The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-28
THE SUN. SUNDAY. July % 1907.


tra~us-Cnspian pain. drained by the Amu-
Daria aud the Svr-Daria. and bounded
eastward ~ the crest Of the Than Shan
Mountains. doe. the mid-temperutc plain
, Europe HEd an eastward oorre!ative.
Ipon Asia, Pacific coast. beyond the
great UI,s,tl Of central Asia, we witness In
Mongol Land an imperfect attempt OF mature
10 resume the mid-temperate climatic belt,
but the southern exposure and the. warm
winds from The japanese current in part
neutralize the effort.
What are the positive reasons which lead
TO the assumption that the primitive home
land OF the Aryan peoples lay not in the
sub-tropic nor in tile sub-Arctio but in
the middle belt OF the temperate zo1eF Mr..
Widney cites some intimstions Of the eli
matte character Of the Aryan homeland
In the Vedas. These poems tell Of the land
where the Brahminic Arysn dweit before
he removed southward to the Indian plain.
IL was a land OF winter snows." and stabbed
cottle"; a land OF sheep and clothing OF
wool; but il wac q and also OF pastures
and meadow grasses. y OF butter and milk,
Of the red apple" and Of autumn bar-
vests" and the grass piles" Of the haying
season. A similar picture Of The lrano-
Aryan' il reproduced from the Gathas.
The Airyana Vaejanh is a land Of winter
SHOWS and summer rains, of woodlands
and pastures. cattle. grain fields and har-
vests. II In a picture Of a land free alike
from h enervating hea OF the sub-tropics
and from the depressing chill OF a sub
Arctic cline; a picture Of a climatic belt
such as we find to-day in mid Europe, or
the northern and middle portions OF the
United States. Ii il in just this climatic
belt that the Aryan has developed the high
es, and most enduring type Of His race
life. apd has proved himself 10 be able 10
keep up the race standard without the
necessity of periodical regeneration by an
incoming Of fresh blood.
Our author goes on to recall that the
earlier traditions and myths OF the Greek
peoples impcl us to look ~northward Of tho
sub-tropio belt for the primitive homeland
OF the Aryan. IL was from the north that
the Dorian wave Of Greek blood poured
down over the Thessalian plain and across
Africa 70 the Peloponnesos. The Latin, as
we have noted. was ~singularly lacking in
race traditions. yet the fact that when we
first find him 10y the Tiber he e a man well
advanced in the Use OF metals at.a with no
trace Of a ton Age indicates that his
earlier home had been Else here; and the
seagirt peninsula would leave 20 an incom-
ing primitive race. without mar, ime skill
or appliance. only one parkway possible,
that by land from the north.
On the negative side we must recognize.
"a Mr.. Widney points out. that in the sub
Arctic belt it would hardly be possible for
primitive man 10 wage q successful contest
Itch W,aa.sra Ia eIa r,Wnla Tor AH.aenn.Aa
II IN only as man can take with him into
the rigors of a northern climate the skill
and accumulated appliances Of a somewhat
advanced civilization that he can carry
any form Of a higher civil life into sub
Arctic lands. What evidence we have upon
the subject. hat Of the race history of the
Slavs. who constitute the great northern
branch OF the Aryan folk. directs us south
ward toward the lower Volga and the shores
OF the Black Sea as the initial points whence
they ave spread. OF the Celts il may only
be said that. as their race life has become
absorbed in that of stronger incoming
bloods. all trustworthy race traditions have
disappeared. When they first appear in
history. however. their home il in the mid
temperate belt of western Europe. upon the
British Isles. in Gaul. in the valley Of h Pc
and in the mountain valleys OF Switzerland.
The Teuton. on his part. has no tradition
OF any other climatic home han the one
he now occupies. in the mid-temperate
belt OF the eastern continent. All his ira
ditions. all his myths. all his race habits
and customs. point TO this as the one and
abiding race home.
The conclusion seems then not only rea-
sonable but unmistakable. that somewhere
within the mid-temperate belt Of the east
ern continent we are to look for the prim-
tive race home of the Aryan peoples. the
region where the old proto-Arysn blood
first began to evolve that a~utogenetic type
Of civilization which has stamped itself so
strongly upon all its descendants, and
whence the widely scattered Aryan peo-
Piles went forth upon their diverging path
ways over the world. But where? In the
east or in the west Of the mid-temperate
belt? In Europe or in Asia? Have We any
means OF determining. or even plausibly
surmising, where within the m~id-temper-
ate belt the original. primitive homeland Of
the Aryans lay?