Advance of Civilization.

Aboriginal America (American History, Vol. I)

Part 2

by
Jacob Abbott
New York: Sheldon & Company. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1860

The Habit of Using Tobacco
This is not the place to discuss the character of these effects. All that I
shall say is, that those who escape forming the habit of using tobacco in their
youth, always, I believe, rejoice, through all the subsequent years of their
lives, in their exemption from what is at best an inconvenience and a peril;
while those who form the habit often spend their lives in fruitless and vexatious efforts to escape from the thralldom of
it, and seldom or never recommend to others to follow their example in acquiring
it.
Botanical Name
The botanists, when they came to procure specimens of the different species
of the plant, and to add it to their catalogues, gave to the genus the name
Nicotiana, from the name of the French minister, who was the first to bring it
into notice in Europe. There is a substance, too, which is extracted from the
plant, which has a name of the same derivation, Nicotine. Nicotine is very
abundant in the leaves of the plant, and is one of the most virulent poisons
known.
The potato
The potato is another very remarkable plant which was introduced into Europe
from America, and which has exerted a vast influence -- though in this case the
influence is a wholly salutary one -- upon the condition of mankind. It is
supposed that by providing a cheap and abundant sustenance for the lower classes
of people, it has actually added many millions to the population of Europe.
It came in the first instance from South America, and it is said that originally the tubers of the plant were very small, and far
less nutritious than they are now. The change has been produced by cultivation.
It is always found that when man selects any plant growing in a state of nature,
and takes it under his care, with a view of using it for food, nature comes
forward to meet him, as it were, and aid him in his effort, by giving the plant
so chosen a new and fuller development in respect to the qualities which fit it
for his purposes. Thus the apple, which was small, hard, and sour in its native
woods, becomes large, tender, sweet and juicy when man chooses it for his food,
and transfers it to his gardens. Similar changes take place in the grape, the
peach, the pear, the potato, and in almost all other plants that produce food
for man.
When, therefore, a new plant is discovered in some remote and partially
explored country, it is not always easy at first to decide upon its value, for
it is not known what effect cultivation will have upon it. There is a very
important society in France, called the Society of Acclamation, the object of
which is to bring new plants and animals from remote regions of the earth to
Paris, with the view of ascertaining by experiment what the effect of a new
climate and artificial culture will have upon them. Several important discoveries have already been made by this society,
and it is prosecuting its researches with increased vigor, and on a more and
more extended scale every year.
The potato met with almost as much opposition at its first introduction into
Europe as tobacco. The opposition in this case, however, was found to be a
prejudice, arising simply from the fact that the plant itself and the use of it
for food were something new. The poor people especially would have nothing to do
with it. It was a food fit only for beasts, they said, and they were determined
that it should not be forced upon them. These prejudices have long since
disappeared, and the once despised tuber is now a universal favorite all over
the civilized world.
The Magnolia
When the European discoverers first landed upon the American shores, the
grandeur and beauty of the native forests seem to have impressed them more than
anything else that they beheld. Among the trees which chiefly contributed to
this magnificence was the magnolia, which was found growing very profusely in
all the southern regions of what now form the United States. Some species of
this splendid class of plants grow in the Middle and even in the Northern States, but in this latter locality they are
rare.
The magnolia grandiflora, so called, when in perfection, is one of the most
magnificent trees in the world. It grows, it is said, sometimes to the height of
seventy feet. It leaves are evergreen, and are polished on the surface, and at
the proper season of the year the whole tree is covered with a profusion of
immense white flowers, which bloom so conspicuously in the midst of the masses
of verdure which surround them as to strike the eye of the stranger with wonder
and delight.
There are a great many different species of the magnolia in America, which
vary much in minor particulars, such as in the size of the plant itself and in
the magnitude and fragrance of the flowers. There is one species which bears
leaves two or three feet long, with flowers the cups of which are sometimes
nearly a foot in diameter. The flowers of most of he species are very fragrant,
some of them so much so that a tree, it is said, will scent the air for a
distance of three miles. In some of the species the plants are small and
shrub-like in form, but still producing flowers of extreme fragrance and beauty.
There is one which is called the weaver laurel, which bears leaves and flowers
of extreme elegance, and diffuses a fragrance so strong that it perfumes the atmosphere for a great distance around.
Since the discovery of America various species of the magnolia have been
transplanted to Europe, and cultivated there in botanical gardens and in private
pleasure grounds, where they are regarded as great curiosities. None of them
were known in Europe until they were carried thither from America, but since
that time it has been found that some species of the plant occur in China and
Japan, though they are not identical with any of those found in the new world.
The Mahogany Tree
Next to the potato, which has so largely increased the means of sustenance
for the masses of the population in Europe, and the cotton plant, which supplies
so many millions with clothing, perhaps the most useful of the native
productions of the American soil, in respect to the welfare and enjoyment of
mankind at large, is the mahogany tree. This is a very large forest tree, which
grows in vast numbers in the West India Islands and in certain parts of Central
America. It is characterized by a certain combination of qualities which render
it superior as a material for making furniture, and for cabinet work in general,
to any other wood in the world. These qualities are its beautiful color, its hardness, making
it susceptible of a fine polish, and the stability of its fibers, that is, its
freedom from all tendency to warp, shrink, or split. It grows moreover in very
massive trees, from which planks of almost any size may be sawed, and logs of
it, containing vast quantities of the wood, can be cut and transported with
great facility. Wood has thus sometimes been procured from a single tree to the
value of four or five thousand dollars.
It was more than two hundred years after America was discovered before
mahogany began to be introduced into Europe as an article of consumption, but
now it is universally employed there, and the demand for it is so large that the
British maintain extensive settlements in Honduras, solely for the purpose of
cutting and shipping it.
The work of cutting the trees and floating them down the rivers to the sea is
performed by the natives of the country, acting under the superintendence of
Europeans. These natives work in gangs of thirty or forty together. When a tree
has been selected to be felled, they build a staging against the side of it, ten
or twelve feet from the ground -- the part of the stem below that point not
being valuable. The tree is then cut through just above the staging, and when it has fallen the branches are lopped off, and the
stem is divided into suitable lengths for convenient transportation. The logs
are floated down the little streams on the banks of which they grew to the
larger rivers, and are there made up into rafts, which, guided by skilled
raftsmen, are carried down by the currents to the ports whence they are to be
shipped to foreign countries. Some of the logs thus transported are of immense
size and of great value.
Such are a few of the most characteristic and celebrated American plants that
were brought to the notice of mankind after this continent was discovered. In
the next chapter we shall consider some of the most remarkable animals.

Chapter 4
Remarkable Animals
The Beaver
One of the most remarkable of the animals found in America is the beaver.
Species nearly resembling the American beaver formerly existed in the old world,
but they have long been nearly or quite extinct. The class of animals to which
the beaver belongs is common all over the world, namely, the class of Rodentia,
which means gnawing animals. The beaver is the greatest gnawer of them all.
The Beaver's Teeth
His cutting teeth are broad and flat, and are brought to so sharp and hard an
edge that the Indians were accustomed to set them in handles and use them for
cutting instruments before they obtained iron and steel from the Europeans. It
is said that by means of these teeth the beavers can cut off a stem in the woods
as big as a walking stick at a single bite. By more continued efforts they can fell trees of very considerable size, not greater, however, than eight
or ten inches in diameter, though one trapper in the service of a fur

The Beavers at Work

company says he has seen trunks eighteen inches in diameter cut through by them.

