CHAPTER II

THE EVOLUTION OF A RACE

THEORIES OF THE CREATION

OF the earlier stages in the evolution of a new race it is obviously as impossible for a man of that race to speak, with any degree of certainty or authority, as it would be for him to describe, of his own knowledge, his own birth and the events, say, of the two first years of his life. Each of the older races has evolved a theory of the Creation for itself; but, satisfactory as this theory may have been to the race which evolved it, the theory of an older race appears to be more or less childish and inefficient to a younger race which has improved on the science of the older race. The younger race, therefore, proceeds to evolve its own theory of the Creation, and later on bases its religion on this theory. Hitherto no attempt has been made to collect the various Creation theories, but we know that some of them are very childish and fanciful. Recently a great deal of valuable work has been done by mythologists, in seeking out ancient religious stories, but their object appears to have been to show how widespread certain myths are rather than to trace them to their sources. Of all these so-called mythical stories those which deal with the creation of man, or of the world, are of the greatest importance; because each of these has been, at some time or other, the accepted basis of the religion of the race which evolved it, and was believed in as implicitly as we now believe

in the theory of evolution. As a rule the object of the Creation theory has been to explain the appearance of man on the earth, and generally to prove his Divine origin. In some cases man is the direct descendant of the god or gods, while in others he is created or called forth by the god in various ways. But, valuable as a study of these ancient theories may be, as affording indications of the characteristics of the race and its advance in science, they are of no value as evidences either of man's first appearance on the earth or of the birth of a new race. We are therefore compelled to turn to what we know of the evolution of races among animals in order to account for the first appearance of a new race of man; and as man is undoubtedly as amenable to the laws of nature as the animal, and is individually produced in a similar manner, this evidence may be taken as perfectly reliable.

HOW A RACE IS EVOLVED

A new race is produced among dogs, for instance, by the careful intercrossing of two or more races or varieties, and the selection of those animals having the desired type for breeding. Among wild animals, and also among human beings, the process has been of a somewhat similar character, but natural selection takes the place of man in the evolution. This is the theory of evolution broadly stated, and it is unnecessary here to enter into minute details either for the purpose of proving the theory or of showing how radically it differs from the Creation theory of any of the ancient races. With these premises I think I may assume that a new race of man is produced by the intermixture of two or more races under favourable conditions of food and climate. We have yet to learn the precise nature of these conditions, but there can, I think, be no doubt that soil, temperature, and food exercise great influence in determining the

colouring, the physique, and perhaps also the temperament of the new race. The operations of food and temperature, in modifying the colouring and other characteristics of a race, and in differentiating it from the older races, among which it is produced, must necessarily be very slow and gradual. Hence it is reasonable to assume that the production of a new race requires that the parent races should have been stationary for at least several generations, otherwise these conditions would not have sufficient time to operate. The evolution of a new race, therefore, requires that the parent races shall have been stationary for some considerable time, the operations extending over several generations.

THE EVIDENCE FROM THE OLDER RACES

I have also assumed that the union of two or more races is necessary to produce a new race, because, if we take a survey of the races of man now existing, we find that in Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and other isolated countries, where there has been but little or no admixture of races, there has been no new race produced during immense periods of time, and no advance has been made in civilisation. In America, the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru did not differ very materially in physical characteristics from the older Indian races, but were mentally and intellectually the superiors of these races. The admixture of blood, therefore, in

the case of the evolution of the Aztecs and Incas appears to have been slight, the parent races having been nearly related and all belonging to one and the same subspecies. In Eastern Asia the case is very similar with regard to the Mongolian subspecies. Here the Chinese, Coreans, and Tartars may perhaps represent the older races from which the Japanese have been evolved. In Western Asia, and in Europe and Africa, where the admixture of

races has undoubtedly been greatest, there is the greatest variation. In these countries the struggle between the races of man has been far more severe than in those countries previously noticed, and therefore we find man himself more highly specialised, larger and stronger, while in some of the countries he has attained to a higher degree of civilisation than he has in countries where the struggle has been less severe.

PROLIFICACY OF NATURE

The first struggle of a new race is a purely physical one, and it is not every race which possesses the necessary stamina to conquer in this fight, and to finally achieve a dominant position and establish a world-empire. There is no evidence to prove that the Creator has dealt any differently, with regard to man, than with any other organic being; and when we realise how very prolific nature is, in the production, not only of individuals, but of races and species, among plants and animals, it is absurd to pretend to limit His power with regard to man. Individually, man is propagated as lavishly as the animal or the plant, and there is no sufficient reason for believing that any exception has been made in his case in the evolution of species and races. When we look round and see the number of what appear to be remnants of ancient races of whose origin we know nothing, but who are obviously of a different race to the general inhabitants of the country in which they exist, we realise that the popular idea is wholly inadequate to explain their existence. shall refer to these races at greater length elsewhere. But some of these remnants, probably, are the surviving representatives of some race which has once been great, while others are the remains of races which have been more or less unsuccessful in the struggle for existence. There can be no doubt that

numbers of new races of man have been evolved which have not possessed the necessary stamina to enable them to conquer a place in the world. Some of these have succumbed at a very early stage in their career, as infants die, while others have made some progress and have then come into contact with a stronger and more vigorous race, and have been absorbed or wiped out at a later stage in their evolution.

BIRTH OF A NEW RACE

When a new race appears it is in the birth of a few children which differ more or less from the children hitherto born in the country. Among primitive savages the birth of children differing from the normal type is not looked on with favour. In many cases, where the whites have invaded savage countries, halfcaste children are systematically killed off. In the case of the evolution of a new race, however, if this evolution is due to the admixture of races, the births of half-castes would have probably prepared the way for the birth of the new type, and the difference between the children of the new race and those of the older races, or of crosses between them, would probably pass unnoticed. As the conditions of soil, temperature, and food continued to act, the production of the new type would increase, while the older races from which it sprang would naturally die out, until, in the course of time, only the new race would be found in the country in which it was evolved. It was thus that the Xanthochroic or fair-haired race first made its appearance in the forests somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Baltic Sea. It was thus also that the Melanochroic or black-haired race first began its career somewhere in Greece. And it is from these humble beginnings that the Anglo-Saxon has to trace his history to the present time. The scheme is a magnificent one, far too gigantic for any one man,