THE PRIMITIVE ARYAS. THAT HAT elevated region in Central Asia extending from the Hindu Kuh to the Armenian The Aryan mountains, which is now known as the pla- Homestead. teau of Iran, is entitled to be called in an important sense the homestead of the human family. It was at least the ancestral abode of those races which have hitherto led the movement of civilization. Its position. and structure are wonderfully appropriate to such a function; for this main focus of ethnic radiation is also the geographical centre of the Eastern hemisphere. There, at the intersection of the continental axes, stands the real apex of the earth." And its borders rise on every side into commanding mountain knots and ranges, that look eastward over the steppes of Thibet and the plains of India, westward down the Assyrian lowlands towards the Mediterranean, northward over the wide sands of Central Asia, and southward across Arabia and the Tropic Seas. "Where else," demands Herder, with natural enthusiasm, if not with scientific knowledge, "should man, the summit of creation, come into being?" Whatever answer be given to this still open question, the symbolism of the majestic plateau points, we may suggest, 1 Reclus, The Earth. to higher human meaning than that of the mere historical beginning of the race. The languages and mythologies of nearly all the great historic races, in their widest dispersion, point back to these mountain outlooks of Iran. Hindu, Persian, Hebrew, Mongol, kneel towards these venerable heights, as their common fatherland; a primeval Eden, peopled by their earliest legends with gods and genii, and long-lived, happy men. The homes of ancient civilization rose around their bases, as under the shadow of a patriarchal tent; and there they were gathered to the dust. The drift of forty centuries of human history lies amidst their recesses, and strewn over the spaces which they enclose; attesting what storms and tides of life have preceded our own; vestiges of aspiration and achievement hid in prehistoric times; relics of old religions; inscriptions in mysterious tongues; local names, whose vague etymological affinities suggest startling relations between widely separated ages and races. The highways of the oldest commerce strike across this plateau, and out from it on either side; and caravan tracks of immemorial age hint the lines of those primitive migrations that issued from its colossal gates. We seem to be contemplating a marvellous symbol of the unity of the human race and of its movement in history; born out of the mystic intimacy of Nature with its inmost. meaning. Of the primeval life of races on this grander Ararat we know but little. Why indeed should we call it primeval? It is but a step or two that history or science can penetrate towards any form of human life that would really deserve that name. Should we gain much by knowing the crudest human conditions, after |