Fame of the Beaver
The beaver has acquired a very extensive fame among mankind, the foundation
of which is two-fold. First, the exceeding softness and richness of his fur, which made his skin very valuable as clothing to the native tribes
before Europeans came to the country, and which have since caused it to be still
more highly valued by civilized nations all over the world; and secondly, his
distinguished reputation as a builder. Both these characters of the animal
result from the same cause, namely this, that he is intended to live in a very
cold climate, that is, a climate which is very cold for half the year, and to
get his living from the roots of plants growing under water, which, during the
cold season, is covered with ice from one to three feet thick. To meet these
exigencies he is provided with an extremely thick and soft fur to protect him in
his winter excursions upon the land, and with certain very remarkable building
instincts, by which he is enabled at all times, however cold the weather and
however thick the ice, to procure access to the water.
His System of Building
The first object of the beaver in his engineering operations, is to keep the
water deep in the stream that he inhabits, in order to prevent its freezing to
the bottom. To effect this he forms a company, and the whole band proceed to
build a dam. They gnaw down trees and bushes and drag them into the stream at the place which they have chosen for the dam, and pack them
together in a close and impenetrable mass ten or twelve feet wide at the bottom,
and diminishing gradually to the top. As they proceed they fill up all the
interstices of the work with stones, gravel, mud, turf, roots, and everything
else that they can bring. Of course a great deal of their work is washed away by
the current while they are building, but by means of their indomitable
perseverance, they finally succeed, and a massive and permanent obstruction to
the stream is created. In process of time the trunks and stems of trees which
they have introduced into their work decay, and the whole settles and
consolidates into a permanent bank, which endures sometimes for centuries. Of
course, so long as the pond is occupied the dam needs constant watching and
frequent repairs, but this work the company always attend to in the most prompt
and systematic manner.
In laying the materials of which the dam is composed the beavers go
continually to and fro over the work, trampling down the soft substances with
their paws, and patting them with their broad flat tails. This patting motion of
their tails, which they make instinctly when they walk about upon the ground,
gave rise to the story that the beaver uses his tail as a trowel. This, though it is not literally and
exactly true, is, after all, not far from the truth, for the effect of the
patting is analogous to that produced by the trowel of the mason in laying
stones in mortar.
The House
Besides the dam, the beaver builds what may be called houses on the bank,
where he can live during the winter sheltered from the cold, and protected from
the wolves and similar wild animals that would otherwise prey upon him. These
houses are built of logs of wood formed from the trunks of trees, which the
beavers gnaw down in the adjoining forests, and then cut to proper lengths for
their purpose. They dig in the ground to get good foundations, and then build up
walls four or five feet high, much in the same way as they construct the dams.
They then lay other trunks of trees across from one wall to the other, and cover
the roof thus formed with stones, bushes, moss, mud, and other similar
materials, and smooth the whole over at last with their paws and their tail, so
as to make a sort of mound of their work, with a hollow in the center. The whole
structure is so solid, and all its parts so closely compacted together, that the
wolverines and wild cats cannot get in. It is very difficult even for men to break through such a sold mass.
From these habitations subterranean passages run in various directions --
some opening into the pond under the ice, so as to afford the inhabitants free
access and egress to the water at all times, and others lead to holes and
caverns which the animals make as places of retreat from their enemies when they
are alarmed, and perhaps for warmth in times of extreme cold.
Working Hours
It is a very curious circumstance that the beavers do all their work in the
night, and thus no person can watch them at their operations except at a great
disadvantage. In the day time they keep very quiet. Their motive, probably, in
thus arranging their time, as far as action prompted by such animal instincts
may be said to have a motive, is doubtless to avoid attracting the attention of
their enemies.
The beavers were once very numerous throughout the whole northern portion of
the territory now occupied by the United States. In all the settled parts of the
country, however, they have nearly or entirely disappeared; and so valuable are
their skins, and so closely do the hunters and trappers follow up the work of taking them, that it will not be many years, if the
present state of things continues, before the whole race will be completely
exterminated.
Other Fur-Bearing Animals
Besides the beaver, there are a great many other fur-bearing animals, such as
the mink, the otter, the sable, and others that live on the banks of ponds and
streams in America, and, like the beaver, seek their principal food in the
water. There are none of them, however, that build either dams or habitations.
Perhaps this is because they are smaller, and can more easily find space enough
under the ice for their fishing and foraging excursions, without resorting to
artificial means to keep up the water, and can also more easily find or make
holes in the ground sufficient to furnish them a safe retreat from the cold, and
a refuge from the hostility of their enemies.
These animals all produce fine and valuable furs, and are caught every winter
by the trappers and hunters in great numbers, especially in that wide region of
cold and desolate country which extends northward from the American frontier
toward the pole, and which would be almost valueless to men, except for these
productions.

Curious Phenomenon
There is one thing very curious about this class of animals that get their
living in a great measure under water, and are consequently obliged to be often
submerged, even in the coldest winter weather, and that is, that their fur
becomes very little wet by such immersion. A dog, after plunging into a river,
comes out wet to the skin, but the fur of a beaver or a mink, on account
probably of some oleaginous substance with which it is dressed, does not allow
the water to penetrate, so that, after swimming across a stream, or burrowing
among roots at the bottom of a pond, the animal seeks the bank again, and comes
out with only the outer surface wet, the skin beneath being as dry as when he
went in. Thus, when swimming in the coldest water he is never cold.
The Buffalo
The buffalo, or bison, is a sort of wild bull, with a monstrous shaggy head
and ferocious aspect. They are gregarious animals, that is, they live and feed
together in immense herds. Almost all animals that feed on grass and herbage are
gregarious, while beasts of prey are generally solitary in their habits. It is
necessary for them to be so, for in order to succeed in their hunting, they must
prowl about alone, or watch in ambush, patiently and in silence, for their prey. There
are some exceptions, as in the case of wolves, for example, which usually hunt
together in packs. There is a reason for this exception, too, for the wolves
live generally by killing and devouring animals larger than themselves. and so
are obliged to combine their strength in order to overpower their prey.
The buffalos are gregarious by habit in order that they may the better defend
themselves from their enemies; and so abundant is the food furnished for them by
the luxuriant grass of the prairies, and so boundless is the extent of the
plains over which they roam, that the herds increase to an almost incredible
extent. Travelers sometimes find the whole region black with them in every
direction as far as they can see. In one case that is described, the country was
covered with a herd, or an aggregation of herds, so vast that the party
journeying were six days in passing through them. The aspect which they
presented with five, ten, and sometimes twenty thousand in sight at a time,
spreading in every direction over the plains, some bellowing, some fighting,
others advancing defiantly toward their supposed foes, and tearing up the soil
with their hoofs and horns -- the earth trembling under their tramp, and the air
filled with a

prolonged and portentous murmur, presented to the view of the traveler a really
appalling spectacle. the bellowing of a large herd is sometimes heard at a
distance of two miles!
Annual Migration
Of course the frosts and snows coming down from the Arctic regions in winter
bind up and cover large tracts of land which in summer are clothed with
luxuriant herbage. The grazing animals, accordingly, move southward to great
distances as the season changes. These migrations, in respect to the numbers and
the sold mass of the moving columns, surpass in grandeur all other spectacles
that the animal kingdom affords.
Swimming the Streams
The country being intersected by rivers and streams in every part, as shown
by the map, would seem to interpose great difficulties in the way of the passage
of the animals to and fro. The difficulties are great, but they are not
insurmountable. The herd, on approaching a river, if it is fordable, descend the
bank in a massive column, and wade or swim across. If the descent of the bank is
not already gradual, it soon becomes so by the trampling of so many heavy hoofs, the most daring, of course, impelled partly by their
courage and partly by the pressure from behind, going down first and breaking
the way.
If there are calves in the herd, and the bank remains so steep that they dare
not go down, their mothers always wait with them upon the margin, in great
apparent distress, and make every effort to encourage them to go down. Sometimes
it is said that the calves contrive to get upon the backs of the cows, and are
conveyed in that way across the stream.
It not unfrequently happens that the landing proves not to be good when the
animals arrive on the further side, so that instead of a hard beach by which to
ascend to the level of the plain, they find themselves sinking into quicksands
or mire. The scene which is witnessed in a case like this presents sometimes, it
is said, an aspect almost awful. The older and stronger beasts are perhaps able,
after long-continued and desperate struggles, in which they trample down and
climb over the others in their excitement and terror, to regain their footing
and clamber up the bank; but often many are unable to extricate themselves, and
perish miserably -- their bodies being borne away by the current down the
stream.
Crossing on the Ice
The case is still worse sometimes when the river is frozen, and the herd is
consequently compelled to cross upon the ice. The animals have no means of
judging of the strength of the ice except by taking the opinion of the leaders,
who go down cautiously, and step in a timid, hesitating manner upon the margin
of it, and then it if gives no sign of weakness under the weight of a single
tread, they conclude it to be strong and proceed. But it may be strong enough to
bear one, while far too weak to sustain the weight of a hundred.
Still the whole herd follow on, and perhaps when the head of the column has
advance toward the middle of the stream, some cracking sound or other token of
weakness gives the alarm. The leaders stop, the others press on, the ice becomes
immensely overloaded, and presently goes down with a great crash, carrying
hundreds into the water. Then ensues a scene of struggling and commotion and
terror impossible to describe. Animals of every age and size are writhing and
plunging in the water, vainly trying to climb up upon cakes of ice, or to force
their way through the floating fragments to the shore -- bellowing all the time
with terror. Some at last gain the bank, but others are swept away in great numbers beneath the unbroken ice below and
drowned.
Trails
In making their journeys the buffalos move in columns, those behind keeping
in the track of those before, and in this way they make trails which soon become
well worn; and being pretty wide, on account of the columns being formed with
several animals abreast, they look like wagon roads. These roads extend, in some
places, for hundreds of miles across the country. When they are once made they
followed year after year by successive herds. In this respect the habits of the
buffalo correspond with those of domestic cows in the pastures of New England,
who lay out paths on the hill sides and in the woods, and continue to use them,
when they are once worn, for many years.
Use of the Buffalo
The buffalo, as may readily be supposed, was a great resource to the Indians.
His flesh furnished him with an abundant supply of excellent food. His skin
served for cloth , and, when cut into thongs, for cords. His horns were made
into vessels and implements of various kinds. Some tribes also made boats of his
hide by stretching the hide, when green, over a frame made of a suitable form for the purpose intended. This,
of course, was a very clumsy sort of craft, but being made without any seam, was
perfectly water-tight and very serviceable.

The Buffalo-Skin Boat

The buffalo has many enemies, but the greatest of all is civilized man. So
long as the vast herds were attacked only by bears, packs of wolves, and Indians
armed simply with spears and arrows, they were able to hold their ground. The
bulls of the herd, with their prodigious strength, and the formidable weapons with which natures has provided them in their horns, would maintain
terrible conflicts with any of these foes, and would often come off victorious
from the fight. but when the white man came, mounted upon a horse and armed with
a rifle, no choice was left to him but to abandon the field; and in proportion
as the tide of emigration moves onward toward the west, the buffalo retires
before it, and will probably in time entirely disappear.
The frontiers, however, of his old dominion are drawn in very slowly and
reluctantly, so that even the steamboat sometimes overtakes him. Cases have
occurred in which steamboats, in feeling g their way up some of the western
branches of the Mississippi and Missouri, have come upon a herd of buffalos
crossing the stream, and the poor beasts, in the midst of their amazement at the
spectacle, have been shot by the rifles of the passengers from the deck.
There is one case mentioned in which a steamboat passed so near a buffalo
swimming in the water that a passenger on board, who had learned the use of the
lasso in South America, threw a rope, with a slip noose at the end, through the
air and caught him by the horns.
Note: See frontispiece

The crew then pulled the poor beast alongside of the steamer, and, getting
slings under him, hoisted him on board and butchered him for his beef.
The Turkey
The turkey is one of the most valuable gifts made by the new world to the
old. Until after the discovery of America no such animals was ever known in
Europe, Asia, or Africa, though the forests and prairies of America were filled
everywhere with flocks of these birds. The turkeys were accustomed to migrate to
and fro from north to south, according as the food they lived upon was in
season. In these journeys they marched on foot as long as they could keep the
ground, only using their wings when there was a river to cross, or some other
obstacle to be surmounted.
When they came to a river they used to pause long upon its bank before
venturing to attempt the passage. They sometimes remained so for two or three
days, during which time the old males would walk to and fro, strutting and
gobbling with the greatest self importance, and with the air of being engaged in
a deliberation of the utmost consequence to all the world.

