WIGWAM STORIES
TOLD BY NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
COMPILED BY
MARY CATHERINE JUDD
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ANGEL de CORA
(HINOOK MAHIWI KILINAKA)
BOSTON U S A
GINN & COMPANY
ATHENÆUM PRESS
1904
PREFACE
These stories, told by and about the Indians, have been gathered from
various sources. They show, among other interesting facts, that the
love of the beautiful, and also of the humorous, dwells in the heart of
the wild Indian.
There are no adaptations from Longfellow’s poem of Hiawatha, but the
compiler has gone directly to the works of Schoolcraft, whose writings
were Longfellow’s inspiration. Schoolcraft’s Journal states his belief
that Menabozho and Hiawatha were one and the same person, the latter
name being preferred as more musical. Hence, Longfellow chose it as the
name of his Indian hero.
Horatio Hale and other authorities on Iroquois history differ strongly
from Schoolcraft on this point, and maintain that the name of Hiawatha,
or Heyanwatha, refers only to an Iroquois statesman or deity.
Menabozho, or The Foolish One, is very real to the Chippewa or Ojibway
Indian of Minnesota. The various names of Missaba, Mesaba, Michabo are
merely English or French renderings of the same Algonquin word.
The later stories herein told, that were gathered from the Chippewas in
1895, 1896, and 1900, prove their unchanging love for the tales of this
imaginary hero.
Attention is called to the very interesting pictures on pages 17, 43,
53, 55, 89, 100, 173, and 188, which are from photographs taken by
George Wharton James, of Pasadena, Cal., the noted authority upon
Indian life and basketry. The copyrighted pictures on pages 43 and 55
are used in this book with his special permission.
In addition to the numerous illustrations from photographs, Miss Angel
de Cora, a young Indian artist of great promise, has contributed three
full-page sketches, the cover design, and numerous initials and
designs. The pictorial features, therefore, reproduce with unusual
fidelity the atmosphere of Indian life.
MARY CATHERINE JUDD.
Note. In answer to inquiries the compiler desires to state that
according to the census reports of 1900 there are fifteen American
cities any one of which contains more inhabitants than the total
number, 266,760, of our taxed and untaxed American Indians; of these
nearly one half are in Indian Territory, Alaska, and Arizona.
M. C. J.
Minneapolis, Minn.,
January, 1904.
CONTENTS
PART I
SKETCHES OF VARIOUS TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
PAGE
Books in the Indian Language 3
Some Things the Indians knew before White Men came 6
How the Iroquois built their Log Forts 10
Indian Records 12
Wampum Money 15
Indian Traits 20
The Indian’s Eye Training 26
Medicine Men among the Indians 28
The Indian at Home 31
Meaning of Indian Totems and Names 35
Indian Names for the Months or Moons 39
Customs of Kickapoo, Seminole, and Other Tribes 44
The Indians who live in Brick Houses 47
The Moki Indians 54
Dakota or Sioux 57
Indian Games 59
Sioux and Chippewas of Minnesota 62
Chief Logan and Others 68
A Navajo Medicine Chant 70
How the Cave People found Dry Land on the Earth (Zuñi Chant) 72
PART II
TRADITIONS AND MYTHS
Introductory—Indian Stories 79
I. Iagoo, the Great Story-Teller 81
II. How Clay Dishes were first made 88
III. Leaping Rock in the Pipestone Valley 91
IV. The Face of the Great Manitou in the Rock 93
V. How Two Squaws saved their Band 96
VI. Origin of the Crane Tribe 98
VII. Story of the First Man and Woman 101
VIII. Giants and Fairies 103
IX. Weenk the Sleep-Bringer 105
X. The Little People of the Senecas 108
XI. The Hunter who could fly 110
XII. How the Bear lost his Tail 112
XIII. The Blue Heron and the Wolf 115
XIV. The Little Wolf Brother 119
XV. The Good Bear and the Lost Boy 123
XVI. Legend of Niagara Falls 127
XVII. How the Indians came to know Medicine Plants 130
XVIII. Mondahmin, who gave the Corn 133
XIX. The Marriage of Mondahmin 136
XX. The Prairie Dandelion 139
XXI. The Shadow Canoe 141
XXII. An Indian Temperance Speech 145
XXIII. The Girl who became a Pine Tree 147
XXIV. The White Stone Canoe 151
XXV. The Great Bear in the Sky 155
XXVI. The North Star 157
XXVII. The Star that never moves 160
XXVIII. Trapping in the Happy Hunting Grounds 164
XXIX. The Old Man in the Sky 167
XXX. Where the Morning Star came from 168
XXXI. The Woman in the Moon 171
XXXII. The Seven Stars of Pleiades 174
XXXIII. The Chipmunk’s Black Stripes 176
XXXIV. The Echo God and the Northern Lights 179
XXXV. Legend of Mackinaw Island 181
XXXVI. How the Water Lily came 185
XXXVII. The North Wind’s Defeat 189
XXXVIII. A Rip Van Winkle 192
XXXIX. Legend of the Wampum-Bird and the Boy 200
XL. The Magic Moccasins 204
XLI. Opechee the Robin Redbreast 208
XLII. The Indian who married the Moon 211
PART III
STORIES RECENTLY TOLD OF HIAWATHA AND OTHER HEROES
Introductory—The Indians’ Present Condition 217
I. Menabozho and his Three Brothers 223
II. Story of the Deluge 227
III. Menabozho caught 230
IV. How the Kingfisher got his Ring and his Ruffle 235
V. How the Woodchuck helped Menabozho 237
VI. Menabozho swallowed by a Large Fish 239
VII. The Thunder-Bird of the Dakotas 241
VIII. Hiawatha the Wise 244
IX. Wampum or Indian Money 251
X. Legend of the Arbutus 253
XI. The One who loved him most 257
XII. The Marten and the White Rabbit 260
XIII. How Light, Fire, and Water first came to the World 264
XIV. How the Copper Mountain came to fall 266
XV. The Sun and Moon 268
XVI. Custer’s Heart 270
Word List 272
Glossary 273
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Se-quoyah, the Indian Scholar Frontispiece
Pueblo House with Kivas in Foreground 7
Pueblo Indians making Beads 17
Hogan of Navajo Blanket Weaver 23
Big Medicine Man 29
Alaskan Totem Poles 37
Mokis ready for a Sacred Dance 43
Three-Storied Pueblo Houses in Oraibi 49
Moki Maiden in Native Costume 53
Interior of Kiva with Sacred Altar 55
Chippewa Indian’s Summer Wigwam 65
Interior of Zuñi House 73
The Indian Story-Teller Frontispiece, Part II 78
Indian Woman making Clay Dishes 89
Alaskan Indian Women with Baskets 95
Moki Basket Weaver 100
Kiowa Papoose in its Cradle 107
Moki weaving Clay Dishes and Tools 118
Teepee Village 126
Minnehaha Falls in Summer 143
Apache Woman with her Handiwork 150
Indian Women with Papooses 163
Pueblo Indian Pottery 173
Dance of the Moki Antelope Priests 178
Pueblo Indians watching a Sacred Dance 188
Tu-me-na Siwash Girl 195
Apache Scout ready for War Dance 203
The Indian of To-day Frontispiece, Part III 216
Indian Basket Exhibit 225
Indian Picture Writing on Stone 234
Sioux Indians and Teepee 238
Pueblo Women grinding Corn 247
Adobe Houses Pueblo Children near Kiva 261
PART I
SKETCHES OF VARIOUS TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
WIGWAM STORIES
BOOKS IN THE INDIAN LANGUAGE
John Eliot, of Massachusetts, published the first Indian Bible. This
and other Bibles and books in the Indian languages may be seen in the
larger city libraries.
