The Jews are endowed with the most varied qualities, as shown by the whole course of their checkered history. Originally pure nomads, the Israelites became excellent husbandmen after the settlement in Canaan, and since then they have given proof of the highest capacity for poetry, letters, erudition of all kinds, philosophy, finance, music, and diplomacy. The reputation of the medieval Arabs as restorers of learning is largely due to their wise tolerance of the enlightened Jewish communities in their midst.
This remarkable Cliff Palace of Chapin’s Mesa, Colorado, is believed to have been constructed either by the Pueblo Indians or their immediate predecessors. Originally it was a city in itself, being prepared for siege, drought, and famine, besides the necessities of every-day life.
In late years the persecutions, especially in Russia and Roumania, have caused a fresh exodus, and flourishing agricultural settlements have been founded in Argentina and Palestine.
Jewish immigrants usually, however, settle in the cities. New York City, for example, has the largest Jewish population of any city in the world, now estimated by some at about 1,000,000, or nearly one-fourth of the total population. About 50,000 more are added annually. Among large cities, Warsaw and Odessa have a still larger ratio of Jewish population, namely, one-third. In London, on the contrary, only one-fiftieth of the population is Hebrew. The Jewish population of the entire United States is less than 2,000,000.
Hindus (hin´duz), or Hindoos.—The native race in India descended from the Aryan conquerors. Their purest representatives belong to the two great historic castes of Brahmans and Rajputs. Many of the non-Aryan inhabitants of India have been largely Hinduized. More loosely the name includes also the non-Aryan inhabitants of India.
It is not generally realized how great a number of races and tribes there are in India, many of them extremely low in civilization and approaching the Negro in physical characteristics. Such are some of the Dravidas and Mundas, who occupy all of southern India. In greatest contrast with these are the Aryan Hindus of the north, more closely related in language, if not in physical appearance, to the northern Europeans than are the Turks, Magyars, and various peoples of eastern Russia.
Hindi and Hindustani are the most widely spread modern languages or group of dialects of India. Hindustani is generally understood to be the polite speech of all India, and especially of Hindustan. Hindi, in the wider sense of the term, is spoken by 97,000,000 of people, mainly of northern India. The darker non-Aryans and Mongolians alone of India nearly equal the population of the United States. There are one hundred and forty-seven peoples or tribes speaking different languages.
Indians (in´di-anz).—The aboriginal inhabitants of North America were so named on the supposition that the lands discovered by the early navigators were parts of India. This erroneous name has continued in use ever since, notwithstanding attempts at its correction. The Indians were not nomadic until after the arrival of Europeans, who drove many tribes from their established seats to those occupied by other tribes. From the same Europeans they procured the horse and firearms, both of which were necessary to a nomadic life under the existing conditions.