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Brief contents

chAPter 1 Introduction to Physical Anthropology 3

heredity and evolution


chAPter 2 The Development of Evolutionary Theory 25
chAPter 3 The Biological Basis of Life 49
chAPter 4 Heredity and Evolution 77
chAPter 5 Macroevolution: Processes of Vertebrate and Mammalian Evolution 107

Primates
chAPter 6 Survey of the Living Primates 135
chAPter 7 Primate Behavior 175
chAPter 8 Overview of the Fossil Primates 217

hominin evolution
chAPter 9 Paleoanthropology: Reconstructing Early Hominin Behavior and Ecology 255
chAPter 10 Hominin Origins in Africa 277
chAPter 11 The First Dispersal of the Genus Homo: Homo erectus and Contemporaries 307
chAPter 12 Premodern Humans 331
chAPter 13 The Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans 363

contemporary human evolution


chAPter 14 Modern Human Biology: Patterns of Variation 389
chAPter 15 Modern Human Biology: Patterns of Adaptation 413
chAPter 16 Legacies of Human Evolutionary History and the Human Life Course 441
chAPter 17 The Human Disconnection 469

Appendix A: Atlas of Primate Skeletal Anatomy 484


Appendix B: Sexing and Aging the Skeleton 492
Glossary 497
Bibliography 506
Index 532

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contents

Preface xvi Cultural Anthropology 11


Acknowledgments xix Archaeology 11
Supplements xx Linguistic Anthropology 11
Physical Anthropology 12
C h a p te r 1 Applied Anthropology 18
Introduction to Physical Anthropology 3 Physical Anthropology and the Scientific Method 19
Introduction 3 A Closer Look Forensic Anthropology in Practice 21
The Human Connection 5 The Anthropological Perspective 22
Biocultural Evolution 6 Summary of Main Topics 23
What Is Anthropology? 10 Critical Thinking Questions 23

heredity and evolution


C h a p te r 2
The Development of Evolutionary Theory 25
A Brief History of Evolutionary Thought 26
The Scientific Revolution 27
Precursors of the Theory of Evolution 29
The Discovery of Natural Selection 33
In Darwin’s Shadow 37
Natural Selection 38
Natural Selection in Action 39
Constraints on Nineteenth-Century Evolutionary
Theory 42
Opposition to Evolution Today 42
A Brief History of Opposition to Evolution in the United
States 43
At a glance The Mechanism of Natural Selection 45
How Do We Know? 46
Perennou Nuridsany/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Summary of Main Topics 46


Critical Thinking Questions 47
Media Resources 47

vii

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viii contents

C h a p te r 3 Natural Selection Is Directional and Acts on


The Biological Basis of Life 49 Variation 100
Review of Genetics and Evolutionary Factors 102
Cells 50
How Do We Know? 104
The Structure of DNA 51
Summary of Main Topics 105
A Closer Look Rosalind Franklin: The Fourth (but
Critical Thinking Questions 105
Invisible) Member of the Double Helix Team 52
DNA Replication 52
C h a p te r 5
Protein Synthesis 53
What Is a Gene? 57 Macroevolution: Processes of Vertebrate
Regulatory Genes 58 and Mammalian Evolution 107
A Closer Look Noncoding DNA—Not Junk How We Connect: Discovering the Human Place in the
After All 59 Organic World 108
At a glance Coding and Noncoding DNA 61 Principles of Classification 108
Mutation: When Genes Change 61 Making Connections: Constructing Classifications and
Chromosomes 63 Interpreting Evolutionary Relationships 110
Karyotyping Chromosomes 66 Comparing Evolutionary Systematics with Cladistics 111
Cell Division 67 A Closer Look Evo-Devo: The Evolution
Mitosis 67 Revolution 112–113
Meiosis 68 An Example of Cladistic Analysis: The Evolutionary History
of Cars and Trucks 114
New Frontiers 71
Using Cladistics to Interpret Real Organisms 114
How Do We Know? 74
At a glance Comparing Two Approaches to
Summary of Main Topics 75 Interpretation of Evolutionary Relationships 117
Critical Thinking Questions 75 Definition of Species 117
Media Resources 75 Interpreting Species and Other Groups in the Fossil
Record 119
C h a p te r 4 Recognition of Fossil Species 120
Heredity and Evolution 77 Recognition of Fossil Genera 121

The Genetic Principles Discovered by Mendel 78 What Are Fossils and How Do They Form? 122
Segregation 78 Humans Are Vertebrates: Distant Connections 124
Dominance and Recessiveness 79 A Closer Look Deep Time 126–127
Mendelian Inheritance in Humans 83 Humans Are Also Mammals: Closer Connections 128
Misconceptions about Dominance and Recessiveness 83 The Emergence of Major Mammalian Groups 130
Patterns of Mendelian Inheritance 85 Processes of Macroevolution 130
Non-Mendelian Inheritance 89 Adaptive Radiation 130
Polygenic Inheritance 89 Generalized and Specialized Characteristics 131
Working Together: Microevolution and
At a glance Mendelian vs. Polygenic Traits 92 Macroevolution 132
Mitochondrial Inheritance 92
How Do We Know? 133
Pleiotropy 93
Summary of Main Topics 133
Genetic and Environmental Factors 93
Critical Thinking Questions 133
Modern Evolutionary Theory 94
The Modern Synthesis 94
A Current Definition of Evolution 94
Factors That Produce and Redistribute Variation 95
Mutation 95
Gene Flow 96
Genetic Drift and Founder Effect 97

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
contents ix

Primates
C h a p te r 7
Primate Behavior 175
The Evolution of Behavior 176
Some Factors That Influence Social Structure 178
A Closer Look Types of Nonhuman Primate Social
Groups 180
Why Be Social? 181
Primate Social Behavior 182

Richard Mittleman/Gon2Foto/Alamy
Dominance 182
At a glance Primate Social Strategies 183
Communication 184
Aggressive and Affiliative Behaviors within Groups 186
Aggression 186
Affiliative Behaviors 187
Reproduction and Reproductive Behaviors 188
Reproductive Strategies 189
Sexual Selection 189
Infanticide as a Reproductive Strategy? 190
C h a p te r 6
Mothers, Fathers, and Infants 192
Survey of the Living Primates 135
Nonhuman Primate Models for the Evolution of Human
Primate Characteristics 136 Behavior 194
Primate Adaptations 139 Brain and Body Size 195
Evolutionary Factors 139 Language 197
A Closer Look Primate Cranial Anatomy 140–141 The Evolution of Language 200
Geographical Distribution and Habitats 141 Primate Cultural Behavior 202
Diet and Teeth 144 At a glance Evolution of Human Language 203
Locomotion 145 Conflict between Groups 207
Primate Classification 146
Prosocial Behaviors: Affiliation, Altruism, and
A Survey of the Living Primates 148 Cooperation 210
Lemurs and Lorises 148 Altruism 210
Tarsiers 150 The Primate Continuum 212
Anthropoids: Monkeys, Apes, and Humans 151
How Do We Know? 213
Hominoids: Apes and Humans 158
Summary of Main Topics 214
Endangered Primates 166
Critical Thinking Questions 215
A Closer Look Aye-Ayes: Victims of Derived
Traits and Superstition 168
The Bushmeat Trade 169
How Do We Know? 172
Summary of Main Topics 172
Critical Thinking Questions 173

Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
x contents

C h a p te r 8 A Closer Look Primate Diversity in the Fayum 232


Overview of the Fossil Primates 217 True Anthropoids 233
Early Platyrrhines: New World Anthropoids 234
Background to Primate Evolution: Late Mesozoic 218
A Closer Look Island Hopping and Primate
Primate Origins 218 Evolution 236
A Closer Look Building Family Trees from Miocene Primates 237
Genes 220
Monkeying Around 237
Made to Order: Archaic Primates 221
At a glance Key Early Anthropoid Names 239
Eocene Euprimates 222 Aping Monkeys 240
Lemur Connections? The Adapoids 223
True Apes 244
At a glance Key Early Primate At a glance Key Fossil Ape Names 244
Names 226
Evolution of Extant Hominoids 250
Closer Connections to Living Primates: The Evolution
of True Lemurs and Lorises 226 How Do We Know? 252
Tarsier Connections? The Omomyoids 228 Summary of Main Topics 253
Evolution of True Tarsiers 229 Critical Thinking Questions 253
Eocene and Oligocene Early Anthropoids 229
Oligocene Primates 231

hominin evolution
C h a p te r 9
Paleoanthropology: Reconstructing Early
Hominin Behavior and Ecology 255
Understanding Our Direct Evolutionary Connections:
What’s a Hominin? 256
What’s in a Name? 256
Biocultural Evolution: The Human Capacity for Culture
257
Discovering Human Evolution: The Science of
Paleoanthropology 259
A Closer Look What Were Early Hominins Doing, and
How Do We Know? 260–261
Connecting the Dots through Time:
Paleoanthropological Dating Methods 264
A Closer Look Chronometric Dating Estimates 267
Experimental Archaeology 268
David Lordkipanidze

