The Pawnee Indians of the Caddoan stock seem both individually and tribally to possess a deep religious sense expressing itself alike in moods of the person and in ceremonies of a general popular character. This is evident, alike from Miss Fletcher’s description (Amer. Anthrop., 1899, pp. 83-85) of a venerable priest of that tribe, Tahiroossawichi, and from her detailed account of “The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony” (Twenty-second Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1900-1901, pp. 5-372). This Hako ceremony, the original stimulus for which was probably desire for offspring, and then to ensure friendship and peace between groups of persons belonging to different clans, gentes or tribes, had no fixed or stated time and “was not connected with planting or harvesting, hunting or war or any tribal festival,” although the Indians take up the Hako, with its long series of observances and its hundred songs, “in the spring when the birds are mating, or in the summer when the birds are nesting and caring for their young, or in the fall when the birds are flocking, but not in the winter when all things are asleep; with the Hako we are praying for the gift of life, of strength, of plenty and of peace, so we must pray when life is stirring everywhere,”—these are the words of the Indian hieragogue.In the arid region of the south-western United States there has grown up, especially among the Moqui, as may be read in the numerous monographs of Dr J. Walter Fewkes (and briefly in theReport of the Smithsonian Institution for1905), a system of religious ceremonials and sympathetic magic, the object of which is to ensure the necessary rainfall and through this the continued life and prosperity of the people. Here everything is conceived as really or symbolically related to sun, water, rain. The Moqui are essentially a religious people, and their mythology, in which the central figures are the “earth mother” and the “sky father,” has been described as “a polytheism largely tinged with ancestor-worship and permeated with fetishism.” Part of their exceedingly intricate, complex and elaborate ritual is the so-called “snake dance,” which has been written of by Bourke (The Snake Dance of the Moquis, 1884), Fewkes and others.In the Gulf region east of the Mississippi, “sun worship,” with primitive “temples,” appears among some of the tribes with certain curious myths, beliefs, ceremonies, &c. The Natchez,e.g.according to Dr Swanton (Amer. Anthrop., 1907), were noteworthy on account of “their highly developed monarchical government and their possession of a national religion centring about a temple, which reminds one in many ways of the temples of Mexico and Central America.” They seem to have had “an extreme form of sun-worship and a highly developed ritual.” A simpler form of sun-worship is found among the Kootenay of British Columbia (Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1889, 1892). With the Yuchi occur some Algonkian-like myths of the deluge, &c.The best data as to the religion and mythology of the Iroquoian tribes are to be found in the writings of Hewitt, especially in his monograph on “Iroquoian Cosmology” (Twenty-first Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1899-1900, pp. 127-339), In the creation-myths several instances of European influence are pointed out. Mother-earth and her life are the source, by transformation and evolution, of all things. The first beings of Iroquoian mythology (daylight, earthquake, winter, medicine, wind, life, flower, &c.) “were not beasts, but belonged to a rather vague class of which man was the characteristic type,”—later come beast-gods. According to Hewitt the Iroquoian term rendered in English “god” signifies really “disposer, controller,” for to these Indians “god” and “controller” are synonymous; and so “the reputed controller of the operations of nature received worship and prayers.” Creation-legends in great variety exist among the North American aborigines, from simple fiat actions of single characters to complicated transformations accomplished with the aid of other beings. The specific creation legend often follows that of the deluge.Perhaps the most remarkable of all North American creation stories is that of the Zuñi as recorded by Cushing (Thirteenth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1891-1892) in his “Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths.” Here the principal figure is “Awonawilona, the maker and container of all,” and the growth-substance the “fogs of increase,” which he evolved by his thinking in the pristine night. The long tale of the origin of the sun, the earth and the sky, and the taking form of “the seed of men and all creatures” in the lowest of the four caves or wombs of the world and their long journey to light and real life on the present earth is a wonderful story of evolution as conceived by the primitive mind, an aboriginal epic, in fact.In the mythology and religion of the Algonkian tribes (particularly the Chippewa, &c.) is expressed “a firm belief in a cosmic mystery present throughout all nature, calledmanitou.” Thismanitou“was identified with both animate and inanimate objects, and the impulse was strong to enter into personal relation with the mystic power; it was easy for an Ojibwa to associate themanitouwith all forms of transcendent agencies, some of which assumed definite characters and played the rôle of deities” (Jones). There were innumerablemanitousof high or low degree. The highest development of this conception was inKitchi Manitou(Great Manitou), but whether this personification has not been considerably influenced by teachings of the whites is a question. The chief figure in the mythology of the Chippewa and related tribes is Nanabozho, who “while yet a youth became the creator of the world and everything it contained; the author of all the great institutions in Ojibwa society and the founder of the leading ceremonies” (Jones,Ann. Arch. Rep. Ontario, 1905;Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, 1902, &c.). It is to this character that some of the most human of all Indian myths are attached,e.g.the Micmac legend of the origin of the crowing of babies and the story of Nanabozho’s attempt to stick his toe into his mouth after the manner of a little child. Nanabozho is also the central figure in the typical deluge legend of the Algonkian peoples of the Great Lakes (Journ. of American Folk-Lore, 1891), which, in some versions, is the most remarkable myth of its kind north of Mexico.The best and most authoritative discussion of the religions and mythological ideas of the Eskimo is to be found in the article of Dr Franz Boas on “The Folk-Lore of the Eskimo” (Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, 1904, pp. 1-13). The characteristic feature of Eskimo folk-lore is the hero-tales, treating of visits to fabulous tribes, encounters with monsters, quarrels and “wars,” shamanism, witchcraft, &c., and generally of “the events occurring in human society as it exists now,” the supernatural playing a more or less important rôle, but the mass of folk-lore being “thoroughly human in character.” In Eskimo myths there appears to be “a complete absence of the idea that transformations or creations were made for the benefit of man during a mythological period, and that these events changed the general aspect of the world,” quite in contrast with the conceptions of many Indian tribes, particularly in the region of the North Pacific, where the “transformer” (sometimes trickster also), demi-god, human or animal (coyote, raven, blue-jay, &c.), plays so important a part, as may be seen from the legends recorded in Dr Boas’sIndianische Sagen der nord-pacifischen Küste Amerikas(Berlin, 1895) and other more recent monographs. In Eskimo folk-lore the field of animal tales is quite limited, and Dr Boas is of opinion that the genuine animal myth “was originally foreign to Eskimo folk-lore,” and has been borrowed from the Indians. Perhaps the most prominent character in Eskimo mythology is Sedna, the old woman, who is mistress of the lower world beneath the ocean (Amer. Anthrop., 1900). The highest being conceived of by the Athabaskans of Canada was, according to Morice (Ann. Arch. Rep. Ontario, 1905, p. 204), “a real entity, which they feared rather than loved or worshipped.” The way of communicating with the unseen was through “personal totems,” revealed usually in dreams. The Hupa, an Athabaskan people of California, are reported by Goddard as possessing a deep religious sense. But the most remarkable mythology of any Athabaskan tribe is that of the Navaho, which has been studied in detail under some of its chief aspects by Dr Washington Matthews in his valuable monographs,Navaho Legends(1897) andThe Night Chant(1902). According to Dr Matthews, the Navaho “are a highly religious people having manywell-defined divinities (nature gods, animal gods and local gods), a vast mythic and legendary lore and thousands of significant formulated songs and prayers, which must be learned and repeated in the most exact manner; they have also hundreds of musical compositions; the so-called dances are ceremonies which last for nine nights and parts of ten days, and the medicine-men spend many years of study in learning to conduct a single one properly.” The most prominent and revered of the deities of the Navaho isEstsanatlehi, the “woman who rejuvenates herself,” of whom it is believed that she grows old, and then, at will, becomes young again.The numerous Indian tribes subjected to the environment of the Great Plains have developed in great detail some special religious observances, ceremonial institutions, secret societies, ritual observances, &c. The mental life of these Indians was profoundly influenced by the buffalo and later not a little by the horse. Various aspects of Plains culture have recently been discussed by Goddard, Kroeber, Wissler, Dorsey, Fletcher, Boas, &c., from whose investigations it would appear that much intertribal borrowing has taken place. Among some of the Algonkian (Arapaho, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, &c.), Siouan (Ponka,e.g.) Caddoan, Shoshonian, Kiowan and perhaps Kitunahan stocks the “sun-dance” in some form or other prevailed at one time or another. According to Wissler (Amer. Anthrop., 1908, p. 205), this ceremony, as now practised by many tribes, “is the result of a gradual accumulation both of ceremonies and ideas,”—the torture feature,e.g., “seems to have been a separate institution among the Missouri river tribes, later incorporated in their sun-dance and eventually passed on to other tribes.” Some other complicated ceremonials have apparently grown up in like manner. As ceremonies that are quite modern, having been introduced during the historical period, Dr Wissler instances “the Ghost dance, Omaha dance, Woman’s dance, Tea dance and Mescal eating,” of which all, except the Ghost dance, “flourish in almost all parts of the area under various names, but with the same essential features and songs.” Other interesting ceremonies of varying degrees of importance and extent of distribution are those of “the medicine-pipe, buffalo-medicine, sweat-lodge, puberty-rites, medicine-tipis, war-charms, &c.” Interesting also are the “medicine bundles,” or “arks” as they were once mistakenly called.The “Ghost dance,” the ceremonial religious dance of most notoriety to-day, “originated among the Paviotso (its prophet was a young Paiute medicine man, Wovoka or ‘Jack Wilson’) in Nevada about 1888, and spread rapidly among other tribes until it numbered among its adherents nearly all the Indians of the interior basin, from Missouri river to or beyond the Rockies” (Mooney). Wovoka’s doctrine was that a new dispensation was at hand, and that “the Indians would be restored to their inheritance and united with their departed friends, and they must prepare for the event by practising the songs and dance ceremonies which the prophet gave them.” East of the Rocky Mountains this dance soon came to be known as the “Ghost dance” and a common feature was hypnotic trances. The Sioux outbreak of 1890-1891 was in part due to the excitement of the “Ghost dance.” According to Mooney, “in the Crow dance of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, a later development from the Ghost dance proper, the drum is used, and many of the ordinary tribal dances have incorporated Ghost dance features, including even the hypnotic trances.” The doctrine generally “has now faded out and the dance exists only as a social function.” A full account of this “dance,” its chief propagators, themodi operandiof its ceremonies and their transference, and the results of its prevalence among so many Indian tribes, is given in Mooney’s detailed monograph on “The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890” (Fourteenth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1892-1893).In reference to “Messiah doctrines” among the aborigines of North America, Mooney calls attention to the fact that “within the United States every great tribal movement (e.g.the conspiracy of Pontiac, the combination of Tecumseh, &c.) originated in the teaching of some messianic prophet.” In primitive America the dance has figured largely in social, religious and artistic activities of all kinds, and one of its most interesting developments has occurred among the Plains Indians, where “the Mandan and other Siouan tribes dance in an elaborate ceremony, called the Buffalo dance, to bring game when food is scarce, in accordance with a well-defined ritual” (Hewitt). Among other noteworthy dances of the North American aborigines may be mentioned the calumet dance of several tribes, the scalp dance, the “Green-corn dance” of the Iroquois, thebusk(orpuskitau) of the Creeks (in connexion with “new fire” and regeneration of all things), the “fire dance” of the Mississaguas, &c.The Californian area, remarkable in respect to language and culture in general presents also some curious religious and mythological phenomena. According to Kroeber, “the mythology of the Californians was characterized by unusually well-developed and consistent creation-myths, and by the complete lack not only of migration but of ancestor traditions.” The ceremonies of the Californian Indians “were numerous and elaborate as compared with the prevailing simplicity of life, but they lacked almost totally the rigid ritualism and extensive symbolism that pervade the ceremonies of most America.” The most authoritative discussions of the religion and mythology of the Californian Indians are those of Dr Dixon and Dr Kroeber, the latter especially in theUniversity of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnologyfor 1904-1907.The shamans, “medicine-men,” &c., of the American Indians are of all degrees from the self-constitutedangekokof the Eskimo to those among tribes of higher culture who are chosen from a special family or after undergoing elaborate preliminaries of selection and initiation. The “medicine-men” of several tribes have been described with considerable detail. This has been done for the “Midēwiwin, or Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibwa” by Hoffman (Seventh Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol.pp. 143-300); for the “Medicine-men of the Apache” by Bourke (Ninth Ann. Rep.pp. 443-603) and for those of the Cherokee by Mooney (Seventh Ann. Rep.pp. 301-397), while a number of the chief facts concerning American Indian shamans in general have been gathered in a recent article by Dr R. B. Dixon (Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, 1908, pp. 1-12). In various parts of the continent and among diverse tribes the shaman exercises functions as “healer, sorcerer, seer, priest and educator.” These functions among the tribes of lower culture are generally exercised by one and the same individual, but, with rise in civilization, the healer-sorcerer and shaman-sorcerer disappear or wane in power and influence as the true priest develops. The priestly character of the shaman appears among the Plains tribes in connexion with the custody of the “sacred bundles” and the keeping of the ceremonial myths, &c., but is more marked among the Pueblos, Navaho, &c., of the south-west, while “a considerable development of the priestly function may also be seen among the Muskogi, particularly in the case of the Natchez, with their remarkable cult and so-called temple.” The reverent character of the best “priests” or shamans among the Pawnee and Omaha has been emphasized by Miss A. C. Fletcher and Francis la Flesche. The class-organization of the shamans reaches its acme in themidésocieties of the Chippewa and the priest-societies of the Pueblos Indians (Moqui, Zuñi, &c.).
