Recent philological research corrected by archæological discovery has established the fact that the members of the Aryan race up to the time of the Homeric legends were nomad herdsmen who had domesticated the dog and wandered over the plains of Europe in wagons drawn by oxen. They knew how to fashion canoes out of the trunks of trees but with the exception of native copper they were ignorant of metals. It is extremely doubtful if they practised any agriculture. They collected and pounded in stone mortars the seed of some wild cereal, either spelt or barley. They recognized the association of marriage but they were polygamous. They practised human sacrifice and they retained after birth only those children that they could conveniently rear, or those male children who were regarded as necessary for the increase of the fighting forces of the tribe. Upon the Dasyas, the dark-skinned, flat-nosed people who originally inhabited India, the Aryans triumphantly descended, eventually driving the Dasyas out of their lands. From the Rig Vedas we learn the nature of the Aryan conqueror. He was a warrior, but he was a prayerful warrior who prayed for health, a defensive armour, and a comfortable dwelling. There were frequent sacrifices to the gods and at all of the sacrifices interesting philosophical and sphagiological discussions took place. In his prayers he prayed for racy and healthy children, but he always prayed for boys and never for girls. His children were part of his scheme of wealth; they were his body and soul.[166] [Illustration: FLORIDA WOMEN SACRIFICING THEIR FIRST-BORN CHILDREN (FROM AN OLD PRINT)] The two great epics, the _Mahabharata_ and the _Ramayana_, are the two sources of information on this period. Written down when the art of writing became known about the year 800 B. C., these books mirror the life of the people for centuries further back. The attitude toward children can only be gleaned from such statements as that Bhishma, one of the heroes of the _Mahabharata_, was the eighth son of his father, and the first to be allowed to live. The deaths of the previous seven are explained on the ground that his father Shantanu, the King of Hastinapur, was married to Ganga, the river goddess, who had consented to be the wife of the King on condition that, no matter what he might see her do, he would ask no questions. When she, however, having drowned the seven, attempted to drown the eighth son, he was obliged to cry “enough,” thereby saving the son but losing his wife, who departed declaring that the previous seven sons had been seven of the deities, condemned to a fresh life for some venial sin, and had been released by her from their punishment by an early death. With such a story recited as semi-religious doctrine it can easily be seen why there grew up early the feeling that there was no crime in taking the lives of those children who were regarded as unnecessary.