stors of the red man unwittingly chose the easiest path
to America and so entered the continent first, but this was their
misfortune. They could not inherit the land because they chose a path
whose unfavorable influence, exerted throughout centuries, left them
unable to cope with later arrivals from other directions. The parts of
America most favorable for the Indian are also best for the white man
and Negro. There the alerter minds of the Europeans who migrated in the
other direction have quickly eliminated the Indian. His long northern
sojourn may be the reason why farther south in tropical lands he is even
now at a disadvantage compared with the Negro or with the coolie from
the East Indies. In Central America, for instance, it is generally
recognized that Negroes stand the heat and moisture of the lowlands
better than Indians. According to a competent authority: "The American
Indians cannot bear the heat of the tropics even as well as the
European, not to speak of the African race. They perspire little, their
skin becomes hot, and they are easily prostrated by exertion in an
elevated temperature. They are peculiarly subject to diseases of hot
climates, as hepatic disorders, showing none of the immunity of the
African. Furthermore, the finest physical specimens of the race are
found in the colder regions of the temperate zones, the Pampas and
Patagonian Indians in the south, the Iroquois and Algonkins in
the north; whereas, in the tropics they are generally undersized,
short-lived, of inferior muscular force and with slight tolerance of
disease." * "No one," adds another observer, "could live among
the Indians of the Upper Amazon without being struck with their
constitutional dislike to heat. The impression forced itself upon my
mind that the Indian lives as a stranger or immigrant in these hot
regions." * * Thus when compared with the other inhabitants of America,
from every point of view the Indian seems to be at a disadvantage, much
of which may be due to the path which he took from the Old World to the
New.

* D. G. Brinton, "The American Race," pp. 34, 35.

* * H. W. Bates, "The Naturalist on the River Amazons." vol.II,
pp. 200, 201.

Before the red man lost his American heritage, he must have enjoyed it
for thousands upon thousands of years. Otherwise he never could have
become so different from his nearest relative, the Mongol. The two are
as truly distinct races as are the white man and the M