At length, as it seemed, they would succeed in raising their courage to the
proper point, and they would proceed to climb up to the topmost branches of the
tallest trees growing near the river. There they would select their positions,
and after a great deal more gobbling and strutting and innumerable false starts,
they would commence their flight. The oldest and strongest birds would succeed
in flying across the river before coming down to the ground, but the younger and
feebler ones, especially if the river was wide, would fall into the water at a
greater or less distance from the bank.
Then would follow a scene of floundering, scrambling and swimming,
astonishing to behold, the result of which would be that the greater proportion
of the flock would at last reach the land, though may of them would be carried
by the force of the current far down the stream.
The value of the flesh of the turkey for food was soon made known to
Europeans, and the bird is now domesticated, and has become very abundant, in
almost every part of the world.
The Alligator
An alligator is an immense reptile of the lizard kind, which haunts the
inlets, rivers, swamps and lagoons of the southern States in great numbers. When full grown it is a very
terrible animal, on account of its great size and strength. It is sometimes
fifteen or twenty feet long. it crawls slowly on the land, but it can move
through the water with great speed. Its body is covered with horny scales, which
form a coat of mail that is proof against a musket ball. It is only near the
head and shoulders that the skin can be penetrated by even a rifle bullet.
Of course the alligator is a very formidable animal, the more so from his
having an immense mouth, which is armed with rows of teeth of terrible aspect.
Generally, however, he is pretty quiet in his disposition, and is often seen
lying harmless, basking in the sun, on the shores of his lagoon, or crawling
slowly along through the canes and flags that grow out of the slime. But
sometimes, for example at certain seasons of the year, or when he is hungry, or
has been in any way irritated or disturbed, he is very ferocious, and in such a
case he becomes a dangerous as well as an ugly enemy.
The alligator, like most other reptiles, is very prolific. Indeed, one great
function that the animal seems destined to fulfill in the economy of nature is
that of producing eggs and rearing young, to be consumed as food by birds of prey. Only a small portion of its progeny
survives the dangers which thus beset the period of their infancy.
The mothers make their nests in quite an artificial manner. They are built
upon the ground, on the banks of lazy streams, or in the cane-brakes or marshes,
and are of the form of great shallow cups, three or four feet in diameter. They
are built of mud and grass, and a great many are usually constructed together,
so as to form quite a village.
In these nests the northern alligator lays a great number of eggs, which she
packs in mud, in several successive layers, one above the other, in the most
singular manner. First she covers the floor of her nest with a sort of mortar
which she spreads over it, made of mud and slime, and upon this lays one layer
of eggs. This layer, when complete, she covers with another stratum of mortar,
and over this lays another tier of eggs. The eggs have hard shells, and are
somewhat larger than hen's eggs, and the monster lays so many of them as to
build up her nest sometimes four or five feet high with these alternate layers.
When this work is finished the eggs are left to be hatched by the warmth of
the sun, through the mother remains by them to guard them from the attacks of the pilferers that are always at hand in great numbers to steal and
devour them. It has been said that in thus guarding these deposits the
alligators in some sense make common cause, so that when one of the mothers has
gone away to seek food, the others who remain watch over and protect her nest,
and it is with some instinctive idea of this advantage that they adopt the plan
of building their nests together.
There are sometimes not less than a hundred and fifty or two hundred eggs in
a single nest. Of these, however, but a portion are hatched, and still fewer of
the young arrive at maturity. The young that are hatched are watched and
defended by their mothers with great care, but they are exceedingly tender and
helpless, and great numbers of them are seized and devoured by beasts and birds
of prey.
The greatest enemy of the alligator, however, is man. In gradually advancing
the settlement of the countries in which they live, he intrudes more and more
upon their haunts, and as their size is too great to allow them, like other
reptiles, to secrete themselves from their pursuers, their numbers are all the
time continually diminishing, and it is not improbable that before many years
they may entirely disappear.

The crocodile of the Nile is an animal of the same general character with the
alligator, but is of an altogether different species.
The Eagle
America is celebrated for its eagles. Indeed, one of the species, the bald
eagle, so called, has been selected as the emblem of the national power. The
eagles are all birds of prey, and they are remarkable for their size and the
strength of their pinions. They seek their habitations on the summit of the
various mountain ranges and on lofty cliffs overhanging the sea. From these
elevated positions they survey vast regions of the air and watch for their prey.
For this purpose they are endowed with powers of vision of almost incredible
acuteness.
The eagle has always been held in high estimation by the American Indians,
and his plumage has been prized more than that of any other bird for the dress
and the decorations of warriors. This high estimation is derived partly from the
warlike courage and propensities of the bird itself, and partly probably from
the difficulty of taking him. Thus, eagles' feathers attached to a head-dress of
a native chief, or ornamenting the shaft of a spear, were not only emblems of
courage and strength proper to signalize the martial spirit of the wearer as a warrior, but they were
also trophies of the daring and skill which he displayed as a huntsman, in
scaling the lofty heights where alone they were to be procured.
The eagle is very long-lived. Some specimens have been known to live from
eighty to a hundred years.
cochineal
The forests of America produce a great many different woods which have been
used extensively in dyeing, and for other similar purposes in the arts, but the
most important pigment that has been derived from the productions of this
country is cochineal.
The cochineal is an insect. It is of the form of a little bug. It is a native
of Mexico. It feeds upon certain species of cactus. Immense numbers of these
plants are cultivated in Mexico and Peru, for the sake of the insects that feed
upon them. The work of collecting these insects, which is very slow and tedious,
is performed by women, who go about among the cactus plants and brush the bugs
off into a basket with a little brush made of the tail of a squirrel, or of some
other animal.
The insects, when collected, are killed by being thrown into boiling water, and then are carefully dried by being placed in
ovens, or exposed to the sun. The article is then ready for market.
The cochineal insect produces a beautiful crimson dye, though a scarlet color
can be obtained from it by a certain mode of using it. It is an article of very
great value. Several millions of dollars' worth are annually exported from South
America, and it is so precious that it is regarded in the markets of the world
almost in the light of gold. Indeed it sometimes fulfills the functions of gold
by being used for remittances and for making payments.
The Rattlesnake and Humming Bird
There are two other animals that remain to be mentioned among those that are
peculiar to America -- animals that, however dissimilar in other respects, are
alike in this, namely, that each is marked by a very striking peculiarity of the
same general kind, while nothing at all approaching to either exists in any
other part of the known world. These two animals are the rattlesnake and the
humming-bird. The peculiarity which gives them special distinction is a power of
producing a sound by the motion of a part of their bodies -- the humming bird by
its wings and the rattlesnake by its tail.
The Rattle
The tail of the rattle snake is provided with several joints, formed of a
bony substance, and put together in a loose manner, so that when shaken they
produce a rattling sound. Whether the design of nature in giving the snake this
instrument is to enable it to warn other animals and men of the danger of coming
too near, or for some other purpose, we can only conjecture.
There is a mystery, too, in respect to its venom. Some have supposed that
this venom was given to it as a means of killing its prey before devouring it.
Other serpents are endowed with the power of killing their prey by the
prodigious force which they can exercise in coiling round the limbs of the
animal they have seized, breaking its bones in the terrible gripe which they
give it, and thus putting a sudden and total stop to all the vital operations.
All serpents seem to require some extraordinary means of killing their prey, for
they are formed to live upon animals much larger than themselves, and which they
could not kill by any ordinary means.
There is a considerable number of species of serpents with rattling tails in
America, but it is singular that there are none of any kind in the old world. The whole tribe of rattlesnakes is an American production altogether.

The Rattlesnake more Sinned Against Than Sinning
Notwithstanding the hatred with which the rattlesnake is regarded and the
opprobrium which is cast upon him by man, he seems, after all, to be more sinned
against than sinning, for he really is a very quiet and peaceable beast, that
has no quarrel with man, and never injures him unless he honestly supposes that
he is called to do it in self-defense. If he sees a man coming toward him, he
crawls quietly away, if a way of retreat is open to him, If not, and if his
enemy still approaches with an aggressive air, he feels himself justified in
defending himself by the only means with which nature has provided him. He winds
himself up into a spiral coil, with his head projecting from the center of it,
and as soon as his enemy comes near, he darts forward and upward, and strikes
his fang into his enemy's flesh, at a point as high from the ground as he can
attain.
He Acts Always on the Defensive
He, however, seldom or never attacks man of his own accord, but warns him
away by sounding his rattle when he sees him coming inadvertently near.

