"The buffalo is a surprisingly stupid animal." — Ellsworth Huntington

From first to last the civilization of America has been bound up with its physical environment.

Although farming of any sort was almost as impossible in the plains as in the dry regions of winter rains farther west, the abundance of buffaloes made life much easier in many respects.

The Indians could not undertake any widespread cultivation of the plains not only because they lacked iron tools but also because they had no draft animals.

The coast of British Columbia was one of the three chief centers of aboriginal America.