Such a view is hardly to be matched in the Alps, and this view is very rarely seen, as I saw it, perfectly unclouded. I have already had occasion to mention the rapid changes which occur in the weather at considerable elevations in the Alps, and shall have to do so again in subsequent chapters. No one can regret more than myself the variable weather which afflicts that otherwise delightful chain of mountains, or the necessity of speaking about it: its summits appear to enjoy more than their fair share of wind and tempests. Meteorological disturbances, it would seem, are by no means necessary accompaniments of high regions. There are some happy places which are said to be favoured with almost perpetual calm. Take the case of the Sierra Nevada of California, for example, which includes numerous summits from 13,000 to 15,000 feet. Mr. Whitney, of San Francisco, says (in his Guide-book to the Yosemite Valley, and the adjacent region), "At high altitudes, all through the mountains, the weather during the summer is almost always the finest possible for travelling. There are occasional storms in the high mountains; but, in ordinary seasons, these are quite rare, and one of the greatest drawbacks to the pleasure of travelling in the Alps, the uncertainty of the weather, is here almost entirely wanting." It is probable that a more thorough acquaintance with that region will modify this opinion; for it must be admitted that it is very difficult to judge of the state of the atmosphere of great heights from the valleys, and it often occurs that a terrific storm is raging above when there is a dead calm below, at a distance perhaps of not more than three or four miles. A case of this kind is described in Chapter vii., and another may be mentioned here. At the very time that I was regarding the Dent Blanche from a height of 12,550 feet on the Matterhorn, Mr. T. S. Kennedy was engaged in making the first ascent of the former mountain, and he described his ascent in a very picturesque paper in the Alpine Journal (1863). I learn from it that he experienced severe weather. "The wind roared over our ridge,


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110 Solitary scrambling over a pretty wide area had shown me that a single individual is subjected to many difficulties which do not trouble a party of two or three men, and that the disadvantages of being alone are more felt while descending than during the ascent. In order to neutralise these inconveniences, I devised two little appliances, which were now brought into use for the first time. One was a claw—a kind of grapnel—about five inches long, made of shear steel, one-fifth of an inch thick. This was of use in difficult places where there was no hold within arm's length, but where there were cracks or ledges some distance higher. It could be stuck on the end of the alpenstock and dropped into such places, or, on extreme occasions, flung up until it attached itself to something. The edges that laid hold of the rocks were serrated, which tended to make them catch more readily: the other end had a ring to which a rope was fastened. It must not be understood that this was employed for hauling one's-self up for any great distance, but that it was used in ascending, at the most, for only a few yards at a time. In descending, however, it could be prudently used for a greater distance at a time, as the claws could be planted firmly; but it was necessary to keep the rope taut, and the pull constantly in the direction of the length of the implement, otherwise it had a tendency to slip away. The second device was merely a modification of a dodge practised by all climbers. It is frequently necessary for a single man (or for the last man of a party) during a descent, to make a loop in the end of his rope, which he passes over some rocks, and to come down holding the free end. The loop is then jerked off, and the process may be repeated. But as it sometimes happens that there are no rocks at hand which will allow a loose loop to be used, a slip-knot has to be resorted to, and the rope is drawn in tightly. Consequently it will occur that it is


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112 battlemented wall leads upwards to the citadel. Seen from the Theodule pass, it looks only an insignificant pinnacle, but as one approaches it (on the ridge) so it seems to rise, and, when one is at its base, it completely conceals the upper parts of the mountain. I found here a suitable place for the tent; which, although not so well protected as the second platform, possessed the advantage of being 300 feet higher up; and fascinated by the wildness of the cliffs, and enticed by the perfection of the weather, I went on to see what was behind.

