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INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE. 441
wdll worship hev in all her phenomena: in the rays of the sun, because
tbey burn and destroy; in the clouds, because they peal forth thunders;
in the dark forest, because serpents and tigers are hidden in its depths;
in all that surrounds him, because every'thing lives with an irresistible
force of life which may at any time cause his death. The stupendous
work which is unceasingly going on around him hinders any personal
labor; he thinks but little; when, like the Hindoo, he meditates and contemplates the laws of nature, his ideas somewhat tend to the profound
and the immutable, like the laws of which they are the reflection.
The rich nature of the tropics, even on account of that richness, is, as we
see, not the most favorable to the progress of mankind, but the frigid zone
is still less fitted to be the residence of prosperous nations. But a few
tribes have wandered into the solitudes of these countries, where they
have struggled painfully with the climate, in order to extort from it each
day enough to keep up a miserable existence. As, on account of glaciers
and the absence of vegetation, they can not penetrate far into the interior
of the islands and continents on which they live, they build their wood or
snow huts on the sea-shore. There, at least, the wind now and then wafts
to them a few gusts of equatorial air, there the counter-currents drive
upon the shore water which has come from the tropics, and still retains
something of its primitive warmth; and when the sea is not too stormy,
or too much covered with drifting icebergs, the fisherman is able to venture out in his leathern boat in quest of seals and fish. When he has
pierced with his harpoon the animals which are to serve as food for his
family, he returns to the small black hole which forms his miserable retreat, where, warming himself by the flame of a lamp, he spends the
long winter night, which seems as if it would never end; for even the
sun, the source of heat for all terrestrial life, abandons the frigid zone for
whole weeks and months, while the aurora, which at intervals takes its
place, sheds but a livid gleam, a mere phantom of the day. Existence is
a difficult matter during this long and gloomy winter; famine, too, often
makes great havoc among these people, and sometimes whole tribes have
disappeared without leaving a trace behind them. How could it be otherwise than that the mind of the Greenlander, the Esquimaux, and the
Kamtchadale should suffer under the influence of the desolate climate of
the polar regions ? All travelers relate that the most simple pleasures
are sufficient to fill up the cup of joy for artless beings like these, whose
life is always so monotonous; in their struggle for existence, ambition
does not form a part; for the main point with them is to procure food,
and the soil is too ill adapted for cultivation, and the climate is too inclement for them to be able to counteract the difficulties presented by the
land, and to make any endeavor to appropriate it for their own use.
They are loving and gentle in disposition, for a family living together
as they do in their snow hut must be all the world to each other; they
are attached to their native land, and die when obliged to leave it, because their ideas are as unsophisticated as the country in which they
| Title | The ocean, atmosphere, and life |
| Creator | Reclus, Elisée |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1873 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000486 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE. 441 wdll worship hev in all her phenomena: in the rays of the sun, because tbey burn and destroy; in the clouds, because they peal forth thunders; in the dark forest, because serpents and tigers are hidden in its depths; in all that surrounds him, because every'thing lives with an irresistible force of life which may at any time cause his death. The stupendous work which is unceasingly going on around him hinders any personal labor; he thinks but little; when, like the Hindoo, he meditates and contemplates the laws of nature, his ideas somewhat tend to the profound and the immutable, like the laws of which they are the reflection. The rich nature of the tropics, even on account of that richness, is, as we see, not the most favorable to the progress of mankind, but the frigid zone is still less fitted to be the residence of prosperous nations. But a few tribes have wandered into the solitudes of these countries, where they have struggled painfully with the climate, in order to extort from it each day enough to keep up a miserable existence. As, on account of glaciers and the absence of vegetation, they can not penetrate far into the interior of the islands and continents on which they live, they build their wood or snow huts on the sea-shore. There, at least, the wind now and then wafts to them a few gusts of equatorial air, there the counter-currents drive upon the shore water which has come from the tropics, and still retains something of its primitive warmth; and when the sea is not too stormy, or too much covered with drifting icebergs, the fisherman is able to venture out in his leathern boat in quest of seals and fish. When he has pierced with his harpoon the animals which are to serve as food for his family, he returns to the small black hole which forms his miserable retreat, where, warming himself by the flame of a lamp, he spends the long winter night, which seems as if it would never end; for even the sun, the source of heat for all terrestrial life, abandons the frigid zone for whole weeks and months, while the aurora, which at intervals takes its place, sheds but a livid gleam, a mere phantom of the day. Existence is a difficult matter during this long and gloomy winter; famine, too, often makes great havoc among these people, and sometimes whole tribes have disappeared without leaving a trace behind them. How could it be otherwise than that the mind of the Greenlander, the Esquimaux, and the Kamtchadale should suffer under the influence of the desolate climate of the polar regions ? All travelers relate that the most simple pleasures are sufficient to fill up the cup of joy for artless beings like these, whose life is always so monotonous; in their struggle for existence, ambition does not form a part; for the main point with them is to procure food, and the soil is too ill adapted for cultivation, and the climate is too inclement for them to be able to counteract the difficulties presented by the land, and to make any endeavor to appropriate it for their own use. They are loving and gentle in disposition, for a family living together as they do in their snow hut must be all the world to each other; they are attached to their native land, and die when obliged to leave it, because their ideas are as unsophisticated as the country in which they |
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