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36 chapters
Preface.
Preface.
This book about American Indians is intended as a reading book for boys and girls in school. The native inhabitants of America are rapidly dying off or changing. Certainly some knowledge of them, their old location, and their old life ought to be interesting to American children. Naturally the author has taken material from many sources. He has himself known some thirty different Indian tribes; still he could not possibly secure all the matter herein presented by personal observation. In a readi
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I. Some General Facts About Indians.
I. Some General Facts About Indians.
The Indians of New England, the lower Hudson region, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia, formed many different tribes, but they all spoke languages of one family. These tribes are called Algonkins. Indians speaking languages belonging to one stock are generally related in blood. Besides the area already named, Algonkin tribes occupied New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, a part of Canada, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and other districts farther west. The Blackfeet, who were Algonkins, lived clo
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II. Houses.
II. Houses.
The eastern Algonkins built houses like those of the Iroquois, but usually much smaller. They, too, were made of a light framework of poles over which were hung sheets of rush matting which could be easily removed and rolled up, for future use in case of removal. There are pictures in old books of some Algonkin villages. These villages were often inclosed by a line of palisades to keep off enemies. Sometimes the gardens and cornfields were inside this palisading, sometimes outside. The houses in
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III. Dress.
III. Dress.
A jacket or shirt made of buckskin and reaching to the knees was generally worn. It was variously decorated. Buckskin strip fringes bordered it; pictures in black or red or other colors were painted upon it; handsome patterns were worked into it with beads or porcupine quills, brightly dyed; tufts of hair or true scalps might be attached to it. Over all these came the blanket or robe. Nowadays these are got from the whites, and are simple flannel blankets; but in the old times they were made of
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IV. The Baby And Child.
IV. The Baby And Child.
When his mother is busy at work, the little one is unwrapped so as to set his arms and hands free, and is then laid upon the blankets and cloths, and left to squirm and amuse himself as best he can. The mother hangs all sorts of beads and bright and jingling things to the arch over the baby's head. When he lies strapped down, the mother sets all these things to jingling, and the baby lies and blinks at them in great wonder. When his little hands are free to move, the baby himself tries to strike
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A Story Of Glooskap.
A Story Of Glooskap.
The Algonkin tribes of Nova Scotia, Canada, and New England had a great many stories about a great hero named Glooskap. They believed he was a great magician and could do wonders. In stories about him it is common to have him strive with other magicians to see which one can do the greatest wonders and overpower the other. Glooskap always comes out ahead in these strange contests. Usually Glooskap is good to men, but only when they are true and honest. He used to give people who visited him their
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Scar-Face: A Blackfoot Story.
Scar-Face: A Blackfoot Story.
There was a man who had a beautiful daughter. Each of the brave and handsome and rich young men had asked her to marry him, but she had always said No, that she did not want a husband. When at last her father and mother asked her why she would not marry some one, she told them the sun had told her he loved her and that she should marry no one without his consent. Now there was a poor young man in the village, whose name was Scar-face. He was a good-looking young man except for a dreadful scar ac
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VI. War.
VI. War.
In such approaches, it was necessary to use every help in concealing oneself. Of the Apaches it is said: “He can conceal his swart body amidst the green grass, behind brown shrubs or gray rocks, with so much address and judgment that any one but the experienced would pass him by without detection at the distance of three or four yards. Sometimes they will envelop themselves in a gray blanket, and by an artistic sprinkling of earth will so resemble a granite bowlder as to be passed within near ra
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VII. Hunting And Fishing.
VII. Hunting And Fishing.
In journeying they went in single file. Scouts constantly kept a lookout for herds. When a herd was sighted, it was approached with the greatest care: everything was done according to fixed rules and under appointed leaders. When ready for the attack, the hunters drawn up in a single row approached as near as possible to the herd and waited for the signal to attack. When it was given, the whole company charged into the herd, and each did his best to kill all he could. All were on horseback, and
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VIII. The Camp-Fire.
VIII. The Camp-Fire.
Boys know pretty well how Indians cooked their food. Most of us have roasted potatoes in the hot ashes, and broiled meat or frogs' legs over the open fire. The Indians did much the same. Pieces of meat would be spitted on sharp sticks, and set so as to hang over the fire. Clams, mussels, and other things, were baked among the hot coals or ashes. One time “Old Elsie,” a Lipan woman, took a land turtle, which I brought her alive, and thrust it head first into the fire. This not only killed the tur
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IX. Sign Language On The Plains.