Stone Tool (Lithic) Technology 268


Analysis of Bone 270
Reconstruction of Early Hominin Environments and
Behavior 270
Why Did Hominins Become Bipedal? 271
How Do We Know? 275
Summary of Main Topics 275
Critical Thinking Questions 275
Media Resources 275

Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
contents xi

C h a p te r 10 At a glance Key Homo Erectus Discoveries


Hominin Origins in Africa 277 from Asia 324
Later Homo erectus from Europe 325
Walking the Walk: The Bipedal Adaptation 278
At a glance Key Homo erectus and Contemporaneous
The Mechanics of Walking on Two Legs 278
Discoveries from Europe 326
A Closer Look Major Features of Bipedal
Technological Trends During Homo erectus Times 327
Locomotion 280–281
Seeing the Connections: Interpretations of Homo
Digging for Connections: Early Hominins from
erectus 328
Africa 282
How Do We Know? 329
Pre-Australopiths (6.0+ to 4.4 mya) 283
Summary of Main Topics 329
At a glance Key Pre-Australopith Discoveries 288
Critical Thinking Questions 329
Australopiths (4.2 to 1.2 mya) 288
Australopithecus afarensis 289
C h a p te r 12
A Closer Look Cranial Capacity 293
A Contemporaneous and Very Different Kind of Premodern Humans 331
Hominin 293 When, Where, and What 332
Later More Derived Australopiths (3.0 to 1.2 mya) 294 The Pleistocene 332
New Connections: A Transitional Australopith? 297 Dispersal of Middle Pleistocene Hominins 333
Closer Connections: Early Homo (2.0 to 1.4 mya) 299 Middle Pleistocene Hominins: Terminology 333
Interpretations: What Does It All Mean? 301 Premodern Humans of the Middle Pleistocene 334
Seeing the Big Picture: Adaptive Patterns of Early Africa 334
African Hominins 304 Europe 335
How Do We Know? 305 At a glance Key Premodern Human
Summary of Main Topics 305 (H. heidelbergensis) Fossils from Africa 335
Critical Thinking Questions 305 At a glance Key Premodern Human
Media Resources 305 (H. heidelbergensis) Fossils from Europe 336
Asia 337
C h a p te r 11 At a glance Key Premodern Human
(H. heidelbergensis) Fossils from Asia 337
The First Dispersal of the Genus Homo: Homo
A Review of Middle Pleistocene Evolution 340
erectus and Contemporaries 307
Middle Pleistocene Culture 340
A New Kind of Hominin 310 Neandertals: Premodern Humans of the Late
The Morphology of Homo erectus 310 Pleistocene 341
Body Size 311 Western Europe 345
Brain Size 311 Central Europe 346
Cranial Shape 311 Western Asia 347
The First Homo erectus: Homo erectus from Africa 311 Central Asia 349
At a glance Key Homo erectus Discoveries from At a glance Key Neandertal Fossil Discoveries 350
Africa 315 Culture of Neandertals 350
Who Were the Earliest African Emigrants? 315 Technology 350
Homo erectus from Indonesia 317 Subsistence 351
A Closer Look In Search of Ancient Human Speech and Symbolic Behavior 351
Ancestors—and a Little Shade 318–319 A Closer Look The Evolution of Language 352–353
Homo erectus from China 319 Burials 354
Zhoukoudian Homo erectus 319 Molecular Connections: The Genetic Evidence 354
Cultural Remains from Zhoukoudian 320 A Closer Look Are They Human? 356–357
Other Chinese Sites 321 Seeing Close Human Connections: Understanding
A Closer Look Dragon Bone Hill: Cave Home or Premodern Humans 357
Hyena Den? 322–323 How Do We Know? 360
Asian and African Homo erectus: A Comparison 323 Summary of Main Topics 361
Critical Thinking Questions 361

Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xii contents

C h a p te r 13
The Origin and Dispersal of Modern
Humans 363
Approaches to Understanding Modern Human
Origins 364
The Regional Continuity Model: Multiregional
Evolution 364
Replacement Models 365
The Earliest Discoveries of Modern Humans 368
Africa 368
The Near East 371
At a glance Key Early Modern Homo sapiens
Discoveries from Africa and the Near East 373
Asia 373
Australia 375
Central Europe 375
ff
Western Europe 377 Wo
lpo
rd
ilfo
Something New and Different: The “Little People” 378 M

At a glance Key Early Modern Homo sapiens


Discoveries from Europe and Asia 378
Technology and Art in the Upper Paleolithic 380 Summary of Upper Paleolithic Culture 385
Europe 380 How Do We Know? 387
A Closer Look Maybe You Can Take It with You 384 Summary of Main Topics 387
Africa 384 Critical Thinking Questions 387

contemporary human evolution


C h a p te r 14 Population Genetics 402
Modern Human Biology: Patterns of Calculating Allele Frequencies 404
Variation 389 At a glance Population Genetics Research 405
A Closer Look Calculating Allele Frequencies: PTC
Historical Views of Human Variation 390
Tasting in a Hypothetical Population 406
The Concept of Race 391
Evolution in Action: Modern Human Populations 407
A Closer Look Racial Purity: A False and Dangerous Nonrandom Mating 407
Ideology 392–393
Human Biocultural Evolution 408
Contemporary Interpretations of Human Variation 396
How Do We Know? 411
Human Polymorphisms 397
Polymorphisms at the DNA Level 398
Summary of Main Topics 411
Critical Thinking Questions 411
At a glance Genetic Polymorphisms Used to Study
Human Variation 399 Media Resources 411
A Closer Look What DNA Tells Us about Ancient
Human Migrations 400–401

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
contents xiii

C h a p te r 15 C h a p te r 17
Modern Human Biology: Patterns The Human Disconnection 469
of Adaptation 413 Human Impacts on the Planet and Other Life-
The Adaptive Significance of Human Variation 413 Forms 470
Solar Radiation and Skin Color 415 Humans and the Impact of Culture 470
The Thermal Environment 419 Global Climate Change 472
A Closer Look Skin Cancer and UV Radiation Impact on Biodiversity 476
422–423 Acceleration of Evolutionary Processes 479
High Altitude 425 Looking for Solutions 480
Infectious Disease 427 Is There Any Good News? 481
The Continuing Impact of Infectious Disease 430 How Do We Know? 482
At a glance Zoonoses and Human Infectious Summary of Main Topics 483
Disease 431 Critical Thinking Questions 483
Human Skeletal Biology: What Bones Can Tell Us about
Ancient Diseases, Trauma, and Lifestyles 433 a ppe n d i x a
Evidence of Prehistoric Diseases 433 Atlas of Primate Skeletal Anatomy 484
Reconstruction of Prehistoric Behavioral Patterns 436
How Do We Know? 438
a ppe n d i x B
Summary of Main Topics 439
Sexing and Aging the Skeleton 492
Critical Thinking Questions 439
Media Resources 439
Glossary 497
C h a p te r 16 Bibliography 506
Index 532
Legacies of Human Evolutionary History and
the Human Life Course 441
Evolved Biology and Contemporary Lifestyles—Is There
a Mismatch? 442
Biocultural Evolution and the Life Course 442
From Embryo to Adult: Human Growth and
Development Today and in the Past 443
Nutritional Effects on Growth, Development, and Later-Life
Health 444
A Closer Look Diabetes 448
At a glance Diet, Lifestyle, and Consequences 449
Other Factors Affecting Growth and Development: Genes,
Environment, and Hormones 450
Life History Theory and the Human Life Course 453
iStockphoto.com/Joseph Luoman

Pregnancy, Birth, Infancy, and Childhood 454


Onset of Reproductive Functioning in Humans 458
Mothers and Grandmothers 459
Aging and Longevity 461
Effects of Technology on the Brain 464
Are We Still Evolving? 465
How Do We Know? 466
Summary of Main Topics 467
Critical Thinking Questions 467
Media Resources 467

Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xxxxof Features
List

A Closer Look
Forensic Anthropology in Practice 21 Dragon Bone Hill: Cave Home or Hyena Den? 322–323
Rosalind Franklin: The Fourth (but Invisible) Member of The Evolution of Language 352
the Double Helix Team 52
Are They Human? 356–357
Noncoding DNA—Not Junk After All 59
Maybe You Can Take It with You 384
Evo-Devo: The Evolution Revolution 112–113
Racial Purity: A False and Dangerous Ideology
Deep Time 126–127 392–393
Primate Cranial Anatomy 140 What DNA Tells Us about Ancient Human
Migrations 400–401
Aye-Ayes: Victims of Derived Traits and
Superstition 168 Calculating Allele Frequencies: PTC Tasting in a
Hypothetical Population 406
Types of Nonhuman Primate Social Groups 180
Skin Cancer and UV Radiation 422–423
Building Family Trees from Genes 220
Diabetes 448
Primate Diversity in the Fayum 232