The Pawnee Indians of the Caddoan stock seem both individually and tribally to possess a deep religious sense expressing itself alike in moods of the person and in ceremonies of a general popular character. This is evident, alike from Miss Fletcher’s description (Amer. Anthrop., 1899, pp. 83-85) of a venerable priest of that tribe, Tahiroossawichi, and from her detailed account of “The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony” (Twenty-second Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1900-1901, pp. 5-372). This Hako ceremony, the original stimulus for which was probably desire for offspring, and then to ensure friendship and peace between groups of persons belonging to different clans, gentes or tribes, had no fixed or stated time and “was not connected with planting or harvesting, hunting or war or any tribal festival,” although the Indians take up the Hako, with its long series of observances and its hundred songs, “in the spring when the birds are mating, or in the summer when the birds are nesting and caring for their young, or in the fall when the birds are flocking, but not in the winter when all things are asleep; with the Hako we are praying for the gift of life, of strength, of plenty and of peace, so we must pray when life is stirring everywhere,”—these are the words of the Indian hieragogue.
In the arid region of the south-western United States there has grown up, especially among the Moqui, as may be read in the numerous monographs of Dr J. Walter Fewkes (and briefly in theReport of the Smithsonian Institution for1905), a system of religious ceremonials and sympathetic magic, the object of which is to ensure the necessary rainfall and through this the continued life and prosperity of the people. Here everything is conceived as really or symbolically related to sun, water, rain. The Moqui are essentially a religious people, and their mythology, in which the central figures are the “earth mother” and the “sky father,” has been described as “a polytheism largely tinged with ancestor-worship and permeated with fetishism.” Part of their exceedingly intricate, complex and elaborate ritual is the so-called “snake dance,” which has been written of by Bourke (The Snake Dance of the Moquis, 1884), Fewkes and others.
In the Gulf region east of the Mississippi, “sun worship,” with primitive “temples,” appears among some of the tribes with certain curious myths, beliefs, ceremonies, &c. The Natchez,e.g.according to Dr Swanton (Amer. Anthrop., 1907), were noteworthy on account of “their highly developed monarchical government and their possession of a national religion centring about a temple, which reminds one in many ways of the temples of Mexico and Central America.” They seem to have had “an extreme form of sun-worship and a highly developed ritual.” A simpler form of sun-worship is found among the Kootenay of British Columbia (Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1889, 1892). With the Yuchi occur some Algonkian-like myths of the deluge, &c.
The best data as to the religion and mythology of the Iroquoian tribes are to be found in the writings of Hewitt, especially in his monograph on “Iroquoian Cosmology” (Twenty-first Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1899-1900, pp. 127-339), In the creation-myths several instances of European influence are pointed out. Mother-earth and her life are the source, by transformation and evolution, of all things. The first beings of Iroquoian mythology (daylight, earthquake, winter, medicine, wind, life, flower, &c.) “were not beasts, but belonged to a rather vague class of which man was the characteristic type,”—later come beast-gods. According to Hewitt the Iroquoian term rendered in English “god” signifies really “disposer, controller,” for to these Indians “god” and “controller” are synonymous; and so “the reputed controller of the operations of nature received worship and prayers.” Creation-legends in great variety exist among the North American aborigines, from simple fiat actions of single characters to complicated transformations accomplished with the aid of other beings. The specific creation legend often follows that of the deluge.
Perhaps the most remarkable of all North American creation stories is that of the Zuñi as recorded by Cushing (Thirteenth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1891-1892) in his “Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths.” Here the principal figure is “Awonawilona, the maker and container of all,” and the growth-substance the “fogs of increase,” which he evolved by his thinking in the pristine night. The long tale of the origin of the sun, the earth and the sky, and the taking form of “the seed of men and all creatures” in the lowest of the four caves or wombs of the world and their long journey to light and real life on the present earth is a wonderful story of evolution as conceived by the primitive mind, an aboriginal epic, in fact.
In the mythology and religion of the Algonkian tribes (particularly the Chippewa, &c.) is expressed “a firm belief in a cosmic mystery present throughout all nature, calledmanitou.” Thismanitou“was identified with both animate and inanimate objects, and the impulse was strong to enter into personal relation with the mystic power; it was easy for an Ojibwa to associate themanitouwith all forms of transcendent agencies, some of which assumed definite characters and played the rôle of deities” (Jones). There were innumerablemanitousof high or low degree. The highest development of this conception was inKitchi Manitou(Great Manitou), but whether this personification has not been considerably influenced by teachings of the whites is a question. The chief figure in the mythology of the Chippewa and related tribes is Nanabozho, who “while yet a youth became the creator of the world and everything it contained; the author of all the great institutions in Ojibwa society and the founder of the leading ceremonies” (Jones,Ann. Arch. Rep. Ontario, 1905;Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, 1902, &c.). It is to this character that some of the most human of all Indian myths are attached,e.g.the Micmac legend of the origin of the crowing of babies and the story of Nanabozho’s attempt to stick his toe into his mouth after the manner of a little child. Nanabozho is also the central figure in the typical deluge legend of the Algonkian peoples of the Great Lakes (Journ. of American Folk-Lore, 1891), which, in some versions, is the most remarkable myth of its kind north of Mexico.
The best and most authoritative discussion of the religions and mythological ideas of the Eskimo is to be found in the article of Dr Franz Boas on “The Folk-Lore of the Eskimo” (Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, 1904, pp. 1-13). The characteristic feature of Eskimo folk-lore is the hero-tales, treating of visits to fabulous tribes, encounters with monsters, quarrels and “wars,” shamanism, witchcraft, &c., and generally of “the events occurring in human society as it exists now,” the supernatural playing a more or less important rôle, but the mass of folk-lore being “thoroughly human in character.” In Eskimo myths there appears to be “a complete absence of the idea that transformations or creations were made for the benefit of man during a mythological period, and that these events changed the general aspect of the world,” quite in contrast with the conceptions of many Indian tribes, particularly in the region of the North Pacific, where the “transformer” (sometimes trickster also), demi-god, human or animal (coyote, raven, blue-jay, &c.), plays so important a part, as may be seen from the legends recorded in Dr Boas’sIndianische Sagen der nord-pacifischen Küste Amerikas(Berlin, 1895) and other more recent monographs. In Eskimo folk-lore the field of animal tales is quite limited, and Dr Boas is of opinion that the genuine animal myth “was originally foreign to Eskimo folk-lore,” and has been borrowed from the Indians. Perhaps the most prominent character in Eskimo mythology is Sedna, the old woman, who is mistress of the lower world beneath the ocean (Amer. Anthrop., 1900). The highest being conceived of by the Athabaskans of Canada was, according to Morice (Ann. Arch. Rep. Ontario, 1905, p. 204), “a real entity, which they feared rather than loved or worshipped.” The way of communicating with the unseen was through “personal totems,” revealed usually in dreams. The Hupa, an Athabaskan people of California, are reported by Goddard as possessing a deep religious sense. But the most remarkable mythology of any Athabaskan tribe is that of the Navaho, which has been studied in detail under some of its chief aspects by Dr Washington Matthews in his valuable monographs,Navaho Legends(1897) andThe Night Chant(1902). According to Dr Matthews, the Navaho “are a highly religious people having manywell-defined divinities (nature gods, animal gods and local gods), a vast mythic and legendary lore and thousands of significant formulated songs and prayers, which must be learned and repeated in the most exact manner; they have also hundreds of musical compositions; the so-called dances are ceremonies which last for nine nights and parts of ten days, and the medicine-men spend many years of study in learning to conduct a single one properly.” The most prominent and revered of the deities of the Navaho isEstsanatlehi, the “woman who rejuvenates herself,” of whom it is believed that she grows old, and then, at will, becomes young again.
The numerous Indian tribes subjected to the environment of the Great Plains have developed in great detail some special religious observances, ceremonial institutions, secret societies, ritual observances, &c. The mental life of these Indians was profoundly influenced by the buffalo and later not a little by the horse. Various aspects of Plains culture have recently been discussed by Goddard, Kroeber, Wissler, Dorsey, Fletcher, Boas, &c., from whose investigations it would appear that much intertribal borrowing has taken place. Among some of the Algonkian (Arapaho, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, &c.), Siouan (Ponka,e.g.) Caddoan, Shoshonian, Kiowan and perhaps Kitunahan stocks the “sun-dance” in some form or other prevailed at one time or another. According to Wissler (Amer. Anthrop., 1908, p. 205), this ceremony, as now practised by many tribes, “is the result of a gradual accumulation both of ceremonies and ideas,”—the torture feature,e.g., “seems to have been a separate institution among the Missouri river tribes, later incorporated in their sun-dance and eventually passed on to other tribes.” Some other complicated ceremonials have apparently grown up in like manner. As ceremonies that are quite modern, having been introduced during the historical period, Dr Wissler instances “the Ghost dance, Omaha dance, Woman’s dance, Tea dance and Mescal eating,” of which all, except the Ghost dance, “flourish in almost all parts of the area under various names, but with the same essential features and songs.” Other interesting ceremonies of varying degrees of importance and extent of distribution are those of “the medicine-pipe, buffalo-medicine, sweat-lodge, puberty-rites, medicine-tipis, war-charms, &c.” Interesting also are the “medicine bundles,” or “arks” as they were once mistakenly called.
The “Ghost dance,” the ceremonial religious dance of most notoriety to-day, “originated among the Paviotso (its prophet was a young Paiute medicine man, Wovoka or ‘Jack Wilson’) in Nevada about 1888, and spread rapidly among other tribes until it numbered among its adherents nearly all the Indians of the interior basin, from Missouri river to or beyond the Rockies” (Mooney). Wovoka’s doctrine was that a new dispensation was at hand, and that “the Indians would be restored to their inheritance and united with their departed friends, and they must prepare for the event by practising the songs and dance ceremonies which the prophet gave them.” East of the Rocky Mountains this dance soon came to be known as the “Ghost dance” and a common feature was hypnotic trances. The Sioux outbreak of 1890-1891 was in part due to the excitement of the “Ghost dance.” According to Mooney, “in the Crow dance of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, a later development from the Ghost dance proper, the drum is used, and many of the ordinary tribal dances have incorporated Ghost dance features, including even the hypnotic trances.” The doctrine generally “has now faded out and the dance exists only as a social function.” A full account of this “dance,” its chief propagators, themodi operandiof its ceremonies and their transference, and the results of its prevalence among so many Indian tribes, is given in Mooney’s detailed monograph on “The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890” (Fourteenth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1892-1893).