IX. Sign Language On The Plains.
We will look at a few examples of Indian signs. Try and make them from the description, and see whether you think they are natural or not. The signs for animal names usually describe or picture some peculiarity of the animal. Badger .—The right hand is held with the back up, fingers extended, touching and pointing to the front, in front and to the right of the body. This shows the height of the animal. Then the first and second fingers are slightly separated (the rest of the hand being closed) a
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X. Picture Writing.
X. Picture Writing.
Each year its maker selected some important event, by which the year was to be remembered, and made a picture for it. The first five or six pictures run in a nearly straight line to the left; the line of pictures then coils around and around this, the last picture always being added to the end of the coiled line. The pictures are in black and red, and while rudely drawn, most of them can be easily recognized. In 1801 the Sioux had a terrible attack of smallpox, and many of them died; the picture
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XI. Money.
XI. Money.
These fine belts were often given as pledges of faith and agreement at the making of treaties. Some which were kept in the tribe were made to help in remembering the terms of the treaty. Thus, when an orator was speaking, he would hold up a wampum belt, and in making a point of special importance would call attention to some figure in the belt, which would serve ever after to remind every one present of what he had said. Among the Onondagas (Iroquois) there was an officer known as the “keeper of
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XII. Medicine Men And Secret Societies.
XII. Medicine Men And Secret Societies.
The Shaman among the tribes of the Northwest Coast is an important person. He decided, when a boy, that he would become a Shaman. He selected some old Shaman for his teacher and learned from him his secrets. By experiments, by dreaming, and by trading with other Shamans he got other secrets. To help him in his dealings with spirits the Shaman makes use of many devices. He sleeps upon a wooden pillow, which is carved with otter heads; these are believed to whisper wisdom to him while he sleeps. U
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XIII. Dances And Ceremonials.
XIII. Dances And Ceremonials.
In one of these dances the drummers make curious, beckoning gestures to bring up the rain clouds. In some the dancers carry sticks curiously jointed together so as to open and shut in zigzag movements, which are meant to look like lightning and are believed to bring it; other dancers imitate the thunder. Sometimes the dancers and others are drenched with water thrown upon them, in order that the town and its fields may be drenched with rain. Many dances are only a part of some great religious ce
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XIV. Burial And Graves.
XIV. Burial And Graves.
They knew perfectly well that the things do not go away; they believed, however, that things have souls, as men do, and that it is the soul of the things that goes with the soul of the man into the land of spirits. Among tribes that are great horsemen, like the Comanches, a man's ponies are killed at his death. His favorite horse, decked out in all his trappings, is killed at the grave, so that the master may go properly mounted. When a little child among the Sacs and Foxes dies, a little dog is
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XV. Mounds And Their Builders.
XV. Mounds And Their Builders.
At Newark there was a wonderful group of enclosures. The group covered about two miles square and consisted of three divisions, which were connected with one another by long parallel embankment walls. One circle in this group contained more than thirty acres: the walls were twelve feet high and fifty feet wide; a ditch seven feet deep and thirty-five feet wide bordered it on the inner side; a gap of eighty feet in the circle served as an entrance. In the center of the area enclosed by this great
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XVI. The Algonkins.
XVI. The Algonkins.
We shall speak of two Algonkin tribes. One—the Lenape—is eastern; the other—the Blackfeet—is western. The former are woodland, the latter Plains Indians. The Lenape lived in settled villages, and had a good deal of agriculture; they were also hunters, fishermen, and warriors. Their houses were like those of their Iroquois neighbors, but each family had its own. They were huts of poles and interwoven branches with a thatching of corn leaves, the stalk of sweet-flag, or the bark of trees. Sometime
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XVII. The Six Nations.
XVII. The Six Nations.
Each tribe was ruled by a council which contained members elected from each gens. Each gens had one or more councillors, according to its size and importance. Each member of the council watched with care to see that his gens got all its rights and was not imposed upon by others. Every tribe was independent of every other tribe. Hayenwatha's idea was to unite the tribes into a strong confederacy. Separately the tribes were weak, and a foe could do them much harm; united they would be so strong th
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XVIII. Story Of Mary Jemison.