Island Hopping and Primate


Evolution 236

What Were Early Hominins


Doing, and How Do We
Know? 260–261

Chronometric Dating
Estimates 267

Major Features of Bipedal


Locomotion 280–281

Cranial Capacity 293

In Search of Ancient
Human Ancestors—
and a Little Shade 318–319
Drawing by Robert Greisen

xiv

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
contents xv

At a Glance
The Mechanism of Natural Selection 45 Key Premodern Human (H. heidelbergensis) Fossils from
Africa 335
Coding and Noncoding DNA 61
Key Premodern Human (H. heidelbergensis) Fossils from
Mendelian vs. Polygenic Traits 92 Europe 336
Comparing Two Approaches to Interpretation Key Premodern Human (H. heidelbergensis) Fossils from
of Evolutionary Relationships 117 Asia 337
Primate Social Strategies 183 Key Neandertal Fossil Discoveries 350
Evolution of Human Language 203 Key Early Modern Homo Sapiens Discoveries from
Africa and the Near East 373
Key Early Primate Names 226
Key Early Modern Homo Sapiens Discoveries from
Key Early Anthropoid Names 239
Europe and Asia 378
Key Fossil Ape Names 244
Genetic Polymorphisms Used to Study Human
Key Pre-Australopith Discoveries 288 Variation 399

Key Homo erectus Discoveries from Africa 315 Population Genetics Research 405

Key Homo Erectus Discoveries from Asia 324 Zoonoses and Human Infectious Disease 431

Key Homo erectus and Contemporaneous Discoveries Diet, Lifestyle, and Consequences 449
from Europe 326

Barbara Walton/epa/Corbis

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Preface

This textbook is about where we come from and the sci- our specific human evolutionary history over the past 6
entific ways we can explore our beginnings. Our species, million years. This evolutionary journey begins with our
like all species on earth, evolved from earlier life-forms. small-brained, apelike ancestors in Africa and follows the
As a result of this long shared ancestry, we and all other development of their descendants through time and over
life are connected in a variety of ways: genetically, ana- an expanding geographical range into Asia and Europe,
tomically, physiologically, and even behaviorally. These and much later into Australia and the Americas.
connections are the main focus of the book and are high- In the last section of this book (Chapters 14–17), we
lighted in every chapter. cover the most recent part of our evolutionary jour-
Physical anthropology, also called “biological anthro- ney with a discussion of modern human biology, and we
pology,” is the study of human adaptation, variability and trace the ongoing evolution of our species. Major top-
evolution as well as of our living and fossil relatives from ics include the nature of human variation (including an
a biological perspective. Consequently, throughout this anthropological discussion of the concept of “race”), pat-
text, you will encounter topics that emphasize basic bio- terns of adaptation in recent human populations, and
logical concepts. This broad biological framework allows the developmental changes experienced by humans
us to connect our evolutionary history with that of other through the course of their lives. In our new concluding
life-forms in order to better understand the evolutionary chapter, “The Human Disconnection,” we discuss how
pressures that shaped our species. contemporary humans are severely altering the planet.
In the last few years scientific knowledge in many fields We compare these recent and sudden developments
has accumulated amazingly fast. What’s more, the bio- with our species’ long evolutionary past, when humans
logical sciences are certainly among the most rapidly were not so numerous or so dependent on nonrenewable
expanding areas of knowledge as information increases resources.
dramatically every year—indeed, every month. This edi-
tion has been updated to reflect these changes and to pro-
vide the most current information available.
But, in reality, our presentation is just a beginning for
What’s new in the 2013–2014
students new to this field of study. It is our goal to give edition
students a strong foundation relating to the key aspects
of evolutionary biology, which includes physical anthro- First, as previously mentioned, we have incorporated the
pology. Our aim is to provide fundamental informa- unifying concept of our “connection” to all life as the
tion which will allow you to better understand some of framework for presenting material throughout the text.
the dramatic scientific advances that almost surely will To further reinforce this central focus, each chapter now
directly affect you in coming years. opens with a pedagogical aid that clearly shows students
Because genetic mechanisms lie at the heart of under- the biological connections as they are organized within
standing evolution, in the early chapters (2 though 5) we and between chapters. Students are also now presented
address the basic aspects of life, cells, DNA, and the ways with the learning objectives they are expected to mas-
species change. In Chapters 6 and 7, we turn to an explo- ter after reading the chapter. In addition, at the end of
ration of our evolutionary cousins, the nonhuman pri- each chapter we have included a new section (How Do
mates, and show how they are closely connected to us We Know?) which briefly summarizes the basic scien-
genetically, physically and behaviorally. In Chapters 8 tific information that allows physical anthropologists and
through 13, we first discuss the evolutionary history of other biologists to draw accurate conclusions regarding
early primates and how they relate to living nonhuman our evolutionary history.
primates and our own earliest ancestors (Chapter 8). In As genetic technology continues to grow at an unprec-
Chapters 9–13, we turn to a more detailed exploration of edented pace, it is our task to present the most rele-

xvi

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Preface xvii

vant new discoveries in as simple a manner as possible. mation about Ardipithecus as well as a new find of foot
Chapter 3 includes a new discussion of the ENCODE remains that suggest many of these early hominins were
(Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) project that involves likely bipedal, but in a very different way from us or even
more than 400 geneticists from around the world. The some other contemporary hominin species.
goal of the project is to identify the functions of the “non- Our coverage of Homo erectus in Chapter 11 covers a
coding” DNA that comprises about 98 percent of the new find from Java as well as new and more precise dating
human genome. This discussion is important because of several key sites. Chapter 12 contains a new framework
some of this DNA is involved in regulatory functions and for understanding premodern humans, especially as they
changes in regulatory genes are critical to the evolution- occupied wider areas of the Old World with some popu-
ary process. We also increased our discussion of regu- lations becoming more isolated. In addition, we cover the
latory DNA and types of regulatory genes to emphasize amazing new DNA results obtained from a finger bone
their role in evolution. found in Siberia that have allowed researchers to deter-
A major change to this edition is the reduction of the mine not only that the individual was female but also her
number of nonhuman primate chapters from 3 to 2. This hair, skin, and eye color. Chapter 13 concludes the sec-
change was in response to reviewer comments that there tion on fossil hominins with a discussion of the origins
be somewhat less coverage. However, all major topics have of modern humans. Updates include further evidence
been retained, and there is added material on cooperation showing more precisely the evolutionary relationships
and empathy in nonhuman primates. We have also added of Homo floresiensis as well as new archaeological dis-
more information emphasizing the endangered status of coveries pushing back the dates of cave painting in west-
many nonhuman primates, both in the text, and in a new ern Europe and the development of sophisticated tools in
table (Table 6.1) that lists some of the 25 species consid- southern Africa.
ered most endangered by the IUCN (International Union In Chapters 14 through 16, our focus turns to modern
for the Conservation of Nature). The table includes esti- human biology. Our understanding of human variation
mated numbers and the major threats to these species. (discussed in Chapter 14) has been completely trans-
Chapter 8 (formerly Chapter 9) has been trimmed and formed by more complete DNA data, published in just the
extensively updated to include new discoveries as well last five years. We have updated and modified our main
as ongoing reinterpretations of fossil primates. These perspective in this chapter to reflect the remarkable new
changes include a reassessment of molecular dating for findings contributed by molecular biology. New data from
primate origins and the evolution of all groups, as well contemporary hunter-gatherer populations in Africa tell
as an updated and streamlined treatment of lower pri- us about human origins; other very recent research fur-
mates. This new approach relies less on nomenclature and ther clarifies how migrations outside of Africa led to the
instead emphasizes key trends in primate adaptation and peopling of Eurasia, Australia, and the New World.
relation to living groups. Three new “At a Glance” boxes In Chapter 15, there’s a new discussion of recent
call attention to significant transitional primate groups research demonstrating a population-wide genetic muta-
and act as handy study tools. A complete revision of ape tion in Tibetan highlanders that increases their ability
origins is supplemented by a detailed map showing the to adapt to living at high altitude. We have also included
dispersal patterns of early apes from Africa to Europe a major new section on “Human Skeletal Biology: What
and Eurasia and then back into Africa. The chapter, as a Bones Can Tell Us about Ancient Diseases and Lifestyles.”
whole, includes attractive new art emphasizing important The discussion of diseases found in bone is linked to the
primate traits and differences between groups in an easy- overall human adaptation theme of the chapter and is
to-understand visual format. heavily illustrated with new photos.
Remarkable new discoveries of fossil hominins and In Chapter 16, now titled “Legacies of Human
evidence of their behavior are discussed in Chapters 9 Evolutionary History: Effects on the Individual,” we focus
through 13. In Chapter 9 we provide further informa- on ways in which our biology, resulting from millions of
tion that sheds light on the controversial interpretation years of evolution, seems to be mismatched with the lives
of what some researchers have claimed are the earliest we lead today, leading in some cases to compromised
stone tools (ostensibly used for butchering) as well the health. For example, the biology of women may not be
latest chemical evidence used to reconstruct early hom- well suited to the highly frequent menstrual cycling that
inin diets. Chapter 10 covers the earliest hominins and results from the use of modern forms of birth control.
presents varied interpretations, including further infor- Some health disorders that we are dealing with today may

Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xviii Preface

stem from the dramatic differences between the diets of A Closer Look boxes are high-interest features found
our ancestors and the foods we eat today. throughout the book. They supplement chapter material
Finally, in the new concluding Chapter 17 (“The and include more in-depth discussion of selected stimu-
Human Disconnection”), we focus on another theme that lating topics.
runs through the book—why it is so crucial that we know
How Do We Know? chapter concluding sections sum-
and understand human evolutionary history, its impact
marize the basic scientific information used in drawing
on the world today, and how we have distanced ourselves
accurate conclusions about our evolutionary history.
from other living species with which we share so many
connections. We humans and the consequences of our Video Media Resources are now listed at the end of half
activities are probably the most important influences on of the chapters. Students are referred to the anthropology
evolution today, causing the extinction or near-extinction CourseMate at www.cengagebrain.com for access.
of thousands of other life-forms and threatening the very
A running glossary in the margins provides definitions
planet on which we live. Our disconnection from other
of terms immediately adjacent to the text where the term
species and from our own evolutionary past pose the
is first introduced. A full glossary is provided at the back
biggest challenges our species has ever faced. Only by
of the book.
understanding how we got to this point can we begin to
respond to the challenges that are in our future and the At a Glance boxes found throughout the book briefly
futures of our children and grandchildren. summarize complex or controversial material in a visually
We also expanded our treatment of climate change in simple fashion.
Chapter 17, including two new figures. The discussion Figures, including numerous photographs, line drawings,
provides current information from the National Snow and maps, most in full color, are carefully selected to clar-
and Ice Data Center showing that in September 2012, ify text materials and directly support the discussion in
the Arctic sea ice minimum was 49 percent less than the the text.
average figure for the years 1979 to 2000. We point out
that there has been a steady decline in Arctic sea ice since Critical Thinking Questions at the end of each chapter
the year 2000 and we briefly deal with the likely conse- reinforce key concepts and encourage students to think
quences of continued melting. critically about what they have read.
Full bibliographical citations throughout the book pro-
vide sources from which the materials are drawn. This
In-chapter Learning Aids type of documentation guides students to published, peer-
reviewed source materials and illustrates for students the
Connections graphic at the beginning of each chap- proper use of references. All cited sources are listed in the
ter shows the biological relationships emphasized in the comprehensive bibliography at the back of the book.
chapter in the context of topics in other chapters.
Student Learning Objectives are listed on the opening
page of each chapter.

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xxxx
Acknowledgments

Over the years, many friends and colleagues have James Westgate, Randy White, Milford Wolpoff, Xinzhi
assisted us with our books. For this edition we are espe- Wu, and João Zilhão.
cially grateful to the reviewers who so carefully com- Over the years, many students have pledged their
mented on the manuscript and made such helpful time and expertise to help improve Chapter 8. We would
suggestions: Jerusha Achterberg, Harvard University; especially like to thank K. Lindsay Eaves for her invalu-
Autumn Cahoon, Sierra College; Meredith Dorner, able help editing and researching this and earlier edi-
Saddleback College; Samantha Hens, California State tions of the manuscript and for facilitating coordination
University Sacramento; Melissa Remis, Purdue University of the text and art within the context of the Ciochon
West Lafayette; Kathleen Rizzo, University of Illinois at Lab. We also thank Kiran Patel for her unfailing atten-
Chicago; Patricia Vinyard, University of Akron; and Brita tion to detail, Toby Avalos for his research on fossil apes
Wynn, Sacramento City College. and Mike Hussey for help with photographs. For the cur-
We wish to thank the team at Cengage Learning: rent and past three editions, John Fleagle has made ana-
Aileen Berg, Lin Marshall Gaylord, Liz Rhoden, Michelle tomical diagrams available that were originally used in
Williams, Mallory Ortberg, John Chell, Caryl Gorska, his book, Primate Adaptation and Evolution (Academic
and Cheri Palmer. Moreover, for their unflagging exper- Press, 1999). Others who have assisted in forming the
tise and patience, we are grateful to our copy editor, Heidi concepts that we have put into written form include
Thaens, our production coordinator, Gary Hespenheide, David Begun, Eric Delson, John Fleagle, Terry Harrison,
and his skilled staff at Hespenheide Design: Patti Zeman, Pat Holroyd, Gregg Gunnell, Andrew Kitchen, Philip
Randy Miyake, and Bridget Neumayr. Rightmire, Nelson Ting, Kirstin Sterner, Iyad Zalmout,
To the many friends and colleagues who have gen- and Tim White.
erously provided photographs, we are greatly apprecia-
tive: Zeresenay Alemsegel, Nanette Barkey, Chris Beard, Robert Jurmain
Günter Bechly, David Begun, Brenda Benefit, Lee Berger, Lynn Kilgore
Jonathan Bloch, C. K. Brain, Günter Bräuer, Peter Brown, Wenda Trevathan
Ray Carson, Desmond Clark, Ron Clarke, Bill Clemens, Russell Ciochon
Raymond Dart, Henri de Lumley, Louis de Bonis, Didier December 2012
Descouens, Michael Donnenberg, John Fleagle, Diane
France, Robert Franciscus, David Frayer, Kathleen In memory of Phillip Tobias
Galvin, Philip Gingerich, Gregg Gunnell, David Haring,
Terry Harrison, John Hodgkiss, Almut Hoffman, Pat
Holroyd, Ellen Ingmanson, Fred Jacobs, Don Johanson,
Peter Jones, Mushtaq Kahn, John Kappelman, Richard
Kay, William Kimbel, Charles Knowles, Arlene Kruse,
Yutaku Kunimatsu, Julie Lesnik, Linda Levitch, Thomas J.
Loebel, David Lordkipanidze, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Giorgio
Manzi, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Monte McCrossin, National
Museums of Kenya, Gerald Newlands, Xijum Ni, John
Oates, Bonnie Pedersen, David Pilbeam, Gul Reyman,
Charlotte Roberts, Duane Rumbaugh, Sastrohamijoyo
Sartono, Peter Schmid, Rose Sevick, Elwyn Simons,
Meredith Small, Fred Smith, Thierry Smith, Kirstin
Jeffrey McKee

Sterner, Masanaru Takai, Heather Thew, Nelson Ting,


Phillip Tobias, Erik Trinkaus, William Turnbaugh, Alan
Walker, Carol Ward, Wally Wecker, Dietrich Wegner, 1925–2012

xix

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Supplements

Introduction to Physical Anthropology 2013–2014 comes and concepts. The site also provides an eBook version
with an outstanding supplements program to help of the text with highlighting and note-taking capabili-
instructors create an effective learning environment so ties. For instructors this text’s CourseMate also includes
students can more easily master the latest discoveries and Engagement Tracker, a first-of-its-kind tool that monitors
interpretations in the field of physical anthropology. student engagement in the course. Go to login.cengage.
com to access these resources.

WebTutor™ for Blackboard® and WebCT™


Supplements for the Instructor Jump-start your course with customizable, rich, text-
Online Instructor’s Manual with Test Bank for specific content within your Course Management System.
Introduction to Physical Anthropology 2013–2014 ▶ Jump-start—Simply load a WebTutor cartridge into
Edition your Course Management System.
This online resource includes a sample syllabus showing
how to integrate the Anthropology Resource Center with ▶ Customizable—Easily blend, add, edit, reorganize, or
the text, as well as chapter outlines, learning objectives, delete content.
key terms and concepts, lecture suggestions, and enrich- ▶ Content—Rich, text-specific content, media assets,
ment topics, as well as 40–60 test questions per chapter. quizzing, weblinks, discussion topics, interactive
games and exercises, and more.
PowerLecture™ with Exam View® (Windows/
Macintosh) for Introduction to Physical Anthropology The Wadsworth Anthropology Video Library
2013–2014 Edition Vol. 1, 2, and 3
This easy-to-use, one-stop digital library and presenta- The Wadsworth Anthropology Video Library drives
tion tool includes the following book-specific resources as home the relevance of course topics through short, pro-
well as direct links to many of Wadsworth’s highly valued vocative clips of current and historical events. Perfect for
electronic resources for anthropology: enriching lectures and engaging students in discussion,
▶ Ready-to-use Microsoft® PowerPoint® lecture slides many of the segments on this volume have been gathered
with photos and graphics from the text, make it easy from BBC Motion Gallery. Ask your Cengage Learning
for you to assemble, edit, publish, and present custom representative for a list of contents.
lectures for your course.
▶ ExamView® testing software, which provides all the
test items from the text’s test bank in electronic format, Supplements for the Student
enabling you to create customized tests of up to 250
items that can be delivered in print or online. Anthropology CourseMate
▶ The text’s Instructor’s Resource Manual and Test Bank This website for Introduction to Physical Anthropology
in electronic format. 2013–2014 Edition brings chapter topics to life with inter-
active learning, study, and exam preparation tools, includ-
Anthropology CourseMate ing quizzes, flash cards, videos, animations, and more!
This website for Introduction to Physical Anthropology The site also provides an eBook version of the text with
2013–2014 Edition brings chapter topics to life with inter- highlighting and note-taking capabilities. You can access
active learning, study, and exam preparation tools includ- this new learning tool and all other online resources
ing quizzes and flashcards for each chapter’s key terms through www.cengagebrain.com.

