Chapter II (3)

By whom, indeed, could he be divested? I ween not where that power was by which so vast a miracle could be worked. For in India, slavery, abject, eternal slavery, was the natural state of the great body of the people; it was the state to which they were doomed by physical laws utterly impossible to resist. The energy of those laws is, in truth, so invincible, that wherever they have come into play, they have kept the productive classes in perpetual subjection. There is no instance on record of any tropical country, in which wealth having been extensively accumulated, the people have escaped their fate; no instance in which the heat of the climate has not caused an abundance of food, and the abundance of food caused an unequal distribution, first of wealth, and then of political and social power. Among nations subjected to these conditions, the people have counted for nothing; they have had no voice in the management of the state, no control over the wealth their own industry created. Their only business has been to labour; their only duty to obey. Thus there has been generated among them, those habits of tame and servile submission, by which, as we know from history, they have always been characterized. For it is an undoubted fact, that their annals furnish no instance of their having turned upon their rulers, no war of classes, no popular insurrections, not even one great popular conspiracy. In those rich and fertile countries there have been many changes, but all of them have been from above, not from below. The democratic element has been altogether wanting. There have been in abundance, wars of kings, and wars of dynasties. There have been revolutions in the government, revolutions in the palace, revolutions on the throne; but no revolutions among the people;[129] no mitigation of that hard lot which nature, rather than man, assigned to them. Nor was it until civilization arose in Europe, that other physical laws came into operation, and therefore other results were produced. In Europe, for the first time, there was some approach to equality, some tendency to correct that enormous disproportion of wealth and power, which formed the essential weakness of the greatest of the more ancient countries. As a natural consequence, it is in Europe that everything worthy of the name of civilization has originated; because there alone have attempts been made to preserve the balance of its relative parts. There alone has society been organized according to a scheme, not indeed sufficiently large, but still wide enough to include all the different classes of which it is composed, and thus, by leaving room for the progress of each, to secure the permanence and advancement of the whole.

[129] An intelligent observer says, 'It is also remarkable how little
the people of Asiatic countries have to do in the revolutions of
their governments. They are never guided by any great and common
impulse of feeling, and take no part in events the most
interesting and important to their country and their own
prosperity.' _M'Murdo on the Country of Sindh_, in _Journal of
Asiatic Society_, vol. i. p. 250. Compare similar remarks in
_Herder's Ideen zur Geschichte_, vol. iii. p. 114; and even in
_Alison's History of Europe_, vol. x. pp. 419, 420.

The way in which certain other physical peculiarities confined to Europe, have also accelerated the progress of Man by diminishing his superstition, will be indicated towards the end of this chapter; but as that will involve an examination of some laws which I have not yet noticed, it seems advisable, in the first place, to complete the inquiry now before us; and I therefore purpose proving that the line of argument which has been just applied to India, is likewise applicable to Egypt, to Mexico, and to Peru. For by thus including in a single survey, the most conspicuous civilizations of Asia, Africa, and America, we shall be able to see how the preceding principles hold good of different and distant countries; and we shall be possessed of evidence sufficiently comprehensive to test the accuracy of those great laws which, without such precaution, I might be supposed to have generalized from scanty and imperfect materials.

The reasons why, of all the African nations, the Egyptians alone were civilized, have been already stated, and have been shown to depend on those physical peculiarities which distinguish them from the surrounding countries, and which, by facilitating the acquisition of wealth, not only supplied them with material resources that otherwise they could never have obtained, but also secured to their intellectual classes the leisure and the opportunity of extending the boundaries of knowledge. It is, indeed, true that, notwithstanding these advantages, they effected nothing of much moment; but this was owing to circumstances which will be hereafter explained; and it must, at all events, be admitted that they raised themselves far above every other people by whom Africa was inhabited.

The civilization of Egypt being, like that of India, caused by the fertility of the soil, and the climate being also very hot,[130] there were in both countries brought into play the same laws; and there naturally followed the same results. In both countries we find the national food cheap and abundant: hence the labour-market over-supplied; hence a very unequal division of wealth and power; and hence all the consequences which such inequality will inevitably produce. How this system worked in India, I have just attempted to examine; and although the materials for studying the former condition of Egypt are much less ample, they are still sufficiently numerous to prove the striking analogy between the two civilizations, and the identity of those great principles which regulated the order of their social and political development.

[130] Volney (_Voyage en Egypte_, vol. i. pp. 58-63) has a good chapter
on the climate of Egypt.

If we inquire into the most important circumstances which concerned the people of ancient Egypt, we shall see that they are exactly the counterpart of those that have been noticed in India. For, in the first place, as regards their ordinary food, what rice is to the most fertile parts of Asia, that are dates to Africa. The palm-tree is found in every country from the Tigris to the Atlantic;[131] and it supplies millions of human beings with their daily food in Arabia,[132] and in nearly the whole of Africa north of the equator.[133] In many parts of the great African desert it is indeed unable to bear fruit; but naturally it is a very hardy plant, and produces dates in such profusion, that towards the north of the Sahara they are eaten not only by man, but also by domestic animals.[134] And in Egypt, where the palm is said to be of spontaneous growth,[135] dates, besides being the chief sustenance of the people, are so plentiful, that from a very early period they have been given commonly to camels, the only beasts of burden generally used in that country.[136]

[131] It is, however, unknown in South Africa. See the account of the
Palmaceæ in _Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom_, 1847, p. 136, and
_Meyen's Geog. of Plants_, p. 337.