In reference to “Messiah doctrines” among the aborigines of North America, Mooney calls attention to the fact that “within the United States every great tribal movement (e.g.the conspiracy of Pontiac, the combination of Tecumseh, &c.) originated in the teaching of some messianic prophet.” In primitive America the dance has figured largely in social, religious and artistic activities of all kinds, and one of its most interesting developments has occurred among the Plains Indians, where “the Mandan and other Siouan tribes dance in an elaborate ceremony, called the Buffalo dance, to bring game when food is scarce, in accordance with a well-defined ritual” (Hewitt). Among other noteworthy dances of the North American aborigines may be mentioned the calumet dance of several tribes, the scalp dance, the “Green-corn dance” of the Iroquois, thebusk(orpuskitau) of the Creeks (in connexion with “new fire” and regeneration of all things), the “fire dance” of the Mississaguas, &c.
The Californian area, remarkable in respect to language and culture in general presents also some curious religious and mythological phenomena. According to Kroeber, “the mythology of the Californians was characterized by unusually well-developed and consistent creation-myths, and by the complete lack not only of migration but of ancestor traditions.” The ceremonies of the Californian Indians “were numerous and elaborate as compared with the prevailing simplicity of life, but they lacked almost totally the rigid ritualism and extensive symbolism that pervade the ceremonies of most America.” The most authoritative discussions of the religion and mythology of the Californian Indians are those of Dr Dixon and Dr Kroeber, the latter especially in theUniversity of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnologyfor 1904-1907.
The shamans, “medicine-men,” &c., of the American Indians are of all degrees from the self-constitutedangekokof the Eskimo to those among tribes of higher culture who are chosen from a special family or after undergoing elaborate preliminaries of selection and initiation. The “medicine-men” of several tribes have been described with considerable detail. This has been done for the “Midēwiwin, or Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibwa” by Hoffman (Seventh Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol.pp. 143-300); for the “Medicine-men of the Apache” by Bourke (Ninth Ann. Rep.pp. 443-603) and for those of the Cherokee by Mooney (Seventh Ann. Rep.pp. 301-397), while a number of the chief facts concerning American Indian shamans in general have been gathered in a recent article by Dr R. B. Dixon (Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, 1908, pp. 1-12). In various parts of the continent and among diverse tribes the shaman exercises functions as “healer, sorcerer, seer, priest and educator.” These functions among the tribes of lower culture are generally exercised by one and the same individual, but, with rise in civilization, the healer-sorcerer and shaman-sorcerer disappear or wane in power and influence as the true priest develops. The priestly character of the shaman appears among the Plains tribes in connexion with the custody of the “sacred bundles” and the keeping of the ceremonial myths, &c., but is more marked among the Pueblos, Navaho, &c., of the south-west, while “a considerable development of the priestly function may also be seen among the Muskogi, particularly in the case of the Natchez, with their remarkable cult and so-called temple.” The reverent character of the best “priests” or shamans among the Pawnee and Omaha has been emphasized by Miss A. C. Fletcher and Francis la Flesche. The class-organization of the shamans reaches its acme in themidésocieties of the Chippewa and the priest-societies of the Pueblos Indians (Moqui, Zuñi, &c.).
The games of the American aborigines north of Mexico have been made the subject of a detailed monograph by Culin, “Games of the North American Indians” (Twenty-fourth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1902-1903, pp. 1-846),Games.in which are treated the games of chance, games of dexterity and minor amusements of more than 200 tribes belonging to 34 different linguistic stocks. According to Culin, “games of pure skill and calculation, such as chess, are entirely absent.” There are more variations in the materials employed than in the object or methods of play and in general the variations do not follow differences in language. The type known as “dice game” is reported here from among 130 tribes belonging to 30 stocks; the “hand-game” from 81 tribes belonging to 28 stocks. The centre of distribution of North American Indian games, which, with the exception of a few post-Columbian additions, are all autochthonous, Culin finds in the south-west—“there appears to be a progressive change from what appears to be the oldest forms of existing games from a centre in the south-western United States, along lines north, north-east and east.” Similar changes radiating southward from the same centre are likewise suggested. He is of opinion that, outside of children’s games as such and the kinds of minor amusements common in all civilizations, the games of the North American Indians, as they now exist, “are either instruments of rites or have descended from ceremonial observances of a religious character,” and that “while their common and secular object appears to be purely a manifestation of the desire for amusement or gain, they are performed also as religious ceremonies, as rites pleasing to the gods to secure their favour, or as processes of sympathetic magic, to drive away sickness, avert other evil, or produce rain and the fertilization and reproduction of plants and animals or other beneficial results.” He also believes that these games, “in what appears to be their oldest and most primitive manifestations are almost exclusively divinatory.” This theory of the origin of games in divination, which receives considerable support from certain facts in primitive America, needs, however, further proof. So, too, with Mr Culin’s further conclusion that “behind both ceremonies and games there existed some widespread myth from which both derived their impulse,” that myth being the one which discloses the primal gamblers as those curious children, the divine Twins, the miraculous offspring of the sun, who are the principal personages in many Indian mythologies. These eternal contenders “are the original patrons of play, and their games are the games now played by men.”
It was formerly thought that “totemism” and real “gentile organization” prevailed over all of North America. But it now appears that in several sections of the country such beliefs and institutions were unknown, and thatSocial organization, customs, &c.even within the limits of one and the same stock one tribe did, while another did not, possess them. Matriarchal ideas and the corresponding tribal institutions were also once regarded as the primal social condition of all Indian tribes, having been afterwards in many cases replaced by patriarchal ideas and institutions. Since the appearance of Morgan’s famous monograph onAncient Society(New York, 1878) and hisSystems of Consanguinity and Affinity in the Human Family(Washington, 1871), the labours of American ethnologists have added much to our knowledge of the sociology of the American Indians. Forms of society among these Indians vary from the absolute democracy of the Athabaskan Ten’a of Alaska, among whom, according to Jetté (Congr. int. d. Amér., Quebec, 1886), there exist “no chiefs, guides or masters,” and public opinion dominates (“every one commands and all obey, if they see fit”), to the complicated systems of some of the tribes of the North Pacific coast regions, with threefold divisions of chiefs, “nobles,” and “common people” (sometimes also, in addition, slaves), secret and “totemic” organizations, religious societies, sexual institutions (“men’s houses,” &c.), and other like divisions; and beyond this to the development along political and larger social lines of alliances and confederations of tribes (often speaking entirely different languages) which have played an important rôle in the diffusion of primitive culture, such as the Powhatan confederacy of Virginia and the Abnaki confederacy of the North Atlantic region; the confederacy of the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi of the Great Lakes; the Huron confederacy of Ontario; the Dakota alliance of the north-west; the Blackfoot confederacy of the Canadian north-west; the Caddoan confederacy of the Arkansas region; the Creek confederacy of the South Atlantic country. The acme of federation was reached in the great “League of the Iroquois,” whose further development and expansion were prevented by the coming of the Europeans and their conquest of primitive North America. According to Morgan (League of the Iroquois, New York, 1851) and Hale (Iroquois Book of Rites, 1881), who have written about this remarkable attempt, by federation of all tribes, to put an end to war and usher in the reign of universal peace, its formation under the inspiring genius of Hiawatha took place about 1459. But J. N. B. Hewitt, himself an Iroquois, offers reasons (Amer. Anthrop., 1892) for believing that the correct date of its founding lies between 1559 and 1570.
Tribes like the Kootenay (Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1892) have no totems and secret societies, nor do they seem to have ever possessed them. This may also be said of some of the Salishan tribes, though others of the same stock have complicated systems. The Klamath Indians (Lutuamian stock) “are absolutely ignorant of the gentile or clan system as prevalent among the Haida, Tlingit and Eastern Indians of North America; matriarchate is also unknown among them; every one is free to marry within or without the tribe, and the children inherit from the father” (Gatschet). In all parts of California indeed, according to Kroeber (Handbook of Amer. Inds., 1907, pt. i. p. 191), “both totemism and a true gentile organization were totally lacking.” Nor does it appear that either personal or communal totemism is a necessary attribute of clan and gentile organizations where such do exist. The Heiltsuk of British Columbia have animal totems, while the Kwakiutl do not, although both these tribes belong to the same Wakashan stock. Among the Iroquoian tribes, according to Hewitt (Handbook, p. 303), the primary unit of social and political organization, termed in Mohawkohwachira, is “the family, comprising all the male and female progeny of a woman and of all her female descendants in the female line and of such other persons as may be adopted into theohwachira.” The head of theohwachirais “usually the oldest woman in it,” and it “never bears the name of a tutelary or other deity.” The clan was composed of one or more of suchohwachiras, being “developed apparently through the coalescence of two or moreohwachirashaving a common abode.” From the clan or gens developed the government of the tribe, and out of that the Iroquois confederation.The power of the chief varied greatly among the North American aborigines, as well as the manner of his selection. Among the Eskimo, chiefs properly understood hardly have existed; nearly everywhere the power of all sorts of chiefs (both war and peace) was limited and modified by the restraints of councils and other advisers. Age, wealth, ability, generosity, the favour of the shaman, &c., were qualifications for the chieftainship in various parts of the continent. Women generally seem to have had little or no direct voice in government, except that they could (even among some of the Athabaskan tribes) sometimes become chiefs, and, among the Iroquois, were represented in councils, had certain powers and prerogatives (including a sort of veto on war), &c. Many tribes had permanent peace-chiefs and temporary war-chiefs. According to Hewitt (Handb. of Amer. Inds., 1907, pt. i. p. 264), “In the Creek confederation and that of the Iroquois, the most complex aboriginal government north of Mexico, there was, in fact, no head chief. The first chief of the Onondaga federal roll acted as the chairman of the federal council, and by virtue of his office he called the federal council together. With this all pre-eminence over the other chiefs ended, for the governing power of the confederation was lodged in the federal council. The federal council was composed of the federal chiefs of the several component tribes; the tribal council consisted of the federal chiefs and sub-chiefs of the tribe.” The greatest development of the power of the chief and his tenure of office by heredity seems to have occurred among the Natchez and certain other tribes of the lower Mississippi and Gulf region. Among the Plains tribes, in general, non-inheritance prevailed, and “any ambitious and courageous warrior could apparently, in strict accordance with custom, make himself a chief by the acquisition of suitable property and through his own force of character” (Hewitt).Among the North American aborigines the position of woman and her privileges and duties varied greatly from the usually narrow limits prescribed by the Athabaskans, according to Morice (Congr. int. d. Amér., Quebec, 1906), to the socially high status reached among some of the Iroquoian tribes in particular. In the North Pacific coast region the possession of slaves is said to have been a cause of a relatively higher position of woman there than obtained among neighbouring tribes. The custom of adoption both of children and captives also resulted advantageously to woman. The rôle and accomplishments of woman in primitive North America are treated with some detail in Mason’sWoman’s Share in Primitive Culture(1894). The form of the family and the nature of marriage varied considerably among the North American aborigines, as also did the ceremonies of courtship and the proceedings in divorce, &c. With some tribes apparently real purchase of brides occurred, but in many cases the seeming purchase turns out to be merely “a ratification of the marriage by means of gifts.” Great differences in these matters are found within the limits of one and the same stock (e.g.Siouan). Female descent,e.g., prevailed among the Algonkian tribes of the south-east but not among those of the north and west; and the case of the Creeks (Muskogian) shows that female descent is not necessarily the concomitant of a high social status of woman. Among the Zuñi, where the man is adopted as a son by the father of his wife, “she is thus mistress of the situation; the children are hers, and she can order the husband from the house should occasion arise” (Lowie and Farrand). With many tribes, however, the husband could divorce his wife at will, but Farrand and Lowie in their discussion of Indian marriage (Handb. of Amer. Inds., 1907, pt. i. p. 809) report on the other hand the curious fact that among the Wintun of California “men seldom expel their wives, but slink away from home, leaving their families behind.” In the case of divorce, the children generally go with the mother. From a survey of the available data Lowie and Farrand conclude that “monogamy is thus found to be the prevalent form of marriage throughout the continent,” varied from to polygamy, where wealth and other circumstances dictated it. In California,e.g., polygamy is rare, while with some of the Plains tribes it was quite common. Here again differences of note occurred within the same stock,e.g.the Iroquois proper could not have more than one wife, but the Huron Indian could. The family itself varied from the group of parents and children to the larger ones dictated by social regulations among the eastern tribes with clan organizations, and the large “families” found by Swanton (Amer. Anthrop., 1905) among certain tribes of the North Pacific coast, where relations and “poor relations,” servants and slaves entered to swell the aggregate. Exogamy was widely prevalent and incest rare. Cousin-marriages were frequently tabooed.With many of the North American aborigines the giving of the name, its transference from one individual to another, its change by the individual in recognition of great events, achievements, &c., and other aspects of nominology are of significance in connexion with social life and religious ceremonies, rites and superstitions. The high level attained by some tribes in these matters can be seen from Miss Fletcher’s description of “A Pawnee Ritual used when changing a Man’s Name” (Amer. Anthrop., 1899). Names marked epochs in life and changed with new achievements, and they had often “so personal and sacred a meaning,” that they were naturally enough rendered “unfit for the familiar purposes of ordinary address, to a people so reverently inclined as the Indians seem to have been.” The period of puberty in boys and girls was often the occasion of elaborate “initiation” ceremonies and rites of various kinds, some of which were of a very trying and even cruel character. Ceremonial or symbolic “killings,” “new-births,” &c., were also in vogue; likewise ordeals of whipping, isolation and solitary confinement, “medicine”-taking, physical torture, ritual bathings,painting of face or body, scarification and the like. The initiations, ordeals, &c., gone through by the youth as a prelude to manhood and womanhood resembled in many respects those imposed upon individuals aspiring to be chiefs, shamans and “medicine-men.” Many facts concerning these rites and ceremonies will be found in G. Stanley Hall’sAdolescence(1904) and in the articles on “Ordeals” and “Puberty Customs” in theHandbook of American Indians North of Mexico(1907-1910). In the method of approach to the supernatural and the superhuman among the North American aborigines there is great diversity, and the powers and capacities of the individual have often received greater recognition than is commonly believed. Thus, as Kroeber (Amer. Anthrop., 1902, p. 285) has pointed out, the Mohave Indians of the Yuman stock have as a distinctive feature of their culture “the high degree to which they have developed their system of dreaming and of individual instead of traditional connexion with the supernatural.” For the Omaha of the Siouan stock Miss A. C. Fletcher (Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1895, 1896;Journ. Anthr. Inst., 1898) has shown the appreciation of the individual in the lonely “totem” vigil and the acquisition of the personalgenius.
