[Illustration: AUSTRALIAN (RATZEL).]
Ethno-Geographic Reader, No. 1
STRANGE PEOPLES
BY
FREDERICK STARR
BOSTON, U.S.A.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
1901
Ethno-Geographic Readers.
BY FREDERICK STARR.
No. 1. STRANGE PEOPLES. 40 CENTS.
No. 2. AMERICAN INDIANS. 45 CENTS.
No. 3. HOW MEN DO. IN PREPARATION.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1901,
BY FREDERICK STARR.
Plimpton Press
H. M. Plimpton & CO., PRINTERS & BINDERS
NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A.
THIS BOOK
STRANGE PEOPLES
IS DEDICATED TO
WILLIAM FOSTER YOUNG
PREFACE.
The author claims no originality for the matter of this book for young
readers on _Strange Peoples_. He has culled material where he could. His
aim has been to present a series of sketches which may render the maps
in the geography more interesting and give school children a broader and
deeper sympathy with other races and peoples. Indebted to many books, he
has been under constant obligations to Verneau’s _Les Races Humaines_
and Ratzel’s _Völkerkunde_. Other books which have been helpful will be
found listed at the close of this volume.
At first the author planned to use only original or new illustrations.
It has been, however, impossible to carry out this plan. Less than one
fourth of the pictures are really new; it is believed, however, that all
are authentic and will prove instructive.
It would have been easy to make the book more interesting by the
introduction of descriptions, more detailed, of the ridiculous or
dreadful practices of some races. The purpose has, however, not been to
hold other peoples up to ridicule nor to teach morality by contrast;
there are, indeed, too many matters for criticism in our own mode of
life to warrant such a treatment. Nor would it be possible in a book for
children to present that full discussion which might be expected in a
treatise on ethnology for students. The book makes no pretence to
systematic treatment; only a few people are taken, here and there,
almost at haphazard, to illustrate the marvellous richness of the field
for study which, even now, is presented by the _Strange Peoples_ of the
globe.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. THE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA: ESKIMO 6
III. WILD INDIANS 13
IV. MEXICANS 17
V. SOUTH AMERICAN PEOPLES 26
VI. THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE: FAIR WHITES 33
VII. DARK WHITES 38
VIII. BASQUES 43
IX. FINNS 47
X. LAPPS 53
XI. TURKS 60
XII. THE PEOPLES OF ASIA 65
XIII. CHINESE 69
XIV. COREANS 76
XV. TIBETANS 81
XVI. JAPANESE 88
XVII. AINU 95
XVIII. HINDUS 101
XIX. TODAS 107
XX. ANDAMANESE: MINCOPIES 112
XXI. ARABS 118
XXII. THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA: KABYLES 123
XXIII. NEGROES 128
XXIV. NEGROIDS 134
XXV. PYGMIES 138
XXVI. BUSHMEN AND HOTTENTOTS 143
XXVII. MALAYS 150
XXVIII. THE PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES 156
XXIX. MELANESIANS 163
XXX. POLYNESIANS 172
XXXI. CONCLUSION 180
LIST OF REFERENCE BOOKS 185
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Australian (Ratzel) _Frontispiece_
PAGE
1. Group of Greenland Eskimo. (Nansen.) 9
2. A Greenland Eskimo Fishing. (Nansen.) 11
3. Victorio—an Apache Warrior. (Lummis.) 14
4. Mexican Ox-cart. (From photograph.) 21
5. Mexican Water-carrier. (From photograph.) 22
6. Otomi Indian Girls, Mexico. (From photograph.) 24
7. Peruvian Antiquities. (Ratzel.) 27
8. Botocudo Indian with Lip-plug. (Tylor.) 31
9. Fish-girl of Scheveningen, Holland. (From photograph.) 35
10. Boats made from Shoes, Holland. (From drawing by Haité.) 36
11. Italian Child. (Miln.) 39
12. Basque Cart. (Verneau.) 46
13. Finns Singing. (Verneau.) 51
14. A Group of Lapps. (Verneau.) 54
15. Laplander on Snow-runners. (Verneau.) 57
16. Caravan preparing to start: Asiatic Turks. (Verneau.) 62
17. Chinese Mandarin. (Ratzel.) 71
18. Chinese Boy choosing Toys. (Doolittle.) 73
19. Corean Hat. (Lowell.) 78
20. Tibetan Lamas blowing on Shells. (Verneau.) 84
21. Mongols choosing a Lama. (Huc.) 86
22. Japanese Girl with Baby. (Arnold.) 89
23. Boys’ Festival: Japan. (Bramhall.) 92
24. Ainu—a Hairy Specimen. (Batchelor.) 96
25. Ainu Women, showing Tattooing. (From a photograph.) 97
26. Hindu Dancing girls and Musicians. (Verneau.) 103
27. Hindu Snake Charmers. (Brehm.) 105
28. Group of Todas. (Verneau.) 111
29. Andaman Mincopies. (Tylor.) 116
30. Camel and Palanquin. (From a photograph.) 120
31. Group of Kabyles: Algeria. (From a photograph.) 125
32. Making Couscous in the Desert. (From a photograph.) 127
33. Negro Smiths at Work. (Ratzel.) 131
34. Waganda Musicians. (Ratzel.) 137
35. Huts of Ashango-land Dwarfs. (Du Chaillu.) 140
36. Gora-player: Bushman. (Ratzel.) 145
37. Bushman Rock Picture. (Ratzel.) 147
38. Hottentot Kraal. (Ratzel.) 149
39. Malay Family: Java. (Verneau.) 152
40. Buffalo Cart: Java. (Ratzel.) 154
41. Krises: Java. (Ratzel.) 155
42. Philippine Negrito. (Meyer.) 158
43. Houses of Igorrotes. (Meyer.) 160
44. Head-hunting Party: Igorrotes. (Meyer.) 162
45. Fijian. (Ratzel.) 165
46. Pile-dwelling Village: New Guinea. (Ratzel.) 167
47. Canoe: New Guinea. (Ratzel.) 168
48. Tattooed New Zealander. (Verneau.) 173
49. Helmets and Idol-heads of Feathers: Hawaii. (Ratzel.) 175
50. Kingsmill Islander. (Tylor.) 179
[Illustration: MAP OF THE WORLD SHOWING LOCATION OF THE STRANGE PEOPLES
DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK]
STRANGE PEOPLES.