[132] 'Of all eatables used by the Arabs, dates are the most favourite.'
_Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia_, vol. i. p. 56. See also, for
proof of their abundance in the west of Arabia, vol. i. pp. 103,
157, 238, vol. ii. pp. 91, 100, 105, 118, 209, 210, 214, 253,
300, 331. And on the dates of Oman and the east of Arabia, see
_Wellsted's Travels in Arabia_, vol. i. pp. 188, 189, 236, 276,
290, 349. Compare _Niebuhr_, _Description de l'Arabie_, pp. 142,
296. Indeed, they are so important, that the Arabs have different
names for them according to the stages of their growth. Djewhari
says, 'La dénomination _balah_ précède le nom _bosr_; car la
datte se nomme d'abord _tala_, en suite _khalal_, puis _balah_,
puis _bosr_, puis _rotab_, et enfin _tamr_.' _De Sacy's note to
Abd-Allatif, Relation, de l'Egypte_, p. 74, and see p. 118. Other
notices of the dates of Arabia will be found in _Travels of Ibn
Batuta in Fourteenth Century_, p. 66; _Journal of Asiatic Soc._
vol. viii. p. 286; _Journal of Geograph. Soc._ vol. iv. p. 201,
vol. vi. pp. 53, 55, 58, 66, 68, 74, vol. vii. p. 32, vol. ix.
pp. 147, 151.

[133] Heeren (_Trade of the African Nations_, vol. i. p. 182) supposes
that in Africa, dates are comparatively little known south of 26°
north lat. But this learned writer is certainly mistaken; and a
reference to the following passages will show that they are
common as far down as the parallel of Lake Tchad, which is nearly
the southern limit of our knowledge of Central Africa; _Denham's
Central Africa_, p. 295; _Clapperton's Journal_, in _Appendix to
Denham_, pp. 34, 59; _Clapperton's Second Expedition_, p. 159.
Further east they are somewhat scarcer, but are found much more
to the south than is supposed by Heeren: see _Pallme's Kordofan_,
p. 220.

[134] 'Dates are not only the principal growth of the Fezzan oases, but
the main subsistence of their inhabitants. All live on dates;
men, women, and children, horses, asses, and camels, and sheep,
fowls, and dogs.' _Richardson's Travels in the Sahara_, vol. ii.
p. 323, and see vol. i. p. 343: as to those parts of the desert
where the palm will not bear, see vol. i. pp. 387, 405, vol. ii.
pp. 291, 363. Respecting the dates of western Africa, see
_Journal of Geograph. Society_, vol. xii. p. 204.

[135] 'It flourished spontaneously in the valley of the Nile.'
_Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol. ii. p. 372. As further
illustration of the importance to Africa of this beautiful plant,
it may be mentioned, that from the high-palm there is prepared a
peculiar beverage, which in some parts is in great request. On
this, which is called palm-wine, see _M'William's Medical
Expedition to the Niger_, pp. 71, 116; _Meredith's Gold Coast of
Africa_, 1812, pp. 55, 56; _Laird and Oldfield's Expedition into
the Interior of Africa_, 1837, vol. ii. pp. 170, 213; _Bowdich_,
_Mission to Ashantee_, pp. 69, 100, 152, 293, 386, 392. But I
doubt if this is the same as the palm-wine mentioned in
_Balfour's Botany_, 1849, p. 532. Compare _Tuckey's Expedition to
the Zaire_, pp. 155, 216, 224, 356.

[136] _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol. ii. pp. 175-178. See also on
the abundance of dates, the extracts from an Arabian geographer
in _Quatremère_, _Recherches sur l'Egypte_, pp. 220, 221.

From these facts, it is evident that, taking Egypt as the highest type of African civilization, and India as the highest type of Asiatic civilization, it may be said that dates are to the first civilization what rice is to the second. Now it is observable, that all the most important physical peculiarities found in rice are also found in dates. In regard to their chemistry, it is well known that the chief principle of the nutriment they contain is the same in both; the starch of the Indian vegetable being merely turned into the sugar of the Egyptian. In regard to the laws of climate, their affinity is equally obvious; since dates, like rice, belong to hot countries, and flourish most in or near the tropics.[137] In regard to their increase, and the laws of their connexion with the soil, the analogy is also exact; for dates, just the same as rice, require little labour, and yield abundant returns, while they occupy so small a space of land in comparison with the nutriment they afford, that upwards of two hundred palm-trees are sometimes planted on a single acre.[138]

[137] On their relation to the laws of climate, see the remarks
respecting the geographical limits of their power of ripening, in
_Jussieu's Botany_, edit. Wilson, 1849, p. 734.

[138] 'In the valley of the Nile, a feddan (1-3/4 acre) is sometimes
planted with 400 trees.' _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol.
ii. p. 178. At Moorzuk an entire date-palm is only worth about a
shilling. _Richardson's Central Africa_, vol. i. p. 111.

Thus striking are the similarities to which, in different countries, the same physical conditions naturally give rise. At the same time, in Egypt, as in India, the attainment of civilization was preceded by the possession of a highly fertile soil; so that, while the exuberance of the land regulated the speed with which wealth was created, the abundance of the food regulated the proportions into which the wealth was divided. The most fertile part of Egypt is the Said;[139] and it is precisely there that we find the greatest display of skill and knowledge, the splendid remains of Thebes, Carnac, Luxor, Dendera, and Edfou.[140] It is also in the Said, or as it is often called the Thebaid, that a food is used which multiplies itself even more rapidly than either dates or rice. This is the dhourra, which until recently was confined to Upper Egypt,[141] and of which the reproductive power is so remarkable, that it yields to the labourer a return of two hundred and forty for one.[142] In Lower Egypt the dhourra was formerly unknown; but, in addition to dates, the people made a sort of bread from the lotos, which sprang spontaneously out of the rich soil of the Nile.[143] This must have been a very cheap and accessible food; while to it there was joined a profusion of other plants and herbs, on which the Egyptians chiefly lived.[144] Indeed so inexhaustible was the supply, that at the time of the Mohammedan invasion there were, in the single city of Alexandria, no less than four thousand persons occupied in selling vegetables to the people.[145]

[139] On the remarkable fertility of the Said, see _Abd-Allatif_,
_Relation de l'Egypte_, p. 3.