xx

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Supplements xxi

Telecourse Course Student Guide for Introduction to Basic Genetics in Anthropology CD-ROM: Principles
Physical Anthropology, 2013–2014 Edition and Applications, Version 2.0 by Jurmain/Kilgore/
Entitled “Physical Anthropology: The Evolving Human,” Trevathan
this distance-learning course provides online and print This student CD-ROM expands on basic biological con-
companion study guide options that include quizzing, cepts covered in the book, focusing on biological inher-
study aids, interactive exercises, video, and more. itance (such as genes and DNA sequencing) and its
applications to modern human populations. Interactive
Classic and Contemporary Readings in Physical animations and simulations bring these important con-
Anthropology cepts to life so that students can fully understand the
Edited by Mary K. Sandford and Eileen Jackson, this essential biological principles underlying human evolu-
accessible reader presents primary articles with intro- tion. Also available are quizzes and interactive flash cards
ductions and questions for discussion, helping students for further study.
to better understand the nature of scientific inquiry.
Students will read highly accessible classic and contem- Hominid Fossils CD-ROM: An Interactive Atlas by
porary articles on key topics, including the science of James Ahern
physical anthropology, evolution and heredity, primates, This CD-based interactive atlas includes over 75 key fos-
human evolution, and modern human variation. sils that are important for a clear understanding of human
evolution. The QuickTime® Virtual Reality (QTVR)
Lab Manual and Workbook for Physical “object” movie format for each fossil will enable students
Anthropology, Seventh Edition to have a near-authentic experience working with these
Written by Diane L. France, this edition of the workbook important finds by allowing them to rotate the fossil 360°.
and lab manual includes a new “Introduction to Science Unlike some VR media, QTVR objects are made using
and Critical Thinking” that precedes the first. Using actual photographs of the real objects and thus better
hands-on exercises, this richly illustrated full-color lab preserve details of color and texture. The fossils used are
manual balances the study of genetics, human osteology, high-quality research casts and real fossils.
anthropometry, and forensic anthropology with the study The organization of the atlas is nonlinear, with three
of primates and human evolution. In addition to provid- levels and multiple paths, enabling students to start with
ing hands-on lab assignments that apply the field’s per- a particular fossil and work their way “up” to see how the
spectives and techniques to real situations, this edition fossil fits into the map of human evolution in terms of
provides more explanatory information and sample exer- geography, time, and evolution. The CD-ROM offers stu-
cises throughout the text to help make the concepts of dents an inviting, authentic learning environment, one
physical anthropology easier to understand. Contact your that also contains a dynamic quizzing feature that will
Cengage sales representative to package with the text. allow students to test their knowledge of fossil and species
identification as well as provide more detailed informa-
Physical Anthropology Lab Manual by John tion about the fossil record.
Kappelman offers a focused sampling of laboratory exer-
cises that range across the breadth of the discipline, from
examples of heredity and evolution to primate behavior,
the fossil record of apes and early humans, and questions
about human biology that are linked to environmental
change. Exercises are designed with a succinct focus on
particular problems, and the labs follow a fixed format
with the introduction of a problem followed by the collec-
tion of data that are in turn used to test and evaluate the
hypothesis. Students who complete the labs will greatly
expand their knowledge of physical anthropology.

Copyright 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Connections

Evolutionary theory, par-


ticularly natural selection,
explains how life forms
have changed over time
Physical anthropology is a and how new species are
biological science that investigates produced.
how humans have evolved and
continue to do so.

hormones Substances (usually pro-


teins) that are produced by specialized cells
and that travel to other parts of the body,
Cristina G. Mittermeier

where they influence chemical reactions


and regulate various cellular functions.
amino acids Small molecules that are
the components of proteins.

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Another random document with
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and sent his overseer's boys to school as he had proposed. He said
he had received the letters, but gave some excuse or reason for not
having sent them as yet. He ordered them dressed and called into
the parlor for my inspection, that I might judge of their capacity for an
education. This I afterward learned caused a great commotion in the
"negro quarters," as they all thought I must be a "nigger-trader," and
this examination was in reference to the price I would pay for them.
As my duties were very pressing, I spent but two nights with my host,
and left him the next morning, with many thanks for his hospitality,
and with earnest expressions of regret on his part—never to see him
again.
A few months later I read a notice of his death in the papers,
accompanied with this statement:
"He has left a very large estate. By his will he has freed a part of his
slaves, and given his plantation and nearly all his property, including
his slaves, to those he has freed."
On my next visit to the county-seat, I hitched my horse to a post, and
before entering any other house went directly to the county clerk's
office and asked him if he would do me the favor to allow me to read
Mr. ——'s will. He at once produced the volume in which it was
recorded, and I was about to read it, when he said:
"I have the original will here, if you would prefer to see that."
I thanked him, and he handed it to me. It was in his own handwriting.
The spelling was very bad; as, for instance, I remember that "be"
was spelt "bea," and a good many other words were as badly
spelled. I have often been similarly astonished to find that men who
had a great deal of general intelligence, and were most interesting
talkers, were unable to spell the simplest sentence correctly. But the
clerk told me that he recorded the will exactly as it was written, and
that bad spelling did not vitiate any legal document. The will was
very brief, and I remember its principal provisions as follows:
"I give and bequeath to ——" (the mother of his children) "her liberty
from the hour of my death."
"I give and bequeath to her children" (here followed the names of her
five children) "their liberty from the hour of my death."
"I give to ——" (another woman) "her liberty from the hour of my
death."
"I give to my brother —— my fiddle."
"I give to my brother —— my kitchen furniture."
These brothers, when visiting him, had in joke asked him to make
these legacies, saying that was all they wanted of his property, and
he had in earnest told them he would give them what they asked. He
also gave a little niece, the daughter of a sister, a valuable gold
watch and chain, which he had promised her. He then gave a very
small legacy—I think only three hundred dollars—to the mother of
his children. Of her five children, only four were his. To these he
gave all the remainder of his property, including plantation, blooded
stock, slaves, money, etc., and directed that "they be sent to the
State of New York," and placed in the best schools and thoroughly
educated.[3]
Some ten days subsequent to the date of his will he had added a
codicil. In this he gave the name and date of birth of each of the four
children, in the order of their birth, and added, "These are my own
children," and something like an appeal that they might be permitted
to receive what he had left for them, and a hope that they might
enjoy all that wealth and education could procure for them.
But the saddest, strangest thing about the will was its exceeding
cruelty to the rest of his slaves. He directed that they all be sold for
the benefit of his children that he had freed; and, that they might
bring the greatest possible price, he ordered that they all be sent to
New Orleans and sold upon the block at auction—not in families, but
each one alone. His will directed his executor to advertise the "sale"
for three months in the principal cities of the Southwest and South,
so as to secure as large an attendance as possible of negro-traders
and planters wishing to buy slaves. This horrified even his pro-
slavery neighbors; for, had they been sold at home, many of them
would have been bought by those who owned husbands and wives
that were intermarried, or had "taken up" with them, and others
would have been bought in the region, so that fewer families would
have been separated. His own relatives, who would otherwise have
inherited this large estate, were very wealthy, and he knew that they
would spare no money in contesting his will. Hence he took
precautions such as I have never heard of before to prevent its being
broken. After he had got it written to suit himself—and I was told that
he said he was inspired to write it—he made a large dinner-party,
and among others invited the prominent physicians of the
neighborhood. After the usual pleasures and excitements of such a
party, as his guests were about leaving, he called the physicians to
his room, and said:
"Gentlemen, you all know me well, and I wish to know if, from all that
you have seen to-day, you think that I am competent to make my
will?"
They all answered him in the affirmative. He then said, "I wish to
know if this is your professional opinion, and that if called upon you
will make oath to it?"
They again gave an affirmative response. He then took his will from
his pocket, and said:
"Gentlemen, here is my will, written by myself, exactly as I want to
dispose of my property, and I wish to sign it in your presence, and
have you sign it as witnesses," which was done. Notwithstanding
these precautions, I heard of the will as before the court, of the
disagreement of the jury, and of the inability of the contestants to
either establish or break it. I suppose the emancipation proclamation
freed all the slaves before the case was settled by the courts.
Fortunately for his children, I was told that he became so alarmed
about them before he died, that he sent them to Ohio, and deposited
money there for their support. Otherwise they would have remained
slaves during the controversy in regard to the will. I have inquired
after these children at Oberlin, at Xenia, and in many of the towns
and cities of Ohio, but I have never been able to hear of them. I do
not know whether or not they ever received the rest of the large
estate which properly belonged to them.
I have written out these facts in all this detail, thinking that they
would answer in part the query whether "anything strange or
interesting did ever happen to a missionary," and also to reveal a
type of character and civilization with which I have very often been
brought in contact. I knew a free colored woman, and she was at the
time a very liberal contributor to the American Bible Society, who told
me that her own daughter had been educated at a fashionable
school by her white father, and was the wife of an officer in the
United States Army. She visited her daughter frequently near one of
the largest Northern cities, not as her mother, but as her old nurse or
"mammy." Her husband supposed that her own brunette mother had
died in her infancy, and that she had been "raised" by this "mammy,"
as such nurses were called, and hence their great affection for each
other.
Within a few miles of the home of my host, in an adjoining county, I
knew two colored girls whose mother was "as black as the hinges of
midnight," whose white father and master had left them and a legacy
for them in the care of a sister, to whom he had willed a large
number of slaves; and those two girls were trained to call their
mother "Margaret," and always to treat her as their "mammy." This
was in anticipation of their going North to a fashionable boarding-
school, and that their mother might gratify her maternal instincts by
accompanying them or visiting them without detriment to their social
standing or prospects. It was well known in the Southwest and South
for many years before the war that, notwithstanding the intense
prejudice on account of color so universal in the North, many of the
most expensive and fashionable boarding-schools received pupils
from Cuba, South America, and other tropical countries, even if their
skins were decidedly dark. As colored children were so rigidly
excluded from nearly all the best schools in the country, many
availed themselves of the exception thus made in behalf of those of
foreign birth by placing pupils in these schools whose tropical
lineage was only "asserted" by those who paid their bills. A few
Northern schools, as is well known, have always received colored
pupils. Bishop Payne, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church,
President of Wilberforce University, Xenia, Ohio, told me during the
war that before the war most of his students were those who had
been born slaves and were educated by their white fathers. The
stories that they have communicated to him of the sufferings they
have endured as they have thought of the life to which their children
were exposed if left in slavery—and as they have traveled with them
up the river, and been compelled to witness the indignities to which
they were exposed, as they were obliged to leave them on deck with
the rough crowds of passengers, liable at all times to the basest
insults, while they, as they valued their lives, dared not offer them a
father's protection—would alone make a volume of painfully thrilling
interest. Alas, that there were many thousands of such parents
whose natures were so blunted that they cared as little for their
offspring as the dumb beasts around them!
But I have said all and more than I had intended, though very far
from all that I could say upon this subject, and will betake myself to
more pleasant and congenial narrations of my labors in the Brush.
SUPPLEMENTARY FACTS.
In writing the foregoing chapter, I, of deliberate purpose, suppressed
the name and place of residence of the person whose remarkable
history I have given in so much detail. I wished to make the case
less personal than representative of a state of society now happily
passed away. I gave the facts as far as I had received them.
But, since reaching New York, and while reading the proof-sheets of
this volume, I have received additional facts from the highest
authority; and, as the case has become so celebrated, there is now
no reason why I should withhold any of them.
In the year 1859, one year after my election to the presidency of
Cumberland College, I one day made a very long horseback-ride in
order to reach the residence and spend the night with the Hon.
Francis M. Bristow, at Elkton, Todd County, Kentucky. Mr. Bristow
was at the time serving his second term as a member of Congress
from the third district. I was anxious to see him, from the fact that, in
accordance with instructions from the maker of the above-named
will, the executor had employed him and his son, a young lawyer
who had recently opened an office in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to
defend the will in a suit that had already been instituted in the Circuit
Court. I did not find the distinguished Congressman at home, but
was so fortunate as to meet and spend the night with his son.
I have called several times, since reaching the city, upon the "junior
counsel for the will," now the Hon. Benjamin H. Bristow, late
Secretary of the United States Treasury, Washington, D.C.
The maker of the will was Mr. Lycurgus B. Leavell, of Trenton, Todd
County, Kentucky. General Bristow informs me that the case was
tried before Hon. Thomas E. Dabney, at a term of the Circuit Court,
held at Elkton, Kentucky. The senior counsel for the will was Hon.
Francis M. Bristow; the junior counsel, Benjamin H. Bristow and H.G.
Petrie. The senior counsel for the contestants was the Hon.
Gustavus Henry, the "eagle orator" of Tennessee; the junior counsel
was James E. Bailey, late United States Senator for Tennessee. As
the case was so very important, the jury was selected from the most
prominent and honorable slaveholders in the county. Young Bristow
and Bailey opened the case. It was ably contested, and of most
extraordinary interest, but this is not the place to describe it. The jury
were eleven for and one against sustaining the will.
The war soon came on; the slaves, including several who had
recently been imported from Africa in the Wanderer, were freed by
the emancipation proclamation; the contest was withdrawn, and the
will established. The executor and his bondsmen were financially
ruined by the war, and only a small part of the estate, some forty
thousand dollars, reached the two surviving children to whom it was
devised. One of them, a young lady, has recently graduated with
distinguished honor, and the president and professors of the college
speak of her in terms of the very highest praise.