XVIII. Story Of Mary Jemison.
The party which had seized them was composed of six Shawnee Indians and four Frenchmen. The first day was terrible. They were kept rapidly marching until night; they had no food or water during the whole day. One Indian went behind the party with a whip, with which he lashed the little ones to make them keep up with the party. At night there was no fire and they had no covering. They were afoot again before daylight, but as the sun rose, stopped and ate breakfast. The second night they camped ne
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XIX. The Creeks.
XIX. The Creeks.
In the center of every large Creek town there was a public square. In this square there were three interesting things,—the great house, the council house, and the playground. The great house consisted of four one-story buildings, each about thirty feet long; they were arranged about a square upon which all faced. The side of these which opened on the central square was entirely open. Each of the four houses was divided into three rooms or compartments by low partitions of clay. At the back of ea
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XX. The Pani.
XX. The Pani.
Two practices in which the Pani differed from most Plains Indians remind us of some Mexican tribes: they kept a sort of servants and sacrificed human beings. Young men or boys who were growing up often attached themselves to men of importance. They lived in their houses and received support from them: in return, they drove in and saddled the horses, made the fire, ran errands, and made themselves useful in all possible ways. The sacrifice of a human being to Tirawa—and formerly to the morning st
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XXI. The Cherokees.
XXI. The Cherokees.
And so this harmless, helpless people left for their long journey. Their only offense was that they owned land which the whites wanted. There are still old Indians who remember the “great removal.” Most of them were little children then, but the sad leaving their beloved mountains and the sorrow and hardship of the long journey is remembered after sixty years. A few years since, we visited the Eastern Cherokees. Perhaps two thousand of them now live in the mountains of North Carolina and Tenness
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XXII. George Catlin And His Work.
XXII. George Catlin And His Work.
Among the tribes he visited were the Mandans, who lived along the Missouri River. Some of his best pictures were painted among them. He there witnessed the whole of their sun-dance ceremony, and painted four remarkable pictures of it. These represent the young men fasting in the dance lodge, the buffalo dance outside, the torture in the lodge, the almost equally horrible treatment of the dancers outside after the torture. Although a terrible picture, we have copied the painting showing the tortu
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XXIII. The Sun Dance.
XXIII. The Sun Dance.
Invitations to neighboring tribes were sent early, and long before the dance parties began to arrive. Some of these would spend several weeks about the village. At first they pitched their camps wherever it best suited them. A little before the dance orders were given, and all the visitors camped in one large camp circle, each tribe occupying a special place. The space within this circle was carefully leveled and prepared. A special building was erected in the center of this circle in which the
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XXIV. The Pueblos.
XXIV. The Pueblos.
In former times a pueblo consisted of one great house, or, at most, of a few great houses, each the home of a large number of people. Taos, in northern New Mexico, is, perhaps, as old-fashioned as any of the pueblos now occupied. Even to-day it consists almost entirely of two large houses, one on each side of the little Taos River. The houses are so built that the flat roofs of the different stories form a set of steps as one looks at them from in front. In a three-story building the lower floor
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XXV. The Snake Dance.
XXV. The Snake Dance.
“In a short time a low call came from a man who was thrusting his stick into a dense clump of greasewood, and as the hunters gathered, there was found to be a large rattlesnake, lying in the heart of the thicket. Without hesitation they at once proceeded to cut away the bushes with their hoes, and strangely enough, although the snake lay in coil and watching them, it made no rattling or other display of anger. One of the twigs fell upon it, and the man nearest stooped down and deliberately lifte
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XXVI. Cliff Dwellings And Ruins Of The Southwest.
XXVI. Cliff Dwellings And Ruins Of The Southwest.
The cave houses were usually dug out in the rocks by human beings. They were cut in the soft rock with picks or axes of stone. Some of these dwellings were cut out as simple open caves. In such, there were walls erected at the front. The cave might be so cut that the rock face remained for the front wall of the house; a hole was first cut for a doorway, and then the room or rooms would be dug out from it behind the cliff wall. Some persons believe these three kinds of houses were built by three
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XXVII. Tribes Of The Northwest Coast.