[140] The superiority of the ruins in Southern Egypt over those in the
northern part is noticed by Heeren (_African Nations_, vol. ii.
p. 69), and must, indeed, be obvious to whoever has studied the
monuments. In the Said the Coptic was preserved longer than in
Lower Egypt, and is known to philologists by the name of Misr.
See _Quatremère_, _Recherches sur la Langue de l'Egypte_, pp. 20,
41, 42. See also on the Saidic, pp. 134-140, and some good
remarks by Dr. Prichard (_Physical Hist._ vol. ii. p. 202); who,
however, adopts the paradoxical opinion of Georgi respecting the
origin of the language of the Thebaid.

[141] Abd-Allatif (_Relation de l'Egypte_, p. 32) says, that in his time
it was only cultivated in the Said. This curious work by
Abd-Allatif was written in A.D. 1203. _Relation_, p. 423. Meiners
thinks that Herodotus and other ancient writers refer to the
dhourra without mentioning it: 'diese Durra muss daher im Herodot
wie in andern alten Schriftstellern vorzüglich verstanden werden,
wenn von hundert, zwey hundert, und mehrfältigen Früchten, welche
die Erde trage, die Rede ist.' _Meiners_, _Fruchtbarkeit der
Länder_, vol. i. p. 139. According to Volney, it is the Holcus
Arundinaceus of Linnæus, and appears to be similar to millet; and
though that accurate traveller distinguishes between them, I
observe that Captain Haines, in a recent memoir, speaks of them
as being the same. Compare Haines in _Journal of Geog. Soc._ vol.
xv. p. 118, with _Volney_, _Voyage en Egypte_, vol. i. p. 195.

[142] 'The return is in general not less than 240 for one; and the
average price is about 3_s._ 9_d._ the ardeb, which is scarcely
3_d._ per bushel.' _Hamilton's Æqyptiaca_, p. 420. In Upper
Egypt, 'the doura constitutes almost the whole subsistence of the
peasantry,' p. 419. At p. 96, Hamilton says, 'I have frequently
counted 3,000 grains in one ear of doura, and each stalk has in
general four or five ears.' For an account, of the dhourra bread,
see _Volney_, _Voyage en Egypte_, vol. i. p. 161.

[143] [Greek: Epean plêrês genêtai ho potamos, kai ta pedia pelagisê,
phuetai en tô hudati krinea polla, ta Aiguptioi kaleousi lôton;
tauta epean drepsôsi, auainousi pros hêlion; kai epeita to ek tou
mesou tou lôtou tê mêkôni eon empheres, ptisantes poieuntai ex
autou artous optous puri.] _Herodot._ ii. 92, vol. i. p. 688.

[144] _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol. ii. pp. 370-372, 400, vol.
iv. p. 59. Abd-Allatif gives a curious account of the different
vegetables grown in Egypt early in the thirteenth century.
_Relation_, pp. 16-36, and the notes of De Sacy, pp. 37-134. On
the [Greek: kyamos] of Herodotus there are some botanical remarks
worth reading in the _Correspondence of Sir J. E. Smith_, vol.
ii. pp. 224-232; but I doubt the assertion, p. 227, that
Herodotus 'knew nothing of any other kind of [Greek: kyamos] in
Egypt than that of the ordinary bean.'

[145] 'When Alexandria was taken by Amer, the lieutenant of the Caliph
Omer, no less than 4,000 persons were engaged in selling
vegetables in that city.' _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol.
ii. p. 372, and see vol. i. p. 277, vol. iv. p. 60. Niebuhr
(_Description de l'Arabie_, p. 136) says that the neighbourhood
of Alexandria is so fertile, that 'le froment y rend le
centuple.' See also on its rich vegetation, _Matter_, _Histoire
de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie_, vol. i. p. 52.

From this abundance of the national food, there resulted a train of events strictly analogous to those which took place in India. In Africa generally, the growth of population, though on the one hand stimulated by the heat of the climate, was on the other hand checked by the poverty of the soil. But on the banks of the Nile this restraint no longer existed,[146] and therefore the laws already noticed came into uncontrolled operation. By virtue of those laws, the Egyptians were not only satisfied with a cheap food, but they required that food in comparatively small quantities; thus by a double process, increasing the limit to which their numbers could extend. At the same time the lower orders were able to rear their offspring with the greater ease, because, owing to the high rate of temperature, another considerable source of expense was avoided; the heat being such that, even for adults, the necessary clothes were few and slight, while the children of the working classes were entirely naked; affording a striking contrast to those colder countries where, to preserve ordinary health, a supply of warmer and more costly covering is essential. Diodorus Siculus, who travelled in Egypt nineteen centuries ago, says, that to bring up a child to manhood did not cost more than twenty drachmas, scarcely thirteen shillings English money; a circumstance which he justly notices as a cause of the populousness of the country.[147]

[146] The encouragement given to the increase of population by the
fertility arising from the inundation of the Nile, is observed by
many writers, but by none so judiciously as Malthus; _Essay on
Population_, vol. i. pp. 161-163. This great work, the principles
of which have been grossly misrepresented, is still the best
which has been written on the important subject of population,
though the author, from a want of sufficient reading, often errs
in his illustrations; while he, unfortunately, had no
acquaintance with those branches of physical knowledge which are
intimately connected with economical inquiries.

[147] [Greek: Trephousi de ta paidia meta tinos euchereias adapanou, kai
pantelôs apistou ... anupodetôn de tôn pleistôn kai gymnôn
trephomenon dia tên eukrasian tôn topôn, tên pasan dapanên oi
goneis, achris an eis hêlikian elthê to teknon, ou pleiô poiousi
drachmôn eikusi, di as aitias malista tên Aigupton sumbainei
poluanthrôpia diapherein, kai dia touto pleistas echein megalôn
ergôn kataskeuas.] _Bibliothec. Hist._ book i. chap. lxxx. vol.
i. p. 238.