The Indians had no printed languages with letters before the white man
came; their painted or carved picture-writing meant much to them. Their
teepees were covered with histories of the battles their owners had
fought, but they had no books of “talking leaves.”
Se-quoyah, a Georgia Indian half-breed, was a modern Cadmus to his
people. He invented a perfect alphabet of over eighty letters for his
native Cherokee language, and by his own zeal inspired his nation with
a love for written words. His paper was birch bark; his ink the juices
of berries and weeds.
He hated the white people, for his white father had basely deserted his
mother when Se-quoyah was a helpless babe. His mother’s father was a
proud chief, and the grandson seems to have inherited his spirit.
Se-quoyah never learned to read or to write a word or a letter of
English, and his anger was aroused when he saw one of his tribe reading
a book made by the hated white people; Se-quoyah then declared he would
make as good a one for the Cherokees, and he did.
He listened for sounds while his people talked. He became a silent
student and lost or forgot his old warlike spirit. He sat beside his
doorway and marked upon bark. His people pitied him, for he did not
fight. At last he called a council; he wrote on bark and gave the
writing to his little daughter, who had been taught by him to read. She
read it and did as the writing commanded; the test was tried many
times.
This caused great excitement; young men came in scores to learn of him;
they forgot hunting and war for letter-writing. The white missionaries
adopted his letters and made a Bible which was read by all these Indian
students. The nation became civilized in a short time, and the first
printing press sent to an Indian tribe was that sent about 1820 by the
United States government to the Cherokees. The type was cast in
Cherokee characters, the same that Se-quoyah had invented.
A marble bust of Se-quoyah adorns the council house in Tahlequah, the
capital of Indian Territory, where this tribe was sent after gold was
found on their reservation in Georgia. They knew the value of these
mines, but the white man’s power was stronger than theirs, and they had
to leave homes and wealth for a strange new land.
Sequoia, the botanical name of the big trees of California, is the only
memorial the white man has given this truly American genius.
Adapted from Smithsonian Report.
SOME THINGS THE INDIANS KNEW BEFORE WHITE MEN CAME
The Indians made and still make excellent canoes of bark or of logs and
even of skins. The birch-bark canoe is light and very swift, and white
hunters are proud of their skill in its use, but the skin boat has only
strength as its merit.
The Siwash Indian of Puget Sound hollows out from a single log a fine
canoe with decorated prow. He makes it secretly in the dark forest, and
white men have tried for years to solve the problem of its swiftness.
The bows of strong wood bent by sinew cords and the stone-headed arrows
with feather tips were excellent weapons in the Indians’ former methods
of warfare and hunting, and a good arrowhead maker was famous
throughout a nation.
Indian squaws were skillful in the making of buckskin suits for their
braves. The handsomely embroidered moccasins were and are now good
specimens of woman’s work and love for beauty of coloring and design.
Each tribe had its own pattern and shape, differing so much from those
of other tribes that a footprint might announce an enemy in war time.
The Indians are still noted trappers, and their squaws know well how to
tan and dress the skins of animals. Fish-hooks were made of bone or
flint, and spear points were of the same materials, but they were very
sharp and with them the Indians caught many fish.
Their roving habits as hunters gave them little time for
house-building, and so their homes were simply tents made of strips of
bark or, better yet, of large buffalo or deer hides, neatly sewed
together for this purpose. These teepees and wigwams were easily put up
or removed, and were a good shelter.
The Village Indians, or Pueblos of Arizona, still build themselves
houses of adobe or unburnt brick. As the Pueblos were and are now less
warlike than the roving tribes which live in tent-like houses, they
have had time to invent many useful things.
The Pueblos weave excellent woolen blankets of gay stripes and a coarse
cloth for wearing apparel. They make water-tight baskets and dishes of
fiber, and these are often exchanged with the Tent Indians for dried
meat and other food.
The Village Indians have for centuries planted and cared for maize,
pumpkins, beans, and other vegetables. Turkeys are raised for food, and
their feather fibers are woven into cloth. Eagles are caged and raised
for their long feathers, which are held sacred.
In the ruined houses of the cliff-dwellers of Texas and Arizona
fragments of cloth woven from cotton and other substances have been
found. No white man taught this ancient people these arts of weaving.
Clay dishes, mortars, and pestles of stone, large sea-shells cut into
shapes for holding food, stone axes, and knives show some of the skill
of these early Americans.
The ornaments made of silver by the Navajo, as well as the long strings
of turquoise beads, are sometimes remarkable for their beauty.
Wampum, used by so many tribes for money, was carefully made from
shells by eastern Indians. It seems strange that their crude tools
could have made such small beads so very well.
The knowledge of medicine in all tribes was limited to a few herbs. The
rest was a kind of sorcery; but with the herbs, fresh air, and fresh
water they managed to cure many ills.
The Pueblos of New Mexico are very different from the Zuñis or the Moki
Pueblos of Arizona. They are now much like the white people, for they
live in well-built houses, attend church, and send their children to
school.
HOW THE IROQUOIS BUILT THEIR LOG FORTS
The French explorers in the land near Lake Champlain, and in what is
now central New York, found many of the Iroquois villages protected by
strong, well-built log forts.
They were built in this way: The Indians first found a place where
there were many tall trees; these were set on fire near their roots,
and stone axes were used to rub off the coals, so they would burn
faster. After the trees had fallen to the ground they were set on fire
again, in places about three long steps apart. The fires burned through
the logs in about half a day.
As there were no horses, the logs were drawn by the Indians, and then
put into place. Earth was heaped up on both sides of the logs to keep
them from falling. The forts had two gates; the one in front for
general use; the one in the rear for use when getting water.
In making the fire to burn the logs, a small dry stick was quickly
rubbed with a steady motion against well-seasoned wood; after a while
it would burn. Great care was used in preserving coals of fire through
the night time for the next day’s use.
On the shores of the beautiful Seneca Lake, by the banks of the Mohawk
and Genesee rivers, in the forests of Oneida and Cayuga, and in many
other parts of this fertile region, these strongholds of a savage
people stood secure.
Sometimes several acres of land were enclosed, with many homes well
protected both day and night from wild animals and other foes.
Some of these rude dwellings were more than one hundred feet in length,
and were made of poles bent like an arch and covered closely with many
layers of elm bark. These large houses, thus protected by forts, were
used by several different families, for the “long-houses” were divided
into rooms by deerskins or other robes.
Fine fields of corn, squashes, and beans were planted and harvested by
these fort dwellers, and they knew well how to protect themselves from
intruders, for they had hundreds of stones and even huge rocks piled
inside the fort ready to hurl at an enemy.
INDIAN RECORDS
The Leni Lennape, or Delaware Indians, kept a curious record of their
early history by means of sticks which were notched and painted; these
sticks were about six inches long. Each painted notch indicated some
great event in their nation’s history. The meanings of the notches were
taught by old chiefs to the younger ones, and the stories have been
repeated for hundreds of years. Leni Lennape means Men of Men or The
People, and these sticks have been held to prove that their nation is
one of the oldest among the red men. Their chiefs were noted for their
wisdom in war and peace.
A white man, who proved himself a true friend to the Leni Lennapes,
gained their confidence and they told him the secrets that were kept by
the painted sticks. He had it printed, but had to leave out many words,
as their language is very different from English. It is an easy matter
to read the history now, and, although many words are omitted, any one
can understand its meaning.
This record, which the notched and painted sticks have kept for several
hundreds of years, is an account of the travels of the Leni Lennape
Indians from the Northwest across the Wide River. This must have been
the Mississippi. They call it Namesi Sipu, the “river of fish.”
