area and the Plains. It is far less uniform than either in its
topography, the south being a veritable desert while the north is moist
and fertile. The traits may be summarised as: extensive use of salmon,
deer, roots (especially camas) and berries; the use of a handled digging
stick, cooking with hot stones in holes and baskets; the pulverisation
of dried salmon and roots for storage; winter houses, semi-subterranean,
a circular pit with a conical roof and smoke hole entrance; summer
houses, movable or transient, mat or rush-covered tents and the lean-to,
double and single; the dog sometimes used as a pack animal; water
transportation weakly developed, crude dug-outs and bark canoes being
used; pottery not known; basketry highly developed, coil, rectangular
shapes, imbricated technique; twine weaving in flexible bags and mats;
some simple weaving of bark fibre for clothing; clothing for the entire
body usually of deerskins; skin caps for the men, and in some cases
basket caps for women; blankets of woven rabbit-skin; the sinew-backed
bow prevailed; clubs, lances, and knives, and rod and slat armour were
used in war, also heavy leather shirts; fish spears, hooks, traps and
bag nets were used; dressing of deerskins highly developed; upright
stretching frames and straight long handled scrapers; wood work more
advanced than among Plains tribes, but insignificant compared to North
Pacific Coast area; stone work confined to the making of tools and
points, battering and flaking; work in bone, metal, and feathers very
weak[823].
Of the tribes of this area, the interior Salish, the Thompson, Shushwap
and Lillooet, appear to be the most typical of those concerning which
any information is available. The Shahapts or Nez Perces, and the
Shoshoni show some marked Plains traits. "The interior Salish are
landsmen and hunters, and from time immemorial have been accustomed to
follow their game over mountainous country. This mode of life has
engendered among them an active, slender, athletic type of men; they are
considerably taller and possess a much finer physique than their
congeners of the coastal region, who are fishermen, passing the larger
portion of their time on the water squatting in their canoes, never
walking to any place if they can possibly reach it by water. The typical
coast Salish are a squat thick-set people, with disproportionate legs
and bodies, slow and heavy in their movements, and as unlike their
brothers of the interior as it is possible for them to be[824]."
The Thompsons represented the Salish at their highest and best, both
morally and physically, and their ethical precepts and teaching set a
very high standard of virtue before the advent of the Europeans.
Hill-Tout says that receptiveness and a wholesale adoption of foreign
fashions and customs are their striking qualities, and "if they have
fallen away from these high standards, as we fear they have, the fault
is not theirs but ours.... We assumed a grave responsibility when we
undertook to civilise these races[825]."
The simplest form of social organisation is found among the interior
hunting tribes, where a state of pure anarchy may be said to have
formerly prevailed, each family being a law unto itself and
acknowledging no authority save that of its own elderman. Each local
community was composed of a greater or less number of these self-ruling
families. There was a kind of headship or nominal authority given to the
oldest and wisest of the eldermen in some of the larger communities,
where occasion called for it or where circumstances arose in which it
became necessary to have a central representative. This led in some
centres to the regular appointing of local chiefs or heads whose
business it was to look after the material interest of the commune over
which they presided; but the office was always strictly elective and
hedged with manifold limitations as to authority and privilege. For
example, the local chief was not necessarily the head of all
undertakings. He would not lead in war or the chase unless he happened
to be the best hunter or the bravest and most skilful warrior among
them; and he was subject to deposition at a moment's notice if his
conduct did not meet with the approval of the elders of the commune. His
office or leadership was therefore purely a nominal one. All hunting,
fishing, root, and berry grounds were common property and shared in by
all alike.... In one particular tribe even the food was held and meals
were taken in common, the presiding elder or headman calling upon a
certain family each day to provide and prepare the meals for all the
rest, every one, more or less, taking it in turn to discharge this
social duty[826].
V. Californian Area. Of the four sub-culture areas noted by Kroeber[827]
the central group is the most extensive and typical. Its main
characteristics are: acorns as the chief vegetable food, supplemented by
wild seeds, while roots and berries are scarcely used; the acorns are
made into bread by a roundabout process; hunting is mostly of small
game, fishing wherever possible; the houses are of many forms, all
simple shelters of brush or tule, or more substantial conical lean-to
structures of poles; the dog was not used for packing and there were no
canoes, but rafts of tule were used for ferrying; no pottery but high
development of basketry both coil and twine; bags and mats scanty; cloth
or other weaving of simple elements not known; clothing simple and
scanty; feet usually bare; the bow the only weapon, usually
sinew-backed; work in skins, wood, bone etc., weak, in metals absent, in
stone work not advanced. In the south modifications enter with large
groups of Yuman and Shoshonian tribes where pottery, sandals and wooden
war clubs are intrusive. The extinct Santa Barbara were excellent
workers in stone, bone and shell, and made plank canoes.
Topographical variation produces consequent changes in mode of life as
the well watered and wooded country of Oregon and Northern California
gradually merges into the warm dry climate of South California with
decreasing moisture towards the tropics. As Kroeber says[828], "From the
time of the first settlement of California, its Indians have been
described as both more primitive and more peaceful than the majority of
the natives of North America.... The practical arts of life, the social
institutions and the ceremonies of the Californian Indians are unusually
simple and undeveloped. There was no war for its own sake, no
confederation of powerful tribes, no communal stone pueblos, no totems,
or potlatches. The picturesqueness and the dignity of the Indians are
lacking. In general rudeness of culture the Californian Indians are
scarcely above the Eskimo.... If the degree of civilisation attained by
people depends in any large measure on their habitat, as does not seem
likely, it might be concluded from the case of the Californian Indians
that natural advantages were an impediment rather than an incentive to
progress.... It is possible to speak of typical Californian Indians and
to recognise a typical Californian culture area. A feature that should
not be lost sight of is the great stability of population.... The social
organisation was both simple and loose.... Beyond the family the only
bases of organisation were the village and the language." In so simple a
condition of society difference of rank naturally found but little
scope. The influence of chiefs was comparatively small, and distinct
classes, as of nobility or slaves, were unknown. Individual property
rights were developed and what organisation of society there was, was
largely on the basis of property. The ceremonies are characterised by a
very slight development of the extreme ritualism that is so
characteristic of the American Indians, and by an almost entire absence
of symbolism of any kind. Fetishism is also unusual. One set of
ceremonies was usually connected with a secret religious society; during
initiation members were disguised by feathers and paint, but masks were
not worn. There was also an annual tribal spectacular ceremony held in
remembrance of the dead. In the north-west portion of the state a
somewhat more highly developed and specialised culture existed which has
some affinities with that of the north-west tribes, as is indicated by a
greater advance in technology, a social organisation largely upon a
property basis and a system of mythology that is suggestive of those
further north. The now extinct tribes of the Santa Barbara islands and
adjacent mainland were more advanced. They alone employed a plank-built
canoe instead of the balsas or canoe-shaped bundles of rushes of the
greater part of California. They made stone bowls and did inlaid work.
Like the North Californians and tribes further north they buried instead
of burning their dead. The eastern tribes shade off into their
neighbours. The Luiseno, the southernmost of the Shoshonians, had
puberty rites for girls and boys[829]. The belief in a succession of
births "is reminiscent of Oceanic and Asiatic ways of thought[830]."
[About] 1788 a secret cult arose inculcating, with penalties, obedience,
fasting, and self-sacrifice on initiates[831].