To compress into a single sentence the preceding remarks, it may be said that in Egypt the people multiplied rapidly, because while the soil increased their supplies, the climate lessened their wants. The result was, that Egypt was not only far more thickly peopled than any other country in Africa, but probably more so than any in the ancient world. Our information upon this point is indeed somewhat scanty, but it is derived from sources of unquestioned credibility. Herodotus, who the more he is understood the more accurate he is found to be,[148] states that in the reign of Amasis there were said to have been twenty thousand inhabited cities.[149] This may, perhaps, be considered an exaggeration; but what is very observable is, that Diodorus Siculus, who travelled in Egypt four centuries after Herodotus, and whose jealousy of the reputation of his great predecessor made him anxious to discredit his statements,[150] does nevertheless, on this important point, confirm them. For he not only remarks that Egypt was at that time as densely inhabited as any existing country, but he adds, on the authority of records which were then extant, that it was formerly the most populous in the world, having contained, he says, upwards of eighteen thousand cities.[151]

[148] Frederick Schlegel (_Philos. of Hist._ p. 247, London, 1846) truly
says, 'The deeper and more comprehensive the researches of the
moderns have been on ancient history, the more have their regard
and esteem for Herodotus increased.' His minute information
respecting Egypt and Asia Minor is now admitted by all competent
geographers; and I may add, that a recent and very able traveller
has given some curious proofs of his knowledge even of the
western parts of Siberia. See Erman's valuable work, _Travels in
Siberia_, vol. i. pp. 211, 297-301.

[149] [Greek: 'Ep' Amasios de basileos legetai Aigyptos malis-a dê tote
eudaimonêsai, kai ta apo tou potamou tê chôrê ginomena, kai ta
apo tês chôrês toisi anthrôpoisi kai polis en autê genesthai tas
apasas tote dismurias tas oikeomenas.] _Herodot._ book ii. chap.
clxxvii. vol. i. pp. 881, 882.

[150] Diodorus, who, though an honest and painstaking man, was in every
respect inferior to Herodotus, says, impertinently enough,
[Greek: osa men oun 'Êrodotos kai tines tôn tas Aiguptiôn prazeis
sun-tazamenôn eschediakasin, ekousiôs prokrinantes tês alêtheias
to paradoxologein, kai muthous plattein psuchagôgias eneka,
parêsomen.] _Biblioth. Hist._ book i. chap. lxix. vol. i. p. 207.
In other places he alludes to Herodotus in the same tone, without
actually mentioning him.

[151] [Greek: Poluanthrôpia de to men palaion polu proesche pantôn tôn
gnôrizomenon topôn kata, tên oikoumenên, kai kath' êmas de
oudenos tôn allôn dokei leipesthai. epi men gar tôn archaion
chronôn esche kômas axiologous, kai poleis pleious tôn murion kai
oktakischiliôn, ôs en tais anagraphais dranx esti
katakechôrismenon.] _Diod. Sic. Biblioth. Hist._ book i. chap.
xxxi. vol. i. p. 89.

These were the only two ancient writers who, from personal knowledge, were well acquainted with the state of Egypt;[152] and their testimony is the more valuable because it was evidently drawn from different sources; the information of Herodotus being chiefly collected at Memphis, that of Diodorus at Thebes.[153] And whatever discrepancies there may be between these two accounts, they are both agreed respecting the rapid increase of the people, and the servile condition into which they had fallen. Indeed, the mere appearance of those huge and costly buildings, which are still standing, are a proof of the state of the nation that erected them. To raise structures so stupendous,[154] and yet so useless,[155] there must have been tyranny on the part of the rulers, and slavery on the part of the people. No wealth, however great, no expenditure, however lavish, could meet the expense which would have been incurred, if they had been the work of free men, who received for their labour a fair and honest reward.[156] But in Egypt, as in India, such considerations were disregarded, because everything tended to favour the upper ranks of society and depress the lower. Between the two there was an immense and impassable gap.[157] If a member of the industrious classes changed his usual employment, or was known to pay attention to political matters, he was severely punished;[158] and under no circumstances was the possession of land allowed to an agricultural labourer, to a mechanic, or indeed to any one except the king, the clergy, and the army.[159] The people at large were little better than beasts of burden; and all that was expected from them was an unremitting and unrequited labour. If they neglected their work, they were flogged; and the same punishment was frequently inflicted upon domestic servants, and even upon women.[160] These and similar regulations were well conceived; they were admirably suited to that vast social system, which, because it was based on despotism, could only be upheld by cruelty. Hence it was that, the industry of the whole nation being at the absolute command of a small part of it, there arose the possibility of rearing those vast edifices, which inconsiderate observers admire as a proof of civilization,[161] but which, in reality, are evidence of a state of things altogether depraved and unhealthy; a state in which the skill and the arts of an imperfect refinement injured those whom they ought to have benefited; so that the very resources which the people had created were turned against the people themselves.

[152] Notwithstanding the positive assertions of M. Matter (_Hist. de
l'Ecole d'Alexandrie_, vol. ii. p. 285; compare _Hist. du
Gnosticisme_, vol. i. p. 48), there is no good evidence for the
supposed travels in Egypt of the earlier Greeks, and it is even
questionable if Plato ever visited that country. ('Whether he
ever was in Egypt is doubtful.' _Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. i. p. 60.)
The Romans took little interest in the subject (_Bunsen_, vol. i.
pp. 152-158); and, says M. Bunsen, p. 152, 'with Diodorus all
systematic inquiry into the history of Egypt ceases, not only on
the part of the Greeks, but of the ancients in general.' Mr.
Leake, in an essay on the Quorra, arrives at the conclusion, that
after the time of Ptolemy, the ancients made no additions to
their knowledge of African geography. _Journal of Geographical
Society_, vol. ii. p. 9.

[153] See on this some good remarks in _Heeren's African Nations_, vol.
ii. pp. 202-207; and as to the difference between the traditions
of Thebes and Memphis, see _Matter_, _Histoire de l'Ecole
d'Alexandrie_, vol. i. p. 7. The power and importance of the two
cities fluctuated, both being at different periods the capital.
_Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. ii. pp. 54, 55, 244, 445, 446; _Vyse on
the Pyramids_, vol. iii. pp. 27, 100; _Sharpe's History of
Egypt_, vol. i. pp. 9, 19, 24, 34, 167, 185.