I.
INTRODUCTORY.
We are to read about some of the _Strange Peoples_ of the world. We
shall find many curious customs. There is an old saying,—
“Many men of many minds;
Many birds of many kinds;
Many fishes in the sea;
Many men who don’t agree.”
Peoples differ in so many ways. There are tall Patagonians and short
Bushmen. There are white peoples, and black, yellow, and brown peoples.
There are peoples whose bodies are so covered with hair as almost to be
called furry, and there are peoples whose faces even are hairless except
for eyebrows and eyelashes. There are lively peoples and there are
sluggish peoples; gay peoples and sad ones. Negroes do not think and
feel like white men, and the Chinaman thinks and feels differently from
either. All peoples have their own customs. When we speak of other
peoples as _Strange Peoples_, we must never forget that we are as
_strange_ to them as they are to us. We think it curious that the
Chinese dwarf, by bandaging, the feet of their women; they think it
strange that we do _not_. To us the Chinese face seems much too flat;
the Chinese think ours are like the face of an eagle and that they are
harsh and cruel. We think the flat, wide nose of the negro is ugly;
negroes think it far handsomer than ours. So we will remember that all
these peoples are “strange” only because they are _unlike_ us: that we
ourselves are just as strange as they are. They have as much right to
their ideas and customs as we have to ours: often indeed we might find
theirs better than our own.
We begin with North America. We then pass to South America; then to
Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands in order. We shall find
that the different peoples of the world are not scattered haphazard; on
the contrary, they are quite regularly distributed by types. Thus until
lately the peoples living in America were all Indians, with red-brown
skin, straight and coarse black hair, and high and wide cheek bones.
Europe and Northern Africa (which really belongs rather to Europe than
Africa) form the land of the white peoples. South Africa—Africa
proper—is the home of negroes and negroids, with dark brown, almost
black, skin, narrow heads and faces, and woolly hair. The proper
population of Asia is yellow peoples, with round heads, slant eyes, and
straight, long, black hair. In Australia are brown peoples with curly or
bushy hair. In Oceanica are several well-marked types—the little brown
Malays, the dark, almost black, Melanesians with crinkly hair, and the
tall, well-built, fine-featured, light Polynesians. This is, in general,
the distribution of the human races. But there has been much movement.
There are now both white and blacks in America; the English whites have
crowded in upon the natives of Australia; in Asia there are white
peoples, like the Ainu and Todas, who have certainly lived there a long
time.
The different peoples are unlike in their culture. Some peoples live on
wild food, having no cultivated plants or domestic animals. They hunt
animals and catch fish; they search for birds’ eggs and honey; they grub
up roots and gather barks, leaves, fruits, seeds, and nuts for food. To
such tribes, who usually wander in little bands from place to place, the
name savage is given. The word does not mean that they are fierce and
cruel in disposition; most savage tribes, to-day living, are neither.
The Eskimo and Mincopies are savages, but they are quite kind and
gentle. When peoples settle down to cultivate the soil and build homes,
or when they raise herds of animals with which they move from time to
time for new pastures, their life is easier. To such peoples—so long as
they do _not_ know how to work iron by smelting, to write by means of
characters that represent sounds, and to make animals assist them in
tilling the ground—the name barbarian is applied. When any peoples have
learned these three great helps, they are called civilized. There are
then three great stages of culture,—savagery, barbarism, and
civilization. The Eskimo is in savagery; the American Indians are mostly
in barbarism; the Chinese are in civilization.
The way in which the life of peoples is affected by the lands in which
they live is most interesting. The Eskimo live in the cold north; there
is little wood there for construction; fuels such as are used elsewhere
are rare; no fibre-yielding plants grow there. Yet the Eskimo has made
full use of what nature gives him. He builds his house, when necessary,
of the snow itself, heats it with animal fats and oils, clothes himself
in excellent garments of skins, knows the ways of all the animals and
birds around him for their destruction, and has invented an ideal
hunter’s boat and devised a beautiful series of weapons and tools. The
way in which he has fitted himself to the place in which he lives is
wonderful. The world over we notice the same thing: man everywhere
ransacks his home-land to find out what is useful and turns it to his
needs.