Tribes like the Kootenay (Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1892) have no totems and secret societies, nor do they seem to have ever possessed them. This may also be said of some of the Salishan tribes, though others of the same stock have complicated systems. The Klamath Indians (Lutuamian stock) “are absolutely ignorant of the gentile or clan system as prevalent among the Haida, Tlingit and Eastern Indians of North America; matriarchate is also unknown among them; every one is free to marry within or without the tribe, and the children inherit from the father” (Gatschet). In all parts of California indeed, according to Kroeber (Handbook of Amer. Inds., 1907, pt. i. p. 191), “both totemism and a true gentile organization were totally lacking.” Nor does it appear that either personal or communal totemism is a necessary attribute of clan and gentile organizations where such do exist. The Heiltsuk of British Columbia have animal totems, while the Kwakiutl do not, although both these tribes belong to the same Wakashan stock. Among the Iroquoian tribes, according to Hewitt (Handbook, p. 303), the primary unit of social and political organization, termed in Mohawkohwachira, is “the family, comprising all the male and female progeny of a woman and of all her female descendants in the female line and of such other persons as may be adopted into theohwachira.” The head of theohwachirais “usually the oldest woman in it,” and it “never bears the name of a tutelary or other deity.” The clan was composed of one or more of suchohwachiras, being “developed apparently through the coalescence of two or moreohwachirashaving a common abode.” From the clan or gens developed the government of the tribe, and out of that the Iroquois confederation.
The power of the chief varied greatly among the North American aborigines, as well as the manner of his selection. Among the Eskimo, chiefs properly understood hardly have existed; nearly everywhere the power of all sorts of chiefs (both war and peace) was limited and modified by the restraints of councils and other advisers. Age, wealth, ability, generosity, the favour of the shaman, &c., were qualifications for the chieftainship in various parts of the continent. Women generally seem to have had little or no direct voice in government, except that they could (even among some of the Athabaskan tribes) sometimes become chiefs, and, among the Iroquois, were represented in councils, had certain powers and prerogatives (including a sort of veto on war), &c. Many tribes had permanent peace-chiefs and temporary war-chiefs. According to Hewitt (Handb. of Amer. Inds., 1907, pt. i. p. 264), “In the Creek confederation and that of the Iroquois, the most complex aboriginal government north of Mexico, there was, in fact, no head chief. The first chief of the Onondaga federal roll acted as the chairman of the federal council, and by virtue of his office he called the federal council together. With this all pre-eminence over the other chiefs ended, for the governing power of the confederation was lodged in the federal council. The federal council was composed of the federal chiefs of the several component tribes; the tribal council consisted of the federal chiefs and sub-chiefs of the tribe.” The greatest development of the power of the chief and his tenure of office by heredity seems to have occurred among the Natchez and certain other tribes of the lower Mississippi and Gulf region. Among the Plains tribes, in general, non-inheritance prevailed, and “any ambitious and courageous warrior could apparently, in strict accordance with custom, make himself a chief by the acquisition of suitable property and through his own force of character” (Hewitt).
Among the North American aborigines the position of woman and her privileges and duties varied greatly from the usually narrow limits prescribed by the Athabaskans, according to Morice (Congr. int. d. Amér., Quebec, 1906), to the socially high status reached among some of the Iroquoian tribes in particular. In the North Pacific coast region the possession of slaves is said to have been a cause of a relatively higher position of woman there than obtained among neighbouring tribes. The custom of adoption both of children and captives also resulted advantageously to woman. The rôle and accomplishments of woman in primitive North America are treated with some detail in Mason’sWoman’s Share in Primitive Culture(1894). The form of the family and the nature of marriage varied considerably among the North American aborigines, as also did the ceremonies of courtship and the proceedings in divorce, &c. With some tribes apparently real purchase of brides occurred, but in many cases the seeming purchase turns out to be merely “a ratification of the marriage by means of gifts.” Great differences in these matters are found within the limits of one and the same stock (e.g.Siouan). Female descent,e.g., prevailed among the Algonkian tribes of the south-east but not among those of the north and west; and the case of the Creeks (Muskogian) shows that female descent is not necessarily the concomitant of a high social status of woman. Among the Zuñi, where the man is adopted as a son by the father of his wife, “she is thus mistress of the situation; the children are hers, and she can order the husband from the house should occasion arise” (Lowie and Farrand). With many tribes, however, the husband could divorce his wife at will, but Farrand and Lowie in their discussion of Indian marriage (Handb. of Amer. Inds., 1907, pt. i. p. 809) report on the other hand the curious fact that among the Wintun of California “men seldom expel their wives, but slink away from home, leaving their families behind.” In the case of divorce, the children generally go with the mother. From a survey of the available data Lowie and Farrand conclude that “monogamy is thus found to be the prevalent form of marriage throughout the continent,” varied from to polygamy, where wealth and other circumstances dictated it. In California,e.g., polygamy is rare, while with some of the Plains tribes it was quite common. Here again differences of note occurred within the same stock,e.g.the Iroquois proper could not have more than one wife, but the Huron Indian could. The family itself varied from the group of parents and children to the larger ones dictated by social regulations among the eastern tribes with clan organizations, and the large “families” found by Swanton (Amer. Anthrop., 1905) among certain tribes of the North Pacific coast, where relations and “poor relations,” servants and slaves entered to swell the aggregate. Exogamy was widely prevalent and incest rare. Cousin-marriages were frequently tabooed.
With many of the North American aborigines the giving of the name, its transference from one individual to another, its change by the individual in recognition of great events, achievements, &c., and other aspects of nominology are of significance in connexion with social life and religious ceremonies, rites and superstitions. The high level attained by some tribes in these matters can be seen from Miss Fletcher’s description of “A Pawnee Ritual used when changing a Man’s Name” (Amer. Anthrop., 1899). Names marked epochs in life and changed with new achievements, and they had often “so personal and sacred a meaning,” that they were naturally enough rendered “unfit for the familiar purposes of ordinary address, to a people so reverently inclined as the Indians seem to have been.” The period of puberty in boys and girls was often the occasion of elaborate “initiation” ceremonies and rites of various kinds, some of which were of a very trying and even cruel character. Ceremonial or symbolic “killings,” “new-births,” &c., were also in vogue; likewise ordeals of whipping, isolation and solitary confinement, “medicine”-taking, physical torture, ritual bathings,painting of face or body, scarification and the like. The initiations, ordeals, &c., gone through by the youth as a prelude to manhood and womanhood resembled in many respects those imposed upon individuals aspiring to be chiefs, shamans and “medicine-men.” Many facts concerning these rites and ceremonies will be found in G. Stanley Hall’sAdolescence(1904) and in the articles on “Ordeals” and “Puberty Customs” in theHandbook of American Indians North of Mexico(1907-1910). In the method of approach to the supernatural and the superhuman among the North American aborigines there is great diversity, and the powers and capacities of the individual have often received greater recognition than is commonly believed. Thus, as Kroeber (Amer. Anthrop., 1902, p. 285) has pointed out, the Mohave Indians of the Yuman stock have as a distinctive feature of their culture “the high degree to which they have developed their system of dreaming and of individual instead of traditional connexion with the supernatural.” For the Omaha of the Siouan stock Miss A. C. Fletcher (Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1895, 1896;Journ. Anthr. Inst., 1898) has shown the appreciation of the individual in the lonely “totem” vigil and the acquisition of the personalgenius.
From the Indians of North America the white man has borrowed not only hosts of geographical names and many common terms of speech, but countless ideas and methods as to food, medicines, clothes and otherContact of races.items in the conduct of life. Even to-day, as G. W. James points out in his interesting little volume,What the White Race may learn from the Indian(Chicago, 1908), the end of the instruction of the “lower” race by the “higher” is not yet. The presence of the Indians and the existence of a “frontier” receding ever westward as the tide of immigration increased and the line of settlements advanced, have, as Prof. Turner has shown (Ann. Rep. Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893), conditioned to a certain extent the development of civilization in North America. Had there been no aborigines here, the white race might have swarmed quickly over the whole continent, and the “typical” American would now be much different from what he is. The fact that the Indians were here in sufficient numbers to resist a too rapid advance on the part of the European settlers made necessary the numerous frontiers (really “successive Americas”), which began with Quebec, Virginia and Massachusetts and ended with California, Oregon, British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska. The Indians again are no exception to the rule that one of the fundamentally important contributions of a primitive people to the culture-factors in the life of the race dispossessing them consists of the trails and camping-places, water-ways and trade-routes which they have known and used from time immemorial. The great importance of these trails and sites of Indian camps and villages for subsequent European development in North America has been emphasized by Prof. F. J. Turner (Proc. Wisconsin State Histor. Soc., 1889 and 1894) and A. B. Hulbert (Historic Highways of America, New York, 1902-1905). It was over these old trails and through these water-ways that missionary, soldier, adventurer, trader, trapper, hunter, explorer and settler followed the Indian, with guides or without. The road followed the trail, and the railway the road.
