to fish and to
gather shell-fish, learning by degrees to use new foods as discovered
as nature left them. Life become a veritable struggle for existence as
the population increased and the lands upon which man dwelt yielded
insufficient supply of food. The increased variety of food allowed man
to adapt himself to the different climates. Thus in the colder
climates animal food became desirable to enable him to resist more
readily the rigors of climate. It was not necessary, it is supposed,
to give him physical courage or intellectual development, for there
appear to be evidences of tribes like the Maoris of New Zealand, who on
the diet of fish and roots became a most powerful and sagacious people.
But the change from a vegetable diet to a meat-and-fish diet in the
early period brought forth renewed energy of body and mind, not only on
account of the necessary physical exertion but on account of the
invention of devices for the capture of fish and game.

_The Food Supply Was Increased by Inventions_.--Probably the first meat
food supply was in the form of shell-fish which could be gathered near
the shores of lakes and streams. Probably small game was secured by
the use of stones and sticks and by running the animal down until he
was exhausted or until he hid in a place inaccessible to the pursuer.
The {87} boomerang, as used by the Australians in killing game, may
have been an early product of the people of Neolithic Europe. In the
latter part of the Paleolithic Age, fish-hooks of bone were used, and
probably snares invented for small game. The large game could not be
secured without the use of the spear and the co-operation of a number
of hunters. In all probability this occurred in the New Stone Age.

The invention of the bow-and-arrow was of tremendous importance in
securing food. It is not known what led to its invention, although the
discovery of the flexible power of the shrub, or the small sapling,
must have occurred to man as he struggled through the brush. It is
thought by some that the use of the bow fire-drill, which was for the
purpose of striking fire by friction, might have displayed driving
power when the drill wound up in the string of the bow flew from its
confinement. However, this is conjectural; but, judging from the
inventions of known tribes, it is evident that necessity has always
been the moving power in invention. The bow-and-arrow was developed in
certain centres and probably through