FOOTNOTES:
[2] This was, alas! too true—and true of a very large portion of
country that I have visited, where the great majority of the
preachers were uneducated.
[3] At the time of his death this property would have sold for
nearly or quite a quarter of a million dollars. The plantation alone
was sold under the hammer for ninety-five thousand dollars.
CHAPTER XIV.
OLD-TIME ILLITERATE PREACHERS IN THE BRUSH.
I have very often thought that the best work that could possibly be
prepared in favor of an educated ministry, would be to send
stenographers through those States where the census reveals the
greatest amount of ignorance, to make verbatim reports of sermons
that are actually preached, and publish them in a volume. Such a
book would be the most remarkable exhibition of ignorance ever
printed. Any one who has not traveled extensively will be astonished
to learn of the great number of altogether unlearned and ignorant
preachers who minister regularly to large congregations. I have
found that the deeper I got into the Brush, and the denser the
ignorance of the people, the greater was the number of preachers. I
have seen a surprisingly large number of people who knew very little
of the world, and a great deal less of books, to whom the honors of a
preacher were very attractive. I say "honors," for the emoluments
were so small that they had very little weight in the matter. I have
known them to urge their own claims, and "electioneer" with others
for years, and with the greatest pertinacity, in order to secure
licensure and ordination. Some of them could not read at all, and
many could read a verse or chapter only with the greatest difficulty,
and miscalled a large number of the longer words.
I penetrated a wild region among the hills, and my own observations
and the explorations that I caused to be made secured for it the
undoubted and undesirable preëminence of being the banner county
for ignorance and destitution of the Bible of all those that I visited. In
some manner that I do not now remember, on my first visit I was
directed to call upon one of the preachers of the county, who would
coöperate with me in making arrangements to have it canvassed and
supplied with the Bible. I found his house among the hills in the midst
of a vast, dense forest, surrounded by a small clearing or
"dead'ning," which was planted with corn and tobacco. He was rather
a short, thick-set man, with a powerful, muscular frame, and very
quick and active in his movements. On riding up and introducing
myself, he gave me a very cordial welcome to his home. It was a log-
house, rather larger and higher than was usual in the region; but it
was without chambers, and from floor to roof all was a single room.
His family, including wife, mother-in-law, and children, numbered an
even dozen. I spent the night with them, partaking of such food,
using such knife, fork, and dishes, and occupying, with others, such
a bed as I can not well describe, and I am sure my readers will not
be able to imagine. But I had by this time become so accustomed to
this kind of life in the Brush, that, if not pleasant and agreeable to
me, it was at least not strange. Not long before, in a similarly wild
region, in an adjoining county, I had slept in a much smaller cabin
with one room, where the man and his wife and mother-in-law and
four children, with another visitor besides myself, occupied three
beds. I shared one of them, upon a very narrow bedstead, with the
visitor, a neighbor who had called in for a social visit, as rough and
tough-looking a long-haired backwoodsman as one often meets,
dressed in butternut; and a "chunk of a boy," as his father called him,
about a dozen years old, who was placed in the bed between us,
with his head at our feet, and ex necessitate his feet not far from my
head. It is a kind of lodging that can be endured for a night, as I
know from positive experience. But I am not prepared to recommend
it.
When I arrived at this house, which was about dinner-time, I found
the children parching corn in a spider. The father was absent, and it
was necessary for me to remain until he returned. The mother made
no movements toward getting dinner, and said nothing about it,
which was a very unusual thing in my experience. At length the
children brought to me some of the corn, which was parched brown,
but not popped. I had by this time become satisfied that this was to
be their only dinner, and ate some of it with them. The father
returned in a few hours, and urged me to spend the night with them,
which in the circumstances I was glad to do; I could easily have gone
farther and fared worse. He soon took a bag and went through the
woods a mile or two to a neighbor's, and returned with some corn-
meal and a piece of bacon. The entirely empty larder being thus
replenished, a meal was soon cooked, and I sat down to what was to
me both a dinner and supper of corn-dodger and fried bacon. I called
upon some of the families in this neighborhood, and some months
after met one of the young ladies at the county-seat. In talking with
her in regard to this visit, I said:
"I was told that a number of the young women in your neighborhood
can not read."
"Oh!" said she, "there are but two there that can read."
And yet I was told that there were two or three resident preachers
there, but I had not time to call upon them. As the kind of food and
lodging that I have described were so common to me, the chief
"variety" that was the "spice" of my itinerant "life" was in the varied
characters that I met. And I rarely found this "spice" of intenser flavor
than in my own profession, among some of the preachers that I
found in the Brush. The one that I had sought out, and with whose
family I had spent the night, was one of the most remarkable of his
type with whom I became acquainted.
In the morning he mounted his horse and rode with me to visit and
confer with several of the leading citizens of the county in regard to
its exploration, and to spend the following day, which was the
Sabbath, in visiting two different and distant congregations, for the
purpose of presenting the matter to them, and "lifting collections" in
its aid. We rode several miles through the woods, only occasionally
passing a small cabin and clearing, and made our first call at a log-
house, where my clerical friend and guide was evidently a very great
favorite. Here we were urged to have our horses put in the stable,
and remain to dinner. We assented to this, and arrangements were
at once made for convening a Bible committee, at a house in the
neighborhood, that afternoon, and for religious services in the house
at which we had stopped to dine that night. The husband and
children at once started out to circulate these notices, and the wife
began her preparations for our dinner. She was apparently about
thirty years old, above the medium size, in a region of country where
the most of the women were very large, with a bright, pleasant face,
a cheerful, happy disposition, and very cordial and enthusiastic
manners. The log-house, though not of the best, was decidedly of
the better class; and our dinner, both in its quality and the manner in
which it was served, was a great improvement upon my breakfast,
and the supper the night before. It was a happy group. Conversation
was cheerful and animated, and geniality and joy glowed in all faces
and pervaded all hearts. Some time after dinner I started with my
clerical friend on foot through the woods to meet the Bible
committee. After a pleasant interchange of views, we appointed a
colporteur to canvass the county, and adjourned. At once we
received earnest invitations from different ones to go home with
them to supper. They were unwilling that the family upon which we
had first called should monopolize the pleasure and honor of
entertaining us. I left my clerical friend to settle this matter, and we
went a mile or two in another direction, where we were hospitably
entertained at supper. We then returned to the house where we had
dined, and it was soon filled with people, who had assembled upon
this brief notice. It was arranged that instead of a sermon a chapter
should be read, and each of us should occupy a portion of the time
in brief addresses. My friend read the chapter. I was astonished. I
had never heard the like at any public religious service. Many of the
words were mispronounced and entirely miscalled, and it would have
been difficult to understand what was meant, from his reading of the
passage. But both his reading and remarks were very well received,
and I saw no one who seemed to notice that there was anything out
of the way with either. I followed him with some remarks, and the
meeting seemed to be greatly enjoyed by all. Then began a very
spirited contest as to where we should go and spend the night.
There were many claimants for the honor.
"You must go home with me," said one.
"No," said another, "you had Brother A—— when he was here, and
you can't have these preachers. They must go with me."
"No," said still another, "you've had the preachers a heap of times
since I have. I hain't had nary one in a long time, and they must go
hum and stay with me."
For myself, wearied as I was with the varied labors of the day, I
should have greatly preferred remaining with the family where I was.
But I left the matter for them to decide, and we soon started out, and
taking a footpath through the underbrush, among the large forest-
trees, we went in the darkness a mile or two, to an entirely new
cabin. The logs had been peeled, and it looked very clean and nice.
A large fire was soon blazing upon a hearth made of fresh earth, and
roaring up a chimney made of split sticks covered with mud. It was
the home of a young couple, who had but recently married and