The fur trade and traffic with the Indians in general were not without influence upon the social and political conditions of the European colonies. In the region beyond the Alleghanies the free hunter and the single trapper flourished; in the great north-west the fur companies. In the Mackenzie region and the Yukon country the “free hunter” is still to be met with, and he is, in some cases, practically the only representative of his race with whom some of the Indian tribes come into contact. J. M. Bell (Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, xvi., 1903, 74), from personal observation, notes “the advance of the barbarous border civilization,—the civilization of the whaler on Hudson’s Bay, of the free trader on the Athabasca Lake and river, of the ranchers and placer miners on the Peace and other mountain rivers,” and observes further (p. 84) that “the influx of fur-traders into the Mackenzie River region, and even to Great Bear Lake within the last two years, since my return, has, I believe, very much altered the character of the Northern Indians.” In many parts of North America the free trapper and solitary hunter were often factors in the extermination of the Indian, while the great fur companies were not infrequently powerful agents in preserving him, since their aims of exploiting vast areas in a material way were best aided by alliance or even amalgamation. The early French fur companies, the Hudson’s Bay Company, the North-West Company, the American Fur Company, the Missouri Fur Company, the Russian-American Company, the Alaska Commercial Company, &c., long stood with the Indians for the culture of the white man. For two centuries, indeed, the Hudson’s Bay Company was ruler of a large portion of what is now the Dominion of Canada, and its trading-posts still dot the Indian country in the far north-west. The mingling of races in the region beyond the Great Lakes is largely due to the fact that the trading and fur companies brought thither employés and dependants, of French, Scottish and English stock, who intermarried more or less readily with the native population, thus producing the mixed-blood element which has played an important rôle in the development of the American north-west. The fur trade was a valuable source of revenue for the early colonists. During the colonial period furs were sometimes even legal tender, like the wampum or shell-money of the eastern Indians, which, according to Mr Weeden (Econ. Hist. of New England), the necessities of commerce made the European colonists of the 17th century adopt as a substitute for currency of the Old World sort.
In their contact with the Indians the Europeans of the New World had many lessons in diplomacy and statecraft. Alliances entered upon chiefly for commercial reasons led sometimes to important national events. The adhesion of the Algonkian tribes so largely to the French, and of the Iroquoian peoples as extensively to the English, practically settled which was ultimately to win in the struggle for supremacy in North America. If we believe Lewis H. Morgan, “the Iroquois alliance with the English forms the chief fact in American history down to 1763.”
The whites in their turn have influenced greatly the culture, institutions and ideas of the American aborigines. The early influence of the Scandinavians in Greenland has had its importance exaggerated by Dr Tylor (Journ. Anthrop. Inst., 1879). French influence in Canada and Acadia began early and was very marked, affecting the languages (several Algonkian dialects have numerous loan-words, as have the Iroquois tongues still spoken in Quebec) and the customs of the Indians. French authorities, missionaries and traders seemed to get into more sympathetic relations with the Indians, and the intermarriage of the races met with practically no opposition. Hence the French influence upon many tribes can be traced from the Atlantic past the Great Lakes and over the Plains to the Rocky Mountains and even beyond, where the trappers,voyageurs, coureurs des boisand missionaries of French extraction have made their contribution to the modern tales and legends of the Canadian north-west and British Columbia. In one of the tales of the North Pacific coast appearsShishé Tlé(i.e.Jesus Christ), and in another from the eastern slope of the RockiesMani(i.e.Mary). Another area of French influence occurs in Louisiana, &c. The English, as a rule, paid much less attention than did the French to the languages, manners and customs and institutions of the aborigines and were in general less given to intermarriage with them (the classical example of Rolfe and Pocahontas notwithstanding), and less sympathetically minded towards them, although willing enough, as the numerous early educational foundations indicate, to improve them in both mind and body. The supremacy of the English-speaking people in North America made theirs the controlling influence upon the aborigines in all parts of the country, in the Pacific coast region to-day as formerly in the eastern United States, where house-building, clothing and ornament, furniture, weapons and implements have been modified or replaced. Beside the Atlantic, the Micmac of Nova Scotia now has its English loan-words, while among the Salishan tribes of British Columbia English is “very seriously affecting the purity of the native spech” (Hill-Tout), and even the Athabaskan Nahané are adding English words to their vocabulary (Morice).
The English influence on tribal government and land-tenure, culminating in the incorporation of so many of the aboriginesas citizens of Canada and the United States, began in 1641. The first royal grants both in New England and farther south made no mention of the native population of the country, and the early proprietors and settlers were largely left to their own devices in dealing with them, the policy of extinguishing their titles to land being adopted as needed. Later on, of course, due recognition was had of the fact that certain parts of America were inhabited by “heathen,” “savages,” &c., and the chiefs of many of the tribes were looked upon as rulers with prerogatives of princes and royal personages (e.g.the “Emperor” Powhatan and the “Princess” Pocahontas, “King” Philip, the “Emperor” of the Creeks, &c.). The method of dealing with the Indian “tribes” by the Federal government as autonomous groups through treaties, &c., lasted till 1871, when, by act of Congress, “simple agreements” were favoured in lieu of “solemn treaties.”
Meanwhile no consistent purpose was shown in dealing with the Indian problem. At one time the American policy was to concentrate all the Indians on three great reservations, an expansion of the plan adopted early in the 19th century which set aside the former “Indian country” (afterwards restricted to the Indian Territory). The sentiment in regard to great reservations, however, gradually weakened, till in 1878 it was proposed to concentrate the Indians on smaller reservations; but the entire reservation system became increasingly unpopular, and finally in 1887 Congress enacted the Land Severalty Law, paving the way for abolition of the reservation and agency system; at the same time it emphasized the government policy of gradually (the reservation system was a preliminary step in the way of bringing the Indians more under government control) bringing about the cessation of all “tribes” as independent communities and securing their ultimate entrance upon citizenship with the white population. This certainly was far removed from the declaration of the Virginia Assembly in 1702 that “no Indian could hold office, be a capable witness, or hunt over patented land”; and at this time also, “an Indian child was classed as a mulatto, and Indians, like slaves, were liable to be taken on execution for the payment of debt.” As Miss Fletcher (Handb. of Amer. Inds., 1907, pt. i. p. 501) notes, the ordinance of Congress passed in 1787 respecting the duty of the United States to the Indian tribes, which was confirmed by the act of 1789, was reaffirmed in the organizing acts of Alabama, Colorado, Dakota, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The Land Severalty Law of 1887 (amended 1890) provided for the survey of reservations and the allotment to each person of a tract ranging from 40 to 160 acres, the remainder being sold to white settlers. The process of dividing the Indian lands into individual allotments and disposing of the remainder for the benefit of the tribe or the nation has been very successful in many cases. This policy has culminated in a recent decision of the United States Supreme Court, by virtue of which all Indians living upon their own allotments were declared to be citizens, on the same terms and subject to the same laws as the whites.
During the period 1609-1664, from the visit of Hudson to the surrender of New Amsterdam to the English, the Dutch exercised not a little influence upon the aborigines of the present state of New York and some of the regions adjoining. Hudson’s harsh treatment of the natives caused the Dutch trouble later on. Through their trading-post of Fort Orange (now Albany) they came into contact with both Iroquoian and Algonkian tribes, carrying on an extensive trade in furs with some of them, including the New England Pequots. They sided with the Iroquois against the northern Algonkian tribes, but also aided the Mohegans against the Mohawks. Farther south they helped the Senecas against the Munsees. Their quarrels with the English involved many of the Indian tribes on one side or the other. They have been generally condemned for their readiness to furnish the Indians with fire-arms and intoxicating liquors, though some of these actions were doubtless performed by individual traders and settlers only and cannot be charged to a deliberate policy of the government. The modern title ofKora, given by the Canadian Iroquois to the governor-general (also to the king of England), is a corruption ofCorlaer, the name of a trusted Dutch manager of Rensselaerwyck (cf. the Iroquois name for the French governor,Onontio= Montmagny).German influence among the American Indians north of Mexico has made itself felt among the Eskimo (particularly in Labrador), the Delawares and Mohegans, the Iroquois and the Cherokee, where the Moravian missionaries did much good work. They influenced the Indians for peace and good conduct during the great wars. In Labrador the dress, habitations and beliefs of the Eskimo have been considerably modified. It is said by some that Sequoyah, the inventor of the “Cherokee alphabet,” had for father a German settler.The great influence of the Spaniards upon the American Indians has been treated by Blackmar in hisSpanish Institutions in the South-west, and by Lummis, Bourke, Hodge and other authorities. The results of Spanish contact and control are seen in the loan-words in the various languages of the region, the consequences of the introduction of domestic animals (horse, mule, sheep, goat, fowls), the perfection of the arts involved in the utilization of wool, the planting of wheat, the cultivation of peaches and other exotic fruits. The difference between the Navaho and their close kinsmen the Apache may be largely attributed to changes wrought by the coming of the Spaniards. The “Mission Indians” of California represent another great point of contact. In California thousands and thousands of Indians were converted and brought under the control of the able and devoted missionaries of the Catholic Church, only to become more or less utterly helpless when Spanish domination ceased and the missions fell into decay. Traces of Spanish influence may be found as far north as the Saskatchewan, where personal names implying origin from a Mexican captive occur; and there is not a little Spanish blood in some of the tribes of the Great Plains, who often took with them from their border raids, or acquired from other tribes, many white prisoners from Mexico, &c.In Alaska the influence of Russian sailors, traders and settlers during the period of occupancy was considerable, as was also that of the priests and missionaries of the Greek Church, but much of what was thus imposed upon the aborigines has now been modified or is being submerged by the more recent influences of the English-speaking settlers, miners, &c., and the efforts of the American government to educate and improve them. The influence of the Russians extended even to California, as the name “Russian River” would indicate, and Friederici (Schiffahrt der Indianer, 1907, p. 46) even thinks that to them is due the sporadic occurrence in that region of skin-boats. It was through the Russians that the Alaskan Eskimo received tobacco. Some Russian words have crept into certain of the Indian languages. It has been said that the Russian authorities from time to time transported a few Indians over-sea to Kamchatka, &c.The general question of the relations of the Europeans in North America with the Indians has been treated by various authors, one of the most recent being Friederici, whoseIndianer und Amerikaner(Brunswick, 1900) is perhaps a little too prejudiced.
During the period 1609-1664, from the visit of Hudson to the surrender of New Amsterdam to the English, the Dutch exercised not a little influence upon the aborigines of the present state of New York and some of the regions adjoining. Hudson’s harsh treatment of the natives caused the Dutch trouble later on. Through their trading-post of Fort Orange (now Albany) they came into contact with both Iroquoian and Algonkian tribes, carrying on an extensive trade in furs with some of them, including the New England Pequots. They sided with the Iroquois against the northern Algonkian tribes, but also aided the Mohegans against the Mohawks. Farther south they helped the Senecas against the Munsees. Their quarrels with the English involved many of the Indian tribes on one side or the other. They have been generally condemned for their readiness to furnish the Indians with fire-arms and intoxicating liquors, though some of these actions were doubtless performed by individual traders and settlers only and cannot be charged to a deliberate policy of the government. The modern title ofKora, given by the Canadian Iroquois to the governor-general (also to the king of England), is a corruption ofCorlaer, the name of a trusted Dutch manager of Rensselaerwyck (cf. the Iroquois name for the French governor,Onontio= Montmagny).
German influence among the American Indians north of Mexico has made itself felt among the Eskimo (particularly in Labrador), the Delawares and Mohegans, the Iroquois and the Cherokee, where the Moravian missionaries did much good work. They influenced the Indians for peace and good conduct during the great wars. In Labrador the dress, habitations and beliefs of the Eskimo have been considerably modified. It is said by some that Sequoyah, the inventor of the “Cherokee alphabet,” had for father a German settler.
The great influence of the Spaniards upon the American Indians has been treated by Blackmar in hisSpanish Institutions in the South-west, and by Lummis, Bourke, Hodge and other authorities. The results of Spanish contact and control are seen in the loan-words in the various languages of the region, the consequences of the introduction of domestic animals (horse, mule, sheep, goat, fowls), the perfection of the arts involved in the utilization of wool, the planting of wheat, the cultivation of peaches and other exotic fruits. The difference between the Navaho and their close kinsmen the Apache may be largely attributed to changes wrought by the coming of the Spaniards. The “Mission Indians” of California represent another great point of contact. In California thousands and thousands of Indians were converted and brought under the control of the able and devoted missionaries of the Catholic Church, only to become more or less utterly helpless when Spanish domination ceased and the missions fell into decay. Traces of Spanish influence may be found as far north as the Saskatchewan, where personal names implying origin from a Mexican captive occur; and there is not a little Spanish blood in some of the tribes of the Great Plains, who often took with them from their border raids, or acquired from other tribes, many white prisoners from Mexico, &c.
