Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/186

 150 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. north of the great Lakes ; nor does there appear to have been any amongst tBe Chippeways, who occupied the country along the southern hanks of Lake Superior. They and the Menomonies depended for vegetable food, principally if not altogether on the wild rice, or wild oats, as the plant is called. The few tribes west of the Mississippi, which attend at all to agriculture have already been designated, as well as those, which, extend- ing thence to the Pacific, derive their principal means of sub- sistence, cither from the buffalo, or from roots and fish. Nor were the inhospitable regions of the north destitute of those mean-. Innumerable lakes cover perhaps one third of the inland country, and would afford an abundant supply of food to an industrious and provident population. The musk ox and the American rein-deer are found under those latitudes, where the buffalo and the common deer cannot exist. Even along the shores of the Arctic Ocean and of its numerous bays, the Eskimaux appear to be as well provided as the more southern Indians. Immense quantities of salmon are caught in the sum- mer, and are easily preserved till the ensuing year. The seal, which is taken even during the winter, supplies the Eskimaux with food, fuel, light, and clothing. And even, where there are neither trees nor drift wood, and where subterraneous abodes are not resorted to, or cannot be excavated, the ice itself affords materials for winter dwellings, as comfortable and as quickly constructed, as the leather lodges or the bark huts of the erratic tribes. It is obvious, that the population of nations which, for their subsistence, depend exclusively on natural products, is neces- sarily limited by the quantity naturally produced. A nation of hunters, living exclusively on game, cannot increase the quan- tity which a given extent of territory can sustain. All they can, at most, effect for that purpose is the destruction of car- nivorous animals. If, at any time, their population should be so increased, as to require a greater consumption of food, than is afforded by the natural production of game, this would be checked, and the population would soon be diminished till the equilibrium was again restored. In order to keep up their numhers, the Indians must resist any encroachment on their hunting-grounds. They must fight in their defence, against invaders, as for existence. On the other hand, the great extent of ground necessary to sustain game, sufficient for the subsist- ence of a very moderate population, compels them to separate