_Original Domain._--The New World. The chief sub-divisions were as
follows:
(1) NORTH AMERICAN: _Eskimo_, _Athabascan_ (Chippewaian, Taculli, Hupa,
Apache, Navajo); _Algonquian_ (Cree, Chippewa, Mohican, Delaware,
Shawnee, Cheyenne, Illinois, etc.); _Iroquoian_ (Erie, Huron, Mohawk,
Tuscarora, Cherokee, etc.); _Siouan_ (Dakota, Assinaboin, Missouri,
Iowa, Winnebago, Mandan, Tutelo, Catawba); _Muskhogean_ (Seminole,
Choktaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Alibamu, Apalachi); _Salish_; _Shoshone_;
_Pawnee_; _Pueblo_ (Zuñi, Hopi, Tegua).
(2) CENTRAL AMERICAN: _Opata-Pima_ (Yuma, Cora, Tarahumara, Tepeguana);
_Nahuan_ (Aztec, Huichol, Pipil, Niquiran); _Maya-Quiché_ (Huaxtec,
Maya, Lacandon, Quiché, Pocoman, Zendal, Chol, Zotzil, Cachiquel, Mamé);
_Zapotec_; _Mixtec_ (Mixé); _Lencan_ (Chontal, Wulwa, Rama, Guatusa);
_Bribri_; _Cuna_.
(3) SOUTH AMERICAN: _Chibcha_; _Choco_; _Quichua_ (Inca, Chanca);
_Aymara_ (Colla, Calchaqui); _Antisuyu_; _Jivaro_; _Zaparo_; _Pano_;
_Ticuna_; _Chuncho_; _Carib_ (Macusi, Akawai, Bakairi, Arecuna);
_Arawak_; (Atorai, Wapisiana, Naypure, Parexi); _Warrau_; _Chiquito_;
_Bororo_; _Botocudo_; _Tupi-Guarani_ (Chiriguana, Caribuna, Goajira,
Omogua, Mundrucu); _Payagua_; _Mataco_; _Toba_; _Araucan_; _Puelche_,
_Tehuelche_ (Patagonian); _Fuegian_ (Ona, Yahgan, Alakaluf.)
PRESENT RESTRICTED DOMAIN.--The Arctic seaboard, Greenland, Alaska;
numerous reservations and some unsettled parts of the United States and
Canada; most tribes of Mexico, Central and South America are partly
intermingled with the whites and blacks and still partly in the tribal
state. By far the greater part of the native tribes never progressed
beyond the savage state, except in the United States and Canada, where
during the past quarter century, and particularly during the last
decade, the Indians have rapidly advanced in civilization.
RELIGION.--Shamanism was widely diffused among the North America
aborigines. But still more prevalent is the cult of the aërial gods, who
support the four quarters of the heavens, and of animals (bear, wolf,
raven, jaguar) which has given rise to strange wehrwolf superstitions,
and to totemistic systems similar to those of the Australian natives.
Solar worship prevailed in Peru, while the cultured peoples of Mexico
(Aztecs, Mayas, Zapotecs and others) had developed a complete pantheon
of ferocious deities, such as _Tezcatlipoca_, _Quetzalcoatl_ and
_Tlaloc_, whose thirst for human blood was insatiable. Thus arose an
established order of priests, who sacrificed human victims on solemn
occasions, and presided over other sanguinary rites often accompanied by
unutterable horrors. Aztec women cast their infants into the Mexican
lagoons to propitiate the Rain-god _Tlaloc_.
Some modern races, like the Zuñis, have an elaborate and highly mystical
ritual, to the exhibitions of which none but the initiated are
admissible. The snake-dance of the Moquis of Arizona is a most curious
ceremonial and attracts many visitors. The ritual of the Roman Catholic
Church has strong attractions for the Indian; and the less elaborate
service of the Episcopalians has in several instances helped to win over
to Christianity tribes which had long rejected the teachings of
missionaries of other denominations.