Often where two different peoples live in the same district marriage
takes place between them, and mixed types arise. Where one people has
long occupied a country alone the type is very well-marked, and all look
alike. Thus in the Andaman Islands, the little Mincopies look so much
alike that a person needs to know them well to tell them apart. We,
ourselves, are a great mixture. Even in one family there may be tall and
short, light and dark, blue-eyed or brown-eyed persons. Such differences
are only found where there has been much mixing between different
peoples. In Mexico, once purely Indian, there has been since the coming
of the Spaniards much mixture, and to-day a large part of the population
is of a new type—part Indian, part Spanish. The people range in color
from almost white to dark brown according to the amount of Spanish or
Indian blood each has.
II.
THE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA: ESKIMO.
For the larger part, North America is now occupied by populations of our
own kind. The greater part of the people of Canada is of French or
English descent; the people of our own country are mainly Europeans or
of European descent. There are of course many negroes, especially in the
South, who have descended from African slaves. There are also some
Chinese, Japanese, Hindus, Malays, and others. Formerly the United
States and Canada were occupied by Indians, but now there are few left,
who mostly live upon reservations. South of the United States lie Mexico
and Central America. They, too, were Indian lands when first visited by
white men. In Northern Mexico a new, mixed population live; Southern
Mexico is yet quite purely Indian. In Central America we find the mixed
Spanish-Indian in some districts, and pure Indians in others. In the
northmost part of the continent live the Eskimo. We shall speak about
the Eskimo, wild Indians, and Mexicans.
The home-land of the Eskimo is dreary. They live in Labrador, Greenland,
and the Arctic country stretching from Greenland west to Northern
Alaska. Generally, it is a land of snow and ice, where it is impossible
to raise even the most hardy plants. The people are forced to live
chiefly on animal food. Not only is the weather usually cold, but for a
large part of the year the Eskimo do not see the sun, and for the rest
of it they see the sun all the time. In some districts the swarms of
mosquitoes in the warmer part of the year are a great trouble. There are
few trees, and those are stunted; wood is precious, and drift wood is
carefully gathered to make into tools and weapons. But notwithstanding
his dreary home the Eskimo are rarely ugly and ill tempered.
They are little people with yellowish brown skin. Some Greenlanders are
of fair stature. Their faces are broad and round, with coarse features.
The eyes are small, dark, and often oblique, like the Chinese; the nose
is narrow at the root, but fat; the cheeks are round and full; the mouth
is big, with good, strong teeth. Eskimo are usually filthy and appear
much darker than they really are.
The clothing is generally made of skins with the hair left on. Men and
women dress much alike. Trousers are worn by both: a shirt or jacket
with a hood attached is much used. That worn by men is often made of
bird skins, and the feather side is worn next the body. The lower part
of the legs and the feet are encased in _kamiks_, skin socks and boots.
The little babies are carried naked in a great pouch at the back of
their outer jacket. This pouch makes a fine nest for the little
creatures, as it is lined with soft sealskin or reindeer skin.
Formerly—and perhaps sometimes now—the Eskimo mothers used to wash their
babies by licking them with their tongues.
In Greenland the Eskimo houses are usually built of stones and earth.
They are partly below ground, and only the upper part shows outside,
like a mound of dirt. To enter the house one crawls through a long and
narrow passage, also built of stones and earth, and which is also partly
below ground. The house is not large, and consists of one room. It is
lined with skins. Wide benches around the sides, covered with skins and
moss, serve as beds. Several families live crowded together in one
house. One house in East Greenland, measuring twenty-seven by fifteen
feet, contained eight families,—thirty-eight persons. The houses are so
low that a tall man cannot stand upright in one. Until lately the only
heating was by stone lamps. These were flat and hardly deeper than a
plate: oil was burned in them. They were kept burning day and night, and
above them were racks of poles on which wet clothing was dried. In the
middle part of the Eskimo land they build the quaint round-topped huts
made of blocks of snow, of which you have often seen pictures.
[Illustration: GROUP OF GREENLAND ESKIMO (NANSEN).]
The Eskimo eat the flesh of seals, whales, birds, hares, bears, dogs,
foxes, and deer. In that cold country they like _fat_ meat. Sometimes
meat and fish are eaten raw, but they may be boiled or fried. Fresh, raw
blubber is much loved. The skin of whales, seals, and halibut is
favorite food. Travellers tell astonishing stories of the quantities of
candles and oil that Eskimo eat and drink when they are supplied to
them. The supply of plant food is small: stalks of angelica, dandelion,
sorrel, berries, and seaweed are used.
The man’s great business is hunting. He has studied the habits of the
bear, deer, seal, and walrus, and has learned just how to capture or
kill them. He has invented many curious darts, harpoons, spears, bolas,
etc. The bird spears have several points projecting in different
directions from the shaft, so that if one misses, another may strike, or
several birds may be impaled at once. The bolas consists of several
pebbles attached to cords, which are knotted together at the end. These
are set to whirling and then hurled through the air at birds to entangle
them. The point of the harpoon separates from the shaft when an animal
is struck; it remains in the game while the shaft floats on the water;
the point is connected by a line to a bladder, which, floating, shows
where the animal goes, and helps to tire him out. In hurling harpoons
and darts the Eskimo uses a spear-throwing stick which enables him to
send them with more force and directness than by his hand alone.
[Illustration: A GREENLAND ESKIMO FISHING (NANSEN).]