[154] Sir John Herschel (_Disc. on Natural Philosophy_, p. 60)
calculates that the great pyramid weighs twelve thousand seven
hundred and sixty million pounds. Compare _Lyell's Principles of
Geology_, p. 459, where the still larger estimate of six million
tons is given. But according to Perring, the present quantity of
masonry is 6,316,000 tons, or 82,110,000 cubic feet. See
_Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. ii. p. 155, London, 1854, and _Vyse on the
Pyramids_, 1840, vol. ii. p. 113.

[155] Many fanciful hypotheses have been put forward as to the purpose
for which the pyramids were built; but it is now admitted that
they were neither more nor less than tombs for the Egyptian
kings! See _Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. ii. pp. xvii. 88, 105, 372,
389; and _Sharpe's History of Egypt_, vol. i. p. 21.

[156] For an estimate of the expense at which, one of the pyramids could
be built in our time by European workmen, see _Vyse on the
Pyramids_, vol. ii. p. 268. On account, however, of the number of
disturbing causes, such calculations have little value.

[157] Those who complain that in Europe this interval is still too
great, may derive a species of satisfaction from studying the old
extra-European civilizations.

[158] _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol. ii. pp. 8, 9. 'Nor was any
one permitted to meddle with political affairs, or to hold any
civil office in the state.' ... 'If any artizan meddled with
political affairs, or engaged in any other employment than the
one to which he had been brought up, a severe punishment was
instantly inflicted upon him.' Compare _Diod. Sic. Bibliothec.
Hist._ book i. chap. lxxiv. vol. i. p. 223.

[159] _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol. i. p. 263, vol. ii. p. 2;
_Sharpe's History of Egypt_, vol. ii. p. 24.

[160] _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol. ii. pp. 41, 42, vol. iii. p.
69, vol. iv. p. 131. Compare Ammianus Marcellinus, in _Hamilton's
Ægyptiaca_, p. 309.

[161] _Vyse on the Pyramids_, vol. i. p. 61, vol. ii. p. 92.

That in such a society as this, much regard should be paid to human suffering, it would indeed be idle to expect.[162] Still, we are startled by the reckless prodigality with which, in Egypt, the upper classes squandered away the labour and the lives of the people. In this respect, as the monuments yet remaining abundantly prove, they stand alone and without a rival. We may form some idea of the almost incredible waste, when we hear that two thousand men were occupied for three years in carrying a single stone from Elephantine to Sais;[163] that the Canal of the Red Sea alone, cost the lives of a hundred and twenty thousand Egyptians;[164] and that to build one of the pyramids required the labour of three hundred and sixty thousand men for twenty years.[165]

[162] 'Ein König ahmte den andern nach, oder suchte ihn zu übertreffen;
indess das gutmüthige Volk seine Lebenstage am Baue dieser
Monumente verzehren musste. So entstanden wahrscheinlich die
Pyramiden und Obelisken Aegyptens. Nur in den ältesten Zeiten
wurden sie gebauet: denn die spätere Zeit und jede Nation, die
ein nützliches Gewerbe treiben lernte, bauete keine Pyramiden
mehr. Weit gefehlt also, dass Pyramiden ein Kennzeichen von der
Glückseligkeit und Aufklärung des alten Aegyptens seyn sollten,
sind sie ein unwidersprechliches Denkmal von dem Aberglauben und
der Gedankenlosigkeit sowohl der Armen, die da baueten, als der
Ehrgeizigen, die den Bau befahlen.' _Herder's Ideen zur
Geschichte_, vol. iii. pp. 103, 104: see also p. 293, and some
admirable remarks in _Volney's Voyage en Egypte_, vol. i. pp.
240, 241. Even M. Bunsen, notwithstanding his admiration, says of
one of the pyramids, 'the misery of the people, already
grievously oppressed, was aggravated by the construction of this
gigantic building.... The bones of the oppressors of the people
who for two whole generations harassed hundreds of thousands from
day to day,' &c. _Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. ii. p. 176, a learned and
enthusiastic work.

[163] [Greek: Kai touto ekomizon men ep' etea tria dischilioi de oi
prosetetachato andres agôgees.] _Herodot._ book ii. chap. clxxv.
vol. i. p. 897. On the enormous weight of the stones which the
Egyptians sometimes carried, see _Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. i. p.
379; and as to the machines employed, and the use of inclined
roads for the transit, see _Vyse on the Pyramids_, vol. i. p.
197, vol. iii. pp. 14, 38.

[164] _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol. i. p. 70: but this learned
writer is unwilling to believe a statement so adverse to his
favourite Egyptians. It is likely enough that there is some
exaggeration; still no one can dispute the fact of an enormous
and unprincipled waste of human life.

[165] [Greek: Triakonta men yar kai ex muriades andrôn, ôs phasi, tais
tôn ergôn leitourgais prosêdreusan, to de pan kataskeuasma telos
esche mogis etôn eikosi dielthontôn.] _Diod. Sic. Bibliothec.
Hist._ book i. ch. lxiii. vol. i. p. 188.

If, passing from the history of Asia and Africa, we now turn to the New World, we shall meet with fresh proof of the accuracy of the preceding views. The only parts of America which before the arrival of the Europeans were in some degree civilized, were Mexico and Peru;[166] to which may probably be added that long and narrow tract which stretches from the south of Mexico to the Isthmus of Panama. In this latter country, which is now known as Central America, the inhabitants, aided by the fertility of the soil,[167] seem to have worked out for themselves a certain amount of knowledge; since the ruins still extant, prove the possession of a mechanical and architectural skill too considerable to be acquired by any nation entirely barbarous.[168] Beyond this, nothing is known of their history; but the accounts we have of such buildings as Copan, Palenque, and Uxmal, make it highly probable that Central America was the ancient seat of a civilization, in all essential points similar to those of India and Egypt; that is to say, similar to them in respect to the unequal distribution of wealth and power, and the thraldom in which the great body of the people consequently remained.[169]

[166] 'When compared with other parts of the New World, Mexico and Peru
may be considered as polished states.' _History of America_, book
vii. in _Robertson's Works_, p. 904. See, to the same effect,
_Journal of Geograph. Society_, vol. v. p. 355.

