Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/188

 159 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. tory, and Chili, in South America, might, in some respects, be considered as centres of an incipient civilization. But the Araucanians appear to have ceased to be hunters, and to have derived their subsistence exclusively from agriculture. Their long and successful resistance against the Spanish invaders proves them to have been a numerous and united people; they were not, like the Peruvians and Mexicans, under the yoke of a civil or religious despotism; and, although they had not made the same progress in arts or knowledge, they may perhaps be considered as the most favorable specimen of the American race. The social state of the semi-agricultural nations of North America presents a very different picture. Cultivation amongst them appears to have been confined to the maize, some species of beans (phaseolus), and pumpkins (cucurbit a)) and in some quarters the sweet potato (convolvu- lus), the watermelon, and tobacco ; all which plants were also cultivated in Peru.* Maize, which constituted the most impor- tant article, is decidedly of southern origin ; but whether the cultivation first took place on the continent, or in the West India islands, cannot be ascertained. It would seem more probable that it originated in the favored elevated plains of the Torrid Zone, and that, in its gradual progress, it was introduced from the neighbouring islands of the Gulf of Mexico, into the country which lies along its northern shores. Its extension northwardly would be a natural process, and may have been favored by the greater difficulty of obtaining food where there is no fish, and the game, consisting principally of deer, is com- paratively less abundant, and obtained with greater labor, than in the prairies. But the introduction of agriculture produced little alteration in the habits or manners of the men. They continued to be still hunters, and being too indolent to attend to the daily and tame labors of agriculture, these were again thrown upon the women. Apart from the pernicious influence of that state of society on the moral feeling and conduct of both sexes, we will here observe, that, although agriculture did to a certain extent increase the population, yet, left to women alone, its effect was very limited. In order that the cultivation of the soil may pro- were natural products, which made some addition to their nutritious vegetable food.
 * Some species of corn, chestnuts and other nuts, as also some roots,