Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/216

 of organisation in the red man, and by inheritance from Indians also in half-breeds, that the habit seems impossible to be acquired by them, although they show great aptitude in other respects for civilised life. Is this attributable fundamentally to the absence in South America of indigenous animals suitable for domestication? It would appear so; and this is a great deficiency in a land otherwise so richly endowed by nature. This, however, is a difficult question, and involves many other considerations. The presence or absence of domesticable animals in a country, no doubt, has a very great influence on the character and culture of races. The North American Indians, especially those of Florida, offered many points of similarity in character and social condition to the Indians of the Amazons region; and they were, like them, condemned, probably from the same cause, to depend for existence chiefly on the produce of the chase or fishing. On the other hand, the Indians of Peru, whose more favoured home contained the Llama, were enabled to reach a high degree of civilisation, a great help thereto being this priceless animal, which served as a beast of burthen, and yielded wool for clothing, and milk, cheese, and flesh for nourishment. In the plains of Tropical America there exists no animal comparable to the ox, the horse, the sheep, or the hog. Of the last-mentioned, indeed, there are two wild species; but they are not closely allied to the European domestic hog. Of the other three animals, which have been such important helps to incipient civilisation in Asia and Europe, the genera even are unknown in South America. There