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Copyright, 1892, in MacCoun's Historical Geography of the United States.

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CHAPTER XV.

INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS.

98. Indians. Europeans found this country inhabited by a copper-colored race of men whom they called Indians, supposing that this land was a part of the East Indies. They were divided into tribes, and each tribe was governed by a sachem. Most of these tribes were rude savages, living in huts called wigwams, made of bark and skins of animals. They lived in hamlets, or villages, and frequently moved from place to place. Individuals laid no claim to the land, but the tribal limits were sometimes well defined. Traces of half-civilized and civilized races were found in different parts of the country, especially in the great interior valley of the Mississippi and its branches.

In Mexico, Central America, and Peru a higher degree of civilization existed. The people lived in permanent towns and cities, and were subject to an established government. They cultivated the soil, carried on various useful arts, built roads and substantial buildings, including temples of worship. In the Ohio and Mississippi valleys were found monuments of various kinds, such as mounds, fortifications, pyramids, temples. Here were also remains of pottery, implements of stone and copper, and occasionally rude sculptures.

99. Features. The Indians were of moderate height, straight in form, active and athletic of limb. Their features were usually regular, and they had high cheek-bones like the people of interior and

northeastern Asia. They had uniformly long straight coarse black hair, but little beard or none at all. They were characterized by great physical endurance, and were staid, taciturn, and stoical.

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Indian Method of Boiling.

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strangers. They had quick perceptions, which were highly cultivated by their manner of life. Their powers of observation, especially their senses of sight

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other plants. They were a roving people, rude and lazy. The principal employment of the Indians was hunting. They killed wild animals with the bow and arrow, or with darts or javelins. Being ignorant of the use of iron, they tipped their arrows with sharp

pointed stones. The buffalo, the bear, the wolf, furnished them. with food, dress, shelter, and warmth. They had no tame animals except the dog.

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102. Women. The women performed the hard labor of daily life. The wife, or squaw, was really a slave to her husband. Men bought their brides and sold their daughters. In return for their drudgery the women received very little but neglect and abuse. To children. after the years of infancy, but little attention was given.

103. Great Tribes. The Indians of the United States east of the Mississippi were embraced principally in four great divisions: the Algonquins, the Iroquois, the Cherokees, the Appalaches. West of the Mississippi were the Dakotas, the Shoshones, the Apaches, the Comanches, all east of the Rocky Mountains. On the Pacific slope were found the Walla Wallas, the Nez Percés, the Flat Heads, the Spokanes, the Yakamas, the Clatsops, the Utahs, the Modocs, the Aztecs, the Zunis, the Pueblos, and numerous other tribes of less note.

In these different tribes were to be observed great differences of appearance, of disposition, of language, and of culture. The Indians who first met the white people on the Atlantic coast were of the various branches of Algonquins.

104. Number of Indians. The number of Indians at the time of the first European settlement within what is now the United States has been variously estimated at from a quarter of a million to a million. Probably the former number is nearer the truth than the latter. At present these people, within the limits of our country, number about two hundred and sixty-five thousand. Until recently it had been estimated that the number was diminishing, but it is now generally considered that their number is slowly increasing, owing perhaps to the more humane treatment which prevails at the present time.

A Birch Bark Canoe

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