THE INDIANS AND HOW THEY LIVED.
=66. How the Indians looked; the Clothes they wore.=--Let us now learn a
few things about the Indians as they were before their habits and mode
of life had been changed by contact with white men.
The heads of the Indians were always bare. It was customary for them to
allow one tuft of hair to grow longer than the rest. This was called the
"scalp lock." When a fight had been finished, this lock served as a
convenience to the victor. It enabled him to remove handily the scalp
from the head of a dead enemy, and to carry it easily away as a trophy
of triumph.
The Indians had the curious custom of smearing their faces and their
bodies with red paint. On great occasions, such as the holding of a
tribal council or a war dance, they painted themselves a more brilliant
red. The bright color was believed to give a formidable aspect. They
decked themselves with queer ornaments of many sorts. Around their necks
they wore strings of shining stones, bits of mica, baubles made of
copper, and animals' teeth highly polished. Feathers were held in great
esteem. Success in war entitled the victor to wear eagles' feathers as a
mark of the greatest distinction. In this love of finery the men were
fully as vain as the women.
[Illustration: LONG HOUSE OF THE IROQUOIS INDIANS.]
The clothing of the Indians was, for the most part, fashioned out of the
dried skins of animals, such as the deer and the beaver, whose flesh had
been used for food. Unlike that of civilized people, this clothing was
seldom or never changed, but was worn till it was worn out. If not
unwashable, it was rarely washed. The "noble red man" was not a model of
cleanliness. He had never heard of soap.
=67. What the Indians had to eat.=--The food of the Indians varied with
the place and the season, but game and fish were the principal articles.
Their game was chiefly deer, bears, moose, raccoons, foxes, wild geese,
and wild turkeys. Having no salt nor spices, no bread nor potatoes,
neither milk, butter, nor cheese, their living must have lacked such
relish as we give to ours.
In the settled villages the Indians cultivated rude gardens. In these
they raised corn, beans, squashes, and tobacco; but, considering the
crudeness of their tools, we must suppose that the crops were scanty.
The squaws used to cook corn and beans together, making _succotash_.
Both the dish and the name have come to us from the Indians. Green corn
they used to roast in hot ashes, very much as we sometimes do now at
clambakes or other outings. Meat they commonly cooked by thrusting a
stick through it and holding it over the fire; but they sometimes boiled
it in rude earthen pots. Fish they broiled on a frame of sticks.
=68. The Indian's Struggle for a Living.=--The principal work of the
Indians was to get food enough. They did not hunt or fish merely for
sport, as men and boys of our time are apt to do. To the Indian, hunting
was the serious task of providing for his family and himself. At times
the supply became very slight. It was especially so in the winter. Then
they really suffered from hunger, and were forced to eat ground-nuts and
acorns--anything to keep alive. But when they had had good hunting they
would eat enormously. At times, when game was scarce, different tribes
would have savage fights for the best hunting ground.
Their only drink was water. After the white man came they learned the
use of rum and whiskey, and would pay a great price for what they called
"fire water." On the other hand, the white man learned from the Indian
the use of tobacco. It was a bad bargain both ways.
=69. Hardships of the Indian Women.=--The Indian warriors occupied
themselves with war and the chase. They looked upon ordinary labor as
degrading, and fit only for women. These they treated very much as
slaves. The squaw did all the everyday work--building the wigwam,
raising the crops, making the clothes, and weaving bark mats for the
beds. On journeys the women carried their infants, or papooses, on their
backs.
With some tribes woman held a higher place. She had a considerable
degree of influence in public matters, and often decided the question of
peace or war. She could even drive away her husband if he failed to
bring home game or fish enough for the family.
=70. The Indians' Weapons.=--Indian wars were conducted in a manner
entirely different from that of civilized nations. The weapons were the
bow and arrow, the hatchet of sharp stone, and the war club. The
bowstring was made of Indian hemp or the sinews of the deer. The
arrowhead was of sharp flint or bone; its point was often made of an
eagle's claw or the spur of a wild turkey. The stone hatchet, called
"tomahawk," had a long handle and was a powerful weapon.
[Illustration: INDIAN WAR CLUB.]
After the Indians had seen the white man's guns, hatchets, and knives,
and could obtain such things for themselves, the use of their own rude
weapons was abandoned.
Gunpowder was for a long time a mystery to the Indians. At first they
thought that it grew from the ground, like the tobacco plant. It is said
they once sowed some of it in the spring, expecting to see it take root
and grow. They supposed every white person knew how to make it; and so,
once upon a time, when they had captured two young girls, they tried to
force them to make a supply of it.