Much of his hunting is done from his canoe or _kayak_. This is narrow,
sharp-pointed at both ends, and light. It consists of a slight framework
over which skins are tightly stretched. The opening above is but large
enough for him to get his legs and body through. When he has crept in,
he ties a collar of skin, that surrounds the opening, about his body,
below his arms, to prevent the water dashing into the _kayak_, and
paddles away. His different weapons are all fastened in their proper
places on top of the canoe, where he can seize them when wanted. The
Eskimo are wonderful boatmen and drive their _kayaks_ over the waves
like seabirds. If they tip over, they easily right themselves.
Formerly the Greenland Eskimo made long summer trips along the coast.
The clumsy, great, woman’s boat was brought out. The oldest man, the
women, children, and baggage went in it. The younger men went in their
_kayaks_. In the big boat the women rowed while the old man steered.
They often went fifty miles a day. At good spots they landed and built a
tent of thin skins. They loved these summer journeys as our boys love
their camping trips.
III.
WILD INDIANS.
There are no really wild Indians left in the United States. Formerly
there were many tribes of them, but some have disappeared, and others
have lost their old-time spirit. To-day our Indians live idly on the
reservations or work their little farms with fair industry. Sometimes a
tribe, roused by new wrongs inflicted on it by the white man, takes the
war-path; sometimes some religious idea goes from tribe to tribe
creating great excitement, like the Ghost Dance. But such outbreaks and
excitements are less and less common.
Mr. Lummis has written of the Apache warrior and described the war led
by Geronimo. It was a daring thing. There was but a handful of the
Indians. “Thirty-four men, eight well-grown boys, ninety-two women and
children”—that was all. Only forty-two who could be called fighters. On
May 17, 1885, the little band broke forth from their reservation and
headed for Mexico. It took the United States a year and a half of
useless trouble and expense to pursue them. Time after time, when it
seemed certain that the Indians were trapped, they vanished. They never
stood for a pitched battle. But anywhere, concealed behind rocks or
hidden in brush, they picked off the soldiers sent to capture them. The
forces of the United States and Mexico were both kept constantly upon
the move. When a year had passed about sixty of the Indians returned
home. Twenty warriors, with fourteen women, kept up the battle, when
they too went home. During the year and a half of fighting more than
four hundred whites and Mexicans were killed; only two of the Indian
band were destroyed. During that time Arizona and New Mexico and all the
northern part of Mexico were kept in constant terror. These Apaches were
truly “wild Indians.”
[Illustration: VICTORIO, AN APACHE WARRIOR (LUMMIS).]
The Navajo are _not_ wild Indians though they are related to the Apaches
and were formerly bold fighters. They live near the settled Pueblos and
have learned from them many things. They are a prosperous tribe,
numbering fully ten thousand. They are well-to-do, having nine thousand
cattle, one hundred and nineteen thousand horses, and one million six
hundred thousand sheep and goats. They dress well in their own way and
wear many ornaments.
A Navajo house is a simple affair. It consists of sticks or poles
stacked up so as to meet in a point above; they are then covered over
with bark, weeds, or earth, a hole being left for an entrance and one at
the top for smoke escape: an old blanket hung over the entrance hole
serves as a door. Near this hut there is often a little shelter of
boughs where the family spend most of their time on fine days. The
Navajo also build sweat houses for vapor baths. These are like the
regular hut, but have no smoke hole, and are thickly covered over with
earth. Stones are heated in a fire outside and carried into the sweat
house between sticks; water is dashed over them, and in the steam thus
made the bather sits.
The Navajo are good workers in silver and are all the time improving in
their art. They make spherical beads, bracelets, and rings of several
sorts, breast ornaments, decorations for harness and bridle, and many
other things out of coins or other silver furnished them. The Navajo
excel as weavers of blankets, though they use extremely simple looms.
The yarn is home-spun from wool taken off their own flocks; they do,
however, buy some yarn ready-made from the white man. Formerly they dyed
their yarn with dyes taken from various plants or colored earths, but
now they mostly use white men’s dyes. Their blankets are firm and
closely woven and shed water finely. They are woven in bright patterns.
All the Indians who live near the Navajo like their blankets and pay
good prices for them. The Navajo greatly like turquoise beads, but they
do not find turquoise on their reservation. For these beads and
ornaments they trade their fine blankets, and silverware, and good
ponies with the Pueblo Indians who live near the mines of this handsome
greenstone.
The Navajo are great singers and have many songs; but it is the men who
sing and not the women. They have also many interesting stories and
curious customs, but we cannot stop to tell about them. The Apaches and
Navajo are but two tribes out of the hundreds of American Indian tribes.
In another book, _American Indians_, you may read about their manners
and customs, their songs and music, their stories and worship.
IV.
MEXICANS.
Though Mexico is our next-door neighbor, life and customs are greatly
different there from our own. Three different peoples make up the
population. First, are the pure-blood Spaniards, who have been born in
the country; second, there are the _Mestizos_, mixed people, partly
Indian, partly Spanish; third, are the pure Indians, who now form about
five-twelfths of the whole population. From the City of Mexico northward
the land belongs chiefly to the mestizos; from the City of Mexico
southward Indians prevail.