It results from this his peaceable disposition that, though the prairies in the
western country, and the forests at the south, are full of rattlesnakes,
numbering probably millions upon millions, and the slaves upon the plantations,
and the farmers and emigrants and railway laborers in the woods, are continually
encountering them, it is very rare that lives are lost from their venom. How
great must be the forbearance, we might almost say the generosity exercised by
the reptile, to lead to such a result as this!
This generosity, however, if generosity it be, seems to be very little
appreciated by man. Man everywhere attacks and kills every rattlesnake that he
sees. He strikes him on the neck with a club if he wishes to kill him at a blow;
and if, on the other hand, which is more frequently the case, he wishes to tease
and torment him for a while before putting him to death, or if he wishes to
capture him, he comes with a forked stick, and sets the prongs of it into the
ground, one on each side of the poor victim's neck. He then grasps his neck
behind the stick with his hand and takes him up with impunity. It is even
possible, while holding him thus, to extract his fang, or the little bag of
poison at the root of it, and thus render him entirely harmless.

The Humming Bird
From the rattlesnake, one of the most repulsive of all animals to man, we
turn with pleasure to the humming bird, an animal that likewise owes a part of
his celebrity to a sound that he makes, though the instrument with which he
makes it is a pair of wings instead of a tail. Whatever of mystery there may be
about the rattling made by the reptile, there is none in respect to the humming
noise made by the bird. The sound is due simply to the rapidity of the
vibrations of the wings, and this is due to the smallness of the bird. For the
smaller the bird and the smaller the wings, the more rapid must be the motion of
them to sustain the weight of the body in the air.
Vibrations Producing Sound
Sound is produced by the vibration of any substance in contact with the air,
by which vibrations are imparted to the air, and thus transmitted to the ear. If
the vibrations are slow no audible sound is produced. Thus the motion of the
pendulum of a clock, the wagging of the tail of a dog, the motion of the hand up
and down in the air, as rapid as it is possible to make such a motion, produce
no sound.
As we increase the rapidity of such vibrations, however, we at last come to a limit where a sound begins to be heard. This is
about thirty-two beats in a second. The humming bird's wings, therefore, must
move to and fro more than thirty-two beats in a second, and it is simply in
consequence of the fact that his body and wings are so small that the rapidity
of the motion of his wings comes within the limit above referred to, and sound
is produced. The wings of a swallow make less than thirty-two pulsations in a
second, and thus that bird moves through the air silently.
As the rapidity of the vibrations of any moving body increases the sound
becomes higher in pitch. Thus the wings of a mosquito, moving much more rapidly
than those of a humming bird, made a more acute sound. As the rapidity increase
still more, we reach at last a point where sound is no longer produced. This
limit varies with different ears, but with most persons it is at about eight
thousand vibrations a second that sound ceases to be heard. This upper limit,
however, is extremely vague.
The number of vibrations corresponding with the middle c of a musical
instrument, according to the diapason recently established by the French
government, if five hundred and twenty-two. That of a sound one octave below is
half as great; of one

an octave above is twice as great. Thus by finding the pitch of the sound made
by the wings of a humming bird, by means of a piano forte or other instrument,
the number of vibrations made by them in a second can be approximately
ascertained.
The Humming Bird's Mode of Life
The humming bird is designed, like the bee, to feed on the sweet juices found
in flowers. But being a bird, and thus, small as he is, too large and heavy to
alight upon the flower and rest his weight upon it, he is provided with wings to
poise himself in the air, and a long slender bill to serve as a pipe with which
to draw out the juices from the innermost recesses of the largest corollas.
There are a great many different species of humming birds, all peculiar to
America. None are found in any part of the old world. There is a difference in
the form, and also in the plumage of the different species. In some of them the
feathers, especially those of the neck and breast, are splendidly iridescent,
glowing with all the colors of the richest gems. Nothing can exceed the
beautiful effect of these colors when the bird is seen poised in the sun before
the flower from which he is extracting the juices with his long and slender
bill. At such a time his wings cannot be seen, so swift is their motion; or if a glimpse of them is obtained, they produce only the effect of a
little quivering mist at his sides. He seems like a wingless bird poised
motionless in mid air.
If at such a time anything occurs to alarm him or to attract his attention,
he darts off through the air a little way, quick as a flash, then suddenly
stopping and poising himself upon his wings, he rests as motionless as if he
were standing upon the ground. Then, after contemplating for a moment the object
that alarmed him, he shoots off again through the air, with a motion so quick
that the eye can scarcely follow him -- and is gone.
Sometimes artificial flowers are made of the feathers of the humming bird,
especially those taken from the breast -- the different colors being arranged to
represent the different parts of the flower. Nothing can exceed the gorgeous
beauty of these imitation.
Gentleness of Disposition
Humming birds are of a very gentle disposition, and they could be easily
tamed were it not that they are of too delicate a constitution to bear
confinement; and thus, whenever they are brought into the house and shut up in a
cage or an aviary, they soon droop and die. While they are thus kept they must be fed with fresh flowers, or else with honey, thinned with a
little water.
They build their nests upon shrubs or upon the stems of vines or other
climbing plants, nor far from the ground, and the nests are so small that, when
seen from a short distance, one of them might very easily be mistaken for a
little tuft of moss, or a moss-covered knot upon the wood. There are two eggs
only laid in the nest. They are white, and not much larger than peas.
These birds are very common in the West Indies and in all the tropical parts
of America. A young English gentleman, who was about embarking for England,
happened, just before he went on board his ship, to find a humming bird's nest
with the mother sitting upon it, sitting. He approached very gently to the
place. The bird watched him anxiously, but she was too intent upon her duty to
her eggs to fly away. The gentleman carefully cut off the branch and carried,
it, nest, bird, and all, on board the ship, intending to present his prize to a
lady of his acquaintance on reaching his native land.
He fed the bird on home and water during the voyage. She became quite tame,
and continued on the nest until the little birds were hatched, but before the
end of the voyage she died.

The little birds lived to reach the land. The gentleman presented them to the
lady for whom the present was intended. One of them died very soon, but the
other lived a month or two, and was so tame that he would put his bill to his
mistress's lips and draw out honey and water from a little supply which she had
provided for him there. It was to him just as if her lips had been the petal of
a flower.

Chapter 5
The Indian Races
Question of the Origin of the Different Races of Men
Whether it would seem more probable, judging by the light afforded us by the
observation of nature alone, and without regard to the declarations of
Scripture, that all the different races of men have descended from one common
stock, or that each race had a different origin, and thus now forms a different
species from the rest, is a question that has been much discussed by naturalists
and philosophers.
In making these inquiries several considerations have operated upon the minds
of philosophers to lead them to set out of the case the testimony of the
Scriptures. In the first place, some of the most distinguished naturalists and
philosophers do not believe in the divine authority of the Scriptures, but
regard them simply as ancient writings, of great moral and historical value
indeed, but yet not at all of infallible authority on any subject.

