Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/656

* INDIANS. 574 INDIANS. was hunted for its llcsh, .skin, horns, toclh, or sinew. On the plains the great panic nninml was the butralo, alter whieh came tlie elk, deer, and antelope. Very few Indians of this region ute the meat of birds or tish, although not averse to eat- ing the horse or dog, while the Xavaho and Apache refused to eat or even touch the bear, for some occult religious rea.son, and had an almost equal horror of (ish. The Kastern Indians used tisli, flesh, and fowl indiscriminately, only Ix-ing care- ful not to put two kinds into the same pot. .Sail procured from natural deposits or by boiling the water of saline springs was in general use on the plains and in the Southwest, as well as among some tribes of the Ohio Valley. In the Gulf Statts lye was used as a substitute. Domesticated Anixials. The horse and dog appear to have been the only animals regularly domesticated, although various birds were some- times kept in confinement for the sake of the feathers, or possibly in some cases for their flesh. The Indian ]X)ny is commonly supposed to have descended from animals brought over by the Spanish conquerors ; but some of the West- ern tribes stoutly assert that the horse was theirs long before the white man ever came. However that may !«>, it is now so much a part of the reli- gious ceremonial, and daily lifi' of the plains tribes that it is difficult to imagine a time when they were without it. Dogs frequently took the place of horses as light-burden carriers, and were likewise esteemed a choice article of food. The Cadiio are said by other Indians to have trained their dogs to follow the trail of raiding enemies, possibly a trick learned from association with the French. The animal's main usefulness was as a vigilant sentry. From animals originally intrixlueed by the Spanish Franciscans over two centuries ago, the Navaho now have more than 400,000 sheep and goats, from the wool and flesh of which they derive almost their whole subsistence. iNDr.sTRlES AND .rt.s. Aside from his food- proeuring occupations, the Indian had quite a numlier of industries and arts, both economic and a>sthetic. Having only accidental knowledge of any metal but native copper, his tools were made of .stone, bone, shell, or wood. From stone he fashioned his knife, hammer, axe, spearhead, and arrow-point, as well as his pipe and gaming disk. Flint was the material commonly used for cutting tools in the East and obsidian in the West. Pipes were of great variety and sometimes of great beauty, being one of the most important adjuncts of ceremonial functions. The Xavaho and Pueblos were expert in drilling turquoise for necklaces and ear-pendants. The black slate carving of the Haida and other north- west coast tril>es is probably not excelled by any primitive jwople. Pots, bowls, mortars, and pestles were also fashioned from stone. Arrow- heads, knives, skin-dressers, .sewing-awls, and fishing-hooks were frequently made from bone. Shells were also shaped into cutting tools, but were in more constant demand for gorgets and for the celebrated wampum beads, which were in miiversal use in the East for dress ornamen- tation and for weaving into record belts. The Eskimo and .Aleut were expert car"ers in walrus ivory, depicting whole hunting scenes upon a single tusk, with great beauty of execution. Mortars, bowls, clubs, masks, and sacred images for ceremonial occasions were made of wood. The Pueblos carved wooden figurines to represent their traditional niythologic characters, and dis- tributed them to the children as dolls at their symbolic dances. Besides the immense carved totem-|K)les, the northwest coast tribes hewed great canoes from cedar-trunks, always painted and carved in characteristic style. The wooilen (lug-out canoe of the Atlantic tribes was a simi- lar a Hair. The Indian woman was a ca])able skin-dresser. Sinew was used for thread, and certain women were professionals in the work of cutting and fit- ting. Among the Pueblos and Navaho weaving had reached a high state of development, the material used having been originally a native cotton, and later wool. The art of feath- er-weaving was found with the Gulf tribes, while everywhere east of the Mississippi beautiful mats were woven from grass and rushes and stiiined in bright colors from native dyes. (Sec Blanket.) Basketry was found almost everywhere except upon the plains, where rawhide boxes formed a substitute. The materials used were wood or cane splits, rushes, maguey fibre, and grass. The art reached its highest development in California, the Ponio baskets l>eing unrivaled in any part of the world for closeness of weaving, intricacy of design, and beauty of .shape and decoration. (See Basket.) Akin to weaving and basketry was the art of decorati<m with beads and porcupine-quills, the most beautiful specimens being the cradles and colored sashes, on some of vhich months of labor were expended. Pottery was made by all the sedentary and semi-sedentary tribes of the Eastern timber region and the Southwest, the coil process being everywhere used. In the East the vessel was usually decorated Avith stamiK'd pat- terns. Among the Pueblos and adjacent triltcs figures in various colors were painted upon the smooth exterior and afterwards fixcil in the fir- ing process. Almost without exception the pot- ter, basket-maker, weaver, and skin-dresser was a woman. The only metal really in use north of Mexico at the time of the discovery apjjcars to have been copper, which was obtained native in small quantities in the .Southern Alleghanies and in greater quantities from mines along the shores of Lake Superior. It was not smelted, but ham- mered into a great variety of useful and orna- mental objects which passed from tribe to tribe in regular trade. Mica was quarried in western North Carolina for use in mirrors and gorgets, and beads and other small objects hammered out from gold nuggets or meteoric iron have been found in some of the Southern mounds. In the Southwest the Navaho have learned the smelting and forging arts from the Mexicans, ami have now many expert silver-workers and blacksmitlis, making beads, buttons, wrist-guards, rings, and belts from silver coins which they melt and shape in forges and molds of their own construction. War. As in the tribal stage warfare is the chronic condition, so to the Indian war was the chief glory, scorn of death the highest virtue, and cowardice the greatest crime. Among ex- treme Northern tribes the principal weapons were the knife, did), and lance. To these were added farther south the bow and arrow, and the hatchet or tomahawk. The how and arrow were practical- ly universal, but the lance and shield as a rule were used only by the equestrian tribes of the open plains and the desert Southwest, the timber people finding them a hindrance to active move-