We will say nothing of the Spaniards nor of the wealthy mestizos, both
of whom are like European whites generally in their life. But the poorer
mestizos in the cities and towns and the country people generally are
interesting. The dress of the country gentleman was brilliant. It was of
broadcloth or soft-dressed leather, of a buff or brown color. The
little, close-fitting jacket, cut square at the waist, was supplied with
two lines of silver or steel buttons, and embroidered with patterns in
gilt or silver thread. The trousers fitted almost as a glove fits the
hands, and there was a double row of bright buttons up the sides of the
legs and a lacing of silver cord. The shoes, which were tan or buff,
were sharp-pointed. Unfortunately this handsome costume is not common
nowadays. All mestizos, rich and poor, still use the _serape_, which is
a long and narrow blanket, usually of handsome, bright colors. In
putting it on, one corner is held with the hand at the left shoulder,
while the blanket is passed behind the back and around the body in
front; the free end is then thrown over the left shoulder and hangs down
behind. It thus holds itself in place and needs no tying or pinning.
However poor a mestizo may be, he wants a fine hat or _sombrero_.
Mexican sombreros have high, pointed crowns, and wide brims. They are
made of palm or wool. Those of wool are of various colors—gray, brown,
black, sometimes red, blue, or green. They are of all prices. They are
decorated with bands of silver or gilt tinsel, and true silver ornaments
are made in many forms for fastening to them; a fine sombrero, well made
and well decorated, may weigh several pounds and cost _many_ dollars.
The Mexicans are highly polite in manner. This is partly the result of
Spanish training, but is also partly due to the old Indian fondness for
ceremony. The movements of the hands and fingers by which they greet
each other are graceful and pretty. Friends, meeting each other, warmly
embrace. If a boy is spoken to by a gentleman he politely removes his
hat and holds it while he is being addressed and while he answers.
Should a stranger ask a little Mexican his name, with his hat off the
boy would reply, giving his name and adding, “_Servidor de usted,
señor_”—“your servant, sir.”
The houses of poor Mexicans are miserable. The walls are usually built
of great sun-dried _adobe_ bricks; there is but one room and that is
small. There are no windows and but one door; the roof is flat and the
floor is of dirt or stone. Generally there is no bed and there may be no
table, and few if any chairs or stools. There are usually some rush mats
in the corner, which are spread out upon the floor at night for sleeping
on. There are always a _brasero_ and a _metate_. The brasero is a little
kettle-shaped earthenware stove, where food is cooked over a wee fire of
charcoal. The metate is the grinding-stone, on which the woman grinds
corn-meal.
The three common foods of the Mexican poor are corn-cakes, eggs, and
beans—_tortillas_, _huevos_, and _frijoles_. The corn after being well
soaked is ground on the stone; the woman, taking the lump of wet dough,
throws it back and forth from one hand to the other, turning it as she
does so around and around. In this way she shapes a flat, thin, round
cake which she bakes upon a round pottery griddle. The eggs are usually
fried, so are the black beans, a great deal of lard being used. Often
they use no knives, forks, or spoons in eating. The corn-cakes
themselves will be used in handling the eggs and in scooping up the
beans. After thus serving as a fork and a spoon it will itself be eaten.
But rich people in Mexico have beautiful homes. The outside, on the
street, is quite plain. The house surrounds a square court or space
which is called a _patio_. Passing through a great doorway, one goes
from the street into the patio. All the rooms of the house open on the
patio, either directly or under pretty arched galleries or corridors.
The patio itself may be planted with trees and shrubs bearing sweet
flowers, and often there is a fountain at the centre, with goldfish in
the basin.
Cages of birds are hung around the patio, or under the corridors, and
the little captives delight with their brilliant colors or their sweet
songs. Every one in Mexico keeps birds as pets, and you may see, even in
the houses of the very poor, mocking-birds, doves, parrots, or clarins
with their clear, whistling note.
Wherever there are real _roads_ in Mexico, there you may see the quaint
old-fashioned ox-carts with wheels often made from solid blocks of wood
cut to shape. Two oxen are generally yoked to each, but when heavy loads
are to be dragged, four, six, or even more are used at once.
[Illustration: A MEXICAN OX-CART (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
[Illustration: MEXICAN WATER-CARRIER (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
In Central Mexico water is precious, and in the cities special men make
it a business to sell water from house to house. The water-carriers of
different towns greatly differ in the form and size of the jars they use
and in the mode of carrying them. In the city of Mexico, where they are
becoming an uncommon sight, the man carries two water-jars of metal, one
in front, one behind, hanging by straps from his shoulders and cap; in
Guadalajara a number of round pottery water-jars are set into a sort of
a frame mounted on a cart or barrow; in San Luis Potosi there are four
oval jars set into a wheelbarrow with an enormous wheel; in Guanajuato
they use great slender jars nearly as tall as the man himself, with a
ring of wood at the bottom to hold them when they are set on the ground.
In the centre of every Mexican city or town of any importance is the
_plaza_ or public square. Sometimes this is surrounded by handsome
buildings and laid out with care as a garden. Among orange trees laden
with sweet blossoms and golden fruit, rose bushes, banana trees, there
wind pleasant walks with benches in the shade, where rich or poor may
rest. Usually at the centre of the plaza there is a band-stand where on
certain evenings every week fine concerts are given.
The plaza is the pleasure-spot and gathering-place of all. To it flock
venders of all kinds, with cakes, candies, fruits, sugar-cane, peanuts,
toys, etc. Some of the wares are strange, and I am sure you could not
guess them. There goes a man with a lot of pretty colored balls like wee
toy balloons; they are red, white, blue, yellow; they are chewing-gum!