VI. Plains Area. The chief traits of this culture are the dependence
upon the bison ("buffalo") and the very limited use of roots and
berries; absence of fishing; lack of agriculture; the _tipi_ or tent as
the movable dwelling and transportation by land only, with the dog and
the travois (in historic times, with the horse); no baskets, pottery, or
true weaving; clothing of bison and deerskins; there is high development
of work in skins and special bead technique and raw-hide work
(parfleche, cylindrical bag etc.), and weak development of work in wood,
stone and bone. This typical culture is manifested in the Assiniboin,
Arapaho, Blackfoot, Crow, Cheyenne, Comanche, Gros Ventre, Kiowa,
Kiowa-Apache, Sarsi and Teton-Dakota[832]. Among the tribes of the
eastern border a limited use of pottery and basketry may be added, some
spinning and weaving of bags, and rather extensive agriculture. Here the
tipi alternates with larger and more permanent houses covered with
grass, bark or earth, and there was some attempt at water
transportation. These tribes are the Arikara, Hidatsa, Iowa, Kansa,
Mandan, Missouri, Omaha, Osage, Oto, Pawnee, Ponca, Santee-Dakota[833],
Yankton-Dakota[833] and Wichita.
On the western border other tribes (Wind River Shoshoni, Uinta and
Uncompahgre Ute) lack pottery but produce a rather high type of
basketry, depending far less on the bison but more on deer and small
game, making large use of wild grass seeds.
On the north-eastern border the Plains-Ojibway and Plains-Cree combine
many traits of the forest hunting tribes with those found in the Plains.
The Dakota or Sioux are universally conceded to be of the highest type,
physically, mentally and probably morally of any of the western tribes.
Their bravery has never been questioned by white or Indian and they
conquered or drove out every rival except the Ojibway. Their physical
characteristics are as follows: dark skin faintly tinged with red,
facial features more strongly marked than those of the Pacific Coast
Indians, nose and lower jaw particularly prominent and heavy, head
generally mesocephalic and not artificially deformed. They are a free
and dominant race of hunters and warriors, necessarily strong and
active. Their weapons of stone, wood, bone and horn are tomahawk, club,
flint knife, and bow and arrow. All their habits centre in the bison,
which provided the staple materials of nutrition and industry. Drawing
and painting were done on prepared bison skins and elaborately carved
pipes were made for ceremonial use.
They are divided into kinship groups, with inheritance as a rule in the
male line. The woman is autocrat of the home. Exogamy was strictly
enforced in the clan but marriage within the tribe or with related
tribes was encouraged. The marriage was arranged by the parents and
polygyny was common where means would permit. Government consisted in
chieftainship acquired by personal merit, and the old men exercised
considerable influence.
Religious conceptions were based on a belief in _Wakonda_ or
_Manito_[834], an all-pervading spirit force, whose cult involved
various shamanistic ceremonials consisting of dancing, chanting,
feasting and fasting. Most distinctive of these is the Sun dance,
practised by almost all the tribes of the plains except the Comanche. It
is an annual festival lasting several days, in honour of the sun, for
the purpose of obtaining abundant produce throughout the year.
The Sun dance was not only the greatest ceremony of the Plains tribes
but was a condition of their existence. More than any other ceremony or
occasion, it furnished the tribe the opportunity for the expression of
emotion in rhythm, and was the occasion of the tribe becoming more
closely united. It gave opportunity for the making and renewing of
common interests, the inauguration of tribal policies, and the renewing
of the rank of the chiefs; for the exhibition, by means of mourning
feasts, of grief over the loss of members of families; for the
fulfilment of social obligations by means of feasts; and, finally, for
the exercise and gratification of the emotions of love on the part of
the young in the various social dances which always formed an
interesting feature of the ceremony[835].
Being strongly opposed by the missionaries because it was utterly
misunderstood[836], and finding no favour in official circles, the Sun
dance has been for many years an object of persecution, and in
consequence is extinct among the Dakota, Crows, Mandan, Pawnee, and
Kiowa, but it is still performed by the Cree, Siksika (Blackfoot),
Arapaho, Cheyenne, Assiniboin, Ponca, Shoshoni and Ute, though in many
of these tribes its disappearance is near at hand, for it has lost part
of its rites and has become largely a spectacle for gain rather than a
great religious ceremony[837].
The Pawnee do not differ at all widely from the Dakota, but have a
somewhat finer cast of features. They are more given to agriculture,
raising crops of maize, pumpkins, etc. The Pawnee type of hut is
characteristic, consisting of a circular framework of poles or logs,
covered with brush, bark and earth. Their religious ceremonies were
connected with the cosmic forces and the heavenly bodies. The dominating
power was Tirawa generally spoken of as "Father." The winds, thunder,
lightning and rain were his messengers. Among the Skidi the morning and
evening stars represented the masculine and feminine elements, and were
connected with the advent and perpetuation on earth of all living forms.
A series of ceremonies relative to the bringing of life and its increase
began with the first thunder in the spring and culminated at the summer
solstice in human sacrifice, but the series did not close until the
maize, called "mother corn," was harvested. At every stage of the series
certain shrines or "bundles" became the centre of a ceremony. Each
shrine was in charge of an hereditary keeper, but its rituals and
ceremonies were in the keeping of a priesthood open to all proper
aspirants. Through the sacred and symbolic articles of the shrines and
their rituals and ceremonies a medium of communication was believed to
be opened between the people and the supernatural powers, by which food,
long life and prosperity were obtained. The mythology of the Pawnee is
remarkably rich in symbolism and poetic fancy and their religious system
is elaborate and cogent. The secret societies, of which there were
several in each tribe, were connected with the belief in supernatural
animals. The functions of these societies were to call the game, to heal
diseases, and to give occult powers. Their rites were elaborate and
their ceremonies dramatic[838].
The Blackfeet or Siksika[839], an Algonquian confederacy of the northern
plains, agree in culture with the Plains tribes generally, though there
is evidence of an earlier culture, approximately that of the eastern
woodland tribes. They are divided into the Siksika proper, or Blackfeet,
the Kainah or Bloods, and the Piegan, the whole being popularly known as
Blackfoot or Blackfeet. Formerly bison and deer were their chief food
and there is no evidence that they ever practised agriculture, though
tobacco was grown and used entirely for ceremonial purposes. The doors
of their tipis always faced east. They have a great number of
dances--religious, war and social--besides secret societies for various
purposes, together with many "sacred bundles" around every one of which
centres a ritual. Practically every adult has his personal "medicine."
The principal deities are the Sun, and a supernatural being known as
_Napi_ "Old Man," who may be an incarnation of the same idea. The
religious activity of a Blackfoot consists in putting himself into a
position where the cosmic power will take pity upon him and give him
something in return. There was no conception of a single personal
god[840].
The Arapaho, another Algonquian Plains tribe, were once according to
their own traditions a sedentary agricultural people far to the north of
their present range, apparently in North Minnesota. They have been
closely associated with the Cheyenne for many generations[841]. The
annual Sun Dance is their greatest tribal ceremony, and they were active
propagators of the ghost-dance religion of the last century which
centred in the belief in the coming of a messiah and the restoration of
the country to the Indians[842].
The Cheyenne, also of agricultural origin, have been for generations a
typical prairie tribe, living in skin tipis, following the bison over
large areas, travelling and fighting on horseback. In character they are
proud, contentious, and brave to desperation, with an exceptionally high
standard for women. Under the old system they had a council of 44
elective chiefs, of whom four constituted a higher body, with power to
elect one of their number as head chief of the tribe. In all councils
that concerned the relations with other tribes, one member of the
council was appointed to argue as proxy or "devil's advocate" for the
alien people. The council of 44 is still symbolised by a bundle of 44
invitation sticks, kept with the sacred medicine-arrows, and formerly
sent round when occasion arose to convene the assembly. The four
medicine-arrows constitute the tribal palladium which they claim to have
had from the beginning of the world. It was exposed once a year with
appropriate rites, and is still religiously preserved. No woman, white
man, or even mixed blood of the tribe has ever been allowed to come near
the sacred arrows. In priestly dignity the keepers of the
medicine-arrows and the priests of the Sun dance rites stood first and
equal[843].
