_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_
It is thus near to Nature that much of the life of the Indian still is;
hence its story, rather than being replete with statistics of commercial
conquests, is a record of the Indian's relations with and his dependence
on the phenomena of the universe--the trees and shrubs, the sun and stars,
the lightning and rain,--for these to him are animate creatures. Even more
than that, they are deified, therefore are revered and propitiated, since
upon them man must depend for his well-being. To the workaday man of our
own race the life of the Indian is just as incomprehensible as are the
complexities of civilization to the mind of the untutored savage.
While primarily a photographer, I do not see or think photographically;
hence the story of Indian life will not be told in microscopic detail, but
rather will be presented as a broad and luminous picture. And I hope that
while our extended observations among these brown people have given no
shallow insight into their life and thought, neither the pictures nor the
descriptive matter will be found lacking in popular interest.
Though the treatment accorded the Indians by those who lay claim to
civilization and Christianity has in many cases been worse than criminal,
a rehearsal of these wrongs does not properly find a place here. Whenever
it may be necessary to refer to some of the unfortunate relations that
have existed between the Indians and the white race, it will be done in
that unbiased manner becoming the student of history. As a body politic
recognizing no individual ownership of lands, each Indian tribe naturally
resented encroachment by another race, and found it impossible to
relinquish without a struggle that which belonged to their people from
time immemorial. On the other hand, the white man whose very own may have
been killed or captured by a party of hostiles forced to the warpath by
the machinations of some unscrupulous Government employe, can see nothing
that is good in the Indian. There are thus two sides to the story, and in
these volumes such questions must be treated with impartiality.
Nor is it our purpose to theorize on the origin of the Indians--a problem
that has already resulted in the writing of a small library, and still
with no satisfactory solution. The object of the work is to record by word
and picture what the Indian is, not whence he came. Even with this in view
the years of a single life are insufficient for the task of treating in
minute detail all the intricacies of the social structure and the arts and
beliefs of many tribes. Nevertheless, by reaching beneath the surface
through a study of his creation myths, his legends and folklore, more than
a fair impression of the mode of thought of the Indian can be gained. In
each instance all such material has been gathered by the writer and his
assistants from the Indians direct, and confirmed, so far as is possible,
through repetition by other members of their tribe.
Ever since the days of Columbus the assertion has been made repeatedly
that the Indian has no religion and no code of ethics, chiefly for the
reason that in his primitive state he recognizes no supreme God. Yet the
fact remains that no people have a more elaborate religious system than
our aborigines, and none are more devout in the performance of the duties
connected therewith. There is scarcely an act in the Indian's life that
does not involve some ceremonial performance or is not in itself a
religious act, sometimes so complicated that much time and study are
required to grasp even a part of its real meaning, for his myriad deities
must all be propitiated lest some dire disaster befall him.
Likewise with their arts, which casual observers have sometimes denied the
Indians; yet, to note a single example, the so-called "Digger" Indians,
who have been characterized as in most respects the lowest type of all our
tribes, are makers of delicately woven baskets, embellished with symbolic
designs and so beautiful in form as to be works of art in themselves.
The great changes in practically every phase of the Indian's life that
have taken place, especially within recent years, have been such that had
the time for collecting much of the material, both descriptive and
illustrative, herein recorded, been delayed, it would have been lost
forever. The passing of every old man or woman means the passing of some
tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other;
consequently the information that is to be gathered, for the benefit of
future generations, respecting the mode of life of one of the great races
of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost for
all time. It is this need that has inspired the present task.
[Illustration: The Fire Drill - Apache]