Identifier: ridpathshistoryo01ridp (find matches)
Title: Ridpath's history of the world; being an account of the ethnic origin, primitive estate, early migrations, social conditions and present promise of the principal families of men ..
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Ridpath, John Clark, 1840-1900
Subjects: World history Ethnology
Publisher: New York, Merrill & Baker
Contributing Library: Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston University

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ASPECTS OF BARBARIC LIFE.-Search for the Skulls.—Drawn by Riou. thus differentiate in mannerOf life? nection to discuss briefly the questionwhy it is that such radical differencesWhy do savages existed among the primi-tive tribes of men in theirmethods of organizingthemselves into societies. What werethe causes of so great divergences inthe early life of man? It would be in-ferred, a priori, that all semibarbarouspeoples in their emergence from savagery diverse methods, the opposing mannersand customs, and the contradictory in-stitutions of primitive mankind, werethe work of caprice rather than of rea-son and order. A closer study of theproblem, however, will doubtless showthat in this also, as well as in all otherelements of human history, law hasbeen the dominant principle and reasonthe guiding light.
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270 GREAT RACES OE MANKIND. Doubtless the first great cause of thedivergences noticeable in the begin-nings of civilization between the meth-ods of one tribe or family of men andthose of another, is the varying influencesFirst cause the of nature reacting uponreactions of na- th human frame and fac- ture on human faculties. ulties. The aspects and conditions of the external world are farremoved from regularity. Every regionhas its own climate, its own aspect ofearth and sky. As to the earth itself,its surface is variable in the last degree.The soil has different potencies. Thewater distribution passes through allgrades from scarcity to abundance, fromthe blistering desert to the drippinghumidity of rainy islands. The surfacein some parts spreads out on a deadlevel of valley or plain, and anon risesinto hill and cliff and mountain. Therunning streams are equally irregular intheir disposal. Some regions have therivers as the basal fact in their consti-tution, while in others the range o

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