XXVII. Tribes Of The Northwest Coast.
Another fashion among the women of some tribes was the piercing of the lower lip for the wearing of a plug as an ornament. Thus, when a little girl among the Haida was twelve or thirteen years old, her aunt or grandmother took her to some quiet place along the seashore; there she pierced a little hole in the lower lip of the child, using a bit of sharp shell or stone. To keep the hole from closing when it healed, a bit of grass stalk was put into it. For a few days the place was sore, but it soo
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XXVIII. Some Raven Stories.
XXVIII. Some Raven Stories.
The old chief had the sun and the moon, but he kept them away from the people, and was very proud to think that he alone had light. Nekilstlas had to think a long time before he could make a plan to secure these for the Indians. At last he made himself an imitation sun and put on it something which made it shine. He then taunted the chief by telling him that he too had a light. For a time the chief did not believe him. At last Nekilstlas drew back his feather coat and let a piece of his bogus su
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XXIX. Totem Posts.
XXIX. Totem Posts.
The second kind of carved post is the commemorative post, put up to celebrate some important event. An old chief named Skowl once erected a great post near his house. He had erected it to commemorate the failure of the Russian missionaries to convert his village to Christianity. When the last missionary had gone, he put it up to recall their failure and to ridicule their religion. It was curiously carved. At the top was an eagle; below it a man with his right hand lifted, pointing to the sky; be
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XXX. Indians Of California.
XXX. Indians Of California.
Acorns are much used by California Indians. They are bitter and need to be sweetened. They are first pounded to a meal or flour. A wide basket is filled with sand, which is carefully scooped away so as to leave a basin-shaped surface; the acorn meal is spread upon this, and water is poured upon it. The bitterness is soaked out, and the meal left sweet and good. A fine art among most Californian tribes is the making of baskets. Those made at Coahuilla are mostly what is known as “coiled work.” A
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XXXI. The Aztecs.
XXXI. The Aztecs.
The common people lived in huts made of mud or other destructible material; but the buildings intended for the government and for religion were sometimes grand affairs, built of stone and covered with plaster. This plastering was sometimes white, sometimes red, and upon it were at times pictures painted in brilliant colors. These pictures generally represented warriors ready for battle, or priests before the altar. Temples were usually built upon flat-topped pyramids. These were often large, and
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XXXII. The Mayas And The Ruined Cities Of Yucatan And Central America.
XXXII. The Mayas And The Ruined Cities Of Yucatan And Central America.
Copan in Honduras is another famous location of ruins left by some Mayan people. The most interesting objects there are great stone statues or figures with stone altars before them. These statues are taller than a man and are cut from single blocks of stone. They differ so much in face and dress that they have been believed by some writers to be portraits. The persons ate usually beautifully dressed and ornamented. They wear beads, pendants, tassels, belts, ear ornaments, and headdresses. The he
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XXXIII. Conclusion.
XXXIII. Conclusion.
“Then, taking the firesticks, he kindled a fire to roast the meat; and while it was cooking, he spoke and said, ‘You see, my brother, that the Ruler has given us all that we need: the buffalo for food and clothing; the corn to eat with our dried meat; bows, arrows, knives, and hoes—all the implements that we need for killing meat or for cultivating the ground. Now go back to the country from whence you came. We do not want your presents, and we do not want you to come into our country.’ ” And t
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Glossary Of Indian And Other Foreign Words Which May Not Readily Be Found In The English Dictionary.
Glossary Of Indian And Other Foreign Words Which May Not Readily Be Found In The English Dictionary.
Vowels are as follows:— Abalone [á-ba-lōn], 77 . Acolhua [ā-kōl'-wā], 209 . Adobé [a-dō'-bā], 163 . Algonkin [al-gón-kin], 108 . Alibamu [ál-i-ba-mū], 128 . Apache [a-pá-chā], 39 . Apalache [a-pā-lá-chā], 128 . Arapaho [ä-rá-pä-ho], 60 . Arickara [a-rí-kä-rä], 64 . Assinaboin, [a-sí-nä-boin], 57 . Athapaskan [āth'-ä-pás-kan], 3 . Atlatl [át-la-tl], 211 . Atotarho [át-ō-tä'r-hō], 116 . Aztec [az-tek], 208 . Beothuk [bē-ō'-thuk], 223 . Burro [bū'r-o], 91 . Busk [busk], 133 . Caddo [ká-dō], 134 . C
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