[167] Compare _Squier's Central America_, vol. i. pp. 34, 244, 358, 421,
vol. ii. p. 307, with _Journal of Geograph. Society_, vol. iii.
p. 59, vol. viii. pp. 319, 323.

[168] Mr. Squier (_Central America_, vol. ii. p. 68); who explored
Nicaragua, says of the statues, 'the material, in every case, is
a black basalt, of great hardness, which, with the best of modern
tools, can only be cut with difficulty.' Mr. Stephens (_Central
America_, vol. ii. p. 355) found at Palenque 'elegant specimens
of art and models for study.' See also vol. iii. pp. 276, 389,
406, vol. iv. p. 293. Of the paintings at Chichen he says (vol.
iv. p. 311), 'they exhibit a freedom of touch which could only be
the result of discipline and training under masters.' At Copan
(vol. i. p. 151), 'it would be impossible, with the best
instruments of modern times, to cut stones more perfectly.' And
at Uxmal (vol. ii. p. 431), 'throughout, the laying and polishing
of the stones are as perfect as under the rules of the best
modern masonry.' Our knowledge of Central America is almost
entirely derived from these two writers; and although the work of
Mr. Stephens is much the more minute, Mr. Squier says (vol. ii.
p. 306), what I believe is quite true, that until the appearance
of his own book in 1853, the monuments in Nicaragua were entirely
unknown. Short descriptions of the remains in Guatemala and
Yucatan will be found in _Larenaudière's Mexique et Guatemala_,
pp. 308-327, and in _Journal of Geograph. Society_, vol. iii. pp.
60-63.

[169] See the remarks on Yucatan in _Prichard's Physical History of
Mankind_, vol. v. p. 348: 'a great and industrious, though
perhaps, as the writer above cited (Gallatin) observes, an
enslaved population. Splendid temples and palaces attest the
power of the priests and nobles, while as usual no trace remains
of the huts in which dwelt the mass of the nation.'

But although the evidence from which we might estimate the former condition of Central America is almost entirely lost,[170] we are more fortunate in regard to the histories of Mexico and Peru. There are still existing considerable and authentic materials, from which we may form an opinion on the ancient state of those two countries, and on the nature and extent of their civilization. Before, however, entering upon this subject, it will be convenient to point out what those physical laws were which determined the localities of American civilization; or, in other words, why it was that in these countries alone, society should have been organized into a fixed and settled system, while the rest of the New World was peopled by wild and ignorant barbarians. Such an inquiry will be found highly interesting, as affording further proof of the extraordinary, and indeed irresistible, force with which the powers of nature have controlled the fortunes of man.

[170] Dr. M'Culloh (_Researches concerning the Aboriginal History of
America_, pp. 272-340) has collected from the Spanish writers
some meagre statements respecting the early condition of Central
America; but of its social state and history, properly so called,
nothing is known; nor is it even certain to what family of
nations the inhabitants belonged, though a recent author can find
'la civilisation guatemalienne ou misteco-zapotèque et mayaquiche
vivante pour nous encore dans les ruines de Mitla et de
Palenque.' _Mexique et Guatemala, par Larenaudière_, p. 8, Paris,
1843. Dr. Prichard, too, refers the ruins in Central America to
'the Mayan race:' see _Prichard on Ethnology_, in _Report of
British Association for 1847_, p. 252. But the evidence for these
and similar statements is very unsatisfactory.

The first circumstance by which we must be struck, is that in America, as in Asia and Africa, all the original civilizations were seated in hot countries; the whole of Peru proper being within the southern tropic, the whole of Central America and Mexico within the northern tropic. How the heat of the climate operated on the social and political arrangements of India and Egypt, I have attempted to examine; and it has, I trust, been proved that the result was brought about by diminishing the wants and requirements of the people, and thus producing a very unequal distribution of wealth and power. But, besides this, there is another way in which the average temperature of a country affects its civilization, and the discussion of which I have reserved for the present moment, because it may be more clearly illustrated in America than elsewhere. Indeed, in the New World, the scale on which Nature works, being much larger than in the Old, and her forces being more overpowering, it is evident that her operations on mankind may be studied with greater advantage than in countries where she is weaker, and where, therefore, the consequences of her movements are less conspicuous.

If the reader will bear in mind the immense influence which an abundant national food has been shown to exercise, he will easily understand how, owing to the pressure of physical phenomena, the civilization of America was, of necessity, confined to those parts where alone it was found by the discoverers of the New World. For, setting aside the chemical and geognostic varieties of soil, it may be said that the two causes which regulate the fertility of every country are heat and moisture.[171] Where these are abundant, the land will be exuberant; where they are deficient, it will be sterile. This rule is, of course, in its application subject to exceptions, arising from physical conditions which are independent of it; but if other things are equal, the rule is invariable. And the vast additions which, since the construction of isothermal lines, have been made to our knowledge of geographical botany, enable us to lay this down as a law of nature, proved not only by arguments drawn from vegetable physiology, but also by a careful study of the proportions in which plants are actually distributed in different countries.[172]

[171] Respecting the connection between the vegetable productions of a
country and its geognostic peculiarities, little is yet known;
but the reader may compare _Meyen's Geography of Plants_, p. 64,
with _Reports on Botany by the Ray Society_, 1846, pp. 70, 71.
The chemical laws of soil are much better understood, and have a
direct practical bearing on the use of manures. See _Turner's
Chemistry_, vol. ii. pp. 1310-1314; _Brande's Chemistry_, vol. i.
p. 691, vol. ii. pp. 1867-1869; _Balfour's Botany_, pp. 116-122;
_Liebig and Kopp's Reports_, vol. ii. pp. 315, 328, vol. iii. p.
463, vol. iv. pp. 438, 442, 446.