commenced housekeeping. There were two beds in the room. We
sat before the bright fire and talked for some time, until I told them
how weary I was, and they pointed out the bed which the preacher
and I were to occupy. The room was new and bright, and the sense
of cleanliness was most grateful to my feelings. I thought that in that
new house I should enjoy that rare luxury in the cabins in the Brush,
a nice, untenanted bed and a pleasant sleep. As I turned down the
blankets and moved my pillow to adjust it, I saw what I at first
thought was a drop of molasses dried on the sheet. I impulsively
moved my finger toward the spot to ascertain what it was, and it ran!
My pleasant dreams were all banished, and I plunged in, in
desperation, to share my bed with such company as for months and
years I had found in so many of the log-houses in the Brush. The
mild climate and the habits of the people conspired to make the beds
quite too populous and repulsive to be described.
Though my meals were often such that only necessity compelled me
to partake of them, yet the want of beds fit to be occupied by a
human being, after my long, hard days' rides, was by far the greatest
of all my privations and trials in the Brush. If I were to describe all
that I have seen and endured in this matter, it would not only be very
unpleasant and repulsive reading, but would surpass belief with all
those not personally familiar with the country and the people
described.
After breakfast the next morning we walked back to the house where
we had first called and left our horses, and sat with the family until it
was time to leave for church. As we sat together, my clerical friend,
who was of an inquiring mind, turned to me and said, "How do you
preach the first seven verses of the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes?"
I must here say that, in common with the great majority of his class,
he used the word "preach" in the sense of "explain." My friend the
Rev. Dr. S.H. Tyng, of New York, once told me that while preaching
in a Southern State, in the early part of his ministry, a preacher of
this class made him a visit. Seeing a pile of manuscripts upon his
study-table, he inquired what they were, and was told that they were
sermons.
"Why!" said he, in astonishment, "how many texts can you preach?"
These men were accustomed to "study" a passage in their manner,
and form some opinions in regard to its meaning, and then they
"preached" (explained) it on all occasions, with the most positive
assurance in regard to the correctness of their views. Hence, when
my friend asked me how I "preached" the passage alluded to, he
wished from me a full exposition. Taking a Bible from the mantel-
piece above the large fireplace, he turned to the chapter and read
the first verse, as he had read the night before, and said to me, "How
do you preach that?"
I gave my views of the passage in as few words as possible, and
then he proceeded at much greater length to tell how he "preached"
it.
As he concluded, the good sister, who had listened with face all
aglow with delight, exclaimed: "Ah! Brother P—— has studied that!"
In this manner he read, and we gave our views of each of the seven
verses.
His "preach" was in each case much longer than mine, and
invariably drew from the attentively listening sister the fervent
expression of rapt admiration and delight: "Ah! Brother P—— has
studied that!"
I am sorry that I can not tell my readers how he "preached" the entire
passage; but it was so utterly strange, and so entirely unlike anything
I had ever conceived of as possible to be said in explanation of this
or any other passage of Scripture, that I confess I was obliged to
exert myself to the utmost to maintain the gravity becoming my
position. If I had smiled, I should have given great offense to the
delighted sister, for no enthusiastic lady that I ever saw was more
proud of her pastor than she was of her preacher at that moment. So
earnest were my efforts to maintain my dignity, and not dishonor my
exalted position as an agent of the American Bible Society, that I
could not afterward recall his explanations but of two of the
passages. I will give but one of them: "'Or ever the silver cord be
loosed.' The doctors say that there is a cord that runs from the nape
of the neck, down the backbone, through the small of the back, into
the heart, right thar; and that when a man dies that cord always
snaps: that is the silver cord loosed."(!)
"Ah!" said the sister, her face radiant with delight, "Brother P—— has
studied that!"
I will only add that this is a fair illustration of his explanations of all
the other verses. If I might moralize upon this subject, I would repeat
the opening sentence of this chapter: "I have very often thought that
the best work that could possibly be prepared in favor of an
educated ministry, would be to send stenographers throughout the
Brush, to make verbatim reports of sermons that are actually
preached, and publish them in a volume." Soon after this exposition,
we mounted our horses and attended services at two different
appointments, Brother P—— preaching at one of them. About a year
after this I saw him regularly ordained to the full work of a minister of
the gospel.
There are books containing "plans" or "skeletons" of sermons, and
some clergymen are said to make free use of them in the
preparation of their sermons. I will give one which may aid some
limping preacher who needs such helps, and hereby offer it as a
contribution to the next volume of skeleton sermons that may be
compiled. The sermon was preached to quite a large congregation in
a grove, where I was present and occupied the "stand" with the
preacher. His text was Job xxvi, 14: "Lo, these are parts of his ways:
but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power
who can understand?" After an introduction that was quite as
appropriate to any other verse in the Bible as to this, the preacher
said:
"In further discoursing upon this passage, I shall, in the first place,
review the chapter, and show what is meant by the word 'these.' I
shall, in the second place, mention some of the works of God. I shall,
in the third place, conclude, according to circumstances, light and
liberty being given."
I must say to my readers, in explanation of his "third place," that the
"plan" and effort in sermons, addresses to juries, political and all
other speeches in the Southwest, was to wind up with as grand and
stirring a conclusion as possible. Here the congregation was to be
deeply moved, the jury to be melted, and the crowd to demonstrate
by their applause how they would vote. These perorations often
reminded me of the manner in which the stage-coaches of the olden
time used to drive into my native village, in the days of my boyhood;
when the driver cracked his long whip, blew stirring blasts from his
tin horn, and his four horses rushed up to the village tavern on the
jump, his noisy demonstrations startling all the villagers. It was so
with these sermons and speeches. However lame and limping in
their progress, there was always, if possible, a rousing conclusion, a
demonstrative drive into town. Hence, my clerical friend did not wish
to embarrass himself by announcing definitely what he would say in
his conclusion; but left himself free to soar and roar "according to
circumstances, light and liberty being given." He went through with
his sermon according to his "plan," but his conclusion did not arouse
and move his audience like many that I have heard.
I have already spoken of the genial friend to whom I sold my faithful
horse, and of the accounts that he gave me of the preachers he had
known and the preaching he had heard. He told me that upon one
occasion he heard the funeral sermon of a child preached from the
text, "Write, Blessed are the dead," etc. The preacher was so
ignorant in regard to spelling that he supposed the "write" in the text
was "right," not wrong, and he endeavored to comfort the parents by
showing them that it was "right" that people should suffer affliction,
"right" that their children should sicken and die, and that all the
Lord's dealings with his people were "right."
On another occasion he attended a meeting where a number of
ministers were present, and the opening sermon was preached by
an old acquaintance and friend, who owned a good plantation, a
number of slaves, and for many years preached regularly on
alternate Sabbaths to two quite large congregations. There are many
thousands of people who rarely, if ever, hear a sermon from an
educated minister. These people have strong and well-defined
notions as to the kind of preaching that suits them. If the preacher
ranges extensively over the Bible, and quotes a great deal of
Scripture without any regard to its appropriateness or connection
with the text, they say of him approvingly: "He's a Scripter preacher.
He's not a larnt man, but he's a real Scripter preacher." Hence, many
of these preachers range over both the Old and New Testaments in
every sermon, and quote as much as they can, with as little
connection as a page in the dictionary.
The preacher on this occasion took for his text the words: "The name
of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is
safe." He described these towers as places of safety, ranged through
the Old Testament, and, coming down to the New, said: "The world
was then in an awful condition; there were no towers, no places of
safety! The whole generation was without a tower! You may say:
'How do you know this is so? You haven't much learning. You haven't
read many histories.' Ah! but I've got Scripter for it. I don't want any
histories when I've got the Bible for it. Here it is. Peter, preaching to
them on the day of Pentecost, said, 'Save yourselves from this
untowered generation.'"