In Alaska the influence of Russian sailors, traders and settlers during the period of occupancy was considerable, as was also that of the priests and missionaries of the Greek Church, but much of what was thus imposed upon the aborigines has now been modified or is being submerged by the more recent influences of the English-speaking settlers, miners, &c., and the efforts of the American government to educate and improve them. The influence of the Russians extended even to California, as the name “Russian River” would indicate, and Friederici (Schiffahrt der Indianer, 1907, p. 46) even thinks that to them is due the sporadic occurrence in that region of skin-boats. It was through the Russians that the Alaskan Eskimo received tobacco. Some Russian words have crept into certain of the Indian languages. It has been said that the Russian authorities from time to time transported a few Indians over-sea to Kamchatka, &c.
The general question of the relations of the Europeans in North America with the Indians has been treated by various authors, one of the most recent being Friederici, whoseIndianer und Amerikaner(Brunswick, 1900) is perhaps a little too prejudiced.
The contact between the races in North America has had its darker side, seen in the numerous conflicts and “wars” that have marked the conquest of the continent byIndian wars.the whites and the resistance of the weaker people to the inevitable triumph of the stronger. The following sketch of the warlike relations of various Indian stocks with the European colonists and their descendants brings out the principal facts of historic interest.
Eskimoan.—The history of warfare between the European colonists (and their descendants) and the North American aborigines begins with the conflict of Eskimo and Northmen in Greenland, the last phase of which, in the first half of the 15th century, ended in the destruction of the European settlements and the loss of knowledge of the Eskimo to the Old World till they were rediscovered by Frobisher in 1576 and Davis in 1585. Then came a new series of small conflicts in which the whites have been the chief aggressors—whalers, sealers and other adventurers. In the extreme north-west the Aleuts were very harshly treated by the Russians, and one of the most recent deeds of brutality has been the reported extermination, by irresponsible whalers, of the Eskimo of Southampton Island in Hudson’s Bay.Algonkian and Iroquoian.—Southward, along the Atlantic coast, the period of actual settlement by the whites in large numbers was preceded by numerous conflicts with the Algonkian Indians in which all too often the whites (adventurers, fishermen, &c.) were principally at fault, the natives being sometimes carried off as slaves to Spain and elsewhere in Europe. When Champlain, very shortly after the founding of Quebec, decided to help his Algonkian neighbours against their Iroquoian enemies, an alliance was entered upon which had much to do with the final defeat of France in North America. The battle fought and won by Champlain near Ticonderoga in 1609 made the Iroquois the lasting antagonists of the French, and, since the former held a large portion of what is now the state of New York, the latter were effectually prevented from annihilating or destroying the English colonies to the south. The Iroquois alliance with the English in New York was preceded byone with the Dutch. Another result of the feud between the Iroquois and the French was the destruction of the confederacy of the Hurons, themselves a people of Iroquoian stock, established in the region between Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron, over a large portion of what is now the province of Ontario, although the antagonism between Hurons and Iroquois had existed even before the coming of Cartier and the inevitable conflict had already begun. As an outcome of Champlain’s visit to the country of the Hurons in 1615 the Jesuit missionaries had established themselves among these Indians and for thirty-five years laboured with a devotion and sacrifice almost unparalleled in the history of the continent. The struggle ended in the campaign of 1648-1649, in which the Iroquois destroyed the Huron settlements and practically exterminated the people, the French priests in many cases having suffered martyrdom in the most cruel fashion at the hands of the savage conquerors. Such of the Hurons as succeeded in escaping took refuge in some of the safer French settlements or found shelter among friendly Indian tribes farther west. Some of these refugees have their descendants among the Hurons of Lorette to-day and among the Wyandots of Oklahoma. TheTionontati(Tobacco Nation) Hurons continued the struggle for some time longer, a battle being fought in 1659 on the Ottawa above Montreal, in which the Iroquois were victorious and the Huron chief slain. As late as 1747-1748 some of the Hurons, who had taken refuge in the west, under Orontony, a wily and unscrupulous chief, who was offended at certain actions of the French, entered into a conspiracy with many Algonkian tribes of the region to destroy the French posts at Detroit, &c., which, however, proved unsuccessful, the plot being revealed through the treachery of a Huron woman. A notable event in the French-Iroquois wars was the attack on Montreal in 1689. After the coming of Frontenac as governor of Canada the wars between the French and English involved some of the Indian tribes more and more, on one side or the other, theMohawksespecially, who took part against the French, being famous for their raids from the region of Ohio to far into New Brunswick. During the French war and the American War of Independence the Algonkian and Iroquoian Indians serving on both sides were in part or wholly responsible for numerous massacres and other acts of barbarity, though the whites sometimes showed themselves fully the equals of the savages they condemned.In New England the most notable conflicts were “thePequotwar” of 1637-1638 and “King Philip’s war” of 1675-1676, the latter resulting in the overthrow of a powerful confederacy, which at one time threatened the very existence of the colony, and the practical extermination of the Indians concerned, after great havoc had been wrought by them in the white settlements. New England also suffered much from Indian “wars” instigated by the French, and at Caughnawaga and other Iroquois settlements in French Canada there is much white blood resulting from the adoption of captives taken away (e.g.at Marlboro and Deerfield, Mass., in 1703-1704) in raids on New England villages. Celebrated in the annals of war are the Algonkian chiefs Tecumseh (Shawnee), who aided the British in the war of 1812, and Pontiac (Ottawa), whose remarkable conspiracy of 1763 has been studied by Parkman; of noted Iroquoian chiefs and warriors may be mentioned Joseph Brant, who fought for the British in the War of Independence, and Logan, ill-famed for his barbarities perpetrated against the border settlements on the Ohio, 1775-1780, &c.In Virginia the future of the English colony was not absolutely assured much before 1620. From the founding of Jamestown in 1607 until about 1616 the colony was in more or less danger of extinction by starvation or destruction at the hands of the Indians. The most famous and romantic of the Indian wars of Virginia was that in which Captain John Smith was concerned in the days of Powhatan and Opechancanough, when his rescue by Pocahontas is said to have taken place. Under Opechancanough massacres of the English settlers took place in 1622 and 1644 in particular, while intermittent hostilities continued between these dates, many hundreds of whites being slain by the Powhatan Indians and their confederates of Algonkian stock. As a result of wars with the English and also with other Indian tribes, many of the Algonkian peoples of Virginia, like some of the Iroquoian peoples farther south, were by the end of the 17th century greatly reduced in numbers. In the Carolinian region the IroquoianCherokeewarred against the English colonists from 1759 until the War of Independence, and continued their struggle then against the Americans until 1794. After their forcible removal west of the Mississippi in 1838-1839 no serious hostilities occurred, with the exception of a conflict between the whites and a portion of the Cherokee, who had earlier moved into eastern Texas while that state was under the Mexican régime. TheTuscarorawere in frequent conflict with the English, particularly in the “Tuscarora war” of 1713-14.Of Algonkian tribes farther west theCheyennebegan conflicts with the whites about 1840, made their first incursion into Mexico in 1853, and between 1860 and 1878-1879, according to Mooney, “they were prominent in border warfare ... and have probably lost more in conflict with the whites than any other tribe of the plains in proportion to their number.” They participated in the “Sitting Bull war” of 1876.TheChippewaof the north-western United States in the latter half of the 18th century and till the close of the war of 1812 kept up warfare with the border settlements, but have been generally peaceful since 1815, when a treaty was made. The only serious outbreak among theCree, who have been generally friendly to the whites from the period of first contact, occurred during the Riel “rebellion” of 1885, but was soon settled. In the latter part of the 18th century (up to the treaty of Greenville, 1795) theDelawarestook a prominent part in opposing the advance of the whites. TheKickapooswere concerned in the Indian plot to destroy the fort at Detroit in 1712, and a hundred years later they aided the English against the Americans; in 1832 numbers of them helped Black Hawk in his war against the whites. TheMicmacwere long hostile to the English, being prominent as aids to the French in the New England wars, and it was not until about 1779 or long after the French cession that conflicts between these Indians and the whites came to an end. TheMississaguasfought with the Iroquois against the French about 1750, having soon become friendly with the English and remaining so. TheOttawawere prominent in the wars of the region about Detroit from 1750 till 1815. Pontiac, whose “conspiracy” of 1763 is noted in American history, was an Ottawa chief. ThePenobscot, as friends of the French, continued their attacks on the English settlements till about 1750. TheSacsandFoxesappear early in the 18th century as antagonists of the French (a rare thing among Algonkian peoples) and they were the instigators of the nearly successful attack on Detroit in 1712. In the war of 1812 most of these Indians sided with the British. Black Hawk, the chief figure in the “war” of 1831-1832, was a Sac and Fox chief, who endeavoured to engage all the Indian tribes of the region in a general alliance against the whites. TheShawneeswere prominent in the border warfare of the Ohio region, and their famous chief Tecumseh fought for the British in the war of 1812.Athabaskan.—The Athabaskan tribes of the far north, with the exception of occasional disputes with the traders and settlers, have generally been of a peaceful disposition, and “wars” with the whites have not been recorded to any extent. The warlike members of this stock have been the Apache and the Navaho. The Apache from the middle of the 16th century have given evidence of their instinct for raids and depredations on the frontiers of civilization. In recent times the most noteworthy outbreaks were those under Cochise, Victorio, Geronimo, Nana, Nakaidoklini, &c., between 1870 and 1886, in which several hundred whites in Mexico and New Mexico were killed and much property destroyed. As late as 1900 some of the hostile Apaches, who had escaped to the mountains, made a raid on the Mormon settlers in Chihuahua, Mexico. The Navaho, when New Mexico passed into the possession of the United States in 1849, had long been in the habit of committing depredations upon the white settlements and the Pueblos. These “wars” continued till 1863, when “Kit” Carson completely defeated them and the greater part of the tribe were made prisoners. Since their release in 1867 they have thriven in peace, although occasionally serious trouble has threatened, as,e.g., in November 1905.Caddoan.—TheCaddoproper were friendly to the French and helped them against the Spaniards in the wars of the 18th century. After the annexation of Texas the Indians were badly treated and some of them made answer in kind; in 1855 a massacre of the Indians was proposed by the whites. Since their forced march to Oklahoma in 1859 they have been at peace. TheArikarahad a brief conflict with the United States authorities in 1823, as a result of the killing of some traders. In the wars of the 18th century theKichaiadhered to the cause of the French. ThePawneeseem never to have warred against the United States, in spite of much provocation at times.Californian Stocks.—Such “wars” as are recorded, for the most part between the minor Californian stocks and the whites, have been largely directly or indirectly instigated by the latter for various purposes of gain. The Lutuamian stock is remarkable as furnishing both theKlamath, who have always kept peace with the whites, and theModoc, who are well known through the “Modoc war” of 1872-73 under the leadership of their chief, Kintpuash or “Captain Jack.”Kiowan.—The Indians of the Kiowan stock joined with the Comanche, Apache, &c., in the border wars in Texas and Mexico, and, according to Mooney, “among all the prairie tribes they were noted as the most predatory and bloodthirsty, and have probably killed more white men in proportion to their numbers than any other.” They have been on their present reservation since 1868, and the only outbreak of importance latterly occurred in 1874-75, when they joined with the Comanche, Cheyenne, &c.Muskogian.—This stock has furnished some of the most warlike Indians of the continent. TheChickasawwere friendly to the English, or rather hostile to the French, in the 18th century (war of 1736-40), and their action practically settled the question of the extension of French power in this region. TheChoctawaided the French in the wars of the 18th century, and a few Indians of this tribe participated in the “Creek War” of 1813-14. TheCreeksorMuskogeesare famous on account of the terrible war of 1813-14 in which they sustained overwhelming defeat. Earlier they were hostile to the Spaniards in Florida, and during the 18th century were generally friendly to the English, particularly in the “Apalachee war” of 1703-08, when they served under Governor Moore ofCarolina. Another Muskogian people, theSeminole, are remembered for the long and bloody “Seminole War” in Florida, 1835-45, in which many atrocities were committed.Sahaptian.—The Indians of this stock have been generally very friendly to the whites, and the only notable “war” occurred in 1877, when theNez Percés, under their famous chief, Joseph, resisted being confined to their reservation in Idaho. Joseph displayed wonderful generalship; he defeated the American troops several times, and finally executed a most remarkable retreat, over 1000 m., in an attempt to reach Canadian territory. This was foiled within a short distance of the boundary, and the entire force surrendered to Colonel Miles on October 5, 1877.Shoshonian.