




                             American Indians

                                    By

                             Frederick Starr

                      D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers

                        Boston, New York, Chicago

                                   1898





CONTENTS


Preface.
I. Some General Facts About Indians.
II. Houses.
III. Dress.
IV. The Baby And Child.
V. Stories Of Indians.
VI. War.
VII. Hunting And Fishing.
VIII. The Camp-Fire.
IX. Sign Language On The Plains.
X. Picture Writing.
XI. Money.
XII. Medicine Men And Secret Societies.
XIII. Dances And Ceremonials.
XIV. Burial And Graves.
XV. Mounds And Their Builders.
XVI. The Algonkins.
XVII. The Six Nations.
XVIII. Story Of Mary Jemison.
XIX. The Creeks.
XX. The Pani.
XXI. The Cherokees.
XXII. George Catlin And His Work.
XXIII. The Sun Dance.
XXIV. The Pueblos.
XXV. The Snake Dance.
XXVI. Cliff Dwellings And Ruins Of The Southwest.
XXVII. Tribes Of The Northwest Coast.
XXVIII. Some Raven Stories.
XXIX. Totem Posts.
XXX. Indians Of California.
XXXI. The Aztecs.
XXXII. The Mayas And The Ruined Cities Of Yucatan And Central America.
XXXIII. Conclusion.
Glossary Of Indian And Other Foreign Words Which May Not Readily Be Found
In The English Dictionary.
Index.
Footnotes






                             [Illustration.]

 Map Showing Former Location of Important Indian Groups of North America,
                         North of Mexico: North.


                             [Illustration.]

 Map Showing Former Location of Important Indian Groups of North America,
                         North of Mexico: South.





This Little Book About
American Indians
Is Dedicated To
Bedros Tatarian





PREFACE.


This book about American Indians is intended as a reading book for boys
and girls in school. The native inhabitants of America are rapidly dying
off or changing. Certainly some knowledge of them, their old location, and
their old life ought to be interesting to American children.

Naturally the author has taken material from many sources. He has himself
known some thirty different Indian tribes; still he could not possibly
secure all the matter herein presented by personal observation. In a
reading book for children it is impossible to give reference
acknowledgment to those from whom he has drawn. By a series of brief notes
attention is called to those to whom he is most indebted: no one is
intentionally omitted.

While many of the pictures are new, being drawn from objects or original
photographs, some have already appeared elsewhere. In each case, their
source is indicated. Special thanks for assistance in illustration are due
to the Bureau of American Ethnology and to the Peabody Museum of Ethnology
at Cambridge, Mass.

While intended for young people and written with them only in mind, the
author will be pleased if the book shall interest some older readers.
Should it do so, may it enlarge their sympathy with our native Americans.

                             [Illustration.]

               Mandan Chief in Full Dress. (After Catlin.)





I. SOME GENERAL FACTS ABOUT INDIANS.


We all know how the native Americans found here by the whites at their
first arrival, came to be called _Indians_. Columbus did not realize the
greatness of his discovery. He was seeking a route to Asia and supposed
that he had found it. Believing that he had really reached the Indies, for
which he was looking, it was natural that the people here should be called
Indians.

The American Indians are often classed as a single type. They are
described as being of a coppery or reddish-brown color. They have
abundant, long, straight, black hair, and each hair is found to be almost
circular when cut across. They have high cheek-bones, unusually prominent,
and wide faces. This description will perhaps fit most Indians pretty
well, but it would be a great mistake to think that there are no
differences between tribes: there are many. There are tribes of tall
Indians and tribes of short ones; some that are almost white, and others
that are nearly black. There are found among them all shades of brown,
some of which are reddish, others yellowish. There are tribes where the
eyes appear as oblique or slanting as in the Chinese, and others where
they are as straight as among ourselves. Some tribes have heads that are
long and narrow; the heads of others are relatively short and wide. A
little before the World's Columbian Exposition thousands of Indians of