When the white man discovered America, he found a great, primeval
wilderness of fertile valleys, high mountains and deep forests. Tall
trees had grown for centuries and their towering tops, reaching up
to the blue sky, shut out the sunlight from the gloom of the forest
solitude. In the deep recesses of this wilderness the red man, or
Indian, lived in wild freedom. Skilled in woodcraft and the art of
savage warfare, he was lord and master of this vast domain, now called
the United States.
Although divided into numerous tribes or families, each speaking a
different language, the Indians were, in traits of character and
general appearance, very much alike. In war they were courageous, but
at the same time intelligently cautious. Treacherous and deceitful
to their foes, they preferred to slay an enemy by a secret rather
than an open blow. Brave and successful a warrior as the Indian was,
he excelled even more when he became a hunter. To be victor over the
beast in the chase and hunt meant to the Indian plenty to eat and stout
clothing to wear, so he developed remarkable skill in using his chief
weapon, the bow and arrow.
Before the white man came to America the Indians were clad almost
entirely in the skins of animals which they themselves cured and
dressed to perfection, fastening various pieces together with the
tendons and tough strips of skin very much as we sew to-day. These
garments, gayly ornamented with shells and colored stones, made very
useful and picturesque clothing.
[Illustration: BROWN MOOSE A CELEBRATED MOHAWK CHIEF]
The Indian boy was taught from early childhood to believe that his
highest attainment was to be a brave warrior and a great hunter, and
to look with scorn upon any other work. So upon the Indian women fell
the task of tilling the soil. For this reason farming never became a
real industry among them and they were amply satisfied to grow maize,
or Indian corn, from which they made many kinds of dishes and bread.
A very rich and fertile soil furthered their ambitions, for with but
little attention to farming they reaped abundant crops.
[Illustration: TOMAHAWK]
For houses the red men had wigwams. These they constructed by fixing
long poles in the ground, tying them together at the top, and covering
them with skins of animals joined together as they sewed their
clothing. They made an opening in the top to serve as a chimney.
Such crude structures could be quickly taken down and as readily put
up again, and admirably suited the needs of their owners, who loved
to wander from place to place. This peculiarity was probably due to
the fact that after living in one spot for a certain length of time
they would find their natural resources for food becoming exhausted,
and perhaps an enemy had hunted out the encampment for ravage. Then,
too, it was the Indian’s nature to rove in wild natural haunts and,
no doubt, a place long inhabited lost its charm for him. A few of
the tribes, however, did build permanent villages, with streets and
regularly spaced wigwams, around which they extended palisades of logs
for protection against attacks from their enemies.
[Illustration]
The greatest of all the Indian families, or tribes, was the Iroquois,
also called the Five Nations, originally found in what is now western
and central New York State. Of the many strange legends and stories
common among the Indians, one of the most beautiful is the story of
Hiawatha, which is the tale of the origin of the Iroquois.
Tradition tells us that Owayneo, as Indians call their Creator, made
the five nations from five handfuls of seed. One day he assembled his
children together and said: “You have sprung from five different kinds
of seed and are therefore five individual nations, but you are brothers
and I am your father because I made you all.” The Mohawks, he made bold
and valiant and gave them corn for their principal food. The Oneidas,
he made patient and charitable and bade them eat freely of nuts and the
fruits of the trees. The Senecas he made industrious and active, and
for their chief food gave them the nourishing bean. To the Cayugas he
gave green nuts and instructed them to grind them, and also every kind
of fruit, for they were destined to be strong, friendly and generous.
Squashes, grapes and tobacco were his gift to the Onondagas, for they
were to be a nation wise, just and eloquent. To all in common Owayneo
gave the beasts, birds and fishes to eat and the life-giving water to
drink. “Now,” said he, “be just to all men, and kind to strangers that
come among you.”
[Illustration: AN INDIAN VILLAGE]