The first step was a difficult one; the ridge became diminished to the least possible width—it was hard to keep one's balance—and just where it was narrowest, a more than perpendicular mass barred the way. Nothing fairly within arm's reach could be laid hold of; it was necessary to spring up, and then to haul one's-self over the sharp edge by sheer strength. Progression directly upwards was then impossible. Enormous and appalling precipices plunged down to the Tiefenmatten glacier on the left, but round the right-hand side it was just possible to go. One hindrance then succeeded another, and much time was consumed in seeking the way. I have a vivid recollection of a gully of more than usual perplexity at the side of the Great Tower, with minute ledges and steep walls; of the ledges dwindling down and at last ceasing; and of finding myself, with arms and legs divergent, fixed as if crucified, pressing against the rock, and feeling each rise and fall of my chest as I breathed; of screwing my head round to look for hold, and not seeing any, and of jumping sideways on to the other side.

'Tis vain to attempt to describe such places. Whether they are sketched with a light hand, or wrought out in laborious detail, one stands an equal chance of being misunderstood. Their enchantment to the climber arises from their calls on his faculties, in their demands on his strength, and on overcoming the impediments which they oppose to his skill. The non-mountaineering reader cannot


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114 I expect that any intelligent critic will inquire, "But do you really mean to assert that dangers in mountaineering arise only from superlative difficulty; and that the perfect mountaineer does not run any risks?" I am not prepared to go quite so far as this, although there is only one risk to which the scrambler on the Higher Alps is unavoidably subject, which does not occur to pedestrians in London's streets. This arises from falling rocks, and I shall endeavour, in the course of this volume, to make the reader understand that it is a positive danger, and one against which skill, strength, and courage, are equally unavailing. It occurs at unexpected times, and may occur in almost any place. The critic may retort, "Your admission of this one danger destroys all the rest of the argument." I agree with him that it would do so if it were a grave risk to life. But although it is a real danger, it is not a very serious risk. Not many cases can be quoted of accidents which have happened through falling stones, and I do not know an instance of life having been lost in this way in the High Alps. I suppose, however, few persons will maintain that it is unjustifiable to do anything, for sport or otherwise, so long as any risk is incurred; else it would be unjustifiable to cross Fleet Street at mid-day. If it were one's bounden duty to avoid every risk, we should have to pass our lives indoors. I conceive that the pleasures of mountaineering outweigh the risks arising from this particular cause, and that the practice will not be vetoed on its account. Still, I wish to stamp it as a positive danger, and as one which may imperil the life of the most perfect mountaineer.

There is, then, only one positive danger in mountaineering, and that is little risk. There are, however, numerous negative dangers through which many lose their lives. The words positive and negative are used in the following sense. A positive danger is one which we are powerless to avoid, and a negative danger is one which


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116 The most capable men agree that there are two species of fool-hardiness which merit emphatic condemnation. The first is attempting to traverse the upper (snow-covered) portions of glaciers without using a rope, and the second is ignoring the instability of new snow. Lives are lost every year through one or the other of these imbecilities. In each case the dangers are perfectly well known, and the results may be predicted with tolerable certainty. A man who attempts to traverse the upper parts of glaciers by himself, or with others, unroped, does not necessarily take harm on the first attempt, but if he perseveres he is certain to come to grief sooner or later. He may go on with impunity for a considerable time, or he may perish on the first attempt; but, whatever may be the case, he is foolhardy, because he incurs a risk which can only be incurred by the neglect of the simplest of precautions. In the second case one cannot, unfortunately, speak with the same precision, because there are three elements involved, all of which are subject to continual variation. The first is the quality of the snow, the second is its quantity, and the third is the angle at which it reposes. Still it is not very difficult in practice to determine when a new fall of snow is dangerous to traverse or not. For example, it may be laid down as a general rule that it is imprudent to meddle with any slope exceeding thirty degrees for several days after a heavy fall. It is equally certain that slopes considerably exceeding this angle are traversed, or attempted to be crossed, every year, by incompetent persons, within twenty-four hours of heavy falls.