Others, who believe in the Scriptures as a revelation of the divine will, think
that they are intended to guide us only in matters of faith and practice, and
that it was not the design of the Holy Spirit, in inditing them, to teach us
science and philosophy, but to leave us, in respect to those branches of
knowledge, entirely to our own observations and studies in the field of nature
itself.
There is a third class still, namely, those who think that while every
inference which may be fairly drawn, even from the incidental allusions
contained in the Scriptures, may be entirely relied upon as a truth revealed to
us by divine authority, whatever may be the subject to which it relates, we are
not to take these inferences with us, either to aid or restrict us, when we go
forth into the field of the world as students of natures, but are to act
independently, and avail ourselves of the lights of science and philosophy
alone. They think, in other words, that the true object which we should have in
view in studying nature is simply to learn what nature herself teaches, and that
in doing this we must interpret what we see solely by the light of our reason
and reflection. We may distrust the conclusions that we come to, when we arrive
at them, if we find that they conflict with convictions obtained in other ways,
but in the process of coming to these conclusions we must be guided honestly and entirely by what our
observations of nature herself teaches, and by those alone.
Distinction of Races
There are four or five and perhaps many more distinct races of men upon the
earth, each separated from the rest by very decided and apparently very
permanent lines of demarcation. The differences are not merely those of color,
or of any other external mark, but they relate quite as much to the internal
organization of the individual, both bodily and mental. These different races
are subdivided into many others, all marked by distinctive lines, more or less
decisive and permanent. The great question for naturalists to solve has been
whether, judging from the light of science alone, without any aid from the
declarations of Scripture, we should conclude that all these different forms
have descended from one pair.
Now, although, in coming to their conclusion on this subject, philosophers
have set the authority of the Scriptures, for the time being, aside, it is
remarkable that the conclusion which they have come to corresponds with and
confirms the testimony of the Mosaic records; for the whole body of naturalists,
with few if any exceptions, have concurred in the opinion that the differences between the various races of men, great as they
are, and permanent as they seem to be within the periods subject to our
observation, are not specific differences -- that is, that they are not such as,
judging from observations made in other divisions of the animal world, imply a
separate original parentage. In other words, that there is nothing in them which
should preclude the idea of their all being descended from a single pair.
Causes of the Differences Observed
It has been very common to presume, on the supposition that all the races of
men were descended from a single pair, that the only causes which can account
for the diversities of race which we now observe consist in differences of
climate, of food, of modes of life, and of other such external influences as
these. And some persons, after attempting to prove that such causes as these are
not sufficient to account for changes so great, have inferred that all the races
could not have descended from the same pair.
But there is another class of causes of a totally different nature from
these, and far more powerful, which have undoubtedly operated very extensively
in producing these changes. The existence of them is well known, though the nature and operation of them is very imperfectly
understood.
These causes are the hidden influences which produce those mental or bodily
peculiarities which are born with us, in contradistinction from those which are
subsequently produced by education, the circumstances of life, or external
influences. A child whose skin is browned or darkened by playing in the sun is
an example of one species of effect. A child born with a dark complexion is an
example of the other kind.
The kinds of difference between parents and off spring of this innate
character are very numerous, and sometimes very striking. A gentle and amiable
father and mother may give birth to a very froward and irritable child. It is
often the case, it is true, that such frowardness and irritability may be the
result of bad management, but still there are cases where it is impossible to
doubt that they have their origin in the inner constitution of the body or of
the mind. In the same manner, parents who both have black hair and black eyes
may give birth to a child with blue eyes and auburn hair.
We see the same differences spontaneously arising from births in the animal
creation. There are black cats and grey cats, and tawny cats and white cats, and yet nobody supposes that these difference are produced by differences
of climate, or by any other external cause whatever.
Important Conclusion
We conclude from this that even if it were proved that differences of climate
and other similar causes are not sufficient to account for the great diversities
which prevail among the different races of men, it is very far from being
proved, on that account, that these several races must each have had an
independent origin. There are other causes, far more deeply seated and more
radical and powerful in their action, which may have operated in addition to
these, and perhaps in combination with them, to produce the results.
The Distinction of Race Fixed and Permanent
The differences which we observe in comparing the different races of men with
one another, although we grant that they have resulted either from the operation
of secret internal or of known external causes, or both, taking effect upon one
single species which descended from one single pair, are still very great, and
they are fixed and permanent. By this it is not meant that they are absolutely
and perpetually permanent, for it is obvious that the operation of the same causes which produced them may remove or
reverse them, but only that they are permanent through any moderate number of
successive generations, and not removable by means of any outward influences
which man can bring to bear upon them. In other words, as they have not probably
been produced by the operation of external causes which are under the control of
men, so they cannot be removed by such causes.
The operation of outward influences, such as those of education and mode of
life, will produce great effects; but such causes do not change the real and
essential characteristics of the race. The Indian remains an Indian, and the
African an African, under all the changes of circumstances to which he can be
subjected, and in a a vast majority of cases he approximates toward the
characteristics of the Caucasian race only so far as Caucasian blood flows in
his veins.
Objection To This View
Some persons are very reluctant to admit that any race of men is marked by a
fixed and permanent characteristic of inferiority to the others, for fear that
this will be made an excuse by unjust and wicked men for treating them
oppressively and cruelly; but there surely can be no justification for tyranny in the weakness
and helplessness of the object of it. To believe that people of the Indian race,
for example, are inferior in intellectual capacity and power to those of
European descent, is no reason for believing that it is right to defraud and
oppress them by depriving them of their lands or other property without a fair
equivalent, or being guilty of any wrong or injustice toward them whatever.
The Weak Especially Entitled to Protection From the Strong
Indeed, the contrary of this is true. The weak and the helpless in any
community, instead of being rightfully subject to the oppression of the strong,
are specially entitled to protection. If the Author of nature, in order to
provide for the more efficient and easy performance of some of the subordinate
functions of society to which a high state of civilization gives rise, or for
the occupation of certain portions of the earth not adapted to a high state of
civilization, or which are from any cause temporarily precluded from it, has
prepared races of men with faculties and sentiments which adapt them to this
work or to those situations -- faculties and sentiments which fit them to be the
employed rather than the employers, to labor rather than to plan, to endure fatigue
rather than assume and bear responsibility -- surely all generous minds among
the higher races will see in that relation a reason, not for taking advantage of
their power to do injustice to those thus placed at their mercy, but rather to
use it for their protection. They will feel bound, when engaging in any common
operation, as, for example, in employing them to hunt and trap for furs among
the lakes and forests of the north country, to take care that while they
themselves plan and superintend, and their less capable auxiliaries labor and
toil to execute, the anvils of the common industry shall be so divided as to
give to their subordinates the fair and proper share, whatever that may be, for
the part which they perform. In this way, though themselves in no respect equal
to the higher races, they may enjoy equal rights with them, namely, the same
protection and the same enjoyment of the fair and proper reward, comparatively
small though it be, for the performance of the inferior functions which their
capacity enables them to fulfill.
There is no need, therefore, of maintaining that the Indian is equal to the
Caucasian, in order to prevent our having an excuse for oppressing and abusing
him. The more inferior and the more helpless he is, the greater is his claim on the higher and nobler race for
justice and protection.
Original Peopling of the Continent
On the supposition that the American continent was originally peopled by a
branch or branches of the human family migrating from the old world, there have
been a great many speculations in respect to the time and the manner of their
first introduction.
In the first place, they may have come from the northern part of Europe, by
the way of Norway and Iceland, to Greenland, and thence down through Labrador to
the lake country, and thus have spread through the whole interior of the
continent.
The supposition that they may have come in this way, or at least that some
may have so come, is confirmed by the fact that there is a great resemblance
between some of the Indian tribes and the Scandinavian nations, so called, who
inhabit the northern parts of Europe and Asia.
Crossing the Northern Seas
In respect to the manner in which these supposed emigrants crossed the seas
in coming from the north of Europe on one side, or the north of Asia on the other -- for the water which separates the new continent from the
old is still narrower on the western side than it is on the eastern -- several
suppositions may be made. They may have been blown off from their own shores by
accident. The people in all those regions live a great deal upon the sea. They
make boats of a very substantial character, and evince a great deal of skill and
courage in navigating them. In fact, they are compelled to acquire great skill
and to exercise great courage in these pursuits, for they obtain almost all
their living on the ice-floes, or upon the water between them, and thus they are
in constant danger of being caught in the ice and carried away. These ice-floes
are kept by the winds and currents in a state of constant motion, and are
carried by them hundreds of miles over the sea, and a party caught upon one of
them might, perhaps, by making a hut of their boat and killing seals and white
bears and other animals that frequent them for food, succeed in making quite a
long voyage on such an embarkation in safety.
Traveling Upon the Ice
Then, again, a whole tribe or congeries of families might undertake to
migrate purposely over the ice, to escape from enemies or from famine. They might travel very far on such expeditions, over ice either fixed or moving, with
sledges drawn by dogs or reindeer. The Laplanders and the Esquimaux, it is found
at the present day, make very long journeys in this way.
The Pacific Islanders
Scattered over almost all parts of the Pacific Ocean are groups of islands
which are inhabited by races of men that are almost as much at home on the sea
as upon the shore. A boat for the water is sometimes an object of even greater
necessity to them than a hut for the land; and the magnitude of some of the
boats which the islanders that are most advanced in these arts are able to
construct and navigate is truly wonderful
Indeed, these islanders, like the inhabitants of the Arctic regions, have
every possible inducement to become seamen, and they enjoy every facility for
learning and practicing the nautical art. In the first place, there is no
possible communication between the different islands of the same group except by
water. Then, moreover, between the different parts of the same island the
passage is made much more easily by sea than by land, for the water near the
shore is almost always smooth, being protected by coral reefs coming up to the
surface at a short distance from the land, while the way through the interior is
obstructed by almost impassible thickets, or is made rough and impracticable by
volcanic rocks, which the savages have no means of leveling or removing.
It results from this state or things that these islanders all acquire a great
degree of skill in navigating the seas around them. The children take to the
water at the earliest age. They find it always warm, and, as they wear no
clothing, it is difficult to say which they love best -- playing in the surf
upon the water, or in the sun upon the shore.
The children begin their attempts at navigation by means of any floating
substance that they can lay their hands upon, almost as soon as they can walk.
Shipmasters, who touch at these islands to get fresh provisions for their crews,
say that they have known children not more than three years old to swim out to
the ship anchored in the offing, having only a cocoa nut, with the husk left on,
to buoy themselves up with in the water.
In some of the islands the native build canoes of great size and of very
complicated construction, and capable, some of them, of conveying a considerable
supply of provisions. With these they undertake quite extended expeditions,
either of war, of commerce, or of migration. Such boats as these must often be driven away from
their course, and carried by winds and currents to distant lands. It is
undoubtedly in this way that the innumerable islands of the Pacific Ocean have
become stocked, and it is not at all improbable that similar migrations may have
taken place in former ages to the American shores.
Currents of the Ocean
This supposition is rendered still more probable from the fact that it is now
ascertained that the ocean is subject to the flow of certain great permanent
currents, which have the velocity and the force and the steady continuance of
the currents of rivers, only on a much grander scale than any rivers in the
world. A large canoe driven out of its course, and containing a good supply of
provisions, might be carried a very long distance on one of these ocean streams,
even without any assistance from the wind.
Antiquity of the Aboriginal Population of America,
The remoteness of the period in which the progenitors of the Indian tribes
came to America is shown by the number of distinct Indian language which have
been formed, and by the great dissimilarity which exists between these languages and any now known in other parts of the
world.
A language once formed, even though unwritten, is extremely permanent. It is
subject to slight modifications and changes, it is true, such as those by which
different dialects are formed in different provinces of the same country; but to
make a radical change in the form and structure of a language requires a very
long course of time. Now, the languages of America are essentially different,
not only in the words but in the whole system on which they are founded, from
any languages of the old world, and they are also divided into several distinct
classes, which are almost totally different from each other.
This shows that the process of bringing the American languages to their
present state has been going on for a very long time and, consequently, that the
separation of the races speaking them from the original stock in the old world
must have taken place at a very remote period.
Ancient Nations of North America
At the time when America was discovered nations were found in the central and
southern part of the continent that had attained to quite a high degree of
civilization, and many ruins of ancient temples and cities are now from time to time discovered in those countries
overgrown with enormous trees, the roots of which are intertwined with the
remains of other enormous trees, which show that the structures that they cover
must have been in ruins for a great many centuries.
There are no such ruins of ancient cities in the territory now belonging to
the United States, but there are remains of ancient fortifications and mounds,
of an extremely curious character, scattered through very extensive regions of
the western country, which indicate the existence there in former times of a
higher civilization and different modes of life from those manifested by the
present race of Indians.
Durability of Earthworks
It is a very singular fact that works formed of earth and grassed over are
among the most permanent and lasting of all the constructions made by man. The
grassy mounds in the country of Nineveh and Babylon have remained without the
least apparent change for many centuries. There are also in England old
druidical mounds, and rings in the grass called fairy rings, which have been
known and described in books from the earliest periods of English history, and
they remain now, from century to century, apparently without any change, while hundreds of
massive buildings of stone have gone entirely to decay, and the ruins of those
that still remain are found to change rapidly, if neglected, from year to year.
In the first settled portions of the United States, too, it is not improbable
that the oldest structures of which any traces now remain are the beaver dams.
In fact, any artificial conformation of the surface of the ground, once well
covered with greensward, and left undisturbed by the plough, seems to be more
enduring than any other work of man.
The remains of ancient fortifications in the upper part of the valley of the
Mississippi are very numerous, and they are on a very extended scale. They are
laid out regularly, and denote the existence of considerable towns, or of places
of encampments for large bodies of men. In some of them spaces of fifty and a
hundred acres are inclosed.
Ancient Fields
There are also in certain parts of the prairies marks of ancient corn fields,
of every great size, and extending over the country for a hundred and fifty
miles. The land in these fields lies in ridges, like those always seen in a corn
field that is left, after the corn is harvested, to grass itself over, without being leveled by the
plough and harrow. These ridges are so regular, and they are confined so
strictly to circumscribed and well defined fields -- fields, too, occupying
situations exactly suitable for the cultivation of corn -- as to leave no room
for doubt in respect to the nature of them.
They are very ancient too, as is proved by the trees often found standing
upon them. Some persons, in examining these fields, once caused an oak tree to
be cut down which was growing in one of them, and on counting the layers of wood
they found that the tree was three hundred and twenty-five years old. This
carries the time when the fields were cultivated far beyond the settlement of
the country by Europeans; and inasmuch as no Indian tribes have been known,
since the coming of Europeans; to cultivate the ground so extensively, it is
supposed that these fields denote that in ancient times there existed a more
numerous and civilized population over all this region than exists at the
present day.
The Copper Mines
This opinion is confirmed by certain indications that are observed in the
Lake Superior copper region. Ancient mines are found here with traces of former workings that are on a scale fare beyond the capacity of the Indians
of the present day.
Copper is a metal that comes into use in the history of civilization much
earlier than iron, for copper is often found in a metallic and malleable
condition, in its native state, while iron, being so easily oxidizable, almost
always exists in the form of an ore, which it is necessary to reduce by a highly
artificial process before the iron can be obtained. To make implements of copper
it is only necessary to find masses of native metal of the proper size, such as
are often found upon or near the surface of the ground, and then to bring them
to the required shape by hammering them with smooth and hard stones, or by
grinding them upon rough ones.
Accordingly, as might naturally be expected, copper implements and ornaments
have been, from time immemorial, very much in use among all the Indian tribes.
But at the period of the discovery of America, and since that time, the supply
of copper for these purposes was obtained almost entirely from specimens found
near the surface of the ground. There is no evidence of any systematic or
extended workings of the mines within a period of several centuries; but there
is abundant evidence that before that time, as is shown by the age of the trees growing over the old excavations, mining operations in this region
were carried on upon a very considerable scale. The miners of the present day
frequently come to old trenches, half filled in and grassed over, and with
immense trees growing in them, at the bottom of which, when they dig them out
anew, they find remains of the ancient works. They come down, when digging in
such places, to great masses of copper blocked up on skids of wood which have
been preserved from decay by lying all the time in water, with marks of fire
upon them, and broken tools lying all around.
The tools which these old miners used were very curious. The principal one
was a sort of hammer made of a smooth and hard stone. The handle of these
hammers, instead of passing through the stone, was formed of a withe, and was
carried round it in a small groove, which they contrived in some way to pick in
the stone. The withe was brought round the stone in this groove while it was
green, and the two ends were then twisted together and secured by a cord wound
round tight, close to the stone. Then when the withe became dry it formed a very
stiff and substantial handle, and the groove prevented it from slipping off the
stone.