There is another man with a great crumpled sheet of some whitish brown
stuff; children flock to him with their coppers, and he cuts off pieces
which they walk away munching; it is fried pigskin!
[Illustration: OTOMI INDIAN GIRLS (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
Mexicans delight in holidays, and they celebrate a great many. The 2d of
November, the day of the dead, is a great day. For several days
beforehand thousands of strange toys have been offered for sale. Some
are skulls made of sugar or clay; there are skeletons of various sizes
and materials, corpses, funeral processions, grave monuments. These are
all called “deaths.” When the day of the dead comes children expect to
receive these strange presents. When they rise in the morning their
first cry is, “Papa, mamma, give me my death.” There is a great
excitement the day before Easter. All down the streets may be seen
figures of Judas hung up above the heads of the passers. In the big
cities there will be hundreds of them of all sizes and shapes. They are
made of cardboard and paper, and have fireworks inside. At a certain
hour they are all set on fire, and burn and explode at a great rate,
much to the delight of the boys and girls. But these are only two of
many occasions during each year to which little Mexicans look forward
with delight.
We have spoken only of the mestizos. The Indians are also interesting.
There are many tribes, all with their own customs, and many with their
old languages still in use. In the State of Oaxaca alone there are
fifteen languages still spoken. Among the many Mexican Indian tribes
perhaps the Aztecs, Otomis, Tarascans, Zapotecs, and Mayas are the best
known.
V.
SOUTH AMERICAN PEOPLES.
South America, like North America, was occupied by Indians at the time
of the discovery. The tribes differed in appearance, language, and
customs, but all were true American Indians. To be sure, some tribes
were dark, others light; some were tall, others short; some were true
savages, while others were almost civilized.
Probably the most advanced tribes lived along the Pacific border. In
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili many relics of ancient art
and many ruins of old buildings are found. Here and there east of the
mountains similar evidences of culture are found, but they are less
known. Best known of all are those of Peru.
The ancient Indians of Peru were industrious and hard workers. Their
rulers, the Incas, were called “the children of the sun.” The old
Peruvians had important towns and cities. They diligently cultivated
their fields and irrigated them by great systems of canals. They wove
capital cotton cloth, from which they made good clothing. Their cloth
was often decorated with pretty inwoven designs in colored threads. They
tamed and bred the llama, and trained it for a pack animal. They could
not write, but kept accounts by knotted cords called _quipus_.
Differently colored cords were used for different things, and knots of
varying sizes stood for varying numbers. Thus an owner of llamas might
use a white cord for males, a reddish cord for females, and a yellow
cord for young. A simple knot might stand for _one_, and larger knots
might mean _five_, _ten_, or _twenty_. In this way the herder might keep
exact account of his animals.
[Illustration: PERUVIAN ANTIQUITIES (RATZEL).]
The old Peruvians were great potters and thousands of their old water
vessels and food dishes, which were buried with the dead, have been dug
up. These had curious forms and were often adorned with colored
patterns. Some of these jars were shaped like human faces, human
figures, or animals. Sometimes they were “whistling jars,” which were so
made that they whistled when water was poured in or out of them. The old
Peruvians were skilled in working copper, silver, and gold, and made
many ornaments and figures in these metals.
They disposed of their dead carefully, and many of the dried bodies, or
“mummies” have been found in the ancient graves. The dead were folded
into a sitting position and bound; they were then wrapped about with
fine cloths. After the last wrapping was in place, it was painted, a
false face was marked on the cloth or placed over the proper place, and
imitation ear ornaments were hung at the sides of the head. Many objects
were buried with the dead,—vessels of food and drink, and the objects
they had used in life,—with a woman, cotton, spindle, and work-basket;
with a man, weapons and ornaments. The old Peruvians built fine public
buildings, and temples of stone and some ruins of such buildings still
remain.
After the discovery of America two nations chiefly gained possession of
South America—Spain and Portugal. Portugal secured what is now Brazil;
Spain gained almost all the rest. The Spaniard settled chiefly where the
native tribes had already been living a quiet and settled life. In those
districts, just as in Mexico, there was much mixture between the two
peoples, and to-day there is a large _mestizo_ population, whose mode of
life has been influenced by that of Spain. In Peru, Brazil, Chili, and
the Argentine Republic we find lands which are making progress, and in
whose beautiful cities are fine buildings, handsome parks, and artistic
statuary. It is a great mistake to think of any of the South American
countries as uncivilized.
Still, even in countries like Peru and Chili, centres of old and
interesting settled life, there are plenty of pure-blood Indians to-day.
These still keep up much of their old life and customs. And when,
instead of looking at the old culture centres, we examine the tribes
which were truly _wild_ at the time of the conquest, we find little
change. On the eastern slope of the Andes, in the valleys of those
streams which unite to form the Amazon, in the dense forests which
border that mighty river itself, are many truly savage tribes to-day—or,
when not savage, in low barbarism. Some of these tribes use the blow-gun
in hunting. This is a tube, eight or ten feet long, made from a cane or
bored out of wood. It is carefully straightened and smoothed on the
inside. The shaft of the little arrow used with this is slender and ends
in a sharp point; a tuft of cottony material, which just fits the bore
of the blow-gun, is wrapped about the upper end of the arrow and
fastened. When the arrow is placed in the blow-gun, this is raised to
the lips, and a sharp puff of air from the mouth sends the little weapon
on its way. These arrows go a long distance and with great force; as
they make no noise they are especially good for bird-hunting. The arrows
not only kill by their sharpness, but by poison, which is put on their
tips. Several of these Indian tribes know how to make deadly poisons,
chiefly from plants.
