Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/179

Rh grove, forest, swamp, river, brook, torrent, or bog, and also in every animal, bird, insect, or reptile; in the instruments of war and of the chase; in all fruits and products, branches, twigs, and leaves; in rain, snow, fog, lightning, and thunder; in the sun, in the phases of the moon, and in the starry constellations, — the Indian found his vocabulary for names. This method helped their memories, and also served as a sort of index of characters. Custom and privilege always allowed to the young Indian the right to change his name as he grew to maturity; to take the title by which he would be known as a brave from any exploit, achievement, or aim which he could associate with himself. Nothing in these names indicated parentage or family relationship; nor does there appear to have been any rule of gender in their use which restricted them respectively to males or females. The renderings which are given of them seem to have more significance as interpreted in the French than in the English language.

The observing and reflecting powers of the Indians were trained to remarkable concentration and acuteness, as they were exercised upon natural objects, signs, and phenomena. They were skilled in all weather signs; so they valued least of all, among the white man's trinkets and gewgaws, the pocket compass, for they had a better in their native sagacity. They marked accurately the phases of the moon, or “the night sun,” the ante and post meridian of the day; and they gave to the months names from Nature's signs and aspects, from animals, crops, and fruits, far more expressive than our own.

A most vivid illustration of the sympathetic relation into which an Indian put himself with Nature, was the consequent relation into which he put himself with the animal creation. All wild creatures had some tie of kinship to him. Beavers and bears especially were a sort of cousins-german. He shared the terms, conditions, and means of life with animals, being in some things only