Trees have been found growing over ancient works in these mines with five
hundred concentric layers of wood in them, proving that the excavations and the
works carried on in them were finally abandoned at least five hundred years ago.

The Mounds of Florida
Mounds of a somewhat similar character to those existing in the western
country are found in Florida, many of which contain human bones in considerable
quantities, indicating that they were used as places of sepulture. In one the
bones of a very large person were found placed in a horizontal position in the
center, and around it, in a circle, the skeletons of a number of other persons
-- these last being in a sitting position.
In another mound there were two layers of skeletons, one above the other. In
both layers the bodies were arranged in a circle, with the heads toward the
center and the feet toward the circumference of the mound.
In most of these mounds fragments of pottery were found. These relics consist
of pieces of broken jars, kettles, stew-pans, porringers, and other domestic
utensils of that sort. In many cases the vessels were whole, with the exception
of a small hole in the bottom of each, which appeared to have been purposely made. This may have been done to render the utensils
useless, in order that there might be no inducement to tempt any persons to
violate the graves with the intent of robbing them of articles buried with the
deceased owners.
Some of these specimens gave indications of considerable art in the
manufacture of them, being ornamented with various devices worked in the clay.
One had a hollow handle, which was so fashioned, in connection with the cavity
of the vessel itself, as to indicate that it was meant to be used as a sort of
funnel to pour out the liquid into smaller vessels without spilling it.
Whether these articles had been baked in the fire or sun-dried it was found
difficult to ascertain; as also it was to determine whether they were fashioned
by the and or upon a potter's wheel. The making of vessels out of clay by the
hand is one of the very first steps taken by all savages in their attempts at
art. Learning to indurate them, by baking them in the fire, is the second step;
and making a wheel to fashion them upon, by putting the mass of clay in
revolution in order to facilitate giving it a true circular form, is a third
step, and one much in advance of the other two.
The remains of a potter's wheel, with a mass of clay upon it partly fashioned into a vessel, was found some years since in a
mound in Georgia, and this at first seemed to afford positive proof that the
Indians understood the art of shaping their pottery by means of a revolution of
the clay. It was, however, afterward though not impossible that this wheel might
have been introduced by the Spaniards, who very early made incursions into that
part of the country and attempted to found settlements there. Indeed, the
Spaniards were so early in their visits to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and
the French to those of the great lakes, that considerable care is necessary to
avoid attributing to the aboriginal Indians relics and indications which were
really left by their European visitors.
Unquestionable Antiquity of Many of the Mounds
Although many of the mounds now found may be of comparatively modern date,
there are some which, like those on the Ohio and the other western rivers, bear
incontestable evidence of great antiquity in the immense trees that are found
growing upon them. There are live-oaks standing upon some of these tumuli of
such size that they are estimated to be six or seven hundred years old. This
would carry back the date of the mound to a period two or three centuries anterior to the time of Columbus.
In many instances, on the other hand, the mounds are situated in open plains,
or are covered with thickets consisting of plants and trees of moderate age. In
such cases as these it is difficult to determine the question of the antiquity
of the mound, except so far as a reasonable judgment may be formed from the
character and appearance of the objects found within it.
Conclusion
On the whole, there is abundant evidence in these ancient remains that this
continent has been inhabited by the ancestors of the present Indian races for a
very long period. It is, moreover, generally supposed that in former times the
population was far more numerous, and that the nations composing it were far
more advanced in civilization than those found in possession of the country when
the Europeans first visited these shores.

Chapter 6
The Indian Family
The Institution of Marriage
The Indians, as all other communities of human beings in every age, in every
clime, and in every possible condition in respect to civilization or barbarism,
have done, lived in families -- the husband, the wife, and the children forming
a natural group and dwelling together in common, the children remaining under
the care of themselves; and the husband and wife, once joined, remaining united
for life.
Some persons have imagined that the institution of marriage is an artificial
institution, adopted by society as an arrangement proved by experiment to be, on
the whole, most advantageous to man. But the universality of this institution
proves that it is of higher origin. it is a part of man's nature, considered as
an animal, that he should have one female partner, and that the union which
binds him to his partner, when once she is chosen, should endure for life.

It is curious to observe that the provision of nature by which man is led
everywhere, and under all circumstances, to the institution of marriage as the
foundation of the social state, is in accordance with a general principle which
pervades the whole animal creation. The principle is this:
General Law of Pairing
In all cases where the nurture of the young of any animal, for any reason,
requires more than the mother herself alone can do for them, it seems to be a
general law of nature in respect to such animals that they are provided with
instincts which lead them to pair. A male and female unite, and they remain
united until the young no longer need their joint assistance.
Thus birds pair, because it is necessary that both should co-operate to build
the nest, and also that the father should bring food while the mother sits upon
the eggs to hatch them. And lions pair, for one must remain and take care of the
young, while the other goes away on distant excursions to procure food.
But sheep and other such animals do not pair, for their young do not require
the joint attention of father and mother.
In respect to the duration of the union thus formed, the principle is that it continues as long as the necessity for it
continues; that is, as long as the brood of young ones require the united
efforts of both father and mother to protect them. Then -- at least so it is
supposed in the case of birds -- when the season is over and the young ones are
grown up to maturity, the union is terminated, the pair separate, and each, at
the commencement of a new season, chooses a mate again.
Application to the Case of Man
Now, in the case of man, the young require the aid of both parents for their
nurture and protection; and inasmuch as each requires this attention for ten or
twelve years at least, and as during the time while the first-born is attaining
this age others succeed, the period during which the con-join effort of the
parents are required is protracted, without intermission, during the whole of
their lives -- that is, through all the portion of it during which their natural
vigor continues unimpaired. It follows from this, and from the fact that the
numbers of the sexes are equal, that according to the analogy of nature we
should have expected that the human species would be provided with instincts
leading them to unite in pairs, and to continue so united for life.