Many of these wild tribes delight in bright feathers. They make
necklaces, head-dresses, arm-rings, bracelets, leg-bands, aprons, and
capes from them. Not that a single tribe makes all of these many
ornaments; some will use the feathers in one way, others in another.
Among the tribes of Brazil, the Botocudo are famous for the ornaments
they wear in their lips and ears. These ornaments are mere disks or
plugs of wood, which are inserted in holes pierced in the ears and lower
lip. Some Botocudo lip plugs are three inches in diameter. Such a lip
ornament holds the lip out almost like a shelf.
[Illustration: BOTOCUDO INDIAN WITH LIP PLUG (TYLOR).]
In eastern Ecuador and on the eastern slope of the Andes, near the
Amazonian headwaters, are several tribes who cut off the heads of slain
enemies as trophies. Best known of these tribes are the Mundurucus and
Jivaros. The Mundurucus, after cutting off the heads, paint the faces,
comb the hair, add feather ornaments, and then so dry the head that it
retains its natural size and form. The heads that are kept by the
Jivaros are even more curious. After they have been cut off the bones of
the skull are removed piecemeal from below. The heads are then shrunken
by means of astringent fluids, smoke, and pressure, until they are no
larger than the fist. The features retain their form, but everything is
reduced in size. It is hard to believe, when seeing one of these, that
it could ever have been a full-sized human head. Believing that the
spirit of the dead man will curse them and thus harm them, the Jivaros
sew the lips of the trophy together with cords.
In Guiana some of the Indians make beautiful baskets of split cane. The
splints are sometimes stained black or brown, and thus pretty patterns
are woven in color. These patterns look like simple geometrical
designs—diamonds, meanders, etc.—but often they are really pictures of
snakes, monkeys, or human beings. These tribes use _cassava_ for making
bread. The roots or tubers, when first dug, are poisonous and unfit for
food. These are first grated on a board set with sharp bits of stone.
The shredded or grated pulp is then packed into a great tube of
basketwork closed at the bottom. This is hung to a beam and a pole is
passed through a loop at the lower end. By turning this pole the basket
tube is twisted, and the cassava pulp is squeezed so tightly that the
poisonous sap runs out, leaving the wholesome flour.
VI.
THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE: FAIR WHITES.
Europe is the continent of white peoples. While there are white peoples
in other continents, they are there as invaders. But even among the
whites of Europe itself there are differences. Most of the Northern
peoples, like the Swedes, Dutch, Russians, Germans, are light peoples,
with delicate skin, light hair, blue eyes, and rather long heads. They
are mostly tall in stature. The Southern peoples are dark—Spaniards,
Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, are all brunettes. They are shorter, more
slender, with dark skin, dark eyes, and black hair. In the region
between these two types of European whites there are peoples of medium
stature, rather stout, somewhat dark, with broad, round heads. Mr.
Ripley names these three kinds of Europeans—Teutonic, Mediterranean, and
Alpine peoples. We will speak simply of light whites and dark whites.
All the Europeans we have named speak languages that are much alike,
belonging to a group of languages to which the name Aryan is given.
There are, however, some peoples of Europe who do _not_ speak Aryan
languages. Such are the Basques, Finns, Lapps, and Turks.
All the fair whites are so like ourselves that it will hardly do to call
them _Strange Peoples_. Yet we would find many curious things even in
those who are most like ourselves, as the Hollanders. You know something
about little Holland? It is a low, flat country, and much of it was
formerly under the sea. The industrious Hollanders have built great
dikes or walls to keep the sea back, and, by pumping out the water,
reclaimed the land. A rich and fertile land it is, intersected by a
network of little canals. Everywhere you go in Holland you see
windmills. Because the country _is_ so low and flat, there are no rapid
streams to furnish water-power for mills, so they must use the wind. At
some places, like Zaandam, hundreds may be seen at once. With us
windmills are simply for pumping water, but in Holland they do many
kinds of work. Some are flouring mills, others are sawmills for cutting
timber, others run oil presses, etc.
[Illustration: FISH-GIRL OF SCHEVENINGEN, HOLLAND (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
The fishing towns of Holland are interesting. Every traveller wants to
see Vollendam and Scheveningen and the hamlets on the Island of Marken.
The men and women in these towns are kind-hearted, simple people, who
are proud of their own village and think their own dress finer than that
of other towns. Each of these fishing villages has its characteristic
costume. The men of the Island of Marken wear a close-fitting jacket
which ends at the waist and great, baggy, knee pants. Marken women wear
round, white caps, fitting the head closely, with an open-work border,
and a bright waist, with striped sleeves, over the front of which is a
square of handsomely embroidered cloth. Little girls all through Holland
dress exactly like women. But for her child face you would take the
little girl from Scheveningen to be a grown person. She wears a dainty
white cap pinned on with two great round-headed pins. Her ample dress
quite reaches the ground; her white apron is neatly tied, and her purple
shawl, tightly wrapped about her shoulders, is demurely crossed, and the
ends are tucked under her apron strings. She wears the common wooden
shoes of the country. A crowd of boys running in such shoes over the
hard paved roads makes a great clattering. On Sunday the wooden shoes of
men and boys are usually fresh whitened; if their owners enter a house,
they leave the shoes outside the door. I am sure you cannot guess what
little Dutch boys do with old wooden shoes. They make capital little
fishing boats out of them, which they sail on the canal. The real big
fishing boats are really shaped very much like shoes too.