It may be questioned whether those who commit these imprudences consider they are endangering their lives. In some cases such things have probably been done from mere ignorance, but in others the clamour and protestations against departure have at least taken it out of the power of those concerned to say that they were unaware of the opinion of those who were the most fit judges. Whether such things are done from ignorance or from conceit, it is not unfair to class them as acts of foolhardiness.


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118 This long digression has been caused by an innocent gully which I feared the reader might think was dangerous. It was an untrodden vestibule which led to a scene so wild that even the most sober description of it must seem an exaggeration. There was a change in the quality of the rock, and there was a change in the appearance of the ridge. The rocks (talcose gneiss) below this spot were singularly firm; it was rarely necessary to test one's hold; the way led over the living rock, and not up rent-off fragments. But here, all was decay and ruin. The crest of the ridge was shattered and cleft, and the feet sank in the chips which had drifted down; while above, huge blocks, hacked and carved by the hand of time, nodded to the sky, looking like the grave-stones of giants. Out of curiosity I wandered to a notch in the ridge, between two tottering piles of immense masses, which seemed to need but a few pounds on one or the other side to make them fall; so nicely poised that they would literally have rocked in the wind, for they were put in motion by a touch; and based on support so frail that I wondered they did not collapse before my eyes. In the whole range of my Alpine experience I have seen nothing more striking than this desolate, ruined, and shattered ridge at the back of the Great Tower. I have seen stranger shapes,—rocks which mimic the human form, with monstrous leering faces — and isolated pinnacles, sharper and greater than any here; but I have never seen exhibited so impressively the tremendous effects which may be produced by frost, and by the long-continued action of forces whose individual effects are imperceptible.

It is needless to say that it is impossible to climb by the crest of the ridge at this part; still one is compelled to keep near to it, for there is no other way. Generally speaking, the angles on the Matterhorn are too steep to allow the formation of considerable beds of snow, but here there is a corner which permits it to accumulate, and it is turned to gratefully, for, by its assistance, one can ascend four times as rapidly as upon the rocks. Page 154 - Scrambles amongst the Alps - Whymper.jpg "THE CHIMNEY."

ON THE SOUTH-WEST RIDGE OF THE MATTERHORN. The Tower was now almost out of sight, and I looked over


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ON THE SOUTH-WEST RIDGE OF THE MATTERHORN.


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120 on arriving at an angle of the cliffs of the Tête du Lion, while skirting the upper edge of the snow which abuts against them, I found that the heat of the two past days had nearly obliterated the steps which had been cut when coming up. The rocks happened to be impracticable just at this corner, so nothing could be done except make the steps afresh. The snow was too hard to beat or tread down, and at the angle it was all but ice; half-a-dozen steps only were required, and then the ledges could be followed again. So I held to the rock with my right hand, and prodded at the snow with the point of my stick until a good step was made, and then, leaning round the angle, did the same for the other side. So far well, but in attempting to pass the corner (to the present moment I cannot tell how it happened) I slipped and fell.

The slope was steep on which this took place, and was at the top of a gully that led down through two subordinate buttresses towards the Glacier du Lion—which was just seen, a thousand feet below. The gully narrowed and narrowed, until there was a mere thread of snow lying between two walls of rock, which came to an abrupt termination at the top of a precipice that intervened between it and the glacier. Imagine a funnel cut in half through its length; placed at an angle of 45 degrees, with its point below and its concave side uppermost, and you will have a fair idea of the place.

The knapsack brought my head down first, and I pitched into some rocks about a dozen feet below; they caught something and tumbled me off the edge, head over heels, into the gully; the baton was dashed from my hands, and I whirled downwards in a series of bounds, each longer than the last; now over ice, now into rocks; striking my head four or five times, each time with increased force. The last bound sent me spinning through the air, in a leap of fifty or sixty feet, from one side of the gully to the other, and I struck the rocks, luckily, with the whole of my left side. They caught my clothes for a moment, and I fell back on to


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122 is a question; they closed up remarkably quickly, and in a few days I was able to move again.