We find, accordingly, that this is the fact everywhere. The marriage laws of
all human societies are consequently made to guard and protect the marriage
institution -- not to establish it. The institution itself is founded in
instincts and principles of our nature existing antecedent to all law.
Indeed, the family institution, instead of waiting to be established by law,
is often even more important and more prominent in low states of civilization
than in high. It is most powerful where laws are weakest. Instead of being
created by law and thus following it in the order or time, it is itself rather
the origin and source of law. So far as we have any opportunity to trace back
the forms of social organization to their source, we find them arising usually,
in the first instance, from that primordial and elementary bond, the union of
husband with wife, which springs at once from the physical constitution and
innate instincts of man, and is the germ from which all other systems of
authority and subordination come.
It was eminently so among the Indians. They lived in families throughout the
length and breadth of the land -- the families of the same connection being
grouped together in tribes. They lived generally in peace, and were engaged in
labors of patient industry for providing food and clothing for themselves and their
children.
Construction of Dwellings
The dwellings of the Indians were generally made of poles covered with bark
or mats. The ends of the poles were set in the ground in a ring of holes made to
receive them, and then the tops were tied together in a point above, so as to
give the hut a conical form. Sometimes, however, the ring was made larger, and
then the ends of the poles were lapped upon each other, each opposite pair being
joined in this way. By this mode of fashioning the frame the hut would receive a
hemispherical form -- that is, the form of a dome -- a structure much less
convenient than the other.
In other cases the poles would be set in two long rows of holes, made at a
suitable distance from each other, and each opposite pair would then be lapped
together and tied. Poles were then laid lengthwise along the roof thus formed
and tied at the crossings. These lengthwise poles acted as stays to give
strength and stiffness to the frame. When the frame was thus completed it was
covered with mats or bark. Of course, a hut made in this way would be of a
semi-cylindrical form, like a long arbor built over a walk in a garden. Some lodges made in this way were intended to accommodate many families, and were
very large.
Coverings
The bark used for the covering of the huts and lodges was commonly birch
bark, a kind which peels off the tree in large thin sheets, and is of a
substance, too, which is completely impervious to water. These sheets of bark
could be rolled up in a very compact form, as matting or carpeting is rolled
with us.
These strips peel off in a direction roundthe tree, and of course cannot be
longer than the circumference of the tree from which they are taken. But a tree
of two feet and a half in diameter, not an unusual size in the native forests of
the country; would yield strips seven and eight feet long, which would be amply
sufficient for the purpose intended, They were usually taken off the tree in
pieces from two to three feet wide.
In putting on these sheets the upper end was fastened to the upper part of
the frame -- leaving a space open for chimney -- and the lower end came down to
the ground. A round stick was rolled a little way into this lower end and sewed
in. This stick helped to strengthen the end, and also assisted in holding it in
its place. A stone was laid upon it when necessary, to keep it down. It also served as a roller to roll
the sheet upon when the family removed; for these sheets of bark, once prepared,
were considered quite valuable, and they were always taken away in cases of
removal, though the poles which formed the frame were often left behind.
In some cases tribes living in the western country, on the banks of the Upper
Missouri, where perhaps birch bark could not be obtained, covered the frames of
their wigwams with flat stones set up against the poles, in such a way that they
leaned in some measure upon them. These stones were arranged around the frame,
tier above tier, each tier resting upon he edges of the tier below, and leaning
against the frame. The joints were plastered with a mortar made of clay.
Of course, for such a covering as this it was necessary to make the frame
very much stronger than when a lighter one was to be used.
Interior of the Lodges
The large lodges often contained several families, each of whom occupied its
own particular portion of the interior. In such cases the different tenants were
very careful not to encroach upon each other's domains. There was a fire in the
middle of the lodge, and mats and skins for the members of the different families were
laid down upon the ground in different situations around it. The sleeping places
were back under the roof, the beds being also make of mats and skins.
When there were babies, beds were made for them of the finest moss, with a
skin spread over it that was covered with some soft fur.
It was the pride of the mistress of this strange household to keep everything
in good order in her domain. She maintained a bright and cheerful fire in the
fire-place when the weather was cold, and kept the ground nicely swept and clean
all around it. Then when all was arranged she would take her place upon her own
mat or skin, and employ herself in sewing a roller into a new sheet of bark, or
in making mats, or mocassins, or snowshoes, while her husband, in his place near
by , was employed in fashioning spears or arrows, or in making other hunting or
fishing gear, and the children sat musing silently by the fire, or tumbled over
each other in their play, upon a bear-skin in the corner.
Indian Housekeeping
Among the Indians the whole charge of the housekeeping devolved upon the
women, as with us, but in their understanding of this term much more was included than in ours.
It comprised building the house as well as taking care of it, and also the
making of all the furniture. It was the work of the women to cut the poles and
set them in the ground, to have always on hand a good supply of bark to cover
the frame, and to take the work apart and put it together again, in case of
removal. They had also to cultivate the corn fields, store the grain when it was
collected, and prepare the food.
Removals
Although each tribe continued in most cases to occupy the same territory from
generation to generation, still removals from place to place within the
territory were very common. The best places for cultivating corn, and for
fishing in the summer season, were not usually the best for hunting and trapping
the wild animals of the woods in the winter. Accordingly there were frequent
occasions to remove a family or a settlement from place to place; and in order
to facilitate these migrations the wigwams were almost always built on the borders of streams, so that the
sheets of bark for roofs, the mats, the skins, the cooking utensils, and the
other household goods, might be conveyed to the new locality by water in canoes.

Canoes
These canoes themselves were made of birch bark, There was first a frame made
of strips of wood of about the size and thickness of a common kitchen-basket
handle, and then the whole was covered with sheets of bark, very neatly and
strongly sewed. The thread for such sewing was made of the fibers of certain
kinds of bark twisted into filaments by rubbing them with a rolling motion on
the knee, or of thongs cut from the hides of animals. It was wonderful to see
with what skill the Indian women would execute this sewing, so as to make a
firm, compact and substantial seam, and without leaving any perceptible openings
at the stitches. The boat would be almost watertight when it was first put
together, and it was soon made perfectly so by paying over the seams with pitch
obtained from some species of the pine, or other resin-bearing tree.
The upper edge of the boat all around was strengthened by double strips of
wood inclosing the edges of the sheets of bark, the whole being bound together by sewing of a
specially substantial character. This formed the gunwale of the boat. It was in
some respects like the upper edge of a strong basket, which is usually
reinforced in a similar way. The boat itself was in reality an open-work basket,
sheathed on the outside with sheets of birch bark.
Canoes thus made, though light and buoyant, were quite frail. It was
necessary to step very lightly in getting into one of them, for fear of breaking
through the bottom, and to sit very still when in, for fear of rolling it over,
for the bottom was perfectly round and smooth.
Log Canoes
In some parts of the country, where birch bark could not be procured for
sheathing, it was customary to make boats of logs.
It would at first seem difficult to imagine how a party of savages, without
any cutting tools, could take down a large tree, hollow it out, and fashion it
into a canoe. They accomplished the work by the agency of fire. In the first
place, after selecting a suitable tree for the purpose, they would build a fire
around its roots, and by constantly bringing more wood they would keep the fire
up for many days, until at last the tree was burned so nearly off that by pushing
all together against it on one side, by means of poles, or pulling with a cord,
they would cause it to lean a little out of the perpendicular, and then its own
weight would bring it with a great crash to the ground.
This was the first stage of the process. The next was to burn off the stem of
the tree at the right length for the proposed canoe. In burning it off thus the
workmen took care to manage the fire in such a way as to give to the end of the
proper shape, and at the same time that this process was going on the fire was
continued at the other end, in order to burn off the splinters and superfluous
wood, and to give that end, too, the proper form for the bow or stern of the
canoe, which ever it was to be. To do this well of course required considerable
experience and skill on the part of the workmen.
At the same time fires were built along the whole length of the log upon the
top, in order to burn off the convex portion, and then small fires were
continues along the center line until the whole interior of the log was burned
out. It was easy, by means of water, to confine the fire within precise limits,
so as at last to have a well-shaped canoe, with sides and bottom far thinner and
lighter, and with general form much more graceful and convenient than it would be supposed possible to produce in such a
way.
When the burning was completed the whole surface of the boat, inside and out,
was scraped smooth by means of tools made of flint, and of other hard stones of
that kind which could be broken so as to furnish a sharp edge. The scraping of
the surface of the wood with tools of this sort was, of course, a very slow and
laborious process, but when completed the result was to produce a very smooth
and regular finish. The boat was then painted. the pigments for this purpose
were obtained from various substances found in the ground, such as ochres and
other similar earths, and they were mixed with oils obtained from animals.
The final result was, in many cases, a canoe of very large size and of quite
an elegant appearance.
Of course, a canoe like this is only produced after considerable progress has
been made by a tribe in the mechanical arts. At first, it is said, the Indians
used the trunks of trees which they found already hollowed by decay, in places
where they grew. To prevent the water coming in at the ends in such a case, they
used to stop them with masses of clay, which they kneaded in at the bow and
stern.

