Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/435

 AMERICAN INDIANS 403 animal except the dog, and among the Peru- vians the llama. In no part consequently were there tribes leading a pastoral life, depending on their flocks and herds. Game was taken by shooting with the bow and arrow, or by means of darts or spears; smaller animals were taken by traps. Where game was very abun- dant, it was sometimes driven into a sort of park and slaughtered. The South American Indians used a blowpipe for small game, and the southern tribes used the lasso and stone balls attached to hide ropes. Fish was taken by nets or speared, and in some parts the fish in lakes were captured by throwing into the water vegetable matter that caused a kind of intoxication. The only beverage of the north- ern tribes was water, but the Mobilian tribes had their black drink, or cassine. In Mexico pulque, the fermented sap of the metl or ma- guey, furnished an intoxicating drink; and in South America a similar drink was the cauim, made from the cashew and other fruits sub- jected to fermentation. All tribes were fond of painting and tattooing their persons, the paint being varied for grief or joy, war or peace. They used as adornments beads made of clam shells, feathers, porcupine quills, and parts of birds and animals. The dress of the hunter tribes was simple, consisting of a robe and breech cloth for the men and a short petti- coat for the women; in the warmer parts this petticoat was often a mere fringe of moss or other vegetable matter, and men went entirely naked. The use of tobacco, generally mixed with willow (hence MnniMnnick, a mixture), was almost universal among the Indian tribes, and has spread over the world. It was intro- duced at all their important assemblies, and the Mississippi tribes made the pipe the symbol of peace, a usage which spread to other parts of the country. The word calumet, a French Canadian corruption of chalumeau, has been adopted to designate this national pipe. In Peru the leaves of the coca chewed with quick- lime, just as the East Indians chew the areca nut and betel palm, produced the same narcotic and stimulating effects. The amusements of the Indians were the athletic exercises, run- ning, leaping, paddling, games of ball, games with small stones, some quite complicated, and dances. These last were numerous, and entered into religious observances and preparations for war, as well as merrymakings. The sexes gen- erally danced apart. Boys were trained from the time they left the cradle to feats requiring dexterity and courage. The probation of the young warrior was attended in some tribes with long fasts and rigorous tortures; and he acquired a name and a recognized position in the tribe only on his return from his first ex- pedition or battle. War was carried on rather by treachery and surprise, and by small bands, than by set battles or large armies. Those who fell were hi the north scalped, the hair of the head with the skin being torn off as once practised in the eastern continent. Prison- ers were either adopted and naturalized or tortured. Government was of the slightest kind. Kings and hereditary chiefs were found in some tribes; ability in others raised a man to command. Laws there were none, or courts, or judicial sentences, except among the more civilized in Mexico and Peru. The manner of making fire in different parts varied, from rubbing two pieces of wood or cane to in- genious machinery by which a revolving stake finally gave a blaze. The tribes believed in a future state of existence, and paid great at- tention to the bodies of the dead, hi some cases collecting their remains after a certain number of years and burying them with choice objects in fur-lined trenches, with games, and celebrations. Food was placed on the graves of the dead, and implements of the chase for use in the next world. They recognized a supreme being, and a host of spirits good and evil, the latter especially to be propitiated. The idea of sacrifice was apparently universal, and animals and human beings were offered, the former as substitutes for the latter. Canni- balism, except where impelled by necessity, was apparently connected with religious ideas. Being firm believers in the power of evil spirits, they ascribed disease and defeat to their malign influence; and the medicine men, who were supposed to counteract these, were resorted to in sickness, and when starting on the war path, the hunt, or long and perilous journeys by land or water. Dreams exercised a great influence over them, and may be considered a part of their religious system. They regarded them as manifestations of cravings of the soul, the non-gratification of which would be at- tended with serious injury to the whole man. Tribes were divided into clans, and as a rule no man could marry hi his own clan, and the children followed the clan of the mother. The scheme of relationship was curious and complex. Woman was in a degraded state. She did all the work except war and hunting. She tilled the earth, and bore all burdens. Parturition was attended with little pain. Cooking was simple, and without seasoning. Baking was done in holes in the ground, and water was boiled by throwing heated stones into it. The common plan was to roast over the fire. Corn was parched, and was the food used while travelling, being often hidden in holes marked so as to be recognized. Some diseases introduced by the whites, such as smallpox, and alcoholic drink, have been singularly de- structive and fatal. Disease was left to char- latans and superstitious treatment. The use- of vapor baths was perhaps the most general and effective remedy. They employed as emet- ics thorough wort, spurge, and Indian hemp; and as cathartics also the inner bark of the horse chestnut and butternut; as rubefacients, mayweed and waterpepper. They were ac- quainted with many poisons, which they used for self-destruction, the purposes of revenge, and in the more southern parts for poison-