[Illustration: INDIAN STONE HATCHET.]
=71. How the Indians fought.=--In battle, Indians did not come out in fair
and open fight, as is the custom of white men; but their skill consisted
in surprises, shooting from behind rocks and trees, skulking around at
night, and killing the enemy asleep. Captives in war were frequently
tortured in the most barbarous ways; sometimes they were tied to trees
and were slowly burned to death or were shot. But it was a high standard
of Indian valor to bear the sharpest pain without flinching, with never
a groan or any sign of suffering.
[Illustration: INDIAN CALUMET OR PIPE OF PEACE.]
The Indians, believing as they did that all animals were protecting or
unfriendly spirits, often addressed them as if they were human beings.
The story is told of an Indian who shot at a large bear and wounded him.
The bear fell and lay whining and groaning. The Indian went up to him
and said: "Bear, you are a coward, and no warrior. You know that your
tribe and mine are at war, and that yours began it. If you had wounded
me, I would not have uttered a sound; and yet you sit here and cry and
disgrace your tribe."
=72. The Use made of Wampum, or Indian Money.=--Indians had little use for
gold or silver, but they had something in its place, which they called
"wampum." This was made of bits of seashells like beads. The pieces had
a hole in the center, so that they could be strung in long strips or
made into belts.
Wampum was used for a long time as regular money or the medium of
exchange between the Indians and the whites, and even between one white
and another. Strings of it were passed around for purposes of trade, as
we now use coins of silver and gold. But after a while, as seashells
became plentiful, wampum became almost worthless, and then the Indians
were glad enough to take the white man's silver money.
[Illustration: TREATY-BELT MADE OF WAMPUM.]
Among some of the tribes, bands of wampum were woven into ornamental
belts, and these were decorated with colored beads combined into
striking figures and designs. The wampum belts were often given as a
pledge that the giver would faithfully live up to certain terms of a
treaty.
=73. Indian Tools and Snowshoes.=--As the Indians had so little to work
with--no iron for knives, nor tools of any kind except flinty stones
made sharp and called "hatchets"--it is wonderful how ingenious they
were in supplying their personal wants. They kneaded in oil and
softened with heat the furry skins of animals, and from these they made
excellent garments for winter. From dried deerskins they fashioned a
sort of soft serviceable shoe called the "moccasin." This was wrought
from a single piece of the leather. It fitted snugly to the foot and was
tied with strips of buckskin at the ankle.
The danger of starving in the winter when the snow was deep led the
Indians to invent the snowshoe. This was made of a light framework of
ash, filled with meshes of rawhide, thus presenting a broad surface to
the snow. By this contrivance the Indians could travel in winter as
easily as in summer.
It is said that an Indian upon snowshoes could easily travel forty miles
a day. Strangely enough, all the cunning of the white man has never
availed to make anything better for such a purpose.
=74. Indians as Hunters.=--The Indian contrived ingenious traps for
catching bears, moose, and other sorts of game. One of these devices
consisted of a long and heavy log, carefully balanced upon a post placed
upright in the ground, with a log attached to one end of it. The roving
animal would approach, and by jumping attempt to get the bait that was
so attractive. The movement would cause the log to fall, and thus,
perhaps, the creature would be killed.
Fish were killed by shooting them with the arrow as they swam; or they
were caught with hooks of bone, or taken in rivers by means of a weir,
or brush fence, fixed across the stream. Sometimes they were taken in
nets woven from the bark of the elm, and in traps of wickerwork not
unlike the lobster pots now in use.
The Indians had a remarkable faculty, resembling that of the
ventriloquist, whereby they could imitate the voices of woodland
creatures--the hoot of the owl, the cry of the wild turkey, the howl of
the wolf. By this means they could readily attract animals of various
species to a spot where they might easily kill them. Even hostile
Indians out searching for game were in this manner sometimes allured to
the place of danger.
=75. Story illustrating the Indian's Keen Observation.=--It is marvelous
what quick eyes the Indian had to see almost instantly things that other
persons would never see at all. The story is often told of an Indian who
returned one day to his wigwam and found that a large piece of venison
had been stolen. He looked carefully around, and then started off for
the thief. He asked the first man he met if he had seen a little old
white man with a short gun and a small dog with a short tail. Afterwards
he explained how he learned all these points. He said he knew the thief
was little, for he had to pile up some stones to reach the venison; old,
by his short steps; white, by the toes of his tracks turning out; that
he had a short gun, for when it fell to the ground from where it leaned
against the tree, it made a short mark in the dirt. He knew by the dog's
track that the dog was small; he knew that the dog had a short tail,
because a short groove had been "wiggled" in the dust where the dog had
sat while his master was stealing the meat!