—North of Mexico this great stock has developed several warlike peoples. Trouble with theBannockoccurred in 1877-78, resulting from the encroachment of the whites at the time of the Nez Percés war, the killing of several settlers, scarcity of food, &c. The outbreak was ended by a campaign under General Howard in which many Indians, men, women and children, were killed and some one thousand taken prisoners. TheComanche, through a long period of more than 150 years after the Spanish occupation, kept up a continual series of raids and depredations upon the settlements of the whites in Mexico, &c. Their general friendly attitude towards Americans in later years did not extend to the Texans, with whom for more than thirty years they indulged in savage warfare. They often entered into warlike alliance with the Apache, the Kiowa, &c. After the outbreak of 1874-75 they settled down for good. The leader in this “war” was Quana Parker, a half-blood Comanche, who, after the matter was settled, accepted broadly the new order of things and became “the most prominent and influential figure among the three confederated tribes” (Mooney). ThePaiute,Shoshonees(Snakes) andUteshave figured in several more or less temporary outbreaks since 1865.Siouan.—This great stock has had its celebrated antagonists of the whites as well as its famous combatants of other Indian tribes. TheDakota(orSioux) were unfriendly to the French for aiding their enemies, the Chippewa, and after the fall of French power in America in 1763, they allied themselves with the English and assisted them in the War of Independence and the war of 1812, with few exceptions. After the treaty of peace in 1815 various minor troubles occurred, but in 1862 the Indians in Minnesota rose under Chief Little Crow and committed terrible barbarities against the settlers, some 800 whites being killed before the revolt was put down. The gold-fever of the whites in Dakota, where the Indians had settled down, precipitated a formidable outbreak in 1876 under the leadership of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Spotted Tail and other chiefs. The most notable event of this “war” was the so-called “massacre” (properly cutting-off) of General Custer and his cavalry at the battle of Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. When the “Ghost Dance” was prevalent among so many Indian tribes of the Plains in 1890-1891 another serious rising of the Sioux took place, which was put down by General Miles. Sitting Bull was killed (December 15, 1890); and resistance to an attempt to disarm a large party of Indians at Wounded Knee Creek, near the Pine Ridge Agency, resulted (December 29) in a deplorable massacre, in which many women and children were killed. The story of these Sioux outbreaks and the guiltiness of the whites with respect to them has been told authoritatively by Mooney (14th Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1892-1893). At one time these troubles threatened to involve the Canadian Indians of the region adjacent. TheCatawbaof South Carolina, in the wars of the 18th century, aided the English against the French, the Tuscaroras (war of 1713-14) and the Lake tribes. They sided with the Americans during the War of Independence. TheOsagewere friendly with the French early in the 18th century and fought with them against the Sacs and Foxes at Detroit in 1714.Pueblos.—After the Spanish conquest of the Pueblos Indians of Arizona and New Mexico the most remarkable effort of the natives to throw off the foreign yoke was in the general revolt of 1680 under the leadership of Popé of San Juan. At that time among the Moqui (Shoshonian) the missionaries were killed, the churches laid in ruins, &c., and similar events occurred elsewhere in the Pueblos region. For this the Spaniards subsequently took ample vengeance. The Pueblos Indians in general have never taken too kindly to the whites; and to-day at the Moqui pueblo of Oraibi there exist a “Hostile” and a “Friendly” faction, the first bitterly opposed to the Caucasian and all his ways, the latter more liberal-minded, but Indian none the less. An open rupture nearly took place in 1906.In Canada, since the organization of the Dominion in 1867, Indian wars have been unknown, and Indian outbreaks of any sort rare. In 1890 an outbreak of the Kootenays was threatened, but it amounted to nothing—the present writer traversed all parts of the Kootenay country in 1891 in perfect safety. Occasional “risings” have been reported from the Canadian North-West and British Columbia, but have amounted to little or nothing. In the matter of war it should be noted that some Indian stocks nave been essentially peaceful, and have resorted to force only when driven beyond endurance or treated with outrageous injustice. Again, within the same stock one tribe has shown itself peaceable, another quite warlike (e.g.Klamath and Modoc, both Lutuamian; the Hares and the Apache, both Athabaskan). Probably the amount and extent of wars existing north of Mexico in Pre-Columbian times were not as large as is generally stated. The introduction of fire-arms, European-made weapons, the horse, &c., and the development of ideas of property made possible through these, doubtless stimulated intertribal disputes and increased the actual number of warlike enterprises. Over a large portion of the continent “wars” were nearly always initiated and carried out by a portion only of the tribe, which often had its permanent “peace party.”
Eskimoan.—The history of warfare between the European colonists (and their descendants) and the North American aborigines begins with the conflict of Eskimo and Northmen in Greenland, the last phase of which, in the first half of the 15th century, ended in the destruction of the European settlements and the loss of knowledge of the Eskimo to the Old World till they were rediscovered by Frobisher in 1576 and Davis in 1585. Then came a new series of small conflicts in which the whites have been the chief aggressors—whalers, sealers and other adventurers. In the extreme north-west the Aleuts were very harshly treated by the Russians, and one of the most recent deeds of brutality has been the reported extermination, by irresponsible whalers, of the Eskimo of Southampton Island in Hudson’s Bay.
Algonkian and Iroquoian.—Southward, along the Atlantic coast, the period of actual settlement by the whites in large numbers was preceded by numerous conflicts with the Algonkian Indians in which all too often the whites (adventurers, fishermen, &c.) were principally at fault, the natives being sometimes carried off as slaves to Spain and elsewhere in Europe. When Champlain, very shortly after the founding of Quebec, decided to help his Algonkian neighbours against their Iroquoian enemies, an alliance was entered upon which had much to do with the final defeat of France in North America. The battle fought and won by Champlain near Ticonderoga in 1609 made the Iroquois the lasting antagonists of the French, and, since the former held a large portion of what is now the state of New York, the latter were effectually prevented from annihilating or destroying the English colonies to the south. The Iroquois alliance with the English in New York was preceded byone with the Dutch. Another result of the feud between the Iroquois and the French was the destruction of the confederacy of the Hurons, themselves a people of Iroquoian stock, established in the region between Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron, over a large portion of what is now the province of Ontario, although the antagonism between Hurons and Iroquois had existed even before the coming of Cartier and the inevitable conflict had already begun. As an outcome of Champlain’s visit to the country of the Hurons in 1615 the Jesuit missionaries had established themselves among these Indians and for thirty-five years laboured with a devotion and sacrifice almost unparalleled in the history of the continent. The struggle ended in the campaign of 1648-1649, in which the Iroquois destroyed the Huron settlements and practically exterminated the people, the French priests in many cases having suffered martyrdom in the most cruel fashion at the hands of the savage conquerors. Such of the Hurons as succeeded in escaping took refuge in some of the safer French settlements or found shelter among friendly Indian tribes farther west. Some of these refugees have their descendants among the Hurons of Lorette to-day and among the Wyandots of Oklahoma. TheTionontati(Tobacco Nation) Hurons continued the struggle for some time longer, a battle being fought in 1659 on the Ottawa above Montreal, in which the Iroquois were victorious and the Huron chief slain. As late as 1747-1748 some of the Hurons, who had taken refuge in the west, under Orontony, a wily and unscrupulous chief, who was offended at certain actions of the French, entered into a conspiracy with many Algonkian tribes of the region to destroy the French posts at Detroit, &c., which, however, proved unsuccessful, the plot being revealed through the treachery of a Huron woman. A notable event in the French-Iroquois wars was the attack on Montreal in 1689. After the coming of Frontenac as governor of Canada the wars between the French and English involved some of the Indian tribes more and more, on one side or the other, theMohawksespecially, who took part against the French, being famous for their raids from the region of Ohio to far into New Brunswick. During the French war and the American War of Independence the Algonkian and Iroquoian Indians serving on both sides were in part or wholly responsible for numerous massacres and other acts of barbarity, though the whites sometimes showed themselves fully the equals of the savages they condemned.
In New England the most notable conflicts were “thePequotwar” of 1637-1638 and “King Philip’s war” of 1675-1676, the latter resulting in the overthrow of a powerful confederacy, which at one time threatened the very existence of the colony, and the practical extermination of the Indians concerned, after great havoc had been wrought by them in the white settlements. New England also suffered much from Indian “wars” instigated by the French, and at Caughnawaga and other Iroquois settlements in French Canada there is much white blood resulting from the adoption of captives taken away (e.g.at Marlboro and Deerfield, Mass., in 1703-1704) in raids on New England villages. Celebrated in the annals of war are the Algonkian chiefs Tecumseh (Shawnee), who aided the British in the war of 1812, and Pontiac (Ottawa), whose remarkable conspiracy of 1763 has been studied by Parkman; of noted Iroquoian chiefs and warriors may be mentioned Joseph Brant, who fought for the British in the War of Independence, and Logan, ill-famed for his barbarities perpetrated against the border settlements on the Ohio, 1775-1780, &c.
In Virginia the future of the English colony was not absolutely assured much before 1620. From the founding of Jamestown in 1607 until about 1616 the colony was in more or less danger of extinction by starvation or destruction at the hands of the Indians. The most famous and romantic of the Indian wars of Virginia was that in which Captain John Smith was concerned in the days of Powhatan and Opechancanough, when his rescue by Pocahontas is said to have taken place. Under Opechancanough massacres of the English settlers took place in 1622 and 1644 in particular, while intermittent hostilities continued between these dates, many hundreds of whites being slain by the Powhatan Indians and their confederates of Algonkian stock. As a result of wars with the English and also with other Indian tribes, many of the Algonkian peoples of Virginia, like some of the Iroquoian peoples farther south, were by the end of the 17th century greatly reduced in numbers. In the Carolinian region the IroquoianCherokeewarred against the English colonists from 1759 until the War of Independence, and continued their struggle then against the Americans until 1794. After their forcible removal west of the Mississippi in 1838-1839 no serious hostilities occurred, with the exception of a conflict between the whites and a portion of the Cherokee, who had earlier moved into eastern Texas while that state was under the Mexican régime. TheTuscarorawere in frequent conflict with the English, particularly in the “Tuscarora war” of 1713-14.
Of Algonkian tribes farther west theCheyennebegan conflicts with the whites about 1840, made their first incursion into Mexico in 1853, and between 1860 and 1878-1879, according to Mooney, “they were prominent in border warfare ... and have probably lost more in conflict with the whites than any other tribe of the plains in proportion to their number.” They participated in the “Sitting Bull war” of 1876.
TheChippewaof the north-western United States in the latter half of the 18th century and till the close of the war of 1812 kept up warfare with the border settlements, but have been generally peaceful since 1815, when a treaty was made. The only serious outbreak among theCree, who have been generally friendly to the whites from the period of first contact, occurred during the Riel “rebellion” of 1885, but was soon settled. In the latter part of the 18th century (up to the treaty of Greenville, 1795) theDelawarestook a prominent part in opposing the advance of the whites. TheKickapooswere concerned in the Indian plot to destroy the fort at Detroit in 1712, and a hundred years later they aided the English against the Americans; in 1832 numbers of them helped Black Hawk in his war against the whites. TheMicmacwere long hostile to the English, being prominent as aids to the French in the New England wars, and it was not until about 1779 or long after the French cession that conflicts between these Indians and the whites came to an end. TheMississaguasfought with the Iroquois against the French about 1750, having soon become friendly with the English and remaining so. TheOttawawere prominent in the wars of the region about Detroit from 1750 till 1815. Pontiac, whose “conspiracy” of 1763 is noted in American history, was an Ottawa chief. ThePenobscot, as friends of the French, continued their attacks on the English settlements till about 1750. TheSacsandFoxesappear early in the 18th century as antagonists of the French (a rare thing among Algonkian peoples) and they were the instigators of the nearly successful attack on Detroit in 1712. In the war of 1812 most of these Indians sided with the British. Black Hawk, the chief figure in the “war” of 1831-1832, was a Sac and Fox chief, who endeavoured to engage all the Indian tribes of the region in a general alliance against the whites. TheShawneeswere prominent in the border warfare of the Ohio region, and their famous chief Tecumseh fought for the British in the war of 1812.