It was sufficiently dull during this time. I was chiefly occupied in meditating on the vanity of human wishes, and in watching my clothes being washed in the tub which was turned by the stream in the front of the house; and I vowed that if an English-man should at any time fall sick in the Val Tournanche, he should not feel so solitary as I did at this dreary time


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124 Carrel was not an easy man to manage. He was perfectly aware that he was the cock of the Val Tournanche, and he commanded the other men as by right. He was equally conscious that he was indispensable to me, and took no pains to conceal his knowledge of the fact. If he had been commanded, or if he had been entreated to stop, it would have been all the same. But, let me repeat, he was the only first-rate climber I could find who believed that the mountain was not inaccessible. With him I had hopes, but without him none; so he was allowed to do as he would. His will on this occasion was almost incomprehensible. He certainly could not be charged with cowardice, for a bolder man could hardly be found; nor was he turning away on account of difficulty, for nothing to which we had yet come seemed to be difficult to him; and his strong personal desire to make the ascent was evident. There was no occasion to come down on account of food, for we had taken, to guard against this very casualty, enough to last for a week; and there was no danger, and little or no discomfort, in stopping in the tent. It seemed to me that he was spinning out the ascent for his own purposes, and that although he wished very much to be the first man on the top, and did not object to be accompanied by any one else who had the same wish, he had no intention of letting one succeed too soon,—perhaps to give a greater appearance of eclat when the thing was accomplished. As he feared no rival, he may have supposed that the more difficulties he made the more valuable he would be estimated; though, to do him justice, he never showed any great hunger for money. His demands were fair, not excessive; but he always stipulated for so much per clay, and so, under any circumstances, he did not do badly.

Vexed at having my time thus frittered away, I was still well pleased when he volunteered to start again on the morrow, if it was fine. We were to advance the tent to the foot of the Tower, to fix ropes in the most difficult parts beyond, and to make a push for the summit on the following day.

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126 We came down at a great pace, for we were now so familiar with the mountain, and with each other's wants, that we knew immediately when to give a helping hand, and when to let alone. The rocks also were in a better state than I have ever seen them, being almost entirely free from glaze of ice. Meynet was always merriest on the difficult parts, and, on the most difficult, kept on enunciating the sentiment, "We can only die once," which thought seemed to afford him infinite satisfaction. We arrived at the inn early in the evening, and I found my projects summarily and unexpectedly knocked on the head.

Professor Tyndall had arrived while we were absent, and he had engaged both Cæsar and Jean-Antoine Carrel. Bennen was also with him, together with a powerful and active friend, a Valaisan guide, named Anton Walter. They had a ladder already prepared, provisions were being collected, and they intended to start on the following morning (Sunday). This new arrival took me by surprise. Bennen, it will be remembered, refused point-blank to take Professor Tyndall on the Matterhorn in 1861. "He was dead against any attempt on the mountain," says Tyndall. He was now eager to set out. Professor Tyndall has not explained in what way this revolution came about in his guide. I was equally astonished at the faithlessness of Carrel, and attributed it to pique at our having presumed to do without him. It was useless to compete with the Professor and his four men, who were ready to start in a few hours, so I waited to see what would come of their attempt.

Everything seemed to favour it, and they set out on a fine morning in high spirits, leaving me tormented with envy and all uncharitableness. If they succeeded, they carried off the prize for which I had been so long struggling; and if they failed, there was


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128 but beyond it it was otherwise, and we had always agreed, in our debates, that if it could be passed success was certain. The accompanying outline from a sketch taken from the door of the inn at Breil will help to explain. The letter indicates the position of the Great Tower;  the "cravate" (the strongly-marked streak of snow referred to on, and which we just failed to arrive at on    the 26th);  the place where we now saw something that looked like a flag. Behind the point a nearly level ridge leads up to the foot of the final peak, which will be understood by a reference to the outline facing, on which the same letters indicate the same places. It was just now said, we considered that if the point could be passed, success was certain. Tyndall was at very early in the morning, and I did not doubt that he would reach the summit, although it yet remained problematical whether he would be able to stand on the very highest point. The summit was evidently formed of a long ridge, on which there were two points nearly equally elevated—so equally that one could not say which was the highest—and between the two there seemed to be a deep