When across the Wide River, they found they had come to the country of
the Great Serpent. Numerous earth mounds in the form of an immense
serpent are found in the valley of the Mississippi. These are believed
to have been made by a people, long ago extinct, who may have fought
the Delawares.
Other Indian tribes and nations have kept long records by means of
similar sticks, but the account given by this people is the longest
Indian history. The last marks upon these painted sticks are said to
mean: “The white men have come from the north and the south. They are
peaceful; they have great things. Who are they?”
These Leni Lennapes are the Delawares, with whom the Quakers made their
treaty near Philadelphia. The Iroquois had conquered these Indians, and
had refused to let them go to war as a punishment for their great
bravery. The Quakers found them peaceable, honest, and faithful
friends, and for forty years no white person was harmed who had never
broken his promise to the Leni Lennapes, or Delaware Indians.
The Aztecs, or Mexican Indians, had a serpent god, and some have said
that these mounds must have been built by them. The Leni Lennape stick
records tell only that the country of the Great Serpent was conquered
little by little. The mounds are themselves the unsolved records of a
great people. No Indian legends or histories have ever explained the
meaning of these heaps of earth, which are shaped like animals or
birds, and are now sometimes covered by huge trees.
The wampum belt tells its story by the pictures upon it, while the
record sticks had only painted notches to help the memory of the
tribe’s historians.
WAMPUM MONEY
Wampum has been used among the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains
since the whites first had dealings with them. Among the eastern
Indians it was first found to be made of the white and purple parts of
clam shells. These shells were carefully cut into small pieces by means
of sharp-edged stone knives, and a hole was bored through the pieces,
making them like little tubes.
The white and the dark-colored beads were threaded and carefully
arranged into patterns when belts or other woven pieces of ornament
were made. The threads were either of vegetable fiber or of deer
sinews, and long strings were sometimes made of the bark of the
slippery-elm tree. Dark-colored parts of the shells from which the
beads were made were called black, but they were really dark shades of
purple. White beads meant peace. Dark beads were woven into the belt
either in square or diamond patterns or in some more irregular shape.
The wampum belt used in the treaty between William Penn and the Indians
is now in the rooms of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. It was
given to this society by a great-grandson of William Penn. This wampum
belt was given to its first white owner as a solemn token that they
would keep their pledge. History has shown how faithfully these red men
kept their pledge with the Quakers.
This famous belt is an unusually wide one, having eighteen rows of
wampum and nearly three thousand beads, which is proof that it was an
important token. The center of the belt is of white wampum with two
figures of men wrought in dark beads. The figures are pictured as
clasping each other’s hands. One man pictured on the belt wears a hat,
while the other does not; this shows that one was a white man, the
other an Indian.
This belt was kept in the Penn family and treasured with as much care
as the chain and medal given to William Penn by the English Parliament;
indeed, the medal and the wampum belt each served a like purpose: they
were reminders of the promises of a nation.
Wampum belts of great historic value are kept by the Onondaga Indians;
the finest of these is called the George Washington belt. It is
believed by those who have had charge of it to be a pledge relating to
a treaty between the early government of the United States and the Six
Nations. Fifteen men are pictured on this belt. These may mean the
original thirteen colonies and the people who were the speakers at the
time of the treaty.
Such uses of belts of wampum were common among the different tribes of
Indians. Smaller belts were woven for the chiefs to wear, and the women
made themselves bracelets and neck chains of the beads.
It was necessary for the whites in the very early times to have this
Indian money ready when they wished to purchase furs or other supplies
of their wild neighbors. The beads had a certain value according to the
number of strings. This value never changed.
It is told by the people who wrote back to England in those early days
that the Indians could not be made to understand why they should pay
more wampum for anything when it was scarce than when it was plentiful.
They were used to having one price for things they wished to buy and
never having the price changed. For this reason the early settlers were
able to buy many valuable things at a very small price.
The chiefs of the Iroquois, while mourning a chief’s death, wore
strings of black wampum. Other strings of different lengths or colors
meant various things to the owners and those about them. The wearing of
wampum in any quantity meant wealth and position.
It is told of the famous Chief Logan that he saved a captive white by
rushing through the circle of Indians who were tormenting him, and
throwing a string of wampum about the captive’s neck. From that minute
he belonged to Chief Logan.
Wampum has been made by machinery since 1670 and sold to the Indians.
Old belts and strings of beads, so slowly made by hand, are very
valuable. The white and colored glass beads now used are worth but
little compared with the wampum of early days.
Arranged from Powell’s Report to the Bureau of Ethnology.
INDIAN TRAITS
Almost unconsciously, even as our own eyes and other senses are trained
to help us in city or country life, the Indians are adding to their
education in the things which will make life and labor easier to them.
Their reading of weather signs is very accurate, and possibly their
rain-makers are simply experts in these signs.
Their method of lying in ambush in war times calls out all their hidden
powers in every line. They can decoy their foe by imitating bird calls
or animals; they can make themselves into stump-like figures and almost
defy a close inspection.
If injured, they rarely show pain, though the torture of the broken
limb or the bullet may be intense. Indian boys are taught by both
parents from early childhood to bear their pain silently. It comes as a
good lesson, when in manhood a groan might show an enemy where they
were hidden.
Their long trails or paths over mountains, through thick forests,
across treeless plains, with no compass but the North Star, have made
them watchful of every earthly means of finding their way. They will
tell you that trees are greener on the south side than on the north,
and that there are plants whose leaves point due north. Flocks of birds
sometimes help to guide them. They seem to have almost an instinct in
finding their way home.
An Indian’s natural pride is as great as a king’s. To him his nation is
the greatest one on earth. No Indian must allow that the white is
greater in numbers or strength.
A number of years ago a Mandan chief named Ietan visited the city of
Washington in company with others. On his return, at the council which
was called in his honor, he told of boats he had seen that were one
hundred and fifty feet long; of great houses filled with white people;
of great cities and long railroad trails.
The Indians will have nothing but absolute truth at these councils.
They must not deceive each other. The council declared that Ietan was
telling false tales to frighten the Mandans. No canoe could be built so
large as he had said. No such number of white people could live in a
land where there were no buffalo. Houses such as he had told about
would be blown down by the great winds.
Ietan was proven to have basely deceived the council. He was condemned
to death for making the white man stronger and greater than the red
man. Ietan told them he was ready and willing to suffer the penalty,
but when they were older they would know that his words were not false.
He was punished as the council decreed. Perhaps they are wise enough
now to read the signs made by the iron trails across the Dakota
prairies, and their children know that what Ietan said was true.
Indians seem to have great pity for the unfortunate few of their tribe
who have lost their senses, becoming either insane or foolish. A
certain professor belonging to a well-known eastern college had reason
to be thankful for this trait not many years ago. He had been gathering
plants and insects in one of the desolate regions in the west. He was
unarmed, and knew nothing of any Indian language or of the sign
language so much used west of the Mississippi.
A marauding band of Indians caught sight of him. Wheeling their ponies
in his direction, they were down upon him before he had time to do
anything more than gather his collection into the boxes and get upon
his pony. For some reason they did not offer to hurt him; they,
however, were willing to make themselves richer by whatever they could
get from him. The professor did not say a word, but handed them his
case of roots and plants. At this they stared open-eyed, for it
contained nothing that any one could eat. His boxes of insects were
next examined. Nothing of use to them was found. His pockets were
searched. They were filled with bugs, flies, and flower specimens.
Looking him over from head to foot, they all seem to have reached the
same conclusion at the same time; with shouts of laughter and mocking
bows and grimaces, they gave him back his boxes. They had discovered by
all the signs that he was a being who had not a sense left, and they
would not harm him. So the learned professor was spared to return to
tell the tale.
The numerous Indian nations of America are and were as different in
their character and conditions as are the civilized people living in
America to-day. They had their unions and their divisions of land
according to nation, not according to family or person. Many nations
seem to have had wise laws.
Very strangely, many of the tribes expected the coming of the white
man. When the Indian has learned that village life is no disgrace, he
may become even greater than the paleface with the talking leaves or
printed book.
A wise old Indian was once told that white men were beginning to think
they had found where the Indian came from; that the place was northern
China.
“Perhaps the people of northern China came from the Indian race in
America,” said the Indian. It was well said. There are many proofs that
the mound-builders, the Aztec, and the Indian have made this part of
the world their home for ages, when it was unknown and unthought of in
the wildest dreams of seamen or of kings.
The hunting chase is the great happiness of the Indian. Now the wild
buffalo is gone from the plains forever; the red deer, elk, moose, and
bear hide away in the northern forests; the Indian’s hope for a long
future for his nation is lost. They are no longer braves but squaws,
for they must plant corn and watch it. Village life is very tame
compared with the wandering life when the tribes moved to some new
place almost every moon.
They have an old, old prophecy among many tribes, “that the Great
Manitou will some day send away the white race; the whole earth shall
be given to the Indians.” This prophecy is repeated in the religious
dances, and the medicine men comfort their people with it when the
tribes feel the injustice of the whites. It excites them to battle with
the invader.
Their training has always been for revenge, but they are also trained
to remember the good which has been done to them.
THE INDIAN’S EYE TRAINING
An Indian left his lodge for several days; when he came back, the dried
deer meat which he had left hanging to a tree near his wigwam was gone.
He did not go around asking questions of his neighbors, but just used
his eyes instead of his tongue for the first hour, and his eyes told
him many things.
Then he went to a wigwam near by and asked: “Did you see a little, old,
white man with a short gun? Did you see him in the last two days? Did
he have a small dog with a short tail?”
The neighbor Indian said: “Yes, I saw him. He and his dog were on the
trail going south.”
The Indian took the same trail and in a few days returned with the dog
and the deer meat.
Some white men had heard the questions of the Indian before he started
out, and after he came back they went to him and said: “We want to know
who took your meat. How did you know it was a white man?”
“White man turns toe out; Indian put foot so, one behind the other,
walk straight.”
“How did you know that he was little and that he was old?”
“He put pile of stones by deer-meat tree; cannot reach, he little. He
takes short steps; he old.”
“How did you know that his gun was short?”
“He stick gun on ground against tree. Gun muzzle make mark little way
from ground. Short gun.”
“Well, how did you ever know that he had a little dog like that, with a
short tail?”
“Dog sit in the sand. Watch man get meat. Dog leave mark where he sit
down in sand. Indian can see with two eyes.”
MEDICINE MEN AMONG THE INDIANS
Nearly all tribes have their medicine men. These men choose this work,
frequently because of some deformity which unfits them for the warpath,
and they fit themselves for it, sometimes from boyhood. They have great
power over all their people. They are called into the council when the
tribe goes to war. They are called upon when any one is sick. They
believe and teach that sickness is caused by an evil spirit. Their
medicine is to contrive some way to drive out the evil spirit of
sickness.
The medicine man usually works himself into a frenzy or even into a
fit, and while in this state his mutterings are taken for advice and
followed. The patient must then get well. If he does not, it is because
the evil spirit cannot be conquered.
Many tribes believe that the soul leaves the body when the evil spirit
of sickness enters. The Portage Indians of British America hold this
belief. Their medicine men try to bring back the wandering soul by many
curious performances. For one thing, the sick man’s friends are ordered
to hang up his buckskin moccasins stuffed with soft feathery down. If
the feathers become warm to the touch, they will know that the
wandering soul has touched them and perhaps is hiding in them. The
moccasins are quickly put upon the feet of the patient that his soul
may not escape. If he does not get well, it is because his friends were
not quick enough in their work.
The medicine men of many tribes dress themselves in hideous fashion to
excite the fear and compel the respect of their people. They do not
have to go on the warpath, but will do it sometimes. It seems to be a
good chance for the deformed to win respect from the physically
perfect.
THE INDIAN AT HOME
An Indian in his native costume is a subject artists are glad to
paint,—tanned buckskin trousers with the buckskin fringe down the
outside seams; buckskin moccasins with colored porcupine quills neatly
woven into the leather in regular patterns, and a heavy blanket or
buffalo robe over his shoulders, hanging nearly to the ground. But the
paint upon his face is his chief pride.
A traveler, in 1835, was taking a trip up the Mississippi. He espied an
Indian on the forward deck who was making his toilet, apparently
unaware that a paleface was watching the process.
The traveler gives this account: “The Indian had secured at Fort
Snelling, near St. Paul, a bit of broken looking-glass, and there he
sat on deck, painting his face and neck. A daub of the brightest red
paint went down the line marking the parting of his hair.
“He worried and worked as much over the daubs on his cheeks as some
very civilized girls would over a naughty curl. First, a daub of yellow
with red at the edge; then red on the yellow, and yellow on the red,
until his eye was satisfied.
“In the tuft of hair on his crown he stuck an eagle feather; the mirror
showed it was not in a becoming place. Out it came and was poised at a
different angle. Still, it was not just the style he wanted, and out it
came again. At last it stood straight up, and the dandy finished his
toilet.
“Such a self-satisfied air did he put on when paint, feather, and
blanket had been arranged to his liking! Perhaps some daughter of the
Dakotas was the cause of all this patient study of the art of dressing;
but I cannot dream of Hiawatha ever belittling himself to take so long
a time with feathers and paint.”
It seemed strange to the traveler for the Indian to take so much pains
with the colors of paint and the place where he put them upon his face,
but it is now known that each color has its meaning with them. The
Indians paint their faces very differently when they are going on the
warpath. The warriors of each nation have their own fashion of painting
their faces and bodies.
The war chiefs have a very noble look when they come out with their
feather war bonnets reaching from the crowns of their heads down to
their feet. Their bearing is dignified; their faces are earnest and
solemn; and each one treads the earth as a king.
Indian women are sometimes very handsome when young; but the quantity
of colored earth they use as paint does not hide half the dirt upon
their faces. They wear blankets and buckskin skirts, and make a pretty
picture if the wigwam is in the background. Many of the babies have a
decidedly Japanese look and are attractive little creatures, as babies
are apt to be.
The Indian squaw is a good helpmate to her husband. His work is to
hunt; her work is at home in the teepee, where he can find rest and
food after his hunting. An Indian brave will not do his squaw’s work,
and his squaw does not wish her brave to be different from other men.
The Indian pony seems like a part of the family. He is not petted nor
fed like the Arabian horse, but is just as necessary to his master’s
happiness. Indian ponies know what little food and what no food mean.
The rank prairie grass is usually easy for them to get, but sometimes
it is burned off. The pony must search for his own food in summer or
winter.
The Indian pony or cayuse sometimes carries a load under which a donkey
could hardly move; but he takes his own gait, and keeps it too. He is
suited by inherited years of hard work to his master and his home. The
Indian pony is thought to be descended from the horses brought to
America by the Spanish explorers.
The dogs belonging to an Indian camp or village are numerous and often
nearly starved. Whenever a stranger makes his appearance, his coming is
announced by furious barks and howls of these hungry sentinels. The
white hunter has reason to dread the attacks of these dogs, for they
are much like the coyotes and wolves of the forests. Unless his gun is
ready, or their masters call them back, it is usually best for the
stranger to find refuge in a tree; but the braves, squaws, and children
give the white visitor a kind welcome as soon as they know that his
visit is friendly.
MEANING OF INDIAN TOTEMS AND NAMES
An Indian, while hunting, followed a bear a long way into the forest.
The rain came and he was lost, so he cut the bark from a tree and made
with his tomahawk a picture of a fox. He put a ring under one foot in
the picture. He belonged to the Fox tribe and had been lost one day. He
made more such marks on the trees as he went on.
Another hunter from the same tribe found him after three days. He had
trailed him by the little marks on the trees; by bent twigs and
branches; by his footprints in the mud or sand. He knew the lost one
was very weak and hungry, for the last fox picture had three circles to
show that he had been lost three days, and other marks to show that he
had shot nothing. An untrained white hunter would not have seen one
sign of the lost Indian.
If the Fox Indian had been asked why he used the fox picture, he would
have said, if ready to talk: “My grandfather was a fox.” This would
mean to us that his totem or first ancestor was a fox.
Other tribes believe they are descended from bears, wolves, cranes, or
other creatures. They nearly all have their totems, or sign-pictures.
We write our names with letters; they use pictures. It is their
coat-of-arms. Our names also have meanings.
The tall, curiously carved totem poles of Alaska are really carved
family histories. Where two or more animals are pictured on one pole it
shows the marriage or other union of different bands to which the
family belongs. These totem poles are usually put up before each native
house. The natives will not sell them, for they are valuable family
records.
A Dakota warrior shot an arrow into the sky; the clouds parted just as
his arrow turned to fall. He was thought to have shot the clouds; he
was called Hole-in-the-sky.
Old Chief Sleepy-eye had a bright mind, but his eyelids did not serve
him well; hence his name.
In some tribes the little ones are named after the first object that is
seen, as Buffalo Horn, White Pony, Lame Dog, and names that are
sometimes better but more often seem to us not so good.
The Sioux have names for their boys or girls according to their order
of birth. The first boy is called Chaska, until by some feat of bravery
he changes it himself. The second son is Harpam; his next brother is
Hapeda; the fourth son is Chatun; and the fifth boy has the name of
Harka all ready for him.
The first girl has the musical name of Winona, and her next younger
sister takes the name of Harpan. Harpstena will be the name of the
third girl baby. Waska and Weharka are for the fourth and fifth girls
of a family, and other names are provided for a greater number of
children.
The Indians have titles and descriptive names for the white people whom
they know. A certain military surgeon who has been among them and has
keen, dark eyes and gray hair is always called Gray Eagle. Their senses
are trained to observe very keenly, and they quickly know each person.
Perhaps the paleface might be startled if he understood the name they
gave him.
Some Indian tribes call the horse Foot-with-one-toe. Few white
Americans would have noticed the horse’s foot so closely.
THE INDIAN NAMES FOR THE MONTHS OR MOONS
The moon goes through its changes from new moon to new moon in
twenty-eight days. The Indians reckon their time of year by these
changes in the Night Sun, as they call the moon.
Tribes living in different parts of America have various names for the
months, which they call Moons. They all keep their calendar hung in the
sky, and it is never lost for any length of time. They have given these
moons names after what interests them most.
One nation has named them in the following way. The month in our
calendar is also given, so that you can easily guess the Indian’s
reason for his name for the month.
January The Cold Moon.
February The Snow Moon.
March The Green Moon.
April The Moon of Plants.
May The Moon of Flowers.
June The Hot Moon.
July The Moon of the Deer.
August The Sturgeon Moon.
September The Fruit Moon.
October The Traveling Moon.
November The Beaver Moon.
December The Hunting Moon.
If you were spending the year among the Sioux or Dakotas, little Winona
might tell you that January is the Hard Moon.
February is when the braves and the boys take their dogs and hunt the
raccoon; hence, they call it the ’Coon Moon.
The Sioux have lived for a long time in the north. They know the effect
of the bright sunshine of March when it shines upon the snowdrifts. It
is called the Moon of Snow-blindness.
April is the Egg Moon. It is the moon when the wild geese lay their
eggs, and the Indians gather them for food. The next time you watch the
dark triangle of wild geese flying northward, you can say it is near
the time of the Egg Moon of the Dakotas.
May is the Planting Moon. What! You did not know that the
copper-colored people planted anything? Oh, yes, they do! Remember our
maize, or Indian corn, is one great gift from them.
June has the prettiest name. Bright, beautiful June that we all love.
It is the Strawberry Moon. The luscious wild strawberries are more
delicate in flavor than any grown in the gardens. The wild Indian has
many dainties.
July, our red-white-and-blue month, is their Moon of Red Lilies. Has it
ever been your good fortune to see a vast tract of land covered with
these gorgeous wild tiger-lilies? O Moon of Red Lilies, how beautiful
you make our western prairies! In this same moon the wild cherry is
ripe, and many tribes know it as the Cherry Moon.
August is the Ripe Moon. Have you ever heard of the Harvest Moon? Is
not that nearly the same name? Seeds from thistle and the milkweed are
filling the air with their downy carriers. Wild grasses and grains are
ready for the gatherers, and the maize will shortly be ready for the
harvest.
While at Lake Superior, some time ago, we saw Chippewa Indians in their
birch-bark canoes, anchored in what seemed to be a very reedy bay. We
found out that the bay was filled with wild rice instead of reeds and
rushes. It was the time of their wild-rice gathering. Two moons are
given names referring to wild rice: September is the Ripe-rice Moon;
October is often called the Harvest Moon. With plenty of maize and wild
rice the winter is not dreaded. The Indian puts away his winter stores
with much the same care that his white brother uses; he stores corn in
pits that he digs in the earth. He could learn this from the squirrel.
November is the Moon of Michabo, or Indian Summer. Michabo is another
name for Menabozho, the Chippewa Indian’s manitou friend; he has given
them this second summer of the year, they believe.
December is the Moon of Dropping Horns. The deer lose their long
antlers about this time, and the Indians can find them in the forests
where the deer trails are.
The Indians have twelve moons in their year, the same number that we
have in our calendar.
CUSTOMS OF KICKAPOO, SEMINOLE, AND OTHER TRIBES
The Kickapoo Indians first lived in what is now Illinois. Their present
home is in the Indian Territory. One of their peculiar customs is that
they have a tribe whipper who makes his weekly rounds with his whip to
punish children, and in this way the parents save themselves from the
pain of inflicting punishment upon their children. Indians dislike
rudeness or noisy behavior when there should be quiet. Fire-water, as
they call whiskey, makes them forget the manners their parents taught
them.
Many of the Seminole Indians live in the Everglades of Florida. They
are a tall, dignified, intelligent race, and resent the visits of white
people unless it is shown that the visitor is a friend, for they have
been driven to these Everglades by reason of conquering whites. They
live in roofed huts and cultivate several kinds of crops. They once
owned rich lands in upper Florida and Alabama. Their language is said
to be very musical.
The Cherokee and Natchez tribes once lived in Mississippi and
Louisiana. They were very wise in war and had many things which they
manufactured in times of peace. They carved curious shell ornaments,
which are often found in southern mounds.
The Flathead Indians of the west bind a piece of stiff board upon the
forehead of their papooses. The child’s head flattens as it grows, and
he carries his race mark through life.
The Blackfoot Indians were so called because during a retreat the burnt
prairie grass stained their moccasins as black as the blackest cayuse
or pony.
The term Digger Indians has been given to various tribes conquered and
driven from their fishing and hunting grounds. They live almost wholly
upon roots of weeds or the few insects and small animals found in the
plains of eastern Utah and the surrounding country. The stronger tribes
will not let them fish in lake or stream, and their whole life is
miserable.
The Indians of California were originally very brave and warlike, but
the remnants of the tribes are broken in spirit and seem
broken-hearted. Those which have drifted or have been driven by whites
and red men into the peninsula of southern California are much like the
Diggers.
The different tribes and nations scattered over America seemed to have
known much about metals, although they used stone arrow points and
stone axes when the first explorers visited their homes.
The copper mines of Lake Superior show yet where the Indians have mined
in them. Gold and silver ornaments were used in many tribes to decorate
the braves and their squaws. Shells were carved with sharp tools and
used as ornaments, or cut small into wampum.
Arrowheads were of flint or jasper and were made by the arrow makers of
the tribe. It is said each nation had its own shape of arrowhead. Some
preferred very small points; some chose the larger ones.
The early races of white people in all ancient lands used stone for
many purposes. This first period has been called the Stone Age; this
was followed by the Copper Age; then came the Iron Age. The Indians do
not seem to have used iron before white men came, and were living in
what history would call the Stone Age.
THE INDIANS WHO LIVE IN BRICK HOUSES
The native Indians of the southwestern part of the United States were
much more civilized when discovered than the wandering tribes in other
parts of the country. They have built adobe houses for many centuries.
These houses of mud, brick, and hewn timbers cannot be removed like the
wigwams, teepees, or wickiups of the other tribes. The Spaniards named
these Indians Pueblos, for pueblo is the Spanish word for village.
There are twenty-seven Pueblo towns.
The Pueblos are a peaceful people. They have had time to invent things
that astonish the white men who have seen only the Indians of the
wandering tribes.
The pueblo of Zuñi is in New Mexico, about two hundred miles southeast
of Santa Fé. This Indian town was sought for by Coronado and his
Spanish soldiers. They had heard marvelous stories of the silver, gold,
and jewels owned by the red people living north of Mexico; but the
Pueblos were brave as well as wise, and the history of that Spanish
expedition is sad reading.
The town of Zuñi is built upon a hill, about forty feet above the bank
of the river Zuñi; it covers about fifteen acres. The town is like a
great beehive, for the houses are merely rooms built one over the
other, each family living in a few small rooms which are reached by
means of ladders. Some houses are only two stories high, while others
are fully five stories. The wealthier Indians live in the lower houses,
except the official whose duty it is to give the orders of the governor
from the housetop. He lives with his family in rooms near the roof.
These Zuñi houses are built around two plazas, or squares, with several
streets and covered ways to connect them with the other parts of the
town. The mesa called Thunder Mountain, upon which similar homes were
built by them in ancient times, is very near their peaceful village.
Cliff-dwellings have been found that are entirely deserted, built by a
very ancient people of whom we know little. Curious relics of dishes,
cloth, and ornaments are found in these cliff-dwellings, but no one
knows how many centuries since the empty houses were filled with living
people, and no one knows why they were deserted. Some have thought the
Zuñis are the descendants of this lost race; others think them to be
like the mound-builders.
The Zuñi Indians weave handsome wool blankets in handmade looms. They
invented these looms themselves. They sell or trade these blankets to
Indians of many other tribes.
The Zuñi and other Pueblos make very good dishes of red clay. Their
common cooking ware is much like the dishes seen in wigwams. They make
handsome pitchers, vases, and table dishes of a brown color. They
understand the working and coloring of clay, and the value of the
different kinds. They make a common black ware, which is sometimes used
instead of the red ware.
Their very best work is of a cream-white color, and the vases and
dishes are handsomely decorated with colored borders and pictures. Many
travelers have brought home fine specimens of Zuñi dishes, for their
town is not far from the railroad.
The Navajos live near the Zuñis. Their hogans, or homes, are not so
well made as the Zuñis’ adobe houses; they are low adobe huts. The
Navajos find time and have the skill to do some very good work in
metals, although their tools are rude. They make some use of iron, but
their best work is shown in the making and carving of ornaments and
other articles of silver. They also have invented hand looms and are
blanket weavers.
All the Pueblos make handsome water-tight baskets of elegant shape from
the fibers of the yucca plant. This plant, sometimes called the Spanish
bayonet, from its sharp-pointed leaves, grows to a great size on the
plains. The Pueblos color the fibers in some manner and weave handsome
borders of black, white, or yellow into their baskets. These are used
for flour or meal holders, or for holding water, and are called ollas.
They grind their maize or other grain by hand between stones. They
raise turkeys, and, as they are good weavers, they sometimes use the
turkey feathers in weaving a downy cloth.
The Apaches live near the Pueblos and are well known for their love of
the warpath. They are not Village Indians, yet are noted for their fine
basket weaving. They use the willows found in their country instead of
the yucca fibers.
The different tribes of Pueblos often use stone axes. It is believed
that these are not made by them but were found in the deserted
cliff-dwellers’ homes.
These Village Indians make use of a plant called soaproot, the root of
which will make water foam and will cleanse one’s skin the same as the
white man’s soap. The Indian who lives in a teepee does not know the
use of soap and is not anxious for a bath.
White people have lived for years among the Zuñi and other Pueblos and
have found them patient, kind, and intelligent. Some of these whites
have returned and have written books about the people of whose home
life they have learned so much.
Some of the habits of the Navajos are very odd. After the death of one
of their tribe, his house, or hogan, is pulled down; if this is not
done, every one who enters it fears danger.
A Navajo will not look into the face of the mother of his wife; when
they talk together he looks on the ground or in another direction. It
is said a Navajo once forgot himself and, looking up, became blind.
They believe that the souls of the women of their tribe enter fish when
they leave this world; and they rarely eat fish for that reason. Indian
customs and manners are taught to their children with just as much
earnestness as white people teach their little ones.
All the Pueblos make curious images or dolls of clay. These may
possibly be idols, but are not always, for both old and young sometimes
play with them as toys. They are a religious people. They believe in a
Great Spirit and in a future life. Their forms of worship are very
strange and sometimes cruel.
The tribes called Pueblos of New Mexico are not included with those
which continue to live in the twenty-seven Pueblo towns, for whatever
may have been their customs in past centuries, they are now very
different from the Village Indians, who still live and worship after
the manner of their ancestors.
THE MOKI INDIANS
The Moki Indians live in pueblos the same as the Zuñi people. Their
name is also spelled Moqui and Hopi. The Moki pueblo of Walpi is in
Arizona. It is at the end of a mesa or plateau which rises abruptly
seven hundred feet above the desert. It is here that the great snake
dance is held each alternate autumn.
The Moki weave blankets and cloth for dresses, which they exchange with
other Pueblos for ponies, turquoise beads, and silver ornaments for
neck or hair.
The Moki maidens, like those of a few other tribes, do not leave their
straight black hair hanging down their backs. These maidens put up
their locks in huge puffs over each ear. These puffs are to represent
squash blossoms. The married women braid their hair and sometimes
fasten it in a knot at the back of the head.
All the water used in this elevated pueblo is carried up the seven
hundred feet in clay ollas by the women. It is like a scene in Asia to
see them gathered at evening about the springs at the foot of the mesa.
The Mokis are a very devout people, and their young men are taught
daily in the kivas, or secret rooms, by the wise old men all the sacred
rites and wisdom of their fathers.
Among the Mokis the kiva, or estufa, as the Spanish call it, is
underground; among the Zuñis it is above the ground, but entered at the
top by a ladder. In it is a sacred flat altar, usually surrounded by
prayer-sticks called bahos. These sticks have a feather fastened at the
top, to show that prayer rises.
These bahos are always planted two or three times a year by the water
ways, to do reverence to the water god who shows himself in the
lightning. They believe a serpent is the form lightning takes when on
earth; hence the pictures of these on the prayer-sticks, and sometimes
on the sides of rocks.
There is an order of nuns among the Pueblos called Ko-Ko. These go to
the springs in the early morning and place the bahos in the banks, so
that rain may come on the corn, beans, and pumpkins which have been
planted. No one dares to remove one baho.
The Moki Indians have stories of Coronado’s people, who battled with
them in 1540.
DAKOTA OR SIOUX
The name the French gave the fierce, strong Dakotas is Sioux, which is
the way they pronounced the name given them by their Algonquin
neighbors. This has become the name of the people, and Dakota is the
language which they speak.
They are divided into many bands, each with a chief for a leader. His
friends and relatives move their teepees wherever this chief thinks
best on the land the Great Father in Washington has reserved for them.
They are very brave and have many wise men among them. The chiefs of
the bands are always ready to follow what the head chief of the nation
commands. The head chief has learned that the Great Father in
Washington has more warriors than he, and so the Sioux are not sent on
the warpath any more.
The buffalo and antelope are gone from the prairie. There is not meat
enough in the woods, and the warlike Sioux has now to come to the
Indian agency to get his rations. It is a fine sight to see the teepees
of the bands when they have gathered at the agency. Even here they show
their respect to the head chief and his followers, for his teepees are
placed in the center of the camp. The greatest chief comes next, and so
on, till the weakest band places its teepees last.
The Sioux who have been long in the south do not speak like their
northern relatives. For example, they say Lakota instead of Dakota. The
northern bands laugh at their southern brothers, and think they have
been trying to become different. Many Sioux boys and girls are in the
schools at the agencies learning to write and to read in English. They
are very quick to learn and can draw very well.
The Sioux women make such beautiful beadwork that a white woman thought
it wise to teach them to make lace of the choicest kind. The young
squaws and some of the Indian boys have learned to make this rare point
lace with care and wonderful neatness. They cannot use it; but the
money they get for it buys food and clothes for them and their
relatives.
INDIAN GAMES
The Dakotas play their ball games in the hot moons of the summer and in
the cold moons of the winter. The prairies give wide room for the games
in summer, and the ice on the many lakes serves as winter ball grounds
for them.
Large spaces are needed, for there are many players. There is only one
ball, but there are as many bats as players. The bats are about thirty
inches long, with a loop at the lower end; this is laced across with
deer sinew, to make a pocket in which the ball is caught and thrown.
The center of the ball ground is chosen. Stakes are set many feet away
from the center, on opposite sides, as the bounds for the game. Two
parties of equal numbers are chosen. Each party chooses its own leader
or chief.
The chief of one side drops his ball into the pocket of his bat and
tosses it toward the center ground between the stakes. Both sides rush
toward the place where the ball may fall, each brave hoping he may be
the lucky one to catch it; whoever gets the ball tosses it with his bat
into the air toward his side of the grounds. Then the screaming,
howling mob of players tears across the field to the place where the
ball may fall again. The ball is thrown and contended for until one
side succeeds in throwing it beyond the bounds of the opposite party.
The prizes for the winning side have hung all this time on the prize
pole; and dangling in the air, waiting the finish of the game, are the
knives, tomahawks, blankets, moccasins, fine buffalo and deerskin robes
which the winners will divide among themselves. Indian girls play the
same game and with nearly as much vigor and skill as their brothers.
Always, at these games, the old men and squaws sit or stand at the
outside of the ball ground, a mass of interested spectators.
The ball game in some form, it seems, has been the national game on
American soil since before American history began.
The plum-stone game was and is yet played by the northern Indian
tribes. The Dakotas call it kansookootaype, which simply means
“shooting plum-stones.” Each plum-stone is painted black on one side
and red on the other side. The stones are also cut on one side to make
them of different value according to the meaning of the marks cut.
These black and red stones are put into a large shallow dish of clay or
metal. The dish is struck against the nearest object with a sharp blow.
The stones fall black or red side up, and the betting on the number of
black or red stones makes the game.
It is pure gambling. The prizes are valuable,—furs, clothing, food,
everything goes in the excitement of the game. An Indian may be
beggared in a minute.
Father Hennepin describes the excitement of the game in his
Descriptions of Louisiana, published in Paris in 1683. This book is a
description of his travels at that time in the valley of the
Mississippi to the Falls of St. Anthony and beyond. Father Hennepin
said:
“There are some so given to the game that they will gamble away even
their greatcoat. Those who conduct the game scream at the top of their
voices when they rattle the platter; and they strike their shoulders so
hard as to make themselves black and blue with the blow.”
The Indian boys have their pony races and running matches. They play
much like white boys, but with more cruelty.
SIOUX AND CHIPPEWAS OF MINNESOTA
The Iroquois drove the Chippewas, or Ojibways, from their hunting
grounds and from fishing in many waters in central New York; as the
bands increased and more needed food, many started westward, and
Chippewa names of lakes and rivers mark their progress toward the
Mississippi. They made a long halt at the Sault Ste. Marie, for many
fish were in these waters, but there was no place to plant their corn.
They built their wigwam fires farther westward each year, until they
reached what is now northern Minnesota. Here they found the Dakotas, or
Sioux, had possession of the beautiful lake region, which was so nearly
like the country by the River of Islands in the east.
The Chippewas had no wish to go back, and their warriors and chiefs
were too brave to think that even the fierce western tribes could
conquer them. They built their wigwams on islands and points of land
projecting into the lake, for these made good places of landing for
their birch-bark canoes, and also gave them a better chance to watch
for their enemies than in the thick forests of pine, birch, and cedar.
Each band of Chippewas has yet many stories to tell of the terrible
battles with the “nadoway-sioux,” as the French trappers and hunters
call the Algonquin word which means “hidden enemies.” This warfare
began years before the time of our war of the Revolution and did not
end for nearly a century. The Chippewas fought for their new home very
bravely, and the Sioux were just as brave in trying to hold what they
believed to be the center of the world and nearest like the Happy
Hunting Grounds of the future life. There is a very extensive view of
the Mississippi at its junction with the Minnesota which is called by
the Indians Mendota, or the “gathering of the waters.” The contending
tribes fought fiercely to hold or to obtain this place, for here these
red men, with their love for the beautiful in nature, had decided was
where many of their gods liked best to stay. The building of Fort
Snelling at this point and the arrival of white men put a stop to the
battles, and neither tribe could claim Mendota.
The Great Father in Washington made a treaty with the Chippewas whereby
they hold much of their hard-won lake region as long as they keep their
treaty promises; now that there is peace between the Indian nations
they are willing to admit that each had many heroes in war and council.
During the conflict a trader attempted to bargain with the Sioux for
furs, after having had dealings with a band of Chippewas. This band,
wild with fury at what they called the trader’s treachery, broke open
his storehouse and destroyed or took all his stores of furs and other
articles. They were called Pillagers by the French and other bands, and
hold the name yet and are proud of it, for the deed was done openly and
for the sake of their nation.
The Pillagers are nearly all Blanket Indians. They live in wigwams in
summer and cover these with bark huts in winter for greater warmth. The
wigwams are covered with woven mats made of reeds or grass and birch
bark. The huts are like a one-room house and are covered also with pine
or birch bark. Each spring these Indians make large quantities of maple
sugar, which they pack in mokuks, or birch-bark baskets, and sell or
exchange at the stores in towns. During the summer they pick and sell
the berries which grow near the woods and lakes. They have gardens of
maize, squash, pumpkins, beans, and onions, and some raise potatoes.
Their meat supply is getting scarce, as the deer, moose, and bear are
being hunted so freely by white men. The men often dress in true Indian
costumes, with buckskin leggings, beadwork ornaments, blankets, and a
feather in their scalp lock if they have killed an enemy; this honor is
hard to give up, and even a murderer of one of his own tribe has dared
to wear the eagle feather.
There is a large government school at Leech Lake, and many of the boys
and girls have learned the customs and books of the white people, but
when they return to their wigwam homes there is little chance to change
the home life, except in very simple ways.
Some of the finest work in lace, which has been taught in the Indian
schools, has been done by these Chippewas at Leech Lake. They were so
artistic in their bead and basket work that a lady who saw the point
lace made in the mission schools in Japan decided to teach it to all
the squaws who would learn the art. Their success has been a pleasure
to her and to them. It brings the money with which to buy food.
The lakes near the source of the Great River abound in wild rice, which
is gathered in August and stored in mokuks for winter use. The wild
swan, geese, and ducks also feed upon it, and they make good hunting.
The extensive pine forests owned by the Chippewas have attracted many
white men who are trying to gain possession of them, but the wise
chiefs know their value and their people’s need, and they remember the
years of warfare when the land was won; neither have they yet broken
their treaty promises. A few years ago the courts wanted several of the
Leech Lake Indians for witnesses in a trial. It was cold, and if the
men went their families would suffer, for they must be gone some weeks.
The old chief would not let them go until the government promised money
to support their families. The white men in council did not think best
to make the promise, and the chief refused to send the witnesses. The
soldiers came to take the men forcibly. There was a battle, and
soldiers fell and much money was spent, but still the chief has not
given up the men. The white people feel that the Indian chief had much
in his favor, for he would not see his people suffer; the squaws and
papooses must be cared for, and he had not the money with which to buy
food for them.
The Sioux in southern Minnesota made an uprising during the Civil War.
Some friendly Indians warned the whites of the coming troubles and
helped them to escape. A monument erected in 1900 to these good Indians
shows the friendly feeling of the whites to their rescuers. These
Indians were called traitors by the Sioux and had to flee for their own
lives. Some of them settled at Mendota and are much respected by their
white friends. The son of one became an Episcopal minister. The present
chief of all the Chippewas is also a minister of the same church and an
able leader of his people.
CHIEF LOGAN AND OTHERS
The Delaware Indians of eastern Pennsylvania have always called the
Iroquois the Mingo Indians.
Skikelling was a Mingo. He was chief of the Cayugas, one of the most
intelligent tribes of the Iroquois union. The son of Skikelling was
also a chief. He is celebrated in the history of Pennsylvania as Chief
Logan.
When a babe Chief Logan was brought by his father to Fort Augusta in
1742, to be baptized by the Moravian missionaries. Hence his American
name, which is famous in history and romance.
There was another Chief Logan who was for a time chief among the
Delawares. This chief lost an eye in a battle and was then deprived of
his position, as a chief must be physically perfect.
History has preserved the names of numbers of Indians famous in war and
peace.
Samoset, who greeted the Pilgrims with the cordial “Welcome,
Englishmen,” is one of the first on the list. Squanto, Massasoit,
Canonicus, Miantonomoh are well known in New England history. These are
the names of men who kept their promises and fought bravely for their
white friends.
King Philip saw the ruin of his country and people and commanded an
uprising. He was a terrible warrior, and his name is both famous and
infamous. Tecumseh, Red Cloud, Black Hawk, and others are well known in
western history. These names and hundreds of others are kept in memory
as the names of cities, rivers, or lakes.
A NAVAJO MEDICINE CHANT
The Navajos give a medicine dance and chant a long song when a sick
person asks for this service. This chant is the story in song of the
capture and escape of a young Navajo brave. He is helped by his
people’s gods, who are like the creatures that live in his own country.
This is the part of the chant telling of his escape:
“He came to the house of the Butterfly. It was filled with butterflies
and rainbows.
“Kacluge, the great Butterfly, welcomed him to his lodge. His wife took
the young brave by the hand. He was welcome.
“She left the room, but came back with a great pearl dish in her hand.
It was a sea-shell filled with water. She gave him soapweed. He washed
and was white. He dried his hands with meal and painted his face with
white earth; then he was fair as a white man.
“Kacluge gave him fine white moccasins. He gave him a collar of beaver
skin, and a whistle to call for help.
“His arms looked like wings, for plumed prayer-sticks were fastened to
them in the Butterfly’s lodge.
“The young man was no longer tired. He was strong again, and like a
white butterfly in beauty. Kacluge fed him with white corn meal mixed
with pure water. He slept in the house of the Butterfly.
“In the morning the young Navajo stepped on the white sand. The wife of
the Butterfly put two burning lines of white lightning before his feet.
He stepped upon these, and his white moccasins fastened to the
lightning.
“‘Now,’ said the Butterfly, ‘the lightning is yours; follow where it
leads.’
“With one step he stood on a high hill. He saw a flash of lightning
fill the valley.
“‘It is the trail I must follow,’ said the young Navajo. Across the
valley, on the trail of the lightning, he ran to the mountains; and
now, pure in face, in heart, and with white feet, the lightning led him
home.”
Adapted from Powell’s Report.
HOW THE CAVE PEOPLE FOUND DRY LAND ON THE EARTH
(Zuñi Chant)
In the old days all men lived in caves in the center of the earth.
There were four caves, one over the other. Men first lived in the
lowest cave. It was dark. There was no light, and the cave was crowded.
All men were full of sorrow.
“The Holder of the Paths of Life, the Sun-father, heard the people cry.
He created two children for himself, and they fell to the earth to help
the cave people.
“The Sun-father gave his two children eternal youth. He gave them power
to do things as he would do them. He gave them gifts. One gift was a
painted bow that reached from one end of the sky to the farther end. It
was the rainbow. He gave them an arrow of fire. It was the lightning.
He gave them a great shield like his own. The shield was a net of
cotton cords on a hoop of wood, and the last gift, a great magic war
knife of flint, was fastened to the center of the shield.
“After the two children had cut the face of the earth with the stone
war knife, they rode on the magic shield to the lowest cave where men
lived. There they lived with mankind as leaders.
“The priests prayed to the Sun-children for help in the darkness. The
Sun-children led mankind into the second cave; it was still all
darkness. Men asked the priests to pray for more help. They came to the
Sun-children, and the people were led into the third world or cave.
“This was a larger world than the other two. It was like twilight in
this cave, but at first all thought that they had reached the blazing
sun, it was so light.
“After a thousand years this cave became crowded. Men sought the
priests and prayed them to find some way to help them.
“The two Sun-children cut their way through the cave above them, and
led the people out upon the earth. It was only a small island, for all
the rest was water.
“Men covered their faces with their hands, for the light made them
blind. They fell down and tried to hide in the sand, they were so hot.
The people were taught to make clothing of yucca fiber. Their eyes were
like owls’ eyes, and they covered them with their hands till they were
strong.
“The Sun-children led the people over the quaking earth to the east,
where the Sun-father had his home.
“The Sun-children were told to dry the earth. They put the magic shield
upon the earth and laid the rainbow upon it. They put arrows of
lightning to the north, south, east, and west, and the arrows crossed
each other. The older brother shot with an arrow the lightning arrows
where they crossed upon the rainbow.
“Thlu-tchu! the lightning arrows shot toward every point. Fire rolled
over the face of the earth. The earth was dried when the fire storm was
over.
“The earth was then full of great beasts that had lived in the water.
The Sun-children shot the beasts with their arrows; then the beasts
became stone. The people were free to go on the earth wherever they
wanted to go.
“Thus the people were led out of the deep caves; thus the land became
dry, and men came to live on the earth.”
From report by F. H. Cushing, who was adopted by the Zuñis.