Bulletin of the American Bureau of Geography Volume 2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 Excerpt: ...as an acre of wheat. In Ireland, before the days when emigration became important, the population increased at the rate of three per cent per year, while in England it increased hardly one and one-half per cent. Where rice is the staple article of food, we find the birth rate high, and the population dense. Just as the social condition of man depends largely upon the ease with which food can be obtained, so his literature, his religion and his habits of thought generally, depend in no small measure upon the phenomena of nature.- The almost impassible snow-crowned Himalayas, the mighty streams, the intense heat of the plains, the destructive typhoons, the dense, impenetrable forests, all combined to overpower the native of India and to make him feel almost helpless in the presence of nature. Seeing that the forces of the physical world worked sometimes to his advantage and sometimes to his disadvantage, it was perfectly natural that he should invest these forces with spirits, and then worship them and sacrifice to them in order to gain their favor. The Indian worshipped these nature gods not for spiritual uplift but in the hope of material gain. In India, as in other eastern countries where similar conditions prevail, there was an impassable gulf between mankind and the gods. The representations of the latter were horrible and the religious ceremonies were often inhuman. In Greece, on the other hand, nature had an elevating and stimulating instead of a depressing effect. The gods and men had much in common, while the most beautiful statues represented the former. The most densely populated portion of India is the basin of the Ganges. This is because the Ganges and its tributaries have for untold ages been bringing vast quantities of rock waste from the ...