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130 sky, black dots with long shadows hurrying towards the place, and the crests of the ridges catching the light and standing out like spectres. All the world was in motion, for the neighbouring villages—now aroused—rang out the alarm. I pulled on my shirt, and tore over the bridge. Three large chalets were on fire, and were surrounded by a mass of people, who were bringing all their pots and pans, and anything that would hold water. They formed themselves into several chains, each two deep, leading towards the nearest stream, and passed the water up one side, and the empty utensils down the other. My old friend the mayor was there, in full force, striking the ground with his stick, and vociferating, "Work! work!" but the men, with much presence of mind, chiefly ranged themselves on the sides of the empty buckets, and left the real work to their better halves. Their efforts were useless, and the chalets burnt themselves out.

The next morning I visited the still smouldering ruins, and saw the homeless families sitting in a dismal row in front of their charred property. The people said that one of the houses had been well insured, and that its owner had endeavoured to forestall luck. He had arranged the place for a bonfire, set the lower rooms on fire in several places, and had then gone out of the way, leaving his wife and children in the upper rooms, to be roasted or not as the case might be. His plans only partially succeeded, and it was satisfactory to see the scoundrel brought back in the custody of two stalwart gensdarmes. Three days afterwards I was in London.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cartwright, William (1611-1643)


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FISHER, or PEKAN (Mustela pennanti), a fur-bearing animal, the largest of North American martens; also called pennants, black cat or black fox. In the fur market it is commonly called Canadian fisher and its pelt is valued at prices but little lower than the sable. The fisher has a range throughout the wooded regions of North America between the

parallels 35° and 65°. It chooses locations which are near water, quite the opposite of its near relative, the pine marten, with which it battles fiercely. The animal has a body from two to three feet in length, with a tail about one foot long. In color it is black or very dark gray. It breeds in a hole high up in a tree, having from two to four young in the litter. See also.


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34 varied greatly in size and form, from the small, pug-like type found in Peru and the hairless variety of the tropics, to the great hairy beasts reared in some parts of the Arctic. Since it is certain that all dogs will readily cross with wolves and foxes and yet tend to remain fertile, the preservation of these types must have required some selective breeding. The only definite study of native dog culture so far made is that of Wilson for the Hidatsa (Siouan) which reveals a complex not inferior to that for agriculture. The Peruvians are credited with three distinct varieties of dog, the contemporaneousness of which necessitates our assuming the existence of breeding control similar to that exercised by us. However, since the methods of propagation are unknown, except for a few northern localities, a comparative discussion of the subject is out of the question.

Dog transportation, on the other hand, has received careful consideration. The most striking characteristic is its limited distribution, for, notwithstanding that the dog occurs everywhere, its use in transportation is confined to the caribou and bison areas with very narrow fringes in those adjoining. Above the forest line dogs were made to draw sledges, a trait quite characteristic of the Eskimo, but found among the most northern Indians of Canada as well. These sledges have straight parallel runners and do not differ essentially from our own simple farm types. There are different methods of harnessing, but for the most part the dogs are hitched by long single traces and run somewhat fan-shaped with the leader at the apex. Excellent descriptions are given in Arctic books of travel.

In all the wooded parts of the caribou area a toboggan is used, the snow being rather too soft for sledges. This is also the great snowshoe area. While dogs were used to drag these toboggans, the hunters themselves not infrequently drew them. The early development of the Canadian fur trade by the Hudson's Bay and French companies greatly stimulated dog traction and greatly increased the use of sledges where ice conditions permitted. The former southern limits of the toboggan are not certainly known but it seemed to end with the

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44 latter have any just claim to long voyages. In summer, the use of boats by the Eskimo was a prominent feature, especially in Alaska, where voyages of trade to Siberia seem to have been made.

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