VII. Eastern Woodland Area[844]. The culture north of the Great Lakes
and east of the St Lawrence is comparable to that of the Dene (see p.
361), the main traits being: the taking of caribou in pens; the snaring
of game; the importance of small game and fish, also of berries; the
weaving of rabbit-skins; the birch canoe; the toboggan; the conical skin
or bark-covered shelter; the absence of basketry and pottery and the use
of bark and wooden utensils. To this northern group belong the Ojibway
north of the lakes, including the Saulteaux, the Wood Cree, the
Montagnais and the Naskapi. Further south the main body falls into three
large divisions: Iroquoian tribes (Huron, Wyandot, Erie, Susquehanna and
Five Nations); Central Algonquian to the west of the Iroquois (some
Ojibway, Ottawa, Menomini, Sauk and Fox[845], Potawatomi, Peoria,
Illinois, Kickapoo, Miami, Piankashaw, Shawnee and Siouan Winnebago);
Eastern Algonquian (Abnaki group and Micmac).
The Central group west of the Iroquois appears to be the most typical
and the best known and the following are the main culture traits: maize,
squashes and bean were cultivated, wild rice where available was a great
staple, and maple sugar was manufactured; deer, bear and even bison were
hunted; also wild fowl; fishing was fairly developed, especially
sturgeon fishing on the lakes; pottery poor, but formerly used for
cooking vessels, vessels of wood and bark common; some splint basketry;
two types of shelter prevailed, a dome-shaped bark or mat-covered lodge
for winter and a rectangular bark house for summer, though the Ojibway
used the conical type of the northern border group; dug-out and bark
canoes and snowshoes were used, occasionally the toboggan and dog
traction; weaving was of bark fibre (downward with fingers), and soft
bags, pack lines and fish nets were made; clothing was of skins;
soft-soled moccasins with drooping flaps, leggings, breech-cloth and
sleeved shirts for men, for women a skirt and jacket, though a one-piece
dress was known; robes of skin or woven rabbit-skin; no armour or
lances; bows of plain wood and clubs; in trade days, the tomahawk; work
in wood, stone and bone weakly developed; probably considerable use of
copper in prehistoric times; feather-work rare.
In the eastern group agriculture was more intensive (except in the
north) and pottery was more highly developed. Woven feather cloaks were
common, there was a special development of work in steatite, and more
use was made of edible roots.
The Iroquoian tribes were even more intensive agriculturalists and
potters. They made some use of the blow-gun, developed cornhusk weaving,
carved elaborate masks from wood, lived in rectangular houses of
peculiar pattern, built fortifications and were superior in bone
work[846].
In physical type the Ojibways[847], who may be taken as typical of the
central Algonquians, were 1.73 m. (5 ft. 8 in.) in height, with
brachycephalic heads (82 in the east, 80 in the west, but variable),
heavy strongly developed cheek-bones and heavy and prominent nose. They
were hard fighters and beat back the raids of the Iroquois on the east
and of the Foxes on the south, and drove the Sioux before them out upon
the Plains. According to Schoolcraft, who was personally acquainted with
them and married a woman of the tribe, the warriors equalled in physical
appearance the best formed of the North-West Indians, with the possible
exception of the Foxes.
They were organised in many exogamous clans; descent was patrilineal
although it was matrilineal in most Algonquian tribes. The clan system
was totemic. There was a clan chief and generally a tribal chief as
well, chosen from one clan in which the office was hereditary. His
authority was rather indefinite.
As regards religion W. Jones[848] notes their belief in a cosmic mystery
present throughout all Nature, called "Manito." It was natural to
identify the Manito with both animate and inanimate objects and the
impulse was strong to enter into personal relations with the mystic
power. There was one personification of the cosmic mystery; and this was
an animate being called the Great Manito. Although they have long been
in friendly relations with the whites Christianity has had but little
effect on them, largely owing to the conservatism of the native
medicine-men. The _Medewiwin_, or grand medicine society, was a powerful
organisation, which controlled all the movements of the tribe[849].
The Iroquois[850] are not much differentiated in general culture from
the stocks around them, but in political development they stand unique.
The Five Nations, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga and Seneca
(subsequently joined by the Tuscarora), formed the famous League of the
Iroquois about the year 1570. Each tribe remained independent in matters
of local concern, but supreme authority was delegated to a council of
elected sachems. They were second to no other Indian people north of
Mexico in political organisation, statecraft and military prowess, and
their astute diplomats were a match for the wily French and English
statesmen with whom they treated. So successful was this confederacy
that for centuries it enjoyed complete supremacy over its neighbours,
until it controlled the country from Hudson Bay to North Carolina. The
powerful Ojibway at the end of Lake Superior checked their north-west
expansion, and their own kindred the Cherokee stopped their progress
southwards.
The social organisation was as a rule much more complex and cohesive
than that of any other Indians, and the most notable difference was in
regard to the important position accorded to the women. Among the
Cherokee, the Iroquois and the Hurons the women performed important and
essential functions in their government. Every chief was chosen and
retained his position and every important measure was enacted by the
consent and cooperation of the child-bearing women, and the candidate
for a chieftainship was nominated by the suffrages of the matrons of
this group. His selection from among their sons had to be confirmed by
the tribal and the federal councils respectively, and finally he was
installed into office by federal officers. Lands and the "long houses"
of related families belonged solely to the women.
VIII. South-eastern Area. This area is conveniently divided by the
Mississippi, the typical culture occurring in the east. The Powhatan
group and the Shawnee are intermediate, and the chief tribes are the
Muskhogean (Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, etc.) and Iroquoian
tribes (Cherokee and Tuscarora) with the Yuchi, Eastern Siouan, Tunican
and Quapaw. The main culture traits are: great use of vegetable food and
intensive agriculture; maize, cane (a kind of millet), pumpkins,
watermelons and tobacco being raised. Large use of wild vegetables, the
dog, the only domestic animal, eaten; later chickens, hogs, horses and
cattle quickly adopted; large game, deer, bear and bison, in the west;
turkeys and small game also hunted; some fishing (with fish poison); of
manufactured foods bears' oil, hickory-nut oil, persimmon bread and
hominy are noteworthy, together with the famous black drink[851]; houses
generally rectangular with curved roofs, covered with thatch or bark,
often with plaster walls, reinforced with wicker work; towns were
fortified with palisades; dug-out canoes were used for transport.
Clothing chiefly of deerskins and bison robes, shirt-like garments for
men, skirts and toga-like, upper garments for women, boot-like moccasins
in winter; there were woven fabrics of bark fibre, fine netted feather
cloaks, and some bison hair weaving in the west (the weaving being
downwards with the fingers); baskets of cane and splints, the double or
netted basket and the basket meal sieve being special forms; knives of
cane, darts of cane and bone; blow-guns in general use; pottery good,
coil process, with paddle decorations; a particular method of skin
dressing (macerated in mortars), good work in stone, but little in
metal[852].