[Illustration: AN INDIAN CAMP OF TO-DAY IN THE FAR WEST.]
=76. The Indians were Cruel, Cunning, and Revengeful.=--As to character,
the Indian had, like all the rest of us, a good and a bad side. Though
usually silent and moody in the presence of white men, travelers tell
us that the Indians had lively games when by themselves, and enjoyed fun
and frolic and story-telling like other people. They were crafty and
treacherous, as well they might be from their constant warfare.
[Illustration: INDIAN ATTACK ON A SETTLER'S HOUSE.]
They were cruel and remorseless in their revenge, and they never forgot
a wrong. Full of cunning, they took pride in ingenious tricks. They
would wear snowshoes with the toes turned backwards, that the enemy
might think they had gone the other way! In their homes they were
filthy, lazy, and improvident. They were passionately fond of gambling,
after they had learned it of the whites!
On the other hand, they were patient of hunger, cold, and fatigue, and
were wonderfully brave. They were hospitable to an acquaintance in need,
even sharing the last of their food with him. They were grateful for
benefits, and never forgot a kindness. Their promise was almost sacred,
and the pledge of their chief was rarely broken.
When the early settlers in this country treated the Indians kindly, they
usually received kindness in return, as we shall see later in reading
William Penn's dealings with the Indians in Pennsylvania. But now and
then some rude white man was cruel or dishonest in dealing with them,
and then he learned that the red man knew what revenge means.
If any serious offense was given to the Indians they brooded over it,
and then, eager to inflict more harm than they had suffered, instead of
punishing the offender alone, they spent their revenge upon all they
could reach of the white race. So they sprang suddenly upon peaceful
villages and cruelly killed innocent men, women, and children.
=77. Anecdote of Tecumseh.=--The true Indian warrior had a certain proud
dignity that challenged respect. At a great council of the government
with the Indians, the famous Indian chief, Tecumseh, after he had made a
speech, turned to take a seat, when it was found that by accident no
chair had been placed for him. General Harrison instantly called for
one. It was brought by the interpreter, who said, "The Great Father
wishes you to take a chair." "My father!" he said with dignity, as he
wrapped his blanket about him to seat himself in Indian style upon the
ground; "the Sun is my father, the Earth is my mother, and on her bosom
will I repose."
=78. Care and Training of the Indian Children.=--The care and training of
Indian children were peculiar. When the little papoose was very young,
it was not fondled nor much attended to. Quite early it was placed in a
small trough of bark and strapped in with a mat or skin in front, the
little bed being padded with soft moss. This bit of a cradle was handy
to carry around, to lean against a log, or to hang up in a tree.
[Illustration: INDIAN PAPOOSE.]
As they grew up, they were as happy as other children. Their parents
made toys for them, and their older mates taught them songs and games.
As soon as they were large enough, each had his share of work to do. The
girls had to help their mothers to dress skins for clothing, to bring
wood and water, and to work in the rude garden.
=79. The Indian Boy's Early Training.=--The Indian boy was early trained
for hunting and war. His first lessons were to manage his bow and
arrows, and then he was taken into the woods to shoot. He was taught to
set traps for small game, and his father often slyly put some animal in
the snare to encourage the young hunter.
So the boy was taught, not arithmetic and grammar, but all about
birds--their colors, their different whistles and cries, and what each
note means; their food and habits, where they nest, how they fly, and
the best way to shoot them. His lessons included the study of rabbits
and squirrels, of beavers and foxes, and of all such game.
[Illustration: BOY WARNING SETTLERS OF AN INDIAN ATTACK.]
By the time the Indian boy had seen twelve or fourteen _snows_, as the
Indian would say, he could make his own bows and arrows and could help
make canoes. He had received many lessons about shaping tomahawks and
war clubs, and how to use them. Playing ball was a favorite game with
Indian youth. Catlin, the celebrated authority on Indian life, tells us
that he used to ride thirty miles to see a ball game, and would sit on
his horse all day to see a match played by six to eight hundred or even
a thousand young Indians.
=80. How the Indians buried their Dead.=--For the most part the Indians
buried their dead in mounds or in shallow graves, sometimes prostrate,
but often in a sitting posture facing the east. But some tribes placed
the body on a high scaffold raised on long poles out of the reach of
wild beasts. Beside the body were carefully placed the weapons of the
dead, paints, any favorite trinkets he used to wear, and food to sustain
him on his journey to the far-off Happy Hunting Grounds.