[Illustration: BOATS MADE FROM SHOES, HOLLAND (HAITÉ).]
Edam cheese is one of Holland’s famous products. The people are
wonderfully careful in making it. They take great care of the cows; when
the weather is wet or the flies troublesome, they put blankets over them
to protect them. The stables where they keep them are as clean as soap
and water will make them; the stalls are made of handsomely planed wood,
and there is a window at each one to let in light and to give the cows a
chance to look out on the green meadows. The cheeses are made of cream
and are pressed in clean, white, earthenware moulds, into the shape and
size of cannon balls. They are then colored and sent to market. The
greatest cheese market of Holland is at Alkmaar. Scores of boatfuls are
there unloaded every market day. The market is at the water’s edge. The
cheeses are colored orange or red, and are oiled and wiped till they
shine. They are stacked in piles like cannon balls.
Among famous Dutch towns is Delft, where they make a beautiful white
porcelain with blue designs, which is a favorite everywhere: then there
is Schiedam, where they make “Schnapps,” or gin, which is as famous
probably as the Delft ware, but not so praiseworthy; then there is
Haarlem, famous for its flower gardens, its tulips and begonias; at
Leiden there is a noble old university and a museum where one may see
objects made and used by all the Strange Peoples we shall study and many
more. Holland has had many great artists, and their works are preserved
in the art galleries at Rotterdam, Leiden, The Hague, Haarlem, and
Amsterdam. Holland was once the great commercial and naval nation of the
world: that day is past, but her ships still sail all seas; the little
kingdom is still a centre of intelligence, industry, and education, and
the thrifty and wealthy Dutch are a worthy example of the Fair Whites.
VII.
DARK WHITES.
Among the dark whites of Europe the Portuguese, Spanish, Italians, and
Greeks are conspicuous. In speech they are kin to each other, and to the
fair whites. How different they are otherwise! They are handsomer in
face, more lithe and graceful in body, more quickly aroused, more
changeable in purpose, than the fair whites. Their faces, their
gestures, their movements, more emphatically betray their emotions. They
live more in the present than the somewhat sober and sombre northern
peoples.
Just now people are apt to forget how much _we_ owe to the dark whites.
They have done _much_ for the world. Greece taught Europe to think,
developed an art and architecture which impressed the world, formed a
literature and theatre that have never been surpassed; Rome taught
mankind government and law; Italy has produced the greatest paintings;
Spain discovered the New World. These are a few of the achievements of
the dark whites. Nor are they idle now; in Greece and Italy to-day, in
Spain and Portugal, art, invention, literature, and science are making
rapid progress.
[Illustration: ITALIAN CHILD (MILN).]
Every one has seen Italians. Those who come to us are mostly poor, and
badly represent their people. They are dark skinned, dark brown or black
eyed, black and curly haired, and have fine and regular features. They
are, perhaps, the handsomest of European peoples. They love the company
of others in their work and play. They delight in bright colors, and the
women fasten bright kerchiefs about their dark hair, fold a brilliant
cloth across the breast, and hang gaudy earrings in their ears. The
Italian language is sweet and lively, and the people who speak it are
impulsive and sunny in disposition, though easily angered, and quick to
resent an injury.
Perhaps old Rome was the greatest city the world has known. The Roman
people ruled the known nations, and their armies and governors were in
all lands. Fine roads connected the city with every part of the Empire,
and fragments of these roads still exist though almost two thousand
years have passed. Rome was a centre to which flocked the painters,
sculptors, poets, and orators of the world; there they produced their
great works. At Rome were grand temples, great public buildings, the
mighty Coliseum where public games were held. Ruins of these famous
structures are still visited, and show the ancient grandeur of the dark
whites of by-gone days.
Not far from Rome are ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, towns where many
of the Romans had their country homes. In the year 79, more than
eighteen hundred years ago, Vesuvius burst forth in a terrible eruption
and destroyed the two cities. Pompeii was buried under a sheet of
“ashes,” while Herculaneum was overflowed by streams of lava. For
centuries no one knew that underneath these layers of “ashes” and lava a
great part of the two cities lay undestroyed. Recently, by digging away
the covering, they have discovered many curious and interesting things.
House walls, paintings, tools, weapons, ornaments, all remain to tell us
how the ancient Romans worked and lived.
But later Rome was also great. It was the central city of Christendom,
the seat of the Pope’s power, the location of the Vatican. For this
reason it was the place where master minds dealt with great problems,
where great architects designed wonderful cathedrals, where painters
produced the famous pictures of the world. Nor is Rome small to-day. She
is no longer the mistress of the world; the temporal power of the church
has been lessened; but modern Rome is still the capital of a great
nation, a centre of enlightenment, a hive of industry; a shrine to which
the lovers of art and beauty make their pilgrimage.
Even the poorest and meanest in Italy love music, painting, and
statuary. Everywhere in public places one sees sculptures in fine
marble. Such works in our own land would run some risk of injury or
destruction, but in Italy no one thinks of harming them. The Italians
all love music, and most of them know how to play some instrument.