Clearing Land
The Indians had many clearings when the Europeans first came into the
country. These clearings were made for the purpose of raising corn, and they
were considered of great value -- each one remaining in the same family or tribe
from generation to generation, for ages. It was very difficult to make these
clearings, since the only way of felling trees was by fire. Then besides, when
the tree was down the work of getting out the roots was one of great labor. Thus
absolutely new clearings were seldom made. The old ones remained, and each
generation enlarged them a little when any increase of population required an
enlargement, by burning down trees along the margin of them. The method was to
dig about the tree so as to expose the roots as much as possible, and then to
build a fire around it so as to burn it off. But this was a very slow and
toilsome work, for if it was a living tree the wood was green, and after the
outside had burned away it was difficult to get the fire in, so as to make it
take effect up the heart of the stem. To promote the burning as much as possible
they used to pick off the charred portion as fast as the fire formed it, with
sharp stones fastened to the end of poles.

In this way, and by constantly bringing fresh supplies of fuel, the tree was at
length made to fall.

Clearing Land

Then to take off the branches and to divide the stem into lengthes small
enough to enable them to drag them away -- all by the action of fire alone --
required great additional toil. It is not surprising, under these circumstances,
that the work of clearing land proceeded slowly.

Tilling the Land
The work of tilling the land after it was cleared belonged wholly to the
women. The men reserved their strength for the immensely more difficult and
dangerous duty of hunting and fishing, and of defending the country in case of
war.
In planting their fields the women used clamshells for hoes, and sticks
sharpened in the fire for picks and shovels. When the crop was ripe the corn was
gathered, and it was stored for winter in holes made in the ground for the
purpose. The bottom and sides of the holes were protected by a lining of bark,
or of wooden poles set up close together all around them. When the hole was
filled it was covered over, and not opened again until the corn was required for
use.
Preparing the Corn for Food
Instead of mills to grind the corn the Indian women used mortars to pound it.
These mortars were stones with hollows in them. For the pestle another stone was
a smooth and round surface at the bottom was used. At first such stones were
employed for these purposes as were found of nearly the proper form in their
natural state; but in process of time the people acquired the art of fashioning them so as to make mortars of very good shape, and of considerable
capacity. Many such mortars, with pestles belonging to them, have been dug up in
ancient mounds, or found buried just beneath the surface around old and
abandoned encampments in the western country.
The women sometimes made cakes of their corn and baked them in the ashes,
but, more commonly, they made a sort of porridge of it, or rather soup, for they
usually put in a part of some animal, which the husband had brought home from
the chase, to enrich and flavor it. The pounded corn and the piece of meat were
boiled in the same vessel until they were sufficiently cooked, and then the
whole was eaten together.
Mode of Boiling
The mode of boiling this mess was singular enough. They had no vessels which
would bear to be exposed directly to the action of fire. They could fashion
copper into some very ingenious forms by beating it with smooth stones and
grinding it upon rough ones, but they could not make anything like a vessel of
it. Nor could they make any pottery that would hold water and stand the fire.
But, strange as it may seem, they could fashion a vessel of osiers, coiling them
round round in a spiral manner, and sewing each coil to the one below it, in such a
manner as to make the work water-tight or nearly so. Any small amount of leakage
was probably not of much consequence.
The way in which they boiled their soup in these vessels -- it is obvious
that it would not answer to put one over the fire -- was very curious. It was by
setting the vessel on the ground by the side of the fire and putting red-hot
stones into it. A single red-hot stone would keep the contents boiling longer
than one would suppose, and when one became cool another was put in to take its
place. Of course, a great deal of soot and ashes went in with the stone, and
white men who, in traveling among the Indians, have been invited to partake of a
meal so prepared, have not represented the soup as exhibiting a very attractive
appearance when it was ready to be served.
Varied Occupations of the Women
From what has been said it will be seen that all the duties of every kind
relating to the home of the family and its surroundings devolved upon the woman
-- it being her province to relieve her husband of every care except that of
hunting, of fishing, and of war. When he brought home the animals that he had
killed it was her province to take care both of the skin and of the flesh. The skin she stretched upon a frame and
scraped the fleshward side of it with a sharp stone, so as thoroughly to cleanse
it, and then made various applications to it and subjected it to a particular
course of treatment, which took with them the place of tanning. The effect was
to make it soft and plaint and to preserve it from future decay.
The flesh, in summer, they preserved by smoking it. They would dig a hole in
the ground and make a fire in it. The fire, being at the bottom of the hole,
would, of course, not burn freely, but would only smolder away and make a great
deal of smoke. Over and around this hole they would hang the pieces of meat, and
then build a sort of inclosure, with mats, around them, in order to confine the
smoke. The mats formed, in fact, a species of funnel through which all the smoke
must pass as it ascended into the air.
The holes for these fires they dug with their sharpened sticks and clam-shell
hoes.
Moccasins
It was the duty of the women to make clothing from the skins after they were
cured. The clothing consisted of moccasins for the feet, tight leggins for the
legs, and a sort of a double apron, with one flap behind and another before, which was worn both by the women and
the men. There was also a looser garment for the shoulders when the weather
required it.
All these garments were made with great care, and often a vast deal of labor
was bestowed upon them. They were adorned with fringes made of hair dyed of
various colors, and with feathers of eagles and of other great birds, and
porcupine quills, and with embroidery worked in different colored threads.
The moccasins were made of one piece of skin, the center of the piece forming
the sole, and the sides being drawn up and gathered over the foot above. Some of
them were finished in a very ornamental manner. The fashion of them was very
different according to the purpose for which they were intended. Those made for
men, which were, of course, destined to endure the wear and tear of long tramps
through the woods on hunting expeditions of military campaigns, were made of
very stout leather, and sometimes two or three additional thicknesses were put
upon the soles.
Those of the women, which were, of course, to be subjected to much gentler
usage, were made lighter and of less substantial material; and there was a kind
intended to be worn by young women on the occasion of their marriage, for which a skin was prepared by a long and
careful process that made it almost as soft as kid. These bridal moccasins were
cut in a peculiar fashion, and they were embroidered with hair of different
colors, and gaudily ornamented in other ways.
Excursions of the Women
As everything connected with the management of the household devolved upon
the woman, it became her duty from time to time to make excursions along the
streams or in the woods to procure birch bark to make new rolls, or bullrushes
for mats of other such things. Accordingly, sometimes, when the man had gone
away before sunrise, or perhaps even before the dawn, on some distant hunting or
fishing excursion, the woman, after breakfast, would prepare for an expedition
of her own. In some cases she would take the children, and at others she would
leave them at home under the care of an older brother or sister. The number of
children was, however, seldom large enough to make this last arrangement
desirable, as the Indian families were almost always small. It has been
ascertained that the average number of children was only two.
The mother then would usually take her little ones with her and would embark in her canoe. The baby, if there was one, would
be tied to a board and lashed to her back; or by means of being thus secured to
a board it could be laid down in the bottom of the boat, or placed in an
inclined position against one of the thwarts. It seldom or never cried. There
were two reasons for this extraordinary quietness -- first, the extremely
imperturbable and unexcitable character of the Indian temperament, and in the
second place, the fact that the poor child found by experience that he never
gained anything by crying.
Having taken her place in her boat the Indian woman would paddle her way up
or down the stream, or along the shores of a pond, into retired coves or inlets
where the rushes grew, and would gather the supply that she required; and then
toward evening would paddle home again, so as to be ready to receive her husband
on his return.
Sometimes the object of these excursions was to collect and bring home fuel
for the fire. In these cases, in order to prevent the sticks of wood from
injuring the canoe, she would first lay poles along the bottom of it to protect
the framework and the bark covering. For cutting these poles the Indians had
stone hatchets, with handles formed of withes bound round the head, like the
handles of the hammers already described. Small saplings could be cut off pretty easily
with these tools, by first bending them over in such a way as to bring the
fibres of the wood near the ground into a state of high tension, when an
inconsiderable blow, even with a dull instrument, would cause the stem to snap
off at once.
The fuel itself consisted of such dried fragments of wood as could be found
already lying in pieces of a convenient size to be removed, or else so far
decayed that they could be easily broken into such pieces.
Education of the Children
The children of these families received no education at all until they came
to be old enough to learn to set little traps in the woods for small game, or if
girls, to begin to help their mothers to make mats or leggins or mocassins.
Sometimes they were stationed in the corn-field while the corn was coming up, in
order to drive away the crows and other such plunderers with sticks and stones.
The boys would usually take to the woods as soon as they were old enough to find
their way among the trees. Their fathers would make bows and arrows for them
adapted to their strength, and show them how to set traps for squirrels,
rabbits, foxes, and other similar game, and great was their exultation and joy when they
found anything taken in them.
There is an account of a small boy who set a trap in the woods, and his
uncle, who was visiting at the wigwam where the boy lived, went out secretly and
put a rabbit in it which he had caught himself in another place. So when the boy
went to his trap he found to his great pride and joy that there was a rabbit
there. It was the first he had ever caught. He brought it home in triumph and
gave it to his mother, and she made a soup of it, and the family with their
guest, ate the soup together, leaving the boy to think all the time that it was
really the fruit of his hunting that furnished the meal.
Stories for Children
The mothers were accustomed to talk very little with their children. Indeed,
the Indians were extremely taciturn on all occasions. They, however, sometimes
explained to the children the principles of duty, and told them stories to
illustrate and enforce what they taught. Some of these stories are to be found
reduced to writing, among other legends and tales which travelers who have
visited Indians in their wigwams, or have lived among them, have recorded. The scenes of these stories were laid, of course,
always in the woods, and wild animals figured very conspicuously in them. Here
is one which will serve as a specimen. It was intended, we must suppose, to
teach older children to be faithful, kind and true to the younger ones.