[172] As to the influence of heat and moisture on the geographical
distribution of plants, see _Henslow's Botany_, pp. 295-300, and
_Balfour's Botany_, pp. 560-563. Meyen (_Geog. of Plants_, p.
263) says, 'I, therefore, after allowing for local circumstances,
bring the vegetation of islands also under the law of nature,
according to which the number of species constantly increases
with increasing heat and corresponding humidity.' On the effect
of temperature alone, compare a note in _Erman's Siberia_, vol.
i. pp. 64, 65, with _Reports on Botany by the Ray Society_, pp.
339, 340. In the latter work, it is supposed that heat is the
most important of all single agents; and though this is probably
true, still the influence of humidity is immense. I may mention
as an instance of this, that it has been recently ascertained
that the oxygen used by seeds during germination, is not always
taken from the air, but is obtained by decomposing water. See the
curious experiments of Edwards and Colin in _Lindley's Botany_,
vol. ii. pp. 261, 262, London, 1848; and on the direct
nourishment which water supplies to vegetables, see Burdache's
great work, _Traité de Physiologie_, vol. ix. pp. 254, 398.

A general survey of the continent of America will illustrate the connexion between this law and the subject now before us. In the first place, as regards moisture, all the great rivers in the New World are on the eastern coast, none of them on the western. The causes of this remarkable fact are unknown;[173] but it is certain that neither in North, nor in South America, does one considerable river empty itself into the Pacific; while on the opposite side there are numerous rivers, some of enormous magnitude, all of great importance, as the Negro, the La Plata, the San Francisco, the Amazon, the Orinoco, the Mississippi, the Alabama, the Saint John, the Potomac, the Susquehannah, the Delaware, the Hudson, and the Saint Lawrence. By this vast water-system the soil is towards the east constantly irrigated:[174] but towards the west there is in North America only one river of value, the Oregon;[175] while in South America, from the Isthmus of Panama to the Straits of Magellan, there is no great river at all.

[173] There is a difference between the watersheds of the eastern and
western ranges, which explains this in part, but not entirely;
and even if the explanation were more satisfactory than it is, it
is too proximate to the phenomenon to have much scientific value,
and must itself be referred to higher geological considerations.

[174] Of this irrigation some idea may be formed from an estimate that
the Amazon drains an area of 2,500,000 square miles; that its
mouth is 96 miles wide; and that it is navigable 2,200 miles from
its mouth. _Somerville's Physical Geography_, vol. i. p. 423.
Indeed, it is said in an essay on the Hydrography of South
America (_Journal of Geograph. Society_, vol. ii. p. 250), that
'with the exception of one short portage of three miles, water
flows, and is for the most part navigable, between Buenos Ayres,
in 35° south latitude, to the mouth of the Orinoco, in nearly 9°
north.' See also on this river-system, vol. v. p. 93, vol. x. p.
267. In regard to North America, Mr. Rogers (_Geology of North
America_, p. 8, _Brit. Assoc. for 1834_) says, 'the area drained
by the Mississippi and all its tributaries is computed at
1,099,000 square miles.' Compare _Richardson's Arctic
Expedition_, vol. ii. p. 164.

[175] The Oregon, or Columbia as it is sometimes called, forms a
remarkable botanical line, which is the boundary of the
Californian flora. See _Reports on Botany by the Ray Society_, p.
113.

But as to the other main cause of fertility, namely heat, we find in North America a state of things precisely the reverse. There we find that while the irrigation is on the east, the heat is on the west.[176] This difference of temperature between the two coasts is probably connected with some great meteorological law; for in the whole of the northern hemisphere, the eastern part of continents and of islands is colder than the western.[177] Whether, however, this is owing to some large and comprehensive cause, or whether each instance has a cause peculiar to itself, is an alternative, in the present state of knowledge, impossible to decide; but the fact is unquestionable, and its influence upon the early history of America is extremely curious. In consequence of it, the two great conditions of fertility have not been united in any part of the continent north of Mexico. The countries on the one side have wanted heat; those on the other side have wanted irrigation. The accumulation of wealth being thus impeded, the progress of society was stopped; and until, in the sixteenth century, the knowledge of Europe was brought to bear upon America, there is no instance of any people north of the twentieth parallel, reaching even that imperfect civilization to which the inhabitants of India and of Egypt easily attained.[178] On the other hand, south of the twentieth parallel, the continent suddenly changes its form, and, rapidly contracting, becomes a small strip of land, until it reaches the Isthmus of Panama. This narrow tract was the centre of Mexican civilization; and a comparison of the preceding arguments will easily show why such was the case; for the peculiar configuration of the land secured a very large amount of coast, and thus gave to the southern part of North America the character of an island. Hence there arose one of the characteristics of an insular climate, namely, an increase of moisture caused by the watery vapour which springs from the sea.[179] While, therefore, the position of Mexico near the equator gave it heat, the shape of the land gave it humidity; and this being the only part of North America in which these two conditions were united, it was likewise the only part which was at all civilized. There can be no doubt that if the sandy plains of California and southern Columbia, instead of being scorched into sterility, had been irrigated by the rivers of the east, or if the rivers of the east had been accompanied by the heat of the west, the result of either combination would have been that exuberance of soil by which, as the history of the world decisively proves, every early civilization was preceded. But inasmuch as, of the two elements of fertility, one was deficient in every part of America north of the twentieth parallel, it followed that, until that line was passed, civilization could gain no resting-place; and there never has been found, and we may confidently assert never will be found, any evidence that even a single ancient nation, in the whole of that enormous continent, was able to make much progress in the arts of life, or organize itself into a fixed and permanent society.

