Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/126

90 must therefore have been not later than 2500 B.C. Divided into numerous tribes, they wandered at will, seeking pasture for their flocks, for they already possessed domestic animals, including cattle and sheep. But chief among their domesticated beasts was the horse, which, as we recall, was still entirely unknown to the civilized oriental nations until after Hammurapi's time (see p.69). They employed him not only for riding but also for drawing their wheeled carts, and from these northern nomads has descended the widespreadh story of the chariot and the horses of the sun. The ox already bore the yoke and drew the plow, for some of the tribes had adopted a settled mode of life and possessed fields in which they cultivated grain, especially barley. Being without writing, they possessed but little government and organization. But they were the most gifted and the most highly imaginative people of the ancient world.

As their tribes wandered farther and farther apart they lost contact with each other. Local peculiarities in speech and customs became more and more marked, until wide differences resulted. While at first the different groups could doubtless understand one another when they met, these differences in speech gradually became so great that the widely scattered tribes, even if they happened to meet, could no longer make themselves understood, and finally all knowledge of their original kinship was totally lost. This kinship has only been rediscovered in very recent times. The final outcome, in so far as speech was concerned, was the languages of modern civilized Europe; so that, beginning with England, we can trace many a word from people to people entirely across Europe and eastward into northern India. Note the following: