stone, usually on the top of a hill, or other high place. The Aztecs
were an ancient Mexican people who practiced this kind of sacrifice as a
part of their religion. If it was from them the Corn Woman obtained the
seed, it must have been before they moved south to Mexico City, where
the Spaniards found them in the sixteenth century.
A _teocali_ was an Aztec temple.
MOKE-ICHA'S STORY
A _tipi_ is the sort of tent used by the Plains Indians, made of tanned
skins. It is sometimes called a _lodge_, and the poles on which the
skins are hung are usually cut from the tree which for this reason is
called the lodge-pole pine. It is important to remember things like
this. By knowing the type of house used, you can tell more about the
kind of life lived by that tribe than by any other one thing. When the
poles were banked up with earth the house was called an _earth lodge_.
If thatched with brush and grass, a _wickiup_. In the eastern United
States, where huts were covered with bark, they were generally called
_wigwams_. In the desert, if the house was built of sticks and earth or
brush, it was called a _hogan_, and if of earth made into rude bricks,
a _pueblo_.
The Queres Indians live all along the Rio Grande in pueblos, since there
is no need of their living now in the cliffs. You can read about them at
Ty-uonyi in "The Delight-Makers."
A _kiva_ is the underground chamber of the house, or if not underground,
at least without doors, entered from the top by means of a ladder.
_Shipapu_, the place from which the Queres and other pueblo Indians
came, means, in the Queres language, "Black Lake of Tears," and
according to the Zuñi, "Place of Encompassing Mist," neither of which
sounds like a pleasant place to live. Nevertheless, all the Queres
expect to go there when they die. It is the Underworld from which the
Twin Brothers led them when the mud of the earliest world was scarcely
dried, and they seem to have gone wandering about until they found
Ty-uonyi, where they settled.
The stone puma, which Moke-icha thought was carved in her honor, can
still be seen on the mesa back from the river, south of Tyuonyi. But the
Navajo need not have made fun of the Cliff-Dwellers for praying to a
puma, since the Navajos of to-day still say their prayers to the bear.
The Navajos are a wandering tribe, and pretend to despise all people who
live in fixed dwellings.
The "ghosts of prayer plumes," which Moke-icha saw in the sky, is the
Milky Way. The Queres pray by the use of small feathered sticks planted
in the ground or in crevices of the rocks in high and lonely places. As
the best feathers for this purpose are white, and as everything is
thought of by Indians as having a spirit, it was easy for them to think
of that wonderful drift of stars across the sky as the spirits of
prayers, traveling to Those Above. If ever you should think of making a
prayer plume for yourself, do not on any account use the feathers of owl
or crow, as these are black prayers and might get you accused of
witchcraft.
The _Uakanyi_, to which Tse-tse wished to belong, were the Shamans of
War; they had all the secrets of strategy and spells to protect a man
from his enemies. There were also Shamans of hunting, of medicine and
priestcraft.
It was while the Queres were on their way from Shipapu that the
Delight-Makers were sent to keep the people cheerful. The white mud with
which they daubed themselves is a symbol of light, and the corn leaves
tied in their hair signify fruitfulness, for the corn needs cheering up
also. There must be something in it, for you notice that clowns, whose
business it is to make people laugh, always daub themselves with white.
THE MOUND-BUILDER'S STORY
The Mound-Builders lived in the Mississippi Valley about a thousand
years ago. They built chiefly north of the Ohio River, until they were
driven out by the Lenni-Lenape about five hundred years before the
English and French began to settle that country. They went south and are
probably the same people we know as Creeks and Cherokees.
_Tallegewi_ is the only name for the Mound-Builders that has come down
to us, though some people insist that it ought to be _Allegewi_, and the
singular instead of being _Tallega_ should be _Allega_.
The _Lenni-Lenape_ are the tribes we know as Delawares. The name means
"Real People."
The _Mingwe_ or _Mingoes_ are the tribes that the French called
Iroquois, and the English, Five Nations. They called themselves "People
of the Long House." _Mingwe_ was the name by which they were known to
other tribes, and means "stealthy," "treacherous." All Indian tribes
have several names.
The _Onondaga_ were one of the five nations of the Iroquois. They lived
in western New York.
_Shinaki_ was somewhere in the great forest of Canada. _Namaesippu_
means "Fish River," and must have been that part of the St. Lawrence
between Lakes Erie and Huron.
The _Peace Mark_ was only one of the significant ways in which Indians
painted their faces. The marks always meant as much to other Indians as
the device on a knight's shield meant in the Middle Ages.
_Scioto_ means "long legs," in reference to the river's many branches.
_Wabashiki_ means "gleaming white," on account of the white limestone
along its upper course. _Maumee_ and _Miami_ are forms of the same word,
the name of the tribe that once lived along those waters.
_Kaskaskia_ is also the name of a tribe and means, "They scrape them
off," or something of that kind, referring to the manner in which they
get rid of their enemies, the Peorias.
The Indian word from which we take _Sandusky_ means "cold springs," or
"good water, here," or "water pools," according to the person who
uses it.
You will find all these places on the map.
"_G'we_!" or "_Gowe_!" as it is sometimes written, was the war cry of
the Lenape and the Mingwe on their joint wars. At least that was the way
it sounded to the people who heard it. Along the eastern front of these
nations it was softened to "_Zowie_!" and in that form you can hear the
people of eastern New York and Vermont still using it as slang.
THE ONONDAGA'S STORY
The _Red Score_ of the Lenni-Lenape was a picture writing made in red
chalk on birch bark, telling how the tribe came down out of Shinaki and
drove out the Tallegewi in a hundred years' war. Several imperfect
copies of it are still in existence and one nearly perfect
interpretation made for the English colonists. It was in the nature of
short-hand memoranda of the most interesting items of their tribal
history, but unless Oliver and Dorcas Jane meet somebody in the Museum
country who knew the Tellings that went with the Red Score, it is
unlikely we shall ever know just what did happen.
Any early map of the Ohio Valley, or any good automobile map of the
country south and east of the Great Lakes, will give the
_Muskingham-Mahoning Trail_, which was much used by the first white
settlers in that country. The same is true of the old Iroquois Trade
Trail, as it is still a well-traveled country road through the heart of
New York State. _Muskingham_ means "Elk's Eye," and referred to the
clear brown color of the water. _Mahoning_ means "Salt Lick," or, more
literally, "There a Lick."
_Mohican-ittuck_, the old name for the Hudson River, means the river of
the Mohicans, whose hunting-grounds were along its upper reaches.
_Niagara_ probably means something in connection with the river at that
point, the narrows, or the neck. According to the old spelling it should
have been pronounced Nee-ä-gär'-ä, but it isn't.
_Adirondack_ means "Bark-Eaters," a local name for the tribe that once
lived there and in seasons of scarcity ate the inner bark of the
birch tree.
_Algonquian_ is a name for one of the great tribal groups, several
members of which occupied the New England country at the beginning of
our history. The name probably means "Place of the Fish-Spearing," in
reference to the prow of the canoe, which was occupied by the man with
the fish spear. The Eastern Algonquians were all canoers.
_Wabaniki_ means "Eastlanders," people living toward the East.
The American Indians, like all other people in the world, believed in
supernatural beings of many sorts, spirits of woods and rocks,
Underwater People and an Underworld. They had stories of ghosts and
flying heads and giants. Most of the tribes believed in animals that,
when they were alone, laid off their animal skins and thought and
behaved as men. Some of them thought of the moon and stars as other
worlds like ours, inhabited by people like us who occasionally came to
earth and took away with them mortals whom they loved. In the various
tribal legends can be found the elements of almost every sort of
European fairy tale.
_Shaman_ is not an Indian word at all, but has been generally adopted as
a term of respect to indicate men or women who became wise in the things
of the spirit. Sometimes a knowledge of healing herbs was included in
the Shaman's education, and often he gave advice on personal matters.
But the chief business of the Shaman was to keep man reconciled with the
spirit world, to persuade it to be on his side, or to prevent the
spirits from doing him harm. A Shaman was not a priest, nor was he
elected to office, and in some tribes he did not even go to war, but
stayed at home to protect the women and children. Any one could be a
Shaman who thought himself equal to it and could persuade people to
believe in him.
_Taryenya-wagon_ was the Great Spirit of the Five Nations, who was also
called "Holder of the Heavens."
Indian children always belong to the mother's side of the house. The
only way in which the Shaman's son could be born an Onondaga was for the
mother to be adopted into the tribe before the son was born. Adoptions
were very common, orphans, prisoners of war, and even white people being
made members of the tribe in this way.
THE SNOWY EGRET'S STORY
The Great Admiral was, of course, Christopher Columbus. You will find
all about him and the other Spanish gentlemen in the school history.
Something special deserves to be said about Panfilo de Narvaez, since it
was he who set the Spanish exploration of the territory of the United
States in motion. He landed on the west coast of Florida in 1548, and
after penetrating only a little way into the interior was driven out by
the Indians. But he left Juan Ortiz, one of his men, a prisoner among
them, who was afterward discovered by Soto and became his interpreter
and guide.
There is no good English equivalent for Soto's title of _Adelantado_. It
means the officer in charge of a newly discovered country. _Cay_ is an
old Spanish word for islet. "Key" is an English version of the same
word. _Cay Verde_ is "Green Islet."
The pearls of _Cofachique_ were fresh-water pearls, very good ones, too,
such as are still found in many American rivers and creeks.
The Indians that Soto found were very likely descended from the earlier
Mound-Builders of the Ohio Valley. They showed a more advanced
civilization, which was natural, since it was four or five hundred years
after the Lenni-Lenape drove them south. Later they were called "Creeks"
by the English, on account of the great number of streams in
their country.
_Cacique_ and _Cacica_ were titles brought up by the Spaniards from
Mexico and applied to any sort of tribal rulers. They are used in all
the old manuscripts and have been adopted generally by modern writers,
since no one knows just what were the native words.
The reason the Egret gives for the bird dances--that it makes the world
work together better--she must have learned from an Indian, since there
is always some such reason back of every primitive dance. It makes the
corn grow or the rain fall or the heart of the enemy to weaken. The
Cofachiquans were not the only people who learned their dances from the
water birds, as the ancient Greeks had a very beautiful one which they
took from the cranes and another from goats leaping on the hills.
THE PRINCESS'S STORY
Hernando de Soto landed first at Tampa Bay in Florida, and after a short
excursion into the country, wintered at Ana-ica Apalache, an Indian town
on Apalachee Bay, the same at which Panfilo de Narvaez had beaten his
spurs into nails to make the boats in which he and most of his men
perished. It was between Tampa and Anaica Apalache that Soto met and
rescued Juan Ortiz, who had been all that time a prisoner and slave to
the Indians.
When the Princess says that Talimeco was a White Town, she means that it
was a Town of Refuge, a Peace Town, in which no killing could be done.
Several Indian tribes had these sanctuaries.
In an account of Soto's expedition, which was written sometime afterward
from the stories of survivors, it is said by one that the Princess went
with him of her own accord, and by another that she was a prisoner. The
truth probably is that if she had not gone willingly, she would have
been compelled. There is also mention of the man to whom she gave the
pearls for assisting at her escape, six pounds of them, as large as
hazel nuts, though the man himself would never tell where he got them.
The story of Soto's death, together with many other interesting things,
can be read in the translation of the original account made by Frederick
Webb Hodge.
THE ROAD-RUNNER'S STORY
Cabeza de Vaca was one of Narvaez's men who was cast ashore in one of
the two boats ever heard from, on the coast of Texas. He wandered for
six years in that country before reaching the Spanish settlements in Old
Mexico, and it was his account of what he saw there and in Florida that
led to the later expeditions of both Soto and Coronado.
Francisco de Coronado brought his expedition up from Old Mexico in 1540,
and reached Wichita in the summer of 1541. His party was the first to
see and describe the buffalo. There is an account of the expedition
written by Castenada, one of his men, translated by Frederick Webb
Hodge, which is easy and interesting reading.
The Seven Cities were the pueblos of Old Zuñi, some of which are still
inhabited. Ruins of the others may be seen in the Valley of Zuñi in New
Mexico. The name is a Spanish corruption of _Ashiwi_, their own name for
themselves. We do not know why the early explorers called the
country "Cibola."
The Colorado River was first called _Rio del Tizón_, "River of the
Brand," by the Spaniards, on account of the local custom of carrying
fire in rolls of cedar bark. Coronado's men were the first to discover
the Grand Cañon.
_Pueblo_, the Spanish word for "town," is applied to all Indians living
in the terraced houses of the southwest. The Zuñis, Hopis, and Queres
are the principal pueblo tribes.
You will find _Tiguex_ on the map, somewhere between the Ty-uonyi and
the place where the Corn Woman crossed the Rio Grande. _Cicuye_ is on
the map as Pecos, in Texas.
The Pawnees at this time occupied the country around the Platte River.
Their name is derived from a word meaning "horn," and refers to their
method of dressing the scalplock with grease and paint so that it stood
up stiffly, ready to the enemy's hand. Their name for themselves is
Chahiksichi-hiks, "Men of men."
THE CONDOR'S STORY
The _Old Zuñi Trail_ may still be followed from the Rio Grande to the
Valley of Zuñi. _El Morro_, or "Inscription Rock," as it is called, is
between Acoma and the city of Old Zuñi which still goes by the name of
"Middle Ant Hill of the World."
In a book by Charles Lummis, entitled _Strange Corners of Our Country_,
there is an excellent description of the Rock and copies of the most
interesting inscriptions, with translations.
The Padres of Southwestern United States were Franciscan Friars who came
as missionaries to the Indians. They were not all of them so unwise as
Father Letrado.
_Peyote_, the dried fruit of a small cactus, the use of which was only
known in the old days to a few of the Medicine Men. The effect was like
that of opium, and gave the user visions.
THE DOG SOLDIER'S STORY
The Cheyenne Country, at the time of this story, was south of the
Pawnees, along the Taos Trail. All Plains Indians move about a great
deal, so that you will not always hear of them in the same neighborhood.
You can read how the Cheyennes were saved from the Hoh by a dog, in a
book by George Bird Grinnell, called the _Fighting Cheyennes_. There is
also an account in that book of how their Medicine Bundle was taken from
them by the Pawnees, and how, partly by force and partly by trickery,
three of the arrows were recovered.
The Medicine Bundle of the tribe is as sacred to them as our flag is to
us. It stands for something that cannot be expressed in any other way.
They feel sure of victory when it goes out with them, and think that if
anything is done by a member of the tribe that is contrary to the
Medicine of the Tribe, the whole tribe will suffer for it. This very
likely is the case with all national emblems; at any rate, it would
probably be safer while our tribe is at war not to do anything contrary
to what our flag stands for. All that is left of the Cheyenne Bundle is
now with the remnant of the tribe in Oklahoma. The fourth arrow is still
attached to the Morning Star Bundle of the Pawnees, where it may be seen
each year in the spring when the Medicine of the Bundle is renewed.
This is the song the Suh-tai boy--the Suh-tai are a sub-tribe of the
Cheyenne--made for his war club:--
"Hickory bough that the wind makes strong,--
I made it--
Bones of the earth, the granite stone,--
I made it--
Hide of the bull to bind them both,--
I made it--
Death to the foe who destroys our land,--
We make it!"
The line that the Suh-tai boy drew between himself and the pursuing
Potawatomi was probably a line of sacred meal, or tobacco dust, drawn
across the trail while saying, "Give me protection from my enemies; let
none of them pass this line. Shield my heart from them. Let not my life
be threatened." Unless the enemy possesses a stronger Medicine, this makes
one safe.
GLOSSARY OF INDIAN AND SPANISH NAMES
[Transcribers Note: ASCII just doesn't contain all the characters
required for the Glossary. This is an _attempt_ at rendering the Glossary.]
ä sounds like a in father
a " " a " bay
a " " a " fat
á " " a " sofa
_e_ " " a " ace
e " " e " met
e " " e " me
e " " e " her
_i_ " " e " eve
i " " i " pin
i " " i " pine
o " " o " note
o " " o " not
u " " oo " food
u " " u " nut
Ä'-co-mä
A-ch_e_'-s_e_
Ä-d_e_-län-tä-do
Äl-tä-pä'-hä
Äl'-vär Nuñez (noon'-yath) Cä-b_e_'-zä (thä) d_e_ Vä'-cä
Än-ä-_i_'-cä
Ä-pach'-e
Ä-pä-lä'-ch_e_
Ä-pun-ke'-wis
Är-äp'-ä-hoes
Är-rum'-pä
Bäl-bo'-ä
B_i_'s-cay'-n_e_
Cabeza de Vaca (cä-b_e_'-thä d_e_ Vä'-cä)
C-c_i_'-cä
Cä-c_i_que'
Cä-ho'-ki-a
Cay Verd'-e
Cen-t_e_-o'-tl_i_
Chä-hik-s_i_-ch_i_'-hiks
Cheyenne (shi-en')
Ch_i_-ä'
Chihuahua (ch_i_-wä'-wa)
C_i_'-bo-lä
C_i_'-cu-y_e_
C_i_'-no-äve
Co-ch_i_'-t_i_
Co-fä-vh_i_'qu_e_
Co-fäque'
Co-man'ch_e_
Cor-t_e_z'
D_i_-n_e_'
_E_l Mor'-ro
_E_s'-t_e_-vän
Frän-c_i_s'-co d_e_ Co-ro-nä'-do
Frän-c_e_s'-co L_e_-trä'-do
Gä-hon'-gä
Gän-dä'-yäh
Hä-lo'-nä
Hä'-w_i_-kuh
Her-nän'-do d_e_ So'-to
H_i_s-pä-n_i_-o'-lä
Ho'-gan
Ho-h_e_'
Ho'-p_i_
Ho-tai' (ti)
How-ka-wän'-dä
_I_'-ró-quois
_I_s'-lay
_I_s-s_i_-wün'
Juan de Oñate (hwän d_e_ on-yä'-t_e_)
Juan Ortiz (hwän or'-t_i_z)
Kä-b_e_y'-d_e_
Kä-nä'-w_á_h
Kás-kas'-kl-_a_
Kät'-zi-mo
K'ia-k_i_'-mä
Ki'-ó-was
Kit-käh-häh'-k_i_
K_i_'-vä
Kó-kó'-mó
Koos-koos'-ki
Kó-shä'-r_e_
Lén'-n_i_-Len-ape'
Lü'-cäs de Ayllon (Il'-yon)
Lujan (lü-hän')
Mahiz (m_ä-iz'_)
Mä'-hüts
Mäl-do-nä'-do
Mät'-sä-k_i_
Mén'-gwé
Mesquite (m_es_-keét')
Mín'-go
Mó-h_í'_-cán-ít'-tück
Mo-k_e_-ích'-ä
M'toü'-lin
Müs-king'-ham
Nä-mae-s_i_p'-pu
Narvaez (när-vä'-_e_th)
Navajo (nä'-vä-hó)
N_i-é'_-tó
Nó'-päl
Nü-ke'-wis
Occatilla (õc-cä-t_i_l'-ya)
Ock-mül'-gée
O'-co-n_ee_
O-cüt'-_e_
O
O-dów'-as
O-g_e'_-ch_ee_
Olla (ól'-yä)
Ong-yä-tás'-s_e_
On-on-da'-gä
O-pä'-tä
O-wén-üng'-ä
Pän-f_i_'-lo de När-vä'-_e_z (_e_th)
Pän-ü'-co
Paw-nee'
P_e_'-cós
P_e_'-dró Mo'-ron
P_e_-r_i_'-co
P_e_-yo'-t_e_
P_i_-rä'-guäs
Pitahaya (pit-ä-hi'-ä)
P_i_-zär'-ro
Ponce (pón'-th_e_) d_e_ L_e_-on'
Pót-ä-wät'-ä-m_i_
Pueblo (pwéb'-tó)
Qu_e_-r_e'_-chos
Qu_e'_-r_e_s
Qu_e_-r_e_-sän'
Qu_í_-v_i'_-rä
R_i'_-tó de los Frijoles (fr_í_-ho'-l_e_s)
Sahuaro (sä-wä'-ró)
Scioto (sí-ó'-to)
Shä'-m_a_n
Sh_i_-nák'-_i_
Sh_i_'p-ä-pü'
Sh_i_-w_i_'-nä
Shó-sho'-n_e_s
Shüng-ä-k_e'_-lä
Sons _e'_-só, ts_e'_-nä
Süh-tai' (ti)
Tä'-kü-Wä'-kin
Täl-_í_-m_e'_-co
Täl-l_e'_-gä
Täl-l_e_-g_e'_-w_i_
Tä'-mäl-Py-we-ack'
Tä'-os
Tär-yen-y_a_-wag'-on
Tejo (ta'-ho)
Ten'-ä-säs
T_e_-o-cäl'-_e_s
Thlä-po-po-k_e_'-ä
T_i_-ä'-kens
Tiguex (t_i_'-gash)
T_i_'-p_i_
Tom'-b_e_s
To-yä-län'-n_e_
Ts_e_-ts_e_-yo'-t_e_
Ts_i_s-ts_i_s'-täs
Tus-cä-loos'-ä
Ty-ü-on'-y_i_
U-ä-kän-y_i_'
Vär'-gäs
Wä-bä-moo'-in
Wä-bä-n_i_'-k_i_
Wä-bä-sh_i_'-k_i_
Wap'-i-ti
W_i_ch'-_i_-täs
Zuñí (zun'-yee)