Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/655

* INDIANS. 573 INDIANS. two long braids Iianging down over the shoulders in front, with the scalp-lock behind. The Osage and Pawnee shaved the head, excepting the £calp-lock, while the Wichita and Apache let the hair flow loosely down the back. The Pueblo, Piute, and most of the California tribes usually wore it cut olF in front above the eyes and at the shoulder-level behind. The Xavaho bunched it into club shape. Women usually wore it flow- ing loosely. Those of the 8iou. and Cheyenne wore it neatly braided at the sides. The Pueblo women cut it oil' at the shoulders and rolled it at the sides, wliile among the Hopi the unmar- ried wcmien were distinguished by an extraordi- nary butterlly arrangement of the hair on each side of the head. Head-dattening was practiced by the Choctaw and some of the Carolina tribes, and throughout most of the Columbia region. Lalirets of bono were used by many tribes of the northwest coast. Xose pendants were common with a few tribes (hence the Xez Perce), while ear pendants with both se.xes were almost universal. Tattooing was widespread, reaching its highest development among the Haida and others of the northwest coast, and the Wichita of the southern plains. Excepting with the tattooed tribes, painting was an essential part of full dress, colors and designs varying according to the occasion or the particu- lar 'medicine' of the individual. Xccklaces of shells, turquoise, mussel pearls, or, among the Navaho, of silver beads, were worn, with breastplates and gorgets of shell or bone and bracelets of copper wire. Feathers and small objects supposed to have a mysterious pro- tecting influence were worn in the hair, and the dres-s itself was profusely decorated with shell heads, elkteeth, porcupine-quills, antelope-hoofs, and similar trinkets. Dwellings ,.d House-Buildixg. Xorth of the Pueblo region the general house plan may bo described as circular. Among the Haida and others of the Alaskan coast, and extending down to the Columbia, the prevailing type was of boards, painted with sTnbolie designs and with the famous heraldic totem-poles, carved from cedar-trunks, standing at the entrance. Along the Columbia were found great communal houses. California had several distinct types, of which the dug-out and the dome-shaped clay-built house, entered from the top. were perhaps most common. The Piute, Apache. Papngo, and others of Ne- vada and Arizona had the tcil-liip, an elliptical structure covered with reed mats or grass. The Xavaho hor/iin was a circular house of logs, cov- ered with earth, and entered through a short passageway. The square-built stone or adobe dwelling of the Pueblo marked the northern limit of the Mexican culture area. These pueblos, as thej' were called by the Spaniards, were aggrega- tions of continuous rooms occupied by different families, so that the whole village sometimes con- sisted of but a single house, sometimes several stories in height. The roofs were flat, a projec- tion of the lower wall within the room sensed for seats and beds, and the fireplace was in one corner, instead of in the centre, as was almost universal elsew'here. For better scctirity against the wild tribes, the outer walls of the lower story were often without doors or windows, en- trance being gained through trap-doors in the roof by means of ladders, which were pulled up at night. For the same reason, many of the pueblos, especially in ancient times, were placed upon high mesas, or on shelves on the sides of almost inaccessible dill's, whence the name •cliff-dwellers.' The prevailing type on the plains was the conical skin tipi (a word of Sioux ori- gin), no other being so easily portable and so well adapted to withstand the Violent winds of the treeless prairies. The Pawnee, Arikara, Mandan, and one or two other tribes living close along the Missouri River built earth-covered log houses, somewhat like those of the Xavaho, but much larger. The Wichita in the south liuilt station- ary houses of grass thatch laid over poles. About the upper lakes was found the bark-covered tipi, while east and southeast was the icigua/m, a rectangular structure of stout poles, overlaid with bark or mats of woven rushes, and in gen- eral form closely resembling a rounded wagon top. Among the Iroquois it became the com- munal 'long house.' In the Gulf State.s were found houses, either rectangular lor circular, of upright logs plastered over with clay. The Pueblo villages had underground kivas, or public roouLs, where the men of the various secret orders made their preparations for the great ceremonials. It corresponded somewhat to the medicine lodge of the plains tribes, built of green cottonwood branches for the celebration of their annual sun-dance, while among the Gulf tribes its place was supplied by the circular log 'town house.' Some of the Eastern and Southern tribes had also dead-houses, temples, and public granaries. In general, an Indian village was a scattering settlement, but with many of the Eastern tribes the more important towns were compactly built and strongly stock- aded. Food, Agrici-lture, Hlntixg, Fishing. Ex- cepting on the plains and in the frozen north, agriculture was the chief dependence of most of the tribes. Those on the coast, including the Haida. were naturally fishermen. Those of the upper lakes and about the head of the Missis- sippi planted little, but gathered large quantities of wild rice and cranberries, besides sugar which they boiled from the sap of the maple. The equestrian plains tribes, excepting the corn-plant- ing Pawnee and Arikara, were hunters pure and simple. Those of the Columbia were salmon- fishers, root-diggers, and berry-gatherers. Those of California and the Sierras were chiefly acorn and seed eaters. The Xavaho, since the Span- ish mission period, have lived principally by the flesh of their sheep and goats, while the preda- tory Apa<'hes were expert in preparing the edible roots and petals of various desert plants. The Pueblos may be considered as purely agricul- tural, raising large quantities of com. beans, squashes, and other vegetables, as well as chile and native tobacco. The tobacco was also culti- vated by the Arikara and others of the upper ^Missouri, and by most of the Eastern tribes. Wild plums, pecans, mesquite beans, the tubers of the pomme hlanchc, and the seed-berries of the wild rose, were gathered and eaten by the buffalo-hunting tribes of the plains. .Agricul- ture furnished more than half the food sipply of the Iroquois, the Atlantic coast and Gulf trilies, com standing first in importance. In the arid Southwest irrigation was essential to success, and the Indians were skillful in utilizing the scanty water-supply in this manner. Almost every aninral of the plains and forest