tropical growth. It may well
be that the people should, as a result of their changed conditions,
have deteriorated in culture; or, at any rate, their progress toward
civilization may have been stopped, and many thousands of years may have
passed with no perceptible improvement. It may be objected, that man
will improve under any state of existence, give him time enough. This
is, doubtless, in the main true. But a race may early reach its limit of
culture; in which case, as a race, it will not improve: we may do much
with the individual, but nothing, or but very little, for the race.

In these considerations which have been advanced we may find some reason
for the early appearance of Neolithic man, as well as the fact that
he advanced no farther in culture. But whether man first arrived in
California in Pliocene times or not, he continued to inhabit the land to
the present day. He would, however, be exposed to assault after assault
from invading tribes. We do not wish to examine the question of the
origin of the native Americans. It is held, by the best authorities,
that at least a portion of them came from Asia, using the Kurile Islands
as a stepping stone. Reaching the main-land of America, and passing
down the coast, they would, sooner or later, reach the Valley of the
Columbia--which has been characterized as the most extraordinary region
on the face of the earth in the variety and amount of subsistence it
afforded to tribes destitute of a knowledge of agriculture. At certain
seasons of the year the rivers are crowded with fish, and they are then
caught with the greatest ease. As a mixture of forest and prairie, the
country is an excellent one for game. A species of bread-root grew on
the prairies; and, in the Summer, there was a profusion of berries. To
these advantages must be added that of a mild and equable climate.<28>

These combined advantages would make this valley one of the centers of
population, from whence would issue successive bands of invading people.
A portion of these, passing over into California, would come in contact
with the descendants of Pliocene man. The result would be, that the
primitive inhabitants, unable to escape to the west, would come in
contact with wave after wave of invading tribes. This is not altogether
theory. All inquirers into the customs, arts, and languages of the
primitive Californians have been struck with the remarkable commingling
of the same. We are driven to the conclu