Athabaskan.—The Athabaskan tribes of the far north, with the exception of occasional disputes with the traders and settlers, have generally been of a peaceful disposition, and “wars” with the whites have not been recorded to any extent. The warlike members of this stock have been the Apache and the Navaho. The Apache from the middle of the 16th century have given evidence of their instinct for raids and depredations on the frontiers of civilization. In recent times the most noteworthy outbreaks were those under Cochise, Victorio, Geronimo, Nana, Nakaidoklini, &c., between 1870 and 1886, in which several hundred whites in Mexico and New Mexico were killed and much property destroyed. As late as 1900 some of the hostile Apaches, who had escaped to the mountains, made a raid on the Mormon settlers in Chihuahua, Mexico. The Navaho, when New Mexico passed into the possession of the United States in 1849, had long been in the habit of committing depredations upon the white settlements and the Pueblos. These “wars” continued till 1863, when “Kit” Carson completely defeated them and the greater part of the tribe were made prisoners. Since their release in 1867 they have thriven in peace, although occasionally serious trouble has threatened, as,e.g., in November 1905.
Caddoan.—TheCaddoproper were friendly to the French and helped them against the Spaniards in the wars of the 18th century. After the annexation of Texas the Indians were badly treated and some of them made answer in kind; in 1855 a massacre of the Indians was proposed by the whites. Since their forced march to Oklahoma in 1859 they have been at peace. TheArikarahad a brief conflict with the United States authorities in 1823, as a result of the killing of some traders. In the wars of the 18th century theKichaiadhered to the cause of the French. ThePawneeseem never to have warred against the United States, in spite of much provocation at times.
Californian Stocks.—Such “wars” as are recorded, for the most part between the minor Californian stocks and the whites, have been largely directly or indirectly instigated by the latter for various purposes of gain. The Lutuamian stock is remarkable as furnishing both theKlamath, who have always kept peace with the whites, and theModoc, who are well known through the “Modoc war” of 1872-73 under the leadership of their chief, Kintpuash or “Captain Jack.”
Kiowan.—The Indians of the Kiowan stock joined with the Comanche, Apache, &c., in the border wars in Texas and Mexico, and, according to Mooney, “among all the prairie tribes they were noted as the most predatory and bloodthirsty, and have probably killed more white men in proportion to their numbers than any other.” They have been on their present reservation since 1868, and the only outbreak of importance latterly occurred in 1874-75, when they joined with the Comanche, Cheyenne, &c.
Muskogian.—This stock has furnished some of the most warlike Indians of the continent. TheChickasawwere friendly to the English, or rather hostile to the French, in the 18th century (war of 1736-40), and their action practically settled the question of the extension of French power in this region. TheChoctawaided the French in the wars of the 18th century, and a few Indians of this tribe participated in the “Creek War” of 1813-14. TheCreeksorMuskogeesare famous on account of the terrible war of 1813-14 in which they sustained overwhelming defeat. Earlier they were hostile to the Spaniards in Florida, and during the 18th century were generally friendly to the English, particularly in the “Apalachee war” of 1703-08, when they served under Governor Moore ofCarolina. Another Muskogian people, theSeminole, are remembered for the long and bloody “Seminole War” in Florida, 1835-45, in which many atrocities were committed.
Sahaptian.—The Indians of this stock have been generally very friendly to the whites, and the only notable “war” occurred in 1877, when theNez Percés, under their famous chief, Joseph, resisted being confined to their reservation in Idaho. Joseph displayed wonderful generalship; he defeated the American troops several times, and finally executed a most remarkable retreat, over 1000 m., in an attempt to reach Canadian territory. This was foiled within a short distance of the boundary, and the entire force surrendered to Colonel Miles on October 5, 1877.
Shoshonian.—North of Mexico this great stock has developed several warlike peoples. Trouble with theBannockoccurred in 1877-78, resulting from the encroachment of the whites at the time of the Nez Percés war, the killing of several settlers, scarcity of food, &c. The outbreak was ended by a campaign under General Howard in which many Indians, men, women and children, were killed and some one thousand taken prisoners. TheComanche, through a long period of more than 150 years after the Spanish occupation, kept up a continual series of raids and depredations upon the settlements of the whites in Mexico, &c. Their general friendly attitude towards Americans in later years did not extend to the Texans, with whom for more than thirty years they indulged in savage warfare. They often entered into warlike alliance with the Apache, the Kiowa, &c. After the outbreak of 1874-75 they settled down for good. The leader in this “war” was Quana Parker, a half-blood Comanche, who, after the matter was settled, accepted broadly the new order of things and became “the most prominent and influential figure among the three confederated tribes” (Mooney). ThePaiute,Shoshonees(Snakes) andUteshave figured in several more or less temporary outbreaks since 1865.
Siouan.—This great stock has had its celebrated antagonists of the whites as well as its famous combatants of other Indian tribes. TheDakota(orSioux) were unfriendly to the French for aiding their enemies, the Chippewa, and after the fall of French power in America in 1763, they allied themselves with the English and assisted them in the War of Independence and the war of 1812, with few exceptions. After the treaty of peace in 1815 various minor troubles occurred, but in 1862 the Indians in Minnesota rose under Chief Little Crow and committed terrible barbarities against the settlers, some 800 whites being killed before the revolt was put down. The gold-fever of the whites in Dakota, where the Indians had settled down, precipitated a formidable outbreak in 1876 under the leadership of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Spotted Tail and other chiefs. The most notable event of this “war” was the so-called “massacre” (properly cutting-off) of General Custer and his cavalry at the battle of Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. When the “Ghost Dance” was prevalent among so many Indian tribes of the Plains in 1890-1891 another serious rising of the Sioux took place, which was put down by General Miles. Sitting Bull was killed (December 15, 1890); and resistance to an attempt to disarm a large party of Indians at Wounded Knee Creek, near the Pine Ridge Agency, resulted (December 29) in a deplorable massacre, in which many women and children were killed. The story of these Sioux outbreaks and the guiltiness of the whites with respect to them has been told authoritatively by Mooney (14th Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., 1892-1893). At one time these troubles threatened to involve the Canadian Indians of the region adjacent. TheCatawbaof South Carolina, in the wars of the 18th century, aided the English against the French, the Tuscaroras (war of 1713-14) and the Lake tribes. They sided with the Americans during the War of Independence. TheOsagewere friendly with the French early in the 18th century and fought with them against the Sacs and Foxes at Detroit in 1714.
Pueblos.—After the Spanish conquest of the Pueblos Indians of Arizona and New Mexico the most remarkable effort of the natives to throw off the foreign yoke was in the general revolt of 1680 under the leadership of Popé of San Juan. At that time among the Moqui (Shoshonian) the missionaries were killed, the churches laid in ruins, &c., and similar events occurred elsewhere in the Pueblos region. For this the Spaniards subsequently took ample vengeance. The Pueblos Indians in general have never taken too kindly to the whites; and to-day at the Moqui pueblo of Oraibi there exist a “Hostile” and a “Friendly” faction, the first bitterly opposed to the Caucasian and all his ways, the latter more liberal-minded, but Indian none the less. An open rupture nearly took place in 1906.
In Canada, since the organization of the Dominion in 1867, Indian wars have been unknown, and Indian outbreaks of any sort rare. In 1890 an outbreak of the Kootenays was threatened, but it amounted to nothing—the present writer traversed all parts of the Kootenay country in 1891 in perfect safety. Occasional “risings” have been reported from the Canadian North-West and British Columbia, but have amounted to little or nothing. In the matter of war it should be noted that some Indian stocks nave been essentially peaceful, and have resorted to force only when driven beyond endurance or treated with outrageous injustice. Again, within the same stock one tribe has shown itself peaceable, another quite warlike (e.g.Klamath and Modoc, both Lutuamian; the Hares and the Apache, both Athabaskan). Probably the amount and extent of wars existing north of Mexico in Pre-Columbian times were not as large as is generally stated. The introduction of fire-arms, European-made weapons, the horse, &c., and the development of ideas of property made possible through these, doubtless stimulated intertribal disputes and increased the actual number of warlike enterprises. Over a large portion of the continent “wars” were nearly always initiated and carried out by a portion only of the tribe, which often had its permanent “peace party.”
The missionary labours of the various Christian churches among the North American aborigines have been ably summarized by Mooney in theHandbook of American Indians North of Mexico(pt. i. 1907, pp. 874-909). BesidesMissions and Education.the famousRelation des Jésuites(ed. Thwaites, 1896-1901) there are now special mission histories for the Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Mennonites, Methodists, Moravians, Mormons, Presbyterians, Quakers, Roman Catholics (also the various orders, &c.), who have all paid much attention to Christianizing and civilizing the Indians. To-day “practically every tribe officially recognized within the United States is under the missionary influence of some religious denomination, workers of several denominations frequently labouring in the same tribe.” Something of the same sort might be said of the Indians of Canada, whose religion (that of 76,319 out of 110,345 altogether reported, is known) is given as follows in theReport of the Department of Indian Affairsfor 1907: Roman Catholics 35,682; Anglicans 15,380; Methodists 11,620; Presbyterians 1527; Baptists 1103; Congregationalists 18; and other denominations 597; besides 10,347 pagans. All the Indians of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, are Catholics; in Quebec there are but 678 Protestants (mostly Methodist); in Ontario there are 6173 Catholics to 1030 Baptists, 4626 Methodists, 5306 Anglicans, 18 Congregationalists and 34 Presbyterians. The Indians of British Columbia number 11,529 Catholics, 4304 Anglicans, 3277 Methodists and 431 Presbyterians; those of Manitoba, 1780 Catholics, 1685 Methodists, 382 Presbyterians and 3103 Anglicans; those of Saskatchewan and Alberta 4249 Catholics, 1527 Methodists, 719 Presbyterians, 2549 Anglicans. In some of the tribes and settlements both in Canada and in the United States missionary activities, the influence of individual white men, &c., have led to a great diversity of religious faith, sometimes within comparatively limited areas. Thus in the Mistawasis band of Cree, belonging to the Carlton Agency, province of Saskatchewan, numbering but 129, there are 6 Anglicans, 86 Presbyterians and 37 Catholics; in the Oak River band of Sioux in Manitoba there are 60 Anglicans, 1 Presbyterian, 13 Methodists, 4 Catholics and 195 pagans out of a total of 273. Among the “Six Nations” and the larger Indian peoples of Oklahoma all the leading Christian sects, besides the Salvation Army, the Christian Scientists, the Mormons and the “New Thought” movement are represented. There are also the “Navaho New Faith,” the “Shaker Church” of Washington, &c. The history of missionary labours in North America among the aborigines contains stories of disappointment and disaster as well as chronicles of success. Some peoples, like the Timuquans, the Apalachee, the Pakawan tribes, &c., have been converted only to disappear altogether; other great attempts at colonization or “reduction,” like the missions of Huronia and California, succeeded for the time on a grand scale, but have fallen victims sooner or later to the fortunes of war, the changes of politics, or their own mechanism and its inherent weaknesses and defects. But the thousands of good church-members, including many ministers of the Gospel, in Canada and the United States, coming from scores of different tribes and many distinct stocks, no less than the general good conduct of so many Indian nations, are a remarkable tribute to the work done by Catholic and Protestant missionaries alike all over the broad continent from the Mexican border to the snows of Greenland and the islands of the Arctic. The martyrdom of the Jesuits among the fierce Iroquois, the zeal of Duncan at Metlakahtla, the fate of the Spanish friars in the Pueblos rebellion of 1680 under Popé, the destruction of the Huron missions in 1641-1649 and of those of the Apalachee in 1703, the death of Whitman at the hands of the Cayuse in 1847, are but a few of the notable events of mission history. The followingbrief accounts of missionary labours among one or two of the chief Indian stocks and in a few of the chief areas of the continent will serve to indicate their general character.