[176] For proof that the mean temperature of the western coast of North
America is higher than that of the eastern coast, see _Journal of
Geograph. Society_, vol. ix. p. 380, vol. xi. pp. 168, 216;
_Humboldt_, _la Nouvelle Espagne_, vol. i. pp. 42, 336;
_Richardson's Arctic Expedition_, vol. ii. pp. 214, 218, 219,
259, 260. This is well illustrated by the botanical fact, that on
the west coast the Coniferæ grow as high as 68° or 70° north
latitude; while on the east their northern limit is 60°. See an
Essay on the Morphology of the Coniferæ, in _Reports on Botany by
the Ray Society_, p. 8, which should be compared with _Forry on
the Climate of the United States and its Endemic Influences_, New
York, 1842, p. 89.

[177] 'Writers on climate have remarked that the eastern coasts of
continents in the northern hemisphere have a lower mean
temperature than the western coasts.' _Richardson on North
American Zoology_, p. 129, _Brit. Assoc. for_ 1836: see also
_Report for_ 1841, _Sections_, p. 28; _Davis's China_, vol. iii.
pp. 140, 141; _Journal of Geograph. Society_, vol. xxii. p. 176.

[178] The little that is known of the early state of the North-American
tribes has been brought together by Dr. M'Culloh in his learned
work, _Researches concerning America_, pp. 119-146. He says, p.
121, that they 'lived together without laws and civil
regulations.' In that part of the world, the population has
probably never been fixed; and we now know that the inhabitants
of the north-east of Asia have at different times passed over to
the north-west of America, as in the case of the Tschuktschi, who
are found in both continents. Indeed, Dobell was so struck by the
similarity between the North-American tribes and some he met with
nearly as far west as Tomsk, that he believed their origin to be
the same. See _Dobell's Travels in Kamtschatka and Siberia_,
1830, vol. ii. p. 112. And on this question of intercourse
between the two continents, compare _Crantz's History of
Greenland_, vol. i. pp. 259, 260, with _Richardson's Arctic
Expedition_, vol. i. pp. 362, 363, and _Prichard's Physical
History of Mankind_, vol. iv. pp. 458, 463, vol. v. pp. 371, 378.

[179] From general physical considerations, we should suppose a relation
between amount of rain and extent of coast; and in Europe, where
alone we have extensive meteorological records, the connexion has
been proved statistically. 'If the quantity of rain that falls in
different parts of Europe is measured, it is found to be less,
other things being equal, as we recede from the sea-shore.'
_Kaemtz's Meteorology_, 1845, p. 139. Compare pp. 91, 94. Hence,
no doubt, the greater rarity of rain as we advance north from
Mexico. 'Au nord du 20°, surtout depuis les 22° au 30° de
latitude, les pluies, que ne durent que pendant les mois de juin,
de juillet, d'août et de septembre, sont peu fréquentes dans
l'intérieur du pays.' _Humboldt_, _la Nouvelle Espagne_, vol. i.
p. 46.

Thus far as to the physical agents which controlled the early destinies of North America. But in reference to South America, a different train of circumstances came into play; for the law by virtue of which the eastern coasts are colder than the western, is not only inapplicable to the southern hemisphere, but is replaced by another law precisely the reverse. North of the equator, the east is colder than the west; south of the equator, the east is hotter than the west.[180] If now, we connect this fact with what has been noticed respecting the vast river-system which distinguishes the east of America from the west, it becomes evident that in South America there exists that coöperation of heat and humidity in which North America is deficient. The result is, that the soil in the eastern part of South America is remarkable for its exuberance, not only within the tropic, but considerably beyond it; the south of Brazil, and even part of Uruguay, possessing a fertility not to be found in any country of North America situated under a corresponding latitude.

[180] 'The difference between the climates of the east and west coasts
of continents and islands, has also been observed in the southern
hemisphere but here the west coasts are colder than the east,
while in the northern hemisphere the east coasts are the colder.'
_Meyen's Geography of Plants_, 1846, p. 24.

On a hasty view of the preceding generalizations, it might be expected that the eastern side of South America, being thus richly endowed by nature,[181] would have been the seat of one of those civilizations, which, in other parts of the world, similar causes produced. But if we look a little further, we shall find that what has just been pointed out, by no means exhausts even the physical bearings of this subject, and that we must take into consideration a third great agent, which has sufficed to neutralize the natural results of the other two, and to retain in barbarism the inhabitants of what otherwise would have been the most flourishing of all the countries of the New World.

[181] Mr. Darwin, who has written one of the most valuable works ever
published on South America, was struck by this superiority of the
eastern coast; and he mentions that 'fruits which ripen well and
are very abundant, such as the grape and fig, in latitude 41° on
the east coast, succeed very poorly in a lower latitude on the
opposite side of the continent.' _Darwin's Journal of
Researches_, Lond. 1840, p. 268. Compare _Meyen's Geog. of
Plants_, pp. 25, 188. So that the proposition of Daniell
(_Meteorological Essays_, p. 104, sec. xiv.) is expressed too
generally, and should be confined to continents north of the
equator.

The agent to which I allude is the trade-wind; a striking phenomenon, by which, as we shall hereafter see, all the civilizations anterior to those of Europe were greatly and injuriously influenced. This wind covers no less than 56° of latitude; 28° north of the equator, and 28° south of it.[182] In this large tract, which comprises some of the most fertile countries in the world, the trade-wind blows, during the whole year, either from the north-east or from the south-east.[183] The causes of this regularity are now well understood, and are known to depend partly on the displacement of air at the equator, and partly on the motion of the earth; for the cold air from the poles is constantly flowing towards the equator, and thus producing northerly winds in the northern hemisphere, and southerly winds in the southern. These winds are, however, deflected from their natural course by the movement of the earth, as it revolves on its axis from west to east. And as the rotation of the earth is, of course, more rapid at the equator than elsewhere, it happens that in the neighbourhood of the equator the speed is so great as to outstrip the movements of the atmosphere from the poles, and forcing them into another direction, gives rise to those easterly currents which are called trade-winds.[184] What, however, we are now rather concerned with, is not so much an explanation of the trade-winds, as an account of the way in which this great physical phenomenon is connected with the history of South America.