After the meeting "broke," and they mounted their horses to ride to
dinner, my old friend said to the preacher:
"Why, Brother Mansfield, you made a great mistake in your sermon
this morning."
"Mistake!" said he, "what was it, Brother Roach?"
"Why, that about the 'untowered generation.' It is not untowered,"
said he; "it is untoward. It is, 'Save yourselves from this untoward
generation.'"
The preacher dropped his head, thought a moment, and then said:
"There can't be any mistake about that. Why, I've preached it that
way more than a dozen times."
When they reached the house where they were to dine, they found a
dictionary, and that was appealed to to settle the matter. Alas, that
the verdict spoiled a favorite sermon!
I was about as much astonished at the facts I heard in regard to the
salaries that were paid to these preachers, with all the formalities of
a regular contract, as at anything I ever learned in regard to their
preaching. I once occupied the pulpit with one of them, in a church
which was a large, barn-like brick structure, having four doors, one
near each corner, for the ingress and egress of the congregation.
This preacher was a great favorite in the region, with both the white
and colored people, and was familiarly known as "Jimmy B——." He
had stentorian lungs, was wonderfully voluble, and his sing-song
"holy tone" was most delightful to his audience. It was a warm
summer day, and the house was packed with whites dressed in
butternut jeans, and groups of colored people were standing outside
near each open window. It was a monthly service, and all seemed to
enjoy it greatly.
In the afternoon, after the custom of the Southwest, he preached to
the "servants," and I again occupied a seat in the pulpit with him. His
colored audience was moved by his stentorian voice and avalanche
of words to the extremest excitement and joy. At the conclusion of
his sermon they could not separate without singing some of their
"breaking" songs, and all marching by the pulpit and shaking hands
with the preachers. This hand-shaking was one of the most marked
features of their religious services, and these "breaking" or parting
exercises have afforded me the opportunity of hearing the grandest,
wildest, most beautiful and genuine African melodies to which I have
ever listened. As I was a "visiting brother," I was entitled to as warm
and cordial a greeting as the one who had preached. The leader
commenced a hymn familiar to the large audience, and they began
to sing and move in procession by the low pulpit where we were
standing, shaking hands with each of us as they passed. As the long
procession filed by, their dark faces shining with delight, the music
arose louder, wilder, and more exciting, until they seemed entirely
unconscious of the strength of the grip they gave my poor, suffering
hand. I was unwilling to mar their joy by withdrawing it altogether,
and, to save it from being utterly crushed, I resorted to the expedient
of suddenly clutching the end of the fingers of each hand that was
extended to me by the excited and happy singers, and so they were
unable to give me their vise-like squeeze, and I escaped
comparatively unharmed. The hand-shaking ended, the meeting
"broke," and they all dispersed, masters and slaves highly delighted
with the preacher and all the services of the day.
My host upon this occasion was the hotel-keeper of the place. In
talking with him about the great popularity of this preacher, he said
that, if equally extended notice should be given that he would preach
there on one Sabbath, and the Rev. Dr. Young, the learned and
eloquent President of the college at Danville, would preach there on
another, Jimmy B—— would call together the largest audience. At
another place, when quite a number of persons were present,
reference was made to the salary that was received by this popular
favorite. I made particular inquiries upon this subject, and learned
that the church negotiated with him to preach for them one Sabbath
each month during the year, for one dollar a Sabbath. Hence, they
paid him twelve dollars a year for one fourth of his time. Some of
them thought that as neither he nor any other good hand could at
that time get more than fifty cents a day for mauling rails, hoeing
corn, or any other labor, this salary was rather excessive; but in
consideration of the fact that he had to leave home on Saturday
evening in order to meet his appointment, and furnish his own riding-
nag, they magnanimously voted him the full dollar a Sunday, "for one
fourth of his time." I was informed that he preached to other
churches, but did not learn that any of them paid him a larger salary.
In another place that I visited, the Rev. James L—— had preached
to the same church twenty-one years, and he said the largest sum
he had ever received for preaching in any one year was twenty
dollars, and he had often received less than ten dollars! Very many
of these churches were entirely satisfied if they had regular
preaching once a month. In riding through the Brush, I used often to
gratify my curiosity by making inquiries in regard to the salaries
received by those who preached in the churches that I passed.
Once, in riding late in the evening, I overtook—or, in the vernacular
of the region, "met up with"—a boy some twelve or fourteen years
old, who was riding a mule. After exchanging "howd'ys," I found him
very loquacious, and disposed to enlighten me in regard to
everything in the neighborhood. I asked him what salary they paid
their preacher. "Oh!" said he, "they pay the one they have got now
right smart. They give him a dollar and a half a Sunday."
We passed a church where the members washed one another's feet
at each communion. I made some inquiries in regard to the
ceremony, and he told me the brethren washed only the brethren's
feet, and the sisters the sisters' feet. I told him that I supposed they
only sprinkled water upon their feet—they did not wash much. "Oh!"
said he, "sometimes they gets happy, and washes right hard." I had
spent a Sabbath at a meeting in the woods with the poet of this
denomination, and purchased of him a hymn-book that he had been
duly authorized to compile and publish for them, containing some
hymns that he had written to be sung at these feet-washing services.
He was one of the most illiterate men I ever met. I regret to say that I
have lost the book, and can not transcribe some of these original
hymns for the benefit of my readers. I had a good deal of
conversation with this "poet," and he told me he was at the time
engaged in teaching school. I afterward met the school
commissioner, a lawyer, at the county-seat, who had examined him
and given him his license to teach, and rallied him jocosely for giving
a man that was so ignorant, authority to teach a public school.
"Oh!" said he, "I only certified that he was competent to teach in that
neighborhood."
For years I was accustomed to avail myself of every opportunity of
hearing these illiterate preachers, both white and colored, consistent
with my other duties. It was a new and interesting study to me.
Sometimes I got rare kernels of wheat in the midst of a great deal of
chaff, rich nuggets of gold among a great deal of sand and rubbish;
and I always felt more than repaid for the time thus expended. It was
interesting to observe the workings of minds, often of superior
natural powers, in their attempts to elucidate the Scriptures. It was
especially strange to hear them render any Scripture narrative,
entirely in their own Brush vernacular. I have often regretted that I
did not take down many of these narratives of Bible facts at the time
I heard them. But the unusual sight of a person thus employed in a
congregation would attract more attention than the preacher himself,
and I was therefore unwilling to do it. But I can give my readers a
very correct idea of these narratives.
In riding through a very rough, wild region, I fell in company with a
gentleman on horseback, and rode some distance with him. He told
me that a preacher, who was so illiterate that it was with the greatest
difficulty that he could study out a chapter in the Bible, sometimes
preached in a log school-house in his neighborhood, and he had
heard him the Sabbath before. It was in a region where a rough-and-
tumble fight would attract more attention than anything else. The
preacher had a theme of the deepest interest to himself and the
most of his congregation. This gentleman gave me quite a full outline
of the discourse, and I write it out from his description, and fill it up
as my extended acquaintance with these people, and knowledge of
their vernacular, derived from years of constant mingling with them,
enable me to do.
"Last week, my breethrin, as I was a-readin' my Bible, I found a story
of a big fight (1 Samuel, xvii). It was powerful interestin', and I
studied it 'most all the week. There was two armies campin' on two
mountains right fornenst each other; and a holler and, I reckon,
some good bottom-land and a medder-lot lying between 'em. In one
of the armies there was a big feller—a whoppin', great, big feller—
and every day he went down into the medder-lot and looked up the
hill to t'other camp, and jest dared 'em! He told 'em to pick their best
man and send him down, and he'd fight him. And he jest strutted
around there in his soger-close, and waited for 'em to send on their
man. And such soger-close I never heerd tell on afore. He had a
brass cap and brass trousers, and a coat made like mail-bags where
they are all ironed and riveted together. But the fellers in t'other
camp just clean flunked. They darn't fight the big feller, nary one of
'em. They jest all sneaked away, and the big feller he went back to

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