The Creek women were short though well formed, while the warrior
according to Pickett[853] was "larger than the ordinary race of
Europeans, often above 6 ft. in height, but was invariably well formed,
erect in his carriage, and graceful in every movement. They were proud,
haughty and arrogant, brave and valiant in war." As a people they were
more than usually devoted to decoration and ornament; they were fond of
music and ball play was their most important game. Each Creek town had
its independent government, under an elected chief who was advised by
the council of the town in all important matters. Certain towns were
consecrated to peace ceremonies and were known as "white towns," while
others, set apart for war ceremonials, were known as "red towns." The
solemn annual festival of the Creeks was the "busk" or _puskita_, a
rejoicing over the first-fruits of the year. Each town celebrated its
busk whenever the crops had come to maturity. All the worn-out clothes,
household furniture, pots and pans and refuse, grain and other
provisions were gathered together into a heap and consumed. After a
fast, all the fires in the town were extinguished and a priest kindled a
new fire from which were made all the fires in the town. A general
amnesty was proclaimed, all malefactors might return to their towns and
their offences were forgiven. Indeed the new fire meant the new life,
physical and moral, which had to begin with the new year[854].
The Yuchi houses are grouped round a square plot of ground which is held
as sacred, and here the religious ceremonies and social gatherings take
place. On the edges stand four ceremonial lodges, in conformity with the
four cardinal points, in which the different clan groups have assigned
places. The square ground symbolises the rainbow, where in the
sky-world, Sun, the mythical culture-hero, underwent the ceremonial
ordeals which he handed down to the first Yuchi. The Sun, as chief of
the sky-world, author of the life, the ceremonies and the culture of the
people, is by far the most important figure in their religious life.
Various animals in the sky-world and vegetation spirits are recognised,
besides the totemic ancestral spirits, who play an important part.
According to Speck[855] "the members of each clan believe that they are
relatives and, in some vague way, the descendants of certain
pre-existing animals whose names and identity they now bear. The animal
ancestors are accordingly totemic. In regard to the living animals,
they, too, are the earthly types and descendants of the pre-existing
ones, hence, since they trace their descent from the same sources as the
human clans, the two are consanguinely related." Thus the members of a
clan feel obliged not to do violence to the wild animals having the form
or name of their tutelaries, though the flesh and fur may be obtained
from the members of other clans who are under no such obligations. The
different individuals of the clan inherit the protection of the clan
totems at the initiatory rites, and thenceforth retain them as their
protectors through life.
Public religious worship centres in the complex annual ceremony
connected with the corn harvest and includes the making of new fire,
clan dances impersonating totemic ancestors, dances to propitiate
maleficent spirits and acknowledge the assistance of beneficent ones in
the hope of a continuance of their benefits, scarification of the males
for sacrifice and purification, taking an emetic as a purifier, the
partaking of the first green corn of the season, and the performance of
a characteristic ball game with two sticks.
The middle and lower portions of the Mississippi valley with out-lying
territories exhibit archaeological evidence of a remarkable culture,
higher than that of any other area north of Mexico. This culture
was characterised by "well established sedentary life, extensive
practice of agricultural pursuits, and construction of permanent
works--domiciliary, religious, civic, defensive and mortuary, of great
magnitude and much diversity of form." The people, some, if not all of
whom were mound-builders, were of numerous linguistic stocks, Siouan,
Algonquian, Iroquoian, Muskhogean, Tunican, Chitimachan, Caddoan and
others, and "these historic peoples, remnants of which are still found
within the area, were doubtless preceded by other groups not of a
distinct race but probably of the same or related linguistic families.
This view, in recent years, has gradually taken the place of the early
assumption that the mound culture belonged to a people of high cultural
attainments who had been succeeded by Indian tribes. That mound building
continued down to the period of European occupancy is a well established
fact, and many of the burial mounds contain as original inclusions
articles of European make[856]."
These general conclusions are in no way opposed to De Nadaillac's
suggestion that the mounds were certainly the work of Indians, but of
more civilised tribes than the present Algonquians, by whom they were
driven south to Florida, and there found with their towns,
council-houses, and other structures by the first white settlers[857].
It would appear, however, from F. H. Cushing's investigations, that
these tribal council-houses of the Seminole Indians were a local
development, growing up on the spot under conditions quite different
from those prevailing in the north. Many of the vast shell-mounds,
especially between Tampa and Cape Sable, are clearly of artificial
structure, that is, made with definite purpose, and carried up
symmetrically into large mounds comparable in dimensions with the Indian
mounds of the interior. They originated with pile dwellings in shallow
water, where the kitchen refuse, chiefly shells, accumulates and rises
above the surface, when the building appears to stand on posts in a low
mound. Then this type of structure comes to be regarded as the normal
for house-building everywhere. "Through this natural series of changes
in type there is a tendency to the development of mounds as sites for
habitations and for the council-house of the clan or tribe, the sites
being either separate mounds or single large mounds, according to
circumstances. Thus the study of the living Seminole Indians and of the
shell-mounds in the same vicinity ... suggests a possible origin for a
custom of mound-building at one time so prevalent among the North
American Indians[858]." But if this be the genesis of such structures,
the custom must have spread from the shores of the Gulf inland, and not
from the Ohio valley southwards to Florida.
IX. South-western Area. On account of its highly developed state and its
prehistoric antecedents, the Pueblo culture appears as the type, though
this is by no means uniform in the different villages. Three
geographical groups may be recognised, the Hopi[859], the Zuni[860] and
the Rio Grande[861].
The culture of the whole may be characterised by: main dependence upon
maize and other cultivated foods (men doing the cultivating and
cloth-weaving instead of women); use of a grinding stone instead of a
mortar; the art of masonry; loom or upward weaving; cultivated cotton as
a textile material; pottery decorated in colour; unique style of
building and the domestication of the turkey. Though the main dependence
was on vegetable food there was some hunting; the eastern villages
hunted bison and deer, especially Taos. Drives of rabbits and antelopes
were practised, the unique hunting weapon being the curved rabbit stick.
Woven robes were usual. Men wore aprons and a robe when needed. Women
wore a garment reaching from shoulder to knee fastened on the right
shoulder only. In addition to cloth robes some were woven of rabbit-skin
and some netted with turkey feathers. Hard-soled moccasins were worn,
those for women having long strips of deerskin wound round the leg.
Pottery was highly developed, not only for practical use. Basketry was
known but not so highly developed as among the non-Pueblo tribes. The
dog was not used for transportation and there were no boats. Work in
stone and wood not superior to that of other areas; some work in
turquoise, but none in metal.
Many tribes appear to be transitional to the Pueblo type. Thus the Pima
once lived in adobe houses, though not of Pueblo type, they developed
irrigation but also made extensive use of wild plants, raised cotton,
wove cloth, were indifferent potters but experts in basketry. The
Mohave, Yuma, Cocopa, Maricopa and Yavapai built a square flat-roofed
house of wood, had no irrigation, were not good basket-makers (except
the Yavapai) but otherwise resembled the Pima. The Walapai and Havasupai
were somewhat more nomadic.
The Athapascan tribes to the east show intermediate cultures. The
Jicarilla and Mescalero used the Plains tipi, gathered wild vegetable
food, hunted bison, had no agriculture or weaving, but dressed in skins,
and had the glass-bead technique of the Plains. The western Apache
differed little from these, but rarely used tipis and gave a little more
attention to agriculture. In general the Apache have certain undoubted
Pueblo traits, they also remind one of the Plains, the Plateaus, and, in
a lean-to like shelter, of the Mackenzie area. The Navaho seem to have
taken their most striking features from European influence, but their
shelter is of the northern type, while costume, pottery and feeble
attempts at basketry and formerly at agriculture suggest Pueblo
influence[862].
Pueblo culture takes its name from the towns or villages of stone or
adobe houses which form the characteristic feature of the area. These
vary according to the locality, those in the north being generally of
sandstone, while adobe or sun-dried brick was employed to the south. The
groups of dwellings were generally compact structures of several
stories, with many small rooms, built in terrace fashion, the roof of
one storey forming a promenade for the storey next above. Thus from the
front the structure is like a gigantic staircase, from the back a
perpendicular wall. The upper houses were and still are reached by means
of movable ladders and a hatchway in the roof. Mainly in the north but
scattered throughout the area are the remains of dwellings built in
natural recesses of cliffs, while in some places the cliff face is
honeycombed with masonry to provide habitations.
Although doubtless designed for purposes of hiding and defence, many of
the cliff houses were near streams and fields and were occupied because
they afforded shelter and were natural dwelling places; many were
storage places for maize and other property: others again were places
for outlook from which the fields could be watched or the approach of
strangers observed. In some districts evidence of post-Spanish occupancy
exists. From intensive investigation of the cliff dwellings it is
evident that the inhabitants had the same material culture as that of
existing Pueblo Indians, and from the ceremonial objects which have been
discovered and the symbolic decoration that was employed it is equally
clear that their religion was essentially similar. Moreover the various
types of skulls that have been recovered are similar to those of the
present population of the district. It may therefore be safely said that
there is no evidence of the former general occupancy of the region by
peoples other than those now classed as Pueblo Indians or their
neighbours.
J. W. Fewkes points out that the district is one of arid plateaus,
separated and dissected by deep canons, frequently composed of
flat-lying rock strata forming ledge-marked cliffs by the erosive action
of the rare storms. "Only along the few streams heading in the mountains
does permanent water exist, and along the cliff lines slabs of rock
suitable for building abound; and the primitive ancients, dependent as
they were on environment, naturally produced the cliff dwellings. The
tendency toward this type was strengthened by intertribal relations; the
cliff dwellers were probably descended from agricultural or
semi-agricultural villagers who sought protection against enemies, and
the control of land and water through aggregation in communities....
Locally the ancient villages of Canyon de Chelly are known as Aztec
ruins, and this designation is just so far as it implies relationship
with the aborigines of moderately advanced culture in Mexico and Central
America, though it would be misleading if regarded as indicating
essential difference between the ancient villagers and their modern
descendants and neighbours still occupying the pueblos[863]."
Each pueblo contains at least one _kiva_, either wholly or partly
underground, entered by means of a ladder and hatchway, forming a sacred
chamber for the transaction of civil or religious affairs, and also a
club for the men. In some villages each totemic clan has its own _kiva_.
The Indians are eminently a religious people and much time is devoted to
complicated rites to ensure a supply of rain, their main concern, and
the growth of crops. Among the Hopi from four to sixteen days in every
month are employed by one society or another in the carrying out of
religious rites. The secret portions of these complicated ceremonies
take place in the _kiva_, while the so-called "dances" are performed in
the open.
The clan ancestors may be impersonated by masked men, called _katcinas_,
the name being also applied to the religious dramas in which they
appear[864].
In reference to J. Walter Fewkes' account of the "Tusayan Snake
Ceremonies," it is pointed out that "the Pueblo Indians adore a
plurality of deities, to which various potencies are ascribed. These
zoic deities, or beast gods, are worshipped by means of ceremonies which
are sometimes highly elaborate; and, so far as practicable, the mystic
zoic potency is represented in the ceremony by a living animal of
similar species or by an artificial symbol. Prominent among the animate
representatives of the zoic pantheon throughout the arid region is the
serpent, especially the venomous and hence mysteriously potent
rattlesnake. To the primitive mind there is intimate association, too,
between the swift-striking and deadly viper and the lightning, with its
attendant rain and thunder; there is intimate association, too, between
the moisture-loving reptile of the subdeserts and the life-giving storms
and freshets; and so the native rattlesnake plays an important role in
the ceremonies, especially in the invocations for rain, which
characterize the entire arid region[865]."
Fewkes pursues the same fruitful line of thought in his monograph on
_The Feather Symbol in Ancient Hopi Designs_[866], showing how amongst
the Tusayan Pueblos, although they have left no written records, there
survives an elaborate paleography, the feather _motif_ in the pottery
found in the old ruins, which is in fact "a picture writing often highly
symbolic and complicated," revealing certain phases of Hopi thought in
remote times. "Thus we come back to a belief, taught by other reasoning,
that ornamentation of ancient pottery was something higher than simple
effort to beautify ceramic wares. The ruling motive was a religious one,
for in their system everything was under the same sway. Esthetic and
religious feelings were not differentiated, the one implied the other,
and to elaborately decorate a vessel without introducing a religious
symbol was to the ancient potter an impossibility[867]."
Physically the Pueblo Indians are of short stature, with long, low head,
delicate face and dark skin. They are muscular and of great endurance,
able to carry heavy burdens up steep and difficult trails, and to walk
or even run great distances. It is said to be no uncommon thing for a
Hopi to run 40 miles over a burning desert to his cornfield, hoe his
corn, and return home within 24 hours. Distances of 140 miles are
frequently made within 36 hours[868]. In disposition they are mild and
peaceable, industrious, and extraordinarily conservative, a trait shown
in the fidelity with which they retain and perpetuate their ancient
customs[869]. Labour is more evenly divided than among most Indian
tribes. The men help the women with the heavier work of house-building,
they collect the fuel, weave blankets and make moccasins, occupations
usually regarded as women's work. The women carry the water, and make
the pottery for which the region is famous[870].
A. L. Kroeber has made a careful study of Zuni sociology[871] and come
to the conclusion that the family is fundamental and the clan secondary,
though kinship terms are applied to clan mates in a random fashion, and
even the true kinship terms are applied loosely. In view of the obvious
preeminence of the woman, who receives the husband into her and her
mother's house, it is worthy of note that she and her children recognise
her husband's relatives as their kin as fully as he adopts hers. The
Zuni are not a woman-ruled people. As regards government, women neither
claim nor have any voice whatever, nor are there women priests, nor
fraternity officers. Even within the house, so long as a man is a
legitimate inmate thereof, he is master of it and of its affairs. They
are a monogamous people. Divorce is more easy than marriage, and most
men and women of middle age have been married to several partners.
Marriage in the mother's clan is forbidden; in the father's clan,
disapproved. The phratries have no social significance, there is no
central clan house, no recognised head, no meeting, council or any
organisation, nor does the clan as such ever act as a body. The clans
have little connection with the religious societies or fraternities.
There are no totemic tabus nor is there worship of the clan totem.
People are reckoned as belonging to the father's clan almost as much as
to that of the mother. If one of the family of a person who belongs to a
fraternity falls sick the fraternity is called in to cure the patient,
who is subsequently received into its ranks. The Zuni fraternity is
largely a body of religious physicians, membership is voluntary and not
limited by sex. At Hopi we hear of rain-making more than of doctoring,
more of "priests" than of "theurgists." The religious functions of the
Zuni are most marked in the ceremonies of the Ko-tikkyanne, the
"god-society" or "masked-dancer society," and it is with these that the
_kivas_ are associated. They are almost wholly concerned with rain. Only
men can become members and entrance is compulsory. Kroeber believes that
"the truest understanding of Zuni life, other than its purely practical
manifestation, can be had by setting the ettowe ['fetish'] as a centre.
Around these, priesthoods, fraternities, clan organisation, as well as
most esoteric thinking and sacred tradition, group themselves; while, in
turn, kivas, dances, and acts of public worship can be construed as but
the outward means of expression of the inner activities that radiate
around the nucleus of the physical fetishes and the ideas attached to
them[872]."
FOOTNOTES:
[737] A. C. Haddon, _The Wanderings of Peoples_, 1911, p. 72.
[738] R. F. Scharff, _The History of the European Fauna_, 1899, pp. 155,
186.
[739] D. G. Brinton, _The American Race_, 1891.
[740] K. Haebler, _The World's History_ (ed. Helmolt), I. 1901, p. 181.
[741] A. Hrdli[vc]ka, "Skeletal Remains suggesting or attributed to
Early Man in North America," _Bureau Am. Eth. Bull._ 33, 1907, p. 98.
[742] A. Hrdli[vc]ka, "Early Man in South America," _Bureau Am. Eth.
Bull._ 52, 1912.
[743] _Loc. cit._ pp. 385-6.
[744] _American Anthropologist_, XIV. 1912, p. 22.
[745] P. Rivet, "La Race de Lagoa-Santa chez les populations
precolombiennes de l'Equateur," _Bull. Soc. d'Anth._ V. 2, 1908, p. 264.
[746] J. Deniker, _The Races of Man_, 1900, p. 512.
[747] _Bur. Am. Eth. Bull._ 52, 1912, pp. 183-4.
[748] _Loc. cit._ p. 267.
[749] A. Hrdli[vc]ka, _Am. Anth._ XIV. 1912, p. 10.
[750] _Ibid._ p. 12.
[751] A. C. Haddon, _The Wanderings of Peoples_, 1911, pp. 78-9.
[752] W. Bogoras, _Am. Anth._ IV. 1902, p. 577.
[753] _Bur. Am. Eth. Bull._ 28, 1904, p. 535.
[754] _Globus_, LXX. No. 3.
[755] _Mexican Archaeology_, 1914, p. 7 ff.
[756] "The Social Organization, etc. of the Kwakiutl Indians," _Rep.
U.S. Nat. Mus._ 1895, Washington (1897), p. 321 sq. and _Ann. Arch.
Rep._ 1905, Toronto, 1906, p. 84.
[757] W. L. H. Duckworth, _Journ. Anthr. Inst._, August, 1895.
[758] _The Stone Age in North America_, 1911.
[759] On the other hand there are a few American archaeologists who
believe in the occurrence of implements of palaeolithic type in the
United States, but there is no corroborative evidence on the part of
contemporaneous fossils. See N. H. Winchell, "The weathering of
aboriginal stone artifacts," No. 1. _Collection of the Minnesota Hist.
Soc._ Vol. XVI. 1913.
[760] _Am. Anth._ XIV. 1912, p. 55.
[761] Such disintegration is clearly seen in the Carib still surviving
in Dominica, of which J. Numa Rat contributed a somewhat full account to
the _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ for Nov. 1897, p. 293 sq. Here the broken form
_arametakuahatina buka_ appears to represent the polysynthetic
_arametakuanientibubuka_ (root _arameta_, to hide), as in Pere Breton's
_Grammaire Caraibe_, p. 45, where we have also the form
_arametakualubatibubasubutuiruni_ = know that he will conceal thee (p.
48). It may at the same time be allowed that great inroads have been
made on the principle of polysynthesis even in the continental (South
American) Carib, as well as in the Colombian Chibcha, the Mexican Otomi
and Pima, and no doubt in some other linguistic groups. But that the
system must have formerly been continuous over the whole of America
seems proved by the persistence of extremely polysynthetic tongues in
such widely separated regions as Greenland (Eskimo), Mexico (Aztec),
Peru (Quichuan), and Chili (Araucanian).
[762] R. de la Grasserie and N. Leon, _Langue Tarasque_, Paris, 1896.
[763] J. E. R. Polak, _Ipurina Grammar_, etc., London, 1894.
[764] _The Eskimo Tribes, their Distribution and Characteristics_,
Copenhagen, 1887, I. p. 62 sq.
[765] In fact this very word was first given "as an ordinary example" by
Kleinschmidt, _Gram. d. Groenlandischen Sprache_, Sect. 99, and is also
quoted by Byrne, who translates: "They disapproved of him, because he
did not give to him, when he heard that he would go off, because he had
nothing" (_Principles_, etc., I. p. 140).
[766] "Indian Linguistic Families of America north of Mexico," _Seventh
Ann. Rept. Bureau of Ethnology_, 1885-6 (1891). See also the "Handbook
of American Indian Languages," Part I by Franz Boas and others, _Bureau
of American Ethnology, Bulletin 40_, 1911. The Introduction by F. Boas
gives a good general idea of the characteristics of these languages and
deals shortly with related problems.
[767] Following this ethnologist's convenient precedent, I use both in
_Ethnology_ and here the final syllable _an_ to indicate stock races and
languages in America. Thus _Algonquin_ = the particular tribe and
language of that name; _Algonquian_ = the whole family; _Iroquois_,
_Iroquoian_, _Carib_, _Cariban_, etc.
[768] _Forum_, Feb. 1898, p. 683.
[769] Studies of these languages by Kroeber and others will be found in
_University of California Publications; American Archaeology and
Ethnology_, L. 1903 onwards. Cf. also A. L. Kroeber, "The Languages of
the American Indians," _Pop. Sci. Monthly_, LXXVIII. 1911.
[770] _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XL. 1910, p. 73.
[771] _Urbewohner Brasiliens_, 1897, p. 46.
[772] Karl v. d. Steinen, _Unter den Naturvoelkern Zentral-Brasiliens_,
1894, p. 215.
[773] _Aborigines of South America_, 1912.
[774] _Loc. cit._ p. 75.
[775] _Indian Linguistic Families_, p. 141.
[776] "Whence came the American Indians?" _Forum_, Feb. 1898.
[777] J. Walter Fewkes, "Great Stone Monuments in History and
Geography," _Pres. Add. Anthrop. Soc., Washington_, 1912.
[778] F. Graebner, _Anthropos_, IV. 1909, esp. pp. 1013-24. Cf. also his
_Ethnologie_, 1914.
[779] W. Schmidt, "Kulturkreise und Kulturschichten in Suedamerika,"
_Zeitschrift fuer Ethnologie_, Jg. 45, 1913, p. 1014 ff.
[780] _Loc. cit._ pp. 1020, 1021.
[781] _Ibid._ p. 1093; cf. also p. 1098 where the Peruvian sailing balsa
is traced to Polynesia, sailing rafts being still used in the Eastern
Paumotu islands.
[782] _Am. Anth._ XIV. 1912, pp. 34-6.
[783] _Loc. cit._ p. 39.
[784] _Loc. cit._ p. 43.
[785] G. Elliot Smith, _The Migrations of Early Culture_, 1915.
[786] G. Elliot Smith, "The Influence of Ancient Egyptian Civilization
in the East and in America," _Bull. of the John Rylands Library_,
Jany.--March, 1916, pp. 3, 4.
[787] Cf. W. J. Perry, "The Relationship between the Geographical
Distribution of Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines," reprinted from
_Manchester Memoirs_, Vol. LX. (1915), pt. 1.
[788] W. J. Perry, _Mem. and Proc. Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc._ LX.
1916, No. 6.
[789] _Loc. cit._ No. 5.
[790] _Loc. cit._ No. 4.
[791] _Loc. cit._ No. 8.
[792] _Loc. cit._ No. 7.
[793] _Putnam Anniversary Volume_, 1909, p. 365.
[794] _Nature_, Nov. 25 and Dec. 16, 1915.
[795] H. H. Bancroft, _The Native Races of the Pacific States of North
America_, 1875.
[796] E. B. Tylor, "On the game of Patolli in Ancient Mexico and its
probably Asiatic origin," _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ VIII. 1878, p. 116.
_Rep. Brit. Ass._ 1894, p. 774.
[797] Zelia Nuttall, "The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World
Civilisations," _Arch. and Eth. Papers, Peabody Mus. Cambridge, Mass._
II. 1901.
[798] J. Macmillan Brown, _Maori and Polynesian_, 1907.
[799] C. R. Enoch, _The Secret of the Pacific_, 1912.
[800] Livingston Farrand, _Basis of American History_, 1904, pp. 88-9.
[801] _7th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth. 1885-6_ (1891).
[802] "Primitive American History," _Am. Anth._ XVI. 1914, pp. 410-11.
[803] Roland B. Dixon, _Am. Anth._ XV. 1913, pp. 538-9.
[804] "Areas of American culture characterization tentatively outlined
as an aid in the study of the Antiquities," _Am. Anth._ XVI. 1914, pp.
413-46.
[805] Clark Wissler, "Material Cultures of the North American Indians,"
_Am. Anth._ XVI. 1914, pp. 447-505.
[806] "The Central Eskimo," _6th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth. 1884-5_ (1888),
p. 419.
[807] The name is said to come from the Abnaki _Esquimantsic_, or from
_Ashkimeq_, the Ojibway equivalent, meaning "eaters of raw flesh." They
call themselves Innuit, meaning "people."
[808] H. Rink, "The Eskimo Tribes, their Distribution and
Characteristics," _Meddelelser om Groenland_, II. 1887.
[809] F. Boas, "Ethnological Problems in Canada," _Journ. Roy. Anthr.
Inst._ XL. 1910, p. 529.
[810] H. P. Steensby, "Contributions to the Ethnology and
Anthropogeography of the Polar Eskimos," _Meddelelser om Groenland_,
XXXIV. 1910.
[811] H. P. Steensby, _loc. cit._ p. 384.
[812] _Loc. cit_. pp. 366, 376.
[813] V. Stefansson, _My life with the Eskimo_, 1913, p. 194 ff.
[814] F. Boas, "The Eskimo," _Annual Archaeological Report_, 1905,
Toronto (1906), p. 112 ff.
[815] A. G. Morice, "Notes on the Western Denes," _Trans. Canadian
Inst._ IV. 1895; "The Western Denes," _Proc. Canadian Inst._ XXV. (3rd
Series, VII.) 1890; "The Canadian Denes," _Ann. Arch. Rep. 1905_ (1906),
p. 187.
[816] From the Nootka word _potlatsh_, "giving" or "a gift," so called
because these great winter ceremonials were especially marked by the
giving away of quantities of goods, commonly blankets. Cf. J. R. Swanton
in _Handbook of American Indians_ (F. W. Hodge, editor), 1910.
[817] Besides C. Wissler, _loc. cit._ p. 457 and A. G. Morice, _loc.
cit._, cf. J. Jette, _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XXXVII. 1907, p. 157; C.
Hill-Tout, _British North America_, 1907; and G. T. Emmons, "The Tahltan
Indians," _Anthr. Pub. University of Pennsylvania_, IV. 1, 1911.
[818] C. Wissler, _loc. cit._ p. 454.
[819] J. G. Frazer, _Totemism and Exogamy_, III. 1910, p. 319.
[820] _Loc. cit._ p. 333.
[821] See p. 367.
[822] F. Boas, _Brit. Ass. Reports_, 1885-98; _Social Organisation of
the Kwakiutl Indians_, 1897; A. P. Niblack, "The Coast Indians," _U.S.
Nat. Mus. Report_, 1898.
[823] For this area consult J. Teit, "The Thompson Indians of British
Columbia," "The Lillooet Indians," and "The Shushwap," in _Memoirs, Am.
Mus. Nat. Hist._ Vol. II. 4, 1900; Vol. IV. 5, 1906; and Vol. IV. 7,
1909; F. Boas, "The Salish Tribes of the Interior of British Columbia,"
_Ann. Arch. Rep._ 1905 (Toronto, 1906); C. Hill-Tout, "The Salish Tribes
of the Coast and Lower Fraser Delta," _Ann. Arch. Rep._ 1905 (Toronto,
1906); H. J. Spinden, "The Nez Perces Indians," _Memoirs, Am. Anth.
Ass._ II. 3, 1908; R. H. Lowie, "The Northern Shoshone," _Anth. Papers,
Am. Mus. Nat. Hist._ II. 2, 1908; A. B. Lewis, "Tribes of the Columbia
Valley," etc., _Memoirs, Am. Anth. Ass._ I. 2, 1906.
[824] C. Hill-Tout, _British North America_, 1907, p. 37.
[825] _Loc. cit._ p. 50.
[826] _Loc. cit._ pp. 158-9.
[827] A. L. Kroeber, "Types of Indian Culture in California,"
_University of California Publications Am. Arch. and Eth._ II. 3, 1904;
cf. also the special anthropological publications of the University of
California.
[828] _Loc. cit._ p. 81 ff.
[829] P. S. Spartman, _University of California Publications, Am. Arch.
and Eth._ VIII. 1908, p. 221 ff.; A. L. Kroeber, "Types of Indian
Culture in California," _ibid._ II. 1904, p. 81 ff.
[830] A. L. Kroeber, _ibid._ VIII. 1908, p. 72.
[831] C. G. DuBois, "The Religion of the Luiseno Indians," _tom. cit._
p. 73 ff.
[832] Dakota is the name of the largest division of the Siouan
linguistic family, commonly called Sioux; Santee, Yankton and Teton
constituting, with the Assiniboin, the four main dialects.
[833] See note 4, p. 370.
[834] _Wakonda_ is the term employed "when the power believed to animate
all natural forms is spoken to or spoken of in supplications or rituals"
by many tribes of the Siouan family. _Manito_ is the Algonquian name for
"the mysterious and unknown potencies and powers of life and of the
universe." "_Wakonda_," says Miss Fletcher, "is difficult to define, for
exact terms change it from its native uncrystallized condition to
something foreign to aboriginal thought. Vague as the concept seems to
be to one of another race, to the Indian it is as real and as mysterious
as the starry night or the flush of the coming day," "Handbook of
American Indians" (ed. F. W. Hodge), _Bur. Am. Eth. Bull._ 30, 1907.
[835] See G. A. Dorsey, "Handbook of American Indians" (ed. F. W.
Hodge), _Bur. Am. Eth. Bull._ 30, 1907.
[836] G. B. Grinnell points out that the personal torture often
associated with the ceremonies has no connection with them, but
represents the fulfilment of individual vows. "The Cheyenne Medicine
Lodge," _Am. Anth._ XVI. 1914, p. 245.
[837] See G. A. Dorsey, "Arapaho Sun Dance," _Pub. Field Col. Mus.
Anth._ IV. 4 (Chicago), 1903; "The Cheyenne," _tom. cit._ IX. 1905.
[838] A. C. Fletcher, in "Handbook of American Indians" (ed. F. W.
Hodge), _Bur. Am. Eth.,_ Bull. 30, 1907; _Am. Anth._ IV. 4, 1902; "The
Hako, a Pawnee Ceremony," _22nd Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth. 1900-1_, 2
(1904); G. A. Dorsey, "Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee," _Mem. Am.
Folklore Soc._ VIII. 1904.
[839] From _siksinam_ "black," and _ka_, the root of _oqkatsh_ "foot."
The origin of the name is commonly given as referring to the blackening
of their moccasins by the ashes of the prairie fires.
[840] J. Mooney, "Handbook of American Indians" (ed. F. W. Hodge), _Bur.
Am. Eth._, Bull. 30, 1907; C. Wissler, "Material culture of the
Blackfoot Indians," _Anth. Papers, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist._ V. 1, 1910; J.
W. Schultz, _My Life as an Indian_, 1907.
[841] A. L. Kroeber. "The Arapaho," _Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist._ XVIII.
1900; G. A. Dorsey and A. L. Kroeber, "Traditions of the Arapaho," _Pub.
Field Col. Mus. Anth._ V. 1903; G. A. Dorsey, "Arapaho Sun Dance," _ib._
IV. 1903.
[842] J. Mooney, "The Ghost Dance Religion," _14th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am.
Eth._ 1896.
[843] G. A. Dorsey, "The Cheyenne," _Pub. Field Col. Mus. Anth._ IX.
1905; G. B. Grinnell, "Social organisation of the Cheyennes," _Rep. Int.
Cong. Am._ XIII. 1902.
[844] Consult the following: A. C. Parker, "Iroquois uses of Maize and
other Food Plants," Bull. 144, _University of California Pub., Arch. and
Eth._ VII. 4, 1909; W. J. Hoffman, "The Menomini Indians," _14th Ann.
Rep. Bur. Am. Eth. 1892-3_, I. (1896); A. E. Jenks, "The Wild Rice
Gatherers of the Upper Lakes," _19th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth. 1897-8_,
II. (1912); A. F. Chamberlain, "The Kootenay Indians and Indians of the
Eastern Provinces of Canada," _Ann. Arch. Rep. 1905_ (1906); A. Skinner,
"Notes on the Eastern Cree and Northern Saulteaux," _Anth. Papers, Am.
Mus. Nat. Hist._ IX. 1, 1911; _The Indians of Greater New York_, 1914;
J. N. B. Hewitt, "Iroquoian Cosmology," _21st Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth._
1899-1900 (1903), etc.
[845] For the Foxes (properly Musquakie) see M. A. Owen, _Folklore of
the Musquakie Indians_, 1904.
[846] C. Wissler, _loc. cit._ p. 459.
[847] Ojibway, meaning "to roast till puckered up," referred to the
puckered seam on the moccasins. Chippewa is the popular adaptation of
the word.
[848] W. Jones, _Ann. Arch. Rep._ 1905 (Toronto), 1906, p. 144. Cf. note
on p. 372.
[849] W. J. Hoffman, "The Midewiwin or 'grand medicine society' of the
Ojibwa," _7th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth._ 1886 (1891).
[850] From the Algonkin word meaning "real adders" with French suffix.
[851] A decoction made by boiling the leaves of _Ilex cassine_ in water,
employed as "medicine" for ceremonial purification. It was a powerful
agent for the production of the nervous state and disordered imagination
necessary to "spiritual" power.
[852] C. Wissler,_ loc. cit._ pp. 462-3.
[853] A. J. Pickett, _Hist. of Alabama_, 1851 (ed. 1896), p. 87.
[854] Cf. A. S. Gatschet, "A migration legend of the Creek Indians,"
_Trans. Acad. Sci. St Louis_, V. 1888.
[855] F. G. Speck, "Some outlines of Aboriginal Culture in the S. E.
States," _Am. Anth._ N. S. IX. 1907; "Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians,"
_Anth. Pub. Mus. Univ. Pa._ I. 1, 1909.
[856] W. H. Holmes, "Areas of American Culture," etc., _Am. Anth._ XVI.
1914, p. 424.
[857] _L'Anthropologie_, 1897, p. 702 sq.
[858] _16th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth._, Washington, 1897, p. lvi sq.
[859] Walpi, Sichumovi, Hano (Tewa), Shipaulovi, Mishongnovi, Shunopovi
and Oraibi.
[860] Zuni proper, Pescado, Nutria and Ojo Caliente.
[861] Taos, Picuris, San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque,
Pojoaque, Nambe, Jemez, Pecos, Sandia, Isleta, all of Tanoan stock; San
Felipe, Cochiti, Santo Domingo, Santa Ana, Sia Laguna and Acoma, of
Keresan stock.
[862] For this area see A. F. Bandelier, "Final Report of Investigations
among the Indians of the S. W. United States," _Arch. Inst. of Am.
Papers_, 1890-2; P. E. Goddard, "Indians of the Southwest," _Handbook
Series, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist._ 2, 1913; F. Russell, "The Pima Indians,"
_26th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth._ 1904-5 (1908); G. Nordenskioeld, _The
Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde, S. W. Colorado_, 1893; C. Mindeleff,
"Aboriginal Remains in Verde Valley, Arizona," _13th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am.
Eth._ 1891-2 (1896). For chronology cf. L. Spier, _Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.
Anth._ XVIII.
[863] _16th Ann. Report_, p. xciv. Cf. E. Huntington, "Desiccation in
Arizona," _Geog. Journ._, Sept. and Oct. 1912.
[864] For the religion consult F. H. Cushing, "Zuni Creation Myths,"
_13th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth._ 1891-2 (1896); _Zuni Folk Tales_, 1901;
Matilda C. Stevenson, "The Religious Life of the Zuni Child," _5th Ann.
Rep. Bur. Am. Eth._ 1887; "The Zuni Indians, their mythology, esoteric
fraternities, and ceremonies," _23rd Rep._ 1904; J. W. Fewkes, "Tusayan
Katcinas," _15th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth._ 1893-4 (1897); "Tusayan Snake
Ceremonies," _16th Rep._ 1894-5 (1897); "Tusayan Flute and Snake
Ceremonies," _19th Rep._ 1897-8, 11. (1900); "Hopi Katcinas," _21st
Rep._ 1899-1900 (1903), and other papers. For dances see W. Hough, _Moki
Snake dance_, 1898; G. A. Dorsey and H. R. Voth, "Mishongnovi Ceremonies
of the Snake and Antelope Fraternities," _Pub. Field Col. Mus. Anth._
III. 3, 1902; J. W. Fewkes, "Snake Ceremonials at Walpi," _Jour. Am.
Eth. and Arch._ IV. 1894 and "Tusayan Snake Ceremonies," _16th Ann, Rep.
Bur. Am. Eth._ 1897; H. Hodge, "Pueblo Snake Ceremonies," _Am. Anth._
IX. 1896.
[865] p. xcvii.
[866] _Amer. Anthropologist_, Jan. 1898.
[867] p. 13.
[868] G. W. James, _Indians of the Painted Desert Region_, 1903, p. 90.
[869] L. Farrand, _Basis of American History_, 1904, p. 184.
[870] W. H. Holmes, "Pottery of the ancient Pueblos," _4th Ann. Rep.
Bur. Am. Eth. 1882-3_ (1886); F. H. Cushing, "A study of Pueblo
Pottery," etc., _ib,_; J. W. Fewkes, "Archaeological expedition to
Arizona," _17th Rep. 1895-6_ (1898); W. Hough, "Archaeological field
work in N.E. Arizona" (1901), _Rep. U.S. Nat. Mus._ 1903.
[871] "Zuni Kin and Clan," _Anth. Papers, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist._ XVIII